《Five Elements Academy: A Tale Of Magic》


 Prologue: The World

    Six years ago, monsters appeared around the world. Destroying cities, populating the wilds, they appeared out of nowhere. However, the situation wasn¡¯t that bad, the monsters weren¡¯t that strong, normal weapons still worked on them.


    However, day by day, the monsters got stronger and stronger. New monsters started to appear, and humanity started to lose the battle. However, HE appeared.


    Not an incredible warrior or something like that, but a genius of weaponry, is what people call him. He created the first series of magic-base weapons, the Supernatural Composition Weaponry series, the SCW.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    With this, the humans fought back and started to have the upper hand on the monsters. And then, something else happened. Not something bad, but something marvelous.


    Mages appeared between humanity.


    Although their numbers were few and they had no idea how to use magic, it was a start to the Word Alliance that formed not long after the monsters showed up. After a few experiments, they managed to create an exam that could determine if a child was a mage or not.


    However, no mage was older than 12 when they were discovered, and no child can be a mage before their 10 years of age. However, even that was solved, as, in a new island near japan, the Five Elements Academy was created!

 Chapter 1: The Second School Year

    (PDV 3¡ã person, Five Elements Island)


    A private jet lands on the airport, slowly stopping as the turbines go off. The door of the plane open as a limousine stops right at the bottom. From the plane, two girls come out, both dressed in a Japanese school uniform.


    Black blazer, white button shirt, red necktie and red skirt that is right above the knees. The first girl has a pretty bobbed brown hair, bright brown eyes with a hint of blue, fair white skin and a pretty face with a serious expression.


    She also has a well-proportioned body. And tagging right behind her, the other girl. Long, blonde hair that¡¯s almost golden, going until her waist, a bit wavy. Her eyes are of an emerald green, and her face is extremely beautiful, giving the feeling of a gentle girl.


    Her white porcelain skin almost glowing under the sun. Both have the same height, around 1,70 meters tall. As they go down the stairs of the jet, the door of the limousine, and a woman comes out from it.


    1,80 meters tall, and a bit more with her black low high-heels. Her skin is extremely pale and smooth, her hair purely white. However, she isn¡¯t old. She actually looks like someone around her 20 years old.


    Her face is beautiful, clearly a Japanese woman, and explosive body hidden under social clothes. Social black pants and a button, long-sleeved white shirt with the sleeves folded back to her elbows.


    Her white eyes watch the two girls come down. As they get to her, the bobbed hair girl steps aside and bows slightly to the blonde girl. The white-haired woman does the same, saying:


    (Misaki): ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. My name is Misasagi Misaki, and I¡¯m the Headmaster of the Five Elements Academy.¡±


    The girl, seeing Misaki bow, says with an almost musical voice:


    (Serena): ¡°Please, don¡¯t be so formal with me, Misaki-dono! I heard a lot about you from my father! And please, even if you know who I am, let me introduce myself.¡± She grabs the hem of her skirt and lightly raises it, bowing slightly, in a polite salute. ¡°I¡¯m Serena Pendragon, crown princess of the United Kingdom of England. It¡¯s a pleasure to be in the presence of the strongest human on earth.¡±


    Taking Serena¡¯s example, the bobbed hair girl also makes the same salute to Misaki saying:


    (Maria): ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, Misaki-dono! My name is Maria Silver, and I¡¯m Serena-Ojou-sama¡¯s maid and bodyguard.¡±


    Misaki also bowed lightly, saying:


    (Misaki): ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you too, Maria-chan.¡±


    Maria nodded, and avoided looking to Misaki¡¯s eyes, being all fidgety. Seeing this, Misaki gets confused and asks:


    (Misaki): ¡°Maria-chan, are you alright?¡±


    (Maria): ¡°N-no! I-I mean, yes, I¡¯m alright! it¡¯s just¡­ hum¡­.¡±


    Misaki tilts her head in confusion, while Serena gracefully covers her mouth, jiggling. Maria, blushing and nervous, mumbles to herself a bit and says in a loud voice after breathing in deeply:Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    (Maria): ¡°May I have an autograph?!¡±


    (Misaki): ¡°¡­ Autograph?¡±


    Serena immediately starts laughing, making Maria go completely red. Controlling herself, Serena explains to Misaki, who¡¯s completely lost.


    (Serena): ¡°Maria is a great fan of you, Misaki-dono! She¡¯s a fan of martial arts, and you being the strongest person in the world really make her admire you!¡±


    Misaki smiled hearing that, and said to Maria:


    (Misaki): ¡°It¡¯s an honor. I don¡¯t have a pen with me right now, so later I will send my autograph to your room. Also, if you want some pointers in martial arts, just let me know!¡±


    (Maria): ¡°! Yes! I surely will! Thank you very much!¡±


    Misaki held open the door of the back limousine as they ether it, and the driver goes off from the airport to the city. Both Serena and Maria look mesmerized to the city around them. Almost all the tall buildings are painted in different tones of green.


    Also, there are a lot of trees and grass everywhere. Seeing this, Serena asks:


    (Serena): ¡°I heard that this island had a lot of nature, but this is simply amazing!¡±


    (Maria): ¡°Yes, Ojou-sama! Even the buildings painted in green are such a beautiful sight!¡±


    Misaki smiled and said:


    (Misaki): ¡°This is the Green District, and from here you can go to the Monster Forest and see the Green Tower from the top of the gates of the town. Of course, since green magic is deeply related to the nature and forests, this is the most ¡°green¡± place of the town.¡±


    (Maria): ¡°There aren¡¯t many people around¡­¡±


    She says as she notices the very few people in the city despite its size. As far as she knows, the Five Elements ¡°city¡± is enormous, from the size of a small country, and the ¡°island¡± is almost half of Australia. Misaki sighs and says:


    (Misaki): ¡°Although we have a big population, it isn¡¯t enough to fill up the whole Five Elements city. Although this is good, it means that we have more room for more students in the next years. Oh, right, you girls already took your CIT, right?¡±


    Color Identification Test, or CIT, is the test that helps you to determine your affinity with magic, and which color it belongs. There are five types, White Magic, Green Magic, Blue Magic, Red Magic and finally Black Magic.


    (Serena): ¡°Yes, both of us are White Mages.¡±


    (Misaki): ¡°Oh, I see! Well then, since you¡¯ve already got your CIT, take this.¡±


    She says, taking something from her pocket and offering to them. Serena and Maria took them. it was a rectangular piece of crystal, of the size of a cellphone, semi-transparent and a bit thinner than the average phone.


    (Maria): ¡°Is this...¡±


    (Misaki): ¡°Your Student Guide. Just touch it with your indicator for a few seconds to register yourselves as owners. You would receive it at the academy, but I¡¯ve already gave some to other students, like some of the other teachers did.¡±


    As she says that, they touch the screen with their indicators. After a few seconds, the Student Guide shines golden and white for a few seconds, and when the light dies, the pieces of crystal have changed to an opaque white with an interface like the one of a cellphone.


    (Serena): ¡°This is amazing¡­¡±


    (Misaki): ¡°Right? Anyway, these things will display your student information in the case you need it to identify yourself, and it will serve as a normal cellphone with unlimited memory. You can communicate with anyone of the school who has one of these just by thinking about them. also, if you need to know anything about the rules of the school, check the Rules app.¡±


    (Serena and Maria): ¡°Thank you, Misaki-dono!¡±


    They both said at the same time, bowing slightly. Misaki only smiled wryly at their politeness. They will still take some time to get to the school anyway due the great distance from it to the airport, so Misaki begins speaking again:


    (Misaki): ¡°Anyway, the color of the SG(Student Guide) shows what kind of magic you have affinity with. Also, it¡¯s impossible to lose it, so you girls don¡¯t have to worry about it.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    (Misaki): ¡°If you want, you can test it. No matter where you leave it, it will always reappear on your pocket when you reach for it or think about it. No matter what, it will always come back to your hand, and is indestructible, so you don¡¯t have worry about it at all. And since only you can access the information, your privacy is granted.¡±


    (Maria): ¡°So handy¡­¡±


    (Misaki): ¡°Right?¡±


    She says, laughing. After a few minutes chatting, they finally get to the academy. Misaki goes out of the limo first, followed by Maria and Serena. Both girls look shocked to the ¡°academy¡±. A massive white castle, surrounded by white walls at least twenty meters tall, shining under the sun.


    (Misaki): ¡°Anyway, girls, I¡¯ll let you both here. Don¡¯t forget to check your SG if you need anything. After the opening ceremony, the SGs will guide you both to where you will be living. And although I¡¯m sure that you already know that, even if you are the crown princess of England, the use of that power here is forbidden subjected to punishment. Bye!¡±


    She says, parting with the girls and going back to the limousine, which darts away, leaving both girls in the middle of the student crowd that¡¯s going inside the castle. Looking at each other, they just sigh and go with the flow of students.

 Chapter 2: Luminus Vane

    (PDV 3¡ã person, Five Elements Academy)


    Serena and Maria are almost sleeping as they listen to Misaki¡¯s speech. The flight too it¡¯s tool on them after all, and they¡¯re lucky that won¡¯t have any lessons today and have some time to settle in after the ceremony.


    As they are almost dozing off, someone on Serena¡¯s side touches her shoulder, making her jump slightly, waking her up, and making Maria get alert and sharp, ready to attack, stopping when she sees whose hand it is.


    It¡¯s a handsome guy, with the face of a ikemen. Sky blue eyes, white skin, blonde hair that goes straight to right below his neck. Even though he¡¯s sitting, he¡¯s clearly tall, around 1,80 meters tall, with an athletic build.


    (Serena): ¡°Luminus-san!¡±


    Luminus Vane, heir and oldest son of the Vane family, a very prestigious and powerful family with close ties with Serena¡¯s royal family. He met Serena a few times when he visited the Royal Palace with his father, Lucas Vane. Smiling with perfect teeth, he says:


    (Luminus): ¡°It has been some time, Serena-sama. I didn¡¯t expect to see you here, on the Five Elements Academy.¡±


    He says, politely. Serena, now completely awaken, smiles politely and answers:


    (Serena): ¡°Yes, my magic test turned out to be positive. I heard that you were sent here too, but I tough that it was just a rumor. I see that it is true now!¡±


    Luminus smile. Yes, he was also sent here to study magic, as he¡¯s also a mage. Both are friends, but they¡¯re not close, since they met mostly at balls and official meetings.


    (Luminus): ¡°Yes, it is indeed true.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°I hope we get in the same classroom. Having a face that we both know would be reassuring for both of us.¡±


    Luminus smiled, shaking his head.


    (Luminus): ¡°Unfortunately, this will be impossible.¡±


    Serena e Maria look at him confused.


    (Maria): ¡°Why not, Luminus-sama?¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°My classes will be different from the ones that you girls will be attending. It¡¯s my second year here after all.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Oh my! So Luminus-san is a senpai! Should I call you Luminus-senpai from now on?¡±


    Luminus laughs wryly and says, blushing a bit:


    (Luminus): ¡°Please, spare me, Serena-sama.¡±


    As Misaki¡¯s speech goes, they talk a bit more. Since the speech isn¡¯t important, just a bunch of formalities, they don¡¯t need to pay attention. Also, there are more than 5.000 students here with them.


    After all, this school has students from the entire world, so the number greatly surpasses 5.000. Misaki¡¯s speech here is just the first one of the day. After almost an hour, the speech is over, and the trio goes out of the academy.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    As they walk together to the gates of the school, one of the five leading to the White District, both Maria and Serena notice how much Luminus is looking around, as if searching for something.


    (Maria): ¡°Luminus-sama, are you looking for someone?¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°Actually, I am. My younger brother, he was supposed to enter the school this year¡­¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Do you want any help in looking for him? You also could use the SG.¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°I already tried, but he doesn¡¯t pick up. You don¡¯t need to bother Serena-sama. He must be slacking off, like usual.¡±


    He says as he sighs. They walk together for some time, since their new houses are on the same way. They talk about the school as they walk together:


    (Maria): ¡°It must be hard for Misaki-dono to manage such enormous number of students, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°Of course. There are other administrators that help her to keep everything manageable but they also count with the help of the student council, disciplinary committee and the Five Kings.¡±


    Serena and Maria look at his strangely hearing the last bit of his phrase.


    (Serena): ¡°Five Kings? What the hell is that?¡±


    Luminus just smiled and explained:


    (Luminus): ¡°I know that it sounds ridiculous, but since the school has combat training, there¡¯s also a ranking system between the students supported by the school, divided by the color of magic. The ones that are the top of their respective color are called Color Kings. And because there are five colors, Five Kings.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Wow¡­¡±


    (Maria): ¡°Does the title gives you any advantage?¡±


    Maria asks, curious.


    (Luminus): ¡°A lot. You can command students and form your own group, enter the monster areas with your group whenever you want without the need of permission, access to some special facilities, etc.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Heh~. How does that work, being a King?¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°Well, first, there is a tournament where the strongest ones of the color fight, and the one that wins turns king. And now that are kings for each color, anybody can challenge them for the position. However, they have to accept at least 15 challenges of strong people each month, but more than that they aren¡¯t forced to accept the challenge. Also, when the King graduates, there will be a new tournament to decide his successor, unless that he choose a successor.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Well, being a Colo King seems to be a pain¡­¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°Right? Anyway, it¡¯s here where we split. I live that way.¡±


    He says, pointing to the right of the bifurcated way. As he walks away while waving, he also says in a loud voice:


    (Luminus): ¡°If you need anything just contact me on the SG!¡±


    Both Maria and Serena then walk home, a mansion in the White District. The mansion follows the same kind of appearance of the other buildings here, white and golden, with a holy feeling to it and some angel statues here and there.


    Of course, the mansion has its maids and butlers. The parents of the magicians can buy property in the city to live with their children while they go to school or they can buy property here for their children to study.


    Also, you don¡¯t have to have someone of your family studying on the Five Elements Academy to buy property here. This is treated as a normal city after all, everyone is free to live here if they want.


    Serena and Maria get home, being welcomed by their maids and butlers. They eat lunch and go to their rooms to rest and unpack their personal belongings that got here before them.


    (few hours later)


    Serena and Maria are relaxing in Serena¡¯s room, as per usual. Both reading the rules of the school in the SG. Serena is in the couch, turned to the television widescreen. Maria is laying on the fluffy carpet on the ground, both on casual clothes.


    As childhood friends, they both are like sisters, so something like this isn¡¯t an uncommon sight in their house. And of course, the room is big enough to be almost considered a house. As they read the rules, Maria fiddles a bit with SG, looking at its functions.


    (Maria): ¡°Wow, this really works like a phone¡­ you can even download games in this thing¡­¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Not only that, there isn¡¯t a limit for how much we can put in this thing. It¡¯s simply amazing¡­¡±


    (Maria): ¡°Yeah. This looks like a fantasy novel¡­¡±


    As they talk a bit, they get to the time that they will stay in the Five Elements Academy:


    (Serena): ¡°I hear that we will stay here seven years to learn magic.¡±


    (Maria): ¡°Well, no wonder. As far as we know, being a mage extends your lifespan, so seven years isn¡¯t much, Ojou-sama.¡±


    Serena just laughs weekly. Yes, being a mage extends your lifespan. It was discovered due some tests conducted with magic, where magic was used on elderly people. Of course, no life risks included.


    When the experiment was made, their bodies passed through a rejuvenation of at least 20 years, literally making them younger and healthier. And of course, as mages with magic inherent in every cell, their lifespan is way bigger than a normal human, or at least that is the estimation of the scientists.


    Maria takes a look in the student ranking, just out of curiosity, looking at the ranking between the White Magicians.


    (Maria): ¡°What?!¡±


    Her scream surprises Serena, making her jump in surprise.


    (Serena): ¡°What happened, Maria?!¡±


    (Maria): ¡°Ojou-sama, look at the White Ranking! The King!¡±


    Serena hurriedly opens the ranking app and select the White Ranking option, and the first name surprises her, making her exclaim in surprise:


    [Ranking n#1: Luminus Vane (White King, nickname: Holy Sword)]

 Chapter 3: First Class (Part 1)

    (PDV 3¡ã person, Five Elements Academy)


    After three days, the first day of class finally came, and Serena e Maria went to class, guided by their SG, which have their class schedule. The classes in the Academy are simple, they follow the normal high school curriculum, with the magic classes introduced in the middle.


    Of course, that extended the contend of the normal high school to one extra year to fit the new curriculum, and don¡¯t make the students die out of stress. Serena e Maria head to their first class: Introduction to Magic.


    As they enter, the see a classroom reminiscent of an auditorium, with the seats going up like a stair and with tables that fit three students. Of course, the seats are already reserved for the students, with each one having their own numbered seat.


    Maria and Serena sit on their table, beside each other with Serena in the middle and Maria on her left. Serena looks to the student sitting on her right. It¡¯s a boy, of course of the same age as her, 15. However, she can only see his black hair, since he¡¯s sleeping, with his arms crossed over the table and his head resting on his arms.


    She sighs. There are slackers everywhere, even here. Well, she can¡¯t judge him yet, the class hasn¡¯t started after all. After a few minutes, the class is finally full of students and the bell that signs the start of class rings.


    With the bell, the student beside Serena wakes up with a jump. She holds back her giggle because of his reaction, and pays attention to the teacher who just entered the class. He has red, short hair and a handsome face with brown eyes, with pale white skin, ben quite tall around 1,80.


    Surprisingly for Serena, he wasn¡¯t dressed in a robe, but a brown tuxedo with a white shirt underneath.


