[IC] Mana-Script Academy For The 'Gifted'

[TheHangedMan]

Meruin Hazy's Exam

Meruin tried hard not to smile. Despite the dire situation she was in, despite the odds stacked against her, she found - much to her surprise - that she was enjoying herself. In spite of the pain, Meruin pressed forward, against pressure that she had never before experienced in her life. It was a new feeling that got her heart racing.

More blood dripped on the floor, and suddenly, Meruin's eyes narrowed. In a split second, she began diving down towards her opponent, her arms glowing as the runes drawn with her blood activated. Covering her front with her runed arms, Meruin practically crashed through the runes formed around her, and with ever inch closer to her opponent, the runes on her arms glowed brighter and brighter.

Her mouth moved quickly, forming upon them an aria for a spell, and more than that, the ground beneath her began shaking even as it began turning a blood-red hue.

---

@Eklispe & @Zetsuko

DUEL

The Skeleton and Fairy both stared at Kieran's prone figure, mouths slightly open. This was not quite the direction they saw things going, after all.

"A-and with this," began the Skeleton hesitantly, checking for any sign at all that Kieran would rise. "I declare the winner of this match to be . . . Sol 'Windblade' . . ."

A thick silence permeated the air, and the crowd of walking bones chattered uncertainly. They were expecting a brawl, and instead, they recieved an involuntary surrender. Fo pouted, staring at Kieran on the floor.

---

@the ghost in black

Aleksandra 'Hound' Galino

The Woman looked on with interest. Aleksandra was reckless, for sure, but also very determined; but did that determination stem from a critical blindness to her situation, or else did it come from genuine fearlessness? Either way, the only way to validate her headstrong charge as something other than foolishness, was if she had something with which she could secure her victory.

The Golden Titan paused, feeling the sudden spike in energy from Aleksandra, before quickly charging forward once more. The increase of power from Aleksandra might have been great in her own eyes, but to the Golden Titan, it was nothing more than a drop of water in a large pond. The Titan's themselves were not beings that could hold or use magic, but all the same, they were strong and experienced enough to recognize the difference in power between mages, and to them, Aleksandra - magically, at least - did not even rank in the top tens of thousand among their opponents.

If it were beings that radiated pure magic, then there was one to be more wary of. The Golden Titan's eyes shifted towards the woman watching them, her shockingly pink hair fluttering with the wind. She had been watching them since the beginning of their conflict, yet not once had they dared approach her.

Crouching low, the Golden Titan swept its fist in a wide arc towards Aleksandra, the blow having enough for to rock the earth without touching it. If Aleksandra didn't avoid it, or had some means of withstanding the blow, then she would without a doubt die once again.

---

@MagusDream
The bartender shook her head. "Hey, don't sweat the details, 'kay? In any case, this school's a lot stranger than you'd anticipate, so believe me when I say your story probably isn't the most unusual - or confusing - one I've come across. Anyway, just enjoy the drink for now; alcohol has a way of alleviating most troubled minds," she said. "If you feel the need for any more, feel free to ask, though the next glass will probably cost you." With a smile and a wave, she turned around and returned to her place behind the bar, and began polishing beer mugs.

[Eklispe]

Sol

Sol sighed in disappointment, he'd waited this long for nothing. He turned to face the skeleton and the fairy, "Perhaps one or both of you would be willing to duel with me?" he asked, hopefulness apparent in both his voice and eyes, his sword arm laying dejectedly at his side. Surely at least one of them would oblige him, after all, how could they give him a score if he hadn't done anything? Though he was doubtful of his ability to beat both of them at the same time he welcomed a challenge. At least the skeleton should put up a good fight, while wary of the fairy he didn't expect her to accept his challenge anyway.

@TheHangedMan

Exam

The man grinned, as expected, with such a style of fighting surely the battle would have to be ended soon. He already knew that Meruin was physically rather... fragile. A rune flared up beneath his feet and a matching one in the sky. A brief flicker of light was all that was shown and then the rest of the sky runes activated.

Roaring from the skies like gods wrath a beam of fire and light came down in a purifying blast directly on Meruin's head. The man watched Meruin charge towards his perfect replica from above, with his power nonexistent for all intents and purposes. He wondered whether she would attempt to destroy his well procted other self in an attempt to destroy him before the laser arrived or turn to her own defense, who knows, maybe she would try to do both. Regardless he watched the results with great interest.

[The ghost in black]

@TheHangedMan
Aleksandri watched the golden titan pause only for a second before charging her again as though nothing had happened. "Crap..." she whispered under her breath before quickly switching out her lightning element for Stone which steadied and fortified her body before the aura over her right arm expanded into what looked like a flaming three clawed hand that matched the size of the titans own.

The as the titan's fist came rushing towards her Aleksandri reached out towards the arm with her new right hand in an attempt to stop it and absorb the shock from the hit, though even if she caught the fist her magical energy was wearing thin as it was and she would have to catch it close to herself. The intensity of the battle was starting to show on Aleksandri as even though her strength was still as vast as before, her magical power was fading. These facts proved that the fight was nearing its end.

