Chapter 15

Most teachers have decided to start to include more dangerous missions for first, second and third years, while giving all the students limited news about the current situation of the central continent.

The elves are currently losing in the war, even though they have superior troops and magic. However the Kingdom of Seairon grows more powerful with new alliances that oppose the elves, they manage to block most of their trade routes reducing the effectiveness of the elves. As of right now the Continent is split into 3 giant alliances, the ones who side with Seairon, the ones who side with elven kind, and the neutralists who don't care for the war. Even some well known guilds have chosen sides instead of being neutral, this has affected the people as less monster killing quests are being accepted.

Ms. Reeves even talks about plans of getting the Great Northern Isles involved. She does warn how this war will surely remain for an additional decade with no side as clear winners, if the other continents don't show support.

Afterwards Ms. Reeves clarifies who will participate in the battle. As far as the students know its Class B's Akane Levia, Alexander Bloodmoon, Arthas Grey, Astra Sol, Brock Carson, Darius Raven, Drake Knight, Helena Infernious, John Reaper, Luke King, Marcus Cain, Rayner, and Rurena Zodrel.

Class D's Akuma Ursus, Ariel Elric, Celeste Durandus, Edvin Kightfall, Fjord Solberg, Hazel Stark, Justinus Elric, Kathrin Basilisk, Lance Bovidae, Lilith Nox, Gwen Willow, Roar Solberg, and Tywin Elric.

The teachers already gave the rules of the fight, anything goes, but no outside help, or killing, if someone is knocked unconscious for 10 seconds or gives up that person loses. Those not participating are asked to take a seat in the bleachers while the participants must wait outside the arena ring for their turn. The first match starts with the names of the current participants with a floating crystal displaying the participant's name allowing the students to see, 'Celeste Durandus vs Astra Sol'.

"Good luck, Astra!" Marcus shouts, soon followed by a supporting cheer from Sarah, Akane and a few others.

"Durandus? She's going to lose." John whispers to Marcus. Celeste walks onto the arena, clad in black and white draconic plate armor while wielding a two-handed war axe with several runes inscribed on the blade.

"What do you mean?" Marcus asks.

"She's facing a descendent of a foreigner. One of the strongest demons in history."

"How do you know?"

"I read it in a book once."

"Astra be careful." Arthas warns. "Don't underestimate her, she is extremely powerful even without her weapon."

"Thanks for the heads up, but I trained really hard so I'm confident that I can win." Astra wears a rose red and silvery white plate armor with an elegant red cape. She wields the silvery longsword with both hands in a resting position waiting for the match to start.

"Good luck Astra, you'll need it." Celeste says.

"Likewise."

"Start!" Ms. Reeves shouts. Celeste's axe glows purple for a moment, then she teleports behind Astra and swings her axe downward.

"Behind you." Celeste calls. Astra reacts, encasing her sword in wind to attempt to block the strike. The axe cracks through the wind and gets stopped by the blade, cracking it. Astra attempts to elbow Celeste, but misses. "Close."

In retaliation she swings her sword upward in an angle, noticing that Celeste is gone. Once again, Celeste appears behind her and swings her leg in a circular motion hitting the ribs and shoving her away. Astra retaliates with her fist only hitting the thin air. She observes the distance between her and Celeste.

"I can barely keep up." Astra states, before raising her sword once more. A stream of magenta colored flames emerge from Celeste's hand. Astra swings at the flames, releasing a blade of wind, the size of a person. Celeste sidesteps it with a smug grin.

"You need to make it faster," She suggests. "Like this." Celeste points two of her fingers at Astra. Magenta colored sparks flicker around her like lightning. A bolt of magenta colored lightning bursts front her fingertips piercing the air like a bullet and crashes into Astra, blasting her away. Astra collapses on the floor. After a few seconds she starts to stand, gathering strong winds in the process. Celeste grins and electricity begins to flicker around her, she gathers lightning into her hand.

"Ms. Reeves, what would happen if I interrupted the match?" Marcus asks.

"She would lose."

"That's fine." Marcus says.

