Chapter 6 - Tsunami Of Shadows

The first day of the Noble Class Placement Exams has arrived. I thought the feeling of uneasiness would slowly fade away, but it got worse. Every step I took into the arena felt like I was drowning deeper and deeper into the abyss, with a heavy stone tied to my back.

The arena was quite small, but still grand. Translucent-like magic barriers surrounded the arena. Noble class students sat in the stands to watch the duel. 

Tsk, the Nobles always find some way to entertain themselves. Are they here to amuse themselves to watch people of a lower-class fight to join their status level? Are they here to observe potential threats? I shook my head at these thoughts and continued onwards into the middle of the arena where the Principal Keeper was waiting for me. I paused around 50 feet from him. 

“Right on time.”, the Principal Keeper said to me as he looked at his watch and then at me with a stony gaze. “Use it.”, he said to me.

In response, I said nothing. I nodded and looked at him like a robot to be told what to do. The pain I have to endure now will be nothing compared to the venomous pain you will experience, I thought to myself as I looked at him. 

The Principal Keeper turned his gaze away from me to look to his right. My eyes followed his gaze. My eyes turned a darker shade as I noticed Colin West appear on the other side of the Principal Keeper opposite of me. Colin West is the prodigy water magic user who focuses on ice and can use 7th-level affinity techniques. 

If you aren’t familiar with affinity level magics, it is essentially a way to measure the power and skill of one’s technique based on their foundational attribute and focus attribute.

For example, 7th-level affinity water magic is the difference between creating a circle of deadly ice swords that can pierce through almost anything and summoning snowballs. For reference, my fire magic is only 3rd level affinity. The highest known level is 10.

My eyes crunch up slightly as Colin stops walking. We are about 100 feet away from each other with only the Principal Keeper in the way from us, tearing each other apart for the glory of joining the Noble class. The Noble students go quiet as the Principal Keeper raises his hand for silence. It was so calm at the moment that you could hear people breathing from afar. 

The Principal Keeper slowly lowered his hand. The brief silence following this movement lasted an eternity for me. “Welcome students of Nobility to the first duel of the Noble Class Placement Exams where you can watch your fellow peers fight to determine who can join your inner circles. Let the duel begin!”  

“Ice Over!” Colin immediately shouted at me. I noticed his hands had a light blue glow to them as my limbs immediately felt cold and almost felt unmovable. What is this?! I looked at my body, which was slowly being covered in ice. I grimaced at the painful feeling of the cold.

If you didn’t know, using basic magic does not require a chant. However, you must use a chant if the magic is of 6th-level affinity or higher. The higher the affinity, the longer the chant. 

I summoned small flames. The orange flames flickered desperately against the ice, freezing over my body. Colin rushed toward me and lunged. I felt the impact of his fist connecting with my gut before I could even process it. The ice that was chaining me to the ground broke, but my body went flying into the wall of the arena. 

Smack

My head was ringing. I was on the ground. It was like I was standing next to thousands of large bells ringing in my ears. My vision blurred slightly. My arms willed themselves to pick me up to get back into a standing position. As my vision cleared again, I noticed Colin smirking at me.

My eyes widened in shock. The laughter from the nobles in the background was unbearable as well. My fists instinctively clenched themselves together. 

“You should give up”, Colin said to me while smirking. “Only the strong deserve to exist in this world.” He raised his right hand at me and held his arm up with his other hand. “I shall give you mercy and end this stupid duel right now.” An aggressive ball of water formed at the tips of his fingertips.

The ball of water kept growing and growing and growing until there was no way I could dodge it, but only block it. 

“7th level affinity magic, Tsunami of Terror!” Colin shouted at me as the gigantic ball of water shot at me. I summoned the strongest wall of flames I could without losing control. The ball of water crashed into me heavily with a large thud. I felt like the ball of water was trying to consume my life force, stealing my breath. After what felt like an eternity, I slammed into the ground, breaking apart the water ball. 

My body was on the ground, drenched in water. I felt like I was truly dying.

Colin just crossed his arms as he watched me slowly climb back to my feet. My eyes grew dark as I stared daggers at him. My attempt to throw fireballs was futile because of the weakness of the power behind it. My body was too in shock to aim properly. 

Colin formed an ice spear and threw it at me. Just as I thought I was a goner, I felt the unleashed strange power urging me to use it. It was urging me to let it take over. This one moment I could decide to lose or win, but at the potential cost of horrific damage. The scene of Dustin’s bloody face flashed into my mind. I didn’t want to use this power, but I needed it to advance.

Ultimately, I needed to win this duel to achieve my goal of overthrowing the true real Eradicators. The Eradicators were posing as the Keepers. 

The very thought of them stirred up so much anger within me. The dark purple energy from within my body bursted out of my body into the air to create a protective aura. Colin’s face looked priceless as he watched his ice spear break easily from my energy shield. I collapsed to my knee in exhaustion while still being enveloped in the aura. 

I knew I could not last long in this state, so I had to act quickly. My body was shaking from exhaustion but yet it was shaking with power. Colin’s eyes cautiously observed me. He created a shield made of rock-hard ice. This is the defining moment, I tell myself as I gather every bit of mana to create a scythe out of pure darkness.