Cadmus stared at the grey wall in front of him impatiently. Everyone had been separated, and they had all been assigned a starting point from where they would enter the labyrinth. The starting points for each participant were about ten to fifteen meters separate from each other, and the outer border was shaped like a square, so participants were going to be entering the labyrinth from all four sides. When one remembered the fact that there were hundreds of participants, only then could they truly understand the gargantuan scale of this labyrinth.

Cadmus wondered not for the first time just how much money and influence this Academy truly had to make something like this just for a single qualifier round?

“IS EVERYONE READY?” Professor Mackenzie’s voice rang out throughout the entire area. Cadmus guessed that there were some sort of voice-transmitting magic circles built near every starting point so that everyone could hear her.

“YOUR GATES WILL OPEN IN FIVE MINUTES, PREPARE YOURSELVES! AND REMEMBER, YOU’RE ONLY ALLOWED TO DESTROY THE RED LABYRINTH WALLS, THE REST ARE OFF LIMITS. WE’LL BE WATCHING SO DON’T GO TRYING TO PRETEND YOU GUYS ‘ACCIDENTALLY’ DESTROYED THE WALLS WHILE FIGHTING!”

Cadmus found that needlessly specific, but perhaps a similar incident had occurred in the past years or something. To be honest, he didn’t really care. He just wanted her to hurry up and let them begin this qualifier round now.

Four minutes and fifty seconds passed (he’d kept count), and Professor Mackenzie’s voice rang out one final time,

“AAAND BEGIN!”

The wall in front of Cadmus rumbled, then slowly slid up with a harsh grating sound. He saw that the same had occurred for the people to his left and right as well.

He walked in, and looked around; it was surprisingly spacious in here. The walls, despite forming a corridor, were far enough apart that they could fit approximately five people standing shoulder to shoulder.

He turned on the spot, training his eyes on where he had entered from. If these starting points remained open, then Cadmus knew the approximate starting points of the people who had been beside him, and he could perhaps aim to exit the labyrinth from one of those places.

Unfortunately, he was forced to scrap his tentative plan, when, after a few minutes, the piece of the wall slid down again, sealing the entry point. This had most likely occurred for the other starting points as well, which meant that new exits—ones that he had no approximate locations for—had opened up.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he set off deeper into the labyrinth.

Oliver Vinari didn’t have much confidence in his magical or combat skills, but he still felt rather calm as he examined the two branching paths he had just come across. This was because he knew more about this labyrinth than any of the other competitors probably did.

Alongside training, he’d spent a lot of the previous week digging up information for this round. This labyrinth was structured in such a way, that most participants would keep coming across two branching paths that led them to one of two results: A barrier or an enemy.

The labyrinth was structured in this way because the Academy wanted to give every participant a fair chance, be they better at the theoretical or practical side of magic. Of course, not everyone was going to be given branching paths—that was simply unfeasible in terms of space, time, and construction—but more participants would come across them than not.

Of course, this information wasn’t readily available to anyone who wanted to know, but the labyrinth was created by people, and people talked. And, at times, other people overheard those people talking. It was just a matter of tracking down the people who were most likely to know this information and were willing to give it away.

In any case, Oliver hoped that he too was one of the people who would be able to come across the branching paths, and his prayers were answered before he had barely even walked a few meters. He could no longer move forward on account of the grey stone wall of the labyrinth blocking him, but the paths directly to his left and right were open.

The key was selecting the correct one. If Oliver was to pass this round, he absolutely needed to pick the path that would lead him to the barrier—and he knew just the way to make certain.

He blindly chose the right path walked forward a bit. There was a turn, and then another set of two branching paths made themselves known to him. That meant that this was the path designed for combat, as the enemy would come in from one of those branching paths.

Oliver quickly backtracked before anyone could come and spot him, and took the left path this time. As expected, after only a little bit of walking, he came across a wall blocking his way. It was painted a bright red, and there was a magic circle built into it, glittering in the distinct blue of laurite.

