'when she said she would test out if I'm capable enough I didn't think I would end up here....' Alaric smiled wryly while staring at the arena infront of him.
The Prism Arena shone beneath the filtered glow of the morning light, its crystalline dome tinted blue due to the stabilizing mana. The air buzzed with magical residue, remnants of countless duels etched invisibly into the atmosphere.
The floor was polished obsidian. Yet if one looked closely they could see countless small scratches that even magic couldn't heal. In the center stood a lone figure with his red, coat fluttering slightly with every breath he took.
Alaric Vyle breathed slowly, deliberately.
'well... It's just another stage, another act.'
Across from him stood Headmistress Selene Vaeloria, serene as well as lethal. Her violet eyes gave away nothing, but her presence filled the entire space with a palpable weight. She wasn't putting up any intimidating posture... she didn't need to.
From the balcony above, three figures watched with keen eyes.
The Magic Department's Chair Professor Marius Drayne sat straight in his polished silver robes, his snow-white hair combed neatly back. A man of tradition and theory.
"For the last time... how long is she gonna keep up this farce?"said [Professor Marius Drayne] his voice clipped, precise.
"Fourth Circle, they say? Pfft please, she could kill him with a flick of her fingers if she wanted to."
Professor Elira Queen a sharp-eyed alchemy prodigy with teal hair tied in a messy side ponytail. She came wearing a half-unbuttoned lab coat over practical clothes, and her ever-present pink goggles rest on her forehead. Her belt clinks with vials and gadgets, and her wild energy crackles with chaos.
"Who knows? This might be the 200th time we've been called just to see her fold some poor young guy in half."
Professor Riven Kael A tall and broad, battle-hardened man with a stern face and a gray mohawk tied back in a short knot. His sleeveless robes revealing old scars on his muscular arms, and just his presence gave out a feeling of strength and discipline.
"Hmm, must say it never gets tiring to see the light of ambition and young talent get extinguished."
As he stared at Alaric he couldn't help but feel something amiss.
"Hmmm he may be a fourth circle mage, but it would be unwise to underestimate him just yet.... Look at those artifacts he's carrying with him although they aren't exactly giving out mana, I can feel their strength."
"This fight... Might just be an interesting one."
Sitting next to him Marius clicked his tounge in dissaproval.
"That's what you always say before they get folded."
"Ara~Ara could it be you're scared that you'll finally have competition Marius?" Elira snickered.
"You! This will be the last time I accept your insolence you....
...
________________________________________
'huh. The report wasn't joking when it said that they were chatty.' Alaric smiled as he stared at the professors watching him from the balcony.
"Don't mind then Mr Alaric they're shut shut ins that barely get to socialize with each other so they're just excited to see each other." Selene offered an apologetic smile.
'nevermind that the person infront of me is even more dangerous....'
Selene Vaeloria. One of the empire's only two Archmages. She's an important military asset although she doesn't excel in any elementary magic she's one of the only mages that is proficient in illusion magic.
It's said that whenever she would enter a battlefield the fate of the enemy would be sealed... With them either ending up braindead or stuck with permanent PTSD from killing their own allies and friends.
'The empire fears her to such a degree that she has to be a mere headmistress of an academy. Unfortunate.'
"Are you done thinking mr Alaric? If so we can start our battle."
"So… if I lose, do I still get the gig?"
"I'm afraid not"
Selene raised a hand. The mana in the arena gathered around it before pouring down on Alaric like a curtain dropping.
"This is not a duel that you can take lightly kid," she said, her voice serene and calm.
"This is a demonstration of your might. I will restrain myself to fifty percent capacity. Show me why you deserve a chance."
Alaric tilted his head, monocle catching the light."I thought professors were hired through interviews, not assassination attempts."
She did not smile.
[-10 applause points]
"Alright fineeee"
Alaric thought, 'no warm-up banter. The classic cold MILF character. Got it.'
She moved her hand in a slow spiral. Three overlapping magic circles bloomed into the air.
