My body couldn't help but burn up in suppressed anger at the thought of being in the same class as that half-breed bitch Lucas, being in a team-fighting class. I knew he would be here but it still pisses me off.
Our eyes met but he looked at me apathetically, like I was an insect on the ground. I reciprocated the look but added with the bloodlust I had been making stronger over time, I could see his knees buckling and his skin flush as his eyes widened in fear.
"Good! Everyone's here!" a loud voice boomed over the field. As all of the students started turning their heads to locate where the voice had come from, I looked straight up to see a massive hawk-like mana beast hovering over the field.
This beast was at least 4 meters long and its wingspan was well over 8 meters. With its sharp talons tucked underneath it, the beast slowly made its descent, revealing a well-toned woman with a giant sword strapped to her back, standing up on the back of the hawk.
"Welcome! My name is Professor Glory, and I will be the one teaching all of you brats! This Flare Hawk is Torch, my precious bond."
The first thing I did was measure the stage our professor's mana core was at, upon trying to inspect her level it was a bit of a struggle but I managed to see she was at light yellow the same as me, being at Light yellow, I saw Arthur rubbing his head as he looked at her. Seems like she blocked his attempt to check her core.
Professor Glory whipped her gaze at me and then Arthur. Giving me a confident smile. Hopping off of her Flare Hawk, she made her way around the group of students in her class. Studying each of the students she passed, she took a closer look at some of them before making her way towards me and Arthur who were standing near each other.
It wasn't unusual for mages to build defenses around their core stages, especially the higher-level ones. It was also a lot more difficult to hide which element they used since the mana particles of their element naturally surrounded them. Most don't find the need to hide their elemental attribute so it wasn't a big deal even if they couldn't, but needless to say, it was surprising to see how strong Professor Glory's defenses were.
But mine remained firm, As the Blue shell, I had on my core Perfectly disguised my core to people on the same level, Including elemental affinity's. I had it sent to look like a dark yellow if they could manage to see it in the first place.
"I have to say, you guys have set the bar pretty high for all of the other classes," she announced after inspecting Lucas. She took quite a bit longer to inspect the disciplinary committee and the student council members, nodding every once in a while.
"Well if it isn't my newest colleagues, Arthur Leywin and Alexander Shard. It's a pleasure to meet you two," Professor Glory gave us a playful grin as if she was itching to tease me.
The students started murmuring amongst the group in confusion.
One of the male upperclassmen raised his hand. "Professor Glory, what do you mean by colleagues?"
"Ah! Most of you probably saw them at the commencement this morning but these two are freshman disciplinary committee officers. real prodigies if I do say so myself. Arthur is a newly appointed professor for the Practical Mana Manipulation class that you guys all took during your underclassman years. And Alexander Is an assistant professor for this class." She gave us a firm pat on the back.
"WHAT?!!"
"You can't be serious, Professor!"
"If those brats are professors then I'm the king of this continent!"
"What has this academy turned into, to accept freshmen as professors?"
"How is that even possible? Even the best upperclassmen these days don't get picked to be professors, but those first years did?"
The various noises of protests made me sigh. They were bound to find out eventually but it would've taken the upperclassmen a bit longer to find out this news, considering they didn't really get much information about the lower division classes.
"GRRRR~" Sylvie's fur stood on end as she growled warningly at the group of students.
"WRAAAA~!" Zeph roared sounding like his dragon form, He used sound magic to make everyone in the class fear him. 'Dad can beat all of you without moving from his spot!' He yelled mentally.
A few students fell on their ass, Lucas nearly pissed himself, and the rest just took a few steps back. everyone had seen Zeph by now and knew he could change size but nobody knew just how big he was, but they didn't care as he was normally docile, so this roar seemed to come from a colossal monster of some kind scared the shit out of them.
I pet Zeph's head whose scales had changed a bit to look more jagged and he had made his stance on my shoulder look bigger. "Zeph that's a bit far, also good job on the sound magic."