Most importantly though, there was a thin, translucent shell that seemed to distort the space in front of the red wall. This was the barrier he had been hoping to encounter. Now he just had to destroy it and make it past.

Perhaps it was strange that Oliver found the barrier preferable to fighting another competitor. It wasn’t like he was better at theoretical magic than practical magic after all. However, Oliver knew for a fact that destroying the barrier would be a far easier feat to accomplish than defeating another person.

At the end of the day, the Twin Peaks Magical Tournament was a tournament designed to decide which of the two greatest magic schools in the world was better. And as the organizers of this year’s tournament, the Academy had a few ways of stacking the deck without being called out for foul play (though they would never admit it).

One of those methods was only putting up barriers in the first qualifier round that they had taught in class. If someone complained about this, the Academy could easily claim that only students who had made the effort and paid attention in every class would be able to get through these barriers. And, fortunately, Oliver had done exactly that.

And besides, every other year, when the tournament was held in Carmenia, the Institute pulled the same kinds of stunts to give their own students a slight advantage.

Oliver looked closely at the magic circle carved on the wall behind the barrier.

“The… symbol of… Agni, I think…?” He mumbled to himself, trying to remember what he’d been taught in class, “So, it has to do with fire…? And… it’s surrounded by the symbol of… Asura? Er—I think that means it’s… against fire? So, it should be… a barrier to block fire attacks… right?”

He unsurely drew a circle, and then paused trying to think what spell to cast, “Er—I guess a water spell will work best then? It’s the opposite of fire after all.”

He got halfway into drawing one of the only water spells he knew, [water stream], before he remembered that the spell didn’t have the destructive potential to destroy the wall behind the barrier.

He quickly erased what he’d already drawn and thought some more. He needed a spell that wasn’t composed of fire, but was still powerful… he didn’t really have a large repertoire of spells, but surely he had something that could fulfill both conditions!

Then the answer struck him: [rock spike]! It was the perfect choice! It wasn’t a fire spell, and it was quite powerful in its own right!

Oliver took a moment to remember the formula, then carefully drew it out. Another good thing about the spell was that it was extremely simple to draw.

He aimed his spell at the barrier and fired. The [rock spike] crashed through the translucent barrier, and lodged itself into the red-painted wall behind. Fortunately, it had also broken the circle built into the wall, so the barrier protecting it abruptly vanished.

A few more shots of [rock spike], and the wall finally collapsed, revealing just how surprisingly thin it was.

Oliver walked through with a tired sigh. Who knew how many of these he had to go through next…?

Cadmus stared in front of him at the red wall enchanted with a barrier on it. It only took him a second to decipher that the magic circle was designed to stop solid projectiles, and it took him barely a few more seconds to break through it with a few [exploding fireballs].

This was the third barrier he had come across now, and for some reason, all of them had been ridiculously simple to bypass. Stepping through the smoking, broken remains of the wall, he wondered, was this really all there was to this qualifier round? He almost felt as though he was being lulled into a fall sense of security or something.

He walked forward a little more before coming across another fork. The past three times, he had blindly chosen one of the paths, but this time he’d had enough. Despite being called a labyrinth, this felt more like a maze, and he wasn’t going to get anywhere by just blundering his way forward.

He patted Alice on the head to get her attention,

“Alice, would you be willing to lend a hand?”

Alice blinked, “…Me? You need my help?”

Cadmus nodded, “Can you please climb to the top of the wall and see if you can find the fastest way out?”

Alice looked a little happy when she answered, “S-sure! Can you please hold out your hand and keep it steady?”

Cadmus placed Alice on the palm of his hand and complied with her instructions. Alice proceeded to draw a few magic circles: the mobility spells that she usually used to navigate her way around the house or the dorm room when she didn’t want to ask Cadmus for help.

Once she was done, her magic circles glowed white, indicating their usage; and then, she jumped, flying high up onto the wall, further than she ever would have been able to without the help of her mobility spells. She grabbed onto the crevice where two bricks met, and used it to launch herself further upwards. Almost like a leaping spider, she made her way up the wall (though surely that white sundress of hers made it harder than it needed to be), and stood atop it.

