Kyrion entered the arena with a bored look on his face. In his hands was a bread roll that he was snacking on before the fight started.

Noah entered the arena in a complete set of heavy armor that covered him from head to toe. In his right hand was a large greataxe holding a chain on its pommel for retrieval. In his left hand was a large tower shield.

Next to Noah was a purple-haired boy who also wore a bored expression. His hands were covered with various rings, and an oaken staff was held tightly in his hands. He was in battle robes. That boy was Isaiah, their prince of destruction.

A man in a red and white striped shirt stood on a pedestal outside the barrier. His voice boomed throughout the stadium. “Today, we have a special expedition match between the Dirsil academies Crimson Berserker and our very own Prince of Metal and Prince of Destruction! Last team standing wins! The death ward is on, but damage taken to the body will stick until properly healed. Ready?”

Kyrion loosened one of his sandals before taking a deep breath.

“Fight!”

Kyrion kicked his sandal forward directly towards Isaiah’s head. The shoe cut wind and left a sound behind as it flew.

Noah intercepted the shoe with his shield. The shoe embedded itself in the defensive tool. Much to the surprise of everyone watching, along with the two who survived the attack.

“That could have eliminated me outright. Nice block.” Isaiah was surprised. He then decided to stay behind Noah for a moment.

Kyrion stomped his barefoot down onto the arena surface. “Transmute sand.”

Kyrion commanded, and it was. The solid arena surface began to shift into sand slowly but exponentially. Within moments the surface was uneven and unsuitable for Noah’s armored legs.

Kyrion removed his second sandal and tossed it into the sand. He then began to summon a ball of water in his left hand.

Isaiah pointed his staff at Kyrion and released a few fire bolts.

Kyrion threw the ball of water up and opened his mouth. A blast of wind stuffed out the weak flames.

Noah created a dome of molten metal around Isaiah with a targeting hole for his spells. The dome rapidly cooled into a solid barricade.

Kyrion shifted his bare foot in the sand, drawing a circle.

Spears of ice came from the barricade, flying past Noah and towards the red-haired boy.

Kyrion held out his hand and concentrated, slowing the spears of ice and melting them simultaneously.

“Ice and Fire… But it’s weak...What are you….” Kyrion mumbled to himself as Noah began to charge forward with his shield.

“Rain!” Kyrion snapped his fingers, and the ball of water floating above them rapidly expanded before popping. Showering in the sandy field with rain.

Noah was forced to slow his pace even further.

“Light come forth, and bring ruin to my enemy. Holy Bolt!” Isaiah said.

A bolt of lightning passed by Kyrion’s head. An inch short by either dumb luck or skill.

“That was pretty close. Much stronger than….” Kyrion rolled to the side as the lightning returned the way it came, returning to Isaiah.

“Transmute water to blood.” Kyrion drew a second circle on the ground. The rain above turned crimson. The water was becoming a bit thicker and smelled of iron.

Noah’s armor began to show signs of rusting.

“What in the abyss..” Noah closed his eyes to keep the blood from getting in them.

Kyrion took his time removing his eyepatch. He then revealed that both of his eyes were closed. This was a ploy as he opened his senses to the mana around him.

“Fire whirl around my foes and engulf them in your everburning flames. Conflagration!”

A pillar of flame erupted where Kyrion was standing. Unluckily for Isaiah, Kyrion flipped out of the area of effect.

The broad side of an ax nearly hit Kyrion’s side, the boy barely avoiding the attack.

Kyrion poked Noah in the side, knocking him off balance.

Noah fell to a knee and seemed to have trouble getting to his feet.

A wall of red sand rose from the arena ground to protect Kyrion against a spiraling purple blast.

“So close, too bad. You just wasted your one chance of winning this fight. I told you to go all out, didn’t I?” Kyrion’s eyes were still closed, but he was coated in so much red that it was hard to tell.

“I’m trying to win. It’s clear you’re holding back as well.”

Noah said, his helmed head dipped down.

