Right after Albie launched his spell at the pillar he noticed what seemed to be an inferno coming from one of the other testing areas. "That has to be some kind of noble with more power than control." Still it only proved the old man right when he said that the nobles had an unfair advantage over commoners like him. Honestly the way his spell drilled right through the stone column surprised him, but at least the use of extra mana wasn't a waste, and the few intentional misses in the first part would hopefully cause any future opponents to underestimate him if there were matches of some kind.

While Albie tried to watch as many of the tests after his, it wasn't very useful to him. There were some impressive displays of power and skill, but unlike the double mana bullet trick nothing he could copy or adapt to fit him. At least until number 329, he had no idea if and how he could copy that launcher used to destroy the pillar but Albie didn't doubt that it was a shot to try and learn something similar.

When the third test was revealed Albie's luck seemingly took a turn for the worse. He had no experience with flying a broom. At least spells were allowed but with so many other people flying around he had to be careful not to accidentally hit the wrong person. Besides that he felt like he couldn't risk making his arrows too powerful, even if lethal force would have been allowed he didn't want to kill or seriously hurt anyone here. In the end Albie decided on a simple plan.



It took Albie more than a minute to figure out how to even get his broom in the air, but eventually he succeeded. Trying his best to keep stable he took out his grimoire and just hoped he had mana to both not fall down and cast his most mana intensive spell at the same time, even if it wouldn't be at full power. "Manifold Missiles!" Since he couldn't predict the movement of all the people and balls flying around, he had decided to go with quantity over quality. As he had hoped one of the arrows actually hit a ball and sent it spiraling downwards. Unfortunately it not only was clear that the ball was recovering someone else had also noticed the easy target. Albie had to get it first since he doubted he would get this lucky again so he did his best to fly as fast as he could towards it.

Kohra watched silently as the captains of each squad were introduced, listening to the murmurings of the crowd around her. She smiled and flushed slightly as Captain Lavaretz began working the crowd, but her expression changed to one of curiosity as Captain Walder gained the crowd’s attention.

Kohra considered her relationship with the priests of the Clover Kingdom to be…complicated…to say the least. She had known the Church to be generous in terms of helping people in her situation, but it had always rubbed Teylas the wrong way for some reason. Her older brother had always advocated for trying to make it in this world without handouts from others. Kohra had generally stuck by her brother’s side growing up, and so ended up making her way through the world without much help from the church, even after Teylas was arrested. More than once Kohra had questioned her brother’s wisdom, but a sense of loyalty to her older sibling kept her from seeking charity.

Once the captains had finished being introduced, the arena came to life around Kohra. Tiles rose from the floor, hovering in the air on one side of the colosseum, while pillars glowing with energy rose from the other side. Above, the air began to shimmer as a forcefield was put in place between the applicants and the spectators.

“Good luck, little one. I’ll see ya’ when we become magic knights.”

Kohra gave a small start as Hikari addressed her, but she looked up and smiled at the ox-boy.

“You too, Hikari”, she said, giving a small wave as the large young man walked off.



“Kohra, this is insane. You know this is insane, right?”

“Stay out of my way Seamus. I’m practicing.”

Blasts of concentrated air were launched down the alleyway, bowling over stacks of crates and boards.

“You just got your grimoire. Don’t you think you should give it a year before you apply?”

“What’s the point? If they don’t let me in, I just reapply in another year. This way, I have a chance to get in as soon as possible.” A mini cyclone tore through the alley, whipping up the debris left by the shockwaves.

“Look, just because you lost your brother doesn’t mean you have to leave. You’ll be fine here. We can get by without getting into too much trouble.”

“It’s not just that, Seamus”, Kohra said, dropping control of the cyclone. The airborne debris fell, scattering over the cobblestone alley. “I need to become a Magic Knight so that no one else ends up like me.”

The last few wooden boards fell to the ground with dull clunks. Kohra kept her eyes focused down the narrow alley as she clenched her fists.

“I need to become a Magic Knight so I can kill devils.”



“Number 198! Kohra Mey!”

Kohra snapped out of her reverie and stepped up to the first testing station. She passed the attendant, focusing her thoughts on her mana, and forcing herself not to glance towards the Captain’s box.

Okay. Small targets at a distance. Gonna need to keep it tight. I can do this.

She took a deep breath, raised her right hand, palm pointing at one of the targets, and spoke.

“Shockwave!”

There was a rush of air from behind Kohra, air flowing towards the space in front of her outstretched hand, before a tight ripple of air was released towards the target. It smashed into the corner of the stone tile, fracturing it into several pieces and causing it to fall to the ground. Kohra repeated the exercise several times until, at the end of the minute, the remains of six tiles littered the floor of the colosseum in front of her.

Not great, but not terrible either. She thought. The more distant targets had been difficult, several shockwaves had gone wide, and it had taken more than one shockwave to down some tiles, but she felt she had performed well enough to be noticed.

“Hey, little girl! Where are your parents? Are they going to be picking you up after you fail today?”

It seemed that Kohra had been noticed, but it wasn’t the kind of attention she wanted. Kohra’s head snapped towards the source of the voice to see an older man in the stands, cheeks flushed, with a flagon held in one hand and a large pretzel in the other.

She willed herself to not react, though her fists balled in anger at her sides. She turned away silently and marched away from the first station.

As she stepped up to the second station though, she felt something fall into the pit of her stomach. This column was much thicker and much sturdier than the tiles had been. Worse, it looked like it had been magically reinforced.

Okay, one spell to do as much damage as possible. I can do this. I have to do this.

This was the first time Kohra had used her spells on something as sturdy as stone. It was going to be tough, and possibly tax her mana more than she had hoped to this early in the testing, but she hadn’t come this far to just give up. She raised both palms at the column, willing even more energy to gather in front of her hands. As she felt the winds whipping around her, the laughing face of the man swam into the forefront of her mind. The image ignited a spark of rage inside Kohra, and she tried to channel that feeling into her spell.

“Shockwave!”, she screamed into the arena air, as a blast of concentrated air shot from her hands towards the column. Air met stone, and the base of the column splintered into a spiderweb of cracks. Shards of stone fell away from the bottom of the column, until all that was left supporting the rest of the column was a chunk of stone a few inches wide. Then, after a few seconds, even that gave way, the top of the column tumbling to one side like a tree felled by a lumberjack.

Kohra smiled as the column hit the floor with a satisfying crunch. She smiled but was slightly concerned at how winded she felt. She might have used more mana than necessary, but at least she felt she had performed well enough.

Still smiling, she turned to see the heckler in the crowd staring at her slack-jawed, frozen with his half-eaten pretzel in one hand. Grinning even more broadly at the look on the man’s face, Kohra wordlessly raised her middle finger in his direction and walked away from the second station.

@Zeroth

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The minutes progressed, and the various applicants kept at it. Camilla didn't watch or pay much attention to any of them - only the nes who made such a showing that it just plainly couldn't be ignored or avoided being seen. Such as the lightning magic user. Though to be fair, Camilla paid more attention to that one's disheveled and ratty apparel, which ontrasted with her otherwise pretty features. Such a waste.

Eventually though, after some 300 or so prospective future magic knights were done taking their tests, things moved on to the next phase. Apparently, this was the rumored 'flight round' of the trial - but it seemed they'd gone ahead and changed things up. Whether it was brand new for this yea,r or if it'd been like this for over a decade, Camilla didn't know. And she honestly didn't care. This was yet another trial where people would be pressed to showcase their skillls and abilities, and how well their talents and prowess stacked up against their peers. Basically, this was the round where try-hards and those who yearned for the spotlight could really strut their stuff and do whatever it took to show off just how amazing and talented they were. A pageantry for dressed up dogs, yapping and walking on their hind legs in hopes of getting a treat as a reward for performing well. What a joke.

The official explained the rules and the goal of this next challenge. Some people were already casting side-eyes and eyeing each other up, others were apparently so excited that they couldn't wait for the signal to start, and were already making a goof of themselves. Regardless, the signal to start was eventually given, the 100 golden copyrighted balls with wings were let loose and took to the arena's open dome above. Immediately, the applicants scrambled and hurried, jumping onto their brooms, taking off and beginning to engage in an all-out scuffle.

There were, after all, over 300 participants, but only 100 orbs. This meant that, roughly, there were three individuals chasing after each sphere at any given time. Of course, that number varied depending on distance, density of the crowd and other factors, but that was the overall status. Fast-flying youths, all hell-bent on catching themself one of these magic butterfly-balls and showcasing just how useful they could be to the gathered captains!

... At least, that was what everyone else was doing.

Camilla, on the other hand, casually got on her broom, sitting sideways upon the shaft with her legs crossed, and then gently began to float up into the air. However, unlike the others who flung themselves head-first into a stormm of shouting, flailing and magic that went anywhere and everywhere, the bluenette instead opted to hang back, away form the thick of the fray, almost leisurely hovering without making any attempt at chasing after a ball or trying to snag one that had already been claimed.

Her purple yes merely scanned back and forth in a disinterested fashion, watching the others and their various actions. Magic arrows were sent flying, someone trew up some kind of obstacles on a pair of balls, some idiot came rushing head-first into another guy and headbutted him off his broom... It was a mess, to say the least. She sighed.

Diverting her attention away from the spectacle, she instead took a look down on the ground, at the people who were still not airborne. Either because they were taking their time, because they weren't used to flying on a broom, or because they just didn't know how. She herself had been fortunate to have gotten to practice the art of broom-flight back home when she was but 10 years old, so in a way she supposedly had a bit of an advantage. It was pretty apparent that she was a graceful flier too, as she seemed to be as comfortable on her flying stick as she was on the ground, showing much greater control over her magic than when she'd been firing magic bullets in the earlier test-round.

Perhaps there would be someone who she could engage for a bit of fun down there though. After all, playing a naughty teacher was always a good time. She'd just have to float on down, approach from behind nad give them that old and true: "Need some help~?"

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The first pair of tests done and over with, the testing grounds were leveled flat. Brooms were passed out, and assuming it would be simple flying test, Solveig thought this might be boring. Upon receiving her broom, she set it into flight mode with a mere curl of her finger, a near invisible tendril of magic released into the implement. She hopped onto the broom, standing on the handle, positioning herself with the right foot in front, the left to the back, the right side of her body facing forwards.

She perked up when she heard the rest of the rules, a sharp smile creeping onto her face. She withdrew her arming sword from its sheath while her broom floated a few feet above the ground. She was still behind the line, of course, but ready to take off. Several participants moved away from her, and a few gave her what they thought were stealthy side-eyes.

Given the rules, this was going to be a free-for-all battle royale where 350 participants would fight it out to catch and keep 100 flying objects – which Sol named Angel Spheres. Anything but killing was a go.

It would be pure incarnate chaos.

