Hello everyone I hope you all enjoy this next chapter! PR credits to Shadow Mouse!

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Ryker was massive for his age as he stood at about seven feet tall. Since he was not much older than us, I thought that there wouldn’t be that much of a difference. He had unkempt black hair that went everywhere, black eyes, brown skin and large muscles all around making him look like he was a bear. He wore leather clothes which just made the appearance of a bear much more likely.

Lyrica stood at about five feet. She had long brown hair, yellow eyes and fair skin. She had a graceful figure to her as she wore an elegant purplish blue dress. The dress made her absolutely stunning but I made sure that I wasn’t looking too long because I didn’t want Sasha to misunderstand.

Erica seemed the most aloof out of the five. She stood at around 5’6” with short black hair, blue eyes and brown skin. She wore a white dress with blue colored designs and what seemed to be sapphires attached at the hem of the dress. An aura of distance seemed to be wrapped around her and the gazes of all the men were turned away from her to Lyrica.

Rashiel was a Dark elf compared to the first three who were humans. He had long black hair, red eyes and pale white skin. He wore a black suit with gold edges as well as matching pants. He held an air of pride as he looked at us students.

Grundal was a dwarf and of course was the shortest. He stood at about three feet high. His blonde hair in a topknot with his green eyes and blonde skin. He had a long beard that reached to his waist that seemed to be combed into a cone shape. Like all dwarves he must be muscular and his clothing revealed this fact. He wore tight fitting clothes that could either have been leather or silk.

Applause rang out from the crowd as the five took their seats at a raised platform that was created for this occasion. The platform replaced a portion of the seats around it and was directly parallel to the large stage rising at ten meters higher than the stage.

“We will call your name and you will demonstrate to us your best spells!” Artemia shouted, “Janice!”

A girl of about four feet tall with blonde hair that reached the bottom of her neck stood up. A small whirlwind surrounded here and brought her into the middle of the stage.

She landed clumsily as she almost tripped on her right leg when she fell. She wore a bright green dress and on her right arm was a long steel staff with bars that shaped like a diamond at the tip.

She looked nervous as she was the first one to go and Artemia shouted, “Begin!”

She shook for a second and then raised her staff in front of her as she held it with both arms. She relaxed as she started gathering the mana around her. With Shiade’s eye, I was able to see that she was gathering Arcane mana as well as Fire and Wind.

She looked up as she raised her staff and said words that I couldn’t hear. Immediately, countless small orbs of red light flew from the tip of her staff to the open sky above. The orbs swirled as if they were in a tornado and whenever an orb touched another one, they would explode and make a larger one.

This spell was one she had created herself but I noticed that this spell had no power behind it. Arcane mana allows the caster to specify exactly what a spell does. Having a spell have no power allows the spell to have more mana that could be spent in other areas. In her case, she used the mana that would have given power to the spell to increase the orbs or maybe introduce the clashing.

When the orbs finally combined into a giant 30 meter radius orb, it exploded into a shower of sparks. Most of the students clapped and applauded at the display but the judges were quiet.

The judges seemed to have already given a verdict as none of them discussed with each other. Ryker stood up and shouted in a deep sonorous voice, “You failed. You don’t understand the reason for this tournament. How is that fucking spell going to work against a fucking big ass dragon? Or even a big ass spell that is going to kill you? Have you thought of that you bitch?!”

He continued to say so many more demeaning words that Janice fell down on the ground crying. He finished after cussing her spell out for ten minutes until he sat back down.

Lyrica stood next and she spoke in a gentle and kind voice, “Don’t mind Ryker one bit little missy. He does that because he cares for you. That being said, how is the spell supposed to work in combat? This tournament is not a show but rather a fight with your life on the line. Someone such as you is not fit for this.”

Her voice made Janice calm down and she was escorted out by a guard with silver armor.

Lyrica sat back down and said, “Who’s next principal Artemia?”

They continued judging like this, each time a different judge would speak out the verdict. There were a lot that were chosen but much more not chosen. It seemed that the judges had an idea of our affinities as they would praise the ones that were’nt as showy.

Soon it was Kaiser’s turn and he too was carried away by a small whirlwind. I couldn’t tell where the wind came from but it wasn’t of concern as I wasn’t too worried about it.

Kaiser gathered Holy mana around him and shouted, “Avatar”. A bright white mist suddenly appeared below him and it began to devour his body. From the mist came a tall 20 meter armoured giant. The armor was plated gold and white and protected the body all around. A small slit in its helmet revealed a set of gold eyes.

He stood there waiting for the decision when Grundal stood up.

“Ye have a good avatar ther’ lad. The armor is pristine and the power it holds is no simple matter. Jus’ from a glance I c’n tell that, but how good is it in actual combat?”

As he drew near the end, I could tell that he was gathering Earth, Wind and Nature mana.

“Le’s see you handle my golem, god-ranked Nature magic, Wrath of Nature – Sand Golem!”

