Okinawa Training Camp Arc/First Half

**Date Started:** October 30th, 2021
**Date Completed:** Ongoing
**Previous Role-Play:** N/A
**Users Involved:** User:ArkFade, User:DespacitoJesus, User:Excalandria, User:HikariYukigawa, User:NejiHyuga2, User:Trickster1108, User:Zalatan12
**Setting:** Tokyo's Haneda Airport; Okinawa
**Characters Involved:**
**Faculty**Miyako Uranami
**Students - Fourth-years**Nanashi Amagase, Mahiru Amamine, Asuna Himenomiya, Seigetsu Kawasaki, Natsuki Miyagumo, Hanayuki Takeda, Kougetsu Yamashita
**Students - Fifth-years**Aoi Amagase, Arisa Asakura, Honami Asakura, Hikari Yukigawa
**Students - Sixth-years**Manami Hisakawa
**Others - Mythical Armaments**Ame-no-Habakiri
**Others - Grimoires**Astil Codex, Pandemonium Codex, Sheriruth Codex, Illias Fragment
**Others - Characters**Edward Edgeworth, Haruko Miyagumo, Cornelius Poltergeist, Aloisia Schwarz, Seraphina Trengrove

## Departure

"ALRIGHT, EVERYONE WAKE UP."

It was current 3 am in the morning, a Sunday to beat. The rest of the students were excited for the trip but a simple luxury was not everything in store. They woke up half-lazily not understanding why they were waken up so early. The sun hadn't even come up yet and the crickets could be heard outside still.

"From now on, everyone here in both dorms in under my care. Meaning if you don't follow my direction I will not hesitate to leave you behind, prohibit you from activities, or just digging a ditch and kicking you into it. If you think that is unfair, well sucks to be you. Now get dressed, you have an hour to get on the line. I'll be back within that time. Anyone who isn't ready or on the line by then will be left behind and forced to do physical conditioning and tests during the time we are gone."

Miyako continued over to the rest of the dorms and repeated her message. She then continued out for a stroll to the post. She began speaking to the shuttle driver.

"Begin driving in exactly two hours, thirty minutes unless I am not here. If there are any strays left behind by the time we depart, let them try to get on the bus but don't stop or come back whatever you do."

"Aye aye ma'am. Then I'll begin readying the shuttle for departure if that's alright with you."

"Go ahead."

Hikari is in shock of the sudden wake-up call, as she didn't expect to be woken up at 3 AM. Jumping out of the bed, she grabbed a leftover toast as she ran straight to the shower. Sheriruth who slept on the same bed wasn't really shocked, but the impact of her master's jump left her on the ground. *Can't she be gentler when waking up...,* she grunted. As she stood up, Sheriruth magically just change her form to a dress with perfect hair and fresh face. She took out the blue knife suitcase and the other suitcase containing her master's clothes and travelling necessities.

Hikari came back to the room, finding Sheriruth sitting on the two suitcases with her head on her hands. She must've been waiting. "Did I take long, Sheriruth?" Hikari asked.

"Not at all." Sheriruth stood up, picking both suitcases up and giving one to her master, specifically the one with clothes inside. "Well, but I guess we are quite early. Fancy for a little tea, Lady?"

Hikari looked at the time again. It's still 03:20 AM. "After I changed my clothes," Hikari walked to her half-empty wardrobe, picking out her usual outfit (goth-loli). Sheriruth put down the two suitcases and set up the tea set on the small table in the room. The two, sitting on the chairs, sipped their teas, enjoying the short moment of silence.

The two chattered for a bit about their plans when they finally reached the destination. Sheriruth didn't say much about it, "Only enjoying the sunshine, Lady." Hikari *does* have a plan in mind however, to try and impress Kougetsu. Sheriruth had said that it is not really a good plan, to spend the whole day just walking around in front of a man.

Once they're done with their small tea time, Sheriruth cleaned them and stored them back in their locker, locking it tight. Hikari looked at the time again. It's 03:45. *Still very early,* she thought. However, the early bird gets the worm, so they decided to go out and just wait for Uranami-sensei to officially start whatever she planned.

