Floating Coliseum

From the sky above a special viewing box fell a bolt of lightning that left behind a cloud of smoke in its wake. "Ugh!" Out of which came Blake, staggering around until he came to rest on some railings. "I hate telepo-Urp!" He slapped a hand to his mouth before his guts leaked out.

"Blarghh!" Right there next to him was Morgen currently throwing up goldish brown glitter with an unsettling apple scent coming from it.

"There, there let it all out you two." Natula who was perfectly fine patted their backs, a little more so for Morgen since Blake was getting his footing back.

"Again! Again! Again!" Mari cheered with her hair frizzed up on ends.

"Ah, Master Magnus' magic is still as exciting as the last time!" Risabeel seemed fine for the most part. "I am sorry again for not warning you, Vas." In her hands was Vas, flat on his back and tongue hanging out.

"Fucking mages." Gwyn found herself perfectly sited in a luxurious armchair near the railing, so that's its owner could look over the likely battlefield under the flying coliseum. "And what are you doing here?" For some reason, Os was in her lap.

"Ooo!" That is until it saw Morgen hacking up her insides and sled off at high speed.

"What the hell is this stuff?" Came from Caspar as he and Fran walked out of a pathway under the viewing box. "It smells like apples..." At their feet was this weird pile of goldish brown glitter. "Huh? What's that Slime doing here?" He saw Os coming down from above and looked up to see Blake, Natula and the pile's maker.

"Ugk!" Fran jumped to one side as Os sucked up Morgen's vomit and climbed up the wall to get the rest. "See!? That's why I said; NO!" She tugged at Caspar's arm while pointing at Os working its to Morgen's face.

"Fine, we wouldn't get a Slime as a pet, maybe an opossum?" Caspar agreed with Fran then waved up at Blake. "Sup, Smith-knight! You look a bit out of it?"

"Huh? Oh, enchantment dude?" Blake got the life back in him as he looked down at the pair of mages. "Did you guys get here by painting too?"

"By painting?" Caspar and Fran looked at eachother then at Blake after shrugging. "Uhm, no? They announced the winners of the first trial and said to gather at some teleporters to get here." Caspar explained as a few more people walked passed him and Fran while others appeared in the stands around them. "What about you, guys? You got V.I.P seats and everything up there?"

"This one got us in, and then Magnus dropped us here." Blake pulled Morgen away from Os. "I guess friends of the contestants get treated better?" He shrugged then looked around at some other V.I.P boxes that were getting filled up.

"Care to share some of the good life?" Caspar asked, waving a finger between himself and Fran.

"Cas!" Fran slapped Caspar's hand away, then grabbed him by his collar. "They don't even know us all that well!" She added, throwing a hand to Blake and Morgen. "Wait?" Whose that?"

"Someone we don't know that well..." Blake turned to Morgen currently doing her whole roll into a ball thing like. "...I guess it's fine if it's just you two? You guys got a problem with that?" He turned to the others for their input.

"It is all well and good with me, Sir Blake." Risabeel nodded in agreement as her eyes went to the nearly filled stands.

"As long as you cheer my boy on!" Natula waved Blake off with a glass of wine from a table that appeared next to her seat. "~Oh~ for all the random things magic does it has its uses."

"Blake! Hurry up! I want to sit on your shoulders again!" Mari whined, waving at a seat she picked for them. "Os! Get back in!" She ordered at the Slime still sliding around Blake's feet.

"Gwyn?" Blake looked at the knight last, but she was looking off at the field below them. "Meh, you'd get outvoted anyway. Come on up, you two!" He called down to Caspar and Fran with his free hand outstretched to them.

"Sweet! M'lady!" Caspar playfully bowed to Fran before taking her hand in his. "Angel's Float X2!" He snapped his fingers, and some of his tattoos came off his arm and floated above his and Fran's heads then turned into wings. "Going up," He smirked as the two of them started to get pulled off their feet and to the V.I.P box. "Thanks for the goodwill!" He reached for Blake's hand.

"Cas! Wait!" Fran slapped Caspar's hand away from Blake's right before they met.

"What gives Fran?" Caspar asked, waving his hand around to get rid of the pain. "Huh?" And he got his answer in a transparent barrier appearing between them and Blake. "Oh? You guys got security, huh? Uhm, I'm not sure if I can mess with something set up by a teacher yet..."

"I...can...help?" Morgen softly offered, unrolling herself with her hands held out to Caspar and Fran.

"Huh? What can you do?" Blake looked Morgen over with the young witch fidgeting under his gaze. "I'm not gonna hurt you geez..." He shrugged, bringing her over to Caspar and Fran. "...get on it."

"Uhm? Okay? Ju-just hold out your hand, please..." Morgen meekly held her hands up as Caspar and Fran did the same. "...okay...1...2...3!" Then with a glowing gold light coming from her hands, she grabbed the two by their forearms and yanked them through.