Again, Solveig made use of the same spell she had in the first trial. This time, however, she fed it her own magic until she formed a dozen or so flaming whips. They varied in length, but each was about as thick as a finger. She wrapped a bunch around her sword – which did at least have a basic heat resistance enchantment – to give it a burning edge. Another group formed a small floating circle in front of her broom. The last of the bunch curled into a larger floating circle by her left arm – a mock ‘shield’ which rather than blocking would be used to fend off any potential attacks with blazing force.

She was ready just as the signal was given.

On the command of ‘GO’, she blasted off into the air, eyes affixed on the chest of Angel Spheres which were released at the same time. She chose one ball to keep track of, and pursued it with a single-minded focus.

Despite most of her attention being on her target, part of her awareness was on the turbulent surroundings.

When a hail of arrows rained overhead, she slashed a path through with a blazing sword.

When a localized storm was formed, her ball getting caught up into it, she braced herself, and charged right in. Her flames flickered and hissed and their glow might have diminished a tad, but none died.

When the ball took a sharp turn, she drifted through the air with grace born due to her tight magical control. When it dived, she dived, when it flew straight up, she grabbed onto the broom handle with one hand and veered right up after it.

One opponent sent chains launching at her target, aiming to restrain it. The flames from the smaller circular field in front of her broom suddenly erupted outwards, tendrils of fire lurching forward to intercept the chains.

One person managed to catapult themselves at her. She caught sight of them from the corner of her eye. When they nearly hurtled into her side, she nudged her broom upwards, laid her palms on her cannonballing opponent, and vaulted over them, her broom still sticking to her feet. As she pushed off the reckless person’s back, she sent a gust of flame into them, destabilizing them enough so they’d not pose a problem in the next few seconds.

Which was enough time for Solveig to finally make her final push. She closed in on her angel sphere. She was parallel to it. She whipped her left hand out, snatching the ball from the air.

As soon as she captured her target, she cast her Dragon Scales spell, covering her left fist, wrist, and forearm in a layer of bright, mostly see-through scales. She still had her blazing whips active, ready to attack any offender who'd aim for her sphere.

With her target secure, she could now easily oversee the whole battlefield, cruising above the havoc and weaving by sudden outbursts of magic.

Sol didn’t see anyone that’d pose a challenge to her – or rather, there weren’t all that many who’d want to or had a reason for it.

She supposed until such a time that a stronger individual, or a coordinated group attack came her way, all she had to do was…

Wait. Fly, fend off direct attacks, avoid stray spells, but mostly wait.

Kohra's already pale face went even whiter as the third trial was explained and a broom was tossed her way.

Brooms!?

Admittedly, she probably should've expected this. As the announcer had said, the ability to fly a broom was a common skill for a Magic Knight to have, but Kohra had at least expected the trial to be something more straightforward, where she would have a chance to observe others as they flew. This, however, was a completely different story. There would be no time to look to the other applicants for ideas, it would be a race from the word "go".

The man in the green robe and white stole gave the applicants a chance to ask questions, and Kohra's face went from white to red. She would've loved to ask "How exactly do you fly a broom?", but she'd made quite a bit of a show in the last trial that she was capable despite her age and inexperience. She felt any points she may have scored with the captains with that little stunt might be for naught if she was seen asking such a basic question. And so, the period for questions came and went without Kohra asking a single thing.

As the ring encircling the arena floor changed to red, Kohra placed the broom in between her legs, wondering if this would be the test that sent her back home. The circle changed to yellow, then to green...



The balls were released and, as though their feet were spring-loaded, most of the applicants took to the air as well. With a small note of comfort, Kohra noticed she wasn't the only one stuck on the ground, but that didn't change the fact that she needed to get airborne, fast. She focused her mind on the idea of flight and hopped in place a few times, but remained firmly earthbound.

Alright, maybe it just needs a little boost...

"Whirlwind jump!" she cried.

A blast of air launched Kohra up, up into the air. She tried to focus her mind on flight, on some sort of forward or upward motion, but nothing came. Before long, the ground was rushing back to meet her. She focused her energy on the winds again, willing a cushion of air to gather beneath her. She hit the ground, not hard enough to cause any damage, but enough to stagger her.

"Come on!" she cried in frustration as she tumbled sideways onto the stone floor, the broomstick between her legs messing with her ability to take the fall as gracefully as she normally could've.

"Need some help?"

She looked up to see the busty, blue-haired noble descending slowly while sitting sidesaddle on her broom. Kohra silently marveled at how easy she made it look, especially considering how top heavy she appeared to be.

How is she not upside down, carrying a load like that?

Kohra decided, in that moment, to shelve her feelings toward this woman and what she represented in her mind. She needed help, and she needed it fast.

"Yeah, I do", Kohra said, her green eyes locking onto the woman's purple ones. "Help me get this thing working and I'll owe you a favor."

Kohra was no fool. She knew the kind of trouble owing someone a favor could get you into. However, this was a make it or break it situation, and the normal rules for caution needed to be shoved aside until the exams were over.

@Xaltwind

Oh? A magic portal like that Lanner girl though by comparison hers was quite lacking, but that was neither here nor there because the man somehow emptied out an entire space that had several of lifetime's worth of brooms onto the floor. One of those brooms was handed to him telepathically and he grabbed onto it, examining it not so closely. Yup, the broom was made of broom. Smartassery aside, there was a warm smile on his face when he looked down at the broom and a faint feeling of nostalgia flickered inside of him.

It was a long ago, he must've been around five or so, but he had a vague memory of the onetime his father brought him to see the Magic Knight Exam like so many parents must've done so today. It was an echo of a memory, and the details were scratchy, but if there was one thing he remembered were the contestants soaring through the air. He remembered wondering how it must've felt to soar in the air, how free it must've felt.

However, his attention was brought back to the geezer who explained the details of the next test that should have been standard, except there was a slight amendment to it. Ludo's eyes fell upon an innocuous chest and the official quickly snatched from its contents to show a ball with hummingbird wings and a halo. They were to catch whatever these angelic spheres were in order to make it through to the next round, except the catch was that there were only a hundred of them and by a glance there were well over three hundred contestants.

"Damn, they're really trying to cull the numbers this year," Ludo muttered to himself. There was no need to do quick mental math that this was going to be an absolute cluster fuck. They were going to be dog piling each other fighting desperately to get their hands on a golden sni-, sphere with tunneled vision. Heck, he was already getting funny looks by people who stood next to him and even tried to get some distance like the neutered dogs with their tails between their legs that they were. It was embarrassing to be even in the same social class as them. Where the hell was their pride in themselves? Was surviving the only thing they would settle for?

Ludo took a deep breath and exhaled with closed eyes. Instead on focusing on others, he needed to focus on himself. The goals of others made no difference; no matter what, he was going to be coming out on top. His eyes opened with determination grinning in his eyes.

His grip tightened on his broom when the light blinked red, then yellow, and then...

All bedlam broke loose. It was like an aerial bar fight for every man for themselves. There was absolutely no class in this sort of brawl. It was perfect. However, first he needed to take flight. That and he needed to figure out how to fly.

"Alright, it's no different than usual. Do what you always do." Ludo said to himself. He felt his mana move through his body, down his arms, down his hands, past the tips of his finger, and into the wood. Slowly, Ludo's feet lifted off the ground as he hovered a few inches from the ground. The corners of his mouth curled into a satisfied smile, and he turned his gaze to the havoc happening in the air above him. That smile turned into a shit eating grin. "And here... we... go!"

To say Ludo rocketed into the air was an understatement. One moment he was hovering place and the next a cloud of dust was kicked up from where the commoner was flying up towards the big ol' barfight in the sky. It felt every bit as liberating as he imagined flying would be, the sensation of defying the forces that tethered him to the ground. "This is so awesome!" Ludo, in the face of danger, was laughing with joy while he could hear his heart beating between his ears.

Arrows rained death from above and while Ludo had no fancy weapons to slash at it, he had old reliable. Serpents of poison flung themselves at the arrows while their caster blazed forward. Once through, he was greeted with the sight of someone very eager to smash his roguish face in with a magic stone hammer.

Quickly, Ludo towards the mage, ducking and aimed slightly downward just enough to avoid getting his head turned into scrambled eggs and grabbed the mage's broom with both hands. Using the momentum, he swung his body around and slammed the overeager mage's face with the sole of his boot. However, there was strange about Ludo; his foot was covered in a layer of purple energy. The mage not only lost a tooth from the impact of the blow, but his face was burning as he was knocked off his broom, hurtling towards the ground.

Ludo was swiftly landed on that mages' broom and decided to hijack it. A bolt of ice flew by him, and he glanced towards the caster before twirling the extra broom in his hand and threw it like a javelin as hard as he could. It hit the ice mage square in the forehead and knocked them out cold, their body slumped against their broom.

Ludo decided that it was time to go even higher. It was an odd move because he was not only flying away from the mages, but from the Angel Spheres™ as well. He was as high as he could while still being considered within the coliseum, his eyes glancing around to make sense of the visual noise. Luckily for him, he could see a group of hopefuls chasing and biting at each other to get an Angel Sphere™, none the wiser that his sights were set on them.

"Jackpot," he chuckled. Poison swirled around his body once more, giving them teeth and slithering bodies that dived down towards his targets. Lucky for them, one of them saw the attack from the corner of their eye and shouted to look out from above. His attacks barely missed and now he had the attention and ire of the group. "Ladies, gentleman. My apologies, but you really should be watching you backs." To their confusion, they turned back to see that the serpents were turning back towards them with open jaws and were scrambling to dodge. Meanwhile, Ludo kept sending more and more at them. Of course, they tried to retaliate, but it was hard to get aim their sights when they had to deal with his onslaught. Even if they destroyed one, there was always another.

To the untrained eye, it looked like all of his attacks were being dodged or countered by his opponents, but to anyone with combat experience they knew exactly what Ludo was doing; all of their flight paths were completely cut off by him. Ludo was manipulating the entire space to make sure that they could not leave nor could they properly counterattack. He gave them no quarter. However, they weren't the only ones he was manipulating. The Angel Sphere™ doesn't move entirely randomly, it reacts to its surroundings otherwise it would not be able to avoid its pursuers. Knowing this, all he had to do was manipulate its path.

It was about time he wrapped this up. From high above he still had that grin on his face and mockingly waved at them. "Buh bye~" Ludo grasped his hand into a fist and the serpents homed in on them with perfect accuracy. Should they even try to use reinforcement to enhance their defenses, the fangs would break through and sink into their flesh, poison entering their veins. The effects were instant; first they felt their limbs go heavy and then stiffened. Without the use of their arms and legs, they would lose their balance and fall of their brooms, plummeting towards the ground.

At the same time, Ludo dived down towards the sphere amidst the bodies falling as fast as he possibly could. The sphere itself shot downwards too and he gave chase to it. They were racing towards the ground and the tip of Ludo's fingers were barely scratching its surface. "Come on you winged fuck!" He shouted in frustration, leaning forward as much as he could. With a stroke of luck, his hand grasped the sphere. and he held it in his fist.

