August 7, 2095, Second Day of Newcomers Division

Airi exhaled deeply, and closed her eyes. The muscles in her hand twitched, and she involuntarily tightened her grip on the racket.

With Shiori back in the games, she had been able to concentrate fully on her own matches and play to the best of her abilities, outperforming the projections made by Third High's strategy team. She had even managed to prevent her opponents in her last two matches from scoring a single point, an impressive feat in itself, but even more considering her semifinal match was one of First High's two competitors.

"Not feeling nervous are we?"

Airi didn't bother to open her eyes or turn to look at the other occupant of the waiting room. She had known Mizuo Saho for a few years, and she could tell she was teasing her. Indeed, Saho was probably the only other person in addition to Shiori and Touko who could talk to her in such a familiar manner.

"I'm sure you know me better than that, senpai."

"~Of course, of course, I know you'll do wonderfully, Airi-chan.~ Just making sure my esteemed junior is relaxed. There is such a thing as too focused. It'll make you tense."

At this Airi cracked a single eye open and shot a flat stare at her senior.

"Ok, ok, I'll let you have your time to yourself."

Despite her actions, Airi did appreciate Saho for coming and supporting her. Touko and Shior were getting ready for their own events the next day, Battle Board and Ice Pillars Break, respectively. The Crimson Prince and Cardinal George were also busy with preparations.

Despite not having a number, her family, Mizuo, and her own family, Isshiki, had a cordial relationship, so herself and Saho had built up quite a history. Currently, with Saho about to graduate, she had attempted to play the role of an enigmatic mentor figure to Airi, sometimes failing completely, and yet at other times, like the other day, somehow finding the right words to say at just the right time.

The two sat in silence until it was time for Airi to make her way to the Crowd Ball court.

"I'll be watching."

Airi rolled her eyes and flashed a small smile at her friend.

"Wish me luck senpai."

Nanami took a deep breath.

It was ok; she was ready for this. She had been practicing as hard as everyone else. She was one of the 20 students picked to compete in this competition, and her specialty magic was perfect for Crowd Ball.

Yet she remembered that look in her competitors face. Complete focus. It didn't help that her opponents last match was utterly one-sided.

Third High's Isshiki Airi.

[Athletes Kasuga Nanami, First High School, and Isshiki Airi, Third High School, please enter court C.]

"That's you."

Subaru gave her a tap on her back. Nanami swallowed before walking onto the court.

"You'll do fine!" Subaru called out.

The two competitors squared off facing each other. Airi lowered her stance, racket gripped in front of her. Nanami involuntarily checked the settings on her short-barrel CAD.

For Crowd Ball, competitors could choose to either use magic by itself to deflect the balls back into the opponent's court or a racket to hit it. The racket play style was reminiscent of tennis, but it was almost always augmented by some sort of move or speed type magic in order to keep up with the sheer number of balls in play at a time.

There was no "better" strategy. Some prefered to be able to move around the court and physically strike the balls while others hung back to keep track of all the balls that could be flying around in order to apply magic more efficiently.

The starting buzzer sounded and balls started dropping onto the court. Nanami activated her magic, 'Rainbow-color Ricochet'. She managed to keep the five current balls out of her court and sent them back into Airi's.

'Rainbow-color Ricochet' was a combination of convergence, move and speed type magic that created surfaces of air below balls. The balls would strike these surfaces and a little bit of speed magic would be added to the momentum of the balls to counter the loss of energy associated with the bounce, sending them flying in whatever direction she chose. With this magic, it was also feasible to create multiple surface for balls to bounce against in its trajectory, since there were no restrictions on the number of bounces the ball could make in the air; this made for an excellent confusion strategy

Nanami had sent the first set of the balls in different trajectories, which would force her opponent to lose some balls. This strategy hadn't failed her yet, and it would work even better against an opponent using a racket.

Airi saw the balls flying over the net, but didn't have time to register them before her body simply moved.

The Isshiki family magic came from First Institute.

Magic that directly interfered with organic bodies.

In an instant Airi had reached each ball and hit them back, adding some speed magic for good measure.

The speed magic she had applied to herself to reach each ball was nothing special, but no normal human would have been able to react that quickly in that situation to even activate that magic

The scientists at First Institute had focused on magic that worked against other organic bodies, namely, enemies during the war. The Ichijou's 'Rupture' was an example of this. However, who said that their magic could only be applied to enemies?