Cadmus watched patiently as Alice took a few minutes to scan the entire labyrinth, covering her eyes from the glare of the sun as she did so. They had only till the sun completely set to leave this labyrinth, but surely, with this strategy, they would be able to find their way out well before then.

“I’m coming down!” Alice called.

Cadmus nodded and cupped his hands, ready to catch her. Seeing this, she leaped off the tall grey wall, and landed right into his hands with a soft thump. She’d gotten really good at aiming her landings after doing this all her life.

“So? Did you see where we have to go?” Cadmus asked.

Alice nodded, but she didn’t look fully confident, “I-I think so? I’ll guide you.”

Cadmus nodded and placed her back into his cloak’s breast pocket. Once she was settled, he took off, following the directions she gave him. After a few minutes of doing so, he came across his first obstacle in this labyrinth that wasn’t a barrier.

He turned the corner just as Cadmus turned his, and Cadmus instantly recognized him.

That maroon-red cloak, that short brown hair, and those near-black eyes. Cadmus had seen him so many times in the past week, that he couldn’t have mistaken him for someone else even if he wanted to.

“Tempor.”

Mark looked just as surprised as Cadmus felt at seeing him here,

“Guiles…”

“It seems that you’ll get your wish sooner than expected,” Cadmus said, already pushing his mana to his index and middle fingers, “Let’s begin—”

Mark looked annoyed as he raised his hands in protest, “No, no, no! Not like this! I don’t want to fight you here!”

Cadmus paused, “…I’m sorry?”

“We have to fight with a larger audience watching us—not just these guys!” Mark explained, pointing up at the Institute’s airship which was lazily circling the labyrinth, “We have to fight in the third round of the tournament, where the whole world can witness your defeat!”

“Would you prefer it if we went our separate ways without fighting then?” Cadmus asked.

Mark nodded, pointing at the lone path forward that lay right between them, “Exactly! I’ll take this path, and you—”

“I refuse,” Cadmus said, “I wish to take this path. If you disagree, then I don’t mind fighting you here.”

Mark scowled and seemed to mull over his options. Then, he said grudgingly, “Fine. You can take this path. Just remember though, I’ll remember this when we’re fighting in the third round.”

Cadmus nodded, “Very well.”

It seemed that wasn’t the response Mark was looking for, because Cadmus’ words only seemed to annoy Mark more. But thankfully, Mark left without another word, which let Cadmus move forward without incident.

“…That was lucky,” Alice said as Cadmus calmly walked down the path laid out before him.

“I suppose,” Cadmus said, feeling a little doubtful, “But I wonder if I was too hasty. Perhaps I should have simply defeated him here. If he is the same type of mage as me—as he says he is—he may end up being a troublesome foe later on.”

“How so?” Alice asked, pointing at the right path as they came across another fork.

Cadmus took a moment to consider how to explain his thoughts, “…It’s easy to come up with countermeasures for spells that you see when you understand magic well enough to create your own spells. And I don’t want to give him the chance to see mine.”

Alice still looked a little confused, but she seemed to get the gist of what he was trying to say.

They turned a corner and came across another set of branching paths, one further down than the other. Alice pointed at the closer one that led left, but then, from the further path that led right, a group of three people came walking in.

They all wore black cloaks, identifying them as students of the Academy, and the one at the very front he recognized. It was Gelida Olvo, and she was being followed by two other girls he’d never seen before.

One had wavy black hair, fair skin, and rather sultry features, which was only further highlighted by the glossy red lipstick, dark eyeshadow, and all kinds of other makeup that she was wearing.

And the other had long, curly bright red which she kept loose. She was quite beautiful as well, with skin just as fair as the one beside her, but hers was a more simple, natural sort of beauty, with her face absent of any makeup.

“Cadmus!” Gelida cheerfully waved at him, “How’re you doing so far?”

