The day of the Enlistment Finally arrived. Azrael woked up early to do his final preparations. He wore a basic long dark blue sleeves with pants and boots, together with a scarf. After getting dressed he then proceeded to meet with his Master.

“Remember my teachings, use your head. Don’t just go blasting any spells. Usually, the Enlistment process will be divided into two parts and practical combat is always present. This is the first time you will fight actual humans besides me so be careful. The majority of people you will be fighting will be warriors as battle mages like you are extremely rare.”

“Yes, master! I will not disappoint you!”

During the time that Gerald mentored Azrael, he mostly fought summons, as such his experience with fighting humans is extremely limited. The multitude of variation of the summons forcibly developed his flexibility combat.

An hour remains till the enlistment started and Azrael finally arrived at the site. The Enlistment will be conducted on the City Stadium. The city stadium was a large circular structure stretching at least 600 meters in diameter. There were many people already present. Multiple guards were stationed in all entrances, coupled by a few patrolling ones.

“Cygnus was not lying, it seems that there is indeed a VIP observing this Enlistment otherwise there wouldn't be many guards.” Military Enlistments are conducted every year as such Azrael knew the norm when it comes to this event.

As he walked towards the entrance, he noticed many young people such as himself. “These are going to be my rivals” Among these people there was a group of youngsters who stood above the rest. They were draped with luxurious clothing with a River sigil engraved. “Eridanus Clan! This year’s enlistment will have nobles participating. I wonder if there are others. If that is so, then it will prove to be a bit more difficult”

Azrael then proceeded to the registration desk. There was a large tent set up with a military officer seated together with other soldiers. Nearby there was a small open rectangular field with a soldier and a few applicants lined up. Azrael approached the officer. “Excuse me, I would like to register for the Enlistment”, the officer looked at Azrael from top to bottom, silently sizing him up.

“Name, age, and Combat Inclination.” Officer coldly asked. “Yes, its Azrael Anguis, 15 years old, Mage”.

“Are you part of the Anguis clan?”. The soldier beside the officer immediately said. “The Anguis clan is based on the capital, why would they even be here, besides look at this kid, he doesn't even look like a noble”.

Azrael eyebrows twitched and were mildly irritated but then he calmed down immediately. “It’s better this way, I wouldn't want any relation to the Anguis Clan”. Azrael thought inwardly.

The officer nodded and pointed to the open rectangular field, “That makes sense, well then line up together with the applicants. Your number is 25. Wait for the test administrator to call you.”

Boom! a youngster with a ragged appearance and blood dripping from his mouth was currently standing on his last leg backed against one of the four pillars of the rectangular field. "Agh, I give up, please no more," he begged.

"Anyone who isn't competent enough, get lost! The prince will be watching the enlistment and we intend to give him a good show, not show some lousy weaklings! Next"! the voice reverberated in the hall. He was the test administrator.

"Damn, the registration wasn't this extreme before, we better back out". The weak-willed applicants were having already having second thoughts and were thinking if they could pass the evaluation.

“Listen! For those of you who just arrived, the rules are pretty simple. You only need to withstand my attacks within this area for 2 minutes or until I deem it so that you pass. You may think this is unfair, so I have intentionally suppressed my combat abilities. My hits will not be lethal. Next! Number 23”. Another applicant who was sweating all over walked to the field.

“Not lethal he says.. that kids arm looks crippled to me. If it were me, I’d totally back out too, but then again I'm totally different from the rest here. Mmm... Mmmm. The only decent competition here will probably be those Eridanus kids. ”

Azrael looked to see the source of the voice beside him. It was a male who was a few inches shorter than him, with a reddish gold hair and adorned with a black sleeve and dark red striped vest. The youth then looked to Azrael nodded. “What about you, brother. Are you backing out too? If its this hard on the registration then what more on the actual test. Do you want some tips on how to survive the 2 minutes, I can give you some.”

“I’ve observed the administrator for quite some time now and I noticed many openings already. Its starts when he…” The youth didn't wait for Azrael to respond and just continued talking. “What going on with this guy,” Azrael thought.

“By the way the name’s Phaeton. You?” He looked at Azrael with beaming eyes waiting for a response. “It’s Azrael.” Phaeton nodded, “Cool name, that's like the angel of death right? Anyway as I was saying, the administrator has quite a few openings, especially during the actual sparring session. Not everyone can execute it though, you’d have to be really gutsy. I’d do it easily for sure.”

“Next! 24! Where is number 24!!” The administrator shouted.

“Oh. That's me, well see you brother. Do take note of my tips” Phaeton said as he smiled confidently. Azrael brows twitched. “What tips? He never mentioned them.”

Phaeton dashed to the field and looked at the administrator while scratching the back of his head. “I’ve been calling for your number 3 times now. Pay attention!”

“My bad. I was caught up trying to formulate a plan.”

“Well then, I'm sure you already know the rules. We’ll begin in 10 seconds.” As the countdown started, Phaeton pulled out 2 falchions and readied himself.

“Start!” The facilitator advanced slowly to Phaeton and made a quick dash forward while throwing a straight punch. Phaeton then raised his falchions to form a cross-blocking the punch.

