“Now arriving at Elem High.” The feminine, but toneless voice spoke out as the train pulled to a stop, everyone on the train but the conductor stepped off, considering this was one of only two stops for this particular track, no one needed to get on anyway.

Of the people to get off the train, one was Hiiro Kazuya, to those who knew him, he’d be recognizable by quite a few features, his surprisingly frail-looks, the fact that he had a sword in his hand, or his really odd hair that wasn’t quite dark blue or green.

“Ah… Elem High… the place where I become a true Sage…” Kazuya was quite excited, though he wasn’t the only one; many of the teens within the train had been abuzz with activity, hoping to be the next great Sage, with their name amongst legends like Oren the Steel-heart, or the Kazuya pair…

Yeah, it was quite embarrassing for Kazuya when people associated his surname with his parents, who were both powerful Sages and quite known for having been a partnership since they met at Elem High…

According to Kazuya’s parents the stories were exaggerated, as Kazuya’s mother Miya had hated his father, Izuki with a passion when they first met…

On a side note, Kazuya didn’t like his first name, Hiiro, disliking its similarity to a certain English word…

Sure, Kazuya wanted to be a Sage, to fight the Mystic Beasts and protect humanity from the Fae-races, but he didn’t believe in heroes, strange as it was to say.

Everyone sees the glory, the power, the ‘happily ever after’ the heroes of stories get… Kazuya wondered if those people who wanted to be heroes ever thought about what had to happen to those heroes for such things to happen… training for the power, being thrust into fighting for things bigger than themselves, possibly unwanted fame…

Kazuya, at a young age, had liked heroes… his parents were quick to destroy his illusion, knowing what happened in the long run to those who tried to be heroes in real life.

Heroes were fictional, and they should stay as such. However, a small act of kindness could be the difference between being a man, and being a hero to someone.

So with that, he was usually referred to as Kazuya instead of Hiiro, and it stayed like that, though most were confused when his parents were both Kazuya too…

“Okay, okay, I’m number twenty nine…” there was a board nearby where students were going to check their classes based on their entrant numbers, each year Elem High only publically took in a max of one hundred students, split over four classes, making for twelve classes consisting of three hundred students total per year.

Kazuya looked around, and was quick to find his number considering it was relatively early into the numbering system, though he was confused when he noted the letter ‘S’ next to his name, instead of A, B, C or D.

Kazuya didn’t question it, noting that these ‘S’ students would have to go to room six near the entrance, while other students would go to their own classes, then the school wide assembly.

He moved towards the class, but only after noting with some confusion that the numbers went up to number one hundred and seven… but there were only supposed to be one hundred…

He arrived to the classroom, noting that he wasn’t the only one there, with there being five others. The Elements a Sage could control were usually designated with some form of colour or symbol, though no one here wore anything signifying such.

The first of the other five was a timid looking girl with hair a shade of blue so light it almost approached white, a side effect of being a Sage was that they usually had exotic appearances normal humans couldn’t achieve without dyes… that, and it was rare to find an ugly Sage… like stupidly rare.

Even Principal Oren looked like he could be a model.

The second student was a guy with black hair, a small streak of golden blonde near his face… the guy looked terribly shy, so much so that he was huddled to the side, mumbling as he looked around then looking back to the floor and mumbling.

The third was another guy with brownish blonde hair who seemed to be trying to break the world record of eating speeds as he sat with a lunch box, despite looking slightly thinner than Kazuya.

The fourth was a girl, her hair an almost platinum blonde, she wore glasses and it only added to her strict appearance as she stood about a few stages away from a military ‘at ease’ stance.

The final member of the other five was another guy, this guy was built, his form already looked powerful, with how his uniform rested on him, he had brown hair with flecks of red in it, yet it seemed that he also had some light blue highlights in his hair that could only be seen if one focused on it.

All in all, Kazuya was somehow the most boring looking one there, the only interesting thing about him was that he was carrying his weapon at all times while the others seemed to not have them on their person, maybe in their bags?

Kazuya possessed hair a shade away from black, if the light hit it correctly it would actually appear purplish blue, and yet occasionally someone would mention his hair appearing green, it was a strange thing. Kazuya also had a plain body type, if a bit lanky, and he carried on his waist a katana.