[Flood]

Chen was rolling on the floor laughing after he saw Sol and Kieran "fight". "He fell asleep in battle! That is the funniest thing I've seen happen in a long time!" He was howling at this point as he struggled to breathe. A minute passed and Chen wiped a tear from his eye. He got up and let loose a deep breath. "I'm really glad I had The Hierophant activated while watching that." He sat back down on the bar stool and finished his drink. "So, anyone else have an opinion on that?" He looked around with a smile. "That was really really funny."

[TheHangedMan]

@Eklispe

Meruin Hazy's Exam

Meruin took a deep breath. It was now or never. The key to success was in the timing.

She dove towards the earth, ignoring everything around her, focusing only on the spell - no, focusing only on her inner world, what she had created there, and the means by which she could unleash it upon the world.

The blood she had spilled had heightened her magical powers immensely, yet that also meant that she had lost a considerable amount, for it to be so. Still, there was a technique she had fashioned in the midst of battle, a tactic devised solely to take advantage of this.

The fireball spells she had launched earlier were markers - indicators to test how powerful her spells had become, while also concealing another spell inside of them. The fireballs had become fuses that would light up any source of overwhelming magic, converting it into a massive, mana-dissolving explosion. Magic would crumble to nothingness, and the force from the explosion would dwarf any of her previous spells. There was only one safe place from it:

At the center of the explosion itself.

And so, Meruin dove towards the replica, touching it with a runed, outstretched hand. The rune spread towards its whole body, reshaping it, becoming a bomb.

And the world was bathed in bright green as magic dissolved and power rocked the world around them.

At its center was Meruin. Though her wounds had healed, thanks to the power of her converted blood, she was dangerously pale, and obviously fatigued. She had never gone through this much physical activity before, and she was also low on blood.

---

Sol the Windblade's Exam

A deep, rumbling sound was heard as the Skeleton King mulled over what to do next. Sitting straight up, the Skeleton looked directly at Sol, with dark eyes that's depths shone with a deep ruby red. He walked down from his throne, and hush fell on the crowd. Fo the fairy trailed off after him, looking curious as to what would happen next.

"I hereby declare, in my capacity as proctor for Mana-Script Academy, that Sol the Windblade's Exam be null and renewed. Subsequently, I declare his exam to begin once more, right now in earnest!"

With his declaration, a large battle-axe, fell from the sky, smashing into the ground in front of him, planting itself firmly. The weapon was a thing of wonder - made with pure white bone that glistened unnaturally. The blade was dark purple, however it's tips were a rusted red. The skeleton gripped his weapon, and blood began dripping from the edges, sliding into his hand.

Zetsuko's unconscious form, meanwhile, was being dragged out of the ring by a horde of undead. It was an eerie sight, especially so since it was done in utter silence, with all the attention focused on the two on the ring. They tossed Zetsuko into a swirling, dark-red void, whereupon he now landed right on top of a chair next to Chen, face down. _@floodtalon

The skeleton stepped towards Sol and rose to his full height - a towering 13ft - and brandished the large axe. "My wife shall be judge and referee of this battle. Conditions for victory is simply this: he who surrenders first, loses."

Fo took his seat on the throne, perching at the very top. With a nod, she raised her hands and brought it down with a chopping motion.

The battle had begun.

---

@The ghost in black

Aleksandra

There was a titanic clash, a deafening roar as their respective powers met, and the light that exploded from their meeting. Power enveloped the stadium, and everything went white, before the world faded to blackness . . .

It was at this point that she woke up.

Currently, she was laying down on the stadium, with the lap of the Woman as a cushion. The woman in question was looking down on her with what looked to be mirth and incredulity.

"I'm pleased to announce that you've passed your exam," she said, without preamble, "unfortunately, it was not with flying colors, as you might have wished. You will be disappointed, perhaps, once your results come out, but do know that this was a fair judgement."

The Woman nodded towards the arena, where the Silver Titan stood triumphant over his fallen foe, large, iron shoulder hefting with each fatigued breath. The Golden Titan was noticeably bruised all over, and what appeared to be the killing blow was the dent formed around his chest - still, one of his hands seemed to be warped beyond recognition, with the damage spreading straight upwards his arm.

"Your efforts managed to completely wreck his arm. It was thanks to that the Silver one was able to claim victory," she explained. "That is how you passed, and yet, you picked what was probably the worst solution to passing, which was fighting them directly. There were so many things you could have done: act as a referee, whilst setting rules that tilted the advantage to the other side slightly. Tripping them when least expected then retreating - anything but fighting.

"I understand that you see yourself as a guardian, a protector, but I want you to consider what it means to take up that role. It's not all about strength. A protector is also a mediator; not everything can be solved with strength alone. Do you understand?"

