Chapter 9: Enrollment Day

After a week in the city, the day has finally arrived. Enrollment day; the day where all the young apprentices throughout Pugnore can show off their skills so as to attempt to impress the Umeadora Academy's Judges. These Judges are form by Umeadora's Principle; Grandmaster Dune, a staff member from the academy and a Grandmaster Wizard from the Wizard Council.

"Don't mess this up!" "Yes sir!"

"Good luck." "Thank you, I'll try my best."

"Knock them dead out there kid!" "I'll use all that you taught me into this!"

Words of encouragement filled the air surrounded the Umeadora's Colosseum. Excitement shined in many people eyes while for others is dread. People swarmed the Colosseum as if it was a festival, already taking bets on who would win before the enrollment actually started.

"This is crazy..." Eric muttered.

"No kidding!" Ash said as she held Eric's arm.

"I have never seen this many people all in one place before," Lux said.

"The intention is intoxicating to the point you can get straggled in it." Kai said as he tried to loosen his shirt collar.

"Meh." Solomon said with her deadpan expression.

"Master. Aren't you overwhelmed by this at all?" Eric said before he had a pat on the head.

"Not really. Working with the Wizard Council makes immune to situations similar to this." Solomon said casually.

"That's so cool." Eric muttered.

"Are you worried you won't be able to get in?" Solomon asked with a teasing smirk.

"No! I'm just afraid I might get a lot of enemies..." Eric said as he lowered his head.

Solomon chuckled. "Fair enough. Having too many enemies in your first year would be a huge pain in the butt."

"Mother may ask you a question?" Kai asked.

"Go ahead." Solomon said.

"What is your personal opinion about the Umeadora Enrollment? Because personally, I don't see to understand why the enrollment is built this way." Kai said as he scratched the back of his neck.

He wasn't wrong, there was something a bit off about Umeadora Enrollment. To be allowed to enter the academy, apprentices all over gather together and fight one another for the Judge's approval. It doesn't matter if you win or lose the battle, you can fail if the Judges does not like your performance. Two apprentices can fail at the same time if they both acted poorly. In anyone else's eyes, it seems overly harsh.

But to Solomon...

"It's just a place filled with barbarians." Solomon said with a mellow tone of voice.

The screams from the crowd, echoed throughout the Colosseum while two apprentices fight each other aggrievedly. As the fighters attack with their spells, one of the fighters finally felled on their knees in defeat.

"And the victor is Aspen Harlow!" announced the referee.

In a sheltered place but high enough to see everything within the Colosseum, sat three Judges and an observer.

"What do think?" spoke the observer.

"He was indeed strong." muttered one of the Judges.

"But the way he attacks was far too reckless, and his goal was only winning." one of the Judges sighed.

"We can't accept someone like that. Sign him out, Lane." groaned another Judge.

"Yes, your grace." Lane said as he pulled out a clipboard and crossed out Aspen's name.

"What about his composer?" Lane asked.

"Out of the question."

"He did fine, but he won't reach the criteria of the academy."

"He gave up too easily, a wizard with no motivation is hopeless."

"Very well, I'll sign him out too." Lane said as he crossed another name.

"Next fight!" announced the referee.

As the two injured fighters left the arena, two others took their place.

"On my right is a little country bumkin west from our lovely kingdom of Linus, Oliva Oak!"

A young lady walked into the arena. She had long chocolate-brown hair, seafoam-green eyes, and tan skin. She wore muddied boots, dusty overalls and a worn-out straw hat.

"And on my left is a son of the Grand Duke Pitch from the Kazuko Empire, Onyx Devon Bayleigh!"

A young man walked into the arena. His hair was short jade-black, midnight-black eyes, and his skin was vampire pale. He wore a full black suit with a white rose in his chest pocket.

"Howdy!" Oliva said with a smile.

"Greetings." Onyx said back.

"I got to admit, all of this is nerve wreaking! But won't let that keep me down!" Oliva grinned.

"Good, at least you have your priorities straight." Onyx said coldly.

"With introductions aside, let the battle begin!" the referee yelled as he rang a bell.

After the bell was rung, huge vines sprouted the ground and surrounded Oliva. The vines raised Oliva off the ground as they covered her entire body. The vines tied together as they formed a vine based golem.

"Sorry, hope there are no any hard feelings after this." Oliva said as she swung one of her colossal vine arms at Onyx.

"It's fine because I'm not the one who lost." Onyx said as the colossal vine arm shrivel up into dust.

"What?" Oliva gasped.

Onyx stretched out his hand as he said. "Whiter."

The vines that surrounded her all shrivelled into dust before Oliva felled onto the ground.

"How?" Oliva stuttered as she tried to regrow her vines.

"I guess you don't know my family, very well I'll explain it to you." Onyx said as he approached Oliva.

"In the Kazuko Empire, my family is known as the knights of Vision. Can you guess why it's called that?" Onyx said as he stood in front of Oliva.

Oliva shook her head, and Onyx slightly chuckled.

"It's because my family are necromancers." Onyx said.

After that, the battle was already over, leaving Onyx Devon Bayleigh as the victor.