Of course, the katana was the only weapon he had on him at current, he had more, and it wasn’t even his main weapon type.

All Sages were warriors of some type, but not all Sages fought up close and personal, many fought using whatever was available, and some fought just using their control over Elements…

Of course, of the top ten Sages in the known world, the Ten Kings, only one fought with pure Element control, but that was apparently because she was ill.

Being versatile was a key point to fighting as a Sage, especially against the stronger Mystic Beasts who could typically outfight a Sage in certain areas.

Kazuya stepped forward, nodding to the rest of the waiting students, waiting for something, likely for the door to open… which it did a minute or two later, thankfully.

Upon entering the group found, to their surprise, the Principal as well as another man who sat lazily to the side.

“Greetings children. I trust I don’t need to introduce myself?” the Principal joked as his silver, near white hair shook with mirth at his own silent chuckle.

“Good morning sir.” Kazuya greeted, though he was a bit awkward once he realized that no one else had greeted the powerful King of Metal.

“Thanks for the greeting Hiiro, most first years are a bit too intimidated to greet back.” Kazuya inwardly groaned at being called by his first name, again disliking the name even as the other teens seemed to realize they were supposed to greet back, each greeting in their own way…

That guy who was eating a moment ago was way too cheery though.

“Anyway, greeting the six of you is not why I am here. I am here to introduce you to your teacher, as well as explain the reason your class consists of only seven of you.” Kazuya had suspected this, but hearing it out loud simply confirmed his suspicions.

“You see, every year, we look for the best students, the best one hundred, and allow them into our school… but sometimes we find students above and beyond the best even.” Principal Oren looked to the six, his eyes scanning over them with a small smile.

“To go further beyond the best, that is what your class represents, the S-Class.” The six students were impressed and happy with the praise, however only two of them caught what it really meant and looked across the others…

Kazuya’s eyes met the eyes of the built guy with multi-coloured hair, and they both smirked at the realization…

No one here was much weaker than the others.

Though Kazuya was wondering where the ‘seventh’ student was, Kazuya only counted six including himself after all.

“But of course, you were brought here for your talent, so you are already placed into the class… but know this.” Principal Oren’s tone changed from his calm tone to one of quiet judgement, causing the students to stiffen in fear.

“You are expected to be the best. If at any point you fall below the top ten percent of your grade, you will be ejected from this institution.” It was a difficult thing to grasp, but they understood it immediately… they had to be in the top ten, every time.

“Of course, all six of you are unique enough that this should be fine. You all will be getting tested soon, to determine the class rankings.” The six looked amongst each other, uncertain of why the rankings would be necessary… but seeing their curiosity, the other man that was in the room seemed to perk up for a moment.

“The Class Rankings, these are our ways of telling the authority of Sages, because in all honesty, Sages are ranked through combat.” The man grinned as he spoke, holding up his hand, allowing for the entire class to see the tiny ball of Darkness Element that appeared in his hand.

“So to test your rankings, we’ll have you all fighting me, one at a time… before I forget to do this though, my name is Jonathan Grant, I am a Sage with two Elements, Darkness and Wind.” Kazuya blinked at that, as he was quite surprised…

Having more than one Element was very rare, even his parents claimed they had only met ten such people in their careers as Sages… and any person with more than one Element was destined to be strong.

Sages could specialize in one form of combat, but versatility would always be the greatest thing a Sage could possess. A Sage with multiple Elements would certainly have more versatility.

“Well, I would normally leave by now, but I figure it’s important to watch this.” Principal Oren sat down by the desk where Jonathan had been sitting on.

“Oh yes, you’ll all be having another watcher… you can come out, Liza.” There was a strange distortion next to the Principal as their other watcher appeared.

Kazuya was an optimistic guy at times, tempered with his knowledge of reality. Yet he instantly felt… something, a strange feeling of familiarity, when this girl appeared.

Long hair, coloured in a very bright white tone, one long black strand of hair to the right side of her face, and a shorter strand on the left side, she was quite small, even though Kazuya was around one point seven metres, the girl would be around one point five at best.

“This is Liza von Krown. She will also be a member of your class, but she has already passed her test… her skills are a bit… unique, even amongst yours.” The Principal said with a small smile.

