{Athena POV}
"I guess this is it."
I mumbled aloud as I, along with Tessia and Caera, arrived in front of a massive oval shaped building that would be the site for our Team Fighting Mechanics Class.
'Is that an arena?'
I asked myself as I further analyzed the building in front of me, but was stopped halfway through the process by Tessia's voice.
"Hey Athena, where's your brother? He left the cafeteria almost ten minutes before us so there's no way he hasn't arrived, right?"
Hearing the elven princess' question I turned my gaze from the building and took a moment to look at the surrounding students, and sure enough, my brother was nowhere to be seen.
"I'm not sure, but given the number of students present it's possible that he's just hiding amongst the crowd."
Hearing my words, both of the student council members developed skeptical looks and after a moment, Caera spoke up.
"Maybe a normal person could blend in, but I don't think that anyone with Arthur's looks could reasonably hide amongst regular people."
And hearing her sound reasoning, I just shrugged as I said.
"Whether he's here or not doesn't matter. Knowing Arthur, he'll at least arrive before class starts, and if he doesn't he'll likely have a good reason for not showing up."
At my words, Tessia looked like she had something more to say but before she could speak she was cut off by a familiar voice.
"Oh, Athena? I didn't expect to see you in an upper division class!"
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{Cynthia Goodsky POV}
"So the supposed rank 1 and 2 are in the same upper-division classes. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out, don't you think, Avier?"
Hearing my question, the emerald green owl who was perched on my window gave a quiet nod before speaking through our bond.
"Although you may find the interactions of those children interesting, just the fact that two monsters of their caliber even exist is frightening. And even that's without considering the possibility of them being placed together in a conflict ridden environment."
As I started feeling his worry leak through our bond, I put down my papers and turned my gaze towards him.
"It's almost as if you're giving me a warning to keep them apart."
Avier turned his golden eyes in my direction.
'It's not a warning, just an observation. Those two are far more similar than they may seem in the sense that they think things will always go their way, so once they finally meet, conflict is bound to break out between them because of their opposing goals.'
I turned my gaze down towards the two separate files on my desk that contained the information on the two and asked.
"Should I have prevented them from meeting?"
Avier just stood silently for a moment before responding in a tired tone.
'No, I'm sure they would've met eventually. You were just speeding up a process that would have otherwise taken months, and if we consider Alacrya's impending threat. Your actions might've given Dicathen a sliver of hope they would otherwise lack.'
And without another word, Avier left, likely going somewhere secluded so he could gather his thoughts.
'Arthur Leywin... what are you?'
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{Vanesy Glory POV}
'There are certainly some interesting individuals amongst them... although it seems some are just straight up monsters.'
I thought amusedly as I silently observed the batch of students gathered outside of the TFM(Team Fighting Mechanics) battle grounds, paying extra attention to the two students who had somehow sensed my presence.
'Let's see... first theirs our Rank 1 - Arthur Leywin, and second there's Rank 2 - Phaera Heathcliff. They're better than I expected.'
Not only had the two somehow detected my presence, but they also cloaked themselves with mana in such a way that they seemed invisible to the surrounding students.
'If not for the fact that I'm outside the range of their spell, I'm afraid that even I wouldn't have noticed them... this is going to be fun~'
And without another thought, I signed to my bond to fly down towards the students, smirking as I prepared my grand entrance.
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{Arthur POV}
'It seems like she's finally done stalking us...'
I thought to myself as I watched our professor, along with her bond descend upon the group of the students with an amused smirk.
Whoosh!*
Thud!*
After her bond landed safely on the ground, she swiftly hopped off of it causing a quiet thud to resound throughout the now silent courtyard.
"Welcome student! My name is Vanesy Glory and I am the professor in charge of this year's Team Fighting Mechanics I!"
She placed a hand on her bond.
"And this Flare Hawk is my bond, Torch! Pleasure to meet all of you!"
'An A-rank mana beast as a bond... she's either strong or lucky.'
'I'm stronger~'
'Whatever.'
Finishing her grand introduction she paused for a second as she looked at the surrounding students' reactions, and just as she looked like she was about to continue with her words, her head snapped in my sister's direction while the person in question flinched in slight pain.
'Seems like Athena tried to check her core stage...'
'And failed.'
Professor Glory locked eyes with my sister for a second before smirking as she approached Athena with an amicable smile before saying.
