Chapter 79: The Magicae Tournament

Now that Gerry was gone Villin really didn't know how to feel. He came here for a serious reason, he also wanted to ask The Academy about the attack, why the students weren't evacuated, but now they were in such a positive atmosphere, it was hard not to be affected by it.

Rein was the quickest to adapt though, apparently, he had already been a spectator at this event once and it was a very fun occasion. Kayley also revealed she had heard of it but she didn't take an interest in the event.

When Villin looked around he really saw people of all ages. From elders with their walking sticks to toddlers sitting on their parent's shoulders. The mood was extremely positive all over the place.

Before they could make their way deeper into the stands they heard a loud voice from behind them "Glasses of Control! Get your glasses of control here! Two hundred magic crystals a pair, ninety percent refundable! Get your glasses here!"

Looking at the entrance a man had just come out in bright green clothes, his entire green jacket was filled with green glasses sticking onto it. After a moment he heard Rein address them.

"You guys should all get one to see what's going on, without it, you won't be able to see a thing."

Since they were mostly refundable anyways Villin simply nodded and bought three for himself, Amelia, and Kayley. Over time he realized Rein's sight certainly wasn't normal. There were a large number of events showing this. For one when they did the advanced tournament in The Academy he could see through the spell hiding the spectators, there were also a number of other odd situations such as just a few moments earlier when he could see the crest of the eleventh school even from the very far distance.

Rein didn't ask why Villin didn't get him one, he never tried hiding his ability anyways, even if he wouldn't actively talk about it either. Naturally, the other three were also tactful enough not to ask about him.

After buying three pairs of green glasses Villin also realized he still had to divide the magic crystals between the four of them, he decided to do this as soon as The Academy took them back.

"Right now the glasses won't do a thing yet but as soon as the event starts your sight will be controlled by the mages tasked to find the best angle and distance to watch from. You'll get to see the fights from the clearest angles. You can also turn this function off and then the glasses will simply zoom in, allowing you to watch the fights properly from your seats."

The others nodded at his explanation as Villin started looking for the runes powering these abilities. After all, both of the abilities of these glasses could have a number of uses.

The salesman who was only standing about a meter away from the group saw Villin's action and laughed "Nice try kid but you won't be finding the enchantments on that thing. The creators use a special technique hiding the enchantment within the metal itself, the best way to limit pirates from making these kinds of things."

Villin felt slightly downcast as he heard this but still thanked the salesman politely, who then began shouting again, trying to sell more of the glasses.

After a few moments, the group decided to go find a place to stand. While they were making their way to some spots Villin did notice some people were looking at them with odd expressions though. At first, Villin was surprised as to why this was, but soon he realized they were all wearing typical mortal clothes.

Even the mortalborn in the audience would be seen wearing robes, their clothing really was quite weird. But well, there was nothing much they could do about it as their school robes were mostly destroyed.

Ignoring these few looks, Villin's mood started improving, as were the moods of his companions. They quickly found a place to stand and put on their glasses. With the glasses on, they could look a lot further. Looking at the opposite side of the stands they could see the faces of the people sitting in the stands of the different schools.

Villin looked at The Academy's section and started looking to see if he knew anyone there. There were only about a hundred people seated in the section but surprisingly he saw someone he recognized. He tapped Amelia's shoulder to grab her attention. "Look on the third row from the top in The Academy's section, isn't that the boy you had a rivalry with? Aiden Skull was it?"

Amelia also looked surprised to see the boy with messy purple hair and purple eyes "Yeah that's him. I thought he would've died in the attack but since he's a survivor it makes sense he's here. He should be one of the strongest first years the academy has, both in fighting strength and in 'Cut and Crease'."

Villin nodded at her words, he never thought all of the people of Class A were traitors and he didn't really have a negative expression of the boy. But he did recall he taught Pierson who was a traitor and so decided to try and stay away from him in the future.

Just as Villin wanted to ask Rein some more questions about the event he sensed something. Just below the ground, foreign magical energy was rising upward. Just as Villin was about to grab his wand Rein spoke up "It's the chairs Villin, no need to get worried."

The other three were all looking at Villin, they seemed like they were barely able to hold back their laughs.

Villin felt a bit awkward as a moment later chairs indeed started rising out of the ground, giving everyone a place to sit. Villin realized that even though 'Mental Technique: Search' allowed him to sense hostile magic before it reached him, it did the same with the friendly kind. Let's say he was in the middle of a fight and he suddenly felt magic coming from behind him, this might be an enemy's spell but could just as well be a healing spell. Hell, it could even be an enchanted piece of paper used to play 'Cut and Crease'.

Everyone sat down as the chairs had fully risen out of the ground. And as they did so the sight that could be seen through the glasses changed. It looked as if they were standing just a few meters in front of a gate in the center of the coliseum. Villin, who found this too disorienting turned this off and instead used the zoom function to look at the gate directly.

A couple of seconds later when almost everyone in the audience was seated, the iron gate opened as a magus came out of it. The magus was wearing a purple robe with the crest of the academy. The magus also had a big green jester's hat on that held the crest of Decorus.