“I believe I’m doing well,” Cadmus said politely, internally readying himself for battle. No matter how much confidence he had in himself, he was still wary of facing three people in such a tight space such as this—especially when one of them was someone he had resolved to watch out for.

Then, Gelida grinned, “You wanna join us? We can find the way out together!”

Cadmus blinked, “You want us to work together? Why?”

Gelida’s grin widened, “Didn’t you hear what Professor Mackenzie said? ‘If given the opportunity, we tend to change the tournament structure from individual-based, to school-based’. Isn’t it more advantageous for us if we Academy students help each other advance?”

Cadmus nodded, “I did hear what she said, but I’m not quite sure what she meant by it.”

The black-haired woman walked forward, looking down at him over her slender nose, “Have you been living under a rock? This happens almost every year. Last year, for the third years, there were two students each left from the Institute and the Academy, and the final match of the tournament was changed into a team battle between the two pairs.”

Cadmus nodded in understanding,

“I see.”

“And besides!” Gelida said, “As the only two people to be scouted by Professor Mackenzie for a scholarship, we have a duty to advance and make her proud!”

Well, to be honest, Cadmus didn’t care for that reasoning at all. However, he would welcome a chance to avoid combat again—especially in such a disadvantageous circumstance.

“Very well,” he said, “I will join you.”

Gelida fist-pumped, “Yes!” She gestured at the black-haired woman, “Alright, so this is Morgana Le Fay,” then she gestured at the other one, “And this is Gwen Eviere. They’re both scholarship students as well.” Then, she turned to the two, “And guys, this is Cadmus Guiles. He—”

“Yes, we know of him,” Morgana Le Fay said, smirking in his direction, “‘The Necromancer’. I saw how you defeated Randall Crawford, you know? That was very cruel of you.”

Unless Cadmus was mistaken, it almost sounded as though Morgana was… impressed?

“I simply fought in the only way I knew how at the time,” Cadmus said.

Gwen Eviere looked troubled, “It must have been very traumatizing for Crawford. I wish you could have found a gentler method… though I understand that you were simply thinking in terms of practicality, and not cruelty.” Her eyes caught the top-most portion of Alice’s head sticking out of his breast pocket, and she smiled gently, “Oh hello. You must be the homunculus: Alice, right?”

Alice shyly stuck her head out and waved politely, “Hello. Yes, my name is Alice. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you as well,” Gwen said kindly, “As you’ve probably already heard, my name is Gwen Eviere. I hope we can get along from now on.”

“Er—yes, me too!” Alice said.

Morgana leaned in close, eyeing Alice with clear interest, “So this is the rumoured homunculus! It looks very human-like. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to examine it for a few days.”

Something about the way she looked at Alice bothered Cadmus, and Alice seemed a little scared as well. So, Cadmus raised a protective hand to shield her from Morgana’s gaze,

“Unfortunately that is not possible.”

Morgana clicked her tongue, but didn’t seem too particularly down by his refusal,

“Shame.”

Cadmus chose this moment to change the topic, “In any case, your surname: Le Fay. I know someone in Pendragon’s company with the same surname.”

“Oh, Gawain,” Morgana said, looking uninterested, “Yeah, he’s my twin brother. He loves to follow that goody-two-shoes Arthur around everywhere like a lost puppy. I mean, yeah, they’re in the same guild, but Gwen and I are members of Camelot as well, and you don’t see us sticking to him every day.”

“Morgana!” Gwen said admonishingly.

Morgana waved her off, “Oh, you know I’m right.”

“No, I don’t,” Gwen said firmly, “You shouldn’t demean your brother just because he’s good friends with His Highness.”

Morgana looked a little ticked off and eager to respond, but Cadmus held up a hand,

“Let’s talk while we walk. I doubt we’ll miss the deadline, but I don’t want to risk it all the same.”

“I agree!” Gelida said cheerfully, “Oh! And you guys can fill Cadmus in on your magic on the way.”

“Fine,” Morgana said, “Let’s get going.”