The group of teens was considered among the strongest in their year group, and if the Principal considered Liza an equal to them, they would accept his words… though more than one felt a bit annoyed at how Liza would not fight like they would.

Liza looked to the six, her eyes pausing on the muscled guy and then pausing quite a bit longer on Kazuya before she turned, walked to the desk the Principal sat by, and then she decided to use the desk itself as a seat, her height letting her kick her legs about playfully.

It was quite disrespectful, but the Principal seemed to just sigh at Liza’s antics.

“Right, well, for our first test, we have Leah Marx. It seems like you’re an Air and Water Sage… an excellent combination for support and attack, and it would make using Ice marginally easier.” Jonathan noted as the quiet girl with the light blue hair nodded, looking around in worry before stepping forward.

“Thank you sir…” Leah spoke as Jonathan sighed, scratching his head as he yawned, standing in the centre of the room.

Each classroom in Elem High doubled as theoretical and practical, so in the centre of each class was usually a ‘ring’ of sorts for practice fights and demonstrations, which is where the tests would happen now.

“No need to be that formal with me… whatever. Whenever you’re ready, we can begin.” Jonathan noted as he held a wooden knife, while Leah on the other hand held a thin stick, and Kazuya inwardly categorized her.

Leah was a ‘caster’ type; casters normally used small or light weapons, usually knives or batons, and simply fought using their finesse when it came to the Elements and a few other unique skills.

A boring fighting style for Kazuya who enjoyed moving around in combat, but in all honesty their style could occasionally be the most beautiful thing ever seen.

Leah’s hand rose, and Jonathan’s off hand twitched, making Leah’s eyes widen and Kazuya was aware of the reason for that… the two fighting both had two Elements; the Element they shared was Wind…

“Brat, using the same Element as someone stronger than you is usually a death-wish, unless you have some sort of trump card.” Jonathan warned as Leah winced, before narrowing her eyes.

Her arms waved once more, and this time water appeared in her hands, shooting off to Jonathan extremely quickly, making the teacher widen his eyes even as the water suddenly split just before reaching him.

“Oh… using your Wind to add pressure to your Water… that’s innovative and really dangerous, but as I mentioned, this is a test… and tests check everything.” Jonathan said, rushing towards Leah as she began moving back while attacking…

Unfortunately for her, Jonathan was their teacher, a fully-fledged Sage, and he was clearly of greater skill and strength than her, as shown when she finally couldn’t attack anymore, instead needing to block invisible attacks from Jonathan as he closed in, holding the wooden knife to her throat.

“Right… This is over. Get out of the ring; I know your skill now.” Jonathan said easily as Leah closed her eyes and sighed.

“Yes sir.” She said quietly even as she moved away… Kazuya wasn’t sure why she looked so down… no one expected her to defeat the teacher.

“Next up is Tony Valdez, another shared Element, Lightning and Darkness? That’s a powerful combination, if you master it.” It really was a strange coincidence, Kazuya considered, as it allowed Jonathan insight into the abilities of the two before the fight even began.

“Yes sir…” Tony, unfortunately, seemed to lack the enthusiasm most would associate with a Lightning user, they were typically energetic, but Kazuya also reminded himself that people were not their stereotypes.

His other Element, Darkness, was the Element most associated with laziness and vitriol, but again, it wasn’t always like that.

Besides, Tony didn’t seem to be lazy so much as he was shy… and possibly scared.

Tony’s weapon of choice were two gloves, though judging from his stance, they were meant to possess claws on them… something that their teacher noticed, and Jonathan thought for a moment… then just shrugged, they didn’t have claw type weapons like that available at current.

“Right… begin.” Jonathan easily said as Tony’s hands began to spark, an early warning to anyone who knew about the Lightning Element and its numerous titles.

Each Element possessed advantages and disadvantages, such as the Darkness Element being amongst the slowest Elements along with Ice and Earth, but the Darkness Element also had the greatest potential for negative effects and other… powers.

With Lightning, it was lauded as the second fastest Element in existence after light itself, as well as having some of the greatest capabilities in speed based support and damage which usually bypassed any defence.

The issues involved with Lightning were usually the poor control over the Element, and that defensively the Element wasn’t that good unless using passive aggressive attacks, such as a field that shocked opponents when they touched it…

Hey, Kazuya studied every Element due to his own, he had to learn the others if he wanted to survive with his handicap.

