Leader's Wild Card

After that moment, the magic circles continued to unleash more and more prominent warriors with a few civilians and your average Joes here and there.

This group was of the students that aspired to be hunters. That didn't mean they would all get what they wanted. Preference wasn't all it took for someone to get into a Course the spell didn't find them suited for.

Their outright conviction was a factor as well.

Archers, Warlocks, Guardians, Scouts… but no Leaders to be heard of.

Each student exuded an air of skill and confidence and those that were declared Civilians weren't ridiculed but applauded. While the Civilian course was the least desirable, getting into Barthlorn was hard in and of itself.

The spinning pillar of runes shimmered. A screaming student with dark long hair appeared. Even worse than Momo, this girl was missing an arm. The students gasped in horror as they watched the magic of the Sorting Spell reconstruct her body in a matter of seconds and clothe her in a set of neat grey robes.

"Name: Tara Gibbles

Course: Specialist

Squad: Squad Six"

Squad Six roared in elation. The rest of the squads clapped half-heartedly. Some were still revisiting the memories of Tara's arrival. Momo stood from the chair and shuffled offstage towards the table housing students dressed in green.

Upon spotting Momo, her nerves vanished and she darted out of sight, reuniting with her newly acquainted friend and making herself comfortable.

The RuneCircles shimmered again and a calm student appeared despite the gaping hole in his chest and the blood all over his body.

Some students gasped, some sprayed the tables with food and drinks they were only starting to chow down, while others simply stared. Who in the Wall shows up with their chest ripped open and a calm expression on their face?!

They watched the magic repair the boy's body and soon came to notice the restricting runes that kept his hands glued to his side.

This student had dark blue hair and a look of dead calmness in his eyes bordering silent rage.

"Name: Donnie Lynch

Course: Hunter

Category: Warrior

Role: Vanguard

Squad: Squad Four"

Donnie's grey robes changed into a lusterless navy blue before he walked off stage and joined his squad. Squad four clapped silently and a tense atmosphere took over the Mess Hall as Donnie joined them.

The boy was well built for his age and looked at least half as fierce as Cade Black. If it hadn't been for the occasional appearance of fierce students like him, there would have been more fear accompanied by his presence.

Still, no one ever said the greatest students to graduate all had such an impressive entrance. Something about this boy screamed raw untapped potential… and what was more was that he seemed perfectly at home in Squad Four.

The squad seemed made of boisterous powerful ruffians with no sense of order but the nexus that was their leadership.

The Runes shimmered again, a cold breeze blowing through the Mess Hall admitting another non-screaming student. This boy had raven-black hair and kept his eyes closed as the injuries all over his body were repaired.

Similar to the student before him, this student had an air of raw potential behind his cold icy stare. His fingers twitched and his eyes darted about as though ready to pounce at any threat in sight.

"Name: Ace Wonder

Course: Hunter

Category: Warrior

Role: Scout

Squad: Squad Four"

The room fell silent once more.

'Two in a row! How is that fair?' some of the students shuddered.

The restraining runes broke off and allowed the raven-haired boy to walk off stage. He walked off stage and straight to Donnie without being given some sort of signal.

When he reached the seat Donnie was in, he glared at the boy sitting next to him, "Move."

"Hey, I was here fir-"

"Don't make me repeat myself," Ace cut him off coldly, his glare growing more intense.

The other student shuddered under his gaze but didn't move, "There is another chair right next to him. Why choose this one?"

The student was right. On Donnie's other side was an empty chair that Ace could occupy.

Before Ace could answer, Donnie turned to the student and spoke in a low dangerous voice, "That chair is reserved for someone else. Don't make this any harder than it already is."

The student noticed both of them were against him and raised his hands in surrender, giving up the seat and retreating far from the frightening odd pair.

Ace took a seat next to Donnie, "You've chosen to scare your Squad mates on your first day!"

Ace pulled a plate of food closer to himself and started eating, "Shut up! Any sign of Sullivan?"

"No, I'm the first one here. Besides, you know Sullivan. He always likes to make a flashy entrance. That's just the kind of person he is."

