The first day of the Noble Class Placement Exams has arrived. I think the feeling of uneasiness will slowly fade away, but it gets worse. Every step I take into the arena feels like I am drowning deeper and deeper into the abyss, with a heavy stone tied to my back.
The arena is quite small, but still grand. Translucent-like magic barriers surround the arena. Noble class students sit in the stands to watch the duel.
Tsk, the Nobles always find some way to entertain themselves. Are they here to amuse themselves, to watch people of a lower-class fight to join their status level?
Are they here to observe potential threats? I shake my head at these thoughts and continue onward into the middle of the arena where the Principal Keeper is waiting for me. I pause about 50 feet from him.
"Right on time," the Principal Keeper says to me as he looks at his watch and then at me with a stony gaze. "Use your dark magic," he says.
In response, I say nothing. I nod and look at him like a robot waiting to be told what to do. The pain I have to endure now will be nothing compared to the venomous pain you will experience, I think to myself as I look at him.
The Principal Keeper turns his gaze away from me to look to his right. My eyes follow his gaze.
My eyes turn a darker shade as I notice Colin West appear on the other side of the Principal Keeper, opposite me. Colin West is the prodigy water magic user who focuses on ice and can use seventh level affinity techniques.
If you aren't familiar with affinity levels, it is essentially a way to measure the power and skill of one's technique based on their foundational attribute and focus attribute.
For example, seventh level affinity water magic is the difference between creating a circle of deadly ice swords that can pierce through almost anything and summoning snowballs. For reference, my fire magic is only third level affinity. The highest known level is ten.
In other words, if I used just fire magic I would instantly be defeated.
My eyes crunch up slightly as Colin stops walking.
We are about 100 feet away from each other, with only the Principal Keeper in the way from us tearing each other apart for the glory of joining the Noble class.
The Noble students go quiet as the Principal Keeper raises his hand for silence. It is so calm in the moment that you can hear people breathing from afar.
The Principal Keeper slowly lowers his hand. The brief silence following this movement lasts an eternity for me.
"Welcome, students of nobility, to the first duel of the Noble Class Placement Exams, where you can watch your fellow peers fight to determine who can join your inner circles. Let the duel begin!"
"Ice Over!" Colin immediately shouts at me. The tip of his wand started glowing light blue. The cold feeling immediately hit me. What is this?! I look at my body, which is slowly being covered in ice. I grimace at the painful feeling of the cold.
If you didn't know, using basic magic does not require a chant. You can still use a chant if you are stylish though.
However, you must use a chant if the magic is of sixth level affinity or higher. The higher the affinity, the longer the chant.
I summon small flames from my wand before my hand completely ices over. The orange flames flicker desperately against the ice, freezing over my body. Colin rushes toward me and lunges at me with physical enhancement magic. I feel the impact of his fist connecting with my gut before I can even process it.
The ice that is chaining me to the ground breaks, but my body goes flying into the wall of the arena.
Smack!
My head rings. I am on the ground. It is like I am standing next to thousands of large bells ringing in my ears. My vision blurs slightly. My arms will themselves to pick me up to get back into a standing position.
As my vision clears again, I notice Colin smirking at me.
My eyes widen in shock. The laughter from the nobles in the background is unbearable as well. My fists instinctively clench themselves together.
"You should give up," Colin says to me while smirking. "Only the strong deserve to exist in this world." He twirls his wand in his hand and then points it at my throat. "I shall give you mercy and end this stupid duel right now." An aggressive ball of water forms at the tips of his glowing wand.
The ball of water keeps growing and growing and growing until there is no way I can dodge it, only block it.
"Seventh affinity level magic, Tsunami of Terror!" Colin shouts at me as the gigantic ball of water shoots at me. I summon the strongest wall of flames I can without losing control. The ball of water crashes into me heavily with a large thud. I feel like the ball of water is trying to consume my life force, stealing my breath. After what feels like an eternity, I slam into the ground, breaking apart the water ball.
My body is on the ground, drenched in water. I feel like I am truly dying.
It took everything I had in me to not let go of my wand.
Colin just crosses his arms as he watches me slowly climb back to my feet. My eyes grow dark as I stare daggers at him. My attempt to summon fireballs is futile because of the weakness of the power behind it. My body is too in shock to aim properly.
Colin forms an ice spear with a flick of his wrist and throws it at me. Just as I think I am a goner, I feel the unleashed strange power urging me to use it. It is urging me to let it take over. This one moment I can decide to lose or win, but at the potential cost of horrific damage. The scene of Dustin's bloody face flashes into my mind. I don't want to use this power, but I need it to advance.
Ultimately, I need to win this duel to achieve my goal of overthrowing the true Eradicators. The Eradicators are posing as the Keepers.
The very thought of them stirs up so much anger within me. I feel the dark magic rising up within me. In an instant, I was covered in a protective aura of dark magic. Colin's face looks priceless as he watches his ice spear break easily from my dark energy shield. I collapse to my knee in exhaustion while still being enveloped in the aura.
I barely can hold onto my magic.
I know I cannot last long in this state, so I have to act quickly. My body is shaking from exhaustion, yet it is shaking with power. Colin's eyes cautiously observe me. He summons a shield made of rock-hard ice. This is the defining moment, I tell myself as I gather every bit of mana to transform my wand into a scythe of darkness.