    (Lorne): ¡°Good morning guys, my name is Lorne, and I will be your teacher in Introduction to Magic and Basics of Magic. You guys must be asking yourselves why we didn¡¯t ask for any material, books or anything like that. Well, the reason for that is your SG! Please, put it on your table and say ¡°class mode¡±.¡±


    Most students got confused at that, but they did what he said. Serena took her SG and laid it down in the table in front of her, and said hesitantly:


    (Serena): ¡°C-class Mode¡­!¡±


    She got surprised when the SG shined and expanded, taking the shape of a big and thick square, unfolding and opening like a notebook. It showed an interface as if it was a screen and a notebook keyboard.


    (Lorne): ¡°After a lot of development the Magic Scientists came up with the Student Guide, and it has numerous functions, and can be improved by apps. You can find all of its functions with the ¡®function pack app¡¯ later, where you can download all the functions that the SG has is disposition. The ¡®Class Mode¡¯ is made so that you can keep making notes and type he content of the class, or film the class to watch later at home for study.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Goddammit, this thing is so useful¡­¡±


    She thinks. Of course, the color of her Class Mode is white.


    (Lorne): ¡°Alright, let¡¯s start the class. So today, I want to explain to all of you what magic is.¡±


    He says, pressing a button on his table, making the wall behind him lit up for a second, turning into a screen. Pointing at the screen, he begins to write, as the screen can recognize to where he is pointing without the need to touch it.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    (Lorne): ¡°Magic, in its basics, is energy, and it flows inside everything in the universe. Of course, that includes living beings in our planet. So, why are you guys, mages, able to use magic? The answer is ¡®the soul¡¯. It may sound like spiritual crap, but in truth, is really important.¡±


    He says, writing on the screen. Serena types what he speaks, taking notes.


    (Lorne): ¡°The status of mage is achieved when you complete 10 years of age. However, the reason for that is of two factors: the amount of mana and your connection with your soul. In theory, no matter the amount of mana in your body, you can become a mage as long your connection with your soul is strong enough at the age of ten. However, the bigger the amount the better the chances of that connection happen.


    The process is simple. A normal human being has three ¡®aspects¡¯, the physical body, that acts on the physical world, the spirit, which holds the conscience and memories and the soul, that fuels the life of the body. When you die, these three split, the spirit is sucked to the soul and, in theory, you reincarnate without any memories of your past life.


    Although this isn¡¯t confirmed, it is what most of the researchers believe what happen, as we didn¡¯t have enough time with magic to figure it out completely. The status of mage is acquired when your soul fuses with the spirit while you are alive when you are ten years old, where both the soul and spirit reach ¡®maturity¡¯.


    Because of that fusion, you become attuned to the mana in the universe, and your worlds and will gain the ability to interfere with it and cause the phenomenon known as magic. However, the magic that is inside the mage is known as ¡®neutral mana¡¯, or colorless mana.¡±


    He took a sip of water from the bottle on his table.


    (Lorne): ¡°This mana can do a lot of things, unrestricted by the laws of nature. However, it is limited in interfering with the forces of nature. To use offensive magic, defensive magic, enchanting magic, etc. we need the ¡®colored mana¡¯ that exist in the nature.


    The types of mana generated by nature are five, white, black, green red and blue. They are generated in the nature, where they are more common. The blue mana, for example, is generated in the oceans and great bodies of water, as well in artic regions.


    Green mana is generated in forest and nature areas, as well in deep forests and places where the nature is dominant. Red magic is found in volcanos and mountains, housing creatures that use fire as goblins and other creatures.


    White mana is generated where there are a lot of daylight, in plains and hills, as well religious places that generate white magic that has a holy aspect to it. And finally, black magic, where there are a lot darkness.


    Normally, generated where there is also death, like swamps, graveyards, cemeteries and abandoned temples. Of course, the mages cannot generate colored mana by themselves. However, there is where your affinity comes in.¡±


    He says, taking another sip after writing in the screen. Serena nods to herself, taking notes in the exact same way as Maria.


    (Lorne): ¡°Your affinity will not dictate what kind of magic you will use, but it will hinder the use of a magic that isn¡¯t the one that you have affinity with. Let¡¯s take a Blue Magician as an example. As a Blue Magician, he has affinity with blue mana, and he can use blue magic with ease.


    However, using green mana is way harder, and cost a lot more mana to use a simple magic then it would take from using a blue magic in the same level. And in the case of the use of red magic, that would be fire magic, it would be almost impossible as the two types conflict with each other.


    Not that it will be impossible, but it will be extremely taxing and unproductive. And so, I recommend using the mana that you have the affinity with. And now, how do we use magic? Through chanting.


    Magic is universal, and can be done in any language as long that the words are clear enough. And, although is possible to use magic without chanting, this method isn¡¯t recommended as in combat keep the focus to control mana into magic is way harder than just chanting.


    To use elemental magic, however, you must absorb the colored mana. There¡¯s also another advantage of your affinity. While to use elemental magic, you must absorb the colored mana, with the mana you have affinity with you will passively absorb it. If you are a White mage, you will absorb white mana without noticing, and a Black Mage would absorb black mana without noticing.


    Bute there is a limit for how much you can absorb. Of course, there are ways to widen your mana reserves, and you guys will go through them, but there is also the key tool of a magician. The Grimoire.


    A grimoire is a special item where you can let spells ready to be used, stored in it. You can also store a large amount of elemental mana from where you can drain in times of need. Also, you can store the monsters that you capture, but we will go into that when we get into summoning, so it will take a while.


    However, you Grimoires will be given to you¡­ right now!¡±


    He says, pressing a button on his table. For the surprise of the students, a small compartment opened on their tables, with a small box coming out of it. it¡¯s around six and a half centimeters by nine centimeters.


    Serena looked at her small box. It¡¯s white, with a golden disc in the center and a white sun on it. the box was around six centimeters thick. She took in, in curiosity. It wasn¡¯t heavy at all, as if filled with something light.


    She looked to the table right beneath her, to the students looking at their boxes. One of them have a blue one, with a wave on a golden disc on the center, while the others have two red ones, with a fire in the golden disc.


    (Lorne): ¡°Well then, I¡¯m explain what those boxes are.¡±

 Chapter 3: First Class (Part 2)

    (PDV 3¡ã person, Five Elements Academy)


    Lorne took a similar box, with a gray color with a star on the golden disc.


    (Lorne): ¡°This is my grimoire. As you can see by the color, it¡¯s a neutral attribute. The color is directly related to your attribute, as you can see it. the emblem in the box is the emblem of your magic color. Now, try pressing it.¡±


    He says, pressing the emblem on his box. When he does this it shines faintly, and the box opens in the upper part, and something comes out. Serena does the same. As the upper part disappears, something comes out from the box.


    (Serena): ¡°Cards?¡±


    (Lorne): ¡°You may be thinking right ow, my grimoire is a deck of cards? Yep, it is. We thought about doing it on the shape of books, but it¡¯s more practical to use cards. Each one of these cards can store a charge of mana to fuel spells, a complete spell and a monster. Of course, you always can get more cards.


    These cards can also be used as currency between students, since the cards are only bind to the user if they store a monster or a spell. An empty card can be taken from the school for free, just request them on your SG. If you fill you card with elemental mana, it can be used as currency. You guys can judge the valor, after all, is just mana to be used to fuel spells.¡±


    He says. Serena takes a card. It¡¯s divided in two sections in the face, two squares, one in the upper half and one in the lower half. The borders are golden, and the back is white with golden borders with a golden sun in the back.


    Both squares are empty. Serena looks at the cards. All of them are exactly the same.


    (Lorne): ¡°We also can store enchanted items on the cards, as well artifacts. Basically, the grimoire will be your main tool during all your life as a mage. I will now explain the properties of the grimoire.


    Like your SG, the container, or the Grimoire Holder, will always come back to you, together with the bound cards and the ones that you chose to be bound. To explain the binding, when you first pick up the container, the grimoire, the cards, were bound to you.


    If someone else tries to pick it up without your permission, the card will turn grey and will be unusable. However, that are limited to the bound cards. The cards are bound to you in the moment you touch them the first time.


    In your SG, you can see the list of artifacts, monsters and cards bound to you, and from there you can unbind them with by just touching the icon and selection the option. When unbinded, the card can be given to someone else.


    In the case of your cards getting stolen, just go to your SG and it will immediately summon your cards from wherever they may be. The cards can be requested through the SG as well.¡±


    Serena looked in her SG in Class Mode. She couldn¡¯t access internet and the games, but all her personal information and rankings are still accessible. As she checks her personal information she sees a new tab, indicating the items bound to her.


    She quickly glances to the slacker besides her, and gets surprised to see him typing on the SG in the Class Mode.


    (Serena): ¡°I guess that I judged him wrong.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    She thinks, going back to class after looking at Maria making notes. Lorne restarted:


    (Lorne): ¡°Anyway, we will start on the way to channel mana in a few days, but for now, I will also give you guys a warning. Later, in a few days, you guys will also go through your first combat lesson.


    You will learn how to use cold weapons. Even the SCW series won¡¯t be a good weapon for mages. It was really a blessing what the Unsung Genius did for us. However, they gave the normal humans a chance against the monsters.


    However, only the normal humans. They take too long to take down the bigger monsters, and they are inefficient for mages. Cold weapon, in other hand, are far better conductors for mages. Also, your physical body is always being reinforced by magic, and in the end, you guys will be way stronger than a normal human. Also, you guys know that this school has students of the whole world, so obviously there is a language barrier, right?


    Nope. While within the area covered by the Five Pillars you will be able to communicate in any language of the world as if it was your own, as well understand any of them. anyway, since my time in this class is about to end, I¡¯ll see you guys tomorrow.¡±


    He says as the bell rings. Serena watches her teacher goes out of the room, and the nest teacher ether. This period was math.


    (a few hours later, lunch time)


    After the morning classes and lunch, the students came back to class to one more class about magic. Serena is chatting with Maria, and the slacker on her side is sleeping again, until the bell rings and they start paying attention to the class.


    They get surprised seeing the sexy woman entering the classroom. Clearly on her twenties, her curled, blonde hair goes to her waist, and her big breasts and sexy body are tightly hugged by a white button shirt with a gray blazer over it, and her legs by a gray office skirt.


    Her gray high-heels making a loud sound as she walks. Her skin, white and porcelain-like and her pretty and cute face matching her bright blue eyes. Stopping at the table, she smiles and says:


    (Freya): ¡°Hello, and good evening. My name is Freya Karma, and I will be your teacher in monster anatomy.¡±


    She says, with a seductive voice, making the boys sigh and the girls get jealous. Turning on the screen on the same way Lorne did, she started her class.


    (Freya): ¡°Well then, let¡¯s start with the basics of the basics. Six years ago, the monsters appeared out of nowhere. However, why did the monsters appear? The reason, is mana. According to the most recent researches, mana always existed on earth.


    It was more prominent in the past millennia, when the supernatural was more believable than science. We discovered that human conscience affects the mana around the world. This will be looked deeper in the optional course of the next year, Magic Theory.


    Six years ago, for a reason that I will teach next year to you guys, mana on earth reached its peak, and finally overflowed in the world. Because of that, the monsters appeared. I will speak about the origin of monsters in another class, but now we will go to the basics about must monsters that you guys will be facing this year.


    That means the ones that we call ¡®Low Monsters¡¯. They are monsters that barely have any intelligence, with few exceptions. These kinds of monsters are the ones that show up the most around the world, and of course, here on the Five Elements Island. Anyway, to the monster.¡±


    She says, touching her table and making a slide show to appear to illustrate what she talks.


    (Freya): ¡°The always have something called ¡®core¡¯. A crystal that appears made of elemental mana. It normally forms out of thin air where the mana is way too dense. This normally happens isolated and full of nature, exposed to the color that forms its element.


    A core then forms a body, creating flesh and organs through pure mana. We call these monsters the ¡®first generation¡¯ monsters. First Generations are stronger, as they were made of pure mana, so their affinity to magic is nearly perfect.


    Their offspring are the most common, what caused havoc six years ago were in great majority were them. anyway, independent of the type or form of the monster, the core will be always in one place: the heart.


    Strike there, break the core, and the monster instantly dies. However, you will lose an important material. The core is an important material and ingredient in a lot of artifacts and potions. And before you ask, yes there are alchemy and artifact crafting courses, but this will be for the counselors to tell you.


    However, if you want to keep the core, you must kill it in other way. Monsters in grand part don¡¯t regenerate, apart from the green monsters, which regenerate. It¡¯s rare to find a green monster that doesn¡¯t regenerate.¡±


    She says, as she changes the slides to illustrate what she¡¯s saying. Her sexy moves making hard for the male students to focus.


    (Freya): ¡°Of course, all the body of a monster can be used as material. Muscles can be used to craft, for amazing that it seems, strings for clothes, bows, etc. The hide, for armors and other utilities, the bones for weapons, blood for alchemy, etc.


    And this, my students, is the class where I will teach you how to kill them!¡± She says with a beaming smile. ¡°For starters, the Low Monsters in almost every situation share a common trace. Vitality.


    As their soul is directly linked to the core, you guys will need to destroy the vital points. Mainly, the head. Decapitation is a good way, or bleed them to death.¡±


    She says, as she keeps explaining weak points of the monsters, leaving Serena conflicted about the content of the class, and how cheerful her teacher was as she explains the gruesome details.

 Chapter 4: The Little Brothers Problems

    (PDV 3¡ã person, Five Elements Academy)


    As the day ends and the students start to go home, Serena and Maria walk to the gates that goes to the White District. As they walk, the chat and laugh, attracting attention of the students surrounding her.


    (random student 1): ¡°Hey, I swear that I saw that girl in the TV at least once¡­ is she a celebrity?¡±


    (random student 2): ¡°No, you idiot! She¡¯s Serena Pendragon! The daughter of the king of England, she¡¯s one of the most powerful people in earth in terms of influence and money!¡±


    The talk to teach other. Serena ignores them, as she is already used to it, and Maria is alert. If someone try to touch her princess without the princess¡¯ permission, she will take them down instantly.


    As they walk, they notice a small commotion on the gate. Some students are stopping to look at something making hard to go through the gate. Of course, the girls get curious, and, as they approach, they hear a familiar voice:


    (Luminus): ¡°Guys, please, open way! Don¡¯t block the way out!¡±


    As he says that, the people around actually obey, opening the way, but still stay around to look at him.


    (random student 3): ¡°Isn¡¯t that the White King?¡±


    (Random Student 4): ¡°Yeah! I heard that last year he leaded an expedition to the White Plains, and captured a Giant White Falcon that¡¯s a First Generation! Between the Five Kings, it¡¯s believed that he¡¯s only matched by the Black King!¡±


    Serena, seeing her acquainted planted in the middle of the gate with two people behind him as bodyguards, approaches out of curiosity. Luminus, seeing her, immediately makes a polite bow, followed by his followers.


    The first one is a big and burly kid, with big muscles and tan skin, with shaved head and a manly face with brown eyes. The other one is a girl, with long and straight black hair and green eyes, with fair white skin and pretty face. She¡¯s also quite sexy, with a playful glint in her eyes.


    (Luminus): ¡°Serena-sama, it¡¯s an honor.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Please, Luminus-san, don¡¯t be so formal. Did you find your brother?¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°Unfortunately, it seems that he¡¯s avoiding me¡­¡±


    He says, smiling wryly.


    (Luminus): ¡°I¡¯m mounting guard here hoping that I could catch him but¡­ I failed, it seems¡­¡¯¡¯


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    As they speak, they start to walk home, leaving behind some students, creating rumors that they have no control over¡­ and that they will hear about soon enough. As they walk, Luminus introduce his companions.


    (Luminus): ¡°Serena-sama, these are my lieutenants, of course, both White Mages. The guy is Daniel is my second in command and best friend, and the girl is also one of my best friends, Vanilla.¡±


    (Daniel): ¡°It¡¯s an honor, Princess Serena, Maria-sama.¡±


    (Vanilla): ¡°Princess Serena, Maria-sama.¡±


    They both bowed in respect. Serena smiled gently and said:


    (Serena): ¡°Please, don¡¯t be so formal. Treat me like someone of your age normally. Although you are aware who I am, please, let me introduce myself. My name is Serena Pendragon, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you both.¡±


    She says, bowing politely, making both youngsters feel a bit awkward. They chat as they walk, and Vanilla and Daniel quickly turn friends with both girls. Daniel is reserved, and Vanilla is pretty open, and since Serena and Maria are quite warm and gentle, they quickly turn friends.


    After some time, they split up, with Luminus group walking together. As they walk in silence, Daniel and Vanilla look at each other, anxious. Reason? They¡¯re Luminus best friends, and they know him very well. Daniel knew him even before the school, and Vanilla got in the same combat team as them, and trust both with her life.


    And recently, they have clearly noticed that Luminus is¡­ on edge. Nervous, and a bit angry. That¡¯s the impression that they are getting from him. And it¡¯s first time that the have seen the polite and controlled Luminus¡­ this way.


    (Daniel): ¡°Luminus¡­ can I ask a question?¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°Go on.¡±


    (Daniel): ¡°Yeah¡­ you know¡­ well¡­¡±


    Luminus stop, making both stop as well, clearly nervous. Luminus turn around, looking at Daniel.


