Episode two starts but... (Part 1)

The arena was already filled with a lot of students, animated to see the massive fight start. Raziel shared the same excitement, as this was going to be his first time watching an anime-like fight in person.

Just thinking about it made his heart race. To others, this might sound a little strange, as they were familiar with these types of fights, but to an otaku like him, this was going to be the coolest thing ever.

He was sitting among other students in the high part of the arena grandstand, which was much more comfortable than the plastic chairs commonly used in his original world. The luxurious seating showed just how wealthy this place really was.

Aside from that, some students could be seen selling snacks like popcorn, candies, lollipops, and even barbecue. Of course, he bought some to enjoy the show.

While he adjusted his snacks, strange white circles displaying unknown drawings showed up in the sky. A male voice announced loudly to the audience, using a sound enhancement spell to reach everyone clearly.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Revery Academy Arena! We are delighted to have your presence here today because in a few minutes, the Qualifiers will officially begin," the announcer's tone brimmed with excitement. "So, without further ado, let's welcome our eighty-four participants into the arena!"

After the announcer finished speaking, a large yellow magic circle appeared in the middle of the arena, and instantly, several individuals materialized above it. Once everyone had arrived, the circle began to fade away. With that, the announcer resumed speaking.

"Now that the participants are present, we're almost ready to start the event. But before that, let's follow the annual tradition of hearing some motivational words from our current headmaster."

In a specific spot of the arena, resembling a balcony adorned with curtains and something akin to a throne, a mysterious person began to appear, followed by two individuals wearing a full knight golden armor, each wielding a golden battle axe.

The mysterious man was dressed in a luxurious, dark robe embellished with golden accents and intricate embroidery. He wore a silver mask that covered most of his face, intricately designed and adorned with patterns. His hands were also covered by lightly transparent white gloves.

All the students fell silent when the man appeared, his presence make the atmosphere heavy. Raziel could immediately sense how powerful this man was, even without trying to feel his mana.

The mysterious man stepped to the edge of the balcony and spoke, his voice enhanced by a spell, "Hello, dear students. My name is Holdwin Veltecrasa, the current headmaster of the Revery Academy. I'm sure most of you know me, but a mage always has to show pride by announcing their name."

His statement filled the mages in the crowd with pride, but the other primary class users didn't feel upset, as they sensed no disdain in the headmaster's words.

"Today, we are going to start our first day of the qualifiers, beginning with the students of the first year. As tradition demands, I will give a brief speech before the main event begins."

With a husky and calm voice, the man addressed the crowd, maintaining a noble posture as he held his cane with both hands, moving his head slowly to emphasize his words.

While Holdwin delivered a powerful and emotive speech, Raziel grew tired of listening, prompting him to retrieve a novel from his interdimensional ring. Some students beside him noticed and whispered about how audacious he was to ignore the words of such a respected and important figure like the headmaster.

As Holdwin finished his speech and explained some of the rules, he took his seat on the supposed throne. Then, lifting his right hand, he recited a powerful spell.

"<Dimensire Truitas>!"

The current arena where the first-year students were was enveloped in a very dark dome, and various floating magic screens appeared for the public to see.

All the participants were transferred to another dimension known as Unnatural Heaven to fight in more challenging environments.

Raziel, who had noticed the start of the fight, stopped reading and stared at one of the large magical screens floating around the dome, displaying images of the students scattered across various locations.

"Well, usually transmigrated characters would have participated in this because the system would oblige them. But being a spectator isn't bad. I can enjoy this delicious chicken barbecue and this large popcorn."

While murmuring to himself, the announcer signaled the start of the fight, causing all the participants who were spread across environments such as jungle, desert, snowy terrain, abandoned city, and swamp to seek out their own battles.

To prevent people from hiding, if you stay in one place for too long, your location will be revealed by a blue beacon to others, and everyone in the dimension will try to find you. If you get knocked out, you're out of the competition.

While eating, Raziel noticed someone familiar on a different screen, accompanied by two other individuals. This caught his attention, prompting him to focus more closely on that particular screen.

"Oh, I know this guy. His name is Javier Villacrés, the strongest summoner in the first year," Raziel murmured while chewing on some popcorn.

"If I remember correctly, he can summon a demonic fire cheetah and increase his speed because of that beast."

On the screen, Javier was running alongside his two friends in a snowy environment, using his summoning powers. Suddenly, he sensed something approaching from his right, aimed at his head. He quickly jumped, executing a backflip and rolling in the snow to evade the attack.

A bright light passed by him with notable speed, causing him to turn towards the direction from which the projectile came. Four people stood at a considerable distance; one of them was holding a wand and casting another warm light ball.

With notable agility, Javier jumped from the snowy ground and in the air started to summon his beast, saying, "<For the contract between me and Hellish Spirit, I summon my spiritual beast, Fiuker!>"

On the ground, a red, bright circle with intricate symbols appeared, causing Raziel, who was watching, to remember his encounter with Anya.

From the bright circle, a big red cheetah around two meters in size appeared, roaring fire from its breath. This sight made the caster tremble, but he managed to continue reciting his magic while the other three members ran forward with swords to attack the beast.

Javier landed on his familiar with a superhero landing and said aloud, "Gatito, get these idiots." 

Fiuker, after receiving an order from his partner, started to run like a bullet, moving so quickly that the aura-using warriors didn't even see him approaching. Javier immediately jumped from the beast and sprinted toward the mage who was attempting to cast another spell, fear evident in his voice.

"<G-Goddess o-of the S-Sun, give me your strength to punish my enemies!>" The guy stuttered a little but managed to summon the radiant orb of warm light.

But before he could release it, Javier jumped above his head and with a spinning kick, struck his neck, instantly knocking the mage out and sending him flying five meters away.

