"Mei! Hana! Kuro! Wait up!"
The group turned around to see who was the one calling after them. To the shock of all three of them, the one was none other than Leo Vermillion. He was running towards them from the other side of the corridor, right hand raised in a form of greeting. The three looked at each other, confusion clear on their faces.
"How do you know our names?" Hana asked when the boy finally caught up to them.
"I know everyone's names. And the type of their magic." The boy said smirking, obviously proud of his answer. "It's the bare minimum if I want to be Captain like my brother."
Unsure of what to say, the group just looked at him.
"You're Hana Masayoshi, right?" Hana nodded. "Your snow magic is pretty impressive. I saw it when you took the Entrance Exam. It was my first year as a Magic Knight as well, so my brother took me with him to watch the exam. I could totally see why my brother raised his hand for you."
Hana looked away trying to hide her blushing face. She never expected him to compliment her magic, let alone to hear him praise her performance at the Entrance Exam.
Leo turned to the tall, black-haired guy. "And you are Kuro Takayama. Spatial Magic." Kuro raised his eyebrow and looked at the much shorter red-haired guy. He wasn't about to be impressed by some noble because he knows his name and magic type. "You were one of the members that took part in my first mission." Kuro's eyes widen. That, he didn't expect. "Ahh, sorry I didn't talk to you back then. It was my first mission, I was more preoccupied trying to prove myself rather than making friends."
Mei was impressed. It was the first time she saw Kuro speechless.
"So, how are you feeling Mei?"
It has been a week since Leo offered Mei to train together. After she rested for a day and a half, Mei became restless, so she resumed her usual activities and joined her friends in their training. Seeing as she hadn't heard from Leo for a week, Mei thought that the boy had forgotten or changed his mind.
"I'm all better, thank you."
Leo smiled at her. "Glad to hear that. Does that mean we can start our training?"
"Uh, sure."
While she was on her "break", Mei had spent a lot of time thinking about the training session and a lot of time she found herself wondering if Kaito was right and Leo is just gonna use her as a tool so only he improves, or if she will get something good out of it as well.
"How are we going to do it though? Do I just materialize a bunch of things and let you set them on fire?"
"Actually, I was thinking about something different." He turned to look at Hana and Kuro. "How would you feel if I asked you to join our training?"
"Huh?!" All three stare at him in bewilderment.
"You can invite Kaito Reitsu and Haru Isotada as well. They're your friends, right? I always see you five together."
"Y-Yeah, they're our friends," Mei was beyond confused. It seemed as if every time Leo answered one of her questions, another three took its place. "But, why? I thought you were only interested in my power."
"Well, yeah, you are indeed the one I want to train with the most, however, I have some friends that are interested in your magic as well, so I thought, why not make it a group training session?"
The three friends looked at each other, a silent conversation taking place between them. Leo watched them for what felt like a couple of minutes. Finally reaching a decision, Mei turned to the boy and told him.
"Alright. We will join you and your friends for one training session. We will see how this one goes and decide if we want to continue or not."
Leo smiled.
"Fine with me. Talk to your other friends and come today after lunch at Training Ground E."
* * *
"Can't believe you convinced me to do this," Kaito muttered, glaring at Kuro.
"Oh, stop being so crabby, " Kuro responded, rolling his eyes at his friend's attitude. "We agreed to one training session. We don't have to do it again if we don't like it."
"I don't see the point in doing it even once."
Kuro pretended he did not hear that. There was no point in starting a fight with Kaito. He should keep all that energy for what's about to come.
"I see you've brought everyone, " Leo said, making his way towards the middle of the field. "That's perfect. Since we both have 5 members in our teams, no one will be left out."
Mei and Hana walked over to him. Before they could say anything to him though, a tall, handsome guy, with hair the color of a peach, came from behind Leo and put an arm around his shoulders. With a huge, cocky smile on his face, he gave them a wink before addressing Leo.
"Oi, Leo. You didn't tell me we would be training with such pretty ladies."
Leo had no time to respond. A girl, with the same color hair as the cheeky guy, came from behind both boys and threw a punch at the tall guy. Her fist made contact with the back of his head, making him lose his balance and fall forward.
"You bastard! How many times do I have to tell you to stop hitting on every girl you see!"
She was glaring at the guy, hands on her shoulders. The guy turned around, right hand rubbing the back of his head, as he sent her a glare back. Looking at both of them, Mei and Hana could immediately tell that they were related. Same peach-colored hair, same intense red eyes, and the same way they were practically screaming royalty when one looked at them.