While she was speaking, the stadium around them sunk into the ground, slowly but surely, with mounds of sand taking their place. Soon, nothing left remained of the battleground, not even the Titans, and around them was a vast, sweeping desert. The only structure that stood was a bronze gate, with depictions of warriors new, old, and coming, engaging in bloodshed. The gate's doors were open, and yet they led to nothing, showing only the desert behind it.

"In any case, that gate is opening to the school. Feel free to leave, when you are ready."

[Eklispe]

@TheHangedMan

Sol Windblade

Sol's eyes widened in surprise as the massive weapon fell out of the sky. To be honest he hadn't quite expected such a response. As he looked at the massive skeleton that stood over twice his height with his equally massive weapon Sol had a brief moment to consider that he had made a mistake. Those thoughts were quickly overtaken by his excitement however, now this was what he'd been expecting. This would be fun, Kieran's body being removed went unnoticed as Sol evaluated his new opponent. Likely the bones were close to as tough as his sword, requiring several strike before breaking, hopefully the skeleton couldn't reassemble easily. This battle would be a bit of trial and error, he had no idea of his enemies speed, strength, or other abilities. Sol nodded his agreement to the conditions and looked at the fairy waiting for the signal.

As soon as the hand dropped Sol dashed towards the skeleton, his sword held in his left hand low at his side. Given no interference he would swing diagonally upwards from left to right at the monstrously tall skeleton's legs in hopes of testing their durability. However he more than expected his assault to be met with a broad sweeping swing of that axe. Blocking the blade head on would be foolish, dodging or deflecting would be in his best interest. Then there was that dripping blood to consider, he might be paranoid but he had a feeling he didn't want any of it to land on him. He refrained from boosting his speed with magic, he felt a slight distaste for using it unless needed and it served as a good trump card anyway.

Exam- COMPLETE

The man's in-drawn breath betrayed his surprise at the massive flux of power below him. To think that a first year would have this much power... impressive. He watched the blast warily, unsure of how far it would reach, then he realized that the heat had already almost reached him and a mark was flaring on his chest. He glanced down to see where the fireball had left its mark to see it beginning to ignite. Clever child, he thought wryly, but a magician was never without his tricks. A gentle snap of his fingers and the man flickered and his form vanished. The man watched behind a shadowy veil as the realm that he had previously occupied become engulfed in an explosion of titanic proportions. Truly if he had not moved even his formidable passive defenses may have become overwhelmed.

But here, he could only be harmed by something that was also in this realm, and the creatures that dwelled here knew better than to attack him by this time. After waiting to make sure that all residue had passed, the man now knew to err on the side of caution with this one, he appeared several feet in front of her. "Very impressive Meruin, you hold to your namesake. You have passed your exam, quite impressively too. Its hard to believe you're a first year. If you wish you may simply tap your heels together and you will leave, or you can continue attempting to fight me." he explained pleasantly. He was mildly curious to see her response. He anticipated the answer but wondered just how much more she had left in her.

Dash375's Exam

"Odd last name isn't it? Blight. Well not that it matters, you're here now, and that means we can begin your exam." a voice rambled cheerily. As Sandra continued forward she would find herself in some sort of arena, much like the coliseum. "AND NOW THAT OUR GLADITAOR IS HERE WE CAN BEGIN. FIRST UP IS, UNLEASHING THE DOGGIES!" a voice cried out jubilantly from above her. Upon looking at the source of the voice she would find someone that could not be described by any other words than leprechaun. He was about half her height and wearing all green, silly hat included. However she might be more concerned about the three mechanical lions that had entered the area. Technically they were cats not dogs but good luck explaining that to the announcer. Two of the lions began circling her and the third lunged at her, swiping with one of its massive paws.

Sandra, a normal girl who lived a normal life for all but the latest year of her life walked into the area she had been teleported into. Walking in her face beamed with a smile of not happiness but of pure curiosity, everything around her was magical and new, so different to the life she had known before and she loved it.
Locating the leprechaun from his voice her expression was one of amazement and wanting to ask him questions before she was attacked. Before the Lion had started its pounce she had summoned the two blades and started to side step cutting the side of the lion in the progress though not enough to cause any real damage yet.
Realizing this was going to be a pure fight Sandra took her usual self taught fighting stance that to a master would look foolish but it was all she had ever taught herself to do. Taking a deep breath she lunged at the first lion which had aimed to swipe her aiming for the other side of the torso which she had swiped earlier hoping to cut deeper through the metal this time as her power started in slowly increase.

The blades scraped harshly against the metal, leaving a scratch but not enough to cause severe damage. The second was more lucky, for it cut deeper into the weakened metal and seemed to strike something important for the metal lion feel to the ground, limbs twitching feebly. At the sight of it the other two lions roared and charged at her from opposite sides, mouths wide as though they were trying to swallow her whole. Though of course the sharp metal teeth would ensure she went down smoothly."AND WE KICK THINGS OFF WE OUR VALIANT FIGHTER ALREADY TAKING DOWN A LION. HOORAY!" The shouts from above ensured that her spectator was still there.