When Javier turned to see his familiar, the cheetah was playing with the three warriors like a cat plays with a mouse, biting their legs and breathing flames on them until it got bored and knocked them away with its claws.

His two friends stared at him in admiration of his incredible strength and ability.

"Damn, Javier, leave someone for us! Hahah." one of his friends exclaimed with a laugh.

"Yeah, man, don't be too greedy," the other one agreed with a chuckle.

"Sorry guys, I promise the next one is for you," Javier said with a sincere smile, joking with his friends.

He cut a striking figure, with clean black hair cascading down to his shoulders and piercing blue eyes. His seductive smile easily caught the attention of the girls watching him. It was no surprise, as people often referred to him as the Fourth King of the Revery Academy.

After some time conversing with each other, they resumed their journey, with Javier's beast accompanying them, maintaining the same speed.

"This guy is going to meet Erick in episode six, I think, and will lose in a duel, becoming his rival," Raziel recalled, contemplating the fate of this individual.

The fight was very entertaining for Raziel, feeling like he was really watching an anime scene, which made him devour all his food. Luckily, a girl passed by offering some snacks at a cheap price. He bought all her roasted chestnuts and something almost identical to a hot dog but with red sauce on top.

On other screen, another interesting person appeared, capturing Raziel's attention.

A very attractive bright blonde guy with a Korean-style center part mullet and black round glasses stood surrounded by seven individuals: two mages, two warriors, and three spiritual beast summoners.

These guys cornered the boy in a jungle enviroment, not letting any openings for him to escape. A tall guy with an arrogant face said, "Castyel, it's the end. If we get rid of you, my group will have a chance to qualify for the finals, hahaha!"

The boy stayed silent as the guy continued talking, but his words were boring enough to prompt Castyel to take a small book from his pocket and start reading. This action angered the arrogant tall guy, causing his expression to darken as he widened his eyes, letting all his fury show.

"Beat this motherfucker and break all his bones!" he shouted to his fellow allies.

Everyone moved in to attack Castyel: the mages launched aggressive fire and water spells, summoners sent their beasts after him, and the warriors waited for an opportunity to advance when they found an opening. The arrogant guy, who was a summoner himself, didn't do anything, confident that this would be enough.

*Sight

"<Goddess of Light and Demoness Hell, grant me your powers to activate [<Golem Fernalia>]," Castyel sighed, reciting his powerful spell as he read from his book.

After finishing his recitation, a cube of light materialized around Castyel, shielding him from the attacks, successfully blocking the spells and beasts that were sent towards him. This made the tall guy shout, "YOU'RE A COWARD! Get out of there and fight like a man!"

As the insults continued, the cube started to contort, and the blonde boy put his book back into the pocket of his uniform. The cube then began to assume a more humanoid form, lifting Castyel into the center. An image of a six-meter golem made of cubic shapes of light emerged, impressing everyone who was watching.

Some fire chains started to form on the golem's hands, creating a terrifying image that made the attackers feel fear and tremble. The next scenes were even more scary as the boy swung the fire chains in their direction, knocking out the beasts instantly and defeating the warriors along with the mages who tried to attack as if they were nothing.

Such disparity in power made Castyel yawn, while the other two summoners fled. The arrogant tall guy summoned his beast, a two-meter wind falcon that immediately advanced towards the light golem.

The spectators watching this screen believed that the fight would take a while, but they were wrong. The bird was quickly ensnared by the chains, and Castyel held it as if he had caught a big fish in the sea.

"CASTYEL MARSHEIL!" The arrogant guy fell to his knees, frustrated and angry at the same time.

"I'm going to defeat you and make you beg for forgiveness! Even if I lose face today, I WILL GET MY REVENGE!"

"Shut up! Are you some kind of young master from the Eastern Mysterious Continent?" Castyel asked, growing bored with the guy's incessant shouting.

"What?" The arrogant guy ceased his anger as he tried to understand what was said.

"Forget it."

Castyel swung a chain of fire at the guy's body, knocking him out instantly and leaving some parts of his clothes and hair burned in the process.

'Wow, Alizze's little brother is really ruthless, and I'm not gonna lie, I liked this guy,' Raziel thought excitedly while chewing on some roasted chestnuts.

Castyel, as the younger brother of Alizze, possessed considerable strength, though not on par with his sister, who, despite being a healer, still easily best many warriors in her youth. However, this did not make people look down on him, as even as a mage, he was considered very strong for his age. 

His unique magic, which imitated a Golem summoner by using his light barrier to mold itself into strange figures that he could easily control, allowing him to use other spells along with it, coupled with his handsome appearance, earned him the title of the second king of the Revery Academy.

These two fights and a few other combats were the only ones interesting enough to watch. By the midday, the competition concluded with Javier and Castyel easily qualifying, along with 14 other students.

Raziel found the matches very amusing and enjoyed them a lot while eating his snacks. However, he noticed an unusual number of students selling food passing by him with increasing frequency.

Perhaps it was just his imagination?

As he pondered, the announcer called for the second-year participants to gather in the arena, totaling around 76 students. As they materialized within the magical circle, Raziel scanned the crowd chewing some cookies, looking for familiar faces.

Among them, he spotted Erick, Sylfi, and someone who caused him to choke on his cookies.

"W-what is that girl doing there? She shouldn't be participating in these qualifiers!" he blurted out, struggling to control his voice as the cookies threatened to choke him.

Still, a few students nearby noticed his reaction.

The girl in question was Anya, standing among the participants. Upon seeing her, the boys became excited and the girls envious of her beauty. Even though Sylfi was beautiful and considered the Fourth Queen, Anya garnered more attention due to her cute and friendly personality.

'Oh, shit... something complicated is going to happen, isn't it?'

Raziel thought to himself while drinking some water to recover from almost choking on his food.