They bickered for a few minutes before the guy stood up and went back to sit on the bench behind Leo. Although the argument finished with him calling her names that Mei thought she would never hear come from the mouth of a noble at the address of another noble, the girl didn't say anything in response. Instead, she looked at the two girls and smiled.
"Sorry about that. I'm Erika and that is my twin brother,--"
"Twin older brother!"
"--Elric. Don't be fooled by his pretty face. He's a cold-hearted jerk that will hit on you and then leave you as soon as you turn his advances back."
"Hey! Is that how you introduce your one and only brother?"
Kuro snickered behind Mei and Kana. He didn't question the obvious resemblance between the two. However, one would wonder at the term "twin" when they would see the massive difference between their height. The guy was tall, not as tall as Kuro but clearly taller than Kaito. But the girl. Oh man, was she short. So short, Kuro wondered if she was at least taller than his younger brother who was 12.
"Twins, you said?" Kuro asked with a smirked on his face.
Erika rolled her eyes. She was already used to having people be surprised by the difference in their height. "Yeah. But we're very different. As you can see, I took all the brains and he took all the height."
"And all the good looks!" Elric shouted from the back.
Erika rolled her eyes again. She pointed to the silver-haired girl that was sitting next to Elric. "The shy, cute girl over there is Rin." The girl gave them a shy smile and a wave. "And the sulking tree over there" Erika pointed to a green-haired boy that had a similar expression on his face as Kaito "is Makoto."
The other group introduced themselves. Mei smiled at them, told them her name, and also introduced Kaito, knowing that the boy won't bother to do it himself. She was followed by a nervous Hana who gave them a bow and shouted 'Thank you so much for inviting us. Let's have a pleasant training session!'. She received smiles from four of them and a scoff from the green-haired guy. Kuro made a point to kiss Erika's hand after introducing himself, receiving only an amused smile from the girl and a glare from her brother. As the last of the group, Haru shouted his name and wished everyone good luck.
"Alright, now that introductions are over, let's start the training."
"How are we going to do this?" asked Hana.
A determined smile appeared on Leo's face. "One-on-one battles!"
He turned his back to them and proceeded to pick up two clear bowls from behind the bench. Inside the bowls, Mei could see pieces of paper, folded in such a way that she couldn't see what was written on them.
"Every member will draw a piece of paper with a number from these. The person who has a similar number as you will be the one you fight."
Leo gave Mei and her friends the first bowl while he and his friends drew numbers from the other one. After everyone got their paper, they opened them to see who they would be fighting.
"The fights will be in the order of the numbers. So, since Mei and Erika both have 1, they will have the first fight. After that, Haru and I will be next." said Leo who got number 2.
Mei looked nervously at Erika. She really didn't want to be the one who has the first fight. The other girl smiled at her and put a hand on her shoulder. She didn't seem nervous at all.
"I'm actually glad I get to fight you before Leo. I want to see what my lava can do against your tungsten."
'Oh, so she is one of the friends Leo mentioned.' Mei thought.
While the two girls were preparing for the fight, the two groups walked as far away from them as possible, giving them the necessary space to go all out at each other. Kuro, Hana, and Haru started cheering for Mei, while Leo, Elric, and Rin sat down on the bench watching with interest as the two girls positioned themselves one in front of the other ready to start the fight. Both groups had no doubt in their minds that their respective friend will win.
When Leo gave the signal for the girls to start, Mei was the first one to make her move. Five dark-grey daggers came from behind Mei and flew towards Erika. The girl easily dodged them, jumping backward and switching to left and right when necessary. Knowing that Erika will most likely be able to dodge them, Mei took that time to produce a giant drill.
When Erika took a left step so she could dodge the last of Mei's daggers, Mei came from that side with the drill pointed at her. The girl's eyes widened in surprise, but she had enough time to create a lava fist that came from Mei's right side and smashed straight into her drill, sending Mei flying a few feet.
Erika pulled out her grimoire. She had to get serious. Before Mei could completely get up, she smashed her palms on the ground.
"Lava Creation Magic: Lava Wave!"
Lava started coming at an increasing rate from the place where Erika was touching the ground. It was making its way towards Mei at an alarmingly fast pace.
Mei raised her fists and a few feet in front of her a wall appeared, stoping the lava from reaching her. She was so grateful that lava couldn't melt tungsten.
Her happiness didn't last long as she saw a big, round thing that was looking like a small meteorite, coming from above the wall towards her. She jumped to the left, dodging the small meteorite at the last moment.
'Tsc, I have to bring out my grimoire so soon. She's not playing around.' Mei thought, but despite that she was happy. And determined.
"Lava Creation Magic: Meteorite Shower!"
This time, multiple small meteorites were created, and they were all heading towards Mei.