“Oh? Well then. Guess it’s time l get to act more overt. Please don’t hate me for this.”

Kyrion charged toward Noah with a ball of wind mana in his left hand and a ball of red water mana in his right.

Noah held up his shield, preparing to bash and break Kyrion’s stride.

Kyrion stopped suddenly and feinted to the left.

Noah swiped his shield towards Kyrion only to catch onto nothing.

“Bloody rose!” Kyrion said from directly under Noah in a crouched position.

Kyrion raised his left hand with an open palm pushing Noah ten feet into the air and covering him in a prison of red water. Kyrion then shot his right hand coated in wind mana to help with his freezing process. Roots of ice came down and embedded themselves in the ground holding up the red rose made of ice.

Noah was suspended in a frozen construct in the air and blood like water. He immediately started attacking his barrier.

“Tri cast! Fire gather and grow into a giant flame. Grant my magic the radiance of the divine. Lightning comes down and invokes judgment of my enemy! Divine Judgment!” Isaiah rattled off at high speed as mana gathered around his staff.

Kyrion’s back was to Isaiah, who had just cast one of their strongest spells. He shouldn’t be able to dodge a strike like that.

A swirling pillar of fire, lightning and radiant energy erupted on Kyrion’s location, blinding the audience.

The light cleared, and a burnt pile of charcoal was all that remained. A layer of glass stood where Kyrion had once been. Not even bones remained. The smell of burning copper wafted through the arena, followed by roasted pork.

“That… I’m going to roast Isaiah when he gets back.” Nicole’s right eye twitched as a black knife suddenly appeared in her right hand.

“The arena wards should have kicked in.” Chester gripped his chin. His eyes betrayed his stoic voice.

“Huh. My pupil sure did inherit my flair for the dramatic.” Gamodren said from one of the seats.

“Yeah. That’s a page from your book. Is this fight over?” So asked a young woman with long brown hair and a saber at her side.

“I doubt it. That Noah hasn’t transformed yet, though he really should do it now. Do you know what they did wrong?”

“They created a dome with no normal way in or out, one that obscures sight from above. They also took him too lightly.”

Five heads turned towards the two new residents in their room.

“When did you get here?” Asela asked.

“Charles?” Gamodren asked.

“They were here the whole time. It’s just those two. The rest of their group are with the headmaster.” Charles answered, bored.

“Why are you here?” Asela was scowling, and the room was starting to heat up.

“Ah right. This is technically his progression trial. Since he doesn’t fight in ranked matches. Had to trick him into showing his prowess to the higher up’s. They were worried he was using up resources without learning a thing.” Gamodren took a hit from his pipe and let out a puff of smoke resembling Kyrion’s face.

“They killed him!” Bastion’s face was against the widow as he watched the fight.

Both headmasters seemed to close their eyes for a moment, and when they opened them, they looked at each other.

Caeden had a grin that seemed to surprise everyone else in the room.

“That cheeky brat has been spying on us. Kids mind coming here for a moment?” Caeden asked.

“Me and my big mouth.” The headmaster for Norn looked dejected.

Bastion wasn’t moving from the spot as his face was glued to the window.

Eden wasn’t near the window and decided to get up since nothing was happening.

The headmasters removed the flowers from their persons and destroyed them instantly.

When the flowers were destroyed, Isaiah appeared outside of the arena unconscious. Much to the confusion of the people watching.

“He’s taken after you son.” Cordelia smirked

“You mean he’s taken after you. He was like this before my son got involved.”

“And your son nurtured those aspects pretty well. I’d be proud If I didn’t know he’d use the information he’s gathered to flee from me.” Cordelia shook her head.

“And if he does?”

“Let him. He’s a little stubborn in his own way. If I give chase he’s in trouble. If I don’t he’ll probably come back.”

“Ah so the harder someone tries to approach him the more uneasy he feels. Sounds like an awkward teenager.”

“Oh right he’s that age now.” Cordelia scratched her chin.