Of course, Kazuya noted that Tony’s hands sparking were a sign of likely focusing his Element into his arms so that they’d do extra damage when he attacked Jonathan.

Lightning usually punished people for trying to block it by shocking them through their guards.

The sparking on Tony’s hands made Jonathan shake his head though, as focusing your power like Tony was should show no sign of it occurring if it was properly controlled, so it was either a distraction or being done incorrectly.

It turned out to be the first one, to Kazuya’s surprise as Tony stepped forward, rushing at really high speeds to Jonathan, who held his wooden knife, the brown colouration fading quickly as it began to look as if dipped in ink.

Covering a weapon in an Element to act as an insulator against the electricity, Kazuya was still practicing that himself, as it was something commonly used amongst stronger Sages.

The reason why the sparking was considered a decoy was because instead of launching an attack with his fists, Tony kicked out, sending a bolt of lightning out from his leg.

This was the second of the four fighting styles Sages typically used, one which combined weapon use and Elemental control, augmenting their fighting style with their Element rather than the other way around, which casters did.

This was considered the Spell-sword type, based on how often swords were used as they were the most popular weapon… not that Kazuya understood that either.

Kazuya used a sword but it wasn’t his main weapon, just a secondary.

In addition, the sword was actually not that easy to learn, amongst the easiest weapons to use the spear or a simple dagger came out on top, but the sword was romanticized and thus a lot of Sages ended up using them.

The lightning kick, which would normally be dangerous, was stopped by a thin two dimensional black opening in space, surprising Tony as a similar ‘hole’ appeared next to his head, the same lightning lancing out of it and hitting him in the head causing Tony to stumble to the side.

Jonathan capitalized on his stumble, dropping to the floor and sweeping Tony’s legs out from under him, and as Tony landed on his back, Jonathan was quick to move forward, placing his wooden knife on the teen’s neck.

“We’re done, though that should have lasted longer…” Jonathan glared at Tony who seemed to shrink into himself as he mumbled apologies, stood up, and walked off the stage.

“Next, Jade Gardenia a dual Light and Metal Sage… hm… scary…” Jonathan said half-jokingly, though Kazuya didn’t see the joke.

The Light Element, widely considered the most powerful Element due to its monopoly on the titles of fastest Element, and being the most versatile Element when it came to damage avenues, and being above average at support and even defence.

Of course, the Light Element also had a notorious weakness to the Darkness Element, which sort of evened the playing field, but still, the Light Element was truly powerful.

As for Metal, it said something when Principal Oren, who was sitting nearby, was the number one Metal Sage on the planet and was capable of likely controlling all the metal within a few kilometres of him.

That, and Metal was amongst the best defensive Elements, only showing a weakness to Lightning which bypassed its defence near entirely, it could also be used to create weaponry.

So Jade had a powerful balance of attack and defence, but her attack would most certainly be nullified by Jonathan’s Darkness Element, so no doubt-

Jade flicked her left arm, her right holding a rapier she had picked up for the spar, and thus tiny knives appeared in the air shooting towards Jonathan, and Kazuya nodded in appreciation.

Metal was the only Element Jade could use in this fight, lest she lose near immediately, though Kazuya was surprised that she considered immediately attacking with the typically defensive Element.

Jonathan wasn’t surprised, and instead began blocking the knives shooting towards him at high speeds using his own wooden knife.

Yeah, imbuing your Element into a weapon did crazy things.

Jade obviously didn’t think her attack would harm Jonathan, and of course it wouldn’t, he was a qualified Sage meaning he was at the very least a four Star Sage, though it was more likely five.

The people in this class were at best two Stars on the verge of becoming three Stars, breaking that limit was difficult and Kazuya considered himself to be no exception to that.

But the difference between Stars was huge, so again, no one expected anyone to defeat Jonathan in these spars.

Knowing this, Jade just planned on attacking and attacking, knowing that the moment Jonathan attacked her, she would likely lose…

Jade was maximizing her chances of making an impression in the short amount of time she had, Kazuya approved.

Following this line of thought, Jade had stepped forward the moment her daggers went towards Jonathan, imbuing her Light Element into her form to get a burst of speed to attack with her rapier.

