Ludo glanced towards the crowd at the coliseum and shrugged nonchalantly at the motion to hurry it up by the friendly giant. "Alright, alright. No more fucking around, got it." He followed him with his ball and chain in tow. Funnily enough, it was actually quite faster to follow Maverick; people gave way to him like some guy parting the sea. Eventually they crossed the gates and to his surprise were standing behind group of soaking wet nobles.
He arched his brow at the slight directed to him by Isvelt. "Ah, that explains why I smell better than you," he whispered back. It took a second for the royal to process what the insult meant and then stared at him as if he besmirched his honor. Ludo smirked back at his shock. "Easy there. What is gentle ribbing between friends?" He asked, throwing Isvelt's words back at him. Before the royal could say anything, they were met by another obstacle though they really should've seen it coming. The only thing that they could see was Maverick's big fucking back.
"... I really should've thought this through." He said to himself. Well, there was only one thing to do. To Maverick's surprise, he felt a weight pull at his clothes until he realized that Ludo was climbing on top of him and soon was sitting on his shoulders like a child riding a parent's. "Just ignore me big fella, just need a better view." Of course, they were getting strange looks by anyone else with some sense though it was either that or not see jack shit.
However, the attention of other applicants was soon diverted away from him by the fanfare of horns and the beating of drums and the sound of the doors closing behind them.
Ludo's gaze focused upon an older man distinguished man in green robes and a white stole using some sort of magical device to converse with the crowd. He waited with bated breath as his eyes followed the spotlight to the alcove. There they were the captains of the Magic Knights. Throughout the din and glitz, not for one moment had Ludo let his eyes off of them. He looked upon with them with honest, childlike reverence for it truly was a dream of his to one day be in this very coliseum and earn a spot among their ranks just like so many children before him and certainly after him. Even under his circumstances, he could not help, but to feel a little giddy.
But it did not last long. Officials came down to the coliseum's field and prepared the first half of their test. It could've just been summed as 'break shit' and Ludo was definitely good at doing just that.
"It's showtime. I assume that neither of you are going to need luck?" He chimed cheerfully, as if he had no care in the world.
However, there was something more important; it was time to study his competition. There was not a chance in hell that Ludo was going to let a chance to see what his competition could do, and he was sure that the smart ones were going to do the same. The thing was that a lot of them were really not that impressive save for only a handful. Well, that bluenette was impressive for other reasons as many of his peers verbally acknowledged for him, but she wasn't his type.
"Number 209, Ludo Liszt!"
And there he was. His name was called up and it was time for some action. "Thanks for the lift, Mav. Remember, we're getting you glasses later." He gave the giant and pat on the shoulder before hopped off of him, landing on his feet with a slight bend to his knees.
Ludo walked with cool, nonchalant confidence and grin of determination that many would find to be arrogant for an unknown commoner such as himself. It also really did not help his case that he used Maverick as a booster seat.
"Is guy taking this seriously or not?" "A commoner has no right to hold his head high like that." "What a smug looking prick." "He's kinda cute though."
Of course, he ignored the comments. They were all just noise that melded together and fell deaf to his ears. He strode over to the official that called him over that he could only describe as unremarkable. They were dressed in fine clothes, but other than that everything else was forgettable. A plain face, a plain voice, plain everything. By the end of this day, Ludo will have forgotten about this man's existence
He was all smiles, but his eyes told a different story; there was an aching loneliness that gnawed at his heart. A stadium full of people, a sea of a thousand faces, and yet the one person that mattered the most wasn't there.
"Dad, I made it." The words hung bittersweetly in the air.
The official cleared his throat to get his attention. "Ludo, are you ready?" He asked impatiently. They were on a tight schedule after all.
Right, he was there to get into the Magic Knights, not feel sorry for himself. However, he looked up at the crowd with a glare. They held zero expectations for him, heck, there were some that would root for his downfall. Ludo looked at the forgettable official and nodded. "I'm ready," he said with determination burning in his eyes.
It was time to make a statement.
