(3rd POV)
At the side of the arena, the teachers watched with impassive faces as the terrific display of power from the two students finally came to an end.
For several seconds, nobody in the classroom spoke.
The enormous wave of kei energy had left behind a thick cloud of shadowy smoke that obscured nearly the entire arena. Even from the elevated seats, the students could barely make out anything beyond vague shapes moving behind the haze.
"Hm, looks like there will be some interesting students this year," Levina stated, looking towards the arena with an amused light in her eyes.
She glanced through the smoke towards the green-clothed teacher beside her.
"Virden, if you would be so kind."
Teacher Virden nodded his head.
With a simple wave of his hand, the lingering smoke and rampaging kei elements seemed to lose their freedom. They were suddenly attracted towards his palm as if pulled by an invisible force, rapidly shrinking as they were sucked into a single point.
The teachers watched without any visible reaction as the enormous cloud was compressed into something no larger than a marble.
With a slight gesture of his fingers, the compressed mass disappeared.
The change was immediate.
With the smoke and energy blocking the students' sight now gone, every student stared at the arena with curiosity, anticipation, and more than a little confusion.
Standing there was Lyon.
His clothes were battered, and several bruises could be seen across his body, but overall, he looked perfectly capable of continuing. More noticeable than the bruises, however, were his eyes.
They seemed to glow emerald.
The power running through his veins had not completely calmed down, and the remaining kei energy made his eyes shine with an almost unnatural intensity.
The students barely had time to wonder about Lyon's condition before their attention was drawn to the other participant.
Alicia.
She had somehow managed to survive Azera's explosive skill completely unscathed.
It was hard for the students to wrap their minds around it, but the evidence spoke for itself.
There wasn't even a scratch on her.
Despite looking slightly pale, there was no other indication that the girl had just been caught in an attack powerful enough to fill the entire arena with a tsunami of kei energy.
A few students exchanged looks.
One even leaned forward in his seat as if getting closer would somehow help him understand what he was seeing.
Alicia simply stood there.
"This was my loss."
The girl spoke calmly, hardly a ripple appearing on her indifferent face.
"You look perfectly fine to continue. Are you sure you want to resign from the fight?"
This time, Teacher Kor spoke, giving voice to the question in every student's mind.
"I no longer have any kei energy left, and if I continued, the result would be the same."
Once again, Alicia responded without any noticeable change in tone or facial expression.
There was no frustration.
No embarrassment.
No anger.
She simply stated the result as though she were discussing the weather.
"I think this fight is a draw. I myself am almost out of kei energy anyway," Lyon spoke up.
Alicia had not said another word since admitting defeat, and Lyon was mildly curious if that was due to shock or if she was truly just that indifferent.
He couldn't decide which possibility was stranger.
Hearing his words, Alicia looked at him for a moment.
Then she turned her head towards Teacher Levina.
"Can I fight again?"
For perhaps the first time since the fight began, the surrounding students looked even more confused than Lyon felt.
Taking that as his cue to leave, Lyon turned and walked back up to his seat in the third row of the auditorium.
Alicia watched Lyon leave from the corner of her eyes, an indecipherable glint appearing in them.
Teacher Levina, having watched enough, took the lead in directing Alicia back to her seat as well.
"Little girl, let everyone get a turn, would you? The outcome of the matches isn't even the main point of them in the first place."
Now THAT got the attention of not just Alicia, but the whole silent classroom.
The students who had been watching the arena suddenly looked towards the teachers.
The meaning behind Levina's words was obvious.
They had all been treating the spars like competitions.
The teachers clearly weren't.
After showing Alicia back to her seat in the second row, Teacher Levina decided to give the students a little demonstration.
The four teachers all looked towards one another.
'These are some of the most arrogant brats we've had for sure.'
Teacher Levina took the lead and began speaking again.
"Ah, I see we have not fully enlightened you to the full purpose of these tests, so let us set the record straight now."
At this point, Teachers Kor and Katra stepped forward and held out a hand each.
With one hand outstretched towards the students, a small flicker of flame appeared on Kor's hand.
At the same time, a hexagonal snowflake fluttered to life in Katra's hand.
The two tiny manifestations looked harmless enough.
The students, however, knew better.
They could feel the distinct difference between the two attributes even from where they sat.