"Tungsten Creation Magic: Dual Swords!"
Just as the name said, two swords materialized in Mei's hands. She took her stance and then proceeded to run towards the meteorites.
Watching their fight, Elric couldn't stop the impressed whistle that escaped his mouth.
"Oh, wow! She's good."
Kuro agreed. But still, he couldn't help himself from being impressed with the royal girl. He knew that royals and nobles are all supposed to have more mana and skill than commoners, but he also knew that, with all her training and determination, it would take more than that to go head to head with Mei.
"They're both amazing."
"They are. But my sister is going to win. Look," Elric pointed at Mei "she's getting tired."
Everybody looked at her. It was true. Mei was getting tired. She cut more than half of the meteorites and she had a few bruises on her arms and legs. She was breathing hard and it was obvious she was trying hard not to lose her focus. Erika on the other hand was just keeping her arms raised in front of her, trying to control the meteorites so that they could hit Mei, all her concentration being on them.
Looking at Erika, Leo couldn't help but chuckle.
"No. Mei will win."
Before Elric could turn his head towards his friend, he saw what Leo saw too. A black sphere was forming around Erika.
Erika noticed it too late. Right when Mei cut the last meteorite, the sphere closed around Erika.
Dropping her swords, Mei waited. She was panting. Her arms were aching and her knees were trembling. She could barely stand.
She could feel Erika struggling inside the sphere, like Leo when he got caught in it. She knew that if Erika manages to escape, the match will be over for her. Fighting with the dual swords and having to destroy so many meteorites while also concentrating on creating the sphere left its tool on Mei. She barely had the power to keep the sphere up.
Thankfully for her, Erika stopped. Taking that as a sign of giving up, Mei let her go.
Erika fell to the ground.
"Ah, dammit! I really thought I had you!"
She got up and started brushing the dust off herself. After, she walked towards Mei and extended her hand.
"That was a good match."
Erika smiled and waited for Mei to shake her hand. However, Mei didn't.
"You went easy on me."
Erika looked at her confused.
"Back when I was behind the wall you could have created more meteorites than just one. If you would have done that I wouldn't have been able to dodge them or in time to create anything to destroy them. You would have won."
Erika looked a bit embarrassed by the fact that she got caught.
"Ahh yes sorry. I didn't mean to go easy on you. I just thought that it would have been a bit unfair since you wouldn't have been able to see them. I know that this training was supposed to be serious but that doesn't mean we have to kill each other."
Erika was afraid that Mei might take that the wrong way. She didn't want it to seem as if she was underestimating Mei, but the truth was, she couldn't know if she would have been able to escape or not, so Erika didn't want to risk unnecessarily injuring her or worse, killing her.
To her relief, Mei smiled and took her hand in hers.
"Fine. But next time, I want you to give me your best. Because I will."
Erika laughed. "Alright. You got it."
Leo walked towards the, clapping.
"That was a good match. Mei, thank you for trapping Erika in that sphere. Now she can no longer laugh at me for that."
Erika shrugged. "Don't worry, I have plenty of other stuff to laugh at you for."
Leo ignored her. "Alright! It's time for me and Haru to have a go at each other."
Haru excitedly ran in his direction. Passing Mei, she gave him a fist bump and muttered a 'good luck'.
Arriving at the benches, Kuro loudly congratulated Mei on her win, looking at Elric from the corner of his eyes. Elric didn't say anything to Kuro, instead, he was preoccupied with making fun of her sister for losing to which she answered with a kick between his legs. Hana and Kaito congratulated Mei as well, but not as loud as Kuro.
The match between Leo and Haru started with a signal from Makoto, but none of the boys made a move. They were both waiting for the other to attack.
"What type of magic does Haru have?" asked Erika.
"Transformation Magic."
"R-Really?" Elric looked at the boys who were still not doing anything, before muttering to himself. "Well, I guess this match won't be too long."
Kuro smirked. "Don't rule him out so quick."
In front of them, the match has started. Leo threw some flames at Haru, who dodged them quite easily, before concealing himself in smoke. That meant he was transforming.
After the smoke has cleared, everyone could see that Haru transformed himself into a lion. Kuro smirked again. 'A fitting choice taking into consideration the enemy he was facing' he thought.
"He can transform into animals?!" came Elric's surprised statement.
Kuro nods. "He can do people as well. But that's not very useful since he can't use their magic. So, animals are more fitted for the battlefield. He can combine them as well, like have the body of a zebra and the neck of a giraffe. Don't ever ask him to become a sphinx though. He won't let you go until you answer all his riddles."
Elric nodded, taking a mental note to not ever do that.