"You're going to stop it?" John asks, grabbing Marcus' wrist.

"If I don't she might die."

"She won't kill her." Arthas interrupts. "Celeste will hurt her, but she won't kill, at least not unleash they're a dragon."

"How can we be sure?" Marcus argues.

"If you care about Astra, then you'll do nothing. Saving her will just insult her." Arthas replies. "Think of her pride."

"He's right Marcus. You're overprotective and impulsive." John states. "If she loses then that will be a great lesson for her."

Celeste releases a bolt of lightning towards Astra, she tries to block it with a blast of wind, but her reaction is too slow and the amount she gathers isn't enough to divert the attack. Celeste wins the match without much effort. Astra is teleported away to the health room and the second match begins right away. The names appeared for everyone once more. 'Lilith Nox vs Alexander Bloodmoon'.

Alexander enters the stage in his white trench coat over red leather armor, sword ready. Lilith nervously joins the stage wearing a midnight blue and black combat dress with several flower-like sigils along the edges. A pair of gloves with gauntlets and boots of similar color to her dress. She has her hair in a ponytail tied with a dark blue ribbon.

"Start!" Ms. Reeves yells.

Alexander charges in attempting to slash at Lilith. She reacts by dodging the strikes and counter attacking with her fist. Each strike she lands is temporarily coated in intense bright, blue flames. Alexander falls prone from her attacks. Lilith slams her foot towards Alexander. Beneath him bright, blue flames began to burst out of the ground in the shape of a pillar. Alexander shifts into multiple bats maneuvering outside of the radius, before combining back into his normal body.

Alexander creates a dark pink bat-like creature made out of wind. The bat shouts, releasing pulses of powerful winds. Lilith is forced prone as Alexander sends a wheel of dark pink flames getting larger as it gains distance. Lilith takes the impact with a flaming barrier. She lunges and prepares a strong punch, encasing her fist in blue flames.

Alexander shifts into multiple bats again and reforms above Lilith. In an instant he conjures as much wind as possible in a short amount of time and releases it. A massive wave of dark pink wind crashes down on top of Lilith cracking the entire ring. Lilith lays unconscious with Alexander standing victorious holding his head. Lilith is teleported and the next match begins. 'Akuma Ursus Vs Brock Carson' appears for everyone. Luke pants Brock on the back.

"Knock 'em dead." Luke encourages. Akuma has long, wavy brown hair and honey colored eyes. He takes off his shirt revealing a large, beefy body, he looks like he could kill a bear unarmed. Brock enters with his leather armor. He emanates a turquoise colored aura flexing his fist.

"Well he lost." Drake claims.

"Why?" Luke asks.

"I fought Akuma before. He doesn't talk much, but he's a very aggressive fighter. I could barely keep up with the speed of the battle. I had no time to think."

"Hmm." Luke worries.

"Start!" Akuma slams his fist together and charges towards Brock. Brock steps in punching Akuma's face then his ribs. Akuma endures the strikes and grabs Brock's arm and slams his head with Brock's. Akuma stomps the ground and it gets jagged, and more compact. Akuma continues his pursuit by picking Brock up from the neck and slamming him into the jagged ground creating a small sized crater. Akuma starts to close his fist and a few moments of nothing happens until lava bursts through the ground and wraps itself upon Akuma's right fist.

Brock coats a large amount of energy into his fists and leaves his body semi-defenceless. Akuma starts to swing his fist towards Brock, as he did the same to counter, but rocks burst forth gripping Brock in place. He instantly focuses his energy to defense knowing he has to endure the blunt force to continue. The impact generates a shockwave that blows air into the audience's faces. Brock is teleported and the next match begins with the words 'Lance Bovidae Vs Drake Knight'.

Drake dressed in red and white plate armor waiting for Lance to enter. Drake draws his longsword waiting for the match to begin. Lance enters clad in bronze armor with a bison styled helmet, wielding a hammer in one hand.

