Fate/Academy: Episode 3
*Our hero, Athenox who has just finished his dinner, is walking back to his dorms. He is making his way down the 7th floor hallway. Scene 1.*
Man after all that has happened today I am really tired. First was this morning with my mom, then the induction ceremony and class tests, not to mention the duel. That is a lot of magical energy to use on the first day of school. I make it to the front of the door marked 728 and unlock it with my keycard. When I walk in I am surprised to see a loser sitting on the couch in the living room, using an ice pack on his arm.
"What are you doing here?" I ask.
"I should ask you the same question." Luke responds.
"This is my dorm." I reply to him.
"I didn't ask for your jokes, loser. I asked what you are doing in my dorm." Luke starts shouting.
"Your dorm? This is my dorm, and the only loser in here is you!" At this point we have both started shouting pretty loud.
"There has clearly been a mistake in the system, because I do not know how it would put someone like you in this room. It was supposed to remain empty for our equipment." Luke says to me.
"How much equipment could you possibly have? It isn't like you have the mana use all of it anyway." I retort
"At least I am not a coward who pulls their punches and uses their opponents like bulls by taunting them until they get tired out." He returns in kind.
"Hey if you told me about your little problem, I would have gone easier on you."
"Do you want a rematch right now?" He summons Excalibur Galantine and points it at me.
The door labeled B and C open up and a darkly lit figure walks out of each. They walk out of the shadows, they are two males of equal height to Luke. One of them has black hair and the others is light brown, and with their current state it would be very hard to tell the style or texture of their hair.
"Will you knock it off? It is 10:30 pm and some of us are trying to get some sleep before tomorrow's rigorous class tests. Huh?" The brown haired one looks at me.
"So you are the 4th roommate? That is kind of funny considering everything that happened today." The black haired one says. They both sound like they are barely conscious.
"I am Gabriel, and he is Micheal and we are both Luke's brothers. I suggest we all get some sleep and then we have formal introductions in the morning or something. Especially you Luke. You need to rest and regain your strength. He did wipe the floor with you pretty hard." The black haired one named Gabriel says.
"Ok, but we are dealing with this tomorrow!" Luke exclaims.
He says that but he should know that once you have been assigned a room, you could only get reassigned if you have a really good reason and if I had to guess I wouldn't think that not liking someone is a good enough reason to the head faculty members of the school who would have to approve it. Besides, he should have learned his lesson and I don't have any more major problems with him. None that I can fix anyway. I walk into my bedroom, make sure the alarm on my alarm clock is set, and then collapse on the bed.
*It is the next day, as our hero walks out of his 3rd class test, the berserker class test. He is headed to meet Devin for lunch in the cafeteria. Scene 2.*
I am so glad that I am done with my class tests for today. Also, as I thought, Luke tried to make an appeal to the faculty about our room assignments but he was simply turned down because he didn't provide a good enough reason for it. If he doesn't like me for being right and I don't like him for being so full of himself then he doesn't have to talk to me, but it would be idiotic to let that get in the way of his magic training. He must have some reason to become a successful mage in the first place, right? I have got to meet Devin though. They had to hold him late in the infirmary. From what I have heard someone's Hippogriff got a little carried away and trampled over him. I walk into the cafeteria to find Devin waiting in line. I join in line behind him.
"Hey Athenox." Devin greets me as i approach him.
"Hey are you okay?" I ask him.
"Yes I am fine. It was nothing more than a little scratch. Some healing magic in the infirmary fixed me up, besides the absorption field took most of the damage for me."
"Good. Now that I know you are physically alright. I have a few questions that have just been TEARING away at me."
"Sure… wait. What do you mean "tearing away at you"?"
"Oh you know. If I really had to DIG into it."
"Athenox…"
"It just gave me this really TRAMPLED feeling." His voice starts to develop a sense of concern.
"You do not have to do this."
"It is DOWN TO EARTH experiences like that make us better people."
"Stop." His concern slowly turns to frustration.
"Does this qualify you as roadkill?"
"That's not funny, man. You can stop now."
"It is fine. There is no need to be all depressed."