He held the sphere to his face with an excited, smug grin. "Ha! Got you, you little- Shit!" His eyes widened when he realized that he was about to collide with the ground. He pulled with as much force as he could, and his feet barely skidded across the coliseum's tiles before Ludo pulled himself back up into the air.

He flew as high as he possibly could again, keeping an eye out on the competition. A purple aura just like before formed around his hand that held the sphere. Good luck to anyone wanting to grab it without their flesh being eaten. All he had to do now was hang tight and do whatever he needed to do to protect his sphere from desperate competitors and from errant attacks.

Well, except someone else was up there with him. It was that fire mage from the tests prior. To show that he was not after her sphere, he held his up nonchalantly. "Sup."

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As soon as the signal was given, chaos broke out inside the arena. Some applicants would madly rush for the first Angel Sphere^TM they could see, while others would instead begin casting their magic--whether to enhance their speed, prepare some kind of binding, or even aim an attack, a multitude of colored lights flashed all over the crowd!

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@ReusableSword Rio's twin barriers stopped a pair of fluttering spheres as they ran into the floating shields. As they recoiled from the impact, the halo'd orbs actually seemed to "shake" themselves with a noise like a jingling cowbell, as if they were alive rather than a construct of magic. However, before the boy could retrieve them, he was suddenly bowled out of the way by an enormous mass! Another broom passed him, its rider clinging to it with all limbs as the bristly staff wobbled under its own speed. The young man was a veritable giant of muscle, with unruly ginger hair and a smattering of freckles.

"Sorrreeeeee!!!" cried Maverick, but he couldn't stop to see if yet another person he'd knocked down would be alright--he was heading straight towards those two spheres that had stopped up ahead! As he held up one trembling hand, the other tightening its grip (the shaft of his broom creaked in protest), a crackling charge of blue electricity covered his outstretched palm...

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@Duthguy Elsewhere in the coliseum, a wild barrage of arrows not only pinged one of the spheres, but sent several of Albie's competitors spiraling out of control. Some of them had to haphazardly dodge the volley, but others were struck by the projectiles and had to quickly recover control of their broom. Albie saw someone else going after the orb he'd hit and leaned forward as he rushed--only for the other person to grin wildly at him before holding up a palm full of flame! Dark, beady eyes reflected the firelight from a stubbled face as his ponytail drifted in the air behind him.

"Let's see how you like it, huh!?" laughed Gunnar Einsley before releasing his Fire Magic: "March of the Wisps!" A flurry of small flaming projectiles, like a swarm of fireflies, spread out from the young man's hand before converging towards Albie!

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@Remram@SilverPaw Ludo and Solveig had certainly drawn many an eye from both the audience and the captains as they each wasted no time in battling their way to one Angel Spheres^TM apiece. The constructs struggled in their hands as dividing their attention between magic, broom, and prize. But, as both of them had risen above the messy melee going on below, the pair had a clear view of anyone that might come after them from below.

But not from above.

A sudden blast of wind struck Solveig hard from up-and-behind, as if she'd received a full body tackle from a linebacker! As she was hurled towards the ground, spinning end over end, she would see a shadowed figure descending on her with the sun at their back--Intense, narrow gray eyes glared at her from beneath long, flowing blue hair as Alwin Dawnthorne, free-falling as his broom circled from another direction, positioned his rapier for a mid-air thrust!

"Sonic Thrust!" As his arm sprang out, a magical cavitation shot from the sword so fast it was nearly invisible! It struck the orb in Solveig's hand, knocking it free, and now one of them was falling away from it while the other dove towards it...

Ludo, however, would find himself in little position to help if such a thing occurred to him at all. For while no more attacks came from the sky, an observant opponent chose to take advantage of the moment the Poison Mage was distracted by Solveig and the other noble.

"Slime Magic: Groping Tendril!"

A thick green, translucent tentacle suddenly looped around Ludo's body, pinning his arms to his sides! A second coil covered his own poison-coated hand--but, the purple fluid within simply seemed to mix with the slime, like food coloring dropped into water! As he looked towards the one who had ensnared him, he would see gray, frizzy hair hung over a long, sallow face with hollow blue eyes set in dark sockets. The black, fur-hooded jacket he wore and the jingling chain-belt around his skinny face gave the guy an unwholesome appearance, but that predatory grin on his face was downright creepy.

"Ha! Score one for poor ol' Edward Gedman!" cackled the applicant as his tentacle squeezed tighter around Ludo. "Now, you better let go of that thing before I really pour it on ya!" In many circumstances, against another commoner, Ludo likely would've been able to use his mana to brute force his way out--but, if he attempted to do so, a strange, cloudy blue substance would pulsate inside Edward's magical slime.

Could there be another commoner here who could match his magic power?

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Tristan had never ridden a broom in his life. Somehow, in the back of his mind, he'd known it was something he was supposed to be aware of, but in the midst of having to learn swordfighting from scratch as well as managing his less-than-stellar mana reserves it had somehow slipped his memory. Well, there was also the possibility that if he broke his mother's good broom in the attempt she'd have beaten him half to death. But, still, how could he have messed that up?

Nonetheless, he saddled the thing, feeling incredibly stupid as some of the more skilled fliers stood atop the cleaning implements like some kind of...board...that you could...roll around on. Huh, it was weird he didn't have anything to compare it to. But then he channeled his mana into it--more than he intended--and felt himself rising quickly into the air! His balance teetered back and forth, but he managed to stop himself after only doing one roll in place!

Then they were off. Somehow, the rush of adrenaline steadied him as he accelerated, being jostled all the while by the crush of bodies around him. A hail of magical arrows came from somewhere nearby--but luckily, it wasn't near him. Still, he needed to be ready to intercept anything like that. Nervously, he lifted one hand from the broom and formed a shape in his mind.

"Create Sword!" That molten-orange aura again congealed in his hand, and this time produced a plain, cruciform-hilted arming sword. It was just in time too--someone else besides Albie had released a similar array of projectiles, only these were made of ribbon-like water streams. As Tristan slashed through one of them that came too close for comfort, he noted the area covered by the attack. The caster had cleared a bubble of space within the chaos, and at the center of that clearing was one of the Angel Spheres^TM! Tristan dove toward it, lifting his other hand from the broom and gripping for dear life with both legs.

"Oi! Back it up, Red!" Something black appeared in Tristan's peripheral, and he was forced to pull off, barrel rolling away. The weapon slammed into the sphere, knocking it into a long arc just as another mage--a girl with long black hair and sidelocks in a fancy blue dress--tried to get it as well. The three of them all locked eyes with each other at the same instant.

"Idiot! Why knock it away?!" cursed the girl, as another set of those watery ribbons formed around her. The man, who was holding a bat made of black metal, spat over his muscular, bare shoulder. He had a wild mane of dark hair and beast-like hazel eyes, but most notably beneath his sleeveless red shirt he wore a pair of black, wide-bottomed pants and wooden clogs that looked like a foreign style.

"Cause I didn't want you or Red to get it, duh!" snarled the tanned boy. Tristan huffed under his breath and turned his broom--only to see that bat once again aiming for him. He barely managed to block with his sword in time, and both weapons rang out as they vibrated in their owners' hands. "And I'm gonna keep ya from gettin' it! Maybe I won't beat ya to it--so I'll just beat ya!"

"Well then--you can both get out of my way too!" The girl launched her water magic at them again, and Tristan formed another sword in his off hand as he prepared to defend himself--!

---

"Yeah, I do", Kohra said, her green eyes locking onto the woman's purple ones. "Help me get this thing working and I'll owe you a favor."

A wry smile crept across the bluette's lips at the words spoken by the younger girl. With an effortless push, the busty noblelady got off her own broom, landing next to Kohra, white heeled thighhigh boots clicking softly as they reunited with the ground - and certain other bits of her anatomy jiggling briefly as a result.

"Well then, how could I refuse?" Camilla's voice nearly sang. "Though..." She looked up at the mayhem taking place above the two girls, before looking back at her new pupil. "We don't really have much time for details, so I guess it'll just be a crash course of the basics." She said this with a light laugh, as if she wasn't actually feeling any pressure from the possibility of missing out on grabbing her own golden winged orb.

Kohra's temper flared somewhat at the bluette's casual nature. Of course they didn't have much time! She fought it down though. There would be no use in scolding a person offering help at this stage.

"Yes. Crash course.", she said bluntly. "As fast as possible if you please." Camilla stopped looking at the chaos above and returned her gaze to Kohra, the same wry smile still on her lips, and not the slightest hint of urgency present in either her face body or words that followed.

"As you wish. Let's get started."

After saying those words, Camilla moved with surprising speed, positioning herself right behind the other girl. With quick, firm but neither oppressive nor forceful hands, she grabbed Kohra's forearms, while standing behind her. ... Which, incidentally, caused those aforementioned anatomical bits to suddenly be pressed up against the commoner girl's back.

... They were quite soft. And firm. And squishy. Very squishy... There was also a pleasant, slightly floral scent coming from the bluette. Nothing overpowering or irritating, just a fain, but notable fragrance.

"First, you put your hands on the broom and grab it, firmly..."
Kohra's anger turned to mild surprise as the busty noble moved behind her. She felt her press up behind her back, face reddening even further as she guessed what exactly she was feeling pressed against her back. The soft floral scent contrasted with the usual dirt and dust Kohra was more familiar with.

"Al..alright..." Kohra said nervously, grasping her broom as instructed.
"Good, good... Now, just like when you use reinforcement for your own body--" Camilla started, but paused. Her words soft, measured, patient, but with a hint of sultry undertones to it. "--Mhmm, sorry. Have you ever used reinforcement magic before, sweetie?"
"N...No" Kohra stammered, "I'm not too familiar with it."

Is she trying to make this uncomfortable? Because if she is, it's working.
Camilla nodded - though Kohra couldn't really see it, since she was positioned behind the latter girl.

"Okay, then we'll just have to do it another way." The noble stated, apparently not finding the answer to be any sort of discouragement or nuisance. "So, close your eyes, take a deep breath and try to focus. Focus on imagining your arms as a spout for a tea kettle, and you're pouring the tea - your magic - into the cup, which is the broom, okay?"

Camilla adjusted her hands, sliding them further down Kohra's arm, towards the other girl's wrist, as if demonstrating how and where the younger lady's magic should be flowing.
Kohra let her arms be guided onto the broom handle, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She willed energy to pour into the broom and, as she did so, felt goosebumps rise on both of her arms. She felt the energy as though it were an extension of herself, and felt it merge with the broom between her legs.
Camilla smiled and nodded again.

"Good, just like that. Now-" She moved one of her arms further back along Kohra's and gently grabbed the other girl's forearm again. "-- Now think of this arm as the ear of the cup, the handle. When you lift it - with your mind and magic - you'll be able to move it around. But keep your other arm as a spout, and keep gently feeding the broom your mana." The bluette explained, now starting to loosen her grip of the other girl, and taking a step back, releasing some of the sensation and pressure on Kohra's back.
"Alright. Slowly feed it magic..."