Ace downed a glass of fruit punch and leaned back in his seat, "Damn that reptile. I think I can still feel my cracked ribs."

"The side effects of the Sorting Test should wear off shortly. Try to rest whenever you get the chance," a boy wearing glasses spoke from the opposite side of the table, keeping his eyes glued to the pad in his hand… a RuneBinder…

............….

The magic circles came to a standstill, flickering on and off, giving a similar impression of a dying rune crystal. A gust of wind swirled inside the room... as if threatening to bring forth an indoor storm.

Draul stepped away from the dais and held out his wand, shooting out different runes to reinforce and keep the grand spell from collapsing. Two more teachers stood up as well and joined him in maintaining the stability of the spell.

They poured mana into keeping the spell stable and proceeding with the Sorting Ceremony at large.

Chaos filled the room and students began to cheer enthusiastically as if none of them was in any danger. The students paid more attention to the one coming.

When the Sorting Spell had difficulty deciding where a student was supposed to go, the magic was bound to go berserk.

And with that berserk nature came a strange behaviour that had become all too familiar to the students.

The level of strangeness it displayed usually meant the student presented too many options with which they could grow…

…And even more, the potential to become powerful.

It was a struggle to determine which squad they could excel the most in as well as who got to be with them, their environment, their ambitions… and so much more.

Everything had to be considered in order to produce the best outcome.

Which Course would they excel in the most and what they wanted to do to achieve the best result?

All things considered, the answer was always pretty straightforward for a spell as grand, powerful and advanced as this one.

Decades of students and their information was fed into the magic of the runes as well and making it easier to make this decision based on past events as well as expert opinions and theories.

However, there were rare occurrences when the student that was being evaluated was simply too much of a wild card.

The student slammed into the seat, six rune Circles restraining his mortally wounded screaming form. His body was tightly and uncomfortably restrained within the chair.

As the magic circles held him in place, several rogue spinning rune circles burst to life around the student, facing all directions around the student in no particular order.

A red glow flashed within the boy's eyes.

"Heldsworth!" Draul's cold voice rang out with a sense of urgency.

"Yeah yeah, I hear you," a red-haired male professor that was 'Heldsworth' stood and brandished his wand as well, casting a string of amber runes just Draul started as well.

The magic circles surrounding the student glowed a furious amber as mana chaotically flowed into them creating a wide range of odd phenomena.

Tongues of flame shot from some of them, strong gales of wind blew out of them, rapid-fire bullets of compact earth, dangerous icicles of ice…

Just as the magic circles started firing, others were created ahead of them. The spells that had just been cast were quickly cancelled out.

With one wave of his wand, Draul sent flying runes at the rotating spells surrounding the boy. One by one, the Rune Circles shattered in a ran of amber dust until there was nothing.

By the time the professors were done containing the random appearances of the spells, the student was healed up and panting in exhaustion in the chair.

There was a slight look of annoyance on the pale dark-haired boy's face. His hair was long enough to nearly touch his eyelashes and they gave him a dark expression.

'Hey, doesn't that face look familiar?' a student asked her friend, wondering where they had seen a face like his before.

'Yeah… I think I've seen him before.'

'Oh! We've definitely seen him!' a few students chuckled darkly.

Tara nudged her fellow girl, "Momo, what was with those magic circles? Was the Sorting Spell acting out again?"

"No… I think it was…" Momo stared at the boy in the seat, "No, it couldn't have been. That kind of thing should be nearly impossible. For now, I can't be sure what happened."

"Okay," Tara replied, setting her eyes back on the pale ghostly boy in grey robes.

"Name: Darius Ether

Course: . . . Hunter

Category: Warrior

Role: . . . Leader's Wildcard

Aptitude: Vanguard

Squad: Squad Six"

The Hall fell silent once more and this time, it was a teacher that broke the silence.

"Oi, Draul, did you break the damn thing?!" the red-haired man with a scar running down his right cheek asked through rugged breaths.

He held his wand casually at his side after having helped Draul keep the Sorting Spell intact.