"WOOT" Sandra wanted to celebrate happy she had single handily taken down one of the mecha lions which left her distracted from the two as their attacks landed, their teeth digging into her body. Or so would of normally happened, instead Sandra vanished from the jaws of defeat and appeared back in the centre of the arena "I can finally fight stuff!" The girl was happy purely to be there as she dashed at the lion which attacked her on the left with a grin that would match a hyena hunting its prey as the blades slashed against the lions jaws/teeth.

"THE GLADITATOR GOES DOWN. BUT WAIT, SHE'S SUDDENLY REAPPEARED AND IS BACK IN THE FIGHT, WE'VE GOT A REAL MATCH HERE FOLKS!" not that there was anyone else to talk to but he seemed energetic never the less. The sword crashed into the lion's teeth snapping them off from the force of the blow and leaving a tear in its 'cheek'. However it only seemed to aggravate the beast, it leapt back as did its remaining partner- right next to the body of their fallen companion.

They both roared at her and then... tossed the fallen one into the air and somehow leapt into each other. In a complex jumbling of machinery they all somehow fused in a creature that could best be described as a mechanical Cerberus. It stood nearly 3 times as tall as Sandra did and immediately proceeded to lunge forward, swinging both paws down in a hammer-like swing. "THE INFAMOUS CERBERUS COMBO, HOW WILL OUR HERO DEFEAT THIS NEW MENACE!?"

She smiled when it combined into the mecha Cerberus "Thats so cool, do they all still think individually? How hards the armor now? Do I need to be 2.0 x to beat it or can I do it now at 1.6" Sandra spoke out loud her thoughts still "Oh, also I was just where you guys were, infact right underneath you." She suddenly stabbed her own blades into herself and appeared where she was 4 seconds ago underneath the ceberus and tried to stab upwards seeing if this would pierce the armour though she did not have high hopes due to only being a 1.1x power now.

The cerebus looked down at its paws confused by the lack of squashed human. That was, at least, until a sudden screeching sound came from its underbelly. Roaring the beast leapt backwards, a move that gained it distance, and also allowed it to lash out with its tail in a brutal whip attack. When it landed and looked at its opponent it roared once more, but this time an evil green flame came flying out of its mouth in a large cone towards Sandra. "AND THE CEREBUS UNLEASHES ITS DISTCTIVE HELL BREATH ATTACK!" her eager announcer called out happily.

Sandra had to make a choice as the tail came flying towards her, right now she was on 1.5 x power which would leave her enough to shadow out of this attack but mean she was back down to her basic power which she knew would be no chance to beat this new contraction so instead she took the brunt of the tail attack using only her swords to block some of the impact which would send her flying across the stadium and rolling across the dirt once she had landed.

Having only a second to get up Sandra did so and started running across the side of the stadium trying to out run the breath attack before a grin came on her face as her eyes turned from blue to a distinctive gold colour before jumping far higher and further into the air then before projecting herself at the Cerberus and slashing forward before jumping off its face back on the floor happy that would of disrupted the breath attack "Welcome your new Gladiator Sa-nd-ra 2.0" She said and did a victory sigh with her hands not really taking this as seriously as she should of been.

The beast snarled angrily its mouth was forced shut and the vicious flames melted part of the beasties mouth. It shook its head and globlets of melted metal flew out and its eyes narrowed as it stared down Sandra. It once again jumped forward and clawed at her furiously attempting to slice her into ribblets of human.

Sandra was happy she seemed to inflict actual damage to the metal Cerberus and took a deep breath when the Cerberus jumped taking in x2 her normal air capacity and started to run away from where the Ceberus would land. But this direction was not chosen lightly as she was sprinting head first to where the Leprechaun was announcing from "So how strong are you Mr Leprechaun?" She asked with a large grin as she jumped up to his podium and went to slash through him.

The Leprechaun frowned in distress, "No no no, you're ruining it! You can't do the fights out of order!" he said angrily and raised his hands causing a wave of golden coins to rush out of his clothes and push Sandra back into the arena where the Cerberus was waiting. It leapt up and chomped at her eagerly.

Sandra pouted "But you seem much cooler to fight with all the gold coins and all, Do I get a pot of gold if I beat you or some ancient leprechaun secret?" She asked while falling and seemed to remember that she was falling as well the Cerberus that was eager to eat her to shreds. Turning and positioning herself on the wave of coins she jumped off them towards the Cerberus rushing head first into its mouth once again pushing off its teeth to give her more speed as she flew into the back of its mouth swords first and breaking through it flying out if the Cerberus, normally dead but this was also part of her plan since she had enough charge to die and go back 4 seconds. 4 Seconds ago she was in front of the Leprechaun and grinned taking another slash at him hoping to have caught him off guard.

The Leprechaun yelled as she descended, "Depends, which one do you want?" He watched eagerly as she plunged into the Cereberus's mouth and quickly resumed commentating, "And your gladiator literally plunges into the jaws of death and- ACK" The Leprechaun leapt back in surprise, the swords slashing his jacket and causing more gold coins to spill onto the floor. "Fine I get it ya wee girlie" The leprechaun said, dropping into a heavy accent in his anger. He snapped his fingers and was in the center of the arena in an instant. "And now since our wee gladiator ruined the order of the events she gets to fight me." The leprechaun stood there tapping his foot impatiently seemingly waiting for Sandra to attack.