From his holster Ludo pulled out his grimoire. A three-leaf clover sat dead center on what could only be described as a bouquet of vulture skulls surrounded by strange naturalistic elements that resembled the body of slithering snakes with flower petals for heads. The background was a lighter shade of purple while the markings where a shade of purple that was teetering on being black. The grimoire hovered in front of him, the pages fluttered open with a great flourish.
He smiled assuredly, feeling a pulse of power course through his body and yet, there was something different about him. There was something oppressive, suffocating about the air surrounding him. If anyone paid attention, one would see a faint purple glint in his eyes.
"Begin!" The official declared.
With no warning, torrents of strange purple liquid began to swirl around Ludo. As they danced around the raven-haired boy, they took shape of several large serpents with thick, heavy bodies with dorsal thins bearing their hideously long fangs that could break through low-grade reinforcement magic. Rather than snakes, they appeared more draconic in nature.
"Lernaean Serpents."
Ludo held his right hand out, fingers outstretched and at breakneck speeds the serpents homed in on the targets with their maws and crushed then at the same exact time. Ludo would keep shooting these serpents off at the hovering tiles, using his hands to manipulate each individual creation to maneuver them through the air to chomp each tile into dust.
It a demonstration of mana control. Precision, speed, and power were the name of the game and in Ludo's case he was displaying that he could keep track of multiple targets at the same time and yet, to the trained eye he had a grasp of how much magic he needed to use instead of burning himself out on the first test. It was odd to say, but this ruffian somehow actually made this test look somehow graceful. His movements were filled with confidence and there was clear focus and intent with every action. He left no room for hesitation.
How many was he destroying? Ludo certainly wasn't keeping count. All of his focus was on destroying as many tiles as he could within the one-minute time frame. He was destroying them as quickly as they would bring them out by the handful.
"One minute has passed! Please proceed to the next station!" The plain official said.
Ludo dropped the spell and sauntered over to the next station. In the periphery of his hearing, he could hear some cheers and shouts of encouragement from who were probably commoner's just like him though he could also feel the disapproving stares from those higher up on the social ladder. He walked backwards to give the audience a cheeky wave of his before he spun back on his heels to focus on the target ahead of him.
"Hey, I'm gonna put my back into this. Mind giving me some space?" Ludo asked the official while he was cracking a kink from his neck. He received a skeptical look, but his request was honored as he and others gave him as much of a wide berth as possible. There were skeptical murmurs among the crowd, wondering what this kid was going to or even could do.
The young commoner focused his piercing gaze on the stone pillar and a coy smile stretched along his lips. His raven hair began to flutter upwards while he stretched his arm out forward once again, his body began to glow with a deep purple hue of mana. A deluge of that same purple liquid erupted and swirled like a maelstrom around the mage, far more than what he had summoned for the previous test. Just like the prior test though, the liquid began to form into a serpentine, borderline draconic creature though this time it was just a singular creation of very substantial size.
He was drawing from his deep reserves of mana, perhaps going a bit overboard, but it was to make one thing perfectly clear: there was no difference between him and the nobles. He was someone deeply beloved by mana, someone that could rival the hundreds of years' worth of noble pedigree to get the same results as him. In short, he was strong.
"Go." He pointed his index finger at the column. The serpent lunged forward with its maw stretched wide and head tilted on an angle and bit down on the column and almost ripped it straight out of the ground except it broke off at the base. The serpent went up in the air with a steep arc and with a squeeze of Ludo's hand, its jaw clenched down and shattered the pillar into chunks of debris that would rain down to the ground.
There was a stunned silence from the audience before it exploded with an uproar of excitement and outrage. There were cries claiming that he had to be doping, some were baffled because to them this came out of the left field, and of course there were some that cheered and understood why he was confident.
Ludo exhaled and began to stretch. Yup, he definitely went a bit overboard, but he made his point. The audience got it though his attention wasn't on them, but on the captains. His eyes would not break contact with them, a look of determination that told them that he was not going to settle for anything other than the best. His lips curled into a smile, and mouthed to them, I'm just getting started.
He was directed to go back to the crowd and await further instruction. So, that's what he did. Ludo went back to the crowd of hopefuls and relaxed as he watched his competition, eager to continue to the next tests.
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