Tournament part 1

"I heard that he appeared in some casual clothes,"

"Aldin came in armour, today is going to be interesting, I can't wait to see him take down those scum of the fifth tower,"

"I heard from one of my guard friends that they insulted Darvin to Aldin, that might be why Aldin is taking things so seriously, they messed up,"

These were among the discussions by the students which were all away from the earshot of the tower representatives.

After getting debriefed on the day's events they all went over to the arena, today was a great day for them. The fourth years were led to a waiting area where they would get ready for their matches.

Back at the main arena, Leon walked in with the tower masters who had a reserved spot and opposite to them were Aldin and Darvin seated ready to watch the match. All eyes were on Adin and Darvin, the tower master had their eyes locked on Aldin and Darvin.

Ivy had her eyes on Aldin who had a full set of armour, the armour was average to her but it was odd to see a third-tier mage with such great armour.

"I didn't know you gave them any armour," Ivy said.

"No, we do not, he hunted the beasts himself and also made the armour himself, the school had nothing to do with providing him anything," Leon said. "Aldin procured all that and more, he has helped in occurring materials for the school a lot,"

This shocked Ivy, the one she had presumed to have been Darvin was Aldin, the same Aldin which her student had attacked.

'That idiot was beaten by a first year, I hope this doesn't get out.' Ivy thought to herself and realisation showed on her face which brought Leon great joy.

Just then a guard walked over to Leon and whispered something to him.

'"Well, it seems I have to leave, the fourth years are ready and I will be taking the reign of the day's events," Leon said before walking away with the guard following behind him.

"I wonder what that batch holds?" Ilas asked.

"We just have to wait and watch the matches and see," Edna said.

Their representatives came back to meet their respective masters.

They all seemed gloomy as they walked in, this shocked the tower master and more so when they heard what had happened in the hall.

From what they had been told, throughout the session they would ignore the tower representatives, and avoid them like plagues and maintain groups.

"Even the nobles among them refused to be close to me," Bishop said to Ivy after narrating the events to her. "And some would send glares at me, this all seems weird,"

"And what about the others, how much luck did they have?" Ivy asked hoping to draw a pattern.

"They were all treated the same way," Bishop said. this caused Ivy to have a headache, she was unable to find any connection to the events. Just then Leon appeared on a floating light construct and was floating on one side of the arena devoid of people.

"Welcome all, today is a wonderful day. We are honoured by the presence of the tower masters."Leon said. The crowd burst into cheer.

"Today the fourth years will be taking a step out of the institution, their prowess will help them get into the mage towers of their choice. The event will be begun by now, may the best person win." Leon said and a display of light introduced the starting contestants.

Marco and Vincent came in from doorways on the sides of the arena, they had armour a set of armour.

In preparation for the tournament, they had gone hunting to get materials for forging their armour.

They walked to the centre of the arena where they stood face to face, from one of the other doorways Professor Dale walked in, he would be the day's referee.

"You both know the rules, so do your best out there, and remember there are eyes on you," Professor Dale said before floating slightly above the air where he signalled the beginning of the match.

Marco and Vincent bowed to each other then Aldin who raised his hand in approval and then finally to the tower masters.

Even though they did not particularly like them, they had to give their respects.

"Why did they both bow to Alidn and Darvin?" ilas asked. The tower masters were all confused except for the three who knew exactly why but had to act confused as well to not draw attention to themselves.

Marco and Vincent created some distance between themselves, the battle began when Vincent made ice shards on his side and fired them at Marco who dodged them by jumping in the air and using fire to propel himself

Vincent's shards ended up missing Marco, Marco proceeded to fly towards Vincent, he was confident in hod close-quarter combat skills. The shard that had missed though came flying after him, Marco ended up moving to the side to avoid getting struck in the back, others came from the front and using fireballs melted the ice shards. He fired fire arrows at Vincent who blocked them with water balls. In that span of a few seconds, Marco had formed several fireballs in the air and fired them at Vincent. Taking them head-on would leave him to bear the heat wave and so Marco chose to run to avoid the fireballs while also countering them with water balls.

After Vincent had dealt with them all he made several ice shards which he fired at Marco, as Marco was dealing with the shards Vincent fired a tiny bolt of lightning that paralyzed Marco's arm.

This made it harder for Marco to dodge any attacks after all he was down an arm and for a couple of seconds he was stunned which allowed Vincent to fire more, hitting Marco and causing him to lose coordination of his limbs.

Now that Marco was fully numbed he could only rely on his magic to keep him afloat. Vincent began to draw closer to attack at close range. Marco who was still a float could see Vincent's intention. He fired mini fireballs at Vincent as he drew closer but Vincent dodged them all until he was a few steps away.

He jumped up ready to use frostbite on Marco but Marco was prepared for him. Marco activated his rune, heat crush.

The area around Vincent instantly became scorching hot. The air became dry and Vincent now found it hard to breathe forcing him to retreat but Marco was not going to let go of him, the heat crush followed him as he moved. The air became scarcer making him light-headed and he fell to the ground of suffocation making Vincent the winner.

Marco brought himself lower but he still had to stay afloat since he did not have any control of his limbs.

Professor Dale came down.

"We have a winner, Marci Blastri!" Professor Dale shouted and the crowd went wild. Moments later Vincent woke up and the crowd went silent. Vincent stood up and realised that he had lost, his face went solemn.

"That kid has skills, too bad he wasn't able to deal with the final blow," Opius said.

"He would be a great addition with his attack speed," Edna said.

From out of nowhere Aldin began clapping, and the whole audience looked over at him.

Aldin stood up and gave Vincent a thumbs up.

"In a real battle don't hold back that much, use enough strength depending on your opponent, you've improved a lot," Aldin said before sitting back down. Now it was time for Marco to feel down, he would have liked to get Aldin's attention. They bowed at each other and then left the arena, Vincent smiling despite losing and Marco frowning despite winning.

"The behaviour seems odd, Aldin is just a first year, I don't think he should have such influence, and why do the students respect him so much," Ilas asked. This day was giving her a lot of surprises.

"Go call in Alice," Ivy said to Bishop.

Bishop left and came back with her a minute later.

"Tell me, when you left the academy, how was it," Ivy asked without looking back at her.

"Nobles were the rulers of the academy, the rest would live in the shadows, and Professor Ealy and Layla were all here," Alice said.

This was a very arrogant statement but Ivy tolerated it since she had the same beliefs.

"And I have to ask, what led to the mage's association head to be fired, I never got the details." Edna asked.

"He refused provide the academy with professors after a complaint some were released." Xander said. "The principal came to me after that and I saw it fit to released him too.

"And why were they fired." Ivy asked.

"Well that was because they had been harboring harassed and Aldin and Darvin made that complain and also dealt with some of them." Alastor.