Sandra smiled with glee at catching the leprechaun off guard after successfully pulling off the combo which she had not tried before she wanted to give it a go anyway. "I think I will take the secrets off you if I win, I only really care for learning new stuff here, its all so cool. Nothing like the boring place I came from surrounded by normal people everyday." She took her meditation stance and started charging up trying to get back to 2x power quickly figuring the master would be much stronger then the pet and that he would simply allow her to make it a more interesting fight.

"A secret it is, but only if ya win girlie." The leprechaun said confidently, he raised his hand and caused the gold coins scattered across the floor from Sandra's previous two attacks into a condensed ball. He pushed it at her with a deceptively casual gesture, for the golden orb shot at her chest with the speed of a bullet.

"Pfft, How about I end this in 7 seconds?" Sandra asked confidently and put her blades in front of where the orb was going to hit though she could not control the power of the attack and sent across the floor, choosing not to disappear and lose half her power letting the damage stay on her as she brushed the coins off her from the splash of the impact. "Come on, if I can beat you in 7 seconds you will give me too secrets. However, if you win you can kick me out of the academy exam and I wont argue. Sound interesting?" She spoke with the same confidence of her opponent as her eyes turned gold signalling she had hit 2x from being in combat from his attack.

"Din't yer mother never tell ya not to bet with a leprechaun?" he asked skeptically, "In particular since you couldn't even stop that attack. Well yer offer does sound interesting girlie, I wonder if you can hold up to it..." He stood there looking at Sandra expectantly as the gold piled around the arena swirled around him in addition to the gold now flowing out of his jacket, in moments he was standing in a cloud of golden coins that nearly obscured him from vision.

"Nope, she never believed in them or anything different for that matter. In fact I told her I was going to study away for a grammar school." Sandra laughed for a second "But no, I am not a patient person and this works well for me overall. So now I will show you a secret, the true form of these swords, though you wont get long to look at it."

Sandra jumped back and swung the two blades around her fingers by the circular hook at the end of each of the hilts before slamming the two together forming a new single blade and an aura around her as her skin started to turn to more of a red colour. Taking a deep breath once more Sandra crouched and jumped high up into the air above the gold coins swirling around and jumped on the air down towards the Leprechaun with more speed wanting to end it before the seven seconds.

The leprechaun quickly snapped his fingers and the whirling mass of coins formed into a formidable wall of gold. Despite this the combined blades sliced through it with ease. As the two halves of the 10 foot wall fell to the ground and revealed the leprechaun's grinning face behind it. He clapped his hands together and the two halves slammed together on Sandra with shocking speed.

Sandra eyes darted to the left and right registering the change in the coins direction almost instantly which would normally make her panic and lose hope in her attack but right now she was at x3 for only another 3 seconds, retreating was not going to be an option or she would lose her bet.

As she flew through the air she moved her great blade from one side facing the coins and let out a mighty roar as she swung the blade in an arc around creating a break in the airstream around her which would cause the majority of coins that would hit her to be moved around her though some still hit her though the pain was put off by the adrenaline. To deal with the other side of the wall of coins Sandra continued her arcing slash she had used which no longer had the power in the swing to create an airstream on the other side so she instead used the sword to block that side since the actual sword was now bigger then her.

Only 2 seconds of the bet remaining Sandra broke apart her swords still in midair of flying into the leprechaun though the coins hitting the blade had put her off to the side of him more then she wanted. Splitting the swords back into their two smallers blades once more she decided to all or nothing. Her power started to drop immdiately x2.5 x1.5. With the two swords by the time she was in swinging range only had x1.1 power left and with the blades aimed to slash off his arms since that was what he was using to control the coins and a way not to kill him.

The leprechaun simply watched her with a confident grin as her blades sheared his arms off- and they promptly turned to gold. The rest of the body collapsed into a pile of coins and Sandra would hear laughter behind her. The leprechaun was sitting where he was before, apparently watching her fight with interest. "Exciting, you came pretty close there, if I'd really been there you might've gotten me." he said cheerily as the thousands of golden coins littering the floor rushed towards him forming into several giant condensed balls of gold, about the size of a small car. "Give up yet?" he asked, his hand primed like a gun to flick the massive projectiles at her.

Sandra fell onto the floor and tilted her head to look at where the laughter came from and could not help but join in with his laughter as her two blades turned back into pendants around her neck "Yeah that was exciting, I have never got to fight like that before so it was fun, the airwave thing was so cool!" She punched the air in excitement before letting the arm fall back to the ground "But no, I cant really go on fighting now anyway. After I put the sword back together and 7 seconds pass I get locked out from using even the basic blades for a little bit. Guess thats my hope of getting into this school over with then." She laughed again happy she at least got to do more then she usually could.

