After all of the speeches were given, dinner was served. Servants bearing platters of food came out from the large double-doors that led into the kitchen. There were all kinds of gourmet dishes. As a balanced meal was important for a warrior, the servants had made sure to prepare a mixture of meats and vegetables, all of which was served with a variety of sauces.

Elincia sat at a table reserved for the sorceresses and their knights. She sat between Lady Sylvia and Lady Erica. The two sorceresses were remarkably unpleasant toward each other, trading barbs and insults, but she was growing used to that.

Derek sat on the other side of the table, along with the other knights; a young man with a placid gaze garbed in a kimono, a boisterous redhead wearing a large grin, the ever stoic D'artagnan, and the dwarf whose name Elincia had learned was Dolten. They all looked so different. It was hard for her to believe that each one was a knight with enough strength to defeat a horde of enemies.

"So, what do you all think of the latest batch of knights?" asked the red-haired Alexander, his voice booming across the cafeteria. Elincia knew little about the man known as Alexander Macedon, except that he was a raucous man who enjoyed wine and battle a little too much—according to Lady Sylvia.

"I do not have enough information on them to determine their skill," the kimono-wearing man said. Elincia knew him as well. Kiriya Kirisaki, the famed samurai general, who was said to have slain an earth golem with a single slash of his katana. "That said, I sensed much promise in them. I believe that anyone of them could become an excellent sorceress's knight, given time and experience."

"Ha ha ha! Those were my thoughts exactly!" Alexander admitted.

"I am most interested in the young man with red hair," Hiksath said. He was a man of 20-something years, with shock white hair, gray eyes, and dark skin. If Elincia remembered correctly, he was Lady Aakarshaka Nueva's Knight.

"Isn't he the peasant that Sylvia allowed to enter this academy?" Hiksath's twin brother, Vash, asked. While Lady Sylvia remained surprisingly calm, Elincia gripped her fork so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"He is," Hiksath said. "I remember the meeting we all went to where her ladyship announced that he would be attending. It was quite the surprise."

"Gya ha ha ha!" Alexander laughed. "That's right! I was really surprised when she announced that a plebeian would be coming to school here! It was quite the shocker. I still sometimes wonder what she was thinking when she allowed him to attend this academy."

Elincia's lips thinned as she continued to listen to these knights talk about Caspian. She knew that a lot of his peers looked down on him because of his status, but she'd believed that those who'd become knights were beyond such pettiness. Was the stigma of not being a noble going to follow Caspian for the rest of his life?

"How can you people sit here and speak poorly about someone you don't even know?" she whispered, feeling the sting of water gathering in her eyes. Conversation around their table stopped.

"Pardon?" Kiriya asked in a calm voice.

"How can you sit here, talking badly about someone who you've never met before now?!" Standing up, Elincia slammed her hands onto the table. "None of you know the first thing about Caspian! Yet you're talking about him like he's dirt beneath your boots!"

"Now, now, little lady, none of us said anything bad about the kid." Alexander raised his hands as if to try and calm her down. "We were simply making conversation about a curious subject matter."

"You called him a peasant, a plebeian," Elincia said through grit teeth. She could feel her emotions slipping. Her mana was acting up, too. It felt like a storm was raging inside of her. "Just because Caspian doesn't come from nobility doesn't make him any less deserving than anyone else! He shouldn't have to be labeled with derogatory terms like that!"

"That is enough, Elincia," Sylvia stopped Elincia in her tracks. She whirled on the sorceress, who sat calmly, spreading some type of jam onto a piece of bread.

"Lady Sylvia, I—"

"You have said more than enough," Sylvia interrupted. "And you are currently causing a scene. I suggest you sit down before you create even more of a scene."

Elincia soon realized what Sylvia meant. Conversation throughout the entire cafeteria had ceased. It seemed as if the eyes of everyone, student and staff alike, were on her.

Flushing under the intense stare of over one-hundred and numerous faculty eyes, Elincia sat back down and began quietly eating.

"So," Alexander started, breaking the tense silence that had settled over the table, "what's for dessert?"

***

Dinner eventually ended.

Caspian never got to even speak with Elincia, not even once. Before he could so much as approach her, Elincia had been dragged off by Sylvia, the rest of the entourage of sorceresses following close behind. He understood that with the tournament underway, Elincia was going to be busy with her duties as a sorceress, but still, he wished that they could have more time together.

Once you become her knight, you'll be able to spend the rest of your life with her. Chin up, Caspian. You're being selfish.

"Man, that girl really cares for you, doesn't she?" Christo stated. "The tournament hasn't even started, but it feels like you've already been chosen to be her knight. I'm kinda jealous."

Standing up from his chair, Caspian didn't bother to look at Christo as he said, "I have no clue what you're talking about. It doesn't matter if Elincia wants me to be her knight. If I don't win that tournament, then it's not going to happen."

"I guess you have a lot of motivation to win, then," Christo said, also standing up.

"I do."

"Heh, well, don't expect me to go easy on you just because your friend is the sorceress we're fighting for."

Caspian didn't answer. The crowd surged forward as students left the cafeteria. He followed the crowd, staying near the back, partly because of the hatred that his peers had for him, but mostly because he didn't want to hear what they said about him and Elincia. He was sure that if he listened to them, the desire to shove his fist into their face would overpower him.