"We have only been friends for two days but I can already tell I have made a mistake." The hope in his eyes seems to have faded and died.
"There is no need to make a CAW about it." I drag this on for another five or so minutes until we get our food and sit down at a table.
"Are you done now?"
"Yes, I am."
"To tell you the truth, that hurt worse than the Hippogriff. Enough about my class tests, how did yours go? Did you succeed at them as much as you did for the Saber test?"
"I wish I could say that but unfortunately is not the case. They were both pretty lackluster compared to my Saber test. In the Assassin test, I couldn't physically catch up with my target without running out of breath and energy, and in the berserker test I got utterly destroyed because I couldn't withstand enough physical force to not get sent into the wall at least 10 times." I explain.
"That bad huh? Are you sure they got your mage stats right?"
"Oh they are correct. I didn't do all that bad at them. I never lost track of the target in the Assassin test, even when it moved the fastest and tried to hide its presence. And in the Berserker test, I managed to generate the fastest attack speed. That even includes some of the group who were primarily Assassins." My explanation continues.
"I still do not physically understand how that is possible but it is impressive. Hey, is it alright if I have a seat here?" A girl asks.
"I see no problem with it. Are you cool with it, Devin?" I ask him.
"I am fine with it. Go ahead and sit." Devin says as the girl takes a seat at the table.
"Of course from what I have heard, it would have been more impressive had you not been sent flying across the room immediately afterwards."
"You have got a point. I really have to improve my skills."
"Who might you be anyway? You did forget to introduce yourself when you sat down." Devin says to the girl.
"Oh, I did forget. Sorry, my name is Miraldes McRemitz. It is nice to meet the student who thought fighting on the first day was a good idea."
"If you heard the ignorant things coming out of the mouth of the guy I had to fight, then you would know that it had to be done. However, I do feel bad that he pushed that scenario to the point of a worse ending for himself."
"What do you mean, Athenox? You just deflected his final attack and knocked him out right? It is his fault not seeing a move like that coming. Also, I forgot to ask you yesterday. When I was watching the match, Justin said something about your past training. He said that because you were using those gloves, that you weren't taking the fight seriously. There may have been something about counter magic in there too. It was really hard to make sense of him because he was being all cryptic."
"That's how you did it? I thought it was weird that a Saber mage only drew his sword at the end of a fight. I wasn't quite sure how you could absorb his strikes like that. You used enhancement magic on your hands to block and catch his sword." The girl named Miraldes says.
"More or less."
"Wait then why did you wear the gloves? Couldn't you have just generated more force by punching him in the face and being done with it?" Devin asks me.
"Anyone who uses enhancement magic knows that. The gloves are to prevent the magic enhancements in your hands from overloading and deteriorating into raw magic essence. Also since he wasn't trying to kill his opponent, he used the gloves to limit how much he could channel into a single strike. In a real fight they would also help him conserve his magical energy. However for most of the few who use enhancement magic to attack, myself included, they wouldn't have had to worry about overloading the gloves for a fight of that duration. So you must have a more unique reason to have to use them?" Miraldes explains.
"Yes, I can only use enhancement magic on my hands for a relatively short amount of time before that deterioration process starts, but I never could figure out why other than just the fact that my hands don't typically keep magic energy contained in my hands for very long because I am usually powering it through my sword very quickly."
"Well then why did you learn enhancement magic in the first place? If you aren't adapted to it. "
"It isn't a reason I actively express to people, because it usually changes how people think of me. So if we could avoid bringing it up for now, then I would be appreciated."I say to them and then really start focusing on my food.
I knew that fight would make people curious but I was reckless and did it anyway. I can be sure that at least one person knows, and if I were to look further into it then I could be sure that multiple people have figured it out. At least right now I am known as the kid who beat a perspective in a duel, rather than as a dark and ruthless murderer. I should keep this information until it becomes absolutely necessary to say it, or until someone undoubtedly confronts me on it when they figure it out. I will handle the consequences either way.
"Athenox, are you okay? You seem to be eating really fast and considering how much you had on your plate, I am impressed. I also do not want you to hurt yourself." Devin says to me with alarm. In my thoughts I seemed to have gotten carried away and cleared the whole plate.