"Saw you dancing with that thing during homecoming, you got feelings for it or something." Lance says, looking at Nora Grey. Nora looks away in shame. Drake glances at Nora before glaring at Lance. "Oh come on, you can't actually be serious. You've been enslaved by the bi-"

"Ten seconds, that's all I'm going to give you to take that back." Drake threatens, sheathing his sword.

"You think you can threaten me?" Orange mist starts to emanate from Drake. As the rubble around him slowly drifts upwards.

"Start!" Drake in a flash closes the gap between them and strikes Lance, in the face cracking his helmet while dragging him into the ground causing a crater to appear. In addition, his starting location is cracked making it difficult to terrain. He grabs Lance's clothes and throws him into the air.

"You're all talk!" Drake yells as he leaps above Lance. Drake cups his hands together and similar to an axe he swings down onto Lance's back. Lance crashes onto the ground surrounded by dust. Lance lays prone, unable to move.

"One more hit!" Marcus yells. With Drake's swift victory, the matches continue with two points for each class. 'Roar Solberg Vs Helena Infernious'. Helena wears her battle dress wielding her metallic spear. Roar is clad with bronze colored armor and a dark red cape. He also wields a halberd.

"Don't lose!" Rin shouts.

"Do your best!" Momo shouts.

"Start!" Roar a reddish orange aura coating him. Helena charges into him parrying the halberd trying to close the gap between them. Roar attempts to hit her with his fist as both their weapons are pointing to the side, but she dodges him with ease and disarms him.

"On your knees." Helena says as she manifests spears made of royal purple flames and maneuvers it to pierce Roar's legs and pinning him to the ground. He falls to his knees, trying not to let out his pain. He strikes her armor and releases a pulse of reddish orange energy generating a shockwave. Helena endures the attack and twists his arm. She manifests another flaming spear that pierces his hand, holding him in place before aiming her metallic spear down at his chest.

"Surrender. A human can't beat me." Helena demands. Conjuring 3 more flaming spears, each aiming at him.

"I surrender." Roar complies. She grins before glancing at John.

"How'd I do!" Helena yells running to John.

"You did great, but did you have to humiliate him?"

"Of course I did, how else is a human supposed to learn that demons are superior."

"But, I'm a human." Drake interrupts.

"Don't get your hopes up, the demon you fought was of low rank."

"How would you know?"

"I recognize his name. He's lucky to even be out here." Helena responds as she reads the next match before grinning. 'Hazel Stark Vs John Reaper' Helena hugs John from behind. "Good luck." She whispers.

"Thanks." John says before he enters the arena wearing his usual combat uniform. Hazel walks up waiting for John. He has black hair slightly long, with strands of silver, but neat. His dark blue eyes have speckles of gold drizzled onto them. He is wearing a dark blue trench coat over black plate armor with silver highlights. He draws two longswords on his back both angled in the same directions.

The sword in his right hand has a dark blue blade with crystal blue lightning patterns. The left handed sword has a black blade with golden lightning patterns. The grips for each sword were made of black leather while the pommels were round with a thunderous design inscribed into it and the swords crossguards were shaped to be similar to that of a lightning bolt.

John readies to draw his katana, Yami, waiting for the right time to strike. He focuses on his breathing and starts to increase the temperature around himself, melting the loose rubble. Hazel responds and his hair stands up becoming spikier with many crystal blue colored electrical sparks constantly flickering around his body. His eyes begin to inhabit a streak of crystal blue lightning.

"Start!" Hazel, in a flash, appears beside John, with both swords drawn, leaving a cracked trail from his original position. John draws his blade at that moment as if he predicts Hazel's movement, pivoting his body to strike Hazel. Hazel, widens his eyes by the action and blocks John's slash with one sword and thrust with the other. Before the blade could reach his body, John uses the surrounding heat to create a large explosion of flames. Hazel leaps out of the way dodging the radius. In a flash, he reappears and slashes across John's chest in an X fashion.

John grabs Hazel's wrist and water-like tentacles wrap themselves around Hazel's limbs. John stabs Hazel's leg to reduce his movement. Hazel unleashes an electrical discharge, with lightning expanding into a dome. John tries to endure the damage while maintaining his grasp on Hazel, crushing his limbs. Noticing that John won't quit, Hazel unleashes a more potent discharge. Hazel breaks free and creates a distance between himself and John.