"That Thing Can Use sound Magic?!" they questioned,
"yes Zeph can use sound magic, Big deal, Look if you think I'm not worthy of my positions you can come here and fight me, but just know I did beat Goodsky in a fight," I Said with my chin pointed up so I was looking down on them.
They all shut up and stopped trying to fight me, A few I could see still wanted to try but didn't have the balls to try it.
"Now, now! Before we jump straight into complaints, we should have more faith in the director's decision. He has qualified to some degree by beating the professor that taught the class previously!" She shot me a wink.
"But Professor Glory! The underclassmen professors aren't all that great anyway! I bet some of the upperclassmen students here could beat most of them!" Another round of complaints issued on, making me grow sleepy. Must've been the food coma setting in from lunch.
"Haha! To be honest, I'm itching to test how strong you really are, boy! Unfortunately, Director Goodsky made it clear for us to not do that. So! These students here will test you in my place!" She put her hands on her hip, grinning in anticipation.
By now, I noticed a sudden raging fire burning in some of the male students' eyes as they looked at me. I could almost see the words they were thinking etched into their face.
'I'm going to kill this bastard.'
'Who does this brat think he is?'
'Murder, murder, murder, murder...'
'I'm jealous. Why is he good-looking too? He needs to die.'
The female students, on the other hand, have a look in their eyes that scared me even more. Their stares remind me of hyenas looking at fresh meat as they almost drooled over the 'goods' that I suddenly became to them.
Taking a glance at Claire, she just smile on her face, When she noticed I was looking she blushed slightly. "teach us well Professor." She emphasized the last part, Looks like she's happy to get some good training from me which I'm more than happy to do for her,
"Director Goodsky told me to take it easy on my upper-division classes until I adjusted to school. This is my first day, after all," Art tried to talk his way out of this. Fighting against these hormonal teenagers wasn't going to end well, for him at least.
"Oh, come on! That's no fun now, is it? In order to get proper respect, a certain amount of skill needs to be shown, you know? It's just to prove to us that you are actually capable of being in this upper-division class. Isn't that right, class?" she shouted.
"Yeah!"
I was happy to show my power off, After all, I am going to be pounding combat lessons into their very dam souls.
"Sigh... What did you have in mind, Professor Glory?" Art said in defeat.
"Fear not! I am a just and fair woman!" she harrumphed.
I'm not though hehe.
she wrapped her well-built arm around Art's neck and squeezed. Unlike the Twin Horns' Angela's chest, hers was muscular and hard, not much different from a man's.
"We will start off this semester by playing a little game! Aren't I so nice?" By the look on her face, she was the most excited about this. Continuing on, she said, "So! What kind of game should we play... a mock team battle? War?"
"How about having the four disciplinary committee officers on the same team, Professor? I feel like that could be a good way to let us work on teamwork as well," Curtis raised his hand as Claire nodded in agreement next to him.
"Hmmm, not a bad idea!" she responded while rubbing her chin.
"But Professor, both Curtis, and Claire are top students in this academy! It wouldn't be fair to have both of them on the same team like them," a tall, black-haired teen argued.
"That's true... Aha! I got it! For the DC team, we will have Arthur play the role of king, the match resulting in an immediate loss if he gets put out of battle. I think that should be fair. Now, what about the other team?" As if she was talking to herself, she started muttering off possible candidates when a hand raised.
"Professor. How about having the student council president and me as their opponent?" Clive suggested.
"What?" Tess turns her head to Clive in surprise. But before she had the chance to object, Professor Glory clasped her hands.
"OHH! Now things are getting interesting! But it would be unfair to have only the two of you against the four of them." She looked around the group of students.
"I think the president and I will suffice if the immediate loss rule affecting Arthur Leywin is implemented," he said seriously.
"I'll volunteer to be on the Student Council Team," Lucas Wykes said calmly while leaning on his staff.
