Nathan

Year 2849 | Month 8 | Day 21

A grin spreads across my face the instant I feel my ninth mana arc splitting, leaving me finally with ten total mana arcs.

I almost didn’t make it before the final exam…

As soon as I open my eyes, I find a lot of the cadets in the class staring at me along with the instructor – who has started treating me just like she originally was during the first few weeks of the semester.

“It would appear that all of you have now managed to get the required number of mana arcs before the end of the semester,” Instructor Dawn Suess says with a light nod of her head. She then starts looking at each student in the room while saying, “Now all most of you have to worry about is the final exam.”

I notice her eyes linger on a couple of students – the ones who haven’t been doing as well in class despite their average or even above average mana arc training speed – as she says, ‘most of you’, but I ignore it to close my eyes and feel my newly split mana arcs again.

It was taking so long to get that last arc that I was beginning to wonder if I could even manage to do it before the end of the semester.

I let out a sigh at that though.

Good thing I did, otherwise I would’ve failed a class in what might just be the only full semester I have at the academy. And that would just be embarrassing.

My thoughts are interrupted as a bell rings throughout the entire room, taking everyone’s attention away from their mana arc training as a voice says, “Attention students and faculty. Gather immediately in the Arcane Square for an announcement by the Chairman of the Arcane Council.”

The intercom then cuts off, leaving me both confused as to why the Chairman is here, and curious as to how they have an intercom in the instructor’s personal classrooms. Which – judging by the face Dawn is making – probably isn’t something they like having either.

That or she knows what the announcement is about and doesn’t like it.

After several seconds of hearing the whispered conversations of the cadets, Instructor Dawn finally claps her hands and says, “Well you heard him. Everyone head to the Arcane Square.” She then glances at me and adds, “And Cadet Fox, you go to the Tower Officiator after the announcement to be reclassified as a Class E magician.”

I nod my head with a faint smile before I start walking down towards the portal entrance.

Whatever the Chairman has to say, I’d be willing to bet that it has something to do with why he’s been so quiet lately despite the S Class magicians’ actions.

It takes nearly an entire hour before everyone manages to make it to the Arcane Square, which is the very same area that I entered the Academy from in the first place, with the portal within the large gate surprisingly open at the edge of it.

Once everyone settles into a slightly ominous silence, the sound of someone passing through a portal can be heard and we’re all left staring in shock at a man surrounded in a red and black energy that’s holding him up in the air somehow, far above our heads.

And that man is the same one that I’ve often seen on TV.

The Chairman of the Arcane Council.

My eyes narrow slightly from my place standing with my arms folded behind my straightened back amidst the other cadets who are all filed in neat rows.

Is he… using his mana without the use of a spell?

“He’s become an S Class magician…” I hear someone nearby me mutter, just for that very same phrase to make its way around the square, causing a disruption amongst the cadets.

The Chairman doesn’t let this last for long though and swipes his arm to the side, making the anti-magic mana around him spread out around all of us in a thick dome, quickly silencing all of the students. He then snaps his fingers, leading the mana to begin slowly spreading throughout the area enveloping us all.

I cover my mouth with my hand even though I know it won’t likely hurt me as the Chairman begins to speak in a loud voice that seems to echo throughout the entire Academy, “As of today, I have become one of the strongest magicians in the world. An S Class magician.”

Many of the cadets around me begin to shiver slightly in fear due to the pressure he’s holding over us, but I tolerate it without much trouble. Although that’s mostly because I’m used to the pressure of an even stronger S Class magician.

“Things are going to be different from now on,” he continues while spreading his arms out and grinning. “The council can no longer keep this Republic safe from all of the many nations surrounding us, so I will be doing my best to see that the Republic continues thriving! Under my control, it will grow! No, we all will grow! And the Republic will become the sole ruler over the entire continent!!!”

The man is practically shouting by the end of his speech. To the point that it’s starting to hurt my ears.

But his speech seems to be serving its purpose, considering the many power-hungry cadets that’ve started cheering for the man. Even know most of the instructors don’t seem too pleased with the man’s actions.

My eyes narrow even further as a thought comes to mind.

He can’t be…

“But first, there is still one group that stands in our way!” he continues shouting, confirming my thoughts. “The other S Class magicians have started standing up against the Republic and the other nations, and if they aren’t dealt with soon, then they may attack us from behind during the middle of the war!”

My mouth opens slightly in shock at how paranoid the idiot is, only for me to close it quickly before someone sees. Not that it would matter much if they did.

I look around the thousands of cadets – most of them being the ones from the talent levels 1 and 2 dormitory – before eventually finding Amelia, who also doesn’t seem too happy with the man’s words.

And judging by the faces being made by the others around me, neither are they.

“The S Class magicians are a problem for me to handle, but you can all assist in the wars between the Republic and the other nations,” he continues, the grin on his face only growing larger as he speaks. “So from now on, every cadet here who participates in our wars between us and the other nations will gain military merits, assistance in their magical training, new, higher tier spells, and even special magi-tech items that can help you train faster!”

The hell? Now he’s bribing us?

I turn to look at Cyria, only to meet her gaze and find a frown mirroring my own in it.

This… might not end well. The anti-magic magician may very well be able to hold off a few of the S Class magicians despite only having just become one himself – considering how he could always hold off several magicians of the same class as himself in the previous classes, from what I’ve heard at least – but to be able to fight every S Class magician in the world?

I really can’t see this ending well.