"Oh, if it isn't my new colleague Miss Athena Leywin! It's a pleasure to meet you~"
And with that one sentence, almost all the students gathered around turned their attention towards my sister as they started to whisper amongst themselves.
"Hey professor, is that really tru..."
As the students started to bicker amongst themselves, I just started to zone out as I let out a tired sigh.
Sigh...*
'This is such a pain... I should've just ditched.'
I thought to myself as more and more students started to get worked up in jealousy.
'Weren't you the one who insisted on joining your sister in school? Saying something about how it could be an interesting experience?'
I glared at my bond who yawned lazily as she curled up on my lap and asked.
'Whose side are you on?'
She just shrugged.
'That's the thing papa, I'm a completely fair perspective, free from all bias~'
I scoffed.
'Bull. Shi-'
Before I could finish my words, I felt a hand touch my shoulder as I heard Professor Glory's voice resound throughout the grounds not too far away from me.
"Looks like the Disciplinary Committee has their fifth member! Isn't that right, Arthur?"
'Kill me.'
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It seems that while I was busy arguing with my daughter, the entire Disciplinary Committee had been forcefully volunteering to take part in a five versus five mock battle, with the disciplinary committee facing the three present members of the student council as well as two more students who had volunteered.
'If you're so mad about it, why don't you just let yourself get eliminated?'
Hearing Sylvie's suggestion I just shook my head.
'I need to maintain my position as rank 1, since a lot of my future plans involve using it.'
Sylvie paused as she looked at me as if I was insane.
'But you're terrible at holding back, how do you know that you won't accidentally kill a student?'
'I just won't use any lethal attacks, and pray that they can endure my non-lethal ones.'
'And if that fails?'
I smirked.
'We disappear into the beast glades.'
Sylvie growned.
'How cliché.'
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{Caera POV}
"Hey Caera, what do you think our chances of victory are?"
I heard Tess asked from next to me, as she finished putting on all of the safety equipment.
"70%"
I said, not bothering to explain my reasoning since I was too preoccupied by the fact that Arthur saw through, or at least realized that I was using an illusion.
But Tess, who heard my response, looked at me with a surprised expression and asked.
"Really? They have the ranks 1, 4, and 5 on their team while we have 2, 6, and 7. If you look at it logically then we should be far outmatched."
As I heard her reasoning I finally broke out of my thought and I turned towards Tess before saying.
"Although Phaedra might be ranked lower than Arthur, I'm almost sure that she's stronger. Especially in battles involving multiple opponents."
Saying this, both Tess and I turned our vision towards the tanned elf as her azure eyes watched the opposing team with a predatory gaze.
"What makes you so sure?"
I raised an eyebrow and thought.
'Because even Agrona couldn't control her.'
But because I couldn't voice that, I instead came up with a different reasoning and said.
"Phaera's a half elf, half dwarf who somehow received both the elves greater talent for magic, and the Dwarves superior physical prowess. Although her core may be slightly less developed than Arthur's, her physical strength will more than make up for it."
Hearing my explanation the elven princess turned her gaze from Phaera to Arthur before saying.
"Although I agree with the fact that Phaera's strong, we have yet to see Arthur fight at all. And if we go off what Athena said about him, he supposedly has an insane level of mana control."
I shrugged.
"No matter how good his control is, unless he's a white core it'll at least take a second or two to cast a spell. In that short period Phaera could easily land a few dozens of strikes on him, and even if he managed to defend himself, the safety equipment will still be triggered and he'll be considered out of the fight."
Finally understanding my reasoning, Tess nodded and turned her attention towards the other half elf.
"So the only question is, how well that Lucas kid can hold off Curtis..."
I nodded.
"Seeing as he was also allowed to take part in this class despite being a first year, he should be able to at least be able to stall long enough for one of us to finish our fight and help him."
"Hey! Why don't you speak for yoursel-"
Lucas, hearing our conversation looked provoked, but before he was allowed the chance to fully voice his thoughts, our professor called from atop her bond.
"Alright! Now that everyone has their safety gear on, please get in your position at each end of the field so we can begin the match!"
I smirked as I made my way to one end of the field.
'And so it begins.'
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A/N
I should warn you all to prepare for the next few chapters to be filled with fighting.
And feedback?
Any ideas for the future?
Also, if I didn't make it clear enough. Phaera is the rank 2 just below Arthur, and her picture is above the chapter's title.
That's all!
~1812 Words