For a moment, nothing happened. And then, the winds slowly began to circle around Kohra. The young urchin from Ihu opened her eyes to see herself and the broom gently lifting a few inches into the air. A broad grin spread across her face as she twirled in the air.

This sensation was unlike anything she'd ever felt. This wasn't leaping or climbing or dashing, it was flying.

I could get used to this, she thought to herself, spinning to face the blue-haired noble. Maybe she had misjudged her. After all, she could have easily gone on with the trial and left her behind, but instead she had stopped to help. Suddenly Kohra wasn't as nervous about owing her a favor.

"Thanks", she said, the broad grin still on her face. "Now, do you want to collect that favor now, or later?"
Camilla softly clapped her hands together and smiled back at the grinning Kohra.

"Well done." After hearing Kohra's question about whether to get paid now or later though, the bluette just gave the other girl a coy wink. "I don't think we've got time for anything else right now. Unless you wanna risk not catching one of those golden balls for yourself."

It was true though, even if Kohra had been a fine student and quick learner, a lot of things had changed in the aerial field above them during this rapid little lesson. Camilla then walked back over to where her broom was, lying on the ground, unceremoniously discarded from before. After picking it up, the noble resumed her sideways sitting position on it, crossing her legs once again before turning to her pupil while hovering above the ground.

"Just remember, the more magic you feed it, the faster you can go. Although, the faster you go, the harder it'll be to stop if you'd suddenly need to." Camilla began lifting up into the air again. "Now go do your best, kitten~ We'll catch up later."

It would seem that the noblewoman was in no hurry to collect her compensation for her efforts.
Kohra nodded respectfully at the noblewoman, grateful that the favor would only be collected after the trial. "Thanks for the help.", she said. "Hopefully this works out well for you too."

Maybe nobles aren't all bad. she thought, speeding towards the pandemonium unfolding in the center of the arena.

In between one breath and the next, when Solveig was in the middle of introducing herself to the poison mage, a potent gust of wind knocked into her back, stealing away her capacity for speaking, and shoving her off of her broom.

Shit.

That's what she got for not paying attention on a battlefield. Oh, how vividly she could hear her father scolding her!

She tumbled ass over teakettle, a dizzying moment where up was below, brown smudged with blue, streaks of red spiraling down with her.

After one or two turns, she stabilized, facing upwards while her body was still hurtling down to the ground. Alwin was there, because of course it was him. With pinpoint accuracy, his attack aimed at the gap where her magically-reinforced thumb and pointer finger met around the Angel Sphere^TM, dislodging the ball from her grasp with a spell faster than the speed of sound.

Then he left her behind in her free fall, chasing after his prize. It was just like how she'd dismissed that cannonball of a boy after she'd pushed him away.

However.

She visually located Alwin, his broom, her broom, and the target both he and she wanted. As the other noble fell, Solveig saw his free hand reach out to empty air. A silvery-blue glow overtook his broom, as it changed course to try and get beneath him--he was aiming to try and catch the sphere, then land on his getaway! To have that much control over a broom from a distance though, was even more evidence that he wouldn't be a pushover.

Even so, Solveig wasn't out of options. Her fire whips were still with her. So was her sword. Her spell might have unraveled into individual whips again, but it was still there. If anything, the rivulets of flame were now thicker, more potent, having had fed in barely noticeable increments since the beginning of the third test.

Solveig gathered her fire in front of her. The vortexes hissed and sizzled, an angry sound resembling a pit of snakes which had been poked into with a stick. She angled her body just so, trying to position herself in the direction of her Angel Sphere^TM. Then, she released all that energy, shooting the burning currents away, sending them off in the exact opposite direction she wanted to get to.

Having nothing to brace against mid-air, her body was blasted off away from the gushing stream of fire and towards the ball, which was also where Alwin happened to be heading. Multiple pressurized streams of fire twisted and turned around each other as they were fired off. But just as it looked like the spell might continue straight onwards, Solveig exerted the hold she still had on it, forcing it into a turn.

Now, she was catapulting toward Alwin from one direction, while a flaming tide approached him from another in a wild pincer maneuver! For an instant she saw his eyes hesitate--to grab the sphere, or to defend himself?--and he made his choice with an angry roar. His free hand released another blast of wind just like the one that had knocked her down--

"Gale Burst!"

And his sword arm, along with the rest of his body, wheeled to face her. His spell blasted into the trail of fire she had sent after him, causing an explosion as the two powers met. Meanwhile, he defended against her direct attack blade to blade. As the two of them clashed, their trajectory altered!

"Damn you!" Alwin cursed, as they were now falling away from the ball. He kicked out, managing to drive his foot into Solveig's hip among the tumble and pushing her away from him.

But, in that time, someone else had swooped into the fray--a gangly blonde boy, licking his lips as if in anticipation of a meal, came flying in from below! With one long arm he snagged the Angel Sphere^TM, and looked back to smirk at the two nobles.

"You high-class types, all mana and no brains!" Bryant cackled. However, as Alwin glared at him with those narrow eyes, the blonde boy didn't see the glowing broom coming at his head like a missile from behind.

Solveig, on the other hand, did see it, and sensed an opportunity. She took the split-second to look around, just in case anyone or anything else was in their area which she should be aware of.

"Dragon Scales," she intoned, glancing from Alwin to Bryant. The crimson scaled gauntlet around her left forearm shimmered, and spread out to the rest of her body. As magic empowered the spell, the colour leeched from the scales which became brighter. A nearly pearlescent layer of magic extended over her whole form now.

But what had she intended to achieve with this spell?

While one or both of the boys might have thought an attack would follow, it had been a distraction and a preparation in one. If either of her opponents wasted time wondering what she was doing, they weren't attacking her. Now, with the additional protection, magic would be less affective against her.

Of most immediate importance, Bryant hadn't noticed what was behind his head. Solveig gathered mana in her left hand--

Alwin's broom slammed into the blonde's head!--

--and the young noble lady unleashed her mana faster than she'd ever had, wrapping it around the commoner's broom, and pulling it right to her! She hijacked her opponent's broom, gaze flicking from Alwin to Bryant before zeroing in on the contested flying object. She readied mounted her new broom, a renewed zeal fueling her as she was determined to fight it out over the Angel Sphere^TM.

Alwin retrieved his own broom as it tumbled through the air after the impact, grabbing it with one hand and holding on as it steadied itself. With his rapier in the other hand, he too appeared to be ready to race after the sphere once more--but, just then, another winged ball whizzed between both of the mages. Alwin gave Solveig a look that said he wouldn't soon forget this, but as he pulled himself back onto his broom he went after the closer target. Behind him, however, two more applicants were already coming in hot!

As Solveig closed in on her own target, the whirling cloud of applicants was only raging all the harder around her. Down below, many of those who'd fallen from their brooms had managed to get back on after untangling themselves from the officials' nets and moved to rejoin the fray. There were many who'd managed to stay aloft the whole time, and more than a few had now moved from chasing down an Angel Sphere^TM to actively defending a caught one, trying to maintain their leads.

Inhaling and exhaling, Solveig steadied herself on her stolen broom, and directed it towards the unconscious blonde boy. With one strike of her sword to the boy’s hand, she freed the ball. Before it could escape, she grabbed it, once again snatching it out of the air. This time, she adjusted her grip on it in such a way that even someone like Alwin would have a hard time finding a gap to strike at it directly. She held the ball close to her left hip, taking on a duelist’s stance as she weaved in here and there throughout the battlefield.

If this had been a real battle, you’d have died, she could hear his voice even if he wasn’t there to watch her. Her father, Cináed von Brandt, the head of their family.

I know, father.

Then act like it. He almost always had that strict expression, now. The haunted look had never quite left his eyes. Eyes which had grown cool and detached, the once warm and kindly amber irises seemingly having changed into a cold piercing gold.

But she knew it wasn’t anger, nor disappointment, nor innate high expectations which were at the essence of why he pushed her so much.

No.

It was fear.

And that’s why she wanted to show him how strong she was. So that he wouldn’t have to worry about her. So that he wouldn’t have to protect her – so that he wouldn’t die because he had to protect her.

That’s right…even if this was practice today, she would soon be experiencing real combat. As a magic knight, life-risking missions were a given.

I know. I’ll do better.

@Zeroth

It happened so quickly. They were about to exchange pleasantries when the fire mage was blasted by an attack that he couldn't even perceive. The next thing he knew saw some pretty boy hurtling towards the ground with a god damn rapier.

"The hell?!" Where in the world did that guy even come from?! He was literally looking up two seconds ago! Ludo watched as the two nobles descended at a rapid pace towards the ground while it turned into a match to retrieve the sphere that blue haired fancy fuck. However, that one moment of distraction would prove to be fatal for him.

He heard the mage cast his spell before he saw it. Translucent green tendrils wrapped around his body and pinned his arms to his side and a second ensnared the hand holding the Angel Sphere. And the one responsible for it? When people talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater, his parents really should have done exactly that. Of all people he had to be caught by, it had to be a guy who looked like the leftover pooled grease from an on old griddle given flesh.

The grip on him tightened, but he refused to make a sound. On a quick glance down, he could see that the poison around his hand was floating like ink in the slime. The magic was still there, so the slime wasn't absorbing his mana. So why was it that he could feel not only a powerful well of mana flowing from this slimeball, but it was growing stronger? Now, Ludo had no knowledge about the Heart Kingdom's Mana Method, but generally he understood that as a rule of thumb that people cannot use more mana than they have. Of course, he had no way of being certain what this guy's upper limit was, but it was if he was pushing past it every second. It was almost as if...

Ludo remembered something, something that he saw earlier that day. It was when he was walking along the festive streets, littered with stalls. Some stalls sold trinkets, some sold food, and then there were peddlers pushing for a certain miracle in a bottle.

The tendrils tightened their squeeze to the delighted perverted glee of his captor. Ludo let out a blood curdling scream of pain like a wild animal being tortured. One would think that he was about to throw in the towel, except the corners of his mouth curved upwards. His animalistic scream turned into mischievous cackling. "Did you seriously think I was going to give you the satisfaction, you fraud?" He asked with the widest grin, but Edward could see it Ludo's eyes; the Poison Mage saw through him, and he was livid.

"Death's Touch," He intoned. The tentacles suddenly started having trouble squeezing his body; that same poison that was on his hand had begun to grow from all over his body, shimmering with a strange aura.

He chuckled with that wild grin and a violent glint in his eyes. "You wanted to play with the big boys, right? You've got your power. Let's play you rat." While maintaining Death's Touch, Ludo drew from the deep well in his body, but here was the part that would throw most for a loop. Instead of trying to break it out, he casted his magic through the slime that ensnared him. Like he had noted before, the magic in the poison had not been absorbed by the slime so he decided to overflow it with as much of his own Poison Magic as possible.