"Huh… Oh… I am really fine. I am hardly even full. I can always usually eat a lot, especially after I burn through a significant amount of mana."
"Hey do you guys want to hit one of the stores after this, because I kind of need to restock on some special materials for next week." Miraldes asks us.
"What kind of special materials could you possibly be needing?" I asks Miraldes curiously.
"Oh you know, the usual. Special elixirs, some Iron woven cloth, and a few other enhancement items."
"Well since we are going to start openly carrying our phantasm weapons next week, I should probably get a scabbard for my sword."
"That is a great idea, the old sheaths I had used in middle school are falling apart beyond repair." Devin says.
*Athenox, Devin, and Miraldes are now in the school store still on the first floor. Scene 2.*
"Wow, this place has a lot of stuff. None of it is exceedingly high quality, but considering the fact that you didn't kill it yourself. I would say it's pretty fair."
"Are you finding what you are looking for, Miraldes?" Devin asks her.
"Mostly, but Athenox is right. It is lacking in quality compared to some of the stuff my family has used before, but due to the fact that I don't think they want us to leave campus unattended it will have to do for now."
"Good point. They may have let a fight on the first day slide, but I would have to think that is minor compared to getting yourself killed on the first week while on an unapproved trip to go hunt corrupted spirits outside of city limits."
"I agree. The punishment for that would be almost too severe to imagine. Probably the possibility of being expelled. It isn't quite worth it yet."
"What do you mean yet? Are you planning more stupid things, Athenox?" Devin asks me.
"Not in the immediate future, but I will have to eventually need to fix or upgrade parts of my weapon and rank B materials just won't cut it. As a knight I have to take my blade's care very seriously."
"Did you just call yourself a knight?" Devin bursts out into laughter.
"A knight wouldn't have punched an opponent in the back. Something about a code of honor?" Devin's laughter continues.
"I showed him honor by not using my sword. Anyway, I couldn't find a good scabbard that I wanted so I will check out the Saber store later. What about you, Devin."
"I found ones that will work for now." He shows off the sheaths as he has tried them on.
He seems to have found a set of brownish-red colored leather sheaths that are designed to sheath at your sides about where your belt is. Even if I had two blades, I wouldn't get a sheath like that. They tend to flail and stick out too much when you put them on the sides. I find most movements off balance and awkward when wearing them, and I am also not a samurai who does fancy attacks by unsheathing my blade. I am definitely going to want a scabbard so that I can sheath my sword on my back. I find them to be much easier to wear and it isn't like I am going to be doing a lot of back flips in combat, so I find its position to be much more advantageous. Once they are done buying their items, we leave the store.
"I am still a little worn out from the tests today, so I am going to go crash."
"I agree, so I guess I will see you all later."
"Maybe, what tests do you have tomorrow?"
"I have the Archer and Caster tests."
"I have the Rider and Saber tests." Miraldes says.
"Then I guess I will see you tomorrow Athenox, and I am sure I will see you around Miraldes."
"It is very possible, Devin." Miraldes responds.
What was that response? Of course it is possible. They go to the same school and walk in the same hallways. And the way Devin just said "see you around" is typically taken as an evasive comment but the tone he used was far from evasive. They just meant each other and already you could feel the awkwardness. I immediately walk back to the dorms. When I get to the courtyard, I notice something unusual. There is a giant statue of a swordswoman in the fountain. She is standing tall and has her hands on her blade that is stuck in the ground. It looks familiar. Oh, I probably just don't remember seeing it yesterday when I first got to the dorms because I was too busy looking at my keycard. And any other time I would have looked at it I was rushing or it was dark outside. I reach my bedroom and crash on the bed. I just need to rest for a few hours.
*While Athenox takes is taking a nap. Mrs. Lanslac is in the dimly lit room again, but this time only two people are in the room with her. Scene 2.*
"So you found something out about the third student involved in the fight yesterday?" Mrs. asks.