Kyrion was currently underground. If only he didn’t have to go all out. He could have used that attack as an excuse to lose. A shame that was two hundred pounds of boar flesh wasted for a distraction.

Traveling through the sand was much easier than moving through solid stone, and when people are distracted, it’s much easier to disappear. Kyrion didn’t want to do it this way, but he agreed to give it his all. Standing there and getting hit was against the boy’s oath. That, however, didn’t mean he needed to let them see what he was doing.

Isaiah was standing dumbstruck, looking at his work. The wards didn’t kick in. The wards always kick in when he uses a spell like that. It was his strongest level of spells. His fight ender, Kyrion, shouldn’t be right there in the blast radius.

“That smell, I think I’m going to be sick.” Isaiah went to a corner of the shed leading his back wide open.

“So you don’t like the smell of roasted pork? I get it. It’s not for everyone. You also burnt it quite a bit.” Kyrion said from right next to the purple-haired boy.

“Wha?”

“Bang.” Kyrion flicked his finger on Isaiah’s temple. A jolt of mana passed through his finger and slammed into the target, instantly sending him out of the arena.

Noah was shocked. His friend just got roasted by a potent attack. But mere moments later, Isaiah appeared outside the stadium unconscious.

“Wait. You conniving trickster! Come out and fight!” Noah yelled through his ice prison that had taken a severe beating. Still, it wasn’t broken completely. Noah decided to superheat his armor, causing the temperature to rise rapidly, melting the ice encasing him at the expense of damaging the runes he had placed on the armor. Eventually, it was big enough for him to escape.

Kyrion went to the metal barricade and spoke. “It’s hard fighting you while your ally is throwing magic like that at me. Why didn’t you break out sooner?”

“I’m big, area magic tends to hit me when I’m near an opponent so I let that run its course as per usual. I’ll also need to craft a new suit of armor after this.” The ice prison now had enough room for Noah to leap out of. So he did, landing with a loud thud.

“Yeah had we been engaged I guess you would have been hit. You could have used that to eliminate me by holding me in place” Kyrion drew a circle in the red sand.

“Guess I need to go all offensive now.” Noah gripped his ax with two hands and ran towards his friend.

“Combine blood and sand into iron.” The red sand soon became a light gray as an odd mix of metals shifted seemingly uncontrollably.

“Iron? That’s no Iron. Iron doesn’t float like that,” Noah stated.

“For a blacksmith you sure don’t seem to know much about magnets.” Kyrion taunted.

“What?” Noah growled.

“I told you to go all out from the beginning. Your window for victory has been lost.” Kyrion kicked up a wave of the iron sand and sent it at Noah.

Noah couldn’t dodge, so he took the blow with his shield. And then watched as the shield floated off in the other direction floating in the air.

“Oww. Something stung my hand.”

“Theory proven. Cecil was right.” Kyrion nodded as he watched the shield gather electricity and then shrink in size until nothing but a small and dense metal sphere.”

“What did you do?”

“Long story short science. Fields of magnets or something.”

“That.. Why does my head hurt?”

“Science does that. You should probably surender.” Kyrion subtly drew a symbol in the iron sand and sighed.

“I thought you were going all out?”

“Oh I am, but if I beat you when you’re holding back I can hardly call it a win. The fights over you just don’t know it yet.” Kyrion yawned.

“Fine, fine.” Noah ran towards his opponent.

Kyrion sighed. “So you’re still going to fight?”

“Of course.”

“Well. I’m sorry.” Kyrion fell back onto his butt as a chair of iron rose behind him.

“What are you doing?” Noah’s charge was stopped by confusion.

“I said it’s over, you lost.” Kyrion leaned onto a closed fist and waited. His chair seemed to resemble a throne.

Noah was dumbstruck. He backpedaled a bit and almost stumbled. “Didn’t you make an Oath? You can’t make an oath to do your best and not do your best!”

Kyrion smirked and waited in his chair.

“Are you sure you want me to fight you while you’re sitting?”

Kyrion flippantly motioned for Noah to get it over with.