Magic was not just about having the most amount of power, it was also about control. The question was how well Edward could control a large amount of a mana that he was not used to when Ludo was pumping his slime construct full of poison. It wasn't just random magic either, there were serpents swimming in his smile, writhing and pushing against the blob's form in an effort to make Edward concentrate on maintaining the slime and its tendril's shape and size. If Edward could not maintain it, well, hopefully he liked snakes.

_{@Zeroth@ReusableSword}
A full four hundred flying objects within the limited airspace of the arena.

It would be suffocating even if they were just expected to fly in formation, but for them all to be chasing after golden orbs the size of a fist and the speed of a bird? It would be utter chaos, and chaos it certainly was, when the immediate response from anyone who could fly was to launch out wide-area, multi-target magic in an attempt to take down both their competitors *and* their targets. High above, the phoenix-cowl burned incandescent, a flurry of motion, while the snake-summoner found it fitting to scatter the shredded remnants of his creations upon the ground. Within the storm, another blue-haired woman was giving out lessons in flying, as if she had no care in the world for the dwindling number of golden orbs left. Others struggled, of course, the original chase gradually turning into proper brawl. Some fell off their brooms in the attempt, and the referees stepped in to save them. The numbers were shifting gradually. If the trial ended immediately after the 100th ball was seized, that meant that until then, it was to the benefit of the have-nots to collaborate against the haves.

In time, it would become a fight of 100 against 200, more or less.

Kreszenz held her broom, her feet still on the ground as she watched the flow of the battlefield. Occasionally, she took a step to the side to avoid falling detritus, a step to the back to avoid a stray spell, but through it all, she remained where she was, her grimoire floating beside her, her wand in her hand. Allies would be helpful here, a reduction of the number of brooms more so. As for the first to target…

Ah, a Barrier Mage. That was certainly a piece worth possessing. Removing someone else who dared possess magic similar to hers? Even better.

“Canon.”

It was a flick of a wrist, a flick of the wand, a flip of a switch. A single bolt of lightning, blisteringly fast, shot from ground to sky in opposition to natural elements, aimed at the heavyset youth that had just bowled over the barrier mage. Its trajectory was aimed at splitting his broom in half and nothing more, but that alone ought to distract him long enough for the barrier mage to secure his orbs once more.

And if he did?

The Leichenberg heiress would catch his gaze and offer a nod, at once a request for and a command to collaborate moving forwards.

Seeing what was probably a noble slash through his arrows made Albie worry he had wasted his mana. A worry made even worse someone else used some kind of liquid snakes to mess with his arrows as well. He doubted he would be able to cast manifold missiles again while also fueling his broom for the duration of the match. Still despite his worry it seemed his arrows not only slowed down some of his competitors but even managed to snipe an Angel Sphere, though not all nearby flyers were slowed down by Albie's spell.

Determined to grab the small golden ball Albie did his best to make his broom fly faster, leaning forwards and putting in more mana, and reach it before his newly revealed opponent could. Unfortunately he was so focused on grabbing the ball he didn't expect Gunnar to attack him. The sight of the flame forming into a swarm of fireflies flying towards caught him totally of guard. Instinctively he prepared to use Manifold Missiles to try and shoot the fiery projectiles but as he gathered the mana he realized it wouldn't work. Even if he had the time to gather enough mana there was no way he could hit them all.

Right before he get hit by March of the Wisps Albie stopped putting out mana. As a result he not only took the attack head on, though he managed to cover his face with his arm, but fell down as his broom was out of power. Scrambling to fly again before hitting the ground he pumped mana into his broom. With a shock the broom came to live again and shot straight up as Albie was way more mana than necessary.

Albie struggled to get back control while also keeping an eye on Gunnar and the Angel Sphere they were both after, the latter made easier by the distressing fact Gunnar had had enough time to grab it for himself. "Damnit!"

Not ready to give up Albie looked around to see if he could snatch another Angel Sphere but the one nearby was snatched up by a ghostly stag who brought it some kid with glasses holding a wand in one hand. Albie didn't see any option than to take the ball back from Gunnar. Hoping that the fire user was no longer paying attention to him Albie circled around to Gunnar's back and prepared an explosive Magic Bullet.

_{@Remram @Zeroth}

Parin Kia

---

To be honest, this whole exam was Parin’s first time encountering such serious magic in real life. Some of the stuff she’s seeing she’s only witnessed in books before now, and it fascinated her. She imagined what it must feel like to cast some of these spells; the type of energy surging through you, how it feels to carry and unleash it… she was sure the feeling changed not just based on the type of magic, but what the spell was doing, and that only fueled her obsession.

She pondered about how far magic could go. She’d seen several people use a wand, and that made her wonder if something like symbols could work. Or why they used the wand in the first place. What did it feel like? Did it concentrate the mana in one place, to for easier usage of large amounts of mana? If you stopped feeding mana into it, would it hold onto it or give it back. Or did the wands have their own magical properties already, and only served to enhance the abilities of the user without them needing to influence it? If wands could work, then what about symbols? Or sentences?

Parin’s line of thought was markedly ended by a huuuge portal opening up and almost dropping her jaw to the floor. The mass of brooms which surged out from it prompted a gasp from her, and sparked more questions - did it feel heavy carrying that portal around? She didn’t have time to go on another tangent before she’d been passed a broom of her own.

A broom, and she had magic. The witches she read about in books rode on brooms. So were… oh. Yes, they were meant to be flying on brooms. Maybe Parin should’ve gotten out from her rock a tad earlier, but it was too late for any of those should’ve’s and whatnots. Parin held her broom in her hand and stared at it, tilting her head. She tilted the broom. It didn’t feel magicy for anything. Maybe she just had to try it.

So, she’d straddled it, much like a nerd would compare to the others - standing on theirs, sitting sideways and doing tricks.. Yeah, alright. Parin had to make something shake. She decided to start from the top like she’d done with her previous test, by taking deep breaths and feeling her mana flow. Her eyes closed while she visualized the energy building deep within her, and she felt it swell up in her core before growing and spreading throughout her body. When the energy reached the parts in contact with her broom, it took her off-guard. It felt like bumping into someone while your head was turned away... except this guy kept standing in front of you and held his arms wide open for a hug.

Uncomfortable as it was, a part of Parin felt drawn to the sensation. Now, she doesn't recommend anyone just go around hugging random people, but this random person that was in her broom seemed pretty alright. It seemed to Parin that it was her energy, the mana, being drawn to the broom. Though it didn't feel so simple; it felt deeply personal in a way she couldn't describe.

Now, if you were to go around hugging random people, you wouldn't want to do it aggressively, right? Parin figured this was decent enough logic to apply to her broom. Not too much energy into it, but slowly and surely, give it a steady amount...

Parin felt as if she were standing on the tips of her toes. She actually had been - that is, until her feet had left the ground.

Until her feet had left the ground.

My feet left the ground!?

Parin's jaw drops, and it would've hit the floor had her broom not been steadily keeping it afloat. She looked down, at the broom, and then looked to her sides to see if she could see other people. There were fortunately still those who were trying to get their bearings just as she was.

She gave herself a couple moments and found that the broom was surprisingly responsive. Which made sense. It worked with the user's mana, and mana is a unique part of the body just as much as the brain is. When she wanted to rise, the broom would rise. When she wanted to go forward, so be it. If she wanted to flip herself upside down and fly around? She could, and that's exactly what she was doing, flying herself around the crowds of people who still hadn't gotten a move on. Among those were some familiar faces! Parin had a smile to herself when she'd seen Camila again, and it grew even brighter once she recognized the other girl from the escapades outside. A good luck charm, perhaps. But a sign for her to get started for certain - she'd spent too long getting adjusted that she may have missed out on some information.

Whipping herself back upright and facing the chaos, she held a hand over her eyes and tried to analyze. As just mentioned, it was chaos. Which was a wonderful environment for a street urchin like Parin to feed in. To find success in this challenge, Parin planned to find a way to control the chaos. The simplest way to do that? Make it more chaotic! Her eyes grew starry as she picked out targets and fights to sabotage. People were already getting started, doing her work for her while she got warmed up. How sweet, she thought, slowly floating closer to the action so she'd be ready to jump in.

Her eyes immediately fell on what was brightest first. Flames, the unforgettable kind; Parin thanked herself for having paid attention during the last tests. The wielder of said flames falling through the sky broom-less in an attempt to get one of those little balls. So why'd I even waste time learning how to fly this thing in the first place? ...Is something Parin would've thought had she not seen the girl quickly steal another contestant's broom while falling through the skies, mounting it as she secured a golden ball of her own. Parin took note of her foe - another familiar face in Alwin, prompting a frown - and the two after him, a group of three after one.

And just slightly above that had been another kerfuffle. Aaaaannndddd... Parin didn't really wanna see that. Some tentacle freak was getting his fix in, is what that looked like. The prey in question didn't seem too eager about it either.

But, a spark. A pattern showed itself, and Parin hardly had to do anything. Just like in the situation with the noble's posse harassing the boy, the mage was too busy feeling good exerting his power to pay attention to the world around him. It's undeniable that he would have the Angel Sphere in the bag, had nobody interfered with his little...fight? But the lack of attention the mage was paying to the world around him made him a pathetically easy target for just about anything that anyone wanted to do to him.

On top of that, Parin also knew that causing chaos and inciting havoc was much easier in a group. So regardless of if she ended up getting her own little stress toy, she could still gain from the situation; if she didn't, she could just move on to another ball.

Parin breathed deep, noting the actively flowing mana she still had ready. She took note of the hazards about - the arrows flying from the heavens, flames galore, a strike of lightning and a host of other spells. If she wanted to get her foot in the door, she just had to do it. So there'd be no second guessing; she promptly funneled her mana into the broom and imagined herself diving for it.

The magics and contestants in sight blurred as she headed straight for the tendril-using maniac. Well, as straight as she could've made it. Stray spells and bodies flew all over the place, and the bodies weren't so much as a problem as was the spells. Reflexes saved her precious seconds that planning would have wasted - her broom curves out of the way of a fireball that was on her plane, and dips down when she instinctively ducks a stray magic bullet that beamed her way. Despite the dangers, she didn't falter. She just needed to make it there. Whatever came after came after. So she put her focus into gripping tight, blazing forward, and making it there.

She made her way through the obstacle course of fools and succeeded in pulling herself to a screeching halt before the two. The closer inspection revealed a new detail she hadn't witnessed from afar - within the tendril held several, several snakes slithering and hissing about. That didn't matter to Parin, who already had mana flowing into her arm outstretched away from the two boys. She brought up her other elbow and stuck it out towards the mage, ready for impact.

"Jet!" Parin exclaimed. A stream of water was unleashed from her hand, propelling her directly into the side of the slimy fiend.