The stage in front of Kaiser suddenly turned into sand and from it came a hand. It grew in sized and height as sand poured down from it. A shoulder, then the head and torso, then the legs appeared as it rose up from the sand. Its eyes and mouth were gaping holes of darkness that seemed to drag you in.

Sand stopped flowing down as it stood up haggardly. It looked more like a rag doll than an actual golem. The golem threw a punch at Kaiser but he just blocked it. The block didn’t work as the golem’s punch kept on going and it seemed that Kaiser was trapped. He tried to move his arm from the golem’s but he wasn’t able to do so.

He received the punch from the golem and he started to fall backwards but his left leg caught him just in time. He jumped from his left with his right fist poised to strike.

He punches at the golem and it didn’t block as it tried to attack with its left arm. Kaiser missed hitting the golem with his right and so he punched at the golem with his left, spilling sand making it look like sand rain.

The golem didn’t seem to mind and was already slowly regenerating. Kaiser kept up the pace with a right punch, left kick, right punch, left backhand and many others until the golem was nothing more than a pile of dust.

The crowd had been cheering on Kaiser as he fought the golem as this was the first time they saw this happen.

“Ye done good lad, ye pass,” said Grundal as he sat back down.

Kaiser went back to his human form, looked at us and waved, and ran towards the winner’s block. There were two doors that led to the central stage. One door was located near us and you would enter this door when you lost. The other door was opposite of us and you would enter it only if you won.

As I was watching Kaiser leave, I didn’t realize that Sasha was already called. She was already being carried to the stage when I stood up and tried to grab her. I was only able to get a soft yet gentle grasp on her hair which got her attention. She looked back and I said, “Good luck.” She smiled and looked towards the stage.

She stood in the center of the stage and gathered Holy, Light, and Healing mana. I was confused as to how she was able to gather the other two manas but I was unable to continue pondering as she shouted, “Holy Mantra.”

From her, a white figure that looked exactly like her floated up. It had all the contours of her body as it floated higher and higher into the air. I felt a bit angered at the fact that other people could see it but I knew that it was just a trait of her spell. The figure finally stopped after floating fifteen meters high. The figure spread out its wings and a white thin sphere surrounded it. A soft melodius sound reverberated through the arena as the sphere seemed to vibrate. The sound felt calming and I even thought that it was restoring my true power by a bit.

When the sound ended, the figure also disappeared and Lyrica stood up.

“That was a wonderful display of magic. What is more, the magic was something that you have created. You all must know how difficult it is to create a personal spell. You have passed.”

Sasha looked at me and we both nodded. I watched Sasha leave when I heard them call Alex.

Again the whirlwind and Alex was now standing with his hands crossed at his back. He proceeded to gather summoning mana around him and he shouted, “Manifest.”

Manifest was a spell that worked similar to Takeover. While Takeover can be used for all the summons, Manifest can only be used for the one. Kaiser has twenty summons right now but his rank is only Sage. Manifest itself was a created spell since it uses Adapt and Assimilate as its base. It was our attempt at recreating the effects of Takeover.

Alex’s body crouched and he now looked like a larger version of Asher. He growled and he jumped up into the air. He jumped up fifty meters and he started floating at twenty five meters. This was an ability that Asher had, Floatation.

Then Alex’s fur slowly turned into gold as he began using another ability of Asher’s, Fury. He growled and instantly, sonic booms appeared in a five meter radius around him. Fury allowed his body to move faster than light but only for a short time and at the cost of paralysis.

He floated there waiting for the decision. Ryker stood up and said, “You fucking bastard. You fucking made a fake Takeover didn’t you?”

He laughed and continued, “You got guts you know that? Summoning magic is difficult to create spells out of. Although you only got one summon for that spell of yours, I wouldn’t be surprised if your Takeover is fucking powerful. You passed kid, give ‘em hell.”

Alex returned to his human form, looked at us, smiled, and ran to the winner’s room.

Several more tries and only one of them passed. Now it was Elenia’s turn which left only 6 more of us that weren’t tested yet. Lunch time had already passed and it was a good thing that they gave us food at the stands.

Elenia stood there gracefully as she gathered summoning mana around her. I noticed that something was strange with her spell but I couldn’t figure out what was the problem.

She rested her head upon her staff and started singing. It was a beautiful melody and the words were of a different language. As she sang, her body started changing. Her size grew and small leaves and branches grew out of her body. Her skin turned into bark as she became a twenty five meter tall tree. The ground around her also started changing. Grass grew between the cracks of the stage until it was ripped apart and grass took over.

Then the roots of the tree moved and she stood up. Slits from the trunk appeared and I could tell that they were her eyes and her mouth. Rashiel stood up and was about to say something when the tree shuddered. From the tree’s leaves at the top, out came Elenia. She looked exactly as before she cast the spell as if nothing even happened.

“I see,” said Rashiel, “this is summoning magic that only the High Elves can do, Song of the Forest. If you can do something like this then it is only natural that you proceed.”