    (Luminus): ¡°What?¡±


    (Daniel): ¡°Well¡­ you know¡­ hum¡­¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°What?!¡±


    Luminus burst, scaring both. Noticing what happened, he sighs and says:


    (Luminus): ¡°Sorry for that. What is it?¡±


    (Vanilla): ¡°You¡¯re different. Since you got wind that your brother is coming here you¡­ changed. Is your brother¡­ really that bad?¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    (Daniel): ¡°Well, you barely talk about him, and seem uncomfortable with the fact that he¡¯s around¡­¡±


    (Vanilla): ¡°Are you and your brother in bad terms?¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°No, far from that. I don¡¯t believe that there is a better brother than him. I can say that I would die for my brother.¡±


    (Daniel): ¡°So why the tension?¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°You know that, as the White King, I have a lot of enemies, mainly the guys under the Red King. And because of that I worry for my brother.¡±


    Daniel and Vanilla looked at each other, relieved. At least isn¡¯t something like siblings¡¯ rivalry or that they hate each other. But now, another problem showed up. The Red King and his subordinates aren¡¯t the type that hold back in the intimidation and aggression aspect.


    Most of them get into fights and provoke people all the time, giving them the reputation of dangerous people. Their Red King being the nemesis of Luminus. Hey both clash all the time, and the Red King is always trying to make things difficult for Luminus.


    (Vanilla): ¡°True, you brother might be in danger¡­¡±


    (Daniel): ¡°Yeah. If you want I can make someone follow your brother stay safe.¡±


    Luminus just waved his head, making Daniel and Vanilla confused. Isn¡¯t keeping his brother safe his priority? Why deny it?


    (Luminus): ¡°Although I appreciate your concern, my brother can handle himself. I know that better than anyone. It¡¯s not about him that I¡¯m worried about, is what he can do that makes me worried.¡±


    (Vanilla): ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°You guys will know when you meet him. Actually, Vanilla, you¡¯re free three days from now, right?¡±


    (Vanilla): ¡°Yeah, my class will have a free day. Why?¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°Can you supervise my brother¡¯s combat class, please?¡±


    (Vanilla): ¡°I don¡¯t mind, but why?¡±


    Luminus started walking again, and Vanilla and Daniel followed him.


    (Luminus): ¡°I looked into my brother¡¯s class¡­ and it seems that some of the Red King¡¯s new subordinates are in his class.¡±


    (Vanilla): ¡°They already know who¡¯s your brother?¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°Yeah. Umbra Vane.¡±

 Chapter 5: Umbra Vane

    (PDV 3¡ã person, Five Elements Academy)


    Serena entered the training area followed by Maria. An enormous flat ground, with target practice, weights for exercises, etc.


    Their class is together with them, around 150 students. The teacher that¡¯s going to teach them today is a big and burly guy, around 1,90 with bald head and a big white smile. Beside him, is a familiar face for Serena, Vanilla, dressed in sport clothes.


    The teacher then speaks in a loud voice:


    (Don): ¡°Hello, my students! My name is Don Vow, but you can call me just Don! I will be your combat training teacher and everything to you about the tournaments, ranks and classes! First, please take out your SGs!¡±


    He said, to the students dressed in the school uniform for sports, the same that Vanilla is using. For both boys and girls, black shorts and white shirts. From her pocket, Serena took her SG, as the teacher asked.


    (Don): ¡°The first thing that I want to show you is ¡®Class¡¯. You guys are not only ranked in the ranks, but also in ¡®Class¡¯, a measurement of your power. The Class is classified from F to S, with F being the weakest and the S being the strongest.


    Of course, the class can be climbed if you train a lot. The best example is one of students from the last year, he was a E class and now he¡¯s a B class, and still growing. Of course, effort and sacrifice are needed to get strong.


    Your SG will make the calculate your stats and magic in real time and it will measure your strength. The average strength will be your class. And, now, let¡¯s calculate your class! Look at your SG and say: Start Class measurement!¡±


    Serena looks at her SG and says as the teacher instructed, like all students around her:


    (Serena): ¡°Start Class measurement.¡±


    Her SG glows a little and then a new interface shows up. A hexagonal figure shows up, with six stats on each point. Strength, agility, dexterity, mana manipulation, mana capacity and affinity. Her strength and agility were pretty low, her dexterity and mana manipulation were a bit above average and her mana capacity and affinity were quite good. Her Class is D.


    (Don): ¡°Now, if you got a low class don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s normal, you guys probably didn¡¯t do much exercises, and never used magic before coming here. So, with a bit of polishing you guys will climb up pretty quickly in the Classes.


    Anyway, today we have a volunteer for training supervision, Vanilla James, a student of the second year and your senpai. She will be helping you guys together with me, giving some pointers in combat, and, even if you guys want, in sparring. If you got the balls for that, I mean! Hahahahahaha!¡±


    He says. Maria and Serena just sigh, and Serena asks Maria:


    (Serena): ¡°Maria, what¡¯s your Class? Mine¡¯s D.¡±


    (Maria): ¡°Me too. I barely have any strength and mana capacity, but I have a lot of agility, dexterity and control.¡±


    They both smiled to each other. It seems that the system was fair, and you didn¡¯t depend only in mana to measure your class.


    (Don): ¡°Anyway, you guys today will form your Combat Groups. Vanilla-kun, can you explain this part?¡±


    He says, asking to vanilla who¡¯s with her arms crossed. Over the white shirt, she¡¯s using the school¡¯s sport coat, black with white stripes going from the shoulders to the hands. Her hair also is tied in a ponytail. She nods to Don and says:Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    (Vanilla): ¡°Alright, newbies! For now on you guys will form a group of at least three people with a limit of seven! These people will be your buddies for the rest of your time here on the academy, so the first year will be experimental! You can change groups, but I don¡¯t recommend that!


    You also have to get along well, because rivalry between team members is the dumbest shit ever! If you have any doubts, just come to me and I will help you to get teammates! Also, look for someone that will cover your weaknesses! Look for someone that the reverse of your attributes alright?!¡±


    She says in a loud voice. Serena and Maria look at each other and smile. Of course, these two will be together, but now they need to find someone to fill up their team. And this problem doesn¡¯t seem to a real one, as a lot of people immediately surround them, asking to be teammates.


    Of course, it¡¯s all of because that Serena is the crown princess. Serena gets troubled while Maria pushes the boys trying to approach too much. Maria, even not having a lot of physical strength, is an accomplished martial artist and is black belt in aikido, judo and karate.


    Seeing the ruckus, Vanilla immediately screams angrily:


    (Vanilla): ¡°Stop crowding the girl, you weebs! Go find someone else!¡±


    She says, pushing the people away. After she manages to make the idiots full of interest go away, she sighs and starts talking with Serena:


    (Vanilla): ¡°You have it hard, Serena-chan.¡±


    (Maria): ¡°Thank you, Vanilla-senpai! These guys, seriously!¡±


    She says angrily. Vanilla just smiles wryly to Maria


    (Vanilla): ¡°Anyway, can you girls show me your stats? You show these on your SGs.¡±


    After looking and nodding, she discreetly pointed to a par of guys behind her:


    (Vanilla): ¡°I would recommend forming par with those guys over there, they seem to be quite strong. I¡¯m going to fetch them real quick.¡±


    She says, pointing at two guys. One of them is a tall, androgynous boy, with brown hair that goes straight to his back. He¡¯s a bit thin, but fit around 1,80. His bright brown-green eyes are extremely attractive. His thin lips are stuck in a seductive smile in his pale face, and he gives a warm and sociable feeling.


    And the boy by his side is the opposite. Muscular and lean with arms that are a bit thick, he¡¯s tall, around 1,80. Black hair that goes straight just below his neck. Blue eyes, bright and clear, but cold and hard, like ice. Pale skin with handsome features, that are extremely familiar for Serena.


    Serena does notice that people are avoiding the two who are talking to each other. Serena can¡¯t hear what they are saying, but the taller one seems to be apologizing, while the black hair is dismissing his apology as Vanilla approaches and talks to them. after they show her their SGs, she drags them to Serena.


    (Vanilla): ¡°Serena-chan! I found you two more teammates!¡±


    She says as she drags the two by their hands. The taller one seems surprised while the black hair one seems to be a bit annoyed, with a frown that seems to make him even more handsome.


    (Vanilla): ¡°You both aren¡¯t the frontline type, right? These two are complete frontline!¡±


    She says.


    (Black Hair): ¡°Could you at least ask for our permission before dragging us, Senpai?¡±


    He asks, a bit annoyed. Vanilla just turns to them and says a teehee while putting her tongue out. tall One just sighs, and say in a surprising feminine voice:


    (Taller Guy): ¡°Well, my friend, let¡¯s just try, right?  Everyone has been already avoiding us after all¡­¡±


    The other boy sighs, and says:


    (Umbra): ¡°Alright, whatever. My name is Umbra Vane. I¡¯m a frontline swordsman.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Ah! You¡¯re Luminus brother!¡±


    (Vanilla): ¡°You really are! I knew that you were familiar!¡±


    Both girls say, while Maria just stare at him, thinking:


    (Maria): ¡°He¡¯s way more handsome than his brother!¡±


    She says. Actually, Umbra is just as handsome as Luminus. However, his serious expression is much more fitting for the kind of face that the brothers have. His eyes are also not warm as the older one, his eyes were way colder and serious.


    Vanilla held his hand and shook it, saying:


    (Vanilla): ¡°Nice to meet you! I¡¯m Vanilla James, your brother¡¯s lieutenant and friend!¡±


    Umbra just smiled, dashingly handsome, and said:


    (Umbra): ¡°You already know who I am, but let me introduce myself again. My name is Umbra Vane, as you know, Luminus younger brother. I¡¯m a frontline swordsman. That guy there is Arius Logos, my friend.¡±


    (Arius): ¡°Hello girls, my name is Arius Logos, and I¡¯m Umbra¡¯s friend. Please, call me Ari. I¡¯m not an exceptional swordsman, but I did some swordsmanship classes. I¡¯m planning to use a shield and be a Guardian in the future. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you both, girls.¡±


    Serena and Maria hurriedly bowed politely and said:


    (Serena): ¡°My name is Serena Pendragon, first Crown Princess of England. Although I¡¯m just a beginner, I learned some magic back home. I plan to become a healer in the near future, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you all.¡±


    (Maria): ¡°My name is Maria Silver, Serena-sama¡¯s maid. I plan to become an archer in the near future, and of course, a magic archer. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you both.¡±


    She says. They smiled to each other, and then Umbra said:


    (Umbra): ¡°Well then, if you girls don¡¯t mind, we could form a te- ¡°


    (guy): ¡°Wait a bit there, you freak!¡±

 Chapter 6: The Light And The Shadow

    (PDV 3¡ã person, Five Elements Academy)


    The guy that interrupted them was a clearly a delinquent¡­ or it was what Serena though. Short, bright red hair, the black eyebrows clearly showing that the hair was dyed. Of course, he was dressed in the school uniform, but the piercing on the nose, large earrings and a tattoo on his arm.


    He was followed by three guys that were like him, dressed in a similar fashion. Of course, red hair guy was clearly the leader. He isn¡¯t that tall, around 1,70 meters. He¡¯s really pale, and a bit muscular, with an average face distorted by a cruel grin.


    Vanilla recognizes the guy. It¡¯s a troublemaker from these last days, the cousin of the Red King, that just entered the school, Albert Ivanov, with his cousin being Alexei Ivanov, the Red King. She immediately though:


    (Vanilla): ¡°Well, this escalated way quicker than I though. It¡¯s a shame that I can¡¯t do anything about it. I can¡¯t do anything unless he challenges me.¡±


    She though. After all, the rules of the school stop her from fighting a student without a challenge. It would also be really bad for her to challenge a weaker student. It would hurt the reputation of the White Guards, the student organization leaded by Luminus. Bullying the weak is one of the things that Luminus stand against.


    (Albert): ¡°You will form a party with the freak and the little bro of the weak shit?¡±


    Serena immediately got angry. Albert is the type that she hates the most. She frowns and says:


    (Serena): ¡°And what this has to do with you?¡±


    She asks, as polite as she can be. She¡¯s a princess after all, she can¡¯t be uncivilized, even with an asshole. Albert smiles vulgarly, saying:


    (Albert): ¡°Y¡¯know princess, those guys won¡¯t satisfy you! They¡¯re not even into woman after all! Hahahaha!¡±


    Ha laughed disgustingly, followed by his subordinates. Maria frowned:


    (Maria): ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    (Albert): ¡°That tall guy over there is gay, and the little brother of the white dipshit is always with him! It¡¯s obvious that they are together, don¡¯t you think?¡±


    Vanilla angrily frowned, ready to go and slap the guy. Although it seems to be stupidity, after magic showed up, most of the mythical monsters and gods also appeared. They said that they finally could appear on earth, not just influence it.


    That also means that the Christian God appeared, as well his angels. That made most of the feverish religious people almost go mad with faith, and the racism, persecution against sexuality, etc. was deeply rooted and more open all over earth.


    Of course, according to God, he doesn¡¯t condemn gays and black people, as well neither other race or any kind of sexual choice, but the radicals didn¡¯t want to hear, and again one of the rottenest parts of humanity flowered once again. Albert is one example of these assholes.


    Both girls looked at Arius, who¡¯s with a dark expression. They aren¡¯t the type, but seeing his face and the face of the people around them, they can clearly see now why people are avoiding him and Umbra. They also looked at him.


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    He doesn¡¯t seem angry; his face hasn¡¯t changed. Except for his eyes. Serena, Maria and Vanilla legitimately felt fear looking at them, overflowing with murderous intention. Albert continued talking:


    (Albert): ¡°So why don¡¯t you join us, Princess? I promise that I will give you a good time!¡±


    He says, with a lecherous smile while reaching for Serena¡¯s shoulder. Maria was ready to break his arm, however, another hand stopped him. Umbra had grabbed his hand, squeezing it really hard. Albert held back a wince, looking angrily at Umbra.


    (Albert): ¡°So the wuss wants to fight back?! You and your brother are just cowards an-!¡±


    He was interrupted. Just a quick fact, although the fight between people of different years must be done by a formal challenge, and isn¡¯t allowed to fight until the challenge is made, the local is decided and the rules as well.


    However, between students of the same year, fights are allowed when there is a teacher around. they can fight without rules, and use magic, with fists or weapons. And that¡¯s exactly what is happening here. Umbra¡¯s fist sank into Albert¡¯s stomach, making him raise from the ground a bit.


    Umbra followed by tackling him into the ground and punching him as hard as he could on Albert¡¯s face and chest. People around looked at the scene, shocked. Vanilla was even more shocked.


    When she came here, she already knew who Luminus¡¯ brother was, and was looking for an opportunity to approach. He did seem to be a bit different from his brother, a bit colder than normal. However, she though that he would be composed as his brother.


    In this kind of situation, Luminus would try to talk things out, and fight only if the opponent attacked first. However, Umbra just jumped into combat, savagely beating Albert. As soon as blood began to gush out from the attacks on the head, the other three guys attacked Umbra.


    Umbra immediately jumped out from Albert, who¡¯s on the ground, unconscious, with blood all over his face. The first thug to reach Umbra released a right straight to his face. Umbra acted like a master, making the fist barely pass to the side of his face, with his left fist sinking on the face of the thug.


    Umbra is also quick, really quick. Before the other two could attack him, he made a wide and powerful swing with his right hand, breaking the delinquent¡¯s jaw before he could go to the ground. he also didn¡¯t stop there, his left hand hitting the ribs, with the ominous sound of breaking ribs filling the air as Umbra¡¯s hand sank in them.


    The other two finally attacked him, everything happening within a second. The second crook tried to make a kick, but his leg was grabbed by Umbra, who made a swift punch to the extended knee, making the leg bend in an impossible way, broken.


    As the crook screams in pain, Umbra releases his hand and twist his whole body, making his hand crash into the guys face, making teeth and blood fly. The third guy looked terrified at the scene. Everything happened way too quickly for him to process.


    In his nervousness, he pulled a pocked from his pocket on his short, terrified. Umbra looked at the knife and then back to the delinquent¡¯s eyes¡­ and smiled, laughing scornfully. That surprisingly made the boy angry, and that gave courage to go for a stab before the teacher could run and stop him.


    Umbra didn¡¯t had difficulty dealing with the guy. He grabbed the hand with the knife, with the blade going between his fingers. Umbra¡¯s hand closed into an iron grip, and he raised his right hand, making it strike from above into the boy¡¯s head.


    The guy fell to his knees, and Umbra finished him with a knee to the face, breaking his nose. In that moment, the teacher finally got to the scene, after pushing the students out of the way. Seeing that Umbra wasn¡¯t harmed, he sighed took four cards from his grimoire, that¡¯s stuck on his pants in the back of his waist.


    (Dan): ¡°Alright, Umbra Vane is the winner of this duel. I¡¯ll heal these guys and we will start class again after that.¡±


    Surprisingly, the teacher didn¡¯t scold Umbra. As he went back to his group, the teacher used the cards, which had powerful healing spells on them. the students literally open way as Umbra approaches.


    They¡¯re scared from the brutal and bloody show that he just did. Even Vanilla trembled a bit when he got to them. When he got close, Arius started:


    (Arius): ¡°Umbra, I¡¯m sorry, this is my fa-.¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°Don¡¯t even start with this sorry bullshit again, Ari. I¡¯ll kick your ass too. It was me who wanted to jump the guy, not you.¡±


    He said, looking at his bloody hands. Ari took a handkerchief and gave it to him.


    (Umbra): ¡°You sure? Blood is horrible to wash, you know?¡±


    (Arius): ¡°I have a lot of them, I don¡¯t need this one anymore.¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°Thanks.¡±


    He says, as he wipes the blood on his hands, with a slight frown.