Seigetsu, like most of the individuals that were going on the trip, was fast asleep in his bed, contently dreaming about chicken and hotties. Unfortunately, thanks to the alarming, unnecessary wake-up call, his body practically threw him out of the bed in surprise, causing him to land on the floor. It took him a moment to comprehend the situation, before proceeding to haul himself off of the floor and onto his feet, swearing under his breath. "I swear, I wouldn't be surprised if someone was to throw a boot at her to to shut her up. Seriously, all the yelling is a tad-bit uncalled for..." As he muttered to himself, he made his way to the bathroom to freshen himself up for the day, soon coming back with an 'exotic-esque' outfit on. However, he still looked tired and annoyed.

As he looked, the Pandemonium Codex, his grimoire which was hanging off of the decorative spheres of the headboard, began to take shape of a boy who looked around Sei's height and age. In this form, he was named Shiro. "You know you snore in your sleep, right?" He joked, snickering to himself. Seigetsu, in turn, snickered. "And you know I can break off my foot into your ass while you're in that form, right?"

"Damn, calm down, man. It was just a joke...well, it wasn't a joke, but you get the idea." It tried to say. "I know, and I wasn't threatening you. That was simply a fact, and a promise." At that point, the grimoire piped down, returning to it's original state. "Sorry. When someone wakes you up like you're in the military, you act very harsh-" Seigetsu said, standing back up and cracking his knuckles.

Having accepted the apology, Shiro returned to his human form, and the two talked away as Seigetsu had a breakfast bar for breakfast. An hour and thirty minutes passed, and Shiro was the first to make note of it. "Anyways, shouldn't we be getting to the bus?" At that, the other stood up, brushing himself off. "Fair point. It's too early in the morning for me to run." Seigetsu grabbed his bag and walked out of the dorm, his grimoire happily following behind.

Shingo was also woken up by the ruckus. He accidentally spilled the leftover coffee he had last night, and have to quickly clean them up with some tissue. He sighed and grunted, "*Can Miyako just be more gentle at waking them up....Tch.*" He knew grunting wouldn't solve anything, so he walked to the bathroom with his usual lazy steps, and came back out pretty fresh the next 2 minutes.

It's still very early. Shingo opened his coffee locker and brewed some *real* coffee, very unusual for him. Opening the window, the cold morning wind swept inside his room. "Geez," Shingo took a cigar and lighted it up despite the wind trying to extinguish the small blaze. "I sure do hope this is gonna be a good trip." Shingo poured the hot coffee to his mug, blew some wind to it and then took a hot sip. After each sip, he took another breath, blowing away his cigar. Realizing that he just stood in front of a cold window staring at nothing while he emptied his coffee, he grabbed his luggage and opened it, checking if he already has everything inside.

"Huh, where's my pen...never mind, I'll just borrow or buy a new one." He closed the luggage and washed the used mug. Walking out of his room, he's still smoking the cigar. Taking one last peek at his room, he said goodbye and locked the door.

Hanayuki was startled by the announcement, he was pulling all nighters reading upon the records of deceased mages of the Ira archive alongside books on the Labyrinth. He was drained at that point, his eyes were feeling heavy and his mind was hazy. Unable to properly understand the announcement, he packed his bags haphazardly. Once finished with his preparation, he makes an effort to exit his dorm, but being so sleep deprived he was too exhausted to properly use his brain. Instead, Hanayuki emits mists from his hand, it had a silhouette of a rectangle before his door was instantly vanished after the mist dissipated. The tired Hanayuki dragged his luggagae alongside hugging his grimoire of the Tree Of Life.

A rumbling sound originates from his stomach, ringing through the empty hallways, it was quiet and felt tranquil. Hanayuki, still extremely agitated, was too lazy to rummage through his luggage to find his wallet. He groans in frustration, walking up to the vending machine and began charging up a kick infused with Deleo. The vending machine was sliced clean in half, Hanayuki asks Kav Yamin to pick his preference, but Kav politely refuses due to moral conflicts.

Hanayuki: "Kav, you-uh-uhhh... want some?"

Kav: "I'll pass, master, taking an offering from a sinful act is very much committing the sin itself. Master you must be more virtuous."