"Well sort of. Justin von Einzbern's full stats are still locked and he is still reserved by another organization. I was however able to figure out which student organization claimed him. By looking at when they reserved him, I was able to match which organizations were actively meeting in any of the club buildings at the time. A few were meeting, but only one seems likely as he has an EX weapon. The Elite Defense Forces would be the only group with high enough status and funding to be able to pull an EX, not to mention they reserved him about a week earlier than anyone else made prospect reservations. As is their usual operation."
"Thank you Mrs. Kotomine."
"Oh Mrs., you know you can just call me by my first name, since we have known each other all this time."
"If you insist, Aubrey."
"Mr., you said that you may have figured out something about his weapon?"
"It is just a theory, but I imagine that we will be able to confirm it once he is on the team."
*Athenox's dream, which still again looks like a desert. Scene 3.*
"Where am I?" Wait I remember this strange place from the last time. It was the golden desert where I pulled the sword out from. I walk up the hill like before, but when I get to the top I find that the sword isn't there. It was here last time.
"A fate truly worse than death!" A voice echoes across the desert again.
I suddenly feel sharp pains in my gut. I look down and find multiple Caliburn swords impaled in my chest. Suddenly I fall forward and start to black out. The last thing I see before I pass out is my hand with a bizarre symbol glowing red on my hand. I have seen this symbol before haven't I? I don't have long to look at it before the area around me seems to fade into blackness. When I reawaken, I am back in my bedroom. It is about 6:00 am according to my alarm clock, which means I slept for somewhere near 11 hours. I don't have the Archer test until 8:30, though it would be beneficial to start getting ready now.
*Our hero is currently in the arena designated as Arena 2, he and everyone else in his group are fixing to take the Archer class test. Athenox and Devin are standing next to each other in the group. Scene 4.*
"Okay students, this morning you all will be taking the Archer class test. As with all of the other class tests they will occur in phases. I am going to be administering the test and my name is Mr. Lanslac, but you may call me Mr. , in order to distinguish me from my wife who some of you may have already meant earlier this week."
"Man there sure are a lot of people in this class test."
"I have never seen so many students in one of the tests. I couldn't imagine what makes this one so special." A girl walks up and interjects.
"Anyone in a middle school biology class could figure that one out. It is because of the genetic traits specifically tied to the Archer class. Because of how adaptable the circumstances that create them are, it is very often that even people whose primary class are different will have at least one trait that could have potentially made them an Archer. The genes themselves are not as dominant as say a Saber's, or Berserker's. So they can be there even without influencing a mages primary or secondary class." The girl proclaims.
"It makes sense, but I can definitely tell that you and I went to two very different middle schools." I state.
"Yeah I could have sworn that they were too busy showing us the mana structures of plants and animals." Devin says.
"It isn't my fault besides, I would not expect much from a group of simple minded Saber mages who just like to hit stuff all day."
"Simple minded? That's a little harsh isn't it? I mean do I need to recite the famous speech that says why Assassins and Berserkers usually end up being polar opposites on a mages class scale? Or how about the one about Casters and Berserkers? Isn't it called the Mad Scientist theory?"
"What… that's not even true. There is no known link between Casters and Berserkers. Why would you even think that?"
"Athenox, I knew that you were good at analyzing people to find out information. I did not know that you were a genetic researcher. Secondly, how did you go about finding out she was Caster"
"Just because I didn't learn it at school does not mean that I did not learn it at all, and this was the easiest assessment I have ever done. To cut the list short. She went from a long drawn out explanation of bio-magical research to actively attacking us for not appearing as smart. It is a classic Caster move."
"Hey! You shouldn't assume that all stereotypes are true! Just shut up! You do not know anything about me." She clenches her fists before running off into another section of the group.
"I said something way out of line. I should probably find her and apologize."
"I would wait awhile until she is ready to accept your apology. Your tone was kind of offensive. Plus, I would keep in mind who you just insulted. I didn't recognize her at first, but she is Sarah Tohsaka, one of the three daughters of the Tohsaka line, and the top leading family of the Holy Council. Her and her two sisters are prospective freshman as well. Their father is the leader of the Holy Council justices, the elite forces of the faction. Devin informs me.
"I do not know much about the Holy Council families but from what I have heard they engage in sick acts to make sure that their children are strong, but of course that is just hearsay."
