Chapter 107 - New Rivalries (2)

"Sheela Ortrera, earth, proceed to block B,"

Getram continued announcing the names until it there were only a handful of students left.

"Okay, so I'm guessing everyone left here either has a light, dark or divine attribute," said Getram, standing up from the desk he had been sitting on.

"Alice Orfoldo was it? Father Filidie will be waiting for you in Lecture Hall 1B in the special training building," announced Getram, ticking her name off the list.

"Hmm, seven light users, and five dark users huh," murmured Getram, scratching his beard as he decided what to do with the remaining students.

"Headmaster Frode hasn't said anything about the light magic users for this year, normally Alen Faraday would've been your instructor, but after the incident..." the last part of his sentence was more like the ramblings of a senile old man than actual words.

"Anyways, you dark magic users can proceed to block E, the vam- I mean Valkuy will be waiting for you. As for you light magic users, I'll have to talk to Frode to see what to do about with you," said Getram, ticking all the dark magic users off the list.

Arya and four others walked out of the class into the hall, following close behind the others as he had no idea where anything was.

'Hmm, he isn't even a one-star mage yet and the others have barely just reached the one-star stage, it seems that this year the title of best dark mage from the first years is going to be easy winnings,' thought the boy at the front of the group as he sensed the mana signatures from the others.

'Pfft, it's so obvious that he's analyzing our power levels right now,' scoffed the girl behind him.

"H-hey, my name's Zeldin," said a boy hesitantly as he approached Arya with his right hand stretched out in gesture for a handshake, 

'Clearly socially awkward. What the fuck is? Some kind of soap opera?' thought Arya as he looked at Zeldin with uninterested eyes.

'Perhaps it would be a good idea to make as many friends as possible, you never know when you might need their help,' encouraged Sauron

"Hey, my name is Arya, I look forward to studying with you for the rest of the year," replied Arya, shaking Zeldin's hand.

"Mm, I'm in your care," replied Zeldin, shaking his head as he shook Arya's hand.

"Since we're all giving introductions, my name is Artemis, I look forward to being in the same class as you as well," added the girl who had been walking behind the boy at the front.

Only the boy at the front and the one walking right at the back didn't join in the introductions.

'Pfft, only weaklings need friends,' thought the boy at the front as he entered block E.

"Ahh, welcome first years," said Valkuy, as the group entered the field.

Each block was separated by walls made of a blue glowing substance, what was peculiar about this particular block was the massive dead oak tree at the center.

"As I'm sure you already know, my name is Valkuy, and I'll be your temporary instructor in dark magic for the course of this semester," said Valkuy, as he stretched out his hands, and the blue walls turned pitch black, changing the landscape around them.

"W-what is this," whispered Zeldin as the grass that had once covered the ground disappeared, and the day sky above them turned to night.

"Ahh, of course, even if you're from a noble family, I doubt any of you have ever seen this before," said Valkuy as he removed the black cape he had been wearing, exposing a victorian suit underneath.

"You see, Belgard is more than an academy, it's actually a living artifact, so changing parts of the school like this isn't impossible. However we aren't here to discuss artifacts," added Valkuy, raising one of his hands, the moonlight shining directly on him giving a suspenseful atmosphere.

"I like to make my classes more practical. So today we will be testing how good each of you is at using dark magic and we will move on from there. Now get ready to defend yourselves, or the school healers will have a hard time healing you," said Valkuy with a smile on his face, as he shifted the darkness around them, turning them into tendrils that rushed at them like angry snakes.

'Why is everyone here crazy?' wondered Gray, as he blocked one of the shadow tendrils with his dagger while the other students stared dumbly at the oncoming attack.

'Hmm, this one has pretty good reflexes,' thought Valkuy, as he used one of the tendrils to wrap around Zeldin's leg.

'However let's see how well he does against this,'

Using Zeldin as a club, Valkuy tried swatting Arya away. Zeldin's body slammed into the ground,\\\\ as Arya dodged to the side.

"H-help me!" cried Zeldin, all the air winded out of him as he was slammed onto the ground.

"Is this really allowed?" questioned Artemis, creating tendrils of her own to intercept Valkuy's.

"Oh, it seems you've broken past the first-star stage if you can create tendril as well. However, there is a vast difference between our power levels," said Valkuy, as his tendrils tore Artemis's to shreds, and moved on towards her, slithering through the air.

The boy who had been walking at the front of the group used the shadows around Valkuy to hold him into a vyse.

"Ahh, a two-star dark mage. However, I wonder how long you can hold me for," said Valkuy, not even a hint of struggle visible on his face, as he pushed against the shadow vyse.

"Y-you guys do something, stop standing around and being useless," struggled the boy, as beads of sweat slid down his face, the strain from holding Valkuy having a massive toll on him.

Zeldin was already unconscious, and Artemis was having a hard time dodging all the tendrils that were chasing after her.

The only ones who could currently attack were Arya, who was dodging and blocking the tendrils with relative ease, and the mysterious last student, who simply stood at the back watching.

"Hey you, do something!" shouted the boy who had been holding Valkuy in a vyse, however it was already too late, he escaped, and used the shadows surrounding the boy to put him in a vyse of his own.

The boy struggled for a few seconds, before having all the air squeezed out of him, rendering him unconscious.

Artemis was next, the tendrils increased in both speed and power, cutting her multiple times before wrapping around her neck and suffocating her, causing her to become unconscious as well.

Now only Arya and the other student remained, the speed of the tendrils was still at a level that Arya could manage however he was slowly becoming tired from dodging the agile tendrils.

'Fuck, this would be easier if I could use ice magic, but I can't afford for rumors to start spreading if that guy sees me,' thought Arya as he dodged another tendril, looking to the kid standing silently at the back.

'Hmm, it seems that this one is contesting the shadows around him, preventing me from making tendrils to attack him. However let's see if he can keep up with this,' thought Valkuy, increasing the amount of mana he was using to take control of the shadows.

Of course, since Valkuy's mana core was leagues above the student's, he had to tone down his power. However, since Arya and the other boy were showing such strong resistance, it forced Valkuy to release more power.

A single tendril appeared in front of the boy, prompting him to dodge backward. His moves were almost as swift as Arya's causing both Valkuy and Arya to be shocked.

Valkuy had looked at Arya as an anomaly, since Arya didn't seem to know the slightest bit about dark magic, he assumed that he must've trained his body to compensate for his lack of magical talent. 

However the boy in front of him showed to have both magical and physical prowess.

"I found one," shouted the boy, as he touched the ground with the palm of his hand.

'What is he talking about?' wondered Arya, before Valkuy began laughing.

"It seems that I've found a really interesting one," said Valkuy, paying no attention to Arya.

The mysterious boy chanted something inaudible from where Arya stood, and a single wrinkly hand stuck out of the ground.

'A-a necromancer?' realized Arya, as Valkuy turned into a blur, rushing towards the boy.

Arya stopped holding back as well and used his speed to its limit to stop Valkuy, putting his dagger in between Valkuy and the necromancer.

"I don't know why you're only pulling that out now, but you better do something with it," said Arya as he pushed Valkuy back.

'Even if I'm not trying, how was he able to keep up with me? This kid barely looks ten,' thought Valkuy before bursting into laughter again.

"Yes, yes. It seems I underestimated you, I guess you are just as interesting aren't you," said Valkuy, as he extended his nails, pushing back against Arya's dagger.

***

"Headmaster are you sure we should continue to allow Valkuy to use such old teaching methods?" asked a woman dressed as a secretary, as she and Headmaster Frode watched the fight through a glass orb on his desk.