Volon slammed his hands together. He pulled them apart, his fingers digging into the air and warping it. A swirl of light started to form in the air in front of him. It flared and a beam of energy shot towards Damien.

He dodged out of the way, drawing Ether through his arm and forming a gravity sphere. The beam of light hissed through the air, dissipating harmlessly at the edge of the stage as a ring of runes along the edge lit up.

As much as Damien would have liked to take a better look at the runes, he didn’t have time. Volon was already drawing the Ether into another light magic attack. Damien flicked his hand, sending the gravity sailing through the air.

Volon dodged out of the way, a smirk crossing his face as the slow moving spell hit the ground behind him.

“Really?” Volon asked, forcing Damien to duck out of the way of another searing light attack. “You bring a slow spell like that to–”

The sphere detonated. The sudden force ripped Volon’s feet out from beneath him and tugged him towards the center of the sphere, slamming his face into the ground with a thunk. Damien winced as he heard something crack.

Volon scrambled to his feet, his nose crooked and blood streaming down his face. His eyes were wide as he pointed a hand at Damien. Motes of light started to gather in the air in front of him.

Damien lobbed another gravity sphere. Volon’s spell fizzled and he scrambled out of the way, only in time to catch a gravity sphere to the leg. Damien was actually somewhat surprised to see the spell hit, but Volon was much slower than both Sylph and Delph.

He preemptively winced as both spells detonated. Volon had managed to get out of the small radius of the first attack, but a dozen cracks and pops filled the air. Volon screamed and crumpled to the ground, one of his legs bent at several wrong angles.

Damien glanced at Darcy, but the judge shook his head. Damien swallowed and pushed down the distaste rising in his chest as he summoned a second gravity sphere.

“I surrender!” Volon screamed.

Darcy stepped in between the two students, but Damien’s spell was already fading away. Darcy walked over to the crumpled boy and put his hand over Volon’s leg. Pale white energy streamed out of his hand and entered the student’s body.

Volon let out another pained, gargling cry as several snaps echoed through the air. His leg straightened and his nose snapped back into position. Darcy offered Volon a hand. The defeated boy blinked, then reluctantly let the judge pull him back to his feet.

“The winner for the first match is Damien!” Darcy said. “The next two are Blake and Jauin. Please come up to the stage.”

Damien and Volon headed down the stairs, pointedly not looking at eachother. The other students in the small group sent Damien wary glances as the two of them took their spots back at the edge of the platform.

“Was that space magic?” Volon asked after several moments of silence.

“Yeah,” Damien said. “I’m sorry about your leg. I’ve never used that attack against anyone other than my professor and my roommate, but she’s too fast to ever hit with it.”

Volon heaved a sigh. “It’s fine. I didn’t expect to win the tournament. I just thought I’d do better than last place…”

“Don’t feel too bad,” Loretta said, glancing over at the disappointed boy. Her voice sounded uncertain and shaky. “Damien has been getting personal training from our professor. Everyone in the class knows it.”

“Wait, how did you know?” Damien asked, taken aback.

“Dude, you show up exhausted to every single class and Delph doesn’t give you pointers during class. It’s pretty obvious,” Loretta said, smirking. “Not that I envy you. I’m learning more than enough from his normal class. I don’t fancy spending more time with the man.”

“You’re in Professor Delph’s class?” Volon asked, raising an eyebrow.

“We are,” Damien said. “Do you know something about him?”

“A little,” Volon replied. “He was a mage on the front lines that retired for some classified reason. He’s supposed to be a real menace. One of the best mages that Blackmist has ever made. My professor told us he never thought Delph would teach a class, so something must have really happened for him to do it. But, if you’re getting trained by Delph, that makes things sting a bit less. If you beat your other opponents like you beat me, then I won’t look like a total loser.”

“I’ll do my best,” Damien promised. “No promises, though. There are a lot of people, even in my class, that I’m not sure if I’d have a chance of beating.”

“Like Sylph,” Loretta said, shuddering. “I pity anyone that goes up against her.”

Volon looked like he wanted to ask about her, but he was interrupted by the two boys heading back down from the stage. The pleased expression on Blake’s face made it pretty clear who’d won the fight.

“Loretta and Ulon, please get on the stage,” the judge commanded.

“Good luck!” Damien told Loretta.

She swallowed and nodded, heading up the stairs along with a short boy.

“Do you have any schools of magic other than space?” Volon asked Damien.

“A few,” Damien replied noncommittally. “I’ve only practiced with space, though.”

“Damn.” Volon sighed. “You better put on a good showing. If you don’t at least make it to the semifinals, I’m going to look like a chump.”

“You are a chump,” Blake said, smirking at Volon. “You went down in what, three spells?”

“We’ll see how you do against him,” Volon said, crossing his arms. Blake eyed Damien, who returned his gaze with a flat stare.

Damien examined him for the first time. Blake had shaggy blonde hair and a small scar on his cheek. He wore what might have been padded chainmail, but Damien suspected the metal had runes engraved onto it.

“Better than you, I’d think,” Blake said. “He only used one spell, and it’s slow. It didn’t seem like it had that much range either.”

Damien’s hand shifted to a pocket in his cloak, where he’d stored several heating runes that he’d created the previous night.

“We don’t even know if we’ll fight,” Damien said. “One of us might get someone else or be knocked out in the next round. But, if we do, I look forward to finding out who’ll come out on top.”