Kazuya found Jade’s technique to be amazing, as she chose the perfect weapon to use for a Light Element user, something fast and easy to use… um, true rapier use is complicated, but the fundamental attack method, a stab, is simple, so he approved of her weapon at least.

Jade thrust with her rapier, as expected, only for Jonathan to hit the ground while his arm seemed to be turned into a shadow.

“Coffin.” And just like that, Jade’s own shadow seemingly gained mass and extended tendrils to wrap around her, making her as if a mummy as she dropped to the floor.

“Sorry about that, but I don’t have the patience to be fighting a rapier user like that.” Jonathan said as the spar was over, the shadows depositing Jade amongst her future classmates as she shivered at the sensation.

Kazuya noted the key word ‘coffin’ and realized that it was probably just a phrase to help Jonathan visualize his attack, it was a memorization technique.

“Next up is Vince Makarov, another Light Element user, but with a second Element of Wood.” Vince, it seemed, was the guy who was constantly eating as his eyes brightened at the chance to fight, placing his lunchbox down on the floor along with his bag.

“Oh, oh, I’m up!” he just seemed like a ball of energy as he jumped onto the stage, holding two pistols.

Guns were commonly used weapons for Sages, despite being ostracized as ‘weaker’ than things like bows and pure magic use, guns were considered a ‘gap’ weapon.

To explain, Sages were stronger than normal people, a Sage focused on close quarters combat might be able to deadlift over a ton if they were at the third star, even Kazuya could deadlift roughly eight hundred kilos, despite his physique not hinting at it.

So because of this, throwing something would usually be faster than a normal bullet, let alone firing something from a bow designed to handle all that force, while guns were consistent and unable to gain power like a Sage could.

To put it another way, guns were trainee weapons for people not strong enough to use a bow correctly. Jonathan seemed to approve the weapon choice though.

“Guns are an often misunderstood weapon.” Jonathan seemed to have his own thoughts on the weapon as Vince grinned, holding his guns sideways in a way that would never be allowed…

If they were normal guns, yeah, that wouldn’t be safe. But Sages didn’t do ‘normal’.

The guns Sages used were in fact the same as Wands and Staves, they were magical foci. Kazuya was aware of this because his father had used them at one point, and Izuki Kazuya still liked them enough to keep a spare on his person.

Instead of bullets, the guns stored certain ‘spells’ within their magazines, though due to how guns are designed they could only contain attack magic that worked on a pinpoint principle, though if it was an area of effect attack after hitting that point, no one could stop that.

So instead of discharging bullets, guns discharged nothing but Elemental energy focused into spells.

“Thanks teach! Now, let’s get ready to rumble!” Kazuya gave a small smile at the antics of the hyped up gunman, though that saying was quite old at this point.

Vince immediately proved that using two guns was not insanity by firing at two different points at once on Jonathan’s person, allowing the man to move out of the way just slightly as a beam of Light shot past him, and something else impacting the floor behind Jonathan.

“A Light Element gun… it’s more powerful than it seems.” Truly, as mentioned before, the Light Element was the fastest in existence, and one truly suited for attacking as well.

Vince didn’t let up with just two shots, firing rapidly as he fought, though that wasn’t all that he did, Kazuya noted as he just looked at the ground shifting slightly behind Jonathan.

Jonathan caught it too, as Vince glared, and out of the ground roots appeared attempting to bind Jonathan before he could escape, though they were cut short, literally, by Jonathan’s wind cutting through them.

“I get your fighting style now; do I need to knock you out of the ring or will you leave?” Jonathan asked as Vince pouted, holding his guns with a pout as he scratched his head with the barrel… hey…

“Nah, I’ll get out of the ring. Always know when to retreat, lesson number three of being a gunman!” Vince smiled brightly as he spoke, Principal Oren speaking up from the side.

“Oh? And what are the other rules?” the Principal joked, and Vince considered it for a moment.

“I haven’t learnt all of them, but the first rule is that the barrel should only aim at enemies, and the second is that I should keep quiet if I can!” Everyone in the room, including Kazuya, just stared at the boy, noting that he was already breaking those rules though…

“Get off the stage… alright, next, Edward Valzard… royalty? And somehow you have three Elements.” That shocked everyone, as people with two Elements were a bit uncommon, but people with three… unheard of.