The boys turned their attention back to the fight. Haru was now a cheetah with wings. 'Good. Now he has both speed and the ability to fly.'
The fight lasted longer than the girls' fight. Both boys were exhausted by the end of it and it was obvious that they used a lot of mana. Haru had a few burns here and there, while Leo had a lot of scratches on himself, the most being on his face, which was a result of Haru tricking him and turning himself into a cat, which caught the royal off guard, and jumped on his face. That earned a few laughs from the groups.
The fight, however, finished with Leo's win. Even though Haru had been able to escape from the circle of fire created by Leo by turning into a bird, he was still caught by a direct attack from the red-haired boy, almost turning him into a roasted chicken.
The boys shook hands and made room for the next duo.
Hana made her way on the field. She didn't know how to feel about the fight. A part of her was excited. The two matches before hers gave her a lot of hope for the possible upcoming training sessions. Witnessing Erika's magic, Hana saw an opportunity to surpass the limits of her own magic.
The other part, however, was full of anxiety. She didn't know if it was because she will be fighting a noble or because of his icy gaze that sent shivers down Hana's spine every time she met it.
"L-let's have a good f-fight," Hana said, trying to hide her nervousness behind a smile.
The green-haired boy did not respond. Instead, he pushed his glasses further up on his nose using two of his fingers.
"Alright. Get ready," Hana pulled out her grimoire. "Start!"
She was the first one to attack.
"Snow Magic: Icicles Rain!"
Multiple icicles started pouring down on Makoto. His eyes moved around as if he was counting every icicle. He had his grimoire out, but he wasn't using a spell. At least that's what Mei thought. He managed to get out of the icicles range as if he knew exactly where they would land. He moved swiftly, trying not to step on a smashed icicle and slide on it.
Seeing that it wasn't working, Hana tried another spell.
"Snow Magic: Snow Blizzard!"
Snowflakes started falling on the ground. It didn't reach the ones who were sitting and watching, however, due to Hana wanting to use as little mana on it as possible.
"And now Snow Magic: Snow Leopards!"
The snow didn't even have time to set properly as it slowly started to come together and take the shape of snow leopards.
One by one, the leopards started pouncing at Makoto. This time he did more than just dodge them. Mei couldn't clearly see what was covering his hand, but it made it look like it was one big, white claw. He cut each leopard with his hand, the leopards turning into puddles of snow immediately.
"Why isn't she doing anything?" Mei asked furrowing her brows.
She observed that the snow was falling slower and the leopards created were getting fewer and fewer. Hana had her arms raised in front of her, but she wasn't moving. Her grimoire was flowing at her side, but it didn't look as if she was preparing for a spell. 'Why isn't she moving?' She should strike now while he's busy with the leopards.'
Suddenly Hana moved. Her arms were rising above her head, but her hands were still hanging low as if someone grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her up.
"Ah, he got her," Elric stated, shaking his head disapprovingly. "Can't say I blame her though. If you've never seen Makoto's magic before, it will be easy to fall into his trap."
Mei raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
Erika stepped in. "He uses String Magic. He conceals his strings at the beginning of the battle and tries to keep you in one place so he can tie them on you. That's why he didn't attack her."
Mei looked back at the fight. Hana was now raised above the ground and Mei could clearly see the strings all around her. Hana was basically covered in them. She had strings around her ankles, going up to her waist, both her arms and wrapping around her wrists. The strings around her wrists were also connected to other strings that kept her arms up.
What made Mei panic, however, was the tired look on Hana's face and the fact that the snow had stopped from falling.
"Well, it seems like I won. Hope this makes you see the difference between our skill and make you understand how futile this 'training' thing is."
Kuro furrowed his brows. He was suddenly so glad that Kaito was not the one fighting the green-haired noble. There was no way both of them came out alive if he would've told Kaito something like that.
"Why is he saying that? Sure, he has caught her. But those are just strings. Hana can easily freeze them with her magic and break them."
Elric shuddered.
"Those are not normal strings. Makoto can use his magic to... play with you. He can get his strings to go through a person's skin and muscles. He can wrap his strings around your heart, or liver, or any other organ and just--" Elric grimaced "--just squiz."
"Not only that, but he can also go inside your brain. By twisting the right things in there, he can cause a lot of damage or make you go through certain moods." Erika continued. "Like for example now, he made Hana tired."
"T-That's one hell of a power." Kuro couldn't help but wish he wouldn't have to face the noble anytime soon.
"He's the best ally you could have on the battlefield since he can use that power to help with internal and external wounds. But as an enemy, there's no one who I would try to avoid more."
Everyone agreed with Elric.
