CHAPTER 11-ACADEMY ENTRANCE EXAM

Dusan Sinclair Rubeus spoke in his deep voice, his loud voice echoing through the Coliseum. 

'That was an excellent match, and Brik has shown his opponents what is to happen if they stand up against him. Thane is disqualified from the competition. And now, the second battle of the competition, Fire Lord X versus Sword wielder Darren.'

The crowd yelled in excitement, screaming both the contestant's names, although X could hear his own name much more than Darren's. X raised his head, and saw an adoring crowd, all of them expecting him to show them his best. However, without his hatchet, he could not do much. X glanced forward and saw Darren walking in with long strides, acting confident, similar to Brik. He must have found out about how X could not perform well in front of such a massive crowd. Although he knew that he was superior to Darren in every way possible except for social skills, X could not help it. His body shivered on its own. Fear started to crawl into his head, and X thought about quitting right then and there, turning back and leaving for his village. Darren had already reached the arena and was waiting, as X took small, slow-paced steps, and reached the stairs. He took another glance at the arena. The fans were still calling out his name, even though he had not even entered the arena yet. 

X wasn't sure if it was real, or if he was envisioning it. In the crowd, was his Grandfather, looking at him, his eyes shining with pride. Next to him, the knights in the village sat, and the leader of the knights gave him a thumbs up. They had all sacrificed so much to stop the demons. X had sacrificed so much to stop the demons. And if he needed to retrieve his memory, and make sense of his visions of the creature in the cave, and the shining version of him, he had to win this battle. He could not let this crowd stop him. If these people were watching, X would ignore them. He had to do this. He would do this.

X took a deep breath and climbed the stairs, and when he stood on top, he looked Darren right in the eyes. At first, Darren's face shone with pride, gloating over his imminent victory. Then the pride melted away, as he realized that X was looking only at him, as if the crowd did not exist. As if it was a spar in a closed location. Fear settled in his face, his eyes shaking.

'The rules are the same as the previous match. In three, two, one.'

The Tower master clapped loudly, and the bell rang loudly. The match had begun. Darren charged, hoping to win by going on the offensive. He rushed forward, sword in both his hands, and swung them down, as hard as he could, right them. to where X was standing. X jumped back in the nick of time, as the sword slashed through the air, hissing. Darren stabbed, and X had to dodge it again. Rinse and repeat. Darren started to feel cocky. He could win. X had no hatchet. Even if this guy could act like he was not aware of the people in the audience when battling, he had no choice but to see them. X was doomed. The temperature was not rising, there were no flames, and this guy was running away, his tail tucked between his legs.

And then, Darren got lucky. His sword hit X on his right arm. X held back his cry, since although it was just wood, Darren had strength that was far superior to anyone with a similar stature. The sword hit with a cracking sound. The sword was breaking, but it was fine. Darren had spare swords tucked on his belt around his waist. Darren pulled back his sword and got in stance for his next attack, which would push X out of the boundary. He attacked with a professional thrust of his sword, and as he did, the sword burst into flame.

X had been dodging. And dodging. Every time he tried to attack back, he felt that his attacks were incomplete, due to him not having a hatchet. And on other times, he pulled his hands, ready for a punch, and saw the many people glaring at him, expecting to see something exciting. The previous match was much better. The audience had reduced in size, but those stares still frightened X. His body must have sensed his terrible situation and heated up, but he could not use it to attack. Then he got hit, and the sword got set on fire due to being in contact with his arm for less than a second. Darren dropped his sword in anguish, his hand blistering in the heat.

This was the perfect opportunity to attack. And, for once in the life that X could remember, he was not afraid of people seeing him attack. Quite the contrary, he wanted them to see it since that was the only way that Grandfather could know about his victory. So he bent his knees, placed his right arm over his left foot, and envisioned a hatchet in his hands, great armor with gilded gold all around him, and instead f the audience, there were only stalactites and the constant flow of molten rock watching over his attacks. Confidently, X yelled

'FIRE ESCAPE'

The temperature was raised by a couple of degrees throughout the arena. A blinding flash erupted in the middle of the arena, and when the light dimmed and the audience's eyesight recovered, a stream of golden-red flame swirled around Darren in circular patterns, going faster and faster. Fists manifested from the stream, covered in the flames, and punched Darren, breaking his shield. Dusan Sinclair Rubeus his a smile, as he said

'X wins. The contest is over as of today. The audience is expected to appear tomorrow for the second half of the quarter-finals. All students who wish to greet the contestants are allowed to stay for about twenty more minutes, and the rest are expected to be in their dorm rooms in five minutes.'

The audience left, as the light of the evening dimmed, the sun setting down above the large buildings in the Fortress City. Countless seniors wanted to see the victors, and since Brik had already left for home, they all appeared near X, waiting to see how this new kid would react to their presence.

X felt absolutely stuffed in the presence of the seniors, and for about the next ten minutes, he did not know how he managed to survive those interactions. Most of them were about Fire Escape, asking him how he had managed to turn into fire. Others were threats, asking X to not get in their way when he joined the Academy since he had already qualified for it by reaching the semi-finals. Only a rare few actually greeted him normally, but after ten minutes, the reclusive kid could not handle the conversations. So, he Fire Escaped away from the seniors and walked by to the inn, where he had some light conversation with the inn owner, who had almost become like an older brother to X. Then he crashed back in his room.

Tomorrow's matches. X had yet to see what Rose, and that fat guy, Goofy could do. Also, the fourth-ranked, Spear Master Javier, who seemed powerful. And that archer. He had a lot to look forward to the next day, especially since he did not have to participate in those contests.

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ps. I am thankful to all of you for reading till here, This is to inform you that from today onwards, I will be posting fewer chapters per week due to personal reasons. There may be times when I do not post, even on the weekends, so thank you for understanding.