CRUNCH!
The ground underneath the copy Frost Fang gives in, causing a shockwave throughout the arena, making students fall to the ground. Leena, Zephyr, and I stand our ground but feel slightly shaken. We notice the dragon going in for the killing blow on the light blue-haired girl.
"Eat this!" A loud, energetic voice rings out from the air near where the girl is located. A guy wearing a stylish red cloak swoops in from above with raging flames covering his hands and feet.
"Sixth level affinity magic, axel of flames!" the young man shouts as his flaming foot smashes right on top of copy Frost Fang's head.
The impact roars like a cannon as the force pushes copy Frost Fang to the ground. As the dust settles, the copy of Frost Fang appears knocked out. Leena, Zephyr, and I rush over to the girl and the fire guy.
As we run over, we notice the fire guy kneeling next to the light blue-haired girl. The fire guy produces a rose made of gentle flames. He then turns the rose of fire into several butterflies made of flames, which dance around the blue-haired girl before bursting into small fireworks in the air.
"That's my little brother, he is flirty because he is the first year prince charming of Keeper Academy," Leena says while chuckling.
The group walks over to the fire guy and blue-haired girl. The fire guy stands up, wiping dust from his fashionable red cloak. "Hey, sister! Who are these lovely people?" the fire guy says to Leena.
"These are my friends. This is Zephyr and this is Nico," Leena explains while gesturing toward us.
"Nice to meet you guys! My name is Matteo Grey. Second son of the House of Grey and little brother to Ignis Grey and, of course—" Matteo pauses while putting his arm around Leena's shoulder, "this girl right here."
Leena laughs and punches Matteo lightly in the stomach.
Looks like true siblings right here.
"Hey, Matteo, thanks for saving me," the blue-haired girl says to Matteo.
He turns toward the girl and winks at her while saying, "I would save you any time, Neve." Matteo creates a heart made of flame and throws it into the air as it explodes into sparks.
"Stop being so flirty, bro," Leena says while elbowing Matteo in the gut, making him bend over for a second.
"Humph," Matteo protests against the pain.
"Anyway, it's nice to officially meet ya, Neve! Please don't mind my little brother," Leena says to her as they shake hands.
"It is okay, Leena," Neve says while slightly blushing and looking away. "My name is Neve Frost. I am the third daughter from the House of Frost," Neve says to Zephyr and me in a quiet voice.
Frost, Uracain, and Grey are all very familiar names. If I remember correctly, they are names of noble families with a Duke as the head. My hand slaps my face. Why am I a part of a group of the most powerful first years?!
"Time is up! The remaining students pass the initial test. However, the actual test begins now. We will not exterminate the copy of Frost Fang. You first years must do it yourself. You have one person from the upperclassmen who will step in to help you all if needed," the combat instructor announces.
"You should consider yourselves very grateful. The last piece of advice, don't turn away from it," the combat instructor declares as the Keepers disappear.
This is great. Now we have to fight it ourselves along with a third year.
A tall handsome guy with a gigantic sword on his back over his crimson cloak and armor comes into view.
As the crimson-armored man approaches, people began to cheer and talk to each other. This man is none other than Ignis Grey himself. I spot his appearance in the academy's newspaper multiple times.
"Hello everyone! I shall supervise your fight with the copy of Frost Fang today. If things get too bad, I will step in to take care of it," Ignis says with a powerful, enchanting voice.
Everyone cheers and feels motivated again to defeat the copy of Frost Fang. However, the motivation they are given is taken away as soon as a sudden scream rings out.
The ice dragon is awake again, angrier than ever. It roars so loudly that it sounds like multiple explosions are happening right next to us. The copy of Frost Fang is no longer playing nice with us now. Light blue magic ice radiates from its skin, instantly freezing students within a fifty-foot radius of the dragon.
It takes Zephyr's repelling wind magic, Leena's and Matteo's fire magic, as well as my small fire magic to keep ourselves from freezing.
Only our small group and around twenty-five other students escape being knocked out, frozen, or severely injured. Considering we started with a hundred noble students, we are down a lot.
We need to end this soon; I think to myself as I hold up my arm to deflect the constant cold pressure applying to us from every angle.
Ice creeps up onto my arm. The only person not affected by the ice magic is Neve Frost, which is understandable. It also renders her magic useless against an ice-type magical monster.
Ten more minutes pass, and we are still stuck in the same situation.
However, this time, we are down to our last drops of mana.
Matteo drops to one knee. His fire magic takes so much mana out of him he becomes too exhausted trying to protect the rest of us with his flames. Leena can keep going because of her mana capacity, but that too is going to run out soon.
Ignis sees his little brother Matteo drop to his knee. His hand and wand frozen because of the dragon.
That is the last straw for Ignis to take action.
He pulls out his sword from his scabbard.
The sword slices the air as Ignis aims it toward the sky. "Ninth level affinity magic, Phoenix Sacrifice!" Ignis says, his voice booming across the academy. Immediately upon the chant, massive raging red and orange flames consume his body and his sword.
Ignis is now a walking tornado of flames that radiates strong crimson energy in the shape of a phoenix, burning the surroundings as if they are feathers.
Ignis digs his feet deep into the ground as he places his sword at his side, ready to slash the dragon. He bolts from his position to the copy of Frost Fang. He looks like a fireball himself being cast at the dragon, except this fireball is about to explode with the power of the sun, transferring it to the copy of Frost Fang.
I see the fear in the dragon's eyes for a split second. I feel bad for him.
SLASH! BOOM!
The second Ignis's sword of raging flames slices into the dragon, the dragon explodes into hundreds of pieces. The pieces of the dragon burn into thin air from the raging flames. Ignis's body returns to normal, but not without Ignis falling to the ground while passing out. Ignis may have fallen, but he still defeated an A-level dragon in one blow.
No wonder he is a top-five academy student, I think to myself as we all rush over to see if he is alright.
As soon as we defeat the dragon, our combat instructor appears in front of us, saying, "Good job. You have passed the first test. This is only the beginning if you want to defeat the Eradicators. None of you are in danger of being expelled again. However, if you perform badly on future tests, your grades will suffer."
Our combat instructor gives orders to have Ignis sent to the hospital instantly, which I guess wouldn't have happened if it were other students. They provide minimal care for the other noble students.
The words of our combat instructor echo in my brain. Honestly, the irony of the words spoken by the combat instructor could not be funnier. The Eradicators, in disguise as Keepers, are training us to fight dragons so they can deal with them first before crushing humanity.
Our small group appears completely drained and injured as the Keepers depart.
"Let's all get some rest," I tell everyone as we help each other stand up because of exhaustion. We all head back to our dorms and wave goodbye to each other.
Tomorrow we thankfully do not have a combat class. Leena, Zephyr, Matteo, and Neve all agree to meet up tomorrow to hang out after we sleep in. Having some friends in a chaotic place of established order in a place like this shouldn't be too bad.
I need to get so much stronger; I tell myself as I shiver under the covers.