Zeroth — Roleplayer Guild

Short talk to @Agunimon

Should I have paid more attention to the others? No one was really using their magic in public, though, so maybe that wouldn't have helped... Tristan's thoughts were racing from the moment the doors closed. He'd tried to hold his calm until now, and looking over his shoulder for those nobles--and maybe another glimpse of that blue-haired girl--had been a short distraction, but... Maybe we won't have to spar each other? No, that'd be stupid, Magic Knights are all about fighting...

Then, a pair of bright green eyes framed by shocking pink hair filled his vision. He leaned back with a muffled "Nnn!" sound as the girl asked him if he was okay.

"Ahh...umm...N-no more th-than anyone else, I, I guess..." He said, rubbing the back of his head with one hand as his eyes drifted to the upward corner. She continued to encourage him, pointing out that there wasn't a numerical limit on how many of them could become knights. As he glanced back at her, a blush growing on his cheeks, Tristan nodded. Was it just him, or had all the girls he'd seen today been easy on the eyes? There were a lot more of them here, too, compared to kids his age back home...

"R-right. Um, thanks...That actually does--" Then the trumpets blew, and the whole crowd began rippling with anticipation. The captains were introduced. Tristan's eyes were drawn to them much the same as everyone else--including, of course, the bewitching Bisera, though he also found the other two female captains quite pretty--but his own gaze lingered on the Purple Orca's leader.

Oh wow, check out that articulation. Did they get the colors with heat patination, or is that a lacquer? It's too far away to see the maker's mark--I wonder if he'd tell me if I asked...

Then the testing began, and it was back to waiting. He was 176--even with multiple other applicants going before him, including the pretty pink-haired girl, it was easily another twenty or thirty minutes before he'd be called. But, now that he actually had a chance to see the different magics on display, he was less nervous and more...awed.

It's all so cool. Nobody back home was this strong except maybe some of the militia guys... The villagers only used their magic to help out with daily tasks--water spells for laundry, earth magic to till fields, and so forth. No one had the strength or skill to put on grand displays like this. But then, of course, Tristan realized he had to match what he was seeing. And he was only allowed to use one spell.

Crap.

He looked towards the stone columns. Magic Bullets weren't something he was great at, but he had bird-hunted with them and played games with other kids in the village. He had no idea, however, how he would cut into such a sturdy object. The best swords he could create were still only of the kind of quality any average smith might turn out--not a masterpiece for an expert fencer, just the kind of every day use gear a soldier might use. And without Azure Edge, a separate spell that couldn't be used without a focus in hand, there was no way they could cut into stone...

Even if it was a block of wood, though. It's thick, reinforced with magic, and its shape isn't smooth or round. I'd have to chop into it, instead of slashing, so even a razor sharp blade would probably just chip or break--

An idea came to him. And just in time, for they called his name.

On the tile test, his shots were slow. His Magic Bullets looked more like magical spikes of some kind: plain, glowing orange-yellow projectiles with tapered, pointed shapes. They didn't usually break the tiles either, though they pierced through several times. However, he actually ended up with zero complete misses of the shots he took, and while only a handful were bullseyes, the vast majority were extremely consistent--once he'd figured out a couple of tricks, he'd been able to repeat himself over and over again. Rather than leading a shot, it was more like he figured out a certain area in front of him that the tiles would always pass through at some point, even with random movements. Like a strike of the hammer hitting the same place, he held each shot steady.

Then he stood in front of the column. He looked around at some of the others, and the powers of destruction they brought to bear. He took a deep breath. Right. There wasn't a limit on how many of them could be made knights today.

Tristan raised both hands, and magical power came to life between his palms. Like watching molten bronze pour upward, the thickened aura began to take a shape. He needed a sword with a design that could cleave, not just slash, something that would stand up to a hard impact on a solid target. Like flakes of hot metal breaking away with the final blow, his magic dispersed and left behind the final creation!

That thing was too big to be called a sword. Too big, too thick, too heavy, and too rough, it was more like a large hunk of iron. Solid black save for its edge, a foot wide, taller than most men--the sword didn't even have a cross guard.