---

Now that she was finally airborne, Kohra wanted to make sure she had the chance to get a feel for it before diving into the chaos. She made a few quick laps of the colosseum, frowning, watching the absolute bedlam unfolding before her eyes. Her take from the instructions had been that applicants would be able to use magic on the spheres and to use magic against others to defend those spheres, but it looked like a magical bar brawl just to get a hold of any spheres.

Worse, Kohra finally started to appreciate the presence of weapons inside the colosseum. Several applicants wielded wands or swords, and Kohra didn't even have a dagger on her. If it turned into some sort of duel out there, Kohra wasn't sure what she could do. That kind of fighting wasn't her game though. She'd made it through life by staying quick and under the radar, and that was what she decided she'd do. No brawling, just speed and a few little tricks to keep others out of her way and off her tail.

Kohra spotted an angel sphere flitting just outside the central ball of applicants. It was being chased by a small group of mages, but that was going to be the one, she decided, and she dived. It was the most curious feeling, cutting off the flow of mana in an attempt to cause something to happen, but it worked. Kohra fell ten, twenty, thirty feet, feeding mana back into her broom at just the right moment to slow her descent as the toes of her shoes skimmed the stone floor. Above and ahead of her, the group of mages was throwing spells back and forth against each other, each vying for supremacy as they chased the sphere.

A tightly packed group of airborne broomsticks. Perfect. she thought, a wide grin spreading over her face. Clutching her broom with her legs as tightly as she could, Kohra took her hands off her broom and pointed them at the group above and ahead of her.

"Conjure Cyclone!", she shouted, unleashing a tight spinning ball of air at the group, hoping she could destabilize the group long enough to make her move. The magic spent, Kohra put her hands back on her broom and poured mana into it, urging it onwards and willing it to corner around the group and the whirling storm she had summoned.

Grin still plastered on her face, Kohra squinted up at the angel sphere she was pursuing. From what she'd seen, these things had enough smarts in them to tell when someone was on their tail. She hoped that whoever had made them hadn't put much thought into having them chack what was below them though.

"Whirlwind Jump!"

A blast of air rocketed Kohra up past the whirlwind she had conjured. At the same time, one hand released the broom as the other poured more speed and precision into it. She was within arms reach of the sphere! She reached out as she sped nearer, fingers outstretched hoping to clasp them close over the tiny glittering ball...

Rio Vega

// Colosseum //

The chaos was well, chaos. It was delightful and Rio felt it. The energy, the strife, the show was intoxicating. Flying, rolling, dodging, aerial maneuvers he tried his best to replicate with a smile on his face. Magic and mages alike tumbling through the air and using all sorts of magic. He was faster than some of his peers, being small did have its benefits. And its consequences. While he did find it fun to dodge incoming magical attacks, he was blindsided by a bull of a young youth such as himself.

After correcting himself, Rio dashed after the larger boy that looked like he was about to break his broom. On top of that he was using a weird lightning spell that he was sure he was going to hit himself with. Acting quickly the boy created a small, slanted barrier to divert the path of the electricity back into the quagmire around them.

Quickly catching up to the larger boy Rio laughed circling above the larger boy upside down. “Let’s get them together ok!? I’ll keep us safe!” He said with his somewhat high-pitched voice. “I think this test is to see how well we work together with strangers.” Rio glanced around to check for any other danger. He could see a few people had already caught their angel spheres and were idly just floating around waiting then some others had barely gotten off the ground. Surely this wasn’t just about how well they could all fly, wasn’t there someone important from the legends who couldn’t fly a broom either?

It didn’t seem fair to him that the others still on the ground wouldn’t get in just because they couldn’t fly. “wait” he said to himself, “the rules guy didn’t say anything about forming a team… only that you had to possess a sphere…. So would it count if the team had a sphere?” for just a moment he glanced to see the few others that had still not quiet yet got themselves off the ground.

maneuvering to be right next to the bigger kid. “Hey!” he yelled, “lets get these two then go back down and team up with the others on the ground. The rules dude didn’t say anything about not being in a team!” focusing back on protecting the duo and trying to catch the spheres.

@Zeroth@ERode

Hikari accepted the recovery mage’s magic with a warm smile. He looked down at his hands, and just as he thought, permanent marks to remind him of this day. However, they weren’t nearly as bad as the other scars and burns that riddled his body. He watched the other contestants while he awaited the next match. There was a lot of great magic here, but Hikari couldn’t help but think that if he was gifted with their destructive powers that he would make much better use of them. The next test would begin and Hikari listened thoroughly, although when the official was finished speaking, he didn’t hesitate to ask just how violent can they get? In which the official stated, with more emphasis, no lethal force. Hikari shrugged and ignored the rest of his words.

Hikari prepared himself on his broom, and once the test began, he remained still. He would watch and calculate everything. How fast the limited amount of balls moved, who moved gracefully and who was clumsy. He would trace his eyes over every magical ability he spotted, plotting, and planning. This wasn’t going to be easy and wasn’t meant to be easy. Confidence never wavered, as flying on a broom was the first piece of magic he practiced.

Triss, the woman who took him to get his Grimoire, was known to fly even when inside a building. That’s how they got to the ceremony in the first place. He would close his eyes and remember her words of passion dedicated to flying, feeling the wind blow her hair, how it made her feel alive. He would trace over her mannerisms when flying, his mind flashing back to that night. The same night that left him without a family. He would spend an entire day traveling back to his town and lived with an old friend of the gang in exchange for doing all the house chores. In his free time, he would take the same broom he’d do chores with, and practice flying. No matter how much he trained and practiced, he was only efficient at pushing forward at a high rate and making one turn before he’d keep trying and inevitably speed into a tree.

He laughed. Who knew this would come back to bite him in the ass? But this time, he had a plan. His eyes shot open, and, in an instant, he shot forward at a high speed, colliding heads with another boy as a resounding THUD! Echoed throughout the air. The boy began falling as Hikari quickly reached downward, snatching for the sphere but narrowly missing it. Fuck!’ He watched it fly past him. He locked eyes with another boy. They had the same idea. They both shot forward at a high speed, shoulder to shoulder, arms stretched out towards the sphere. Out of anyone here, this person matched his wingspan best. However, as his only skill was going in one direction and turning, it gave him the slight edge as he took a gamble. He lowered his left hand onto his broom, and stretched his right arm out as he pivoted to the right. He matched the curve the sphere took, as he calculated earlier that this one took a sharp right or left at random after a certain amount of time going straight. He caught the sphere in his right hand, and clotheslined the boy off his broom, although not intentional it still made Hikari laugh and point at the boy. “Dummy!” He laughed more before he flew off.

He ignored the barrage of magic around him. Arrows, slime, poison, lightning. Hikari would have liked to analyze it all further, but sadly there was no time for that. He wanted another one, and he would take advantage of the ensuing chaos. As he shot forward, for almost no rhyme or reason, he would do little things like bump into someone already fighting or swat someone's hand just as they were about to grab a sphere. He would laugh every time, as he made his way to his actual target. It was a spatial mage; a skinny kid by himself using portals to send the spheres to him as he attempted to catch them, though they kept managing to slip out of his hands. Hikari would wait in anticipation, up until the perfect moment where he would shoot forward and intercept the sphere flying out of the portal. The boy gasped as Hikari turned to him, his fists balled as they gripped the spheres. “You got a problem with that kid?”

“He might not, but I do!” A yell would alert Hikari alongside two burning sensations smacking against his ribs, causing him to wobble but regain his balance on the broom. It was the same lanky, long, kid he clotheslined earlier. How did he manage to get back up? ‘Guess not everyone is a pushover.’ Hikari let out a laugh before shooting forward. The kid shot after him, hot on his trail.

The spatial mage let out a sigh of relief, wiping his forehead. ”Whew, close one!”

Hikari felt the heat of multiple fire blasts whizzing past him, the occasional blast striking his torso or leg. Despite his general inability to change directions on a whim, he would try to move side by side to at least minimize the impact. The blasts themselves didn’t pack much of a punch, possibly due to him around having a resistance to heat, but they were rapid. Rapid enough to know this guy had plenty of mana and he couldn’t keep getting hit. So, he had to end this chase soon. ‘I didn’t want to show too many abilities but hey, I got myself into this mess.’

Hikari would take a few more shots as he closed back in on where several fights were taking place. He would take perfect advantage of the chaos, and the barrage of heat attacks flying at him. As he chuckled and kept moving forward, steam began pouring out his nostrils leaving a trail behind him that expanded into a large smoke screen of steam around the battlefield. Then, the steam would begin heating as the barrage of fire blasts flew through it. Screams of pain could be heard through steam; although maybe more exaggerated by how sudden the pain was, than the actual pain itself. Hikari could manage the heat, at least longer than most. His plan was to hide here until the match was over, as no one would be able to see him but he could see anyone who dared approach. After all, he was being a nuisance and had two spheres in his possession, so he knew it was possible someone else might try to find him.

---

---

---

---

As the Captains watched their applicants swarm like angry hornets all over the arena, they were hard pressed to keep any particular recruit in their vision for more than a few moments at a time. Still, with sharpened magical senses and their greater experience, they were able to pick out the most notable displays at a glance.

"...An especially bloodthirsty lot we've got this year, it seems." Argos said, shaking his golden head.

"Aye," agreed Giles as he puffed on his pipe, "Ye'd think they'd be tryin' to shoot the li'l things out the air or contain 'em, but all the blighters started a feedin' frenzy as soon as they set sail. Like watchin' sharks after chum." The other captains nodded, some frowning at the lack of tactics while their fellows seemed intrigued by the various kinds of magic on display.

As more spheres were being grabbed, it soon seemed like those who needed to catch up would have to take one that was already in possession...

---

---

@imia@Remram@SilverPaw

---

While Solveig had secured her sphere during her fall and now rose again, she could see that Ludo--that boy she'd been about to speak to--was still engaged in another fight. And, as she saw his opponent, she would recognize the same individual she'd confronted about his use of the supposed-hoax potion.

Except, if those pulsations of mana were anything to go buy, the potion wasn't a hoax this year...?

Ludo attempted to counter Edward's Slime Magic by flooding it with his own Poison Element. For a moment he saw the doped up mage's expression blanch. But, as he grit his teeth, Edward made a clawing-gripping motion with both hands. His Groping Tendril spell began to writhe and tighten in place, trying to contain Ludo's venom. It was a bit like watching some kind of internal organ fight against an infection.

The purple miasma filled the tendrils like water filling a hose, and even though it became diluted inside the slime it stretched the tendrils as if they were tubular balloons. Yet as bumps and ridges swelled out of the tentacles, Edward's increased power and control forced them back down. Whichever one of them lost control first would lose this tug of war!

"Hrrrgh! Maybe some of us ain't got as many spells as you 'talented' bastards!" Edward growled as a vein bulged in his forehead from the strain. His face was flushing red, and he was pushing so hard he was forgetting to breathe. "But the ones I got, I'm REAL good at!"