Seeing that the students' attention had successfully been captured from the fight, Levina waved a hand towards the two teachers.
"As you can see, and probably remember, Teachers Kor and Katra utilize entirely different kei attributes. What many of you might not know is that with the right training, even people who many would consider incapable of working with each other can accomplish the impossible."
Kor and Katra moved at this point, both of their hands moving away.
Yet under the impetus of their energy, the snowflake and flame stayed exactly where they were.
Slowly, the flame and ice grew closer to each other.
The closer they came, the more unstable the surrounding kei seemed to become.
A special energy began emanating from the point of contact between the opposing forces of nature.
Several students unconsciously leaned forward.
Then, with a flash of abrupt splendor, the two forces disappeared.
In their place was a circle of air and swirling kei energy approximately one meter in diameter.
The space inside the circle appeared distorted, almost as though the students were looking through a layer of rippling glass.
Looking at the result, most of the students in the room couldn't help feeling confused.
Unable to resist, one of the students sitting in the front row raised their hand.
Seeming excited for some reason, Teacher Levina nodded to the young dwarf girl to speak.
"Hello, Teacher. As interesting as creating a hot and cold system is, I don't see how that explains the meaning of these spars?"
The girl spoke in an assertive manner that was more than proof enough of her lineage.
A few students nodded along.
It was a fair question.
As if waiting for that very moment, the previously stable pocket of air and kei energy shuddered.
The swirling mass suddenly twisted in on itself.
The combined smoky substance gathered together, slowly forming into clouds.
One.
Two.
Three.
Precipitation fell down in the hushed auditorium.
Only, instead of rain, small ice flakes and bits of flame trailed from the newly formed cloud.
The students stared.
Some ducked instinctively as a few stray pieces of flame drifted harmlessly through the air before disappearing.
"The very first step in becoming teammates who can achieve the impossible together is to fight.
"You fight constantly against each other, and one day you'll realize that in the midst of all that fighting, you have become the best of partners."
Teacher Virden spoke out this time, a somewhat fond look of reminiscence appearing on his face for a brief moment.
Seeing the spectacle before them, all of the students' expressions seemed to say the same thing.
'So, things can work that way too? How come I never knew about this?'
They were puzzled, yet excited to learn more.
For the first time since entering the classroom, their arrogance had been replaced by genuine curiosity.
"Now, now, I assure you that if you manage to make it through this month, there will be hope for you to do the same things in the future, and maybe even more."
Teacher Kor was the one to calm the students down this time, although it could still be seen that he was feeling pretty proud of himself.
The students had gone from barely caring about the purpose of the spars to looking like they wanted to start another fight immediately.
"Now, let's get back to the matches, shall we?"
Teacher Katra, feeling that things might never get back on track otherwise, finally decided to speak out and address the classroom.
With that said, there was a rushing sound as all the kids in the room raised their hands, with the exception of Lyon and Alicia.
Finding this as good as it was going to get, Teacher Katra looked towards Levina and, upon her nod, picked a student to begin the assessments again.
"You, the little dwarf girl. What's your name?" Teacher Katra asked.
"Ah, ma apologies, Teacher. My name is Rita, and it sure is a pleasure to meet cha!"
The now-named Rita grinned and jumped from her seat on the fourth level down to the sparkling platform.
She landed with far more enthusiasm than the situation probably deserved.
The dwarf girl rolled her shoulders, bounced once on the balls of her feet, and looked across the arena at her opponent with a grin that made the other student immediately look slightly less confident.
About five minutes later, Rita was sulking back up to her seat, her unfortunate opponent lying half-conscious on the side of the arena.
The contrast between her cheerful entrance and miserable expression was almost impressive.
Lyon, Alicia, and Derick all looked towards Rita, causing her to shiver and look around at each of them.
Then she grinned.
It was the grin of someone who had just found a fun new toy.
Each of them continued to look around the room, hoping to find another worthy opponent.
Having decided to get his turn done, Derick raised his hand and stepped towards the platform after getting permission from the teachers.
Much like the last fight, Derick won his match pretty easily.
His innate spirit was nothing particularly spectacular, and his opponent wasn't able to make up the difference with technique.
The fight ended almost as quickly as it had begun.
After that, a series of somewhat boring fights occurred one after another.