    (Umbra): ¡°It has been some time since I last punched someone. My knuckles hurt a bit.¡±


    (Vanilla): ¡°Why the hell did you attack him?! And how did the teacher didn¡¯t scold you?!¡±


    Umbra just looked at them, putting the handkerchief in his pocket after cleaning his hands.


    (Umbra): ¡°Firstly, when I grabbed his hand, while he was talking, I sent a message for Don-sensei, declaring my duel. He accepted, so that¡¯s why I attacked. And also, were teammates, right? We look for each other. And he was looking for a fight anyway, I just attacked first.¡±


    He says casually. Vanilla saw the clear difference between both bothers. Luminus is the rational, pacifist type, that fights only when necessary and he doesn¡¯t have any other alternative, finishing his opponent as quickly as possible. Umbra is just straightforward and brutal, making plans all the time.


    She just sighted. However, she felt some joy. She was right, he¡¯s more interesting than the older brother.

 Chapter 7: End of The Day

    (PDV 3¡ã person)


    Vanilla walked together with Umbra¡¯s group. She has been following them the whole day, as Luminus had requested. Although she did enjoy talking and interacting with them, she accomplished her primary objective: observe Umbra.


    During the day she walked with them, and managed to make a lot of questions. He¡¯s a bit different from what she had pictured. He¡¯s smart, like his brother, really intelligent, almost genius-like.


    However, he¡¯s clearly more conflict inclined than Luminus. If she had to put it, Luminus was a gentle guy, who helped whomever he could, would avoid conflict, always search for a political conclusion rather than a combat and is protective to the people that are around him, always keeping those under him safe.


    Umbra isn¡¯t much different, he also likes to help people, defend people who are at his side. However, he jumps at combat at the first opportunity that he sees when it won¡¯t interfere negatively with the outcome. He¡¯s also much colder with his enemies. Umbra said that he would respect someone that he could see as an equal, but other than that the enemies are nothing but dust to be brushed off.


    He also respects other people¡¯s beliefs, and tries to understand them, even if he doesn¡¯t agree. But if they try to force their beliefs and hatred on the people around him for any reason, like Albert trying to get into a fight because of Ari¡¯s sexuality, he will without doubt go for the kill.


    (Vanilla): ¡°Now I know why Luminus is so worried. He has many enemies, and trying to get to him, they will pick on Umbra. However, the problem isn¡¯t that they will hurt him, but the problem is that he will hurt them too much. The attack at the training area earlier was unnecessarily brutal. He defeated them in the first hit, but he went ahead to break the bones and limbs.¡±


    She thought to herself. As they go out from school, in the direction of the gate, they notice a commotion on the gate. Vanilla smiles to Umbra and says:


    (Vanilla): ¡°It seems that your brother is waiting for you again.¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°Yeah, it seems that¡¯s the case.¡±


    As they walk to the gate, Ari teases Umbra:


    (Ari): ¡°Are you sure that you won¡¯t run away from him this time?¡±


    (Vanilla): ¡°He¡¯s been really worried since you have been running away from him.¡±


    Vanilla follows up in the teasing, making both Serena and Maria laugh. Umbra just sighs and says:


    (Umbra): ¡°I have been running around, busy since I got in this island. I¡¯ve so busy that i was so tired that I ended up sleeping in the classroom before the classes.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s why you sleep so much!¡±


    They all laugh at Serena¡¯s remark, and finally get to the gate. Seeing them, Luminus, who again asked the people around them to open way to the students going home, says in a loud voice:


    (Luminus): ¡°Umbra!¡±


    While walking in their direction with Daniel walking behind him. He walked quickly, getting to them and slightly bowing to Serena.


    (Luminus): ¡°Serena-sama.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Luminus-san.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    (Luminus): ¡°Goddammit Umbra! Why have you been avoiding me since we got here?! You didn¡¯t even went home, little brother!¡±


    Umbra just sighed.


    (Umbra): ¡°Calm down, Luminus! You¡¯re always too nervous! I didn¡¯t meet you because I was busy, and I¡¯m not living at the place that dad prepared to you!¡±


    Luminus got stunned by that answer. Not that his brother was busy, when they were little, Umbra was always running around, busy with something that their father entrusted him to do or going around the world with their teacher.


    Of course, he know that Umbra already has his own business, although he doesn¡¯t know the details about what he does, but he already has his own income. And, although that seems to be some kind of ¡°family problem¡±, that the younger brother has a business apart from the family¡¯s, that¡¯s not the case.


    Umbra, even though he never wanted to inherit the family, he told their father that he wanted to be independent earlier, and their father, Lucas, helped him in every way he could. And now Umbra has his own business that he manages, and doesn¡¯t have any kind of financial debt to his father.


    Luminus got stunned that his brother wouldn¡¯t live with him. He was actually looking forward to living with his brother, he missed Umbra in this last year. also, he could also spar with him in their free time.


    (Luminus): ¡°That¡¯s a shame then. Let¡¯s go home then, it¡¯s getting late.¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°Sure.¡±


    They said, walking back home. Eventually, the split and went to their respective homes. Vanilla followed Daniel and Luminus, since they were neighbors. As they walk, Luminus and Vanilla talk to each other.


    (Luminus): ¡°So, how did it end?¡±


    (Vanilla): ¡°I think that I got why you were so worried. The guy is really someone to be feared.¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°Well, it¡¯s good to see someone that understands me. So, what happened?¡±


    (Vanilla): ¡°You know the cousin of the Red King? That Albert guy?¡±


    (Luminus): ¡°Did he try to get into problems with Umbra?¡±


    (Vanilla): ¡°Yeah. He tried, Umbra knocked him down, and transformed his face in a bloody mess. If it wasn¡¯t for Don-sensei¡¯s magic, he wouldn¡¯t have any teeth anymore.¡±


    She said. Luminus just smiled wryly. It was indeed something that his brother would do.


    Umbra finally got home after parting ways with his friends and his brother. It¡¯s q quite isolated place, quite far from the most populated area. By consequence, it means that he¡¯s close to the gates to the White Area.


    Also, there isn¡¯t nobody around living in the area, just the streets painted in white and gold, with the architecture in a gothic style, with a lot of angel statues everywhere. Umbra¡¯s place is literally a mansion, of course, made in the theme of the place, with five floors.


    It also has a green house, a library, training area, everything that a mage could ask for. Of course, the place was a fortune, but Umbra bough it with his own money. When he gets to the gate, which has two pillars on each side with angel statues on the top, looking down, he stops and says:


    (Umbra): ¡°Open the gate.¡±


    Both angel statues open their closed, weeping eyes and look at him, their movements followed by the sound of stone grinding on each other. Seeing Umbra, their eyes shine in golden light for a quarter second before both say at the same time, with mechanical but musical voices:


    (Angels): ¡°Welcome home, Master Umbra.¡±


    And then, the gates open. These statues are golems. It may seem something extremely expensive, but almost every house in the island which has a gate has a golem guarding it. All the security of the city is made by the golems, every single statue in the streets are golems.


    Of course, there is a police force in the island, that has a division for each one of the Districts, and they receive support from the golems, that are fairly powerful and always catch the criminals. Also, all the houses, no matter the price, are magically guarded in some way.


    Umbra¡¯s mansion is one of the many that are in this island, and is far from the bigger ones. As he enters the gates, Umbra¡¯s sighs.


    (Umbra): ¡°I did want a smaller place, but I have way too many stuff¡­ at least I could a place to hold all of it.¡±


    He said to himself. As he walks to the mansion, tow big figures run in his direction barking and growling. These figures quickly approach in their four legs, and Umbra just smiles lightly opening his arms.


    The first figure jumps at him, tackling him to the ground, licking his face with its tail wagging. Umbra laughs, scratching the black fur. You could say that those creatures are wolves, but they are different from any other wolf.


    First, he has something like a mane, a slightly wider snout with big fangs, with thicker legs than a normal wolf. He¡¯s clearly a new species of wolf, because, even while in its four legs, he¡¯s tall enough to get to Umbra¡¯s chin. It¡¯s no wonder that he was able to take Umbra down with a jump, the thing must weight a hundred kilos.


    The wolf on top of Umbra has pitch black fur, shiny and clean with big and blood-red eyes. The other wolf also wags its tail, but holds back and just shoves its snout on Umbra¡¯s face. The other wolf is very similar to the black one, but has pure, white fur that reflects the light of the evening, with crystal blue eyes being the same size as the black one.


    Umbra, after a few minutes struggling with the wolves, finally can push them away from him and get up. Petting the black wolf, he says:


    (Umbra): ¡°You have to stop taking me down, Padomay.¡±


    And then, with his other hand, he scratches the white wolf.


    (Umbra): ¡°And Anu, you did a good job holding back today.¡±


    Both wolves make happy sounds, that are too cute for their ferocious looks. Umbra walks to the mansion, followed by both wolves while thinking:


    (Umbra): ¡°Padomay really needs some extra training¡­¡±


    He says, trying to get rid of the wolf¡¯s saliva from his face.

 Chapter 8: Onwards to The Weekend

    (PDV 3¡ã person)


    Umbra entered the mansion followed by his wolves. When he gets in, he sees a maid walking by. She immediately notices him, and then bows, saying:


    (Maid): ¡°Welcome back, Master.¡±


    Umbra smiled and said:


    (Umbra): ¡°I¡¯m home, Athena. Did you stop calling me young Master?¡±


    Athena smiled. She¡¯s a fifteen years old girl, with long, straight amber hair and hazel eyes, with pale white skin and relatively small breasts. She¡¯s wearing a classical maid outfit, black dress with a white apron with frills on her shoulders and in the edges of the white apron, as well on the bottom of the long skirt.


    She¡¯s also wearing one of those arcs with frills on her head low black shoes. Her height is around 1,70 meters. She smiles at Umbra¡¯s words.


    (Athena): ¡°Well, Master Umbra has left home, after all. Master Umbra is the Master of the house, not Lucas-sama, and since I have chosen to follow Master Umbra as his Head Maid, it¡¯s only natural to call you Master instead of Young Master.¡±


    Umbra laughs and before he could talk, and then Athena says:


    (Athena): ¡°A warm bath at the bathroom on your room?¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°How did you¡­¡±


    (Athena): ¡°Well, since Master has brought Anu and Padomay home he has been drenched in droll every time he gets home, so a bath is a give!¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°That¡¯s my head maid for you. Please, prepare the bath as I get some fruit to eat in the kitchen.¡±


    Athena bows and walks upstairs as Umbra goes to the kitchen, being followed by his wolves. Giving them some treats and eating an apple, he pets Anu and Padomay. Sniffing the air, he says:


    (Umbra): ¡°I definitely will give you both a good bath this weekend.¡±


    Padomay whimpers while Anu barks and wags her tail. Umbra chuckles, and walk to his room, followed by the wolves. Those two follow him everywhere since he got them when they were just recently born pups one year ago on Russia.


    He did actually raise them as a parent, and they see him as a pack leader. As he gets to his room, Athena comes out, saying:


    (Athena): ¡°Master, you bath is ready.¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°Thank you, Athena. I¡¯ll eat dinner after the bath.¡±


    (Athena): ¡°Yes, Master.¡±


    She says, walking away. Umbra goes in his room. There¡¯s a king-sized bed, with metal reinforcements for both wolves be able to lay on it without breaking the bed, a widescreen TV that¡¯s absolutely enormous, and under it, there is a shelf with a lot of consoles from various generation, from PS2, nintendo 64, ps3, xbox, ps4, etc.


    Beside the TV there is another large shelf, with a lot of games, even the latest releases. The closes his door after both wolves enter the room and lay down in the bed. Going into the bathroom that¡¯s on a door in the side of the room, throws his clothes in the dirty clothes bind and immediately enters the bathroom.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    After washing himself, he sinks into the bathtub. Releasing a groan, he says to himself.


    (Umbra): ¡°Finally, some rest¡­ spending the last nights working wasn¡¯t easy at all¡­¡±


    Taking a remote that¡¯s on a small table besides the bathtub, he turns on the 72 inches widescreen TV that¡¯s hanging on the wall. Yeas, Umbra has a TV on his bathroom. Every morning he likes to take a long bath while watching the news.


    After a few minutes wasting his time in the bath, he finally decides to get out when his stomach starts growling. Going out, he takes dries himself and goes out while drying his hair and put some comfortable clothes. After the dinner, he went to bed, laying down on the bed with the wolves leaning on him.


    (a few days later, during Saturday)


    Serena woke up early on the Saturday, she and Maria would go out with Ari, their new best friend. They were a bit awkward in the beginning, but soon they created a deep friendship. Ari was just like any other girl, and he was quite a good advisor too.


    They didn¡¯t have anything planned, the primary objective of hang out was to explore the White District to see if there is something interesting to do. After they put some casual clothes, they go to meet Ari.


    They meet up in the commerce center of the White District.


    (Ari): ¡°Hello girls! How are you doing?¡±


    (Maria): ¡°We¡¯re doing fine, Ari. And you?¡±


    (Ari): ¡°Me too.¡±


    They talk a bit as they walk together, looking for stores to buy something or to eat. However, they barely find three stores worth visiting.


    (Serena): ¡°There isn¡¯t a lot in this island¡­¡±


    (Ari): ¡°Well, the island is new after all. I guess that there isn¡¯t a lot of people willing to start a business here yet.¡±


    (Maria): ¡°A shame, it would be nice to have some stores that are focused in selling to teens.¡±


    (Ari): ¡°Well, most of the population is young and are the students of the academy after all.¡±


    After an hour walking without finding anything, they quickly get bored. They sit on a bench that¡¯s on one of the many squares.


    (Serena): ¡°If I knew that it would be this boring I would have suggested something different¡­¡±


    (Maria): ¡°There¡¯s nothing to do here¡­¡±


    (Ari): ¡°Hey, Maria, Serena, are you both into games?¡±


    Ari asks, surprising both girls. Serena is the first one to answer.


    (Serena): ¡°I¡¯m into RPGs and survival.¡±


    (Maria): ¡°Me too. Although I also like an FPS from time to time.¡±


    She says. Ari laughs, saying:


    (Ari): ¡°Oh my, oh my, who would know that the princess of England would like to play videogames!¡±


    Serena blushes and says:


    (Serena): ¡°Games are a good way to blow off steam, ok? And my dad likes games, and taught me how to play since I was young!¡±


    She says, puffing her cheeks. Ari just laughs while Maria says:


    (Maria): ¡°And for me, I always liked games since my dad gave me a console when I was a little girl.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Why the question?¡±


    Ari smiles and says, with a cheerful tone:


    (Ari): ¡°As far as I know Umbra has a great collection of games, and I know for sure that he¡¯s an gaming addict. I know where his place is, do you girl want to crash there?¡±


    They look at each other and just shrug.


    (Serena): ¡°Sure, why not?¡±


    They get up and start walking. As they walk, Maria notices a few cars on the streets. White and round, it looks more like a white, round box over four wheels with windows. However, the strangest thing that she noticed is that there wasn¡¯t a space for a motor. And also, she noticed that the people inside were sitting facing each other in both edges of the car, as if the entire space of the car was dedicated for passengers.


    (Maria): ¡°What the hell are those cars? I never saw something like that before¡­¡±


    Ari, noticing what she¡¯s talking about, says:


    (Ari): ¡°I think that is the free public transport¡­ let me see¡­¡±


    He says, taking his SG and looking for something. After a few taps and swipes, he says:


    (Ari): ¡°Ah, here is the explanation, they updated it today. Let me see¡­ ¡®today, the iDontWalk system is online once more. After we finally finished with the adjustment on the system to support all of the new students, you can now request a ride from your Student Guide or you Citizen Key for free, no matter how many times to transit around the Five Elements City. Just download our app and request a car, and you will be ready to go.¡¯ Is what it says.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°iDontWalk¡­ that¡¯s an interesting name¡­¡±


    (Ari): ¡°From what I heard, these cars were being updated and they were making more to be able to attend all the city without taking more than 30 seconds.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Eh~, how cool. Let¡¯s take one then!¡±


    (Ari): ¡°Sure. I just downloaded the app, let me call it.¡±


    Ten seconds after he calls the car, it stops by, just in front of them on the street. The doors open by themselves, revealing the interior of the car. It looks more like a small room with wheels, with a center table and four luxurious and comfortable spinning chairs.


    Sitting inside the car, with Maria and Serena in one side and Ari in the other, the doors close by themselves and a voice comes out from the ceiling.


    (car): ¡°Welcome to the driverless car from the iDontWalk. Please, Miss Ari, select your destination on the table.¡±


    On the round table, a hologram of the city appears. Ari touches the area that¡¯s selected as White District, and the map zooms. With his hand, he moves the map and selects Umbra¡¯s house. The car then says:


    (car): ¡°You have selected the residence of Umbra Vane as your destiny. Please, enjoy the ride.¡±

 Chapter 9: Umbra鈥檚 House

    (3¡ã person POV)


    Serena, Maria and Ari jumped off the car when it stopped in front of a gate with two angel statues on both sides atop stone pillars. As the car goes away, Maria comments:


    (Maria): "These statues are golems as well?"


    She asks, as she remembers vividly the first time she entered her new home in this island, the mansion where she and Serena live. As if to answer her, both statues look at them and speak at the same time:


    (Golems): "Identified, Arius Logos, Serena Pendragon, Maria Silver, members of the same group as Umbra Vane, with permission from the same to enter the house. Welcome."


    They say as the gates open. Smiling to each other, they walk in while saying:


    (Ari): "As expected, Umbra knew that we would come to his house..."