The leprechaun nodded, at least the girl knew how to stick out to her guns so to speak. "Alright then girlie, get on out of here, but before you go I'll tell you a secret anyway." he jumped down and walked right in front of then whispered, "Its actually a kettle of gold not a pot," then promptly flicked her on the forehead dazing her. After several seconds of confusion Sandra would find herself in the same room as the other finished participants.

[Zetsuko]

Kieran woke when he hit the chair and tumbled off onto his back. He scrambled to his feet wide-eyed for only a moment before he felt the effects of his lack of sleep again, dulled slightly from his brief nap in the arena. He sunk back into the chair and stretched his arms over his head with a yawn. He blinked a few times and realized he was in a sort of bar, stumbling up to ask for a water and upon receiving one promptly splashing it in his face. He shook his head, based on how his body reacted to that sort of thing in the past he had a good while before he felt sleepy again, and by then he will probably have gotta some actual sleep anyway. It was then that he noticed that Sol was going up against that skeleton he saw in that arena. He leaned on the bar counter to watch.

[Dash375]

Coming to her senses again Sandra sat up and looked around seeing more people were in the waiting room, she wondered if they knew each other or had already introduced themselves. Coming to her senses a bit more she got to her feet and started stretching "Damn that really does a number on muscles." The blonde haired girl muttered and took a seat at the bar "Any drinks fine." Sandra spoke to the bartender not sure what to really order since she never drunk alcoholic drinks. She then took interested in Sol's fight which was being shown most interested in how he fought with a sword since she always just made it up as she went along.

[TheHangedMan]

@Eklispe

Sol the Windblade's Exam

The Skeleton stood stock still, the red pinpricks of his eyes gazing steadily as Sol rushed towards him. The sword swung and smashed against ivory bone, and stopped. The skeleton merely stared down on Sol, his axe shifting only slightly, to adjust it to a more comfortable position on his shoulder. The Skeleton clacked his jaws, as if making a 'tsk' sound, in absence of a tongue to do it with. Somewhere in the crowd of skeletons, one of them crumbled into dust. The blood on the axe began moving erratically, moving across the surface of his arm, travelling upwards before stopping.

---

Meruin Hazy's Exam

Meruin was breathing heavily. Her vision blurred, and her legs wouldn't obey her and stop shaking. And yet . . . and yet . . .

This is so . . .

"Exciting."

Though her body was had been abused passed its limit, her mind was in rapture. Never had she once been in earnest combat - lessons with Master Reina were focused on research and the perfection of her spells. Application in battle was merely a footnote, and the most she had come across applying them was during her time with Mistress Chase, and those had never gotten too far. Not once had she been pushed to this extent.

Until now.

"Yes," she murmured. "Yes, this is is quite exciting."

So this was battle. The glory that Mistress Chase had spoken of, the violence that Master Reina had condemned as brutish and yet with an undercurrent of longing. This was what it meant to fight in earnest!

Somewhere, in Meruin's luggage, a book snapped open as a marking inscribed itself on the very first page.

Meruin's answer to her examiners question came in the form of a spell. A bolt of lightning shot forward from a rune drawn in the air, directed at him. The power behind it was unimpressive, but the speed in which it was cast and thrown were that as of true lightning. Meruin, her breathes labored and her shoulders trembling and her knees shaking looked up at her foe, and her face was that of pure, undiluted joy.

With the face of an expectant child, Meruin's eye's shone with an intense light.

"Please, show me," she rasped. "Show me more . . . of what battle is like."

---

@Dash375

The bartender gave Sandra a wide grin, before flicking her hand; out of nowhere, a glass of red wine rested on top of it. With much flourish, the lady slid the glass towards her, without spilling so much as a drop of it. "Don't worry 'bout the pay, lass, Chen," she said, jabbing a thumb towards the boy observing the fight closely, "over there has kindly paid for a few rounds of free drinks." She was referring to, of course, the generous amount he had surrendered for a drink.

"Anyway, that was a good job of the leprechaun. He's not the biggest fish in this sea, but he's still pretty big . . . er, relatively speaking of course." Swiping a bottle of vodka out of thin air, the bartender took a swig of it, before tossing it backwards haphazardly, where it promptly vanished and reappeared on a shelf three feet away. "Lotsa you fighting types come this time around, I see. I reckon your batch of students are gonna be a real fireworks factory. Ah well, least it won't be boring all around, and 'sides, fightin's good for business."

[Flood]

"I enjoy fighting. It reminds me that I'm alive and it helps train the mind as well." Chen tapped on the side of his head as he said this. "I can't think of a better way to train your brain then making quick plans in the heat of battle. My real goal here though..." Chen trailed off and the smile on his face faded, replaced by a solemn frown. "I need another drink." He slid his empty glass towards the bartender and sighed.

[MagusDream]

Flare kept hearing all the conversation. He was already put into the "fight lover" batch of students. ... Those who love fighting, huh... looking back now, I could say I enjoyed bringing others down to the ground. Maybe I still enjoy doing that, but I'm controlling myself., he thought. Instead of speaking, he decided just to watch.