"Wow your running your mouth about the Holy Council again, and you managed to insult another one of its high ranking members. You must have a death wish." Luke walks up. He seems very offended by the statement that i just said.
"She initiated with an invalid generalization about Saber class mages, so I in turn responded with an invalid generalization about Casters."
"Your funeral, not mine." Luke says as he walks away to go talk to another group.
"Arena transformations initiated. Begin empowering the reality marbles." A voice says over the intercom of the arenas.
The arenas flash and are surrounded with light. When the light subsides, the outer perimeter of the arena is setup with ranges. Unlike the Saber class test, there are no target dummies. I have a feeling that this will be a different kind of surprise.
"Ok guys please walk over to a station and pick up an Archer testing bow. The Archer class test is about more than simply your ability to hit a target. In fact the first stage of your test is how fast and how far you can detect an incoming object and react to it. The bow itself should account for this not being your primary class by inhibiting the amount of feedback down to a level that you would experience with your own phantasm weapons and should adjust to your body specifications we had from Monday at the induction ceremony." Mr. Lanslac instructs the group in the arena.
I walk over to the station and pick the bow up. I can definitely feel the feedback inhibitor. It feels almost like the bow is trying to absorb energy from me in order to work. It is necessary at this stage of the class tests because you are unlikely to pull any significant abilities that will help you with weapon usage, so it is essentially forcing your body to accept the weapon at a higher power level than it would normally be able to handle. Not to mention that a weapon from a class this low in a mages class list is not well practiced like a weapon or ability in their top three classes. A practice like this shouldn't be fatal and at most would cause the user to go unconscious from the strain and that doesn't even count the arenas absorption field.
"The test will begin on my mark." Mr. Lanslac reads his watch.
"3...2...1...begin!" He shouts.
At first nothing happens, but then see it. An orb flying straight at me. I pull back with my right hand and make an attempt to shoot it down. I barely manage to hit it before it is a meter away from my face. I must have been lucky, because I can hear a few explosions in the background from people who didn't see the orb in time. Another orb fires from a different angle and this time I manage to shoot it down at the five meter mark. The hardest part of this phase seems to be readying the bow and actually firing, because I can detect the orbs very quickly. They give off a magic presence, just like the target dummies. Single orbs continue to fly towards me from alternating directions. It isn't too hard to follow their trajectory and lead a shot into them. Over the distance I can hear a comically disgusted yell from Mr. Lanslac.
"What are you doing!? That isn't a proper firing technique! Never in my life have I seen someone attempt so much over dramatic spinning! Dropping to the ground will not benefit you in this test, and you may as well take the orb to the face!" He seems to be yelling at a group of students who are trying some "creative methods" in order to pass the test. In my amusement, I almost didn't notice two orbs coming right at me. I can shoot one of them down, but I don't have time to fire a second shot so I knock the orb out of the air with my bow and send it crashing into the ground.
"How very Saber of you. I admire your adaptability in a combat situation. You would have lost points if this was your primary class test though." Mr. Lanslac says.
If I could fire the bow faster then I wouldn't have problems like that. I am spotting the targets just fine. So I need to try to take out two orbs with one shot, since I won't have time for a second one. I keep thinking as the orbs come out in sets. I think I have figured it out. Following their magical energy in the path allows me to find a common occurrence. No matter what path the individual orbs are following, there is always at least one point where their paths converge. I just need to determine that point for each set and fire at them there. As soon as the next set fires, I sense their individual paths. The first one is spiraling and the second on is zigzagging back and forth horizontally. The spiral has an oscillation in its diameter right when the zigzag crosses it at about 15 meters away. That's the convergence point. I ready my bow pull back and release just before they line up. The arrow's energy path runs straight through the orbs and destroys them. The sounds of staggered explosions confirms groups of other students who haven't yet figured it out.
"Now on to the second phase of the test, and this phase is different. While the last phase required you to make accurate shots, this phase will require you to make rapid barrage of shots against multiple targets. At this point we must ask that if you feel too exhausted or if the inhibitors pressure becomes too much, then you should please raise your hand and notify me immediately and your test will end at this phase. Ending the test will not count against you, but in my personal opinion it will not help you either." As soon as he finishes speaking, my arm feels like it is being ripped off.