Hanayuki nods to Kav's statement. Preferring not to debate as his moral compass is very much corrupt.
He walks and finds himself outside the bus, slowly hopping onto it whilst overloaded with supplies, greeting the bus driver.
"Hello sir, very nice evening isn't it?"
He finds a comfortable seat at the front row of the bus, dropping his belongings before sleeping on the bed of junk food he stole from vandalizing the vending machine, hugging Kav Yamin tightly and saying goodnight to him before falling asleep.

Nanashi woke up the instant he could hear Miyako's shout, he looked at the ceiling in his dorm for a few minutes before looking at his clock that reads 3:05, he got up and look at his surrounding first before he could discern what is happening only to realize that today is the day for the trip..

Nanashi:"Ughh... talk about enthusiastic, it's only 3 in the morning".

Tumbling down from his bed, he prepares himself for 30 minutes. he chose less warm outfits since they are going to hit the beach. after he prepares himself, he took his briefcase he already prepared from the moment he heard about a trip from Miyako, then he locks his dorm and walk his way to the bus.

While on his way to the bus. Nanashi met up with Yuuki, they walk together to the cafetaria to fill their stomach with food from vending machines. after filling their stomach, they sat in the shuttle while chatting away until the time for departure.

Aoi who was woken up by the sound of her alarm than Miyako's shout took a look at her clock, 2:55. she has been looking forward to the trip since she heard about the announcement and felt immense joy to it. looking at Nami who is on sleep mode, she commands her to take care of her dorm until she gets back as her first command of the day, with Nami responding in a nod without opening her eyes.

"Is it time? it is. How wonderful" her eyes glitters with excitement.

Preparing herself for 40 minutes, she has a lot of trouble picking what clothes she will wear for the occasion, but decides for a sundress befitting her, with nothing more preparation she could do, she took her briefcase and make her way to the shuttle and sat there whilst chatting away with her friends.

As the announcement had been made, Mahiru would slowly open her eyes as she got up and groggily looked at the clock as it said it was currently 3 am in the morning. While it was way earlier than when she would usually wake up at 6 in the morning, she would get up and proceed to make her way to the bathroom where she would freshen up and make her way to her luggage that she had already prepared beforehand.

"So much for my beauty sleep...But at least this will a good change of pace I think? What do you have to say Rayleigh?"

"I would agree with you Lady Amamine, it would most certainly help you with relaxing seeing that you have been working hard the past few days."

"I guess that is true...Anyways time to get going before Uranami-sensei kicks me in the ass."

Mahiru would soon proceed to change more casual clothing compared to the one she usually wears when doing her runs in the Academy. She would then take Rayleigh and her single suitcase before heading out to the shuttle buses.

Now out of the library, hearing the news. He just rushed his way to the room. he kept his cool. He got some ideas to go along to his day as he held the book. The man went out to grab essential stuff and packing things he needs to get a better time traveling

Well he has a book to research about during his travels so now, He was rushing to the line he was expected to meet since he was informed about. He was gladly taking notes and now somewhat tired after using a bit of the thema. Though he could walk it out. His body was hotter than usual that many heat users could detect or anyone who touched the main man himself.

"Phew, Almost missed out on something. Well at least I got something going for me."

He held the book of another languages something that people wouldn't know at first glance, though it is Arabic due to the writing style and the letters on how it is formed. He glanced at it as he seemed joyful on what is to come.

It seemed everyone important had gotten onto the shuttle. There were a couple stragglers but no matter. They would be here when Miyako returned. Or not. Not like it mattered either way.

Finally, after an hour of driving, preparing, and reaching the plane everyone was sitting down.

"Hello everyone, this is your hot teacher speaking. So turns out, I lied. We have a tournament coming in and all of you are out of shape. So this is actually a physical conditioning training to whip you all into shape. Anyone who does not follow my directions and perform their utmost best will be thrown off the plane, buried under 108 meters of sand and rock, or chained to an anchor and dropped into the seas at random. Anyone who disagrees is free to have me tie them up in a strait-jacket and throw them the plane right now. There's also a chance the door I open will be the one that is right in front of the turbine so keep that in mind. Any objections? No, alright let's continue on then."