[Phantom Threads]
From the magic circles in the air thin white lines shot toward him at a speed his eyes could barely register.
'that's fast!'
From the balcony, Marius exhaled through his nose. "Thread-binding huh? A Triple-layered targeting spell. Elegant."
"Each thread reacts to body heat and arcane pressure," Elira added. "Designed to ensnare and bind the mage. Not bad Selene."
Alaric didn't flinch. He whispered under his breath.
[Seamstress]
And with a snap, dark threads burst from his gloves. Black lines full of an unknown energy, unseen by this world's mages, collided with Selene's threads midair—twisting, combining, then finally covering them completely.
The momentum of Selene's threads slowly stopped as her threads were just about to Pierce through Alaric's eyes.
"Pfft, close one am i right?" Although Alaric smiled seeing the sweat falling down his forehead he was anything but so.
'If I was even a fifth of a second late that would've gone through my eye. What is she thinking?'
The professors leaned forward.
"He counter-weaved it?" Riven raised a brow.
"To improvise to the phantom threads in less than a second. Impressive," Marius muttered. "Maybe the recommendation from his majesty wasn't just because they were blood relatives."
Selene's eyes widened as a smile plagued her face.
Just then, Alaric snapped his fingers as the long sharp black threads hanging in the sky changed their trajectory and made their words towards Selene.
Selene didn't pause.
"Cute"
[Conceptual magic: Null Point]
The massive threads that covered the stadium disintegrated. Like they never existed, not only that the very mana that they were made of dissapeared from this world like it never existed.
'Hey Hey Hey isn't that too Op? You can't just use that for an interview oh come on!'
Alaric couldn't help but be at awe at Selene's might.
Selene stepped forward and vanished.
[Veil Step]
Hundreds of versions of Selene suddenly appeared at once, approaching Alaric from different angles.
"Echo illusions," Elira whispered. "Each with identical mana signatures. Can't tell the real one until it's too late."
"Then simply destroy all at once," Riven said before crossing his arms.
A Selene clone made the first attack as a giant light blue sword of mana suddenly expanded from her hand aiming for Alaric's right ribs.
Alaric spun left only to walk straight into another one of the images that hugged him from behind, he didn't have time to react to the two giant things he felt from behind as,
[Frozen Glacier]
Alaric's eyes widened before He threw himself backward, activated the Seamstress, and narrowly avoided the frozen Glacier that had covered one-fourth of the glacier.
Not enough.
He hit the ground and rolled, coat singed at the hem.
Just as he dodged he was already surrounded by all the clones once again.
'Damm it, do I really need to use it?'
His hand reached down to the golden pocketwatch at his hip.
[Second act]
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The world stuttered.
He was back four seconds earlier.
With every press to the pocketwatch time reversed for a single second and finally Alaric found himself at the very moment where Selene used Veil step.
"Found youuuu" Alaric smirked as he spotted Selene's real body out of all the clones.
Alaric created countless black threads that weaved together to create a giant spike.
Alaric's thread snapped toward the still confused Selene.
The real Selene blinked in mild surprise. Before muttering,
[Conceptual magic:Freeze]
'fuck me in the ass how many times can you use that? Isn't this just cheating?'
At the same time the professors watching the battle from before then were frozen in shock.
"Time distortion," Marius noted, leaning forward. "No chant. That watch…. I've never seen an artifact like it."
Elira seeing this frowned.
"Any artifact related to time manipulation is literally impossible to find and even if such artifacs did exist their effects wouldn't be this powerful.... Fortunately it has an area of effect" Elira said, her goggles glowing. "Now I'm really interested in this Alaric person. What a valuable subject."
Riven grinned. "Smart bastard."
Selene didn't delay.
The situation has gotten out of hand.
She raised both hands.
The mana in the arena itself dropped and a pit opening beneath reality itself.
The obsidian floor started trembling even before the spell was released.
[Heavy crownweight domain]
The Gravity in the arena warped. As Alaric's knees buckled. His chest compressed, lungs wheezing as if drowning in air.