The inhibitor has to increase to account for the fire rate that is needed for the next phase. I can hardly think from the pain. I should end the test here, but I will never figure out limit of my abilities without pushing them. I just have to be very careful with the magical energy flow now. If I mess up I could end up overloading the bow, or worse the feedback could cause my arms to fracture just like Luke's almost did yesterday. This might make me a hypocrite but I will not get stronger unless I do this. It will be harder to figure out my magical abilities and my phantasm weapon without it. I steadily feed mana into the bow, and it starts to darken from its normal tone. From behind me I notice that most of the group has opted out of this phase of the test, even Luke. However, it is very interesting because it seems as if Devin, Gabriel who is one of my roommates, and among a few others are three girls. One of the girls is the Sarah girl I accidentally insulted earlier. From what I can tell, Devin's bow is on fire, Gabriel's bow seems to be erupting shadowy energy, and three of the girls bows are glowing with holy light. Whether or not they are all wincing in pain like I am is unknown.
"Only this many left? I thought more of you would want to endure the pain to have a better result on the test but I guess not. Okay the test will begin in 3…2…1… Start!"
A flurry of magic orbs come flying out towards me. I pull the bow back and start firing a stream of arrows, causing explosions when they come in contact. I can't focus on where I am shooting at all, because I have to focus on how much mana I am feeding into the bow. Trying to hear anything in the arena is impossible because of the constant explosions. It seems that all of the remaining members in the test keep this up for about five minutes. After that I notice the number of explosions starts to decrease, and by the time I can start differentiating the explosions I only hear three different bows being fired and they're all coming from one section of the arena. My vision starts to blur with a reddish tint until the bow in my hand explodes and my vision blacks out and I am sent flying across the arena. Aside from the ringing in my ear all I can hear are the voices of a crowd gathering around me, but I lose consciousness afterwards.
*Athenox is taken to the infirmary where he wakes up. Scene 5.*
"Oh good your awake." A voice says to me as my vision clears up.
"What happened? I thought I had a good control over my mana flow, so why did I overload?"
"I must say that the usual question whenever someone wakes up is "Where am I?" or "Who are you?" so this is a new one."
"Well I was clearly injured so I was taken to the infirmary, and you are a doctor as given by your lab coat."
"Well now that all of that is cleared up, I should probably go and tell your friends that you are awake." The doctor laughs and walks out of the room.
Friends? Who is she talking about? Devin and who else? Within seconds a group of people walk into the room.
"Athenox, are you okay? What happened?" Devin asks.
"I must have overloaded the bow, but I thought that I was keeping a steady mana flow to prevent that from happening."
"Are you serious? Not even a two days later and you get dropped by the same thing you had just used as a weapon against me? Oh man, that is great." Luke busts out into laughter.
"No that technically isn't right. You nearly drained yourself completely of mana. Athenox lost control of his mana flow and caused his weapon to detonate. He had too much mana, whereas you didn't have enough. You were both reckless but in different directions." Miraldes explains.
"I think I can explain." Mrs. Lanslac walks in.
"Explain what?" I ask Mrs.
"We have been doing some research on you magical abilities, specifically as to your particular affinity of magic. The research isn't finished and probably will not be until after all of your class tests, but I figured it out after that fight between you and Luke."
"Hold on, my magical affinity is darkness just like my father's. It is why my weapon is Dark Caliburn."
"Not quite. Yes your weapon was summoned by you through your families' dark element. However it wasn't exactly your dark element. I believe that your dark element is a much rarer type known as void." Mrs. Lanslac explains.
"Void! How can that be?" The whole room says with a gasp.
"There are only about 150 known void mages in existence and it is an impossible affinity to learn or acquire through any other means than through random chance unless both your parents were active void users." Luke states.
"Last I checked neither of them were."
"So then how can that be?" Devin asks.
"And wouldn't I have known if I was a void user before this? Nearly all magical powers usually start to appear from birth, at least in some form." I try to process the explanation that was just given to me.