John creates flames encasing himself. He sheaths Yami and enters a position where he could draw in it again in a quick fashion, flames start to gather and interweave forming into a dragon skull shape. Hazel coats his body and weapons with electricity. He dashes in a jagged fashion with a trail of lightning behind him. John is unable to track his movements. John tries to predict his position and draws the sword blasting the dragon skull. Hazel maneuvers around the dragon's head and slashes John's chest, before thrusting his other sword into him. Hazel presses on the attack, John retaliates with aggression. He burns with wide attacks and cuts with luck on his side, but not nearly enough to balance out the damage he has taken.

John disappears, with Hazel standing victorious dressed in cuts and burns, he limps to his classmates who congratulate him. One of the school nurses begins to heal Hazel as he leans on the wall. Class B stares with silence in the air. The next match was beginning with 'Kathrin Basilisk vs Arthas Grey'. Arthas wears black and silver armor that's customized around his tail. Kathrin is wearing a white duangua with a red piping top, black gauntlets with a fiery design, a black duangua bottom and black boots. She draws her katana and prepares for the fight. "Start!"

Arthas creates a layer of dense white blue colored ice, creeping towards Kathrin. She surrounds herself in a pillar of light purple flames, melting the ice around her. She dashes towards Arthas, melting the ice in front of her. Arthas swings his greatsword, barely missing as she leaps over the blade. Mid-air she creates three light purple misty creatures, with a fiery wolf-like feature across their faces. Arthas encases himself with layers of ice as the creatures attack, denting the cage. Arthas blasts the case open, blasting shards, and bulks of ice everywhere. Kathrin shields herself with her flames, still mid-air, getting sent further away.

Arthas turns to face her and aims his arm towards her. His arm trembles, as the muscles bulge, breaking his armor and his skin starts to shed, revealing pure white scales, as his hand becomes similar to a claw. White blue colored electrical sparks constantly flicker around his new arm. A streak of lightning shoots from his palm. Kathrin attempts to dodge it, but she's unable to react in time. It's fast, but not nearly as fast as Celeste's lightning. As she disappears Arthas' arm returns to normal.

'Ariel Elric Vs Darius Raven' Darius walks onto the stage clothed in bulky, gold and black armor. Ariel walks dressed in a suit of silver-colored, full plate armor, with obsidian-colored highlights, and a white robe over it with a hood over her head, revealing strains of long blue hair, and a plain white mask hiding her face, except for her blue eyes. She carries a beautiful wooden scepter with a masterfully crafted blue gem that looks similar to the ocean on a clear day.

"Start!" Ariel waves her scepter and she conjures four magic circles. Rayner's interest peaks observing the different circles. Elemental creatures emerge from the circles each as large as a truck. Each creature has their respective element condensed into a core where most of their shape spreads from. The core is usually in the center of the creature protected from harm.

The earth one has large chunks of rocks shaping its large humanoid figure, with several condensed smaller ones adding the details on it. Dirty yellow energy connects the rocks allowing them to retain the shape. The fire one has natural flames shaping its figure similar to a lion, with solidified flames acting as extra detail. The water one has its deep blue water shaped into a giant snail, with its shell acting as a whirlpool. The wind one has light gray wind shaped into a butterfly with darker shades of wind outlining its wings.

"Each of those creatures are at least Gold D rank." Rayner states. Darius speechless, steps back. He releases a barrage of wind-like arrows having little to no effect on the creatures. He manages to dodge some strikes from them and as a final effort decides to unleash a rain of spears onto Ariel. She doesn't flinch, instead she creates a single whitish blue tentacle large enough to block all the spears. The match ends with Ariel's perfect victory.

The next match is with 'Gwen Willow Vs Akane Levia'. Gwen has short black hair, with light brown eyes. She is wearing red and grey armor with black boots. She draws her sword and enters a stance. Akane faces her unarmed and in her school attire.

