(NARRATOR)
Ms. Mizukawa told everyone to head to the arena, except for the new students—Shinryu, Yuzuki, Akihiro, and Katsuro—who stayed behind. She said,
"Okay, since y'all are new, I will explain some things to you. First and foremost, you all will be going on missions at random points of the year, so you will need to be in a squad. Luckily for you, all four of you joined the class, so you four will be in a squad.
"Second, as I explained earlier today, all you will do is observe and maybe participate if possible. All of your teachers are nice, so you don't have to worry about them. You all will move as a class, so don't worry about your schedule.
"That's it. I hope you all enjoy learning in this academy. Now, will you all follow me? We will get started with the first period."
The squad replied, "Yes, ma'am," as they all left for the arena.
At the arena, the rest of the class had already started their training. Ms. Mizukawa told the squad to sit on the stands and observe for now. Shinryu and the rest took a seat in the first row to get a better view.
The teacher stood at the front and told everyone to line up. She was going to start by having the squads go against each other in mock battles. She wanted the new students to gauge just how strong their class was.
She said, "Up first, Squad 2 and Squad 3."
Eight students walked to the center. Squad 2 had two boys and two girls. One boy was a sword user, the other was a fire Chronicle user. One of the girls was a light user, and the other was a summoner.
Squad 3 had three girls and one boy. The three girls were triplets, all wielding spears, and the boy was an earth user.
The teacher raised her hand as the squads got into their fighting stances. Everyone watching was focused, paying close attention to see how this battle would turn out.
"Go," said Ms. Mizukawa as her hand went down.
The triplets from Squad 3 rushed in as the boy created stone pillars for them to move on. Squad 2's summoner summoned three monsters: a falcon, a bear, and a chimera—the falcon and bear taking a monstrous appearance and being bigger than usual.
The sword user ran in front, while the fire Chronicle user rode on the falcon, shooting fire attacks from the sky. The light user enveloped her squadmates in a light coat that healed minor injuries and provided more stamina and durability.
One of the triplets dropped down from her pillar and launched herself at the sword user. He looked up and saw her coming. He stopped running, got his sword ready, and unleashed a slash headed straight toward her. She started spinning her spear, and right as the slash got close to her, she parried it and redirected it into her pillar, breaking it and sending rubble crashing down onto the ground.
The two other spear users from Squad 3 were redirecting attacks and counterattacking the fire user as he sent fireballs at them. The earth user moved the pillars upward so the girls could fight the fire user in the air. The fire user countered by firing destructive fire beams to break the pillars, but the earth user was skilled—he rebuilt the pillars' foundation wherever they were broken to keep the pieces afloat.
Then the earth user created spikes and shot them at the fire user. The falcon dodged some, and the fire user destroyed the rest.
The summoner and the light user from Squad 2 rode on the chimera and went to attack the earth user to take away Squad 3's movement advantage. They ran past the sword user and the triplet he was clashing with. Now the earth user was in their view. The summoner ordered the chimera to unleash a rampage of lightning. The chimera roared, and a strike of lightning shot toward the earth user. He pointed his fingers upward, and three walls of earth rose in front of him, tanking the attack.
One of the triplets who was fighting the fire user managed to cut one of the falcon's wings, forcing the fire user to fight on the ground. She shouted, "Hey Maria, you go fight the bear and the chimera, I'll fight the fire dude!"
"Okay," replied Maria.
With the help of the earth user, Maria landed next to the chimera. The girls panicked, and the summoner tried to order it to slash Maria, but she cut off one of its legs, throwing it off balance. She spun her spear around, then pointed it straight, and a tree root shot from the spear, killing the bear. The light user tried to hit her with a light beam, but the earth user restrained her with stone—and restrained the summoner as well.
The triplet who stayed to fight the fire user, Karma, closed in on the fire user, Greg. He shot beams at her and used a fire burst to keep his distance. He managed to land a fire strike on Karma's right arm. Now is my chance, he thought. He formed a lance of fire and threw it at Karma. She was barely recovering from the last attack. She noticed the lance coming and held her spear with two hands to block it. It made contact with the spear, and the impact sent her flying.
Greg created an explosion to make a smoke screen.
Karma thought, Wait, what is he planning? Where did he go? Wait—he's after Angela. I have to rush to help her.
Angela, the triplet fighting the sword user, had him cornered. He was about to lose, but in the distance, a red light appeared. The fire user unleashed a huge beam of fire toward Angela. She spun her spear, creating a blue water pattern, and used it to block the beam.
The sword user took the chance and was ready to strike.
Suddenly, the battle came to a halt. Ms. Mizukawa said they were done.
"Squad 3 wins by default. They captured three members from the opposing squad."
Everyone was confused. "Three?"
After the smoke cleared, they saw Karma holding Greg hostage with a spear to his head. Everyone was shocked, but the outcome was clear—Squad 3 won the battle.
She used a small green potion that shined brightly and threw it at the ground. The arena instantly repaired itself, looking brand new.
"Next, Squads 1 and 4, come up," said Ms. Mizukawa as another eight students walked to the center.
Yuzuki leaned toward Shinryu.
"Hey, what do you think about that fight? Was it good?"
Shinryu replied, "Yeah, sure… it was interesting."
Yuzuki looked back at the center, but she knew by Shinryu's dull expression that the fight hadn't interested him at all. His face somehow looked even more bored than usual.
Squad 4 was the second-strongest in the class. It consisted of three boys and one girl, who happened to be a noble. Squad 1, however, wasn't just the strongest; it included both of the king's daughters and both of the duke's daughters.
The battle began… and ten seconds later, Squad 1 had already won.
"It was to be expected," someone said.
"Yeah, they always win that fast. They're royalty, after all," another student added.
Yuzuki, Akihiro, and Katsuro watched with sparkling eyes, thinking about how cool Squad 1 was. Shinryu, on the other hand, showed only the slightest hint of interest—most of his thoughts were focused on how wasted Squad 4's potential was… and how many openings Squad 1 exposed despite their overwhelming power.
Ms. Mizukawa said, "Well, let's switch it up a bit. How about we have the new students go against some of you so we can see what both sides need to work on?"
Some students started ranting about showing the new kids who was boss. Others talked about showing off for Yuzuki. A few were straight-up scared of Shinryu because of his cold attitude.
Ms. Mizukawa pointed at Yuzuki and the first princess to the throne, Sayuri Tenshira.
"Both of you will have a one-on-one fight."
Yuzuki stood up with a bright smile. "Root for me, okay?" she said to Shinryu, giving him a wink.
She walked to the center, and Sayuri stepped forward as well.
A fight between one of the strongest first years and a rookie student was about to begin.
TO BE CONTINUED