"You may very well have been showing signs even without knowing. Think about it. A unique ability among void users is to absorb energy. He only uses dark type magic from his father and enhancement magic from his mother. Normally we could write this off as genetics, but it is possible that he has been passively absorbing magic energy from his mother and father and then using it as his own." Mrs. Lanslac proceeds.
"Then what happened in the test today?"
"With the feedback inhibitors opening up your mana flow, you most likely drained yourself of all the mana you had built up from living with your parents that had been used as a dark affinity. So the remaining mana in your body reverted back to its original void state, and since you have never used void magic before it was in a newly volatile state similar to when a mage first uses their powers. You wouldn't want to make a mage use a feedback inhibitor in this state because any pressure would have caused an overload, so the fact that you kept a continuous fire rate up for five minutes is an attribute to you having had so much absorbed magic built up as well as your training."
"So if I hadn't have done the second part of the test, would I have reached that point?"
"Eventually it was certain to happen. You had seemed to have only been absorbing from your parents and now you are no longer in constant contact to keep up that reservoir, so you would have ran out at a slower rate but it still would have happened. In fact it is better that it happened now than later when you could have been in a more dire situation and had your magic give out on you."
"How do you know so much about void magic, Mrs. Lanslac?" Devin asks.
"I guess it is time to end all of this secrecy. I know so much about void because I am a void mage. As I am also a co faculty leader of one of the schools organizations known as the Elite Combat Team, and the lead Saber teacher, I am not supposed to reveal this information until Friday after school. However due to the given circumstances, I feel that it is necessary to disclose. Athenox, you among others in this room are perspective members who have been chosen by student organizations as reserved choices that make you immune from being asked to join any other club until you get an invitation to join the from the club that reserved you, that you may accept or decline. We keep these secret to avoid clubs from discriminating students who may be interested in different organizations on campus, and to prevent students from discriminating other students for being in clubs, or vice versa. So I guess I will officially ask all of you now, even though I know what most of your answers are. Would you like to officially accept the invitation to join the Elite Combat Team?" She looks around the room in order.
"I was already in this summer, but to make it official. I accept." Luke says.
"I accept, it sounds like a beneficial experience." Devin says.
"It will prove a valuable experience for me to improve my abilities. So I accept." Miraldes. She looks at me
"And you, Athenox?"
"I do not have a choice. I need to learn how to master void magic and you are probably going to be the only one who can teach me. So I accept."
"Ok well the doctors told me that all of your major injuries are taken care of, but given your new status they can't allow you to further proceed in the class test as it would only cause you more injury. This weekend, we will start your training and based on how well you do will determine where they put you in your classes, and the rest of you need to be there as well since it is mandatory practice for all team members." Mrs. Lanslac.
I am not sure how to process all of the information. When I woke up this morning I didn't expect that my magic type was going to change, and now I am going to have to train even harder to adjust for it. Would it have been better to not opt for the second phase of the test and have this happen later? I unfortunately do not have the luxury to find that out as my decision has already been made for me, because of my reckless actions. No, I can't think that way. I said that I was going to push myself in order to further my abilities. Besides she did say that this would have happened eventually. Then I guess it is better at the beginning of the school year than in the middle of a critical fight like a tournament or even worse in the field where it would have put who knows how many lives in danger. I will train as hard as it takes in order to be the best that I can be. Although now that I think about it, I should probably tell my parents about this. I imagine it will be quite the shock to find out that I do not bear either of my parent's affinities.
*Athenox is in his room on a video call with his mom. Scene 6.*
"Hey mom, something happened at school this week."
"The fight? Yes the school already contacted me two days ago. That wasn't quite what I meant when I said have a little fun. I am disappointed in you." My mom says to me.
"No, that's not what I am talking about, but to be fair I did end up saving him. What I wanted to ask you was something else. Did you know that I was a void mage?"
"A void mage? That is preposterous. You use your father's dark magic and my physical enhancement magic. Where would you even get that idea?" She laughs. The way she is talking doesn't sound right. It sounds more evasive. I explain what happened at the archer test.