His wand that was over a foot long was held comfortably in his hand with the tip of it reaching his lips. When the man started speaking the sound resounded across the entire area.

"Welcome everyone to the Magicae Tournament! Last year I got a few threats because I was wearing an outfit presenting The Academy without presenting Decorus so I bought this hat for the occasion." The magus pointed at the green jester's hat with a smile.

The presenter seemed to be pretty well known in the magus community as nobody seemed to be angry at his joke, even the people in the Decorus stands looked slightly amused.

"Today we have Gualin as our challenger. As a reminder to those that don't recall them. Gualin is a school that has been considered to be in the top twenty for over fifty years. This old dog is very well known for their excellent skills in a multitude of sports. They are the current world champions of both 'Cut and Crease', and 'Mashry'. They are sure to give others a run for their money in these categories! In the last dozen years, they have also cultivated a couple of great Magic Array makers, they certainly are a great school!"

The presenter paused for a moment as a number of people in the audience clapped before continuing on.

"As is usual, the challenger will be asked to put on a performance for the audience to enjoy, and open up the tournament! Please give it up for Gualin!" Once more applause rang out, this time the presenter retreated through the iron gate, but just a moment after, Villin saw something come out of the gate. It was a piece of paper, flying toward the middle of the coliseum.

A few seconds later, another paper came out of the gate, then another, then suddenly a tsunami of paper exited the gate.

The cluster made out of thousands of pieces of paper flew up a few dozen meters before splitting into three. With more paper constantly coming out of the gates, the three clusters of paper grew, just a few moments passed when a large number of the papers fell to the floor, revealing what had been made underneath. Three massive dog heads, each over twenty meters tall, were revealed. A neck began forming, and then a body. Less than a minute after the head was revealed the three-headed dog had gotten a complete body.

Then the paper suddenly stopped moving. The audience was looking at what looked like a statue of the three-headed dog Cerberus. The papers were folded so perfectly you couldn't see the difference between different pieces of paper, it all looked like one whole. Just a couple of moments later, the dog suddenly started moving. The heads looked to the left and the right with its paper teeth exposed.

The dog seemed to be getting agitated as it moved its heads a bit lower, then suddenly it opened its three mouths and paper flew out, covering the sight of the audience. When the paper had fallen down enough the dog's mouths were still open but within them stood three Magus, each wearing robes of Gualin. They each bowed, after which the three-headed dog lost its form and tens of thousands of pieces of paper fell to the ground, the three individuals floated down slowly before exiting back through the iron gate, soon followed by waves of paper.

"Those are the current world champions! Sadly they graduated over ten years ago so they can't take place in the tournament." Rein said, filling the others in while the audience was applauding.

Once all the paper had left the arena, the presenter appeared again. He seemed disheveled and as he entered a few small pieces of paper could be seen sticking to his robe and hat.

"What a great performance by three of the 'Cut and Crease' teachers of Gualin! Now, I am guessing everyone must be wondering what the extras will be this time around! As everyone should know, other than the six grades, magic arrays, enchanting, Cut and Crease, and Mashry, every year there are two other categories that differ every tournament!" A few meters above the presenter the categories appeared written in fire, two question marks represented the extras.

"Last year the extras were Pill-Making, and Chess. This year the extras are quite different." The presenter paused for a moment to keep the tension "The extras this year are Summoning and Transfiguration!"

A lot of people in the audience began talking to their friends about the extras and how they would influence the tournament but according to what Villin heard, it wasn't good news for The Academy. Neither The Academy nor Decorus were expected to win summoning but as for Transfiguration, the overall consensus was that The Academy didn't stand a chance there. Decorus taught Transfiguration from the first grade, it was the primary combat choice of many of the Decorus students.

"So, let me give you all a quick recap of the rules once again!" the presenter said after letting the audience discuss for a bit "The Magicae Tournament works in a point system. If a school gets first place in a certain category you get one point, all other places don't matter." The Presentor paused for a moment before continuing on "The only exception is the challenger. If the challenger places above another school in half of the categories they get invited again, if they place above a certain school three times in a row, they take their rightful place in the top ten!"

These were well-known rules so it didn't get a lot of a reaction out of the audience but it was quite useful for Villin and Amelia who had never heard of the tournament. Especially the fact that second place got nothing was quite surprising. Villin wasn't sure how the difference between second and tenth place got decided though since over half of the schools weren't expected to get any points, but soon Rein clarified that for him.

Currently second up to seventh had been a tournament winner at some point. The seventh was the longest ago, then the sixth, and so on. As for eighth to tenth, they had yet to get first since they entered the top ten.

"Now that that's all settled, let's begin the tournament! Per usual we will begin with the first grade!"

Above the presenter's head was a bracket showing the eleven schools. It was obviously made to offer the most entertainment value as the better schools were set to meet near the end. The Academy got a free pass for the first round.

And so, the Magicae Tournament began.