Tristan's grip tightened around the hilt. His cloak billowed back over his shoulders, revealing solid arms that bulged beneath his sleeves. His forearm muscles stood out, a vein like a steel cable drawing taut across each one. How many times had he swung the great wood splitting maul, to fuel his father's forge? How long had he worked the bellows, pushing and pulling levers longer than his own body? How heavy were the great sledgehammers they used to pound red-hot steel into shape?

Another vein pulsed in his neck as his whole body leaned forward. His broad back pulled with enough power to move a great anvil. He brought the monstrous blade down with a loud warcry!

CLANG!

Three hundred pounds of magically wrought iron, levered from a handle over six feet away from its tip, chopped into the column. It bit down, driven by gravity and Tristan's not inconsiderable strength. Though watching it come down felt like ages to Tristan, in reality it was a mere instant before the blow stopped cold. The shock reverberated through his entire skeleton, rattling his teeth.

But, there it was--a giant sword wedged over a foot, at the deepest, into a magically reinforced column of stone. Sure, he hadn't broken the thing in half like some or ripped it out of the ground--but if that were a human being, or most other flesh and blood creatures, Tristan didn't see any possible way to survive such a blow. And that's what swords were supposed to do, right?

His blade burst into orange-yellow sparks as he turned away from it, and, with heavy breaths and a bead of sweat rolling down his face, he returned to his place in the crowd...
Captain's Commentary
@Xaltwind
"...The Azurios family, did he say?" Helve looked down the row of seats towards her fellow captains. "I thought they had been wiped out. What ever came of that investigation?"

"...Unfortunately, it was inconclusive." answered Walden with a frown. As the group watched the young noblewoman's somewhat lackluster performance, he sighed. "We ran into a dead end. Some few we caught were charged, but..."

"If I remember correctly," spoke Argos, his tone measured as he narrowed his eyes, "the perpetrators were revolutionaries, were they not?"

"The attackers themselves claimed so, but the movement denounced them." Walder shook his head. "And we had to admit the modus operandi didn't match--the CRP hasn't been involved in violence on that level before or since that event."

"Openly." Azarleon all but spat.

When Camilla blew up her chosen stone column, they all showed varying signs of notice...

"Yarr, what I'd like t'know is, what they been feedin' th' lass?" Giles stuffed a wooden pipe with some manner of herb as he leaned forward in his seat, grin plastered on his face.

"She's a child, Giles." Helve said pointedly, while Bisera giggled. The Blue Rose captain, on the other hand, coughed into her fist and looked away from the uncouth sailor.
@Th3King0fChaos
When Illios let loose his first Magic Bullet, several of the captains raised an eyebrow at the speed. Argos immediately gestured to the elderly official.

"Mr. Gerald, who is that applicant?"

"Ah, th-that's..." The man adjusted his spectacles as he looked down, then consulted his clipboard. "H-his name is Illios Avalona, sir. It says he uses...S-Sun Magic?!"

"Avalona?" Azarleon spoke up with a sharp look. "There was a magic knight by that surname in my squadron...I want to say almost ten years ago?" He crossed his arms and glared back down at the arena floor. "I only recognize the name because the man went AWOL. I...I think he left a wife behind? I didn't know they had a child."

"Sun Magic, huh?" Bisera placed her delicate chin on her gloved hand as she looked coyly at Argos. "I don't suppose he would be a relative of yours? My, imagine the scandal...did our perfect knight have a passionate night, some long years ago?"

"Of course not." Argos's lip curled for a moment as he too turned his attention back to the floor. "...Clearly, the boy has no idea what he's doing with it." There was a loud crack when Illios punched the pillar. The level of reinforcement was impressive, but...
@Agunimon
"Oh, she's good!" piped up the cheery-eyed captain of the Blue Rose. Lanner's double-Magic Bullets garnered several looks of approval, as did her clever use of her portals.

"Spatial Magic, that's always a good find." Walden nodded with a smile. 

