Sévir Is A Pariah!

Short Magic Spar

"We'll be distributing these booklets to the students." Noelle shows the rest a booklet. Red in covers with the letters in gold color, the cover reads out: Dunkron Academies' Tournament. "Take as much as you can every now and then and give it to them."

They all nod afterwards. The Fifth Undefeated raises his hand. "Do we have information whether Sévir van Doren will be joining the tournament? Maybe we can figure out what type of force we're dealing with if he's joining?"

They all look at Minerva, expecting her to give them an answer.

A sigh escapes from her mouth, she shakes her head. "No, I don't have information."

"Okay then. We'll leave it at that for Sévir, we'll focus on getting students to participate in the tournament first." Noelle waves it off.

...

"That's it for today, don't forget to keep practicing in the stadium. And try your best not to fight over useless things." Ms. Ardell leaves the classroom in a rush.

After Ms. Ardell left, other students follow suit and head to the door.

"Here, have these." Minerva passes Sévir and Sanguinex a booklet.

"Dunkron Academies' Tournament? What's this" Sévir flips through the pages as he asks.

"The Dunkron Academies' Tournament is an annual tournament where the best of contestant academies represent their academy and fight others," she flips to a page about the location, "what's different is that it doesn't take place in a stadium."

"I see. It states here that there are two versions of the tournaments, the first one is to give academy students a chance to prove themselves and show that they have what it takes to be an Undefeated. The second is where the best of the academies actually fight."

"Correct."

Sanguinex closes her booklet. "How many times have you participated in these?" She asks.

"Ever since the year I joined this academy, 4 years ago, starting from the age of 12."

"I'll be talking to Zephyr about this, she probably got this booklet already." He stands up and hurriedly leaves the classroom."

"Sévircon, what's with him today?" Minerva asks Sanguinex.

"Gros-whatever-your-name-is, I don't think I know." She replies.

After a while of searching for Zephyr, he spots her alone in their usual spot (see Chapter 7-8), he knocks on the door and sits beside her.

"Have you received the booklet already?" Sévir asks.

She closes her book which happens to be a novel. "Yes, I've read the contents already."

"Will you be joining?"

"I gave it some thought, I want to join the tournament."

His neutral face becomes a frown. "Okay.. Will you be alright?" Worry can be heard in his voice.

"You don't have to worry, I've had my own share of training in uncle and auntie's place (their "old man" and "old woman". See Chapter 1). Will you be joining?"

"No.. Not this year. I'd rather stay at the sidelines and support you for now."

"Really?"

"Yes really. I'll even scream your name on the top of my lungs during your fights, maybe I'll even raise a banner with a drawing of you in it if that's what you want."

She lightly giggles from what he said. "Well, why won't you join the tournament this year?"

After she asked, he stares at the table for a while, thinking of how he can reply. "I guess.. There's just too many unknowns, it's better for me to sit back and observe for this year so I can go in the tournament next year prepared." He clears his throat. "Enough about me, how are you doing in your classes?"

"They're fun, I have a handful of friends too, they're all so friendly!" Enthusiasm fills her voice as she thinks of the fun she's experienced so far. "Though.. I still feel lonely inside because I don't get to interact with you that much anymore." The enthusiasm in her voice just a moment ago is all but gone.

"Well, at least you gained new friends and get to socialize with them, that loneliness will go away soon." He gets off from his chair, holding the booklet. "Finish a few chapters of that novel and go to them, they might be wondering where you are." He flashes a smile at her as he leaves the room.

She lets out a sigh as he closed the door. Speaking of which.. I should start training. It would be nice if there was someone to train with me.. She stares at the ceiling as she tries to think who she could try training with.

As soon as she realizes, she immediately stands up, quickly leaving the room.

As soon as she left, Minerva could feel a chill go down her spine for a brief moment.

"Hm? What was that?" She looks around but sees nothing. "Oh well." She gets back to reading her book in her room.

After a minute has passed, she can hear someone knocking on her door.