"I told you not to get carried away. You know mana drain can be a very serious issue, but that doesn't mean you are a void mage. That just means you are reckless." The evasion in her voice is not going away. Something is wrong.
"Mom, I was able to fully empower my sword for 30 minutes, so 10 minutes of using a feedback inhibitor on a bow shouldn't have been a problem under normal circumstances."
"Maybe it was the pressure of these tests that got to you. I know how much succeeding at this school means to you."
"Mom…."
"Okay fine. Your father and I did not think it was going to be that big of a problem when we found out. When you were born you looked like a normal healthy baby, but as you got older developmental problems arose in your powers. At first we thought it was just your powers and that you were going to have to train harder. When you turned two we had you perform the magical rites of passage, as is custom for all mage families. It was when you were supposed to make your first corrupted spirit kill. Against a weak corrupted spirit of course. Typically at this stage of a mages life, a kill like this would have been possible, not without effort but still possible. However you did not hold up so well against it. Your body seemed to be very weak and the first hit sent you into the wall. I wanted to pick you up right then but we couldn't interfere or the ceremony would be invalidated and you wouldn't be able to receive further mage training. The test only continued to get worse to watch as the monster clawed away at you. Only when you were declared defeated would the test end. It was decided that you couldn't continue training until you had finished the test. Your father was heartbroken and desperately wanted his son, the only one who could be his successor, to become a strong mage. He was relentless in searching for a way to fix you. Looking into any and every known solution in magecraft, even giving up his humanity after his near insane search effort. He was almost at the end of his search, but then we were visited by a strange cloaked spirit who said that she would help us. The spirit said that your powers were too unstable to be developed as fast as other mages, which is why it didn't appear as though you were making any progress. She decided that she would awaken them under a few conditions. First she insisted that we each needed to sacrifice something important along with a large quantity of magic energy in order to act as a catalyst for the spell."
"So what did you give up?" I asked dreading the answer.
"Individually, not much. I am still here physically the same as I was. I did lose the only one I care about as much as you or your brother. Your grandma's soul acted as my half of the catalyst. Your father gave up something dear to him to. He gave up his feelings for me, along with the rest of his humanity, just to assure that you could have a better life. The spirit imbued this essence into you and as a result, the magic power inside you was awakened and filled with a large quantity of our magic energy, which seemed to cause your eyes to change color from a bright blue to that deep dark purple that they are now. She also insisted that we train you to be the best swordsman that you could be. After that the spirit vanished. You then passed the ceremony the next day. Life went on and your father and I drifted apart because of his sacrifice, which caused problems for our family dynamic. He couldn't handle himself anymore and I ran from him. Your father wanted you so that he could train you, but I wouldn't let him in his state. After sending out his forces to find me, I went into hiding and created an organized network of my old friends to use to keep you safe until he was calm enough to see you and then we took turns training you, in different cities but still."
"I do not know what to say. Thank you mom."
"I know. However we are now at a newer question, which is why you would go through a cap of mana that had been building up for over an entire decade and had been sealed by your grandmother?"
"I didn't know and also when you say it like that it doesn't make me feel any better."
"So what are you going to do? I think you should come home so you can be my apprentice and avoid getting more people hurt by your accidents."
"I can't, no I don't need to. The faculty leader of the Elite Combat Team is a void mage, and she said that she would help me, starting this weekend."
"Athenox, do you think that you can rapidly relearn how to use all of your former abilities with void mana?" My mom inquires
"I know that if I don't try, then everyone who ever sacrificed anything for me will have done it for nothing. I need to keep training here so I can be the best that I can be."
"Ok Athenox, if you insist. I have faith in you and I know that you can do great things. I will talk to you later. Let me know how training goes." She hangs up.
I know I need to get my rest like Mrs. had said but that will not help me. I at least need to try to figure out how to summon my phantasm weapon now that I am using my own mana as the source for the summoning. I reach my hands out. The mana feels different as I attempt to summon it through my arm and into the form of my sword. There is already so much feedback even though I have barely done anything. It is like I went back to being seven in terms of skill level. I keep trying to resist the feedback but eventually an explosion emits from my hands and I fall back on my bed unconscious.
*End of Episode 3.*