"Wah!" And sent Caspar and Fran tumbling over Blake.

"It worked?" Morgen looked at her hands in disbelief. "Hehehe!" Then went on a giggling fit, shaking her tiny fists. "EEP!" Until Blake picked her off her feet by her hat.

"If it was that easy I could've done that and with a warning..." Blake glared at the petite girl, causing her to roll into a ball again. "...but that's not it is it?" He turned to Caspar and Fran picking themselves up.

"Ugh? I guess? Fran, you have anything?" Caspar turned to Fran for answers.

"Uhmm? I think she covered us in some of her mana on the way in...?" Fran made her best guess at how Morgen got them through. "See?" And pointed at her feet, where some of Morgen's gold mana was left behind.

"Huh? I guess she tricked the barrier into thinking we were her...?" Caspar took a glance at Morgen, coming out of ball mode when Blake sat her down. "But you need at least double someone's mana to mask it, and that's with them knowing about it...?"

"Mmm..." Morgen noticed Caspar's stares and slowly crept over to Gwyn's side. "Ugh!" And was taken off her feet by the knight holding her like a cat. "Why do people keep picking me up today?" She whimpered in her mind as Gwyn sat her down on a shoulder. "Uhm? There are more seats left, you know?"

"But they're close to that guy." Gwyn pointed a thumb at the last empty seats near Caspar and Fran. "Plus what better seat to watch that weepy mage from?" She shook her shoulder a little to get Morgen to look out to the empty spot inside the coliseum.

"O-o-okay..." Mogren only nodded, thankful that Gwyn was keeping her away from Caspar without asking why the witch wanted that.

"So, when does this thing start?" Blake asked out loud after getting Mari on his shoulders and sat down next to Risabeel. "Oh, right? Did you guys see that one guy who was with us before?" He turned to Caspar and Fran on his left.

"You mean the guy, that hi-fived me?" Caspar asked in return, thinking back to the words Mordecai had for him. "Not like I can do it now."

"Yea, him! Last I checked he was off hitting on girls..." From there, Blake and Caspar went about figuring out where Mordecai might have gone.

"Now?" Mogren whispered as all of the floating pieces of the coliseum began to shake and rumble in the air as if someone had taken hold of them.

"Is that an earthquake!" Blake snapped a hand to Mari's leg while another went to Risabeel's side.

"Ah! Sir Blake, I believe this would be an airquake!" Risabeel shuttered, trying to keep Vas from jumping off in fear. "Vas! Please, seek safety here!" To that end, she stuffed him down the top of her dress.

"Who cares what you call it!? This is bad! What if we fall out of the sky!?" Caspar wasn't about correctness right now as he was covering Fran from any random bits of stone that might come flying at them.

"Hah! Well, this is a lot fancier than Nathalie's try out!" Natula was taking it far better than everyone else; in fact, the only downside was that her drink was gone.

"You okay, kid?" As was Gwyn since the only thing shaking on her was Morgen.

"NO!" Who wrapped herself around Gywn's head for dear life as the shaking only got worse with bits and pieces falling off the coliseum. "What's that!?" Then she pointed at a series of cracks in the plain below them that was spewing fire and brimstone into the air.

"GRRROOOWW!" Until it erupted in a grand explosion with a bestial roar overtaking the sound of the earth sliting open.

"The hell was that!?" Blake looked at the fiery pillar of molten rock as it was fountaining out its fires of death on to the coliseum. "That's bad! That's bad! That's ba-! Wha?" In all his screaming, the smith almost missed the sight of a barrier coming up and warding off any falling chunks of burning rock.

"ARE YOU READY!?! GRRRROOOOW!" And booming roar rocked the coliseum goers as flying in the air via small explosions set off by clawed feet was a large male tiger Beastman.

His fur was reddish-orange with black stripes on his back while white came over his front side and had a pair of large yellow eyes only outmatched by his massive toothy grin of fangs. He only wore a pair of dark red pants that were tore and burnt at his feet and tied around his waist was a thick orange rope with a large silver belt buckle made up by two S's while the rest of it acted like a tail.

"GRRROOOOW! I DID NOT HEAR ANY OF YOU!" He yelled down at coliseum's people while striking a most muscular pose with nearly every bit of him bulging out with power and flames.

"Is that mage or Fire Elemental?" Blake asked, looking on in awe along with everyone else at the sudden appearances of a tiger man coming out of the earth like a volcano and was keeping himself in the air by stomping out explosions.

"How'd he get that big?" Was Gwyn's question, being a muscle head herself she more or less admired the sight of this flexing tiger guy.

"Where's his tail?" Mari came up after that, trying to find some big furry tail swinging behind him that wasn't there for some reason.