'Lightning'. A move-type magic combined with sensory magic. It was a magic that allowed its caster to perceive and recognize information without intervention of the caster's nervous system, thereby shortening the reaction time and completely negating the need for the brain to tell the muscles to move.

Even as her opponent had altered each ball's trajectory, Airi had already known and had begun moving even before the balls crossed into her side of the court. There was nothing she wouldn't be able to reach, no move she could not predict.

The edge of her mouth curled into a small smile.

It was as good as game over.

"How are we looking?"

Hayato leaned over his girlfriend's shoulder. Nanako tapped a few keys and pulled up the spreadsheet recording all the points each team had accumulated.

"Let me see...Eishun, can you update the spreadsheets? Thanks."

There was silence in the tent as the student council secretary tapped at the keyboard for a few seconds before putting the spreadsheet on the main monitor.

"So, given Isshiki-san's win in Crowd Ball that puts us...50ish points behind First High."

"Hmm...so if we predict that Ichijou will sweep the males Icicle Destruction and Monolith Code...we'd be in a pretty good position. Not a guaranteed win, but it's possible."

"It's going to be hard since First High did take a lot of the official events. Even Battle Board was hard fought."

"And we're going to have to account for the fact that Juumonji is leading First High's Monolith Code team…"

"Let's hope our first years are up for the challenge."

August 8, 2095, Third Day of Newcomers Division

"It seems Shiori has advanced on the Women's side. She's up against First High. That girl from the Goldie Family."

Masaki raised his eyebrow and looked over his shoulder.

"Oh? I didn't realize First had so many connections to the global magical community."

Masaki pulled his school jacket off and rolled up his sleeves, loosened his tie and popped the button beneath it, exposing his neck. He reached for the competition CAD on the bench but momentarily paused as his gaze fell on it, staring at the device for a few moments.

It was a Rozen CAD. F-Class 09. The original model, the F-Class 01 was several years obsolete, but the 09 was a fairly decent everyday use CAD, perfect for this competition. Aesthetically, it was almost identical to all the others in the series, a little more streamlined and smooth. It's casting and processing were slightly above average, slower than he would have liked, but everyone had to have a level playing ground.

"Masaki you're not actually going to compete wearing your school uniform are you?...Hey! Masaki!"

Absentmindedly, Masaki finally picked it off the bench and quickly cycled through the settings, setting back down on the bench when he was satisfied everything was in working condition and adequately synchronized before answering.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about some things."

He turned back to his friend, who had crossed his arms and was leaning against the wall. The look on his face told him his excuse wasn't working; the terminal in George's hand was flashing but he ignored it and continued to glare pointedly at his friend.

Masaki let a wry smile grace his features.

Really, when did he learn to read me so well?

"Trust me."

George let his skepticism linger for a moment longer, before giving up sighing and shaking his head. He knew it was pointless to press his friend when he was like this.

"Alright, I trust you. But you'll let me know if anything is going on, alright?"

George didn't wait for an answer before continuing.

"And are you REALLY going to wear that out there? You could have worn anything you wanted, and you didn't even bother to bring a set of clothes for Icicle Destruction. Have you seen what it's like on the girls' side? It's like a fashion show!"

Masaki simply looked amused and loosened his tie slightly.

"Are you saying I don't look presentable enough in this?"

George examined his friend, scrutinizing his appearance. He hated to admit it, but his friend still looked good despite not trying.

George shook his head for what felt like the umpteenth time.

"Seriously whatever god you answer to gave you too many blessings."

Masaki was about to reply when the intercom buzzed interrupting him and signaling it was time for the competitors to move to the field.

"Well, looks like all I can do is put those blessings to good use. Wish me luck."

Picking up the CAD he left the prep room and George, and entered the long hallway to the arena entrance.

As he made his way, he tightened his grip on the F-Class 09. George didn't know, but his very first CAD was an F-Class 01, and so it felt comfortable in his hand. It was the CAD his father had given him for his 6th birthday. The CAD he had used to cast his first sequence. The CAD that had served him faithfully for 7 years.

The CAD that he had carried into battle at Sado.

The CAD that had taught him the true power - and purpose - of magic.

The CAD that had used to kill.