It wasn't just physical pressure. It affected his mind too he could barely form a coherent thought, his memories were scrambled and his logic destroyed.
The monocle cracked slightly.
He could barely hear.
"You... Where did you get that from?"
Marius stunned. "That's… that's Seventh Circle spell. Even at half power—"
"Wait," Elira said, frowning. "He's smiling."
Alaric was smiling.
"What's a play without a bit of mystery madam"
He reached inside his coat and pulled out a die.
Sleek. Six-sided. Pulsing with something far older than mana.
Selene's eyes narrowed slightly.
Alaric whispered, "Let's see if fate chooses me or you."
He rolled.
*Clack. Clack.*
3
The arena physically twisted,
Red curtains woven from magic and mystery erupted from behind him. The air dimmed. A microphone of thread unraveled into his hand.
Suddenly Alaric got up from his spot before dusting his red coat tinged with dirt.
"Ahem, Testing testing." Alaric tapped the mic thrice before,
[Curtainfall declaration]
The professors gasped.
The arena suddenly shifted.
It had been transformed into a platform straight out of a play.
Before they could realize they had been magically seated and become a part of the audience.
Alaric stood center stage.
"Tonight's performance," he said, his voice echoing like he was in an actual theatre,
"stars one humble professor and one goddess with a grudge."
He moved.
Selene growing wary had already covered herself with a plethora of defensive spells.
One of which being Mirror Break which encapsulates her in a mirror dimension which is an infinite distance away from Alaric in another plane.
"Jeeez come on headmistress what's the point of shying away in a play?"
Alaric raised his hand Seamstress threads traveled into the mirror dimension towards Selene. Almost reaching her.
Selene's eyes raised in suprise.
"Wha-
Before she could convince her sentence the threads grabbed her and pulled her into Alaric's arms.
Alaric grabbed her by the waist before connecting their arms.
After that he whispered into Selene's ear,
"A fair lady such as you deserves someone with her"
Selene's heart skipped a beat.
"Do you really th-
Before she could finish her sentence Alaric threw a punch headed straight to her nose changing it's shape.
"And that's for this fucking interview madam"
Blood spattered from Selene's nose as she could barely process the situation.
'Did I do too much?' Alaric started sweating bullets as he saw Selene's enraged expression.
"Ahem, ladies and gentlemen thank you for watching." Alaric bowed down before the red curtain infront of him closed and the arena returned to normal.
The professors who watched the whole play felt a tear roll down their eyes.
*Clap*
*Clap**clap*
*Clap* *clap* *clap*
"Sob. Simply amazing good work new guy!" Riven shouted.
"Kyaaa~ Alaric san please sign my glasses!" Elira screamed.
"It's whatever." Marius stood expressionless while whiping his tears
'we've lived under her suppression for so long it's beautiful to see her take a beating.' x3
Alaric dropped to one knee, panting. His monocle shattered. His gloves were smoking.
Selene stood, silent, expression unreadable.
Then she reached up. Seeing the blood flowing out of her nose.
And smiled.
"I'll take a draw."
Silence.
Then—
"…Acceptable," Alaric muttered.
'if she really used 100% of her power she wouldn't have gone down this easily.
Riven clapped. Once. "Hell of a show."
Selene walked forward.
"You might be a bit reckless but it still works isn't that right Professor Alaric? Do you like that name?"
Alaric chuckled weakly. "Quite stylish."
She extended a hand.
"Welcome to Academia Imperium."
He took it.
As she turned to leave, she paused.
"The Vermillion Empire," she said, "its still only the second strongest in the world."
Alaric blinked. "So I'm hired into second place?"
"There is one above us," she continued. "Older. Stronger. Hungrier."
She smiled.
"This year our aim is to change that... If you can't achieve that don't expect to live for another day." Her hands did a chopping gesture.
She turned back toward the exit.
"Make sure you survive until then, Professor."
"Your wish is my command, my majesty." Alaric nodded.
After she finally left he collapsed and sat down in peace.
"Haah... Haah never wanna do that again."
At the same time three figures jumped down from above.
---