Ludo would feel resistance as his poison was contained...and then, slowly, the slime began to push the purple, cloudy substance back towards its caster. The tendrils started to grow in size every few pulsations...

Then Parin slammed into the distracted Edward with the full weight of body and broom, propelled by her Jet spell!

Slime and Poison swelled into a tumorous bubble before bursting in a toxic explosion, raining volatile fluids down on anyone unlucky enough to be in the vicinity!

"You--!" Edward cursed, grabbing Parin by the front of her shirt and yanking her bodily away from him. "--Gedoffame!" Then, he punched her square in the face, their brooms drifting away from each other while in slow free-fall.

---

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_{@Databug@ERode@ReusableSword@Expllo}

---

---

Kreszenz's lightning spell struck Maverick's broom from the back end first, charring the straw tips before stunning the big boy. The bright lights comically lit him up, revealing a flashing skeleton for a moment as he cried out, before the appearance of Rio's barrier--the very person she'd been trying to help!--cut off the line of connection between the lightning flowing from her wand and Maverick's mount.

The huge boy was dazed for a few moments, but when Rio offered to team up with him, he sniffed and pushed his bowlcut hair out of his freckled face.

"R-really? W-well, okay--but we both gotta get the flying things!" he said, followed by the barrier mage suggesting they get reinforcements from the ground and then try to take out other competitors who already had their spheres. Maverick nodded. "I'll follow your lead then, little guy!"

Around that same time, Tristan's swords were whirling as he and the two other mages engaged in a free for all to see who would chase after that sphere they'd all lost. One blade deflected the iron bat of his opponent while the other chopped through a watery missile. Another projectile caught the back of his broom, however, sending him into an uncontrolled spin. The guy with the bat was caught by two more, knocking him off balance. As the two of them struggled to dodge the remaining spells and right their brooms, the water mage girl laughed and turned back towards her quarry.

"Serves you right, dummies!" she taunted. She would soon join a small group that was chasing after the same sphere, this time swinging her hand to send a slashing jetstream at someone that had just grabbed it.

Damn it, I don't know if I can fly well enough to outspeed or outmaneuver any of the others OR the spheres! Tristan realized, looking this way and that until he finally saw another glittering orb. Maybe if I try fighting from range? As backwards as that seems for my magic type... He dispersed both of his blades and set off after it--only for that guy with the bat to pop right back up in front of him!

"Oh no ya don't, Red! When Mack Fuely says he's gonna beat ya, he's gonna--!"

Just then, Kohra's Conjured Cyclone scattered a dense group of applicants not too far above where the two of them floated. While Kohra was on one side of the storm, Tristan and Mack were caught in it from the other. Tristan, who was already going in that direction, swept past his tumbling opponent and managed to stay upright on his broom!

The wind's pulling me! Maybe if I stay outside and use it like this--!

As Kohra shot upward with her Whirlwind Jump, the Swordsmage circled around her Cyclone to rise in a fast spiral! Tristan leaned into his broom for dear life, one eye closed as the wind whipped dust, spare broom straws, and the occasional flailing body at him! He came out of the top of the whirling dervish just as Kohra grabbed her targeted sphere--should he try to take it from her?

Before either of them could decide whether this would be a fight or not, though, another group of mages tumbled between them. The primary cause of this particular cloud seemed to be the "Ox Boy," steam billowing from his nostrils. He passed by Kreszenz, Rio, and Maverick as well, leaving thick and sizzling clouds in his wake! Both Kohra and Tristan found themselves engulfed in the edges of Hikari's steam-banks, as other applicants around them cried out in confusion. The heat began to rise uncomfortably...

"Hey, I don't guess you could blow this away, huh?!" Tristan called out to the Wind Mage as he began to sweat. His vision was already dimming as the cloud thickened, and he cast Create Sword again just in case someone tried to blindside him out of the fog.

Yet at that same moment, a shadow was rising in the mists behind Kohra. It was a shadow out of a nightmare, stringy hair flowing in all directions as a flittering dress made its wearer's body appear ghostlike...

"BEGONE, YOU TRAMP!" roared Elyssa Barnfield, before slashing at Kohra with two huge sets of claws made from ice!

---

---

Elsewhere within the arena, several successful applicants tried to catch their breath after dealing with all the difficulties of catching an Angel Sphere^TM. Some had been forced to expend a great deal of magic, while others had been able to get their target just by virtue of flight skill and speed. However, all of them knew the trial wouldn't end until all 100 spheres were caught, and until then they'd have to hold on to their prizes...

A pale, tall young man, his green eyes outlined with black guy-liner the same color as his lipstick, looked around nervously as he held his sphere close against his impeccably tailored, all-black, dress-shirt-and-slacks outfit. With the other hand, he produced a brown, liquid like substance which turned into an oddly familiar looking solid bar. He took a bite out of it, apparently in an attempt to calm himself down...

A rotund girl with an olive-skinned complexion and a pink bob-cut, wearing a yellow dress with puffy sleeves and white shin-height boots, held a large U shaped red magnet with one hand. Stuck to its ends was an Angel Sphere, and its wings were still flapping rapidly as it tried futilely to escape...

And a deeply tanned man, his wide grin framed by thick dreadlocks, seemed to be dancing for joy on top of his broom with a tropical rhythm. He tossed his Angel Sphere from hand to hand, quickly enough that despite its attempt to get away he was able to snag it back. His white hooded cloak, over green, scale-patterned robes, marked him as someone from the Seabed Temple...

"Whoa, did he just--?" Gunnar grabbed the Angel Sphere, but hesitated to just fly away. He grimaced even as he tightened his hand on the golden sphere. The way Albie had eaten that attack and then fallen, it appeared as if he'd suppressed his own mana entirely.

That would be crazy--he could've died even though I was holding back! No matter one's elemental attribute, all mages used mana to reinforce their bodies and protect themselves. The fire mage looked down, and his face blanched when he couldn't see Albie somewhere down in that wriggling safety net. Where was--?

The Magic Bullet hit him square between the shoulder blades, knocking the breath out of him as it sent Gunnar wildly spinning. He lost the Angel Sphere, flailed at it and missed, then turned back to see Albie once more. A pained grin spread across his features.

"Alright, tough guy! Try this one! Hellhound's Jaws!" As he punched towards Albie with his fist, a large conflagration of flame took the shape of a snarling dog's head. Its fangs aimed to envelop both the commoner and the Angel Sphere between the two mages--!

Albie knew that getting this close was dangerous for him but he hoped that Gunnar would also have trouble controlling his broom. Judging from the way he spun around the hope wasn't entirely false but Gunnar recovered much faster than Albie liked. Albie didn't even have time to grab the Angel Sphere before a fire boosted punch was thrown in his direction. Judging by the size of the jaws if hit Albie would be out of the fight ands maybe even badly hurt as well.

Having no way to block or counter a close ranged attack like that Albie went for the only option he could think. He pumped as mana as he could into his broom to reverse it. He shot backwards away from the Angel Sphere for a good 5 seconds until he managed to stop. "Crap, crap, crap!" The instant he managed to stop his broom he fired a basic mana bullet without spending any time to charge it, hoping to either stop Hellhound's Jaws or at least hit Gunnar again.

The Hellhound's Jaws snapped closed and open again as it chased Albie backwards through the air. However, the large projectile was much slower than most magical projectiles, and certainly slower than Albie's bullets. As he fired his next shot, it went right between the flame construct's fangs and shot out the other side!

Gunnar was in the midst of reaching for the Angel Sphere when the magic bullet struck it like a billiard ball. The brawny man let out a pained grunt as the winged ball was propelled into his face, leaving a bruise right on the bridge of his nose as it bounced off.

"Gah! G-good shot!" He shook his head as his spell continued to chase Albie, but before he could make another grab at the sphere, a barrage of clear, fist sized glass marbles slammed into him! As Gunnar fell from his broom, his spell dissipated in front of Albie. And at that moment, he saw a smirking young man with a purple bobcut and large, round glasses rocketing towards the sphere. A fancy, maroon shirt with brass buttons and white ruffles marked him as a noble, and he laughed to himself in a nasal voice...

While Albie was glad his bullet managed to stop Gunnar from getting the Angel Sphere he didn't have have any way of dealing with the Hellhound's Jaws left, slow as the spell was. In fact he barely managed to block his face with his arms before the fiery teeth clamped down on them leaving his arms bleeding and covered in small minor burns. "Ow!"

By the time the fiery construct was no longer blocking Albie's sight he saw Gunnar being attacked by glass marbles. Something about the use of glass magic was familiar too, but it was only by the time that the noble who used raced towards the Angel Sphere that Albie remembered the old man's warning. He couldn't remember what the old man called the glass magic user but if the guy really was sadistic he would make a terrible choice for a magic knight.

Deciding he couldn't risk Snyder Glassard pass even if it meant failing himself Albie stopped trying to conserve his mana and took out his grimoire to cast his most destructive spell. "Arrow Magic: Spinning Mana Arrow!" Still he didn't want to risk killing or seriously injuring anyone so he didn't charge it as long as he could and he aimed at Snyder's broom instead of Snyder himself. "Hey fire guy, get that ball away from him!"

"Wha--?" Gunnar barely managed to recall his broom, and now hung from it by one muscular arm. While it had been Albie that bruised his nose, he also sported a bloody lip and a purple welt over one of his eyes thanks to the glass magic user's attack.

"Gah!" the glass mage barely saw Albie's spell coming in time, but as a testament to his magical prowess he was able to speed up his broom. It whipped so fast that a few pieces of straw were left behind, which Albie's arrow passed through with a flash of light. The projectile went further on, eliciting a cry of pain from somewhere else in the maelstrom of applicants. "You dare!? Filthy peasant, get out of my sight! Glass Magic: Aggie Shooters!"

As he threw his hand out towards Albie, five spheres of glass took shape from a translucent, rainbow-reflecting aura! Like bullets thrown from a slingshot they hurtled at the commoner, far faster than Gunnar's hellhound--

"March of the Wisps!"

The faerie flames darted out in another volley, intercepting each glass projectile and knocking them out of the air! Gunnar's broom pulled up alongside Albie's as he glared at the noble.

"A team-up, huh? Well, so long as we hurry, I'm game!" Gunnar's flames played in his palm as he smirked confidently--but, several strands of his hair had pulled free of his pony tail, giving his bruised face an even more haggard look. "I've got a restraint spell that might keep him outta the air for a while, but you'll have to pin him down for me!"

Albie couldn't believe that Snyder Glassard managed to dodge his spell, even if it was close. He did feel a little bad for whoever he hit instead but didn't worry about it too much as everyone knew the risks.

Before Albie could even think of anything else the Glass mage went of the offensive and launched five glass spheres at him, and at high speed too. Albie saw only option to evade and that was basically suicide so he was relieved when Gunnar came to his rescue before he could try suppressing his mana again.