    He says, sighting. Both girls just laugh wryly. As they go to the mansion, somebody comes out from the main door. It''s a maid, more specifically, Athena.


    (Athena): ¡°Ara, Ari-sama, welcome. These ladies are?¡±


    She asks, looking at Maria and Serena. The girls bow lightly and introduce themselves:


    (Serena): ¡°My name is Serena Pendragon, first princess of England.¡±


    (Maria): ¡°My name is Maria Silver, personal maid and bodyguard of Serena-Ojou-sama.¡±


    Athena grabs her skirt and raises it a bit while bowing, in a polite compliment.


    (Athena): ¡°It¡¯s an honor to meet Serena-sama. My name is Athena Voltaire, Master Umbra¡¯s head maid. Welcome to Shadow Manor, Master Umbra¡¯s residence named after him. Please, come in. my master is in the back, bathing the dogs.¡±


    Serena, Maria and Ari followed Athena inside the house. Serena and Maria looked all around while inside the mansion. The decoration is beautiful, in tones of dark red and gold with a great decoration, with corridors with armors standing by the walls.


    (Ari): ¡°Last time I came here I didn¡¯t see any dogs¡­ did Umbra get them after I came here last time?¡±


    (Athena): ¡°No, master umbra acquired his hounds a long time ago. However, in the last time that Ari-sama came here a maid was taking both for a walk while the master wasn¡¯t here.¡±


    (Ari): ¡°Oh, I see.¡±


    Ari said simply. He¡¯s really surprised that Umbra never mentioned that he has dogs in the time that he knew the guy. They quickly walk through the mansion, going to the backyard. As they approach, they start hearing some noises coming from outside, and Umbra¡¯s voice.


    (Umbra): ¡°Goddammit Padomay! Stay still!¡±


    And then. Barking and growling, as well some whimpering coming from a dog.


    (Umbra): ¡°Anu! Help me!¡±


    An energetic bark answered, followed by a splash. The three visitors looked at each other. His dogs must be big. Athena also called them ¡°hounds¡±, meaning that they must be of some hunting breed.


    Athena opened the door and the sight almost made them have a heart attack. The is a pool that¡¯s around one meter deep with three meters radius, with two enormous creatures inside together with Umbra. One of them is completely black with red eyes, it¡¯s black fur now covered with white foam.


    The other one is with it¡¯s front legs over the black one on it¡¯s right side, holding it down on place, with it¡¯s completely white fur also covered in foam and its blue eyes glowing with playfulness. As for Umbra, he¡¯s holding a big brush, scrubbing the big black wolf, who is whimpering as it tries to scape from the white wolf¡¯s grasp.


    Umbra¡¯s outfit is also appropriated to the situation, white tank top exposing the thick and muscular arms, blue shorts and his black hair tied into a ponytail.


    (Umbra): ¡°Stop being such an whimp, Padomay! It¡¯s just water and soap!¡±


    He says, taking the bucket that¡¯s floating on the water and filling it with water, splashing the water on the black wolf, rising the soap on it¡¯s fur. The black wolf, Padomay, tried to resist, but Anu, the white wolf, is still holding him down, barking and panting.


    Serena, Ari and Maria are looking at the scene with widen eyes while Athena just smiles warmly. As he throws another water bucket as Padomay looks at him with his ears down and upturned eyes. Seeing that, Umbra fill the bucket again and says while laughing.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    (Umbra): ¡°Don¡¯t even try to appeal to my merciful side, Padomay! That¡¯s pathetic!¡±


    He says, throwing some water in the wolfs face, making the animal pull back his face and shake it to get rid of the water. Umbra laughs and Anu barks, wagging her tail.


    (Athena): ¡°Master Umbra! Your guests have arrived!¡±


    Looking at them, Umbra gives a handsome smile and says:


    (Umbra): ¡°You guys arrived early than I thought! Wait a bit while I finish here. Athena, you can guide them to my room. I¡¯ll be over soon.¡±


    He says, simply, throwing more water on Padomay. The three gusts are guided, still dumbfounded with the scene. As Athena guides them, they come to themselves and start talking.


    (Serena): ¡°Those¡­ aren¡¯t dogs, they are wolves!¡±


    (Maria): ¡°No, Ojou-sama, they are not wolves! They are literally monsters!¡±


    (Ari): ¡°Where the hell did Umbra get those two creatures¡­¡±


    Listening to their talk, Athena explains:


    (Athena): ¡°Master Umbra was on Russia a couple of years ago, and found the two pups lost in the snow, and took both home to raise them. As monsters, both are intelligent and as it was Master Umbra who raised them, they hold no grudge against humans. He also trained them very well, so they always obey him.¡±


    She says proudly, as if it was her that had created both wolves.


    (Athena): ¡°Before Master came to the Five Elements Island, he taught the wolves to hunt and help him in hunting, as well taught them how t be good mount while he mounts them. Those two are the pride of Master Umbra.¡±


    She says. Serena then asks with curiosity:


    (Serena): ¡°Wait, he rides them?¡±


    (Athena): ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a sight to behold. Seeing a person riding a wolf is more surprising than you would expect.¡±


    Then, they arrive at the master bedroom, Umbra¡¯s bedroom. The dark double doors are decorated with two figures made of gold. On the left, and golden angel facing the demon on the opposite door, both with their wings spread.


    (Maria): ¡°How¡­ fancy¡­¡±


    She says. Although the decoration is indeed different, it isn¡¯t too farfetched judging by the decoration of the Royal Palace of England. And also, she does know that the Vane family is one of the richest people in the world, and she wouldn¡¯t expect less from a member of the family.


    And both figures are made of lines of gold, and are extremely well made, focusing more in the beauty rather than being showy, although the lines are made of gold. There are also two armors in each side of the door, the left one is white and golden, and the right one is black and red. Athena doesn¡¯t hold ceremony, and opens the door without hesitation.


    Serena and Maria look dumfounded to the room, and Ari doesn¡¯t react, as he already came here once to play Umbra¡¯s games. The room is also well decorated, the furniture is nice and classy, combining well with the dark red walls and the dark wooden floor.


    The bed is BIG, enough to fit around six adults side by side, reinforced with metal. The room also has two big windows in both sides of the bed. The walls have some paintings, mostly of beautiful landscapes in various weather, including one of a tornado, a blizzard and a storm.


    Serena and Maria liked the decoration, everything fits together nicely, and the thing that takes more attention is on the wall to the left. There is a couch near the furniture on the left wall. On the wall, the shelfs with the enormous TV, consoles and games is sitting quietly.


    (Athena): ¡°I will bring some tea in a few moments. Please, if you need anything, just press the button on the arm of the sofa and a maid will come immediately. Well then, feel at home. Excuse me.¡±


    She says, bowing lightly and going out of he room, closing the door behind her. Serena and Maria just look at each other.


    (Serena): ¡°Is it really fine for us to be like this in Umbra-san¡¯s room?¡±


    Ari laughed lightly, saying:


    (Ari): ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if she said that, it was Umbra that ordered it. I¡¯m curious in how Umbra predicted that we would come here.¡±


    He said, approaching the couch. Both girls followed him immediately, almost staying behind, both fidgeting a bit. Noticing their behavior, Ari asks:


    (Ari): ¡°What with you both, you both look so nervous¡­¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s¡­¡±


    She says, blushing a bit. Maria completes:


    (Maria): ¡°We both grew up being around only girls and studying in girls¡¯ school only because of our mothers. It¡¯s our first time inside the bedroom of a boy¡­¡±


    Hearing that, Ari breaks up in laugher, making both girls pout cutely.


    (Ari): ¡°Didn¡¯t both of you visited my house already?¡±


    (Maria): ¡°Ari-chan doesn¡¯t count!¡±


    Ari continues laughing, not even a little offended. He then sits on the sofa, and the girls mimic him. They both notice a keyboard on the low table right in front of the sofa together with the TV¡¯s control and the numerous controls for the consoles.


    Ari takes the lead, taking the control and the wireless keyboard, which has a touchpad to control the mouse. Turning on the tv, he changes to the HDMI input and asks to the girls:


    (Ari): ¡°So, which console you girls want to play?¡±


    (Maria): ¡°Eh?¡±


    (Serena): ¡°W-well¡­ let¡¯s start with something that all of us can play together¡­¡±


    (Ari): ¡°Umbra has Mortal Kombat X on the memory of his PS4, so let¡¯s take the PS4 controls. Let¡¯s me turn the ps4 on¡­¡±


    He says, pressing the keyboards enter. The keyboard turns on, with the letters on the keys glowing softly in a red light. The TV changes to an interface with the many consoles listed on it. clicking on the PS4 icon, the console turns on and the TV¡¯s image changes to the PS4¡¯s interface.


    Taking one of the joysticks, Ari selects Mortal Kombat X and says:


    (Ari): ¡°Who is going first?¡±


    As he says that, the door opens. However, it isn¡¯t Athena, it¡¯s Umbra, followed by his wolves. The first one to ether is Padomay, with his ears flat and his tail between his legs, whimpering softly. Then umbra, still dressed in the same way. Right after him is Anu, with her ears upright and her tail wagging while panting, happy.


    Padomay jumps on the bed, making a full 360 turn and laying down on the bed. While closing the door, Umbra says:


    (Umbra): ¡°Whimper all you want, it won¡¯t change the fact that I will give another bath when you start to stink again.¡± Noticing the three sitting on his sofa, he smiles and say: ¡°Oh, Ari, Serena-san and Maria-san! Did Athena bring the tea yet?¡±


    (Ari): ¡°No, not yet. She must get here soon though.¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°I see. I¡¯ll change clothes and join you on the sofa.¡±


    He says, taking off his shirt, revealing his muscular and well sculpted body. Serena and Maria, who were looking to him while both were talking, and now it¡¯s their first time seeing a live body of a shirtless man. And a good one at that. Both girls naturally blush, and cover their faces in shame.


    (Serena): ¡°Umbra-san! We¡¯re still here! Please, don¡¯t undress so suddenly!¡±


    Umbra, seeing their reaction, laughs, saying:


    (Umbra): ¡°Well, this is my house after all! Also, if you don¡¯t want to see, don¡¯t look! But if you want to see you¡¯re welcome to look all you want!¡±


    He says, smiling, also taking off his short, now dressed only in his underwear. Maria and Serena, who were peeking between their fingers, released a cute ¡°kya!¡± each and turned back to the TV, their faces red as tomatoes. Ari didn¡¯t avoid looking at Umbra though, saying:


    (Ari): ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you had wolves as pets, Umbra.¡±


    While getting dressed in a brown pair of sweatpants and a light green shirt, umbra said:


    (Umbra): ¡°Well, you never asked. Also, you would freak out if I told you that I have two wolf monsters as pets or you wouldn¡¯t believe if I told you, right?¡±


    He says, walking to the couch, sitting right beside Serena, on her left with Maria on her right, and Ari on Maria¡¯s left.


    (Umbra): ¡°So, what are you guys playing?¡±

 Chapter 10: Great Magic Games on TV

    (3¡ã person POV)


    (Maria): ¡°Oh, come on! How long can you keep a combo going?!¡±


    Maria screams while Umbra applies a fatality on her character. Umbra, Serena and Ari laugh at Maria¡¯s rage. As Umbra passes his joystick to Serena and Maria to Ari, the latter asks:


    (Ari): ¡°Hey Umbra.¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°What?¡±


    He asks, scratching Anu¡¯s ears since her head is on his lap and Padomay at his feet, sleeping peacefully.


    (Ari): ¡°How did you knew that we were coming here?¡±


    (Maria): ¡°I also want to know about it.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Me too.¡±


    Serena says, while applying a combo in Ari, who clicks his tongue and manages to block the last hit, starting his own combo. Umbra then says:


    (Umbra): ¡°It¡¯s easy. Yesterday, you commented with me that you wanted to go out and have a look around the city. After you went to sleep just after that, I though that you would invite Serena and Maria, since you three just became friends and they also most likely wouldn¡¯t have anything to do today. But there isn¡¯t anything on the city in the entertainment department, so I though that you would invite them to come here to my house, since I have a lot to lay with.¡±


    He explained, as if it was rather obvious what they would do. Ari, Maria and Serena stopped for a moment when they heard that, interrupting Ari¡¯s combo. Noticing their gaze, Umbra said:


    (Umbra): ¡°What?¡±


    (Ari): ¡°N-nothing. But dude, do you see the future?¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°No. it¡¯s called business instinct. I can predict human actions based on information that I have. It¡¯s a crucial skill to an CEO or any investor out there. And, as the founder and CEO of my own company, I need that kind of skill.¡±


    He says proudly, following up with:


    (Umbra): ¡°Ari, Serena-san is kicking your ass.¡±


    Ari looks to the TV. While he was distracted, Serena started to woo his ass without any mercy.


    (Ari): ¡°Dammit!¡±


    (Serena): ¡°The first attacker wins!¡±


    After a few hours and many different games, the sun started to go down. Umbra¡¯s room already turned into a mess, with pizza boxes laying on the ground and bottles of coca and soda on the table and four empty cups.


    They are right now watching the end of a movie that came out recently. As the credits roll down, Serena says:


    (Serena): ¡°Jack Black still makes a lot of good comedy movies!¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°Right?¡±


    As they talk about the movie, their SGs ring in their pockets. Taking out the crystal ¡°cellphone¡±, they look at the update that they received. Frowning, Umbra says:


    (Umbra): ¡°Wow, there is something that I didn¡¯t expect at all.¡±


    The contents of the massage are this:


    ¡°Good night, students and citizens of the Five Elements Island! For today onwards the fights of the students in official tournaments and duels will be recorded and broadcasted on TV and internet with the permission of the fighters.


    Every night, at 22:00 o¡¯clock a fight will be broadcasted on the academy¡¯s special channel and site. As a special for the inauguration of this program, the tournament for the throne of the five kings will be broadcasted during the whole night, starting with the tournament for the Black King and finishing with the tournament for the throne of White King.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    The broadcast will start at 20:00 o¡¯clock, 30 minutes after this message arrives all the students. If you are on your SG, feel free to use the Television app. If you are on your TV, you can tune in our special channel number 132. If you are on your computer, you can go to our channel on YouTube.


    Good night, and have a good weekend!¡±


    The message said. The four friends look at each other.


    (Umbra): ¡°Do you guys want to spend the night here?¡±


    The other three nodded. They are really interested in the fight of their senpais. Umbra tuned on the channel while Ari ordered more pizza. While they wait while calling a maid to get more soda, they talk with each other:


    (Serena): ¡°I¡¯m really curious to see how the Five Kings fight. Mainly the two strongest Kings, the Black King and Luminus-san.¡±


    She said. Umbra nodded, sitting beside her:


    (Umbra): ¡°I have an idea in how my brother fight. It must be a mix of martial arts, swordsmanship and magic.¡±


    (Maria): ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°You know that, to use magic, we must chant, right? Although we can channel mana without chanting, it¡¯s really hard to have a use for it.¡±


    (Ari): ¡°Yeah, we heard about that on the class. Wait, do you mean that your brother¡­¡±


    Umbra denied with his head.


    (Umbra): ¡°The technique isn¡¯t perfect. We will see later, it¡¯s hard to explain without actually seeing what he can do.¡±


    They nod, looking to the TV. surprisingly, the one that appears to present the fights is Misaki on her usual attire, social button white shirt and back social pants with social shoes.


    (Misaki): ¡°Hello, people from all around the world! Welcome to the first show of the special channel of the Five Elements Island! Although we will have another form of entertainment in the future, we will dedicate this night exclusively to the fights of the second-year students.


    With that said, enjoy the fights where they summon monsters, fight with swords and throw magic at each other! So, without much further ado, please, enjoy the Great Magic Games!¡±


    She said, and then the image changed to an arena that¡¯s inside the school¡¯s premises. The first ones to fight are two black mages. It¡¯s the tournament to decide the strongest black mage after all. Serena, Maria, Ari and Umbra are paying attention to the fight in silence. It¡¯s their first time seeing black mages fight.


    There is quite a crowd watching on the arena. There is also a girl making live commentary of the fight on the arena.


    (Mina): ¡°Hello, people of the Five Elements! My name is Mina, post girl of the arena! Today I¡¯ll be your host in this fight! On the left, we have the best summoner between the black mages, Verne Mob! On the right we have the best curse-caster, Van Toss!¡±


    She says happily. The mages don¡¯t lose time and start their fight. Van takes a staff and Verne takes his grimoire, planning to fight with just that, taking two cards in one hand and one in the other. Van immediately starts chanting while taking a card from his grimoire and activating it.


    (Mina): ¡°Oh! The Fighter Van immediately casts a Poison Fog while chanting another spell! As expected from one of the best black casters!¡±


    Verne throws two cards on the air while running to avoid the approaching purple fog. The two cards turn into a black mist and then he throws the other card on his hand in the middle of the black fog. The fog is immediately absorbed and transforms into a black crow.


    (Mina): ¡°Fighter Verne summons an Zombie Crow, a basic black undead monster!¡±


    Pointing his hand to Van, Verne orders mentally to the crow to attack. Releasing a ghastly cow, the crow flies like a missile to the chanting mage. Avoiding the crow¡¯s attack, Van manages to finish his chant, point his staff to the poison fog lingering where Verne used to be.


    The fog stopped dispersing as Van appointed his staff. Avoid the crow again, Van appointed his staff to Verne, and the fog followed.


    (Mina): ¡°The spell that he was chanting was a Curse Control spell! The poison fog is on movement to Verne!¡±


    Verne clicks his tongue, running again to avoid the Poison Mist, with that, he loses most of the focus that he had to control the crow, forcing him to retreat the animal. Taking four more cards from his grimoire, he threw two to the air separately, creating two floating portions of black mana.