It seems that her final announcement really shook up the students and settled them down. Miyako had a smirk on her face.

"The winners and most compatible trainees of the training will receive the invitations to be one of the four non-drafted contestants. The other two drafted contestants are Natsuki Miyagumo and Asuna Himenomiya. They will still be doing the training, but I will probably let them off a couple times since they are actually in shape and fit for both duty and combat unfit the rest of you lot. I'd recommend getting some sleep and beauty rest for your body in preparation tomorrow. It'll be the last bit of peace you'll have in a while."

"Uh-oh...." Hikari facepalmed. She never thought that her whole plans got ruined since day one. She should have known from the beginning, that the stern and fierce Uranami-sensei will *never* give them something such as free holiday; there has been something fishy from the start. It slipped her mind easily because it didn't seem like it came from her, but purely Headmaster Biblia. The moment she's aboard with them indicates that there *must* be something going on. Now, she could only lament at her own foolishness and false hopes.

"*Well...certainly not as bad. We can plan things out, right, Lady?*" Sheriruth, now in book form because there was no place for an extra one person, whispered to her master, trying to cheer her up. However, as her master didn't answer, she now subtly mocking her instead. "*Well, it certainly **wasn't** a good idea to plan that beachwear, huh, Lady?*" If a book can grin, Sheriruth must be grinning really wide it encases her whole cover page.

Seigetsu calmly sat in his seat, twiddling his thumbs with a bored expression on his face. His grimoire had already taken it's original form once again, the chains of the book being tightly secured to his right arm. As soon as the 'hot teacher' mentioned this little trip to actually be a training thing, Seigetsu still continued to not show emotion. Finally, Shiro, that is, the Pandemonium Codex, decided to speak, making sure that his master understood what the hell was going on. "Uh, did you hear what she just said?"

"Yeah, something about this being about getting back in shape, rather than a relaxing vacation, right? Yeah, I heard. I had a feeling this would be too good for Biblia to do for us. Plus, you can never trust a hottie." A few seconds passed, and the male's eyes widened quickly. "Hold the hell on. So there's *no* relaxing-?" He blinked a few times before growling lowly. "Well, isn't that some shit. Who knew that a stunt like this would be pulled. They lied about relaxing though. That's *low..."*

Other than quickly cursing under his breath and growling, he didn't say anything else after that point. Shiro also remained quiet.

Guess this is it, Junpei Narukami isn't that all surprised. He took a deep breath and just appreciates the peaceful nature of the moment he is having right at the moment. He crossed his legs and seemingly wrapped his arms around himself seemingly calm. Well he knew this would be the amazing time since there are going to the beach. This was the best thing in his mind as he held himself back just having high hopes ignoring the part that he heard physical conditioning.

"My my, seems like this trip will be much spicier though bright side beach sounds like a fun way to go with physical conditioning."

He chuckled seemingly to enjoy the positive side of it, though he slowly zooms out as he wasn't reacting as much as the students. He was looking at a photo that he had taken just from the library that he loved to read the things he used to read.

As Kougetsu sat on the plane, the Magic King Candidate was simply staring out the window and trying to think. A few moments passed before he muttered a few small words, a few cards forming from outer alchemy that he started playing with. He was trying to think of a way to get stronger, unaware that it was more or less staring himself in the face. He intended to do whatever it took, even if It meant getting beaten to the ground. His whole shtick is rebellion, time to rebel against the human bodies limitations.

"Oi, Illia, Sora, is there anyway to improve my emission of Anti-Magic? All I can do right now are those rifle rounds, though those feel too basic to get really anything done in the long run. I can't win every fight by just hitting it with a dragon, right?" Kougetsu was staring down at these cards, only to pick up his grimoire. His first and most important partners. If anyone could lead him in the right direction, it was these two.