"Your thoughts, your grace?" Lane ask.

"Not very unexpected."

"A plant magic-user would naturally be in a disadvantage with a necromancer, but what we watched was more than simple necromancy."

"I say he passes, he seems like the determined type."

"Very well." Lane said as he bowed his head.

A few matches passed by, then one of the Judges sighed.

"Is there something bothering you Grandmaster Dune?" Lane asked.

"I've hoped this year lot of enrollments would be more exciting since Grandmaster Morgan told me there's going be a special apprentice enrolling this year. But so far, I haven't seen any "special" apprentice." Dune sighed.

"Special apprentice? Were you told about their name?" said one of the Judges.

"Unfortunately, I was not. Grandmaster Morgan wanted me to be surprised and said that I'll know when I see them." Dune sighed.

A moment of silence filled the air before the referee called out the next to fighters.

"On my right is the noble's son of Linus, Rowan Sailor!"

A young man walked into the arena with a cocky smile on his face. Short curly ginger hair, soot-black eyes, sandy tone of the skin. He wore a bright blue suit with a flashy design.

"And my on left, we have a someone who dwelled most of his life in the Dood Forest. Put your hands together for Eric Brace!"

"Brace?" muttered one of the Judges.

"Do you know him Grandmaster Aragore?" Lane asked.

"No. His name just sounds familiar." Aragore said bluntly.

"Me too, but I can't remember where I heard it." said one of the Judges.

The fight beings as Rowen summoned a great sword that was printed onto his skin. He raised his sword and then charged towards Eric. Eric, however, easily dodged.

"So we're having a sword fight, are we? Alright then!" Eric grinned.

Eric kneeled down while his hand sunk into the dirt. Rowen watches with a confused expression. Eric then stood up as pulled a katana out of the ground.

"Oh~ What do we have here?" Dune cooed.

"Did he truly pulled that sword from the ground?" said one of the Judges.

"It seems so, Master Sacha." Lane commented.

Aragore simply clicked his tongue and groaned to himself.

Eric swung his katana while Rowen blocked it. The battle continued as they clashed their swords until...

"Uh oh." Eric said as his katana snapped.

"That's what happens when you fight with a weak weapon." Rowen mockingly laughed.

Eric chuckled. "Yes, I see that now."

"Do you give up?" Rowen grinned.

"No," Eric said as dodged Rowen's attack.

"Then what are you planning to do, huh?" Rowen laughed as he swung his sword.

"Simple, I'll just finish you." Eric said with a calm smile.

Though Eric said it in a calm voice, it was able to give chills down Rowen's spine. Was he bluffing? Why would he say that carefreely? Does he have a spell to break my greatsword? No. It can't be, could it?

Eric took a few steps back, as he created distance between him and Rowen. Eric then bit the edge of his middle finger, before he tugged his leather glove with his teeth. After the glove was taken off, the back of Eric's hand revealed a red pentagram printed on it.

The raging crowd went quiet, and Rowen flinched as he felt his fingers started to tremble. Eric began to walk towards Rowen with a calm smile. Rowen kept backing away, as he saw the pentagram started to glow. Rowen shuttered when blinked once, but after he blinked Eric was already up to his face. And before Rowen could react, Eric already slapped Rowen in the face.

A bright glow blinded the whole arena and blinded the crowd's eyes. After the light dimmed, Rowen was gone but his clothes remained.

"It has seemed Rowen Sailor is no longer with us, and to that I say--" before the referee could finish Eric spoke up.

"What are you talking about? Rowen is right here." Eric grinned.

"Huh?" the referee blurted.

Eric kneeled down as he search for Rowen's clothes. The referee stared with a puzzled look before he heard a hissing sound. Eric then pulled out a red snake with black eyes and a sword pattern on the side of its body.

"Here's Rowen," Eric said as he tossed the snake at the referee.

"AH! Unbelievable! I can't believe my eyes! Rowen Sailor has turned into a snake!" the referee announced and the crowd roared.

"Incredible!" Sacha awed.

"So this must be the "special" apprentice that Grandmaster Morgan has told me about. What a surprise." Dune chuckled.

"Indeed." Lane muttered before he noticed Aragore groan.

"There's no doubt, he is definitely Solomon's kid." Aragore groaned.

"Solomon? Do you mean Master Solomon?" Lane questioned.

Sacha then gasped. "Now I remember! Solomon Brace, of course! The famous Key Wizard who became a Master Wizard at the age of seven!"

"So that's her apprentice? How come there were no rumours about this? Was Morgan keeping this a secret from me all this time?" Dune chuckled again.

"So does he pass, your grace?" Lane asked as he pulled out his clipboard.

"Of course, I'll adore an apprentice from Solomon to come and intent my academy." Dune grinned.

"He has my vote!" Sacha said as she waved her hands.

"I see, what about you Grandmaster Aragore?" Lane asked.

Aragore sat quietly for a moment before groaned and scratched the back of his neck. "Even though I don't want to, I can't necessarily turn down an apprentice with such amazing capability. Lane signs him in."

"Yes, your grace."