“Nice block kid, but you better not think that you can totally block it”. “A reeling force suddenly exploded from the administrator's fist and blasted his guard. As his guard was down the administrator threw a side kick which launched Phaeton into the air. He then recomposed himself and somersaulted backward landing in the ground unscathed.

“That force contained immense internal strength, what the hell is his definition of holding back?” Phaeton then channeled his energy onto his weapons. Flames then burst from his falchions.

“Time to up my game! I can’t very well become a punching bag here, time to take the initiative.”

“Imbuing Fire magic into your weapon. Good! Let’s see if you can hold on”. Phaeton then made multiple slashes, and flaming bladed projectiles were fired to the administrator.

As soon as the bladed projectiles arrived, the administrator swatted the blades, but to his surprise, it suddenly exploded. The administrator was stunned for a good full second. “This is what I was waiting for, he always blocks attacks head-on. My attack never meant to deal, any damage”.

Phaeton moved rapidly to the side of the administrator to close the gap and made a horizontal slash aimed at the torso thinking that he was still stunned. “Good effort, masking the nature of your spell, but not enough”. The administrator instantly turned faced Phaeton and delivered a pinpoint kick to his arm bypassing his guard, followed by another kick which then disarmed him. One of his falchions fell to the ground.

Before Phaeton could even make sense of what happened, a fist already near his face. “Nooo!” Phaeton buckled himself and braced. “You pass,” the administrator said as he stopped the punch short.

“You are the first person to even try to counter-attack me and your combat abilities are already above normal applicants.” The administrator picked up his falchion on the ground and tossed it to Phaeton.

“Phew.. I thought I was a goner already. Thanks for the praise Sir!, although I think its already a given.”. Phaeton said as he gave a salute. “What was that?” the administrator said.

“Nothing Sir. Well, I better go inside now.” Phaeton then glanced at Azrael with a self-satisfied smile and shouted at him. “I’ll see you inside brother!”

“Who the hell is your brother.” Azrael didn't reply back. “He might talk big but he does have the skills to back it up, and I pretty much saw what weakness he was talking about.” Azrael thought, with the information he got from that bout. He gained a few ideas for his turn.

“Alright, next one!” The administrator shouted. Azrael then proceeds to field. “Same rules apply, get ready and we’ll begin in 10 seconds”

—————————————

A few minutes later... Inside the City Stadium.

Azrael entered the area. Compared to the initial assessment there far fewer people here, he could only observe about 20 people. As he was observing the people who passed quietly a resounding voice called. “Brother you kept me waiting!! I heard quite an explosion outside, that was you, right? What exactly did you do? It hasn't even been long since I entered.” Phaeton then walked towards him.

“It's this him again,” Azrael thought to himself. “Why do you keep calling me brother anyway, its the first time we’ve met? We’re even going to be rivals”. “Aww. Don’t be so serious. It was either you or these lackluster mob. Not much of a choice really..” Phaeton smiled.

“You..” Azrael stared at Phaeton seriously. “It was a joke! Haha, there are actually some guys here who I'm familiar with but I really don't want to run with them, besides someone who keeps an active magic all the time will really stand out”. Phaeton said.

“Come on brother, you used the tip I gave you right to think of it as my friendship offering to you.”

“You don’t really give other people a chance to speak,” Azrael said. “Haha, my bad brother. Tell you what, let me fill you in on what's gonna happen next. According to my source, there will be 2 tests. The first one is easy, it's just a Potential measuring exam, they'll test us depending on what our combat inclination is.

“How will they test us?” Azrael curiously asked.

“Not sure what the method is but man that initial assessment we did earlier should have already been counted as an exam, I wonder what the rank of that soldier is? I heard once that once..”

Azrael cut him off. “Hey hey... You’re getting sidetracked again, you were explaining the tests remember”

“Oh yeah sorry, after the 1st test we’ll be having a tournament. I guess its to determine the best one in our batch, so we might duke it out soon. I’m going to become the champion for sure, so the only people you have to watch out for is those Eridanus nobles, there's 4 of them.”

Azrael ignored the boasting bits and asked. “How do you know them”

“If you haven’t noticed I'm from the Andares clan, so I'm familiar with other noble guys my age,” Phaeton said as he showed the clan’s sigil embroidered on his vest. It was a broadsword with irregular rays on its side.

“I can see the connection, I have met one of your clansmen before, Cygnus, I suppose he is the one who leaked the details to you” Azrael replied.

Phaeton made a small yelp. “You met my cousin?!” Hmph, mark my words brother. I’ll surpass that him soon enough. “

Multiple footsteps became audible as it closed in on the applicants, it was a group of soldiers entered the room lead by General Escariot. “The general.. We seem to be starting now, let us go, brother!” Phaeton said as he pulled in Azrael along.

“Attention all applicants! We will now be commencing the Enlistment Exam, the first part of the exam will be ‘Quadra Potentia’, simply put we will be measuring your potential. This exam will be overseen by my 2 attendants.” The 2 soldiers then brought out a ‘testing device’.

“If you do not pass this, you will automatically be disqualified. For the 2nd part of the exam, we will be drafting a tournament based on the ones who passed. It will be done directly at the stadium right after the 1st exam.”

Gen. Escariot then turned to the 2 overseers with a serious expression. “Make this exam quick. The prince has already arrived and we don’t want to keep him waiting. “