"Hmmm, Mr. Wykes, our other genius freshman... Very well! It would be a good chance to see your abilities in action as well!" I could tell she had a twinge of doubt. Maybe she'd heard some rumors about him.
"That still leaves the three of you versus their four." Glory pondered.
"I'll fight him!" I heard a familiar snotty noble call out, looking over I saw the guy I dragged to the committee room yesterday.
"what was your name again? cha? charlie Ravenpoop?" I said back honesty trying to remember this side character's name.
"IT'S CHARLES RAVENPOR, YOU COMMONER!!" HE yelled back infuriated.
"Ahhhhh, so that's what it was."
"pfft!" A couple of the students scoffed at him suppressing their laughter
"Charles Ravenpor, Dark orange wind conjurer, just be careful." Glory okayed him to fight me.
Some of the other students groaned in disappointment that they didn't get the chance to beat me up and be on the same team as the student council president but everyone was clearly excited to see the match.
"The match will have a time limit of 30 minutes, where we will have a short discussion and a breakdown of it afterward. Please gear up!" With that, a pile of what looked like exercise gear dropped to the ground out of Professor Glory's dimension ring.
Turning serious, she began explaining. "This is special equipment designed by artificers to measure the amount of damage that is dealt. This equipment will activate, releasing a shrill noise, if the damage it takes passes the threshold that's encrypted into it. If anyone chooses to ignore this warning and continues to fight or cast spells, it will lead to immediate expulsion from my class and other possible consequences regarding your stay here as a student. This rule goes for any upper-division fighting class in this academy, so engrave it into your guys' brains. All of you are at the level where protecting yourselves with mana shouldn't be a problem. Let me reiterate this but, this equipment won't protect you so don't rely on it as a source of protection," She announced to everyone else in the class as well. Clearing her throat, Professor Glory shouted. "Do I make myself clear?!"
"YES!"
"Good! Now, the eight of you gear up." She got back on her bond while the rest of the students headed towards the viewing platform.
"We can't embarrass the DC name now, can we? I'll make practice extra hard for anyone who doesn't meet standards!" Claire grinned evilly while we grabbed our gear.
"Aw Shit!" Curtis swore loudly dreading the training.
"Claire, did you pick up my teaching style?"
"Of course I did Al, It's really effective." She said happily while smiling, I smiled back at her happy that she enjoys the effectiveness of the training, and that some things I do are rubbing off on her
I was having trouble putting on the arm wraps when Claire came up and helped me bind the straps around my right arm. "Let me help you with that," she said gently.
"Thank you, Claire," I smirked while letting her help me.
Shooting me a glare, she tightened the straps, jerking my arm towards her. "You can kill an S-Class-Mana Beast with ease but not tie a strap?" She teased with a sly grin.
"pfff... you got a point there!" I couldn't help but snicker, Claire, laughing with me.
"You were about to ask to fight the whole class, weren't you? mister one-man army." She asked coming down from her laughter.
Leaning closer to her face, I whispered, "Yup, I'm also not hiding any of my power, they just need to be strong enough for me to use it." I patted her head, making her flush and push me away from her.
"Y-You're too c-close," Claire muttered under her breath as she's tilted her head away.
"Are you guys done flirting over there?" Professor Glory's voice from above surprised the both of us as I quickly finish adjusting the straps.
"Ah! Arthur, Alexander. I suggest you leave your bonds in a safer place if they're not capable of assisting you during the battle like Curtis' bond." She pointed towards the viewing platform.
"Zeph you want to fight him?" I asked genuinely curious if he wanted to.
'It's a bit borning either way, he's just too weak.' Zeph sounded back with a tired note to his mental communication.
'Wanna toy with him anyways Zeph?'
'Sure why not.'
Claire just finished putting on her gear as I went up to her. "Do your best out there. I want to see how much you improved."