A figure stepped in his path. Large. Hulking. Caspian thought it was Julius at first, but that buffoon wasn't this big. It was one of the two teens from Elysium, Heracles, Caspian believed he was called.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"You're the peasant boy that the new sorceress favors," Heracles stated before scoffing. "I don't know what she sees in a scrawny little thing like you. You're just a shrimp."

"I apologize for not lifting boulders for a living," Caspian retorted with an unfriendly smile. "Manual labor isn't my thing."

"Che. You're a cheeky little shit." Heracles grabbed a fistfull of Caspian's shoulder cape and lifted him off the ground. "I want you to listen to me and listen well. You may be that bitches favorite, but don't think that gives you the right to—gurk!"

Heracles' eyes bulged from his sockets. As Caspian removed his foot from the other teen's groin. The hands around his throat loosened, and Caspian dropped to the ground as Heracles clutched his groin and fell to his knees. Unbothered by the pained whimpers from the man he had kicked, unharried by the fools that had gathered around them, Caspian glared down at the person who'd dared to call Elincia a bitch.

"Listen here and listen well," Caspian enunciated each word clearly, his voice steeped in contempt. "If I ever hear you calling Ele a bitch again, I will rip out that vile tongue of yours. That goes for the rest of you!" Caspian turned to glare at the people standing around him. They all took a step back. "If I hear a single poor word being spoken of about Ele, I will personally destroy—"

"Caspian! Behind you!" Christo suddenly shouted.

Caspian didn't respond with words. He leapt away from where he was standing seconds before something smashed into the ground with incredible force. Marble tiles cracked and broke underneath the power of Heracles's fist. Shouts echoed through the hall as Caspian landed back on his feet and glared.

Heracles's grin was vicious.

"Heh, good job dodging me... but let's see if you can dodge this!"

With a grunt, Heracles shoved his hands into the floor, which shattered like glass. Caspian felt shock course through him as he realized what was about to happen. Shouting, Heracles flung a large chunk of the floor at Caspian.

Acting on nothing but instinct, Caspian dropped to the ground. With his back pressed against the floor, he barely avoided the large chunk of marble and foundation that flew past him. The displaced air buffett his hair. The makeshift projectile was so close that Caspian almost thought it might graze the skin off his nose.

"Crushing time!" came a shout of triumph.

Caspian's eyes went wide as a fist zoomed in for his head. Rolling along the ground, he avoided having his face caved in. The floor wasn't as lucky. Heracles's went straight through it as if it was warm butter. Abrasions spread from the center of the impact, traveling across the marble like a black widow weaving her web. Caspian leapt back to his feet as Heracles pulled his fist out of the floor.

So, he's not just all brute strength, Caspian determined. He likes using dirty tricks, too.

"You're pretty slippery for a street rat," Heracles growled, his malicious grin widening. "But I suppose that's all you can expect from a weakling."

"Big talk coming from a man who has more muscle than he does brains," Caspian fired back.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." An arrogant grin plastered itself on Heracles's face. "Listen up, Shit stain. Brains means nothing in the face of power! Power is everything! Those with power control the fate of the world, while those without power are doomed to serve those who have it. That is an inescapable truth."

"That's just what I'd expect an idiot to say," Caspian goaded. "Only a fool would think brute strength is the same thing as power. You really are stupid. However did you stay in the academy long enough to get this far?"

That did it. Heracles looked mad, which meant that he was no longer thinking straight. If it wouldn't have ruined what he was trying to accomplish, Caspian would have grinned.

"You little shit!" Heracles roared. "I'll show you why I'm here! Prepare to get your ass beat!"

"I don't think so," another voice said behind Heracles.

The large man spun around—tried to spin around—but a fist slamming into his lower back forced him to a knee. As Heracles yelped, Caspian looked behind the massive figure to see the other competitor from Elysium. With messy hair that looked to have been spun from gold, vivid blue eyes, and a masculine jaw, the young man was a bonafide pretty boy. Even the way he smirked seemed to denote a sense of arrogance in his own appearance.

I hate pretty boys, Caspian thought with a sigh.

"What the hell was that for, Perseus?" Heracles scowled.

"That was for being an idiot," Perseus said mildly. "Have you forgotten why we came here, or what would happen if you fight before the tournament? Do you want to get sent back to Elysium because you couldn't contain your bloodlust?"

Pointing an accusing finger at Caspian, Heracles shouted, "this little bastard started it!"

"No, you started it," Perseus said. "I watched the whole thing, Idiot. Now pick yourself up and head to our assigned dorm before I decide to inform Cleopatra of what happened here."

"Tch!"

Grumbling, Heracles stood up and lumbered off without even looking at Caspian. Perseus waited until the much larger teen had turned a corner before looking back at him.

"I apologize for my friend's uncouth behavior. He's not the most sociable of individuals," Perseus apologized.

"In that case, you might want to try chaining him to a tree," Caspian quipped.

Perseus laughed. "Yes, you might be right. Unfortunately, even if I did chain him to something, he would just break it. Anyway, take my advice, don't try to piss him off like you were doing. That might serve to weaken most people, but Heracles is different. Angering him could prove to be a fatal mistake."

"I'll take your advice under advisement," Caspian said.

"That's all I ask."

Raising a hand in a short wave, Perseus left the same way that Heracles had. Caspian frowned as the young man disappeared around a corner. That situation just now indicated that the one called Perseus was the stronger of the two.

It looks like this tournament really is going to push me to my limit.

Caspian curled his hands into fists.

I'm going to need to train even harder if I want to get ready for what's to come.