"Start!" Akane shoots a dozen slashes of teal colored wind. Gwen covers herself in hot pink-like aura, and parries each projectile. Gwen yells, holding her hand in the air.

"Comfort Niko!" A large, reddish, orange snake-like, wingless dragon emerges. Its length could undoubtedly rival 15 feet and its eyes are like miniature suns. Akane blasts a teal colored tornado that torpedoes towards them. Niko intercepts the attack with its body, enduring the damage, while Gwen dashes towards Akane. Akane manages to dodge every strike and land a few hits in with every little opening. Finally, Akane ensnares Gwen in a ball of teal water, after tripping her. Niko glances over to the battle. He charges a fiery attack that rushes to Akane. She manages to reduce the brunt of the impact on her with a wall of water, though it's obvious that she still endured a lot of damage. Niko speaks in a calming, wise voice.

"Unleash your energy." Gwen struggles to break out, wasting movement and air flailing around. "Gwen, focus! Unleash your energy and you can free yourself." Gwen nods and stops her movement. The aura that covers her grows spiker and larger, only to stop as she begins to faint. Gwen disappears with Akane's victory, Niko shakes his head and soon disappears with Gwen.

"Congratulations on the victory." Arthas says.

"Thanks, I was lucky though. If that dragon actually interfered I would have lost."

"Most likely." Marcus says.

"Ay!" Arthas yells.

"What? I just said the truth."

"That's not the point. You're supposed to be supportive."

"Meh, she won anyway." The names of the next pairs appear 'Edvin Kightfall vs Rayner'. "Good luck."

"Yeah, let's hope I don't need it." Rayner wears light brown armor with a green robe over his clothing. Edvin wears a dark green robe.

"Start!"

"Magic is off limits for you." Edvin states.

"Why?" Rayner asks.

"Because your source to it is greater than mine."

"You're proficient in magic as well? Great, that means this'll be more entertaining." A magic circle appears in the air and lightning starts to bolt out towards Edvin. He stands still as a hexagonic barrier protects him from the impact. A magic circle appears on his hand and dozens of streaks of fire sprout out flying towards Rayner. Rayner summons a wall of water that blocks the attack, then conjures multiple circles that shoot beams of cold energy freezing the ground as it travels to Edvin. Edvin conjures circles around himself. Rayner smiles and closes his fist.

The ground starts to quake. The ground beneath Edvin crumbles and the beams of energy collide with the flickering magic circles. The beams pierce through, encasing parts of Edvins limbs in ice. Rayner then conjures a large circle summoning a storm of lightning, every few seconds streaks of lightning strike down onto Edvin crashing against a barrier. The thunderous roars of the strikes echo far and wide as they pierce the air. Rayner's victory was soon announced.

"Nice fight! Not sure how you lost to Luke with those tricks." Arthas says.

"He beat me before I could do anything." Rayner claims. 'Justinus Elric Vs Luke King' Luke walks towards the worn battle arena waiting for his opponent. Justinus is dressed in a suit of copper-colored, full plate armor with obsidian-colored highlights. He wears a blue jay-shaped helmet that hides his face. Additionally, the armor is made in a way, where his ocean blue colored wings are free to spread. He carries a silver greatsword with ocean colored, wave-like patterns fused into the blade.

"Do you think he'll win?" Akane asks.

"Hopefully." Drake says.

"I don't know? His opponent is siblings with that Ariel chick, so he must be at least around her level and it looks like we didn't even see her full strength." Arthas comments.

"Don't be so negative." Marcus interrupts.

"Start!" Luke encases his arm to create a blade of solid flames. Justinus shoots five bolts of white lightning into the sky, after a moment they hover in place, changing shape to become floating bolts of swords. Luke bursts up towards Justinus and prepares to slash with his arm. Justinus responds by swinging downward only for Luke to maneuver to the side dodging the strike and finding an opening. Luke thrusts his arm changing the blade into a spear simultaneously. One of the lightning swords bolt towards Luke crashing into his shoulder, releasing a thunderous roar as it travels. Luke's spear manages to pierce the armor, digging into the flesh before dispersing to embers. Once Luke recovers from his prone position another strong impact collides with him.