    Throwing the other two cards on each mana, he conjured two spells.


    (Mina): ¡°Whoa! Verne makes a bold move, conjuring two spells at the same time! A dark javelin against Van and a Dark Breaker against the Poison Fog!¡±


    Dark Breaker is a common spell for any dark magician, it allows the user to destroy a simple spell by dispersing the enemy mana. The Dark Breaker is quite useful against black magic, since black mana can easily interfere with each other.


    The poison fog disperses, and the dark javelin almost hit¡¯s Van, making him roll away, being harassed again by the crow. Clicking his tongue, Van reaches for his grimoire, taking five cards. However, the way that he activated his cards was different.


    Four of them broke in black particles, being absorbed by the last card. Throwing the card on the ground, a black smoke rose, and a big creature appeared. Its jaws snapped and devoured the undead crow, making it turn into black smoke.


    (Mira): ¡°The blue fur full of putrid holes revealing the flesh, the body of four meters tall and five in length with big teeth! The giant undead dog, Garm! A middle-tier undead, and quite a difficult enemy to teal with!¡±


    She said, announcing the new monster. The short snout spilling miasma through the vicious fangs. The red eyes glowing, ready to attack. Summoning a creature isn¡¯t easy for a Black Magician. Different from the other creatures, the black monsters generally are undead, so they are more resilient and more durable.


    However, since they are undead, if they don¡¯t have any conscience of their own, they drain a lot of concentration to control every movement. And, if they are like the Garm, who have consciousness and can act by themselves, it takes concentration to keep the monster under control, more than the other creatures from other colors.


    Van makes the Garm advance, attacking Vane directly. Vane also doesn¡¯t lose any time, taking seven cards, throwing six on the ground, creating a dark, revolving black mass of mana. The Garm was in half of the way when he threw the seventh card on the middle of the black mana.


    At that moment, the Garm jumped with it¡¯s mouth open wide to get Verne. However, something rose from the black mana, and the Garm bit a metal rod. The huge humanoid body has a greyish hue, with rotting flesh and its stomach doesn¡¯t have any skin or muscle, revealing the organs.


    It would be identical to a giant human if it wasn¡¯t to the enormous bull head with big horns.


    (Mina): ¡°Oh, here it is! Verne¡¯s main source of fame, his Undead Minotaur! A creature that rivals the Garm in power!¡±


    The Garm stubbornly bites the handle of the giant battle-axe in the hands of the minotaur. Van, having lost his concentration for a second with the appearance of the minotaur, struggles to gain control f the monster again. Verne, taking advantage of the opening, gives the order mentally.


    The minotaur, having no consciousness and being just a tool, moves without making a noise. Raising the battle-axe with the right hand, it punches with all its strength the Garm in the ribs, making it fly away. As an undead, the Garm doesn¡¯t feel pain, getting up immediately.


    (Mina): ¡°And the battle goes on! It has become a battle between summons, with Verne in advantage!¡±

 Chapter 11: Finally, The Black King

    (3¡ã person POV)


    Umbra and his friends watched without speaking to the whole tournament until the last fight, a few hours later.


    (Umbra): ¡°It¡¯s finally here!¡±


    (Maria): ¡°Yeah, that Adalgar Acker is the guy that has turned into the Black King, right?¡±


    (Ari): ¡°Yeah.¡±


    He said as the interval goes in until the final.


    (Serena): ¡°He blazed through his opponents. In the end he didn¡¯t even use magic. He won through pure technique.¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°Well, he did get pressured in his last two fights. He got lucky to win without magic. With his last opponent will be Lotras. It won¡¯t be easy fighting that summoner.¡±


    Umbra said, scratching his head. What he said is true. For what he could see, Adalgar is a good close quarters combatant. He dual wield one handed swords, and he¡¯s quite fast too with those. His physical strength is quite high too.


    The finals finally start, and the competitors enter the arena with Mina narrating:


    (Mina): ¡°The best Black Swordsman and the Best Summoner, who will prevail and take the throne of the Black King?! On the left, the infamous Skeleton Master, Lotras the Skull! On the right, the Black Flash, Adalgar Darkrender!¡±


    She says, hyped. Her animation being answered by the crowd in an even louder sound. Both contestants look at each other, glaring. Adalgar is tall and lean, with extremely pale skin with short black hair and black eyes.


    His is intimidating with thin lines and an eternally glaring expression. Adalgar dashes, gripping both his swords. He¡¯s quick, covering a lot of ground in a few seconds. However, he¡¯s soon blocked when Lotras extends his hand pointing to the ground in front of him. A black mass of mana goes out of his hand to the ground as he throws his card on the middle of the mana.


    (Mina): ¡°OOOOH! Adalgar doesn¡¯t lose time and attack head on, and Lotras does his signature Black Mana Shot to charge his defensive spell!¡±


    A huge wall made of bones comes out from the ground, surrounding Lotras in a defensive fortress. Not only that blocks Adalgar¡¯s advance, some skeletons are visible on the wall. This is an Offensive-Defensive spell, Wall of Skeleton.


    Different from its cousin spell, Skeleton Wall, Wall of Skeleton doesn¡¯t create a huge barrier of bones as a single being like the Skeleton Wall. Wall of Skeleton conjures a lot of mediocre quality skeletons in a cheap cost, clustering them together in a wall. They slowly fall out, creating a small offensive of skeletons of mediocre quality to overrun the enemy with pure numbers.


    A good strategy to stop a charging enemy with low defense. Clicking his tongue, Adalgar gives a roundhouse kick in the head of the closest skeleton, backing off immediately. Lotras, having gained some time, starts his next spell. Taking ten cards from his grimoire, nine of them turn into black particles and are absorbed in the last card.


    Throwing the card up, it creates a funnel of black smoke, sucking the bones and the skeletons. The bones quickly formed a giant. The many bones glued together, forming and humanoid monster that¡¯s five meters tall, and looks like a skeleton, with a lot of heads on the neck area pile over each other.


    (Mina): ¡°And Lotras summons his favorite minion, the Bone Abomination! A higher middle-tier undead, known for its vitality and difficulty to kill without any holy magic! And since magic from any other color but black is forbidden in the fight for the black throne is forbidden Adalgar is in a pinch!¡±


    Adalgar run away from the creature to get some distance, something bad for a swordsman. While Adalgar makes his strange moves, Lotras doesn¡¯t waste time. Taking three more cards from hi grimoire, two of them turn into black particles being absorbed by the third one. The card breaks on his hand, making a purple light appear beside him, floating in the air.


    Soon, floating skull appears. It has three eyes and two demonic horns, decorated with gold and with sharp teeth, with three times the size of a human skull. Mina, seeing that, immediately says:


    (Mina): ¡°Here it is! The origin of the Skull nickname! Lotras signature summon, the Summoning Skull! This skull is notorious for its ability and is considered a high-tier monster even though is quite weak by itself! It¡¯s most terrifying ability is its power to drain black mana and summon undeads with it, turning it on the perfect defense against black magic!¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Pointing his hand to Adalgar, Lotras commanded his Skeletal Abomination to attack him. The advantage of skeletal monsters and skeletons is that they are extremely obedient when dominated or summoned, needing only a basic command to act, letting the summoner free to stop controlling the monster and do something else.


    Adalgar, who was looking at the whole scene without doing anything, avoided the punch of the Skeletal Abomination. While his opponent is distracted with the Abomination, Lotras points his hand to the skull. An enormous amount of black mana starts coming out from his hand.


    (Mina): ¡°A bold move for Lotras! He¡¯s giving all the black mana stored inside his body to his summon!¡±


    A dangerous move. If he runs out of elemental mana, there is an extremely high risk that he will pass out. that¡¯s the reason why he uses only skeletal monsters. If you lose consciousness, your monsters, if not properly tamed, WILL attack and kill you. However, skeletons never attack their masters, and some types even have some loyalty, protecting their unconscious masters.


    And with Lotras wasn¡¯t different. Although he didn¡¯t pass out, he lost his balance, with his face getting pale and sweating cold and breathing roughly. His Summoning Skull immediately moves to support him.


    The black mana going in its open mouth and eye sockets, being absorbed in an extremely fast rate. Not only that, it¡¯s a lot too. Enough to fuel a big quantity of skeletons or make five Abominations. Standing up again, Lotras started his next move.


    The eyes of the skull lit up, and for the first time in the tournament, a magic circle showed up. The black magic circle is made of two circles, on inside the other with the symbol of Black Magic, a skull, on the center. Between the inner and the outer circle, mysterious runes appeared, spinning constantly.


    From the circle, a black radiance sprouts, and a figure raises from the ground. donning a mix of armor and robes with a huge scythe on hands, the new monster doesn¡¯t have skin or muscles, and its hooded head is a skull that seems to be grinning. The creature is also tall, around two and a half meters.


    (Mina): ¡°Oh! Lotras shows up with a creature that we never have seen him summon before! According to the rumors, he had acquired a powerful undead on the Temple Ruins in the Black area! That¡¯s a Reaper Knight, famous for it¡¯s viciousness with the scythe and Black Magic!¡±


    Adalgar smiled, still avoiding the attacks of the Skeletal Abomination. The first of the creature dug deep on the ground as he sidestepped to avoid the attack. And now, he finally goes on the offensive again. His hand moves, turning into a blur, shattering the arm of the Abomination.


    (Mina): ¡°WOOOOOW! Adalgar isn¡¯t intimidated by the appearance of the Reaper Knight and finally goes on the offensive! What a physical strength, to shatter the strong arm of the Abomination with only one swing!¡±


    Adalgar doesn¡¯t lose time, jumping on the abomination¡¯s retreating severed arm, climbing to the head area. Sheathing his sword in his right hand, he takes a card from his grimoire while spewing black mana from his mouth on the card.


    The card glows purple, and he grabs it strongly, punching the heads, making his arm dig deep into the creature. Jumping off, he starts to run in the direction Lotras while the light inside the Abomination intensifies, leaking through the bones. Suddenly, it explodes, scattering the bones all around, releasing a bit of a black and purple mist.


    (Mina): ¡°Oh, a combination of physical prowess and the Black Explosion defeated the Abomination!¡±


    Adalgar breathes in and blows out, an enormous amount of black mana comes out from his mouth, and he runs in the black mana. The mana doesn¡¯t disperse, following him, making him look like a big black comet, completely hiding his body. Lotras decides to wait, and, when Adalgar gets into range, he orders the Reaper Knight to attack.


    The Reaper raises its scythe using both hands and slashes, cutting the approaching figure in half. However, before the scythe could cut Adalgar in half, he jumped, spinning and attacking with both swords.


    However, the biggest difference is that now he¡¯s covered in armor. An armor made of bones, making him to look like a skeleton monster. The intimidating and menacing armor doesn¡¯t hinder his swift movements.


    (Mina): ¡°Oh, Adalgar summons a Bone Armor by using his own mana! If he isn¡¯t careful, he will have all his mana drained away by using the overt time spell!¡±


    The Reaper raises its left arm, using the gauntlet to block the swords. The right hand, holding the scythe, moved, aiming for Adalgar¡¯s neck. Raising his foot, he kicks the scythe¡¯s handle, being flung away by the reaper.


    In the air, he stabilized and fell on his feet. The reaper slashed the air in Adalgar¡¯s direction, with a purple wave coming out of the blade of the scythe. The wave cuts the air in high speed to cleave Adalgar, who rolls out of the way and throws his swords in the reaper¡¯s direction.


    The Reaper deflects both blades with a single circular movement as Adalgar runs in the direction of the Reaper, with two sword-like sharp bones sprout from his hands, and he attacks the reaper wielding them like swords.


    He exchanged attacks with the Reaper for a few times. The monster is fast, and its attacks are precise and heavy, pressuring Adalgar. Lotras gives three mana cards to his skull, and it immediately summons six skeletons, that he orders to advance to go for the kill.


    Adalgar, noticing the skeletons, took the Reaper by surprise with a kick, making both get away from each other. Throwing his bone swords in the monster, distracting it, he then punched the ground.


    Enormous bone pikes come out from the ground, attacking the reaper. The monster isn¡¯t fazed though, jumping out of the way however, the attack quickly catches the six skeletons, destroying them. the Reaper advances against Adalgar, however, something unexpected happens.


    (Mina): ¡°What a clever move! The armor isn¡¯t a summoned equipment, but a summoned monster!¡±


    She says. Adalgar¡¯s armor opens, and he jumps out of it. the armor closes, and moves by itself, attacking the Reaper.


    (Mina): ¡°A Living Bone Plate! An extremely rare monster that inhabits the Dark Forests in the Black Area! It¡¯s famous for being an empty armor made of bones, however, nobody was able to tame it before! It¡¯s the first time that it¡¯s being seen in combat!¡±


    A high-tier monster, the Living Bone Plate doesn¡¯t have the same ability with magic that the Reaper Knight has, it¡¯s stronger physically and it¡¯s more skilled in close combat while being intelligent and loyal like the Reaper.


    With the Plate on the way, the Reaper can¡¯t protect Lotras from Adalgar¡¯s attack. The summoner panics, taking cards from his grimoire. However, Adalgar takes one of the swords that he threw earlier from the ground and threw it at Lotras. Lotras gets distracted with the attack, feeling relieved when the skull floating next to him bites the blade, stopping it.


    However, his happiness is short lived. Something came flying together with the sword. Adalgar, entering with a flying kick. His foot connects with the face of Lotras, knocking him out.


    (Mina): ¡°A marvelous combination of physical prowess and magic! Adalgar Acker claims the Black Throne, and becomes the First Black King!¡±

 Chapter 12: The Blue Mages

    (3¡ã person POV)


    (Maria): ¡°Umm¡­¡±


    She murmured, taking Umbra¡¯s attention.


    (Umbra): ¡°What is it, Maria-san?¡±


    Looking to Umbra, she scratches her head, saying:


    (Maria): ¡°It isn¡¯t that I¡¯m looking down on him, but I DID expect that the fight would be a bit more¡­¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°Flashy?¡±


    Maria nodded. Ari also talked:


    (Ari): ¡°I have to agree with Maria-chan. The Black King is more warrior than mage. Although he didn¡¯t use that much magic, his physical prowess is in another level.¡±


    Umbra nodded, saying:


    (Umbra): ¡°Well, you¡¯re not wrong. He is indeed more fighter than mage. However, he is a good mage. The magic that he used, although he didn¡¯t use that many, they were high level, and that black mana that he expelled from the mouth was masterfully done. It¡¯s impressive that he is as good with magic as he¡¯s good with the swords.¡±


    He said, nodding to himself. the other three looked at the screen as Adalgar Ackens receives a ceremonial modified helmet, made of black metal based on a Greek helmet. Instead of a crest, it has a black metal crown fashioned at the top, making it look quite unique and beautiful on its own way.


    It¡¯s also decorated with red jewels on the crown part. It is called Helm of Darkness.


    (Ari): ¡°We have ten minutes until the next set of mages come it. Which color is the next one?¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°Blue, if I¡¯m not wrong.¡±


    He says, taking a bit from a slice of pizza. Maria ate some chips and then asked:


    (Maria): ¡°What kind of mages are the blues, anyway? What¡¯s their magic?¡±


    She said, looking at Umbra, the one that knows more about magic than any of them. Swallowing his pizza, he says after taking a sip from his cola.


    (Umbra): ¡°Illusions, mostly. Water mages aren¡¯t direct combatants, not direct ones, that is. They summon and cast mirages, illusions, deceits, that sort of thing. It¡¯s¡­ interesting to watch.¡±


    He said. Serena then asked:


    (Serena): ¡°Umbra-san, how do you know so much about magic?¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    (Umbra): ¡°I know a lot of things. I traveled a lot after all.¡±


    He said, in a tone that didn¡¯t left any opening for more questions. Serena, as a daughter of royalty, knew very well when someone was trying to cut the talk without offending the other party. So, instead, noticing Umbra¡¯s look, she masterfully avoided the subject, asking:


    (Serena): ¡°So, what can we expect from the blue mages?¡±


    Umbra was about to answer, when he noticed the TV.


    (Umbra): ¡°I guess that we will see it firsthand. The two first ones came in.¡±


    He said, pointing to the TV. In the tv, Mina, the host, says:


    (Mina): ¡°On the left side, an excellent summoner and monster master, Lilian Ford! On the right side, an excellent caster, and master illusionist Marcus Chandler!¡±


    Both competitors enter the arena. As soon as the signal is given, they start their tactics. Marcus takes four cards from his grimoire, however, before he can do anything, Lilian takes one card from her grimoire and it immediately starts to shine, being charged directly from her inner mana.


    The card blows up into a white mist, covering her whole body and spreading out and covering a large distance. However, the mist didn¡¯t attack Marcus, and was in fact getting away from him. Frowning, Marcus stores one of his cards, taking out to more.


    From his back, he takes out a throwing knife, something allowed on the tournament. He then threw it on the mist, and it bounced off, as if hitting a solid wall. Mina immediately told what was happening:


    (Mina): ¡°Lilian immediately summons a Fog Wall, a defensive creature from the blue element! The nightmare of any blue caster, able to hold against any mental spell!¡±


    Marcus activated his cards, four turning into mana and converging to the last one. Crushing it with his hand, he pointed to the mist, opening his hand. A pressurized jet of water comes out from the glow on his palm, attacking the mist.


    The jet goes right through, piercing the mist. Moving his hand, he makes a horizontal line, left to right and vice versa, the jet carving a deep gouge on the wall behind it.