Given his experiences, he couldn't help but be slightly cynical towards the Nine Schools competition. Sure, it was all in the name of camaraderie and school spirit, a good natured fight for which school was the best. But he also knew what he was capable of, and how limited he was here. He would certainly win Icicle Destruction, and victory in Monolith Code was all but guaranteed.

He figured there were other things he could be doing with his time, but for the sake of his school and his status as the heir of the Ichijou, he put a confident smile on his face as he exited the tunnel and stepped onto the platform that would raise him up to the arena level. He might as well try to look like he was having a little fun while he was competing.

George stepped towards the observation window; from here he had a complete view of the field from above. The two competitors had been elevated to be able to see the ice field between them. The sunlight glinted off the surface of the ice, and refracted through it, scattering light around the field, but all eyes rested on the two competitors.

Actually, most of the eyes were focused on only one competitor.

Ichijou Masaki, the Crimson Prince.

His friend was every inch the image of youthful power and confidence, befitting his nickname and his status as the heir of one of the ten most powerful families in the the Japanese magic community. His arms were crossed and his CAD was holstered at his side; the wind tousled his hair, his smile, amused.

Because of its nature to "kill or be killed" each round of Ice Pillars Break tended to go by quickly, rarely exceeding three minutes. There were few magicians who could afford to take a defensive strategy as a priority, as it would be an uphill battle; given this, most competitors in the event used spells with a fairly short activation and cast time, as the student that landed the first blow would usually have the advantage, disregarding the scale and magnitude of the spell.

Since it was a no contact event, use of Rank A lethal spells was permitted. Masaki would go with 'Rupture' of course, given his affinity for Dispersal-type magic and long range bombardment.

Ice Pillars Break was made for him.

The platform finished rising and clicked into place. Masaki surveyed the arena before him, absentmindedly noting the magic barriers in place to prevent flying shards of ice from flying into the audience.

He flicked his eyes towards the screen where the competitors information was being displayed. His opponent was a student from Fourth High; he didn't recognize the name. He suspected George had looked into his opponent, but given that he hadn't said anything to him, he must have deemed him trivial.

His opponent's platform finished rising as well, and the two met eyes.

Not bad. Not faltering despite knowing who your enemy is; your confidence is to be lauded, but futile.

His opponent lifted his arm to shoulder level, right hand poised to tap the code for an activation sequence into his CAD.

Masaki remained nonchalant, arms crossed and CAD still holstered at his side.

The countdown began, sending resounding blares throughout the arena.

The final buzzer sounded.

Masaki's eyes flashed.

His opponent began hitting buttons as fast as he could, managing to get his activation sequence running. Runes appeared on the four pillars in the left corner of the arena as the magic sequence initiated.

Masaki was faster.

For this event, the only spell he needed was 'Rupture' and all he needed to do was keep hitting the trigger.

Masaki's CAD appeared in hand, and he was methodically gunning down his opponents pillars one at a time. The time between each invocation of 'Rupture' was almost impossibly fast, a feat that ordinary magicians could not pull off, a fact emphasized by his use of the Ichijou family trademark spell.

The target of Masaki's 'Rupture' spells was the water droplets in the pores of the pillars of ice as well as the water that formed due to the condensation of water vapor onto the ice's surface. In its most basic form, 'Rupture' is a Dispersal-type spell that instantly vaporizes all moisture and fluids in an object. The rapid expansion of the the water inside and outside the pillar would cause an explosion that would crush the ice, and generate more liquid that Masaki could use.

By the time his opponent finished constructing the magic sequence, Masaki had destroyed seven out his opponents twelve pillars.

On his own side of the field, what seemed to be a great force crashed down on the tops of the pillars his opponents had marked. Large cracks appeared through the ice, running from the floor to its crown. Chunks of ice fell off, but two of the pillars still stood, while the other two only had large cavities in the tops and sides of the pillar.

So he decided to use 'Battering Ram'. A powerful spell, but it was quite demanding. Repetitious use of it would drain an inexperienced magician before the tenth invocation. In an event like Icicle Destruction, a move like that was a gamble, even of considering the fact that the matches were spaced over a period of two days instead of one like most of the other events.

No matter. He won't have to cast it again, in this match at least.

This ends now.

Masaki took a breath and expanded the target zone of his spell, encompassing the last three pillars. He fed his CAD all the power and psions he could without hurting himself and unleashed on final strike.

The final pillars detonated and the victory buzzer rang.