Giving me a confident smile, she said back, "You better watch out then," before running off to the other side of the field across from where Clive and Lucas were.
I headed towards Curtis and Arthur. while Curtis mounted on top of his World Lion, Grawder.
"Even with Alex, we're still at a disadvantage because they have three conjurers and Clive is a long-range augmenter. The fact that it's an instant loss for us if your gear activates gives us a seriously limited set of options." Claire leaned on her unsheathed sword while stretching her leg back.
"You're right. and I don't really know anything about your fighting style so we'll match your pace. We'll take priority in protecting you while we get in range to do some damage." Curtis responded while petting Grawder.
I looked for Tess, Clive, Lucas, and Ravenpoop, I spotted them a few dozen meters away. Seemed like we were going to be target practice for them until we got in range. This would be fun.
"Arthur gets the half-breed, Curtis, Claire we are charging the other Three, I'll intercept as much As I can but Curtis watch your self I'm not babysitting you."
Claire and Arthur nodded to the plan without question. "Why am I the only one getting a reminder to be careful?" Curtis questioned.
"Arthurs my cousin I know he can handle himself, I trained Claire so that hellish training you are getting from her is a watered-down version of mine," I said without batting an eye.
I pulled out Balmung Although there were rumors about its power there was none about how it looked, and when I used it in the dire Tombs I immediately used [Ragnarok] on it so the amount of ice lightning that came off it completely obscured the blade as well as how far I was away from Lucas made it so he couldn't tell who I was based off my swords alone.
Art took out Dawn's Ballad without its sheath, and both Curtis and Claire readied their weapons as well.
"those are some Nice swords you two have," Curtis whistled looking at our unique blades.
"That's not your normal sword Al," Claire questioned as she stared at Balmung.
"I use the other one a bit too much, I need to get used to using this one more often," I said giving Balmung a few practice swings. It was a lot different than Tempestarii mainly because it's double-edged and a greatsword so I have to use both hands if I'm not using my beast will or augmenting myself.
Claire Drew her rapier and got into the stance for her swordsmanship she had developed for herself after taking the best parts from my style which was a mix of one meant for fighting large groups at the same time and Arthurs for one on one situations, and Kaspians style of rapier combat. she then released a fierce battle aura as she infused both wind and fire attribute mana into her body, as well as the sound sonar skill I taught her, the sound magic version was better than the normal wind one but cost more mana. The wind beckoned her command and her hair fluttered in the wind, I could see the air around her becoming hazy from the excess heat that came off her. Claire had been working on her mana control when it came to fire on her own as I'm not a fire mage, her control over it has come a long way, before when she did this a lot of fire mana was wasted it resembled more of a cloak of fire than the small haze it is now. And she had a trick up her sleeve with that condensed fire mana which was a rather nasty one, when she let the mana flow out of her body or through her sword it would explode because of volatile air around her that she was learning to make more explosive.
Curtis also looked pretty damn impressive wielding his dual double-edged swords while mounting his bond.
Art turned forward as well, imbuing wind and earth mana into his body and sword. his hair and clothes fluttered as the ground beneath him pulsed.
I let my mana flow inside of me and flow evenly it roused my assimilated body and I could feel my body grow in strength, speed, and endurance. The wind flowed around me obeying my will completely, my long hair fluttering behind me like Grawder's mane.
"Need a light Al?" claire asked floating a flame to me.
"Claire he's not a fire mage?" Curtis asked confused.
"Just watch." She smirked as the air around it lit up like a firework as 6 flames shot out of it and danced around me, before turning blue and looking like 3-foot long blowtorch flames.
"Get enough control over the air and you can control fire like it's your own," I said as Zeph hopped off my shoulder and grew to be the same size as Grawder but twice the length and a tad bit shorter Hight wise.
Professor Glory's powerful voice echoed through the battlefield, signaling us to begin.
"LET THE MATCH COMMENCE!"
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