“Fire, Earth, and Ice, if you break that last one down to its base Elements, you somehow have major control over eight of the ten Elements.” Edward was the built guy that Kazuya grinned at when he had entered the room, and he just scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“It isn’t as amazing as it sounds… and please don’t treat me differently, we aren’t in the Empire, I’m not that important out of there.” The guy seemed a bit shy about what people thought of him, though everyone in the room also noted the other bit; he was royalty… of the Empire of all places.

“True, in the Sage high schools and academies, you’ll be treated normally wherever you go, as long as it isn’t Valour Academy… well, come on then, I’ve been told you’re one of the three exceptional ones this year.” Jonathan’s words got the attention of all his classmates, causing Edward to scratch his cheek as he got onto the stage… without a weapon.

“Huh? You don’t look like a caster type… a brawler?” Jonathan asked as Edward smiled a bit, though anyone could see it was a bit forced.

“Yeah… I’m pretty bad with just about any weapon I use, so my master just told me to stop thinking about it and hit my enemies.” That was blunt, but the physique of Edward told everyone that he followed the advice… and it likely worked.

“Who is your master by the way?” Jonathan asked as Edward clenched and unclenched his fists, bouncing on the tips of his toes to hype himself up for the spar.

“Gregory Valzard.” Everyone in the room knew of the Valzards, they were one of the three royal families of the Empire, the Emperor and Empress would always be selected from these three families with the third becoming The Royal Guard.

The three families each had their own specialties, but the Valzards were known for their dominating fighting styles specializing in overwhelming the opponent, and their Fire.

“Gregory Valzard, the next dragon… you have a scary master kid… what is he, your dad, uncle?” Jonathan asked as he got into his fighting style, Edward falling into his own as his eyes narrowed.

“Ah, Gregory is my brother.” Jonathan blinked, knowing the age gap between Gregory and Edward was about thirty plus years, but it still made sense when considering that Sages aged slower.

“Well… shit.” Jonathan joked as the fight began, and Kazuya stared, intent on watching the fighting style of one of the people who are considered talented this year.

And that was when Kazuya’s smile became a bit strained as he watched Edward dash forward at a stable, if slightly slow pace…

The strain in Kazuya’s smile came from the fact that Edward’s entire expression had completely changed, the royal was now a vicious grin, with Jonathan raising his left arm to block as a powerful right hook came from Edward’s muscled form.

The punch was soundly blocked, though Edward kept pushing forward with that fist as he stomped on the ground, a spike of earth shooting upwards to stab Jonathan’s midsection, in response Jonathan stepped back, twisting his right hand to claw at the spike with Darkness, breaking the spike of Earth to pieces.

Edward was not deterred, doing a quick one-two combo, the first attack sending a blast of fire at Jonathan who was out of reach of Edward’s fists, Jonathan countered this by seemingly slapping the flames upwards, an application of Wind Element most likely.

The second punch had ice grow from Edward’s right arm, becoming a spike growing from Edward’s fist launched at Jonathan’s shoulder; Jonathan countered this by coating his wooden knife in darkness, blocking the attack, the ice seemingly being eaten into the shadow, Edward detaching his hand from the ice before the Darkness could eat up to that point.

Jonathan launched his own attacks now, kicking forward, getting Edward to raise his arms, a wall of earth blocking the space in front of him as a massive gash appeared in the stone due to the Wind blade sent by Jonathan during his kick.

Edward capitalized on this moment, Kazuya saw from the side as Edward punched his own shield, separating the entire block from the ground as it seemingly launched itself at Jonathan.

“You’re an interesting one.” Jonathan said as he stood still, allowing the wall to slam into him as he… vanished? He then appeared from behind Edward in a very confusing display of ‘falling in reverse’ from the floor.

It looked exactly like someone falling on their back… if it was a video being rewound, as Jonathan found himself standing behind Edward, knife to the throat of the student.

“That’s enough kid, you give up right?” Jonathan asked as Edward sighed.

“Yeah… besides… you’re scary too sir.” Edward said and Kazuya agreed.

The moment Jonathan grabbed Edward a spike of earth attempted to skewer Jonathan from behind. Judging by the trajectory it would have pierced Edward as well, somewhere around his intestines.