Eyes back on the fight, Mei noticed something weird. It looked as if Hana was melting.
She blinked and got a second look. Hana was actually melting.
Makoto noticed it too, but it was too late. The real Hana jumped from a nearby puddle of snow and got in Makoto's face. With her right fist, she punched him straight in the face. The boy, taken by surprise, stumbled before falling on his ass.
Everyone was stunned. Even Hana looked surprised. However, her surprise turned to guilt and worry when she saw the red drops falling on the snow. She had broken his nose.
Hana stepped forward wanting to apologize to him, but before she could say anything he shot her a glare that made her swallow all her words.
In an instant, strings surrounded her. Hana had no time to escape before they wrapped around her, immobilizing her like before. The strong feeling of herself falling asleep overcame her again. She was trying her best not to fall to that desire.
"Give up. Now."
Hana felt that he wasn't giving her any room to argue. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to listen to him. She was doing all this to prove that she's not just a weak peasant like all those arrogant nobles were calling her and her friends.
Hana gave her everything in this last attack. Trying to overcome the urgent need she felt to close her eyes and fall asleep, Hana summoned her grimoire and yelled.
"Snow Magic: Guardian Dragon!"
The snow around them started coming together in a big puddle, slowly taking the form of a dragon.
Makoto was taken aback. 'How does she still have this much mana? And how come she can control it while on that state?'
The dragon lunged at Makoto. He tried to dodge it, but the dragon hit him with his tail. Makoto was sent flying.
Landing in a puddle of snow, Makoto was beyond angry. It was too much for him. A mere peasant was not overpowering him.
Summoning his grimoire, he called a spell and strings started taking the form of a lance in his hands. He griped the lance and lounged towards Hana, destroying the dragon on his way there. Arriving close to her, he jumped. He raised his lance and--
Streaks of fire and water flushed in front of his eyes.
Leo was in front of him. Hand covered in fire as he burned Makoto's lance to ashes. Behind him, the long, black-haired guy from the peasant group released Hana from his strings by cutting them.
A few moments later, all of Hana's friends arrived at the scene, both boys positioning themselves to Kaito's sides while the girl ran over to Hana, who was sleeping due to the string's effect.
"That's enough." Came Leo's stern voice.
Kaito wanted to say something more, but Kuro placed his hand on his shoulder.
Makoto gritted his teeth. Sending a last hateful glare towards the group, Makoto turned around and stormed off the training ground.
After that, they decided to finish the training session.
Note: Brief description of the characters
Commoners:
#1 Mei Ayasami (MAIN OC)
Age: 17
Affinity: Tungsten Magic
Height: 160 cm
Hair color: Light blue
Eyes color: Light blue
Likes: magic, parties, chocolate, her friends
Dislikes: being underestimated, arrogant people
#2 Hana Masayoshi
Age: 17
Affinity: Snow Magic
Height: 164 cm
Hair color: Brown
Eyes color: Brown
Likes: teasing people, gossiping, cooking
Dislikes: Kuro's pranks, frogs
#3 Kaito Reitsu
Age: 18
Affinity: Water Magic
Height: 170 cm
Hair color: Dark brown
Eyes color: Blue
Likes: Mei, ramen
Dislikes: nobles, royals, cowards
#4 Kuro Takayama
Age: 19
Affinity: Spatial Magic
Height: 181 cm
Hair color: Black
Eyes color: Yellow
Likes: fighting, alcohol, girls, pulling pranks, gambling
Dislikes: losing, cowards
#5 Haru Isotada
Age: 19
Affinity: Transformation Magic
Height: 189 cm
Hair color: Blond
Eyes color: Yellow
Likes: food, cats, dogs, girls
Dislikes: when there's too much salt in his food
Nobles:
#1 Makoto Sandler
Age: 19
Affinity: String Magic
Height: 170 cm
Hair color: Green
Eyes color: Green
Likes: books
Dislikes: peasants
#2 Erika Vermillion (twin sister of Elric)
Age: 18
Affinity: Lava Magic
Height: 155 cm
Hair color: Peach
Eyes color: Red
Likes: punching her brother, magic
Dislikes: cockroaches, getting dirty, seeing Rin sad
#3 Elric Vermillion (twin brother of Erika)
Age: 18
Affinity: Ash Magic
Height: 173 cm
Hair color: Peach
Eyes color: Red
Likes: you *wink*
Dislikes: jealousy, punches from his sister, girls that smoke
#4 Rin Silva
Age: 17
Affinity: Wind Magic
Height: 163 cm
Hair color: Silver
Eyes color: Pink
Likes: Elric, flowers, sweets
Dislikes: being shy