"DID SOMEONE JUST ASK ABOUT MY TAIL!?!" Which was the one thing that got to this man's ears.

"Would you stop screaming your head off, Teihoon?" Magnus' voice came loud and clean from all around the coliseum, but he wasn't as extreme as the now named Beastman. "You got magic, so use it." He told Teihoon as he appeared in front of him in a lightning bolt with a hand glowing with mana at his throat and floated in the air next to Teihoon.

"Oh? Right?" Teihoon did the same as Mangus with a glowing claw going to his thick neck. "Greetings to all of you!" Now his voice came at a much more ear-friendly volume. "I am Teihoon, The Roaring Bang! GRRROOOW!" He pulled his hand away to throw his head back in a roar as he stomped at the air to set himself higher with a grand explosion. "Not only am I a member of the Sigil Sect and the head professor of fire magic at Le Fay, but on this very special day! I happen to be in charge of my group's entrance test! GRRROOOOW!"

"Alright, all those S.S guys are officially freaking weird," Blake muttered, even if he didn't see the rest of them, so far the last two members were a literal wild man and a noseless Elf. "What's next? A sea-slug?"

"But I don't want to waste your time for the excitement to come! Let's get this GRRRROWWWING!" Teihoon blasted down to Magnus and leaned in on him. "The others are ready, right?" He whispered with his eyes going around the area looking for something.

"Yes, they are...no thanks to the one who ran off..." Magnus answered with a blank stare before he zapped away along with Teihoon.

"What now?" Mari looked around for the two of them along with everyone else. "Huh?" Then another bit of shaking came out of the floating coliseum, but this time it wasn't as chaotic.

"Is it getting fixed?" Caspar saw the broken coliseum move into a more complete formation almost connecting back to one. "Huh, it stopped?" True to Caspar's words, the coliseum stopped moving with gaps between some of it.

*Doom, Doom*

Before a question could be uttered by anyone, pillars of mana shot between the gaps. Each was a different color and raged on like forces of nature until they coalesced into proper forms. The first was a mass of yellow that turned into a stone tower with lightning around it.

"Strike fast and shock all." Standing inside a gazebo at the top of the lightning tower was Magnus. "Heh!" He smirked as a roar of cheered were sent his way.

"Reflect and recreate." Next to appear out of a grayish-white mana pillar was Ruleek sitting cross-legged inside his tower which was covered in mirrors. "Brother's popularity has fallen." He muttered, getting a few more cheers than Mangus.

"Decay and Revied! Bless and forgive!" Next up from pillars of black and gold were Valdre in a bone tower, oozing with black smoke and Kue with a tower framed by Angelic statues, brimming with heavenly light. "Oh?" They both mused when a divide in the cheers was caused by them appearing at the same time.

"GGGGRRROOOOW!" Blasting forth from a pillar of fire was a burning tower that had its top blown off by Teihoon rocketing out of it. "Hey! Where are my roars of furry!" He yelled at the coliseum when no one threw him so much as a wave. "Grrrr!"

"Dissolve and mix..." Came from a swirling pillar of blue until it turned into a tower with waterfalls all around it and at the top of it in a pool of deep blue water was an elderly looking woman about waist-deep in the pool. "...so loud and a bombastic for a kitten."

She had slimly green skin, seaweed for hair, a beak of a nose, pools of white for eyes, and unsettling needle-like teeth. She dressed in a black garb with a blue scarf wrapped around her neck and held a large conch shell in one hand while the other was wrapped in a necklace with the Sigil Sect pin as a pendant.

"Hello, hello!" She waved to everyone looking the part of a grandmother.

"Who's the Sea Hag?" Blake asked, pointing at the rather strange old lady.

"Sir Blake! How could you be so rude?" Risabeel lectured Blake for the name he gave this seemingly nice old lady.

"He's not wrong?" Caspar chimed in, getting Risabeel to turn to him. "That's Granzumi, The Melting Sludge. She's the head professor of water magic and, a Sea Hag's a female-only Merfolk that has a lot of magical power.

"Ah? I see?" Risabeel nodded, turning back to Granzumi and couldn't bear to call her anything but a kind old lady despite her looks. "Oh? Is it like my being a Demon?"

"Yea? Something like that..." Blake muttered, letting Risabeel be for now then like everyone else he set his eyes on the final pillar of mana that was a dark purple.

But unlike the other ones that turned into a tower, this one became a portal with only the top of tower coming out. "Boundless headings..." Came the dry, lifeless voice of Nathalie, Witch Of The Gaps.

"She could at least smile sometimes." Natula nagged despite the cheers that were being sent her daughter's way more so than any of the Sigil Sect.

"Discover all that is hidden, seek the truth unknown to the whole, condemn those who wish for stagnation..." Each one of them began chanting as they held a hand to the sky with a beam of their mana shooting into one.