[Dash375]

Sandra listened to the bartender intently as she took a sip of the red wine finding it to be enjoyable "So tell me, is he a teacher here as well? Is he the strongest? Are you strong?" She launched a barrage of questions her way not thinking if she had overloaded the bartender as her curiosity started to get the better of her again, truthfully she wanted to fight everyone here for the sole reason to see their magic and what else they could do.

@thehangedman

[TheHangedMan]

@Dash375 & @floodtalon

"None of my business why you lot like fighting," said the bartender with a cheeky grin. "All I know is that it tends to bring teachers, teachers and students both. Nice bit of headache that's best curable with alcohol."

The bartender flicked her left hand and tossed the bottle of white wine that suddenly appeared into her right, twirling it around before pouring its contents into a crystal wine glass. She slid it towards Chen, before turning to get hit by Sandra's barrage of questions.

"Whoa, whoa there lassie. Now, if you're refferin' to Chen here," she said, raising her arms up placatingly, giving Sandra an amused smirk while jabbing a thumb to the boy, "nah, he ain't a teacher. As for if he's the strongest or not, well, I can't rightly answer that without havin' a right old argument with a good portion of the room, an' as for whether or not I'm strong, well . . . I dunno; never been much o' a fighter myself - I prefer partying and drinking - but I ain't ever lost a fight either. I can say for sure that I'm not any weaker than your exam proctors though."

[Flood]

@TheHangedMan@Dash375

"I'm far from the strongest... For now at least." A devious grin appeared on Chen's face as he uttered those words and it seemed as if he was back to his usual self. He sipped from his wine glass and cracked his neck. "Nice to meet you miss, I don't believe I properly introduced myself. I'm Chen Chideta." Chen nodded at her and watched the fight with Sol and the Skeleton.

[Eklispe]

@TheHangedMan

Sol Windblade

Sol's eyes leapt to the blood moving as suspiciously as he anticipated and he quickly retreated several feet analyzing his opponent once more. He hadn't attacked, which meant he either wanted to prove a point or wanted Sol to attack again. Possibilities raced through his mind, the blood had moved up the skeleton's arm. Perhaps it grew in response to violence, the blood movement might be the start of his body reconstructing and gaining strength. If that was the case attacking would only worsen his situation. But if he were to face his opponent in a duel then he couldn't very well avoid fighting.

"First blood goes to me I suppose." said quietly more to himself than anyone, then he spoke up louder. "Your turn then." he said simply and waited laxly, standing lightly on his toes. He couldn't risk attacking and making his opponent stronger without knowing how strong he was to begin with. Sol eyed the fairy as well in case her expressions gave anything away. His next attack would be sure to make the skeleton's back to the fairy to allow him to view her as he struck. Though it was perhaps a long shot he would take any advantage he could get. Sol had a feeling this fight would not be an easy one.

Exam

The bolt was quickly drawn by the man's hand and swallowed by a small glowing rune much like the fireball had been. One too many times had Meruin surprised him with her strength and speed. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. Fool me thrice... "Interesting." was all the man said before taking several steps back to even the distance between them. What a very interesting girl, gasping for breath and ready to collapse yet still eager to fight. Not even eager to win though, just for the thrill of fighting. Normally a joy the more erudite did not find easily. The man simply side, "Move, Fence." The ground in a 5 meter square of Meruin's feet vanished and reappeared above her hurlting downwards in an attempt to crush her. If Meruin tried to teleport or move out of the way she would run into the shocking fence of magic that was closing in at the same rate the boulder was. A simple move, but effective.

---
Finished Examines

A voice emitted from a speaker in one of the corners of the room. "Your dorms have now been arranged and your schedules will be waiting for you when you arrive. When you exit this room you will find yourself in your dorm. Your rooms are as follows for future reference." For any who did leave them would find themselves in a hallway that lead forward for several feet with an opening on the left and right. Both led into very spacious rooms with beds, plenty of storage space, and even a fully equipped bathroom for each student. Further on the hallway led into a equally pleasant kitchen area with a fully stocked fridge, pantry, and other important cooking supplies. Hopefully one of the two denizens had a faint idea of how to cook.

Dorms

1A @TheHangedMan & @The ghost in black = Meruin + Aleksandra

2A @olcharlieboi & @WittyWolf = Charles + Azrael

5A @MagusDream & @Minimum = Agni + Max

6A @Slendy & @floodtalon = Kenneth + Chen

1B @Eklispe & @Dash375 = Sol + Sandra

2B @TheUltimatum & @Shikaru = Apollo + Arcadius

4B @Zetsuko & @Aisling = Kieran + Agatha

[olcharlieboi]

Charles would look up from his book when he heard the voice come on stating about the dorms and where to get their schedules. he stood out of his chair grabbing his stuff and walks out the room and looks around seeing how the dorm rooms was set up, bit surprising at how it was normally there would be a simply room where they stayed and then the public restroom in the building, but this place had everything sat out for each room. he was both bit nervious and happy to have such an accommodation he wondered who exactly his room mate was for he was slightly worried how they would act.