Jonathan cut the entire thing with his wind though, so it was stopped right there.

Not only that, but Jonathan had vanished by creating a portal of Darkness on Edward’s wall as it shot at Jonathan, making it look like Jonathan vanished just as he got hit, it was done so quickly that it couldn’t be seen unless you saw the situation from Jonathan’s point of view.

“I suppose I am a bit scary.” Jonathan replied with measured ease as he let go of Edward, who just nodded to the teacher, going back to the line as Jonathan looked over to Kazuya.

“Next up is Hiiro Kazuya, an Essence Element Sage. He is also one of the three exceptional students.” That confused everyone but the adults in the room as they looked to Kazuya who stepped forward to the weapons rack, selecting a wooden katana.

“Essence? That’s not one of the ten…” Leah Marx stated as they all watched Kazuya put down his real weapon, walking with the fake into the ring.

“No, it’s not… an eleventh Element?” Edward asked aloud as they contemplated its significance by name alone.

“Essence… if one is to look in the dictionary, it is an intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something which determines its character.” Jade Gardenia added, though no one had the heart to tell her that such an in depth description was unnecessary.

“It also means core…” Tony’s add in was quiet, almost as if fearing someone would get annoyed at him for speaking out.

“Wonder what it does?” That was all anyone was going to get out of Vince, who was staring with wide eyes and a smile on his face.

“Hear that, they’re all curious… why don’t you show them what it does?” Jonathan asked the student in front of him, only to get a nervous scratch of the cheek.

“Um… my Element itself isn’t that amazing…” Kazuya complained at the expectations heaped on his shoulders, only to get a blank stare from Jonathan, leaving Kazuya to sigh.

Then he placed both hands on the sword, and stared at Jonathan.

“His bearing just changed.” Edward caught it quickly, and the others agreed, seeing the serene expression on Kazuya’s face as Jonathan nodded, holding his knife in a reverse position.

“Let’s begin.” The moment Jonathan said this; Kazuya appeared at his side, surprising everyone there as Jonathan jumped back while launching a cutting wind, said wind being broken by a slash of a wooden sword.

“Wait… wasn’t that the Earth Element, followed by Wind?” Jade asked as everyone else agreed with what she had just seen.

When the fight had begun, Hiiro had slid along the ground, the Earth pulling him next to Jonathan before coating his wooden sword in Wind to block Jonathan’s attack.

Kazuya didn’t even bother pausing as he continued his attack, taking one hand off of his sword and pushing his empty palm forward while squaring his legs, a standard sumo palm thrust actually, followed by a burst of fire from his palm.

Jonathan countered by creating a ball of Darkness, sucking the fire into it as he stepped forward to attack Kazuya.

At this moment, Kazuya swung at Jonathan, who blocked while imbuing his knife with his Wind Element, luckily, for Kazuya’s wooden blade had somehow gained a metallic sheen where the cutting edge should be, showing control of Metal.

“How many Elements is he using?” Leah asked, not expecting any answer, though she still received one.

“All.” This was the quiet voice of someone who had not yet spoken in the class, causing the students to see their seventh member who would not be taking the test, Liza von Krown.

“That’s wasteful, isn’t it? Controlling an Element makes us tired, controlling an Element we do not command more so. It’s why Sages are trained to only know the basics of other Elements for situations where their own Elements are unusable.” Edward asked, thinking about cases where Fire users would fight against a Fire dragon…

It was pointless trying to put out a fire with more fire, and therefore Fire users were worthless in such a fight.

“Normally you’d be right young Valzard… however Kazuya’s Element is a bit strange in that aspect. See, he’s been using it since the beginning of the fight.” The Principal spoke, causing the students to turn back to the fight, seeing Jonathan sidestep a stream of Lightning shooting past where he just was.

“Essence, from what we were able to research about it, is the base form of each Element, the power source of all Sages.” The Principal stated while nodding as Kazuya released a roundhouse kick, sending forth a wave of pressurized water while Jonathan fell into his own shadow.

“From our studies of young Kazuya, we have determined that all Sages possess Essence within them, but our bodies are pre-dispositional to a select Element or two, three in the case of young Valzard.” The Principal spoke, a small smile on his face as Jonathan attempted to grab Kazuya from behind, only for Kazuya to stab his wooden sword beneath his armpit in an attempt to attack the enemy behind him.