"You mean 'convenient,' right?" quipped the childlike elf a few chairs down. Giles laughed, while Bisera shot the pointy-eared captain a glare.
@Duthguy
"...That one's accuracy is impressive." spoke up Azarleon as Albie repeated Lanner's feat of using Magic Bullet with both hands, but in addition led nearly every shot to predict the tiles' movements. "...I think he missed that target on purpose?"

"A simple boy with a simple magic. Just like the one with the sword." Helve said dismissively.

"Snipin' from afar ain't me style," Giles took a puff from his pipe, "but th' lad's doin well fer 'imself, methinks." Below them, Albie's Spinning Arrow drilled right through the stone column just like the demonstrating official's fire lance had, leaving an even cleaner hole.
@SilverPaw
Long before Solveig's name was ever called, the captains took note of the flaming streamers around her. 

"How interesting!" Birusk the elf's eyes lit up with a literal glow, small static sparks playing among his eyelashes. "The spell uses the Fire element's nature to "burn" ambient mana for fuel, as well as her own! Compared to something like the Heart's method it's woefully inefficient, but in a setting like this where there's so much energy already being wasted..."

"She'd better hope she can control it all." Helve said, raising one hand slightly as if preparing to swat a bug. Her sigh fogged in the air as the temperature on the balcony began to drop, sharply.

The rest of Solveig's performance brought nods from several of the group. Azarleon, Argos, Walden, and the otherwise silent Grant even joined politely in the applause of the crowd. Giles, on the other hand, stuck two fingers in his mouth and let out a sharp whistle, which earned him another glare from the Silver Eagle's leader.
@Remram
"...Well now." Argos noted as the captains watched the purple serpents tear through their targets. "These particular tests aren't well suited for Poison Magic--you can't paralyze or atrophy stone. And yet..."

"Having enough raw magic to create such strong manifestations out of the element is one thing," Walder added, "but his control over them is notable, too. Commoners born with that level of power can't always manipulate it well without a great deal of training."

"If he slips, the infection could kill a dozen of them." Azarleon pointed out with a wrinkled nose. "Bisera, you could treat something like that, yes?"

"No need for our handsome lion to worry!" the witch winked with a dip of her hat. "I already used Mana Sense to analyze it. It's only a paralytic!"

"In high enough dosage to "paralyze" a heart." came the growled reply.
@Expllo
"...How vulgar." Helve shook her head and leaned back in her chair with both arms crossed. Argos made a sound of agreement. Azarleon, however, cracked a hint of a smile before immediately coughing into his hand. When he removed it, his face was once again pleasantly unreadable.

"'E's a mighty big feller fer a magic like that." Giles used his pipe to point at the steam erupting from the top of Hikari's pillar. "Don't seem t'be a great combination."

"And his attitude? Does that remind you of another young fellow, Captain Lavaretz?" Walder elbowed the sailor with a grin.

They watched as one of the officials helped heal the boisterous boy's burns, and then the next applicant was up...
@imia
"...Why are so many using reinforcement attacks?" Argos questioned, tapping the arm of his chair with one rhythmic finger. "Have the commoners all forsaken spellcraft for brawling, now?"

"The column test is partial to elements with a lot of raw power." Jennifer spoke up, in the tone of a kindergarten teacher. "They may not have big flashy attacks, but I bet many of them have lots of other skills outside of combat!"

"Jenny, dear, even you have to admit that's hollow praise." Bisera shrugged with one exaggerated movement of a limp hand. "Your pinky packs more punch than most of these children."

"...Combat...is a Magic Knight's...primary function." spoke Grant for the first time since they'd sat down. "An inability to fight...is a significant...design flaw."

"See! Gran-chan agrees with me!" Bisera seemed especially pleased by that, looking towards the Purple Orca captain with a glittering smile...which was completely ignored. After several long seconds, the sparkles faded, as did Bisera's smile. A few seconds later, it became awkward, and she turned away with a sigh. The armored head never even looked her way.
@ERode
"Leichenberg. That's another name I haven't heard in a while." Helve sniffed. Then, as ozone stench filled the air, her icy facade cracked via the tiniest, cutest, most small-animal-esque a-chu! sound of her sneeze.