"*Hmm...*" the grimoire with a black cover muttered. "*Magic is all about your imagination so if anything, envisioning a larger bullet is really the only thing I can think of.*"

"*For example, Master, your current output is similar to an Accuracy International Arctic Warfare,*" continued the light blue grimoire. "*If you want to go '*stronger*', you would only need to envision a better gun. In my opinion, however, your current output is already good enough; it can be used for precision shooting unlike larger outputs.*"

"I guess, it just feels awkward. I thought Alchemy was supposed to be a fluid? Making a giant gun doesn't seem too fluid..." As Kougetsu though over this, he began to manifest a bit of wire before It began to shape itself, flowing around his fingers. "If "Fall" is to create a change of something, wouldn't I be able to create something more awesome than a gun?" Kougetsu stared at the wire, tilting his head as it began to flow before suddenly getting a spark of inspiration. "Heh, I think I know what to do now..."

"*Well, it looks like he just got a bright idea.*"

"*As long as it doesn't backfire...*"

"Well, damn... should have seen this coming" Nanashi thought to himself

worried that they will undergo a torturous session of training with Miyako, Nanashi could only sigh in acceptance. the chance of surviving a fall of an airplane is much lower than getting through Miyako's training.... or not, there's no telling what kind of training she will force on us just to make ourselves stronger in short period of time.

"I should apologize to Yuuki-san later" Still in his own thought

bringing Yuuki here is probably a bad idea because the sudden turn from a trip to a training session. to think that he will probably do so many request from Yuuki for making her work so much is already making him worried. taking a look at Yuuki with a Facade smile plastered on her face is more bothering him -with nothing more to do, he closes his eyes to catch up with his sleep, not expecting to be greeted well when he woke up later.

Aoi took the news badly, because most of her luggage are filled with casual clothes and not training clothes, this is probably the same for most of other students who didn't expect any training will be held at the trip. the idea of not even bringing a training clothes she could replicate didn't even crossed her mind thinking that the trip is a way to rest from her training.

"I hope they give us some time before training to get use to our surrounding so I could buy some clothes" Aoi mutters to herself in lifeless tone after all of her hope of having a relaxing vacation got destroyed.

"Huh...Yeah I should have known there would be no way this would be a normal field trip. Luckily, I have packed a few things just in case"

Mahiru said to herself as she would proceed to take her assigned seat on the plane and placed her suitcase onto the compartment above her. While she wasn't paying attention on who would be sitting next to her on this flight, at least she got the window seat as she would look out of the window to kill time.

"So what do you think Rayleigh? You think something might go wrong in this training trip?"

"That I don't have a specific answer Lady Amamine but we can only hope that nothing goes wrong"

"Yeah I guess you are right on that one"

Mahiru would let out a small sigh before slightly reclining on her seat as she pulled the lever using her left hand. While she hoped that nothing would happen during this trip, it might just be wishful thinking or not but only God knows what would happen.

## Arrival

Finally, the school had arrived at Okinawa. As soon as they landed, they were screamed at to get off the plane in a single, swift orderly fashion. She told them all to get into the shuttles waiting for them outside the airport.

Soon, they arrived at the resort. But before they went in, Miyako had them line up in formation. "Alright, before we head in, I want you to know that that we will have a little system since I'm feeling generous. You will have one warning. That's it. After that, we will send you back to the academy without any forethought. So keep that in mind. At least I'll let you all enjoy the resort for some time that we're here, so don't take advantage of my generosity."

Miyako looked around. "A'ight, that will be it for now. Each of you should have an envelope by now; inside said envelope is the keys to your hotel room. You have an hour to do whatever the hell you want under three conditions: one, your room must be all fitted and clean by the time you return; two, you cannot, for any reason, leave the resort's premises; three, you must return here in formation once your hour of freetime is up. Any one caught not in formation will immediately receive a warning; think of it like an immediate crash course at how much less merciful I am compared to your Head of the Disciplinary Committee."

She took out a sheet of paper. "I will now announce the male roommates. Kougetsu Yamashita and Junpei Narukami, Nanashi Amagase and Hanayuki Takeda, Seigetsu Kawasaki and Akatora Hanagami, Touya Tachibana and Kohaku Tokogawa...," Miyako went on, rattling off names until she reached the bottom of the paper. Flipping the sheet over, she continued, "I will now announce the female roommates. Asako Masayoshi and Mahiru Amamine, Miharu Hanagami and Sumire Kitakujou, Shion Ohshiro and Shiori Mochizuki, Shizuku Uranami and Asuna Himenomiya, Natsuki Miyagumo and Yuuki Shirota, Aoi Amagase and Akina Kamamura, Hikari Yukigawa and Arisa Asakura, Honami Asakura and Manami Hisakawa..." Again, Miyako continued until she had named off every pair of female students before finalizing with the following. "If you have any room issues... sorry but there will be no room changes. I'll now take my leave and return in an hour."