Hm? Who could that be? She closes her book, standing up. "Come in!"

The door is kicked open which startles Minerva, she draws her cutlass by instinct.

"Good morninggggg! Did you miss me Gros-whatever-your-name-is?" Sanguinex walks inside the room with Zephyr.

"Oh, it's you guys. Please open the door like a normal person next time." Minerva resheathes her cutlass.

"Zeph has a request so I'll leave you guys to it. See you." Sanguinex leaves without any further elaboration.

"Take a seat." They both sit down, Minerva puts her cutlass away. "So, what is it?"

"Well, If you don't mind.." She starts to fidget as she tries to form words.

Huh? Is she going to confess to me or something? But we're both girls. Minerva wonders while Zephyr tries to form words.

After a while, she clears her throat as she stops fidgeting. "Alright. Ms. Grosvenor, I came here to ask you if you can train with me for the upcoming tournament."

MInerva is surprised by this, but she regains her cool and smiles. "Alright. When would you like to start?"

"Tomorrow, it's a weekend tomorrow."

"Alright. Please go to Stadium 2 tomorrow after lunch, I'll be waiting there."

Zephyr nods. "Well then, I'll be going." She walks to the door.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow." Zephyr closes the door.

"Now.. Where was I?" Minerva faces her table, humming as she continues to read her book.

The next day, Zephyr and Minerva find themselves in Stadium 2.

"Alright, what magic do you use??" Minerva asks as she draws her cutlass.

"Water and wind magic."

"2 magic elements? You're a very rare one." She steps back and flourishes her cutlass. "What about Sévir?"

"He only uses one magic.. Are you sure you won't hurt yourself?"

"Relax, I've done this a lot of times, I've mastered it already."

"Well then, I'll go to the other side of the arena, we'll start when I say so." Zephyr walks to the other side of the arena, Minerva follows suit.

Minerva stops flourishing her cutlass, Zephyr stares at her intently.

After a minute, Zephyr raises her right hand and shouts: "Bekuparwa!" water rises from the ground which freezes and breaks up to small knife-like blades of ice, Minerva is alerted, quickly getting to her stance.

She then points it at Minerva, the blades of ice go flying at her.

I should be able to dodge these. As Minerva started to move, Zephyr shouted: "Rojtdafæ!" as she clenches her fist, which speeds up the blades of ice.

Minerva is taken by brief surprise, she quickly moves out of the way, barely dodging one of the blades of ice.

Good one, I didn't expect her to use Rojtdafæ immediately. She runs around as she waits for Zephyr to use her magic. I might just stall for a bit to see what other abilities she can use.

Zephyr runs to Minerva while keeping her right hand nearly touching the ground. "Bekuallpa!" The trail of water in the ground turns to ice. The ice speeds towards Minerva. Yes! This time she won't be as lucky with the ice speeding towards her! Zephyr thought, until Minerva jumps forward, rolling as she lands, missing the ice by mere inches. Another close one, I might've overdid it since I could've just broke the ice with my leg anyways. Minerva continues running around.

"Bekuparwa! Rojtdafæ!" she shouted again and again with the spells attacking Minerva again and again to no avail.

A few minutes pass by, Zephyr's mana has dropped low, she drops herself to the ground as she wipes her sweat, Minerva walks to her, sitting beside her.

"Never use the same abilities again and again that way. I can tell you had more abilities but you didn't use all of it." She passes Zephyr her water bottle.

"Mm, thank you." She drinks from the bottle, feeling slightly more refreshed. "It really didn't help that I was fighting the Second Undefeated, so it ticked me off more than it should have."

"You need patience, after all, 'The user relies on magic—Magic relies on patience', as the great Hepha once said." She smiles. "Don't worry, I'll keep training you—and train with you until the tournament."

"That's a promise. Brother will surely be impressed by the time I fight in the tournament."

"Indeed, so do your best." She stands up, giving Zephyr a hand, which she takes.