The Arena

The bell from the tower finally rang, marking the end of the day.

The first day of school was indeed boring for Emilia. She expected to learn about how to use fight using her link in the academy before coming; Rather, they were learning history, math, and literature all day long.

All she could do was to listen to Mr. Weinberg's hypnotic sound. She fell asleep multiple times during class and got awakened by the chalk thrown by Mr. Weinberg which went straight to her head every time.

Nonetheless, one thing that is not so awful was that she could see her brother now.

She even saw some signs of snickering from Friedrich when she got hit by the chalk. This irregular facial expression from Friedrich was something she had never seen after that great catastrophe happened.

Moreover, Emilia soon became friends with other students in class like Florence and the Zabelle sisters.

It was only 3pm by the time school ended. There was plenty of time before dinner, so Emilia decided to look around the campus.

Friedrich didn't come with Emilia, not to her surprise. She knew that Friedrich would rather spend time with his sword and link power than human beings. Fritz once criticized that "social interaction is the most meaningless activity human had ever invented".

After a sigh, Emilia gazed into the sea. She could see some vague trace of the invisible wall at the horizon.

In fact, it was not totally invisible and nor was it a typical wall. It was more like a light blue colored curtain which block the Northwestern part of the New World from the Old Continent, where the Judgment came from. It was hard to imagine that such a vulnerable thing had kept human out of the disturbance of the Great Judgment since the Fourth Judgment for almost 300 years.

The campus area stretched from the North Sea all the way to the downtown area of the Hiemalis City where the Winter Palace stood. It would take about forty minute to walk of the coast to the Winter Palace.

The president and the government officials of the Borealis Republic worked in the palace. In fact, the palace was once the house of the emperor of the previous Borealis Empire which got replaced by a republic after the "February Revolution" ten years ago.

Emilia wasn't planning to visit such a boring place like the President Office. She heard that the most popular place in the campus was the Arena, where students could use their link power against other in a combat, with supervision of course.

During specific time in the school year, it was also used as a field for students to test their ability to utilize the Link power, where they receive ranks.

The ranks were E, D, C, B, A, and S, from weak to strong.

Emilia was at rank C. Though impressive among her peers, who were merely at rank D, she was still not qualified to graduate.

All students must get to rank B to successfully graduate from the academy.

Friedrich was at rank A, which was the same as most teachers in the academy. He came here simply because he knew that Emilia was coming.

Back to the Arena: The place was already crowded by students and other visitor from around the continent. Though the Arena was big enough to fill in 50 thousand viewers, they still struggled to find seats.

Emilia came with Florence (the girl she and her brother caught in the bush in the morning) and the Zabelle twin sisters (who have literally opposite personality to each other despite their same look).

Emilia attempted to invite William too before coming. She also quickly realized that inviting a blind person to a show was the last thing she should be doing. Even though William wasn't angry at all, Emilia was still in guilt during the whole walk to the Arena.

The girls finally found some empty seat at the front of the Arena. Less people sit here because they were afraid of being involved into the possible mis-attack from the combat.

They were about to go buy some pock corns before seeing Igor, one of their classmates, enter the Arena, full armed.

"Oh no, I have a bad feeling about it…" Emilia warned.

"I heard some rumors about his Veteran father who owns a heavy debt from gambling. Igor is probably trying to pay it back by participating in such a dangerous activity." Florence speculated.

"I expected that," commented Azure Zabelle, the older sister, "I've heard that anyone who participate in the combat and win would receive a great amount of price."

 "No worries, he will win." the younger sister Frostine said determinedly.

"I hope so." Prayed Florence.

...

Igor needed that money.

As he put on his scarf, he sighed.

The scarf was his "linker", something every link power owner had. It was a medium to connect the linkers with the "Garden of Eden", where their link power came from.

Everyone's "linker" meant something to them. In the case of Igor, the scarf was a gift from his mother at his ten-years-old birthday. To Emilia and Fredrich, their "linkers" were swords from their parents. To Florence, it was the flower ring on top of her.

With a deep breath, Igor walked to the middle of the Arena.

In front of him was his opponent today.

"Here I see you again, Igor." Mocked the opponent with a smile of despise.

Igor knew him very well -- Gabriel Edwards. He was a genius and a nobleman, the two types of characteristics that Igor hated the most.

Although Igor had won multiple battles in the past few weeks, he expected this one to be the hardest one. His hands were full of sweat due to the tension.

Igor's link power was strengthening his body, while Gabriel's was controlling fire. It would be very hard for Igor to win under such a disadvantage due to the type of power each own.

"You did win me last time, but not this time." Igor said calmly.

Gabriel laughed loudly after hearing Igor's response, "You mean you think you have a chance of success?"

"..."Igor was starting to get angry, like he had always been.

"Still, this barbarian is dreaming about winning a noble…"

"It's time," The supervisor of the match stopped the conversation and then asked Igor, "Are you ready? Mr. Turgenev?"

Igor answered with a nod.

The supervisor then asked Gabriel the same question and was received the same respond.

"Please adjust your linkers. Match starts in 3...2…1… 0!"

Igor unleash his link power instantly. His body had been strengthened to over 5 times a normal human being can be, including strength, durability and, most important of all, his defense capability -- He was known as the "Shield".

Igor started his attack with a punch straight to Gabriel's face. He knew that if he hesitates and wait for Gabriel to use his link, he would be at a great disadvantage.

But it was still too late.

Gabriel created multiple fire balls. Igor was forced to stop his attack, or he would be burned.

Gabriel then kept shotting the fire balls which prevent Igor from coming closer.

Igor adjusted his balance. While dodging the fire balls, he was trying to find a way to go around the range of the attack of Gabriel.

Igor couldn't approach Gabriel with all these fire balls around. He needed to find a way out of this disadvantage, or he would lose eventually.

He had learned from all these years of fighting that the only advantage he had compared to other link owners was his defense capability.

He could maybe endure a few hits from the fire ball when he approaches and make his final hit with all the strength he had left.

Igor started implementing his plan.

He first tried to run around the arena, forcing Gabriel to go after him.

Igor made a turn suddenly and go straight to Gabriel.

"Igor has gone insane." said Azure, "he will get hit and loose before even touching Gabriel!"

"Maybe it's his plan." Emilia speculated.

Just as expected, Igor was hit by multiple fire balls.

These fire balls slowed him down and left burning fire all around his body.

He did not stop. It's his only chance of winning. Even though it means he will get injured severely, he needs to take the chance.

After seeing some of his fire balls hitting Igor, Gabriel smiled. He was determined that he would win this time.

But when he saw that Igor did not stop running towards him, he was shocked and tried to run to a safer distance.

It was too late.

Igor gave Gabriel a strike on the libs with all his strength. The solid blow knocked him to the ground three meters away.

The situation was not good for Igor too. His body was severely burnt, and he had lost all his strength. He fell to the ground too.

Surprisingly, Gabriel stood up.

He walked to Igor and said, "It turns out that you can never defeat me."

Gabriel stepped on Igor's scarf.

Though barely conscious, Igor stared at Gabriel with his anger. With his last strength, he bit Gabriel's boot, trying to stop him from stepping his linker.

"I've heard that one will lose their mind and power if their linker is destroyed. Let's test that." Gabriel said as he took up Igor's scarf.

Igor had no strength left to stop him and the supervisor did not move too.

Gabriel was about to tear the scarf apart when he heard "Stop!"

It was Emilia who shouted.

She ran and stood in front of Gabriel…