Until an even higher power overcame the mixing mana as they were bent and shaped into a sphere matching the dome barrier kept around the school. "...that is the right and duty of the Sigil Sect." Came a wispy man's voice that belonged to a tall figure appearing inside the sphere.

He was heavily dressed in layered robes of white, black, and red with a large gold hood pulled over his head that only allow to glowing orbs of white to be seen. Behind his hood was Le Fay's insignia of pair of hands holding an apple and two silver S's where pinned to his shoulders.

"And there he is Mr. Headmaster himself, Rhwystrau, The Final Wall," Natula gave out the man's name as did the thousands of cheer that chanted his name.

"Wait? Didn't Nathan say that one in charge of this place was that Morgen chick?" Blake asked, looking up at Rhwystrau and couldn't tell what the heck he was thanks to his weird outfit. "Looks more like a creepy ragdoll than a headmaster."

"Yeah, you're right? Fran and I are new and all but we haven't even heard so much as a word of her being around the school." Caspar added to the oddity of the magic school's founder and Le Fay leader, not showing up.

"Well, from what Nathalie told me she says; 'Morgen's a bit of the outgoing type who likes to up leave everything on other people when work needs to be done.'" Natula explained, using her daughter's voice for a bit. "I think she's only met that woman about 5 times."

"Really? Well, I guess that fits the weird department like all those mages..." Blake muttered, the more he learned about the magic side of Groz, the more he realized how normal Nathan was compared to it. Maybe it was because of the guild that he hadn't gone off the deep end yet? "...at least we got the next best thing right, Mogren?" He turned to the little witch on Gwyn's shoulder. "Wha?"

"Mmmm!" Who was more of a bouncing mass of excitement given human form. "THIS IS SO AWESOME! THEY'LL ALL HERE!" She cheered as loud as possible unknowing using that voice amplifying spell the Sigil Sect used to greet the crowd. "WHAO! EEEP! AAAAHHH!"" But in her fit of sheer joy, she nearly threw herself off her seat. "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" Thankfully she was caught by Gwyn and only apologizing on the way back to her shoulder seat. "MMMMM!" Then went right back to gleefully looking at the 8 most powerful spellcasters in Laudonia.

"Doesn't act a thing like her namesake..." Gwyn thought, mostly keeping an eye on Nathalie, who made no attempt in hiding the fact that she was looking at the knight. "...you better watch out for your brother, witch."

"Teihoon, since it is your time to host I'll let you handle things from here." Rhwystrua offered a robed arm to Teihoon after waving to the cheering crowd. "And please, be a bit more form-"

"GGGGRRROOOOW! Alright, let's get this thing started!" Teihoon broke out of his tower in a burst of fire and smoke, soaring high above Rhwystrua's mana sphere. "But first let me give you the quick ran down of how things went! Earlier today we sent out a test for every lowlife looking to join up with us! They all needed to give us something to read! After burning through a good thousand of those we each picked one that looked the best! Sorry to all those pathetic rejects better lucky never! GRRROOOOW!"

"How did you get in?" Was the question on the minds of nearly everyone there at the coliseum.

"Now those eight lucky bastards are gonna duke it out for our enjo- I mean to see how well they adapt their magical knowledge in combat! Last one standing gets to join the pinnacle of magical might in all of Laudonia! The Sigil Sect!" Teihoon threw an uppercut at the air and sent a series of explosions upward.

"Oh dear, why did Lady Morgen pick him for this?" Rhwystrua held his head in his arms at Teihoon's outburst. "..." Then he threw his arms out, causing his sphere to expand until it was just short of touching the edges of the coliseum. "Nathalie..."

"Grand Portal..." Nathalie clapped her hands together, and as she pulled them apart, a large portal appeared inside Rhystrua's sphere.

"Uhm? Is that an island?" Fran pointed at an island that was coming out of Nathalie's portal.

And like most of the things tied to a Le Fay, it was far from normal in any sense. There were the usual hills, valleys, plains, and lakes, along with a thick forest off to one side but on the opposite side was a barren desert of blazing heat. Up above were floating rocks and crackling storm clouds while down below was a toss-up between endless waterfalls and lavafalls.

Somewhere on the magic Island

"Hmm, hmm, hmm! So, my sister was in charge of making the battle area, eh?" Nathan was standing near a swamp of boiling oil inside a part of the forest where the trees were made of iron. "This island was likely taken from the mystics seas to the south? My, my, sister, you are stronger than before." All three of his spellbooks were floating around him with his Advanced Mana Control book working on a map of his surroundings. "Hmm? It's me against 7 others who seek what I seek? This may very well be interesting, very interesting, indeed!" From there he started walking towards the nearest source of mana.

Chapter End