“You asked for it.” Noah charged toward the sitting boy, his ax prepared to swing overhead.

Kyrion replaced his eyepatch and relaxed.

The ax came down, and still, Kyrion did not react.

The blade suddenly stopped an inch away from Kyrion’s head.

Noah strained to push further, but some unseen force had managed to freeze him in place.

“I can’t move!” Noah was a bit shocked as fear began to set in.

“I already told you, magnets. Now you can no longer attack or move. Transforming is also impossible. You should surrender now.”

“This is a cheap trick, Kyrion!” Noah’s body began to shift into a lion when everything clicked and his armor wasn’t shifting with him.

“It used quite a bit of mana. It also took a while to set up. Like I said you need to take me out immediately or else you won’t get another chance. This trick wasn’t for you though.” Kyrion mouthed the last part.

“Ah. Let’s do this again sometime.” Noah laughed to himself as consciousness left him.

Noah fell outside the arena unconscious. His armor was still in the hall, currently crackling with electricity. Moments later, the armor turned into a metal ball, collecting the odd sand as it rolled off the arena floor.

“What just happened?” Asela asked.

“Your brother won without showing any of his actual tricks. It was testing incantations and magical theories that are a few centuries too early.” Gamodren answered, a bit annoyed.

“Didn’t you teach him to fight like that? Show little, and be over the top?”

“I did. He’s figured out that we’re here hasn’t he. No, he knows Amadeus is here; he’s revealing a card from his deck. I’m honestly proud he’d think that far ahead.”

“So he has a plan for countering Amadeus and he wants to lead them to the wrong conclusion.”

“Correct. Tell Cecil not to teach Kyrion anymore about this magiology stuff. He’s somehow abusing the rules of nature.”

Tiffany shivered. “Does it have to be me?”

“I’m sure he’ll listen to your request. It was also my idea to have him learn from Cecil. That was before I learned that he can overclock his brain at will now. The brain is a muscle and by reinforcing it in manipulating chemical’s one can alter perception.”

Asela started tapping her foot. “So, he’s just been playing with our strongest team members?”

“He’s been putting on a show. He was told to go all out. It seems that this school doesn’t have anyone in the practitioner rank who can test him. Do you have a high level practitioner or expert willing to test against my pupil?”

“No one eligible for the tournament which I assume you’re preparing him for.”

“Had to try.” Gamodren shrugged.

Charles shook his head. “Those two will need to learn some situational awareness. Leaving Isaiah in a secluded location while well defended is a hazard when you’re fighting someone who’s skills are unknown. Had Isaiah been able to run or dodge, he’d never have been forced into a situation like that. Noah didn’t transform until it was too late. Had he started the battle in that form he could have applied more pressure and shed some armor. I already told him he needed a hard counter for lightning, now it’s been used against him by someone who doesn’t have a lightning affinity.”

“We’re going to be training more often aren’t we?” Kiara sighed.

“Kyrion’s a giant….” Wura said, shocked her eyes had glazed over.

“Yeah we know.” Asela said with irritation.

“But he was so tiny when we met.” Wura squinted.

“Kyrion’s never been tiny.” Nicole stated.

“No, he was Asela sized when we first met.”

“I’m not a unit of measurement!” Asela seethed.

“Of course not Milady. That is an interesting way to fight though. He used incantations and chants ment for minor alchemy but on a very large scale. He manipulated the environment to suit his needs. Maybe we should go over there to test our mettle against their students. A friendly competition between schools.”

“I doubt Kyrion will participate in those matches. He’d weasel out of it by saying he’s only in the top seven and not a suitable opponent.” Kiara shook her head.

“I wouldn’t put it over him.” Tiffany sighed.

“You two lack imagination. He’d give himself a virus or disease he could easily cure and say that he can’t do so while keeping most of the symptoms in check. Technically he can’t catch a cold unless he wants to since his regeneration normally kills it before it can progress. If that doesn’t work he’ll say he’s training his natural immune system or resistance to poisons.” Gamodren pulled out his pipe and took a long drag.