    (Mina): ¡°Marcus fights back with a Water Jet, cutting through the mist with a spell out of his specialty! A physical spell, something rarely used by the blue magicians to cut through the Mist Wall!¡±


    She said, and the wall didn¡¯t like it. Clearly, he missed Lilian, the caster. And the wall reacted. After all, it isn¡¯t a spell, it¡¯s a summoned creature, prone to emotions. Mainly, caring for its caster. After all, blue monsters are sentimental, and a lot of them are caring and sometimes even loving to their masters.


    Many tortured and angry faces without any detailed features formed in the mist, and with a blood chilling wail, the mist advanced in Marcus¡¯s direction. Taking ten cards from his grimoire, nine turned into mana and were absorbed by the tenth.


    Throwing it at his feet, it exploded in blue light, and a water barrier in an oval shape formed around him. A barrier, charged to the limit with blue magic, enough to resist the mist for some time. The mist attacks, focusing around him and blocking the vision from outside.


    Lilian is revealed, crouching, making a complete dodge from the water jet.


    (Mina): ¡°Marcus angered the Mist and is now under attack! Lilian has the overwhelming advantage.¡±


    Lilian smiled, certain of victory. When suddenly, a water torrent burst out of the mist, coming from where Marcus is. It violently hits Lilian, sending her flying to the wall, on the limits of the arena.


    Thanks to a special barrier on the arena, it¡¯s impossible to die in battle, avoiding any mortal wounds. However, it doesn¡¯t mean that the barrier protects from all damage, allowing the students to hurt each other in battle.


    The mist dissipated, it¡¯s caster down. Marcus smiled, his barrier vanishing. However, before Mina could make the announcement, something cold wrapped around his neck. He grabbed it, feeling his fingers slip through, as if it was made of water. No, I was made of water.


    He looked back, seeing a hand floating in the air, holding the water whip. The hand pulled, making him spin in the air. Falling to his knees, he tries to get up, but the whip hits his chest, making a little explosion, knocking out.


    The hand, floating in the air, has a distorted image where the rest of the arm is supposed to be. Slowly, white mist raises, and Lilian appears out of thin air. The other Lilian, the one knocked out by Marcus, turns into mist, that flies to her gently, turning back into a card.


    (Mina): ¡°A cleaver deceit! The blue mage Lilian deceives her opponent to lower his guard, just as a blue mage does! Marcus is defeated, Lilian wins the first fight for the Crown of Tides!¡±


    She says, as Lilian proudly walks out of the arena, unharmed and not even tired. With the fight ended, Umbra then says:


    (Umbra): ¡°That¡¯s how a blue mage wins.¡±


    (Ari): ¡°I see. I guess that we must have our eyes peeled when fighting them.¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°Yeah, they are quite brutal in a sense. Attacking from the bind point, deceiving you with magic, hiding themselves, almost never attacking until they have the perfect chance. That¡¯s their style.¡±


    He said, crossing his arms as the next fight came in. now, all of them are staring strongly to the screen, checking every movement. They are mages, after all, facing them in the future is something that will happen without doubt. This tournament being transmitted will be of great help.

 Chapter 13: The Blue King (Queen?)

    (3¡ã person POV)


    And again, after the whole tournament, they finally got to the fight for the Crown of Tides, that is now in the hands of the Blue King.


    (Maria): ¡°Finally the finals! Who is the Blue King today?¡±


    She asked, curious, since she doesn¡¯t know the names of the kings by head beside the black king, that she just saw and her friend, Luminus. Umbra chuckled, and answered:


    (Umbra): ¡°Actually, it isn¡¯t king. It¡¯s Blue Queen.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Ara, so it¡¯s a girl that has the Crown of Tides?¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°Year, it¡¯s a girl from Germany. I heard tat she has a absurd water affinity and a gigantic pool of mana.¡±


    He says as the two combatants enter the arena. As they enter, Mina announces their names and nicknames:


    (Mina): ¡°On the right side, The Tiderunner, Lucius, The Wave! Master in summoning creatures and surprisingly, water manipulation, an advanced magic technique and rarely used by blue mages! On the left side, The Tidebreaker, Lorelay, The Siren! She won every fight with ease, barely even using magic!¡±


    She announced. The girl, Lorelay, ¡°The Siren¡±, entered, walking proudly, dressed in blue robes modified to allow easy movement. Most surprisingly, her hair is dark blue, with light blue eyes. Her face is beautiful and delicate, with a cold expression on it.


    She has rosy lips, and a very, vey pale skin, nearing literal white. Her height is around 1,60, her hair is long and straight, her body lacking some curves. On her delicate right hand, she carries a trident of her own height, maybe a bit taller. The handle is made of black wood and a head made of silvery metal.


    She isn¡¯t the first one that they see carrying a weapon in the tournament, however, she¡¯s the first blue mage to carry in a weapon for physical combat. And so, the fight started. Lorelay waited or Lucius movement, who took six cards out of his grimoire, and three turned into blue mana, each one fowling into a separated card.


    Throwing it on the ground, they exploded in water, covering the whole arena, letting their feet covered in water. Lorelay didn¡¯t seem altered by it, looking indifferent to the water covering the whole arena. Lucius then took out ten cards, which nine turned into mana being absorbed by the last card.


    Throwing it down, a giant serpent with blue scales appeared. The scales are smooth, and the snake has a pair of whiskers coming out from the front of it¡¯s face. It¡¯s eyes glowing with a blue hue, mixed with sea-green. The snake is for sure at least thirty-five meters long, with four meters diameter.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    (Mina): ¡°A young Sea Serpent! This creature, although still young, is a powerful and high-ranking creature! When it reaches adulthood, it will have double the size and ten times the power! As far as I know, it was tamed in the expedition in the middle of the year!¡±


    She said, hiding the details of the incident, just to let people know from where the creature came from. Lorelai look at the serpent, who stared back at her. Lucius fought with water manipulation and lesser monster the whole tournament.


    And this, this Sea Serpent, is his final trick to defeat Lorelay, who won every fight with ease by just waving her trident, and making water burst out. And so, she raised her trident, point it to the serpent. An enormous amount of water burst out, with enough pressure to destroy a house with ease.


    However, the scales of the Sea Serpent started to glow, and the water lost its strength before hitting it, falling inoffensive to the ground, rising the water level on the arena, making it reach the middle of the shin. Lorelay frowned a bit, stopping the water flow.


    (Mina): ¡°AS expected, the Sea Serpents ability to control water is the bane of Lorelai! What will she do now?!¡±


    Mina announced as the creature advanced, going to defeat Lorelay. Lucius didn¡¯t cast any other spell or made any other move, focusing in keeping the recently tamed serpent under control, which is still a little rebellious.


    Lorelay, seeing the monster approach, making the water move violently, rose her trident and hit the bottom of the weapon on the water, and immediately, the water froze, spreading out from the trident, quickly advancing to the serpent. Lorelay also manipulated the water around her legs to not to freeze and climbed atop the ice.


    The serpent was forced to stop for a second to break the ice, and Lucius almost lost control of the creature since he had to jump atop the ice before it trapped his legs. While he struggled to regaining control of the serpent, who is now trashing its head, confused, Lorelay breathed in deeply.


    And suddenly, she starts¡­ to sing. The sound is absolutely beautiful, and extremely louder than it should, reaching every corner of the arena. The barrier that stops magic from going out of the fighting area activates, making a dome all around the arena. However, the barrier doesn¡¯t stop the sound, only the magic contained in it.


    The son was beautiful. There weren¡¯t any lyrics, only the sound of her voice, echoing through the arena. For the audience, it made the heat of the battle lessen, and for Lucius, he covered his ears, gathering mana on his hands to block the magic.


    The serpent, now free from his control, stood still, listening to the song. Obviously, the song seduced the serpent, making it sway lightly, following the rhythm of Lorelay¡¯s voice. The serpent then turned back to Lucius, a murderous glint in it¡¯s eyes. Seeing that, he left the mana on his ear as he took out his right hand.


    Taking out three cards, two transformed into mana, and he threw the last one to the serpent, that had just started to advance in his direction. It exploded in blue light, entering the eyes of the snake. The snake roared, something that shouldn¡¯t be possible for a snake, but since it¡¯s a monster¡­


    It suddenly stopped, raising slowly, a blue light covering its eyes. Mina suddenly says, hyped:


    (Mina): ¡°Mind control magic! Lucius takes control of his monster forcefully with a mind control spell, overcoming the power of Lorelay¡¯s song while blocking his ears with magic!¡±


    The serpent turns back to Lorelay, who stops singing when she sees that it didn¡¯t work. Breathing deeply again, and then starting a more acute sound, that, as the serpent started approaching her, got louder and louder, to the point that the barrier started dampening the sound, so it wouldn¡¯t harm the audience.


    The serpent stopped, trashing in agony, and Lucius gave his all to not to fall unconscious. The ice around Lorelay started to shatter, and slowly glow in blue as well. The serpent also started to glow blue, and Lucius fell to his knees.


    And then, suddenly, the ice and the serpent exploded in blue light, creating a beautiful light show. Lucius fell to the ground, blacking out, blue light escaping his body. Mina spoke in surprise:


    (Mina): ¡°The Song of Dispel! Lorelay¡¯s exclusive magic, and the reason why she¡¯s known as The Siren! Her voice, charged with mana, can dispel mana easily! Truly worth the nickname of the legendary creature!¡±


    She said, as the blue mana on the arena dispersed.


    (Mina): ¡°Contestant Lucius is knocked out by mana depleting, Lorelay wins the fight for the Crown of Tides and the Title if First Queen!¡±


    (Lorelay''s trident)

 Chapter 14: The Green Mages

    (3¡ã person POV)


    (Ari): ¡°Wow, that was amazing!¡±


    He said about the fight of the Blue Queen, who is now being crowned with the Crown of Tides. It looks like a crown, which isn¡¯t made of shells. It looks like a blueish metal ring, decorated with metal waves and a trident on the front, decorated here and there with gems that look like aquamarines, however these gems glow unnaturally with a beautiful sea-green hue.


    (Serena): ¡°Wow, the Crown of Tides is really beautiful!¡±


    She said, as the crown is a truly beautiful piece of art. Umbra nodded and said:


    (Umbra): ¡°As far as I know, every one of the crowns has a special ability, although none of the Kings have used it yet in front of people. It got leaked when someone tried to spy in on of the kings training.¡±


    (Maria): ¡°Oh, and what happened?¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°Well, he tried to spy on the black king, and ended up three months in a hospital bed with a strong curse placed on him.¡±


    They paled when they heard that. After all, try to spy on a Color King is a mistake. As they chat a bit more, eating something to fill their stomach, the next phase of the tournament is announced. This time, it¡¯s the fight for the Green Throne.


    (Ari): ¡°I hear that the Green King is quite a unique guy.¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°Yeah, I heard that too. Apparently, he, like the Darkrender and the Siren has a unique magic that he developed. If I¡¯m not mistaken, his nickname is ¡®The Druid¡¯.¡±


    He said, as mina announced two of the fighters. Two girls.


    (Mina): ¡°On the left side, an excellent monster summoner and archer, Luna! On the right side, Mary, a powerful summoner and a plant user!¡±


    The signal for the start of the fight was given, and Mary did the first move, taking one card out of her grimoire and crouching down, putting the ground on the ground. Immediately, the card started to shine, fueled by her own mana. Thick roots sprout from the ground, growing in front of her and eventually forming ten meters tall tree.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    As the tree grew into its full height, Luna took out eight cards, six of which transformed into mana, and each of the remaining cards absorbed three. She threw the to the ground in front of her, and roots sprouted, braking the ground and picking up large boulder pieces, creating two humanoid creatures three meters high.


    (Mina): ¡°While Mary raises a tree Luna summons two Nature Golems, created by meddling green mana, roots and stone!¡±


    Mary smiles, and her tree, now fully grown, creaks bends a little, it¡¯s branches sliding down to the sides, creating arms that look monstrous. The roots rip out off the ground, wriggling like serpents. The lower part splits in two, creating legs, and the bark in the middle of the tree breaks into a face.


    (Mina): ¡°A treant! Mary, as a true green mage, grew her own monster from the nature!¡±


    The treant goes for the attack, laughing deeply. Luna moves her hand, and the two golems advance, trying to tackle the tree monster. Meanwhile, Luna pulled the string of her bow without an arrow. However, it¡¯s possible to notice that she has a wooden bracelet on her right hand which is pulling the string.


    The bracelet grows, extending into an arrow in less than a second. She fires the arrow to Mary as her golems tacker the treant, hindering its movements. Mary rolls out of the way of the arrow, taking out four cards from her grimoire.


    Three of them turn into mana, and she slams the card in the ground as she stops her roll. An explosion of green light happens, and a monster appears. It¡¯s a bear, with light-green fur with white markings on it¡¯s fur in Celtic patterns, with its belly being covered in white fur.


    (Mina): ¡°A Green Grizzly! A strong upper mid-tier monster! When summoned, he is strong as a normal bear, however, he will eventually turn more powerful as he absorbs green mana from the surroundings!¡±


    The bear rushed directly to Luna while the two golems kept the treant occupied, with some difficulty. Luna avoided the bear¡¯s attack by rolling to the side, and pulled the string while jumping over the bear, shooting the arrow on its head.


    The arrow bothered the bear, but it didn¡¯t stop him. However, it distracted him enough to Luna fall on his back, grabbing tightly. The bear trashed, however, the nimble mage was able to keep herself on it.


    Mary looked, shocked, being distracted for a second. However, that isn¡¯t a problem, as green creatures are among the easiest ones to control, since after they¡¯re tamed, they develop a friendship bond with their tamer. Luna, taking Mary¡¯s distraction as an opportunity, threw out her bow, taking five cards from her grimoire.


    Three of them turned into green mana, one of the absorbing one and the second one absorbing two. She slammed one of the cards on the bear¡¯s head, and the other one right in front of the creature that was visibly growing slowly.


    The one that she slammed in his head exploded in dark-green mist, making the bear strangely sleepy, slowing him down by a lot. The one that hit the ground made roots sprout out, entangling the bear, making it fall to the ground. Luna jumps off the bear, rolling over her bow, taking back the weapon.


    (Mina): ¡°A combination of the green magic Lethargy and Entangle! The Green Grizzly is temporarily out of combat!¡±


    As she said, the bear is now sleeping, imprisoned by the roots. However, his size is visibly turning larger, slowly and steady. Soon, he will break free from the roots, as green magic doesn¡¯t have must strength against green monsters. The bear may be asleep now, but soon he will wake up, bigger and powerful.


    Mary, seeing her bear trapped, clicks her tongue, taking six cards out of her grimoire while her treant finally defeats the golems. However, the tree is extremely battered. Luna manages to pass directly from the almost dead treant, who is now powerless to stop her.


    Mary turn five cards into mana but loses them when Luna fires an arrow to her, forcing her to disrupt her summoning. The treant tries to come back, but Luna is way too close to Mary. Luna slides on the ground, her feet hitting Mary¡¯s knees, making the girl fall.


    Luna gets up, knocking an arrow on the bow and pointing it to Mary¡¯s face, who is forced forfeit the fight.


    (Mina): ¡°Mary forfeits the fight! Luna wins the battle!¡±

 Chapter 15: The Green King

    (3¡ã person POV)


    (Umbra): ¡°Green mags are tough.¡±


    He said, seeing the last fight before the finals. Green mages, like their color, fight with time. Most of their monsters grow stronger after they¡¯re summoned, and their magic is mostly support. Thus, most of the Green Mages are quite the physical combatants, fighting together with their monsters.


    (Serena): ¡°They are quite nimble. I think that a mage won purely with magic only once in the first fights.¡±


    (Maria): ¡°Yes, ojou-sama, you¡¯re right, only one mage won purely with magic, and lost on the next fight.¡±


    (Ari): ¡°So, who is the Green King?¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°He¡¯s called Nuada. From the rumors that I heard, he is the one with the strangest magic between the Color Kings.¡±


    Umbra said about the green king. Serena looked at him confused, asking:


    (Serena): ¡°How strange?¡±


    Umbra crossed his arms, making a troubled face.


    (Umbra): ¡°Although we already saw him fighting, he didn¡¯t use his unique magic at all. As far as I know, he only ever used his magic here, on the last fight of the tournament. It would be easier to watch rather than explain.¡±


    He said, as the next combatants are announced.


    (Mina): ¡°On the left side, the Metal Master, Jonathan The Hammer! A master summoner and earth manipulator!¡±


    She said, as Jonathan, a hulking pile of muscles with 1,90 meters high and dressed in green clothes underneath metal armor. He isn¡¯t wearing full plate, just a chest piece, forearm protection, shoulder protection and greaves. On his hand, he has a Warhammer, with the head big as a head.


    (Mina): ¡°On the right side, the black horse of the green tournament, the now favorite of the audience, the Godspeed, Nuada The Airgetl¨¢m, named after the mythical Nuada Silver Arm!¡±


    Nuada enters the stage, a small boy, around 1,60 meters tall. He¡¯s only wearing a leather piece tied around his waist like a skirt. Of course, he has boxers below the leather skirt. He has leather strips tied around his wrists and ankles, being barefooted.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    His skin I a bit pale, his face, a bit handsome with a relaxed and affable air to it, with a tranquil smile permanently stuck on it. His eyes are green like fresh leaves, his hair, growing spiky just below his neck, is strangely light green as well.


    On his hands, he has a pair of black gloves with silver plating on the back of the hand and back of the fingers, clearly oriented to combat. And, although he is thin, he has some fit muscles as well.