"The Clover's border guard, once." Azarleon noted as the princess next to him sniffled, her eyes screwed shut as she struggled to resist another sneeze. A-chu! It didn't work. "I suppose she's out to prove herself, then." A-chu!

"She's off to a fine start, in that case." said Walden. A-chu! He tilted his head to one side with a smile that tried to show more understanding than amusement. "Bless you, Captain Silva."

"A-chu!" Behind the chairs, Jennifer reached past Azarleon's seat to pass Helve a white handkerchief. "D-dank yu Jinnefuh..."
The Third Test

 OOC: No worries if you haven't finished an intro/first set of trials! Please continue at your pace, and let me know if you need some kind of collab!

As the last few tiles were destroyed without regenerating, and the remains of the columns were absorbed back into the floor, another official raised their hands and opened a portal quite similar to that used by Lanner, though much larger. As if he'd turned a large bag upside down, an enormous quantity of brooms tumbled out onto the floor. Two more officials used their magic to telekinetically pass the brooms out to the applicants as fast as they could.

"For many years, you may have heard that being able to fly was a must-have ability for a magic knight." said the old man in the green robe and white stole. "But, as you can see by looking at your companions, in recent years the number of applicants have only continued to grow! Now, we ask for a little more than just the ability to fly by itself..."

The next official to appear carried a treasure chest like one might find in a dungeon, and set it down in the center of the floor. He then gestured, and a simple glowing line of magical energy was drawn on the floor in a large circle that covered most of the open arena's space.

"Everyone, you must move behind the line before we begin! Take your broom in hand, and mount up!" As everyone did so, the official opened the chest and quickly removed something before shutting it again. He held it up as the announcer continued.

"Within the chest are 100 objects just like this one!" In the other official's palm was a small, glowing, golden sphere with a tiny halo, and two pairs of tiny angel-like wings. As soon as it was exposed to the open air, the object began to rapidly flap both sets of feathers like a hummingbird, though the official was careful not to let it break free from his grip. "When released, they will randomly fly at high speed around the arena! When all of them have been caught, the third trial will end immediately!" He paused to let that sink in for a moment. "In addition to your flight skills, you may use any other spells that will help you catch, restrain, or defend your quarry--so long as you do not use lethal force!"

Again, he paused. But he seemed to be looking among the crowd, gauging the reactions on various faces. A few of the applicants suddenly began looking around at their fellows with suspicion...some even started edging away from larger groups, or carefully pulling things like wands out of their pockets...

"Are there any questions?" The man would wait, and if asked any, answer them politely. "Alright! Riders, on your marks...get set...ready..."

The officials had moved well out of harm's way, save for the one with the chest. The light on the ground blinked red, then yellow...

"GO!"

@FatPrincess Hello and welcome! I like the character idea, just a few things to hash out:

How familiar would you say you are with the series? As an inhabitant of the Witches' Forest, it's very likely she'd never have encountered men, at least not directly, until entering the Clover Kingdom. The Witches are kind of an autonomous group, all-female, and many of them possess types of magic that are considered taboo or unsavory by other kingdoms. They've also had conflict with both Clover and Diamond Kingdoms in the past, so there are some negative feelings on all sides. I feel like this might need to play more into her personality or fears somehow, although feeling superior to non-Witches is a good start. What are your thoughts?

For the prophecy mentioned in the backstory, if it's a major element you'd prefer to keep secret, that's something we'd probably need to figure out over PM. Otherwise, did you have any specific plans for it?

For her labyrinth spell in particular, due to the nature of Mist Magic even if the walls are magically "solidified," it's not really going to be the same as something like earth magic or stone. It matches the themes of illusion and misdirection used with that magic type in the series pretty well, but in canon Mist Magic is also presented as fairly easy to scatter, especially with Wind magic. The ability of the labyrinth to recover would offset this, but I just thought I'd point it out--certain types of enemies would likely only be slowed down by it, and more powerful foes might just tear right through it.

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