Night had fallen and the arena had recently opened. Cautiously, Cale followed the crowds to the entrance of the arena, which led through a small path and inconspicuously decorated paths. Some men at the entrance to the steps took tickets and noted which candidates had arrived. Silently, here the group separated into William, Ben, Philippa, and Edward, Aletta, Cale. The healer excitedly led Cale and Edward up the dark steps, while the first group disappeared down a side path.

Cale increased his mana sensitivity a bit, giving him a rough overview of the layout of the arena. Everywhere he looked, he saw mages. He hadn't realized until today that there were so many students, and judging by their appearance, they were by no means just first-year students. When they finally saw light at the end of the path, Cale was quite impressed by the construct. From up here, they could already see the wide fighting area that formed the center of the arena. Around it, extensive seating had been erected at a height of about two meters. According to his estimation, up to 2000 people could watch here, if not more.

Aletta led her group to one of the seating areas in the seventh row before questioningly looking back at Cale. The latter only nodded mutely, which is why she dropped down on those benches. Edward did the same, only Cale checked the surroundings one more time for safety's sake. They were quite close to the city wall, because it towered behind them. But the houses in the immediate vicinity were not visible, a large blockade blocked the view of them. They were literally in a big bowl.

Inwardly, Cale sighed before taking a seat to Edward's left. The latter seemed impressed by the dimensions of the arena as well, especially considering that it was impossible to see from the outside. The mage spotted a few soldiers doing their usual rounds on the wall and caught them glancing interested at the hole. The spectator seats gradually filled up until finally the moderator appeared, greeted everyone, gave a little motivational speech and then started the first duel.

It was a one on one, as suspected it was two magicians. While Edward and Aletta watched the action with interest, Cale noticed someone approaching them from behind. For a moment, he imagined the worst, until he spotted his blind friend striding practiced through the crowd. Silently, he sat down next to Cale, but did not look at him.

"What are you doing here?", asked Yusuf quietly as the surrounding crowd cheered the fighters. Cale leaned forward slightly to avoid so Edward or Aletta noticed anything of Yusuf's presence.

"Cheering on my guests, yourself?", he countered in a whisper, holding his hand in front of his mouth while his face barely peeked out from under his hood.

"I'm a permanent guest here. My students often join these fights", Yusuf replied calmly, something Cale wasn't used to from him. The usually hyper, jovial man was quiet and serious as he watched the mages in the arena. The first round was over quickly, to the disappointment of the guests, as the superior mage had immobilized his opponent, causing him to simply give up. Cale guessed that the winner had to be a second year, his knowledge was there, but his execution was sloppy.

"What did you do today? I could feel your mana through the whole city", Cale admitted quietly, peeking cautiously out from under his cover, allowing him to see Yusuf's grin.

"Why am I actually surprised that you caught that?", retorted Yusuf mockingly, at the same moment that the pack jumped to their feet to duly welcome the new duelists. It was a two-on-two, three of them were mages and one, to Cale's surprise, carried a sword. "A student of mine used force in an argument with another student, who was weaker than her. She doused the poor man with water and then beat him with her foot before I arrived."

"Pretty brutal", Cale gave out, turning his attention to the fights, which had begun to turn on each other. Cale got goosebumps when he saw one of them shoot his poorly controlled fire at the swordsman, but his partner came to his rescue in time. Fire magic was a subject that was not approached until the 4th year, as the danger was simply too great. But by all appearances, this mage was only a 3rd year, which made Cale wonder where he had learned this form of magic.

"The girl is quite a troublemaker. She has talent, I don't deny that, but she is very stubborn and lazy. She constantly wants to duel and doesn't respect a 'no'. Today, she finally overdid it, which is why I expelled her."

"You cracking down is something quite new", Cale threw back with amusement. He watched as the swordsman was slammed into his friend with a blast and went down. The mages were beside them within seconds, aiming their hands at the men lying on the ground before they surrendered. This round, the two mages won handily. "So where is she now?"

"Here. I haven't taken my eyes off her since she fled."

"I see, that's really why you're here. You're afraid she'll join the fight and hurt someone."

"I expect something along those lines, yes."

Cale sighed and watched as the announcer announced the winner before the four people stepped out of the arena. William, Ben, and Philippa would have to go next, which only pleased the mage as he finally wanted to get out of this oppressive arena.

"Don't waste your mana like that", Cale admonished the teacher as he slowly stood up. "You'll regret it if you end up in a dangerous situation and don't have much mana left."

"The pessimist, as always", Yusuf chimed in, also straightening up neatly. He and Cale were now sitting almost shoulder to shoulder.