Seeing how he helped just now Albie wasn't surprised Gunnar agreed to the team-up, especially given the way he looked. The plan Gunnar came up with was more than a little disappointing as he could think of only one spell that might have a chance to pin Snyder down and it would cost him most of his mana. Albie wasn't going to admit that little fact though. He held his hand above his grimoire and began charging. "Arrow Magic: Manifold Missiles!"

Six arrows formed around Albie and launched themselves at Snyder. Albie was panting and had trouble keeping his broom straight due to how low on mana he was.
The bespectacled noble looked down on Albie, both literally and figuratively as his broom rose in the air. He raised both hands to cast another spell as the arrows whipped towards him---

"Aegis Palantir!"

A huge, dense crystal sphere---like a fortune-teller's ball or a snowglobe---sprang into being around Snyder! The first arrow to strike him deflected off its curved surface, and the next simply bounced off! Thrice, four times, five and six; only the barest of cracks split the sphere's leaded shell as Albie's barrage harassed him. He smirked evilly inside the magical orb---

"Fairy Ring of Fire!" Gunnar's spell, a number of rings made of dancing sparks, enclosed the entire sphere and began to squeeze down. As the glass began to glow red hot, Snyder's smirk turned into a snarl.

"Release me, or you'll RUE this day, I say! RUE IT!" He yelled, raising his nasally volume to the point it echoed inside the glass. Then, the fairy rings melted their way through the glass, causing it to fall apart in pieces as the binding magic snapped shut on the angry noble. He struggled this way and that, unable to get his hands or his grimoire out of the binds---but while Gunnar focused on maintaining his spell, Albie would have a perfect shot at the Angel Sphere still flitting around...

The look on Snyder's face as Albie's arrows futilely hit the glass orb protecting him didn't fill the commoner with much confidence. Luckily Snyder had been ignoring Gunnar long enough for him to use his spell and fiery rings appeared around the glass.

The sphere that easily blocked Albie's most mana intensive spell turned red from heat until it broke and the rings went on to contain Snyder who didn't seem to be affected by the heat in any way. Despite the fire rings helping him Albie couldn't help but feel jealous of the power nobles had.

Seeing that Snyder couldn't move and Gunnar was focused on restraining him Albie realized the Angel Sphere was just up for grabs. Feeling guilty about betraying his temporary ally Albie nonetheless didn't want to let the chance go to waste. He forced most of his remaining mana into his broom and while not superfast he went straight for the Angel Sphere, ready to grab it and hopefully keep it until the test was over.

@Zeroth

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---

The first two trials were done and dealt with, and the third had begun and was now well under way. Almost as soon as the tiny, golden Angel Spheres™ had been released, complete and utter chaos had erupted. Rather than try to display their prowess in using their magic to fly and obtain the small, flying treasures, the vast majority of the candidates had instead opted for the 'eat or be eaten' approach, in where if you didn't sock someone in the face first, you risked getting got yourself. Fires raged, lightning flashed, water splashed, ice cracked and even weapons of steel and rock clashed and smashed into each other, or the protective barrier around the coliseum's on-lookers.

Of course, not everyone had jumped straight into the big, messy and pandemonic dog fight up in the air above. There were a few applicants still stuck on the ground - either because they weren't able to figure out how to fly their broom, because they were plotting or scheming what their next move would be and when to strike, or because they were just enjoying watching the great big spectacle above. There was even a pretty blue-haired girl who graciously sailed down from the mayhem and offered a quick little lesson to another girl. It would seem that even in the most turbulent storms, there were still some flowers that bloomed beautifully.

But now was not the time for waxing poetry, or whatever that one really smart-sounding phrase was! The number of Angel Spheres™ that remained free in the air was rapidly decreasing, and if one didn't hurry, they might end up ball-less! sphere-less!

Thus, a pretty young lady with an exotic air about her, looked up at the unfolding turmoil above. One eye blue as the sky, the other golden yellow like the sun, watched with a mix of intrigued curiosity but also childlike wonder and amazement.

"So, this is what a proper melee looks like...? Fascinating." She spoke aloud, seemingly no nobody but herself. Her lips had a smile on it... For some reason.
"But I won't be outdone, oh no! Prepare yourselves, for Nephertys Setet of Sankrah
will now join the frey!"

She announced her intention and her presence! ... As if anyone up in the air could actually hear her, or pay her any attention. But, nontheless, she stood there for a while, pointing dramatically at the mass of magic knight-applicants abov, before dramatically flicking one of her stray low twintails back over her shoulder and grabbing onto her broom with gusto and a firm hand. Once the magic mount was properly straddled(?), she effortlessly began to imbue the rool with her miagc and before one could even blink, her soles left the ground and the girl began to hover higher and higher into the air.

Once a suitable height had been reached, her heterochromatic pair of eyes began to scan the battlefield. Truth be told, Nephy had never been in a skirmish of this size before. Sure, she'd had mock battles with the household guards and excersises with her father and mother, but nothing quite on this scale. It was all so... So... Exciting! So many people, with so many different types of magic, from different walks of life from all over the kingdom. All here, all vying to showcase what they could do. Wonderful wasn't it? That people could come together and demonstrate what they could bring to and offer the nation as one of its stalwart and most valiant defenders.

"Ah, goodness, Nephy, stay focused now." She shook her head and spoke to nobody but herself again, shaking the thoughts and feelings of admiration for her fellow applicants free from her head.

There was no shortage of action to be had though. A blast of wind that blew several people away, a large cloud of steam taht buried a great many in a foggy veil, tendrils of fire, a giant orb of glass, volleys of arrow and... was... Was that a giant airborne jellyfish!? No, wait... That was two boys, one seemingly controlling some sort of gel-like.. Thing... And the other was pumping it full of purple... stuff... Oh, and there came a girl, and she... Crashed... Into the gel-making fellow. Perhaps she wasn't so good at flying?

... Wai- What!?

"That brute!" Nephertys gasped as she witnessed the uncouth and uncultured swine punch the poor, hapless girl in the face!

Of course he was in his right to be angry. After all, the girls hould perhaps have been more careful when being unfamiliar with flying, but still! There was no cause for resorting to such barbaric means. With a deep scowl on her face, Neph was about to fly on over and set that poor excuse for a boy straight with a good old fashioned scolding...

.. But then she rememebred why she was here... Or rather, her mother's words echoed in her head.

"If you fail to be picked by any of the Captains, you're to come straight back home, understood Nephy?"

"Guh..." She let out a pained, whimpery sound.

She wanted to. She really, really, really wanted to fly over there and give that uncivil jerk an earful, and to check if the poor girl was alright. But... She couldn't. Not right now. Not yet. She still had something to do first. And that was to acquire one of those Angel Spheres™ for herself. But once she'd gotten her hands on one, she was definetely going to come on back! She swore it! ... To herself. Internally. With a clenched fist and determined face and everything.

Then it was quickly back to looking around.

While she could spot several people who'd already acquired their own golden (s)balls(/s] spheres, it didn't feel right to try and poach those. After all, Neph could plainly see how hard everyone was struggling to catch one of those little menaces, so it just felt wrong to try and steal them. Instead, she looked around, and spotted one that hadn't been claimed. It was being chased and hunted by a decently sized pack, including a girl who had black hair and was wielding some kind of water magic. And she was making quite the splash, hah!

Crickets chirped.

... Nephertys set off, now with a goal and purpose! That particular sphere was going to be hers. Yes, indeed. Feeding more mana into her broom, the caramel-skinned young woman increased her speed bit by bit, racing headlong into the messy brawl of prospective future knights. Weaving, rising, falling, curving, she bobbed and weaved past other riders and iincoming magics and spells of all kinds. Before very long, she'd caught up with the rest of the menagerie who were aiming for this particular prize.

Fortunately, it didn't seem like most of the other hunters had noticed her just yet. Very well, if they haadn't seen her arrival, there was but one thing to do!

"I, Nephertys Setet, have arrived! And that sphere shall be mine!"

... Completely shattering any and all eleemnts of surprise she might've had, Nephy annoucned her join for the hunt with a loud and vigorous voice. A few heads turned, followed by a few spells aimed in her general direction.

Ho-ho~! Testing to see if I can keep up? Very well!

She narrowly evaded a spiked ball of metal that came hurtling towards her head. She made a graceful ascent to avoid a small swarm of what looked like oversized thorns. She then made a swift and quick dive, closing in on the leader of the pack, the one closest to their collective target. The boy - who was infront of everyone else and the closest to the sphere - leaned forward, stretching his arm out, fingers reaching as far as they could... Grazing, touching, poking, just barely feeling the surface of the metallic little wing-thing... So close... So very, very close... He almost had it now! Just. A little. Mo--

Zwhip!

"Huh...?"

A diagonally diving damsel delivered the daydreaming dandy from his delusions of daring ... victory.. With eyes as wide as dinner plates, he whipped his head around and his eyes followed after the girl in flashy, but minimalistic, clothing who had just snagged his prize right from his fingertips. She smiled and looked back, holding the little golden orb inbetween her dainty fingers, waving with it at the poor lad. She let out a confident 'Hah!' and then took off upwards, rising towards the upper parts of the arena.

... And she was followed by quite the outraged entourage, who slung spells, foul language and toxic glares at this new arrival who'd swooped in and snatched their treasure away. That included the poor boy who'd just been moments away from obtaining it for himself, mind.

"Brilliant Binary Bulwark." Nephy spoke in a calm and soft voice.

Soon, a pair of spiky clusters, always in motion and always mirrored in location, appeared around her. As they began floating around her upper body, they soon formed a translucent sphere of glittery light. It appeared Nephertys had taken to cast a little bit of shielding around herself. Which was probably a good idea, considering there were still plenty of spells being flung at her, and trying to dodge every single attack from other wizards wasn't really a feasible strategy....

Hopefully, it'd be enough to preserve her hold on the little gilded monster.

---

---

What the hell kind of potion did that greaseball take? Ludo gritted his teeth, doing his best to push the slime back with his own poison. How much power would he need to waste just to break through this bastard's doped up magic? He knew he could, but it would've left him running low if he made it to the next round. He glared defiantly, trying to think his way out of this pickle he was in, except that's when he saw something from the corner of his eyes. It was fast and it was... coming closer? "Huh?"

And like someone coming out of nowhere with the steel chair, this girl smashed into Edward with her god damn elbow. She was absolutely wild. They should be friends.

However, his attention torn away from the girl that threw a literal flying elbow at Edward and noticed that the mass of slime and poison only grew and grew. It had only occurred to Ludo that with the slimey fuck distracted, Ludo's magic was able to takeover and now they had a big fuck off bubble that was absolutely a biohazard ready to burst from its thinning membrane. Ludo blinked when he saw that it ballooned up and was shaking as it barely held itself together. "...Oh shit."

And popped it went with toxic slime raining down over the portion of the arena like cats and dogs, very toxic and disgusting cats and dogs. Well, not his problem. He glanced down at the girl who saved his behind and winced when he watched her get absolutely haymakered. Damm that looked like it stung a bit.