[The ghost in black]

"well I guess that's the end of that..." Aleksandri said to herself punctuating the sentence with a light hearted sigh. "At least I passed though so that's good but i have a long way to go" she said as she sat up from the woman's lap and stretched feeling as though she had been hit by a truck. "thank you mam' I promise that I will not let this school down" Aleksandri said with a bow and began her walk towards the bronze gate. After examining the door and running her hand over the depictions shown on it before pushing it open with her aura wrapped hand and walking through. She found herself in the room with the other students who had completed their test before her, Aleksandri walked her way up to the bar and took a seat on a stool at the end.

After a while the speakers came on and announced their room assignments, Who was Meruin again... meh I'll find out soon I guess she thought before getting up and moving over to a door. Aleksandri walked through it and ended up in a hallway with two doors, walking to the door on the right side of the hallway Aleksandri opened it and was surprised by the spacious area behind the door, "Wow" was all she could say as she looked into her closet and the bathroom before Aleksandri sat down on the bed and bounced up and down slightly waiting for her dorm partner.

[TheHangedMan]

@Eklispe

Sol the Windblade's Exam

"Hmm, yes, I see. You're a fairly simple one. No unusual talents or abilities; just simple strength," said the Skeleton. It was not in any way mocking, just an honest observation. "Not that such is a bad thing. Too many people on the field of battle have favored parlor tricks over true strength and have consequently fallen. Some times the simplest strengths are the best ones."

The Skeleton cut of his musings before abruptly disappearing from Sol's sight. Now, the massive Skeleton stood behind him, his billowing cape the only sign that he had moved at all. Asides from that, he made no other movement simply standing straight and looking at Sol impassively.

"That much, I can attest to."

---

Meruin Hazy's Exam

Meruin groggily recognized the ground falling underneath her, before abruptly reappearing above her, and realized she should probably do something.

She drew the best rune she could, it was a rune that symbolized movement. Normally, Meruin would use it to teleport or to move out of the way quickly, but with that electric fence around her, she changed her mind. The rune graphed itself into the rock, and promptly sent the rock flying back to its caster.

Meruin still had a thousands of moves planned ahead, and was more than ready to act on them when her body froze and she collapsed into the ground.

"Eh . . . ? My body won't liste . . . n . . ."

The last thin Meruin could remember was her arm trying feebly to draw another rune.

[Shikaru]

Arcadius jolted upright when a voice sounded over the intercoms having fallen asleep due to the sheer amount of fatigue from his exam, as well as not finding any particularly interesting topic to comment on. So..I'm with that Apollo kid..interesting.. he thought to himself as he stood, collecting his staff from the chair beside him. "I look forward to seeing everyone's scores..I'm truly interested in some of you." He told them nodding before exiting the room, appearing in the room that would be his dorm room for the next year. He decided to take the room on the left, and further decided that he needed a shower. Laying his staff up against the bed he grabbed a fresh change of clothes from the closet, that surprisingly was already stocked with outfits similar to what he had on if only slightly different. Shrugging he continued his way to the bathroom, laying his fresh clothes on the sink and tossing his not so fresh clothes into the hamper before stepping into the shower.

[Eklispe]

@TheHangedMan

Exam

The man flickered out of view and appeared next to Meruin catching her before she fell into the considerable hole beneath her. "As I thought." he muttered and opened a shimmer purple portal beneath them. "Perhaps this one needs to learn her own strength." was all he said before releasing her. She would fall through the portal and land harmlessly on her bed bouncing lightly before coming to a rest. Her proctor had determined that there was no harm done to her other than exhaustion.

Sol Windblade

Sol's eyes widened incredulously and his ears twitched causing his to quickly whirl around to face his opponent. So fast! Given the skeleton's words there was no magic there, simply strength of body, at least all the strength of body a skeleton could have. With speed of that level, his strength was doubt at least equal to it. Truly a formidable opponent. Whats more it seemed he was unable to even injure the skeleton given the lack of response to his last attack. That meant he couldn't attack and rely on his opponent flinching from the blow to defend himself, any attacks he made couldn't be made at the cost of his own defense. Also it meant he felt like an idiot attacking again.

But his opponent seemed to have no inclination to attack and Sol had no desire for a stalemate. "You've made your point, doubtless you're stronger than me by no small margin. But if you think that I'll back down then you're wrong." with his statement made Sol once again stuck at his opponent. He quickly closed the gap getting inside the range of the axe and swung upwards as if to hit the skeleton's blood covered arm. However he continued his swing, the sword coming just shy of the arm and slammed into the axe where the blade met the shaft in an attempt to disarm his opponent. Sol had the dread anticipation that this attempt would do nothing and the skeleton would maintain an iron grasp on his weapon but he had to do something. If the skeleton even deigned to attack him at all Sol anticipated a brutal kick from the leg he was positioned in front of.