"There they are!", exclaimed Aletta before loudly beginning to cheer on her friends. Edward joined her, but didn't get quite as loud. Cale sighed as he watched the three of them enter the fighting area. Automatically, his eyes turned to their opponent. Two men and a woman, all three were mages.

"This doesn't look so good", Yusuf admitted and Cale knew why. "My student is competing against your guests."

With a skeptical look, Cale stared at the girl he had already met once today. She was the thief who had jumped from the roof. But what struck him immediately was her condescending look toward William's group. Cale had recognized her immediately, and judging by the look on Philippa's face, Philippa seemed to have recognized her as well.

"What year is she?", Cale asked cautiously.

"Fifth."

"Fifth? Then she's almost done with her training. Why is she joining in the fights when people in this class are already practicing against each other in school?"

"Ask me something easier. I think she gets bored because she always wins. That could be a real problem for your group."

"You underestimate my students", Cale cleared his throat in amusement.

"Your students?", Yusuf repeated dumbfounded, without taking his attention away from the center of the arena where the fight began. Without hesitation, the two mages fired their abilities at William's group, but skillfully, Ben and William blocked them while Philippa drew her bow. Cale was surprised that she had been allowed to use a real bow. Now the only difficulty was incapacitating them opponents without seriously injuring or even killing them. "Didn't you always say that you didn't want to take students? Then how come you accepted them? They're not even mages, if I'm reading this right."

"Just watch and learn."

Yusuf didn't know that Cale was a swordmaster and carried Karekama. No wonder, in school he had never seen anything but magic from Cale and that alone was impressive. The secret to his talent was solely that he had done it several times before. He had already been a High-Magician once in his last life, so it was far too easy for him to become once again at 16. Even though, events had gone differently than Cale had originally planned.

Cale could see William running towards one of the mages, who was panicking and trying to cast a spell. As a wave of earth rushed at William, he leapt gracefully over it and landed on the other before ducking to the side and Philippa's arrow whizzed past him. His body had obscured the view of her archer, so the mage could not react and was hit full force in the shoulder. Yusuf's student shouted something, but William was faster and knocked the injured mage to the ground. The mage raised his hand and surrendered, so William did nothing more and ran back to his group.

Apparently.

While the remaining two mages fixed their gaze on the prince, Ben already came running and lunged at the girl. Surprised, she dodged his attack, rolled to the ground, and instantly had a large amount of mana concentrated. While her outstretched hand was aimed at Ben, another arrow shot at her opponent and pierced her hand. Ben, on the other hand, kicked the other mage aside with his foot, just as he had copied from Cale, and hurled him against the facade of the arena. Visibly surprised, Ben turned to William and almost seemed to ask him if that was too much force. Yusuf's pupil, however, spoke up again at that moment as she grabbed a large amount of water from the air and launched large attacks at the sword fighters. However, she was many times slower than what the two were used to, so they were able to dodge her attacks with ease. It could be seen that she was trying to corner William and Ben. But William also noticed that and therefore instructed Ben to split.

Tensely, Cale watched his friends as she ran at the mages from both sides. She made a high wall of water appear, but William remained unimpressed. He shot through the water with all his might, but as he entered, his sword was flung from his hand. Yusuf's student grinned triumphantly, but William remained unfazed, grabbing both of the mage's hands and pushing her to the ground. Instantly, the water fell to the ground and the girl cried out loudly in pain.

Cale could clearly see William's sword being flung into the sky and flying at full speed in his direction. Immediately the first spectators cried out and Edward, as well as Aletta, ducked down in fright.

"Caleb!", exclaimed Yusuf, as the two mages stood up in sync.

Cale didn't answer, he made a large barrier appear over all the spectators in a flash before he caught sight of Ben. The young swordsman flew in from the side and grabbed William's sword before landing on Cale's barrier with a loud bang and the weapon in his hand.

For a moment, everyone was silent before the first ones stood up and spotted what appeared to be the man flying. Ben was bleeding because he had caught the sword on the sharp side, which is why red liquid remained on the crystal clear barrier. Surprised, Ben straightened up and looked down at Cale before grinning.

"I caught it!", announced Ben in a loud voice before he started laughing. Cale sighed and dropped down next to Edward and Yusuf before grinning as well. Teaching the two of them so intensely had paid off after all. They had developed a good eye for their surroundings and didn't let it faze them when they found themselves at a disadvantage.

A few other spectators cast their puzzled glances at Cale, while the rest slowly began to applaud. Whether Cale had been recognized, he didn't know. Which, at that moment, he didn't care.