    The signal for the start of the battle was given, and Jonathan smiled with scorn to the thin opponent in front of him. Raising his hammer, he hit the ground, and a boulder big as him came up, which he kicked, and it slid in high speed as if it was sliding on ice.


    It went straight to Nuada, who simply jumped over the stone. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he moved at an absurd speed, at least 80 Km/h. startled by his approaching opponent, Jonathan swung his hammer horizontally, forcing Nuada to take a step back.


    Hitting his hammer on the ground again, the earth rose as spikes on Nuada¡¯s direction, forcing him to retreat even further. Jonathan took out seven cards from his grimoire, six of which turned into green mana being absorbed by the last.


    He threw the card on the ground, and it exploded in green light. From the ground, gigantic boulders came out, taking a hulking human shape of seven meters height without a head and a green light on the giant boulder forming the torso.


    (Mina): ¡°A Stone Golem! A powerful creature capable of great destruction, and extremely hard to defeat! It¡¯s a high-ranking creature!¡±


    The golem immediately started to attack Nuada, running in his direction and punching down. Nuada avoided the stone fist that gauged the ground, creating a crater and making the ground shake slightly. The golem doesn¡¯t stop with one hit, making shower a barrage of attacks.


    Nuada evades lightly, as if floating without any difficulty. Jonathan takes his hammer and hits the ground again, making the earth in front of the golem and below Nuada soft as if it was water. Nuada sinks his feet, surprised for a second.


    The golem goes for a certain attack, and Nuada will not be able to dodge. The huge fist hits, raising dust, Nuada disappearing underneath the fist. Mina was about to announce the winner, when something burst out of the dust. An eagle.


    (Mina): ¡°Nuada somehow dodges and summons an eagle while hidd- he¡¯s not there?!¡±


    She screams in surprise. The dust settled soon after the eagle escaped the golem. Nuada wasn¡¯t nowhere to be seen in the already solidified ground. The eagle flew back, away from the golem, and landed on the ground. Suddenly, it grew, changing its shape to the one of a boy with green hair.


    (Mina): ¡°What amazing move! Nuada uses a unique magic that allows him to shapeshift to escape the golem¡¯s grasp! The fight continues!¡±


    Nuada again started to run, this time, in the direction of the golem. The golem moves to attack him, running also in his direction. Punching in his direction, the golem aimed to squash Nuada. However, the boy transformed once again into an eagle, avoiding masterfully the blow of the golem.


    He flew high, four meters over the head of the golem. And then, he turned into a bear, falling heavily on the head of the golem and making the stone construct fall back without balance. Jonathan, surprise by his transformation, isn¡¯t able to react when Nuada turns into a cheetah and runs in his direction, attacking him.


    He raises his Warhammer, holding the handle on the horizontal to block Nuada, who, supported by the handle and now over Jonathan, now transforms into a bear, too heavy for Jonathan be able to hold him.


    The fall to the ground, Nuada growls in front of his face, and he raises his voice, giving up.


    (Mina): ¡°Nuada The Silver Arm wins the battle with his unique magic of shapeshifting! He, who defeated his opponents with a punch in the gut until here has showed an amazing magic that most certainly is unique to him! Nuada wins the Green Throne and the Tarnhelm!¡±


    She announced. Nuada is then given said helm. It¡¯s similar to the Helm of Darkness of the black king, a Celtic helmet, mixed with a crown of green metal, decorated with metal leaves and trees, a bear head on the front of the crown, the whole helmet decorated with small vines, made of metal as well.


    And, soon, the fight for the Red Throne will begin.


    (Celtic Helmet)

 Chapter 15: The Red Mages

    (3¡ã person POV)


    (Maria): ¡°Wow¡­ just, wow.¡±


    She said, looking to the TV as Nuada is crowned with the Tarnhelm. He is indeed someone that deserves the Green Throne. Umbra then says after chewing up on some fries.


    (Umbra): ¡°Right? He¡¯s just in another league.¡±


    (Ari): ¡°All the Color Kings are. Their fights were easy for them until the end. The only one that had a lengthy fight was the Black King.¡±


    He said. It¡¯s true. The Kings aren¡¯t just excellent mages, they are geniuses that surpassed their peers completely, and now are sitting above them in their posts as leaders.


    (Serena): ¡°Now it¡¯s the tournament that will decide the Red King, right?¡±


    She asks, a bit anxious. After all, it is said that, although the Black King is the only one that matches the White King, Luminus in power, the true rival of Umbra¡¯s brother is the Red King.


    (Umbra): ¡°Yes. Although he isn¡¯t as powerful as the Black and White kings, he¡¯s quite the fighter and a genius combatant. As far as I know, he didn¡¯t lose to anyone but to my brother.¡±


    (Ari): ¡°Is Luminus the only King that he faced?¡±


    Ari asked, curious about what umbra said. Umbra nodded, saying:


    (Umbra): ¡°Although he didn¡¯t face all the other kings, he indeed fought against the Black King, and won.¡±


    He said, making the others gulp. They saw that the Black King wasn¡¯t a opponent that would be easy to defeat. To have won against him¡­


    The first fight is announced by Mina, introducing the fighters.


    (Mina): ¡°On the right side, an excellent fire manipulator and summoner, Marius! On the right side, a powerful summoner and fighter, Otto!¡±


    Marius came in, dressed in a red robe with his grimoire on his waist, the perfect image of a scholar. Otto¡¯s image was the complete opposite, dressed in armor with a red painting, holding a great sword in his hands.


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    When the signal was given, Marius didn¡¯t lose time, taking twenty cards from his grimoire. Ten of the cards turned into mana, each one being absorbed by one card, being thrown to the ground. From the ten cards, ten little creatures came out.


    Ugly humanoids, short as children with long arms with rough hands and green skin with long noses and pointy ears. Goblins, for shorts. They¡¯re wearing leather armor with clubs in hand. They growled and advanced to Otto, surprisingly fast.


    (Mina): ¡°Fighter Marius summons ten goblins, a basic creature present in all colors, but most abundant in the red color!¡±


    The warrior just smiled, taking six cards from his grimoire. Four turned into magic, and the remaining two absorbed two each. Throwing the two cards on the ground, they spawned two orcs, armed with axes and leather armor in a barbarian style.


    (Mina): ¡°Fighter Otto summons two orcs, creatures natural to the red color! He clearly plans to fight like a red mage, head on!¡±


    Taking his sword, Otto advanced together with the two hulking piles of muscles with green skin and tusks that are the orcs. They collided with the goblins, Otto in the front violently cutting a goblin in half, making blood gush out just to everything disappear in red mana.


    Marius simply extends his hand in the direction of Otto, and, for the first time in the tournament, a mage starts a chant however, different from the lengthy speech that the audience expected, he only murmured for one second before a fireball of the size of a basketball appeared in his hand, flying astonishingly fast in the direction of Otto.


    The warrior, however, didn¡¯t hesitate, and kicked up a goblin on the chin, making him come up from the ground, in the way of the fireball. It explodes, making the goblin and the fireball scatter into a mix of red mana and flames.


    (Mina): ¡°As expected of a red mage! Masterful use of his surroundings with battle instincts! Otto defends from a spell, and Marius also excels in chanting speed! Truly great mages!¡±


    Marius smiles too, enjoying the fight. One of the orcs gets killed, however, the goblins are down by six, now only four remaining. They won¡¯t last much, so he decides to change strategy. Taking ten cards from his grimoire, all of them turn into mana, floating around him in a red haze. He starts to murmur a chant as his goblins get killed.


    When the last one dies, he finishes his chant. The mana floating around him forms a magic circle on the ground with him on the center. Otto, seeing that, widens his eyes and advances in panic together with the last orc. However, he lost too much time with the last four goblins, who entered on the defensive with a mind command from their master.


    Marius finishes the chant, and the circle lows strongly. Flames come out of the lines of the circle, raising in a five meters tall pillar. Soon, the flames condensed four meters from the ground in a two meters humanoid shape, without legs, being just like a genie¡­ made of pure fire with vague humanoid upper body.


    (Mina): ¡°Marcus summon a fire elemental! A powerful summon that, although it can¡¯t be tamed, it can be controlled by a short time before returning to the elemental planes!¡±


    The elemental, receiving a mental order from its master, moved its hands, releasing ginormous flame towards his enemies. The flames immediately kill the or, but Otto manages to run away without being burned as fire mages have natural resistance to fire.


    Otto frowned. Now, he¡¯s cornered. The elemental has a great ability to manipulate fire, and only magic can defeat it. Although he has some resistance to fire thanks to his nature as a mage, he will be defeated instantly if hit with a direct magic attack.


    Otto orders the last orc to defend him as much as he can and starts running away with the orc on his heels. Marius, seeing it, frowns angrily. As Mina said, he has as a short time before his mana is depleted and he is forced to return the elemental to the Fire Plane. Otto made the correct decision, stall for time.


    However, Marius grinned. After all, he wouldn¡¯t use this technique if he wasn¡¯t sure of winning. Raising his hand, he yelled:


    (Marius): ¡°Oh, Fire Elementa! Hear my plea, and seek my enemy and destroy their spirit!¡±


    Eh elemental immediately turned into a cloud of fire, moving like a guided meteor towards Otto.


    (Mina): ¡°Command Elemental, a high-level technique that is quite hard to use as the Fire Elementals are wild and untamed! Marius displays an astonishing willpower to control the elemental!¡±


    The orc following Otto jumped in the way, but it was quickly turned into red mana, and the meteor fell just behind Otto, exploding and sending him flying, hitting the ground heavily and granting him unconscious.


    (Mina): ¡°Otto passes out! Marius wins this round!¡±

 Chapter 16: The Red King, Alexei, The Monster

    Chapter 16: Alexei, The Monster


    (3¡ã person POV)


    (Ari): ¡°How do I say it¡­ it was a heated tournament.¡±


    He said. It wasn¡¯t an intended pun, it was a truly heated tournament, the fighters fought with strong spirit and stubbornness. Literally and figuratively heated. However, the one that caught the most attention is the now Red King, Alexei Ivanov.


    (Serena): ¡°For someone that rivals Luminus-san, he is quite magic-focused.¡±


    She said. It¡¯s true, Alexei fought mainly with magic, barely summoning any creature and barely even move. He has as much mana as Lorelay, but way more firepower.


    (Umbra): ¡°We didn¡¯t even seen his unique magic yet.¡±


    (Maria): ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    (Umbra): ¡°For what I heard, he has the highest firepower between the kings. Something to do with a monster that he has. I don¡¯t know the details of his magic, but I heard that it was during this match that he gained the nickname The Monster.¡±


    (Serena): ¡°Well, there¡¯s a nickname that¡¯s intimidating¡­¡±


    She said, looking at the screen. The next fighters were then announced.


    (Mina): ¡°On the right side, the best summoner among the red mages, and with the greatest arsenal of monsters! Dorval Agni, the Giant Master! On the left side, the best fire manipulator among the red mages, Alexei Ivanov, the Firestarter! Which one of them will come out victorious?!¡±


    Alexei entered the view of the four watching the tournament, and they gazed to the thin and small body, different from what they imagined when they saw him for the first time. A handsome face with red hair and red eyes, pale skin and a stoic expression and eternally angry, dressed in lose red robes.


    His opponent, an average bloke, took twelve cards from his grimoire, eleven of them turning into red mana and being absorbed into the last card, of which he threw in the ground. A strong red glow emanated, and an enormous silhouette rose.


    Eight meters tall, with reddish skin with a rugged texture, clearly a tough and thick hide, dressed in a simple loincloth and holding an enormous club. Its red eyes glared at Alexei, who is unmoving, slammed the club in the ground and roared in fury.


    (Mina): ¡°A Fire Giant! A high ranking red monster! It¡¯s quite common in the high part of the mountains, and as it has a simple mind, defeating it with some cunning is enough to capture it and control it!¡±


    With a mental command, Dorval made the giant attack, and Alexei took six cards from his grimoire. Three turned into red mana and were absorbed by the other three, one for each. He threw them in the air, and they turned into bats made of fire.


    The fire bats didn¡¯t lose time, and flew straight to the eyes of the giant, stopping the dumb hulk in it¡¯s tracks as it tried to get rid of the bats. Instead of helping the giant, Dorval took twenty cards from his grimoire, smiling evilly.


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    (Dorval): ¡°Let¡¯s see how you deal with this!¡±


    Nineteen of the cards turned into mana and were absorbed by the last one, and with a flash and a throw, a new creature appeared. Twelve meters, four arms and two heads with a muscular body, each head with one eye and a short horn in the top of the bald heads.


    (Mina): ¡°After having his giant hindered by the Hellbats, Dorval summons a Mountain Troll! And a two headed variant no less! Red monsters are resistant to red magic by nature, Alexei is in a tight spot as he doesn¡¯t have strong summons!¡±


    Alexei smiled, taking twelve cards from his grimoire as the giant approached. Eleven of the cards turned into mana, and absorbed by the last one, turned into a red flash as he threw it above his head.


    The red light turned dark, to the color of blood. Tentacles swayed out of the light, covered in small red scales, with mouths on the tips, the sharp fangs snapping in the air. The light died quickly, revealing a floating ball of scales with a mouth with several tentacles connected to it. the mouth with fangs opened, revealing an eye inside.


    (Mina): ¡°Unbelievable! Alexei summons a gazer, a monster that is common in the black side of magic, and very, very rarely in red magic! A complete surprise, as there shouldn¡¯t be any gazers in this island that we know of!¡±


    The troll was upon them, and the beholder swung its long tentacles that stick out of its three meters diameter body. The tentacles had surprising weight to them, slamming on the troll, forcing it to protect itself.


    However, the gazer didn¡¯t do only that. The eye opened, glowing red, the air trembled with heat. The troll didn¡¯t even thing of avoiding, as he thought that as it was fire magic, and it wouldn¡¯t even hurt him. However, Dorval noticed the danger, and ended up screaming>


    (Dorval): ¡°Get out of there!¡±


    However, it was too late. A white ray of heat shot out of the eye, piercing the torso of the troll, blinding everybody in the arena. When the light died, only the waist down of the troll was left. All the air of the arena inside the barrier was trembling with heat.


    The giant that was having trouble with the bats was able to kill them, but not that it mattered at the moment. the gazer looked at him, and one of the tentacles lashed, it¡¯s mouth biting the throat of the monster, tearing it apart.


    Dorval frowned, nervous, and took thirty-one cards, preparing his next move.


    (Mina): ¡°As expected of a gazer! Normally, it¡¯s a black monster with powerful magic with its eye! A red variant certainly has high firepower! Dorval is cornered!¡±


    Twenty nine of the cards turned into mana, being absorbed by the last one. He rose the card above his head, shining red, and screamed an incantation.


    (Dorval): ¡°Come forth, flame spawn with dragon blood! Heed my words and come to this battlefield, Dragonoid Fiend!¡±


    The card exploded in red particles, making a magic circle above his head. From that, a ten meters long and four meters tall creature jumped out, covered in red scales with a dragonish head and the body of a hound with a single horn in the center of his head.


    The Dragonoid Fiend growled, looking at Alexei and the Gazer floating behind him.


    (Mina): ¡°The hidden card of Dorval, the Dragonoid Fiend! A monster famous for not only having dragon blood, which requires a lot of mana to summon, but also capable of using red magic! It¡¯s has everything, physical power, magical power and resistance! The scales have been balanced, the master of magic, the Gazer vs the all rounder and rare Dragonoid Fiend!¡±


    However, something that they didn¡¯t expect happened. The Gazer approached Alexei and turned into red mana, as if the summoning was cancelled. However, the mana didn¡¯t disperse as expected, instead, it entered Alexei¡¯s body.


    The boy smiled, and his body bent, shocking even his opponent that didn¡¯t send the Fiend to attack. The back of Alexei inflated, as if something was trying to erupt from beneath his robes. And so it did.


    Four tentacles sprouted, the red tentacles of the Gazer. Red scales covered the arms of Alexei, from above the elbow to the back of his hand, and his nails grew to claws. Scales grew on his neck, cheeks and cheekbones, stopping just beneath his eyes.


    His forehead slit on the horizontal, and the wound opened, revealing a third enormous eye in the center of his forehead. Certainly, his clothes hid other transformations, but still, his appearance turned to something closer to monster than man.


    (Mina): ¡°Monster Assimilation! A technique that existed only in theory until this very moment! the magic that allows you to fuse with a monster temporarily and use their powers directly, greatly amplifying the powers of the monsters, but giving up on any other magic!¡±


    The tentacles pierced the ground around Alexei, as if to hold him in position. The youngster bent forward, looking at his enemy with a crazed smile in his face. His eyes also changed to that red eyes glowing with magic and with cat pupils like the third eye, the same as the eye of the Gazer.


    The three eyes started to glow with heat, like before. A shiver ran down Dorval¡¯s spine. He ordered the fiend to get away from him, making Alexei aim away from him and rose as much protective magic as he could on the instant before the Alexei completed his magic.


    The eyes glowed completely white, like beads made of light. And from them, aiming at the fiend, the three eyes shot a heat ray. The world turned bright again, and after almost a minute, the light died.


    What was left of the arena was a charred land, with signs of melting here and there. Dorval as miraculously alive because of the magics that he casted to protect himself. The fiend was nowhere to be seen, most likely turned to dust as the direction that the ray was shot was made of magma. Dorval waves and falls, unconscious.


    (Mina): ¡°A-Alexei wins! Dorval falls unconscious! Medic team! Go quickly!¡±