Justinus touches his cauterized wound, noticing very little amount of blood. He waves his hand over his greatsword coating it in white lightning.

"Not bad. I haven't been wounded in a while."

"Good for you. There'll be a lot more coming right up." Luke responds.

"No, I don't think there will be." Justinus motions his hand sending the rest of the blades. Luke fires several bird-like projectiles to counteract the attack. Though it proved to be futile as the blades thrust through the projectiles. Luke maneuvers around dodging the blade's impact. He nears Justinus and directs a powerful stream of blue flames. The destructive force it emits, widens most of the spectators faces. The ground melts as its roar pollutes the air. Its size could easily engulf a crowd.

Justinus digs his sword into the ground and waves of electrical discharges pulse outwards in a dome-like fashion. The lightning shoves though the flames, though not stopping its rampage. Luke dishes out blasts of flames to halt the pulsing waves. Each wave collides with Luke, knocking him unconscious after a few strikes. Justinus stands victorious with parts of his armor melted. His blue wavy hair is exposed by the missing fragments of his helmet. He glares at Luke with his red eyes.

"He lost?" Marcus questions as the next match is revealed. 'Tywin Elric Vs Marcus Cain' Arthas glances at Marcus, who is already making his way to the stage.

"Be careful!"Arthas yells.

"Fuck me, I'll try." Marcus answers. Tywin has vibrant yellow eyes. He's dressed in a suit of obsidian-colored, full plate armor with gold-colored highlights. He wears a barbuta helmet with a visor and has metallic wings attached to the sides. In a similar fashion to Justinus' armor, his is made in a way where his ocean blue colored wings are free.

"Start!" Marcus encases his arm in wind, before dashing towards Tywin. Tywin stabs the ground with his spear and aims his hand at Marcus and white flames shaped into a comet appear in his hand with a moment of flickering lightning as he pours more power into it. The size never changes, but the intensity grows. Marcus thrusts his arm forward continuing to gather wind as he extends it. A blast of wind, about twice the size of Marcus, is released with Marcus' full thrust. Tywin shoots a massive, fire stream. The rocks beneath Tywin spring up, spiked, aiming at him. Tywin releases a surge of flames from his body melting the rocks before they hit him. Marcus appears above the clashing wind and flames, and springs off the air towards Tywin. He starts to gather wind around himself using his legs as the focal point. Tywin glances up and sees Marcus piercing the air like an arrow. He coats his arm in flames readying for Marcus.

Tywin dodges the collision only being affected by the shockwave which pushes him back a good distance. Once Marcus recovers his footing, he searches for Tywin frantically. Tywin, with a burst of flames, appears next to Marcus and strikes him into the ground with a single strike. Marcus condenses wind around his fist and punches Tywin as he feels himself falling. Tywin's helmet shatters with blood flowing from his mouth and revealing his blue hair. In a calm manner he holds Marcus down with one of his hands and rapidly strikes Marcus with the other, with the fist being coated in searing white flames. Each attempt to escape was met with a more severe strike. After a dozen or so strikes he releases a wave of flames engulfing Marcus, and with that the match ends with Tywin's victory.

The injured wake up in a white room with doctors and nurses treating the students. Those in extremely bad conditions had magic cast upon them or had to drink a large potion.

"So you lost as well?" John comments walking over to Marcus.

"Yeah, I lost to Tywin." Marcus responds as he is getting out of the bed he is currently laying in. The beds had several magic circles carved into them, this was made so healing could be done even without a nurse.

"We got to train harder." Luke interrupts. Marcus glances at him and nods.

"Yeah."

"Well, if it isn't Marcus." Astra speaks. "I thought you couldn't lose."

"I know that I may seem strong, but I assure you I could lose to an unbelievable amount of people with my current strength." Marcus responds. "That doesn't matter right now. Do we know who won the last match?"

"No one has come to this room since you." John says. In that moment, a magic circle appears on a bed and with it a damaged body. Not of Rurena, but of her opponent.

"We won?" Astra questions.

"Yep, somehow." Luke answers.