There were beasts of all types, weapons of every variety, and even multiple plant innate spirits that led to some flashy scenes.
One student summoned a beast covered in metallic scales.
Another wielded a pair of curved blades that moved fast enough to create afterimages.
A plant innate spirit produced enormous vines that spread across the arena, forcing its opponent to leap from one safe patch of ground to another.
There were even a few fights that looked impressive enough to draw cheers from the students.
But after a while, the excitement began to fade.
The problem came when the students realized that half of the fifty students were an obvious notch stronger than the other half.
Once the stronger students had fought, the outcome of most remaining matches became painfully predictable.
Finally, there was only one more match between a possible half-elemental student and another student who seemed supremely average at first glance.
Even more so than the 'perfectly average' Derick.
The second student had nothing particularly noticeable about him.
Average build.
Average appearance.
Average expression.
If Lyon had been asked to describe him before the fight, he probably wouldn't have been able to remember the kid's face five minutes later.
Upon closer inspection, however, it became clear that there was something different about this student.
The two students faced each other, cupping their hands as a sign of respect, just as the teachers had instructed.
The half-elemental kid immediately moved.
A trident appeared in his hands as he chanted in an obscure language that could only be taught by spirits.
The atmosphere around him changed.
Water began gathering beneath his feet.
Then, in the blink of an eye, a mini tsunami seemed to flash into existence.
The teenager thrust forward with the trident, a rush of water surging from both sides.
The other kid tried to dodge backwards.
He barely managed a step before a second wave crashed towards him.
He shifted again, only to be forced ahead by a third wave, invisible to the eyes until now as it suddenly appeared lashing at the boy.
The trident-wielding teenager grinned.
He had him.
The other student had nowhere left to go.
The water surrounded him from multiple directions, and the trident was already moving forward.
The teenager could practically taste victory.
Suddenly, a feeling of intense danger followed by a scorching pain was the last thing he felt before he fell headfirst to the arena floor.
His trident disappeared back into his Spirit Door.
The seemingly normal kid had won the match.
And that too in an instant.
For a moment, nobody reacted.
Then the silence spread through the entire auditorium.
But it was not the outcome that caused it.
No.
The silence was caused by the Innate Spirit he had revealed.
It was a baby angel, female by appearance, with a traditional toga-like dress made of white-gold and obsidian-colored cloth.
She looked almost harmless.
That was probably what made her even stranger.
There, resting on her little back, were four pairs of wings.
Eight wings.
Not white like normal angels, nor black like the fallen angel branch, but a shimmering, glossy gray that radiated both light and dark elemental kei energy.
The gray wings seemed to possess a strange balance between the two opposing attributes.
Light.
Darkness.
Two forces that should never have existed together like this.
The baby angel stared silently across the arena, her tiny form completely at odds with the overwhelming presence surrounding her.
"That shouldn't even be possible," Lyon muttered, looking just as confused and lost as everyone else.
His eyes narrowed.
For perhaps the first time that day, Lyon wasn't thinking about how strong someone was.
He was trying to figure out how they were even possible.
"Unless..."
The word escaped his mouth quietly.
Thinking of a possibility, Lyon glanced towards the teachers, looking for any sign of them having the same thoughts as him.
Teacher Kor.
Teacher Katra.
Teacher Virden.
Teacher Levina.
Nothing.
Their faces remained perfectly calm.
If they were thinking the same thing, their poker faces were too good for him to see through.
Lyon turned his head, deciding not to care about it at the moment.
There were too many questions, and he had no intention of wasting an entire day thinking about something he couldn't prove.
Besides, the kid was walking back towards his seat.
Lyon happened to catch the other teen's eye as he passed, conveniently taking the seat directly in front of Lyon.
"Hello," the boy said with a smile, a surprisingly refreshing thing to see after the strange display that had just occurred.
"My name is Zesher. Let's get along well."
Zesher spoke with a quiet voice, but for some reason he couldn't quite put his hand on, Lyon didn't think that was his real personality.
There was something about the smile.
It looked natural.
It also looked practiced.
Pushing those thoughts aside, after all, most people were prone to faking some emotions when uncomfortable, Lyon stood and reached out to shake hands with his new classmate.
Looking back, Lyon would surely appreciate the irony and wish he had paid more attention.
But that is a subject for another time.