Kazuya had watched Edward and his fight, and he recalled the technique Jonathan just used, knowing that it was something Kazuya had to prepare for.

“Thus, we are capable of converting pure Essence into our Elements at a high exchange rate, but a lower rate for all other Elements.” Edward widened his eyes as he spoke out.

“Wait, so what does that mean, if your Element is this Essence?” Edward asked as the Principal sighed.

“It doesn’t mean much young Valzard, not at current… what Kazuya is might be something a bit sad.” The Principal stated, watching the match come to an end as Kazuya had his sword knocked upwards while Jonathan grabbed his throat.

“All beings possess an Element they are connected to, even base humans depending on certain factors have Elements, but they do not generate Essence within their bodies.” The Principal stated as Jonathan let go of Kazuya’s neck, the boy closing his eyes and breathing out in a huff of air, relaxing his body from its combat state.

“Sages are those who can generate Essence, and also possess an Element. Humans are those who do not generate Essence, but have an Element… as for Kazuya, he generates large amounts of Essence, but has no Element.” The Principal frowned at his own words, before everyone noticed an important fact…

Liza wasn’t sitting on the desk anymore, having vanished while the King of Metal was talking. A quick survey of the room allowed everyone to see Liza standing in front of Kazuya, while Jonathan turned to the two in surprise.

“You.” Liza spoke, making Kazuya blink, staring at the tiny girl in front of him with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes? Liza was it? Something you want to ask?” Kazuya asked her in response to her statement before she reached out and placed her hands on both sides of Kazuya’s head, pulling his head down to her eye level.

“You are mine.” Liza spoke, causing everyone to just stare as Kazuya blinked in surprise.

“Huh?” she looked him over one more time, nodding after seeing whatever she was looking for.

“Mine. You will be mine forever.” She spoke once more, letting go of his head and turning while walking away, vanishing mid-step making everyone at a loss for words.

In the silence, Principal Oren just palmed his face while shaking his head looking at the spot she vanished from.

“Right… well, teenage love drama aside, Jonathan, give the rankings. I’m going to go look for our wayward student.” The Principal stood and walked away, shaking his head all the while as Jonathan just blinked.

“Well, that happened. So, little hero, you just got confessed to. Congrats. Now line up so I can tell you all what ranks you possess currently.” Jonathan said ignoring the confused stares Kazuya was giving to the space in front of him; having not moved from his hunched position Liza put him in.

“…Alright, ignoring lover-boy, rank seven, Tony.” The shy boy looked even shier upon being told that he was the weakest in his classroom.

“Rank six, Leah Marx.” The quiet girl held a fist to her chest, quietly showing her spirit.

“Rank five, Vince Makarov.” The energetic bundle of energy grinned at the words of the teacher, uncaring of being in the lower half of the class rankings as he spun his pistols around.

“Rank four, Jade Gardenia.” The strict girl began to mutter to herself at a dizzying speed, no one catching anything beyond hearing something about ‘training’, and ‘middle’.

“Rank three, Edward Valzard.” The powerfully built young man looked to the unmentioned classmate with a challenging stare, uncaring that said classmate didn’t seem to realize what was happening.

“Rank two, Kazuya Hiiro.” This snapped Kazuya out of his funk, looking to the rest of the class who was staring at him as he registered the uttered words.

“And your rank one who isn’t here is Liza von Krown. These rankings can and probably will change before you graduate from this school, so do not be discouraged if you didn’t get the rank you wanted… though who am I kidding, most of you probably wanted to be ranked first.” Jonathan joked as the group as a whole nodded.

“Good luck with that. If any of you can take Liza’s spot as first ranked, I’ll grant any one request you have, as long as it’s possible of course.” Jonathan half joked, making the group realize that Liza was stronger than all of them, even if they had never seen her fight.

“Though that’s a long way off… none of you are at her level yet.” Jonathan said as they walked to the auditorium.

“Sir, did she do the same test as us?” Vince asked.

“Yeah… she’s stronger than you all though.” Jonathan’s statement was enough for everyone to accept her strength…

Though Kazuya and Edward both wished to test her strength…