Elenia bowed, looked towards me, and walked with the tree gently placing her down to the winner’s section.

I asked Malakir what the spell was and he said, “ The Song of the Forest. This is something that you cannot do. The spell is something only the Elves themselves can use as it would require their understanding of magic. I can’t teach it to you as this can be considered a racial trait.”

I nodded at that and found that it was now my turn. I was lifted off the stands by a whirlwind and landed safely in the center. I looked up around me and saw that everything seemed to be larger than I thought they were. It felt like being in a pit and everyone was watching me.

“Begin,” said a voice like always.

I proceeded to do exactly like we had planned the night before. The pseudo-Takeover spell. Unlike Manifest, this was a step higher. This was not something that I could teach Alex as it required someone to have Ethereal magic. I felt a bit reluctant in not telling about some things to them but I didn’t want them to worry about me being in Hell at all. I made many excuses like I found the Battle Seed and the mana gun somewhere and the ruins were now gone; the armor also being found in those ruins and that I can’t be responsible for things that I had no control over.

Sure I told my father about the seeds and the mana gun but that was all that I told him about. As much as I hated him, he was still my father and I felt obligated to do something for him. At the very least I convinced myself that I was merely using him but it might have been something else.

Back to the issue at hand, I gathered Summoning mana as the base of the spell’s components. Inner would increase my link with my summons. Form would create the body parts needed. Holy would make my body be able to withstand the pressure. Arcane would allow me to make the necessary adjustments. And finally, Ethereal to allow me to use all of their abilities.

I cast the spell and muttered under my breath, “Synthesis.”

My body shuddered and I felt a burning sensation go around. It felt like the first time I had used the spell but only this time I had an actual idea of what to look like. I felt like I would burst at any moment and when it was almost too much to bear, I jumped as high as I could and I couldn’t help but scream.

I shut my eyes and couldn’t see anything with them. I felt my body undergo many changes as the first change appeared. A third eye, Shiade’s eye appeared on my forehead and I could see. My other two eyes were still closed but I could now see the transformation that happened to my body.

My left arm was next and it slowly became Chronos’ mechanical left arm. The skin on my left seemed to disappear as it was replaced by a pristine white arm with gears and bolts all over.

My right arm was next and it slowly became Molx’s right arm along with Fenrir’s right paw. The skin glowed a blue color and my muscles grew. Fenrir’s right paw was strengthened and enlarged by Molx’s muscles as well as his own.

My torso was the next to change. My muscular body became even more muscular as Marduk’s muscles added to my own. Even though Marduk looked frail and weak, he was actually one of the strongest. After the muscles, silver scales appeared all over my torso as it covered the armor that I had on. Behind me appeared Galahad’s swords as they seemed to merge with my back. They would be easily removed as they simply hanged there.

My lower body was next as Abaddon’s legs added into my own. The skin turned red as the silver scales of Shiva added to it as well. Demonic energy surrounded my powerful legs waiting for me to use them. Midgar’s tail grew from me as well.

My head was the last to change as it was then surrounded by bone turning it to look like Necros’ skull. Both my regular eyes then turned a shade of gold as they were influenced by Malakir’s magic.

With this my Synthesis was complete with 80% of my true power. As always, a feeling as if I was very close to the seal that the darkness placed came to me. I knew that the seal had something to do with my Takeover and that a fake one would not do anything about it.

The judges stared at my figure. Not surprisingly as the spell was very similar to a true Takeover.

They kept on staring and I decided to demonstrate my power to them. I raised my right arm and brought it down as I cast one of the spells that I can only use in this form, Supreme Verdict.

With this spell, I could change the laws of the world as I saw fit, the only downside was that I could only change one law at a time and that the change would only happen for about half a minute. I theorized that it might be because of the seal but I can’t tell until it breaks.

I changed the law of gravity in the area around the stage and the tiles as well as the stage itself started to float. Knowing that I had only limited time, I cast Borrowed Time. Like Supreme Verdict, I could only use this spell in this form. This spell allowed me to borrow the time of all moving objects around me and add their speed to my own but it was only limited to a twenty meter radius.

Having borrowed the time, I casually hit all the tiles and the stage as much as I could. They didn’t break as their time was taken by myself. I landed on the ground where the stage was before it floated and Borrowed Time ended.

The tiles and the stage disappeared into dust as time was brought back to them and they moved again. I flew up into the air again and stared at the judges.

It took them a while before Lyrica smiled as if it strained her to do so and said, “…You passed.”

She said that as if she was afraid that I would do the same to her but I simply flew down to the door of the winner’s section. I took off the Synthesis and opened the door.

There stood Kaiser, Sasha, Alex and Elenia, no one else. It seemed that everyone who won was allowed to return since it would take a lot of time but here they were waiting for me to come.

I smiled and we had a group hug right there. Afterwards we went back to the mansion in full spirits knowing that we had passed the preliminaries and with the knowledge that tomorrow, we would be all rivals.

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