Even as he stood at attention for whatever order that might get barked at him, Seigetsu continued to show great displeasure over the whole ordeal. Sure, he could try bringing himself to care if he was tricked into training rather than doing something fun and the fact that he was tricked with the thought that he could go to the resort to be lazy and indulge himself angered him. If anything, if this was an anime, there would be smoke angrily escaping from the top of Seigetsu's head. However, to keep himself from getting into unnecessary trouble, he kept his mouth shut and simply looked between the teacher and the other students.

Upon receiving the envelope with his room-key inside, he ripped the envelope open and took out the key, twirling it in his hand before stuffing it into his pocket and crumpling the empty envelope. This caused the teen's grimoire hanging around chains wrapped around his arms to shake uncontrollably. "*Ayo, why are you so mad, bro? Don't get into a fight with your roommate, a'ight? I'm not in the mood to clean up after you.*"

"Don't worry, as long as my roommate doesn't try to talk and pop that shit, we'll get along *juuuust* fine. I'm more angry on the fact that I was tricked out of relaxing and being lazy here at the resort. I don't care about training, and I don't mine doing it. But when you lie about full laziness, *then* there's an issue.." He grumbled.

"*Bruh, you're just a lazy-ass prick. You cause everyone, specifically me, a lot of problems. Just for this camp, can you* please *be on your best behavior? I'm seriously not in the mood to play house.*" Seigetsu blinked his eyes a few times, before shrugging. "Now that, is *harsh,* but kinda right. I'm not a prick, and I only occasionally cause problems for you because you have a funny reaction to it that I enjoy." A smirk slowly grew on his face. "At the same time, you should be on your best behavior too. We both know that you do not have a filter when it comes to your mind, ya know."

"Well, not a bad match-up...I suppose." Hikari sighed as she picked up her suitcase. Her partner is Arisa , and she knows her personality quite well. A sort of lewd troublemaker that her *Kaichou* has to deal with constantly. And on top of that, she is exactly her classmate. To be frank, aside from the fact that she constantly offends the sensual relationship rule, she is a decent girl with a high skill. Of course, that swordsmanship is something that was trained for long, so it's normal that she has a better time handling swords (two even) than her, who just uses an enchanted umbrella sword. And she socializes a lot, too. And she is one of her best friends, too. And--if the list of thought kept going on, it's not going to stop, as Hikari is trying to find a hole so that she doesn't need to blame her so much for offending one specific rule as Hikari herself is Disciplinary Committee member. Now as she is a member of Disciplinary Committee, she also pondered if she's going to have to keep an eye on the other students as well....

"Lady, would you just stop it already?" Sheriruth, with her hands on her waist, pulled her master out of her train of thoughts. She isn't exactly bored, but it's more to irritated. For quite a while, Hikari has been constantly drowned in her own train of thoughts, and she can read them quite easily. Especially after that *occurrence* with a certain someone. "Don't you think you start to overthink stuff lately?"

Hikari just returned to reality, stared at her grimoire with an annoyed face. Well, her grimoire has a point though, so it's hard to deny. "Mhm. Guess so. Let's move." She turned around, walking to where her room is supposed to be. Sheriruth followed behind obediently as usual.

"I don't mind that best friend being in the same room as me. At least I could ask some questions on something." He was wondering on a few stuff as he mumbled these words to himself. Standing up preparing to grab the bags that he had brought with him. Which was the one of the few things that he had brought. Some were mysterious that are inside the bag, though no one could tell what had happened as he went along. He took a deep breath awaiting to hear what has to come in the far future. He was prepared holding his backpack and just held another bag for himself though these were stuff that he would keep a track off.

"Time to go." Mumbled these words he made his way to the room where he was supposed to go just to make sure that he is going to be set for the rest of the field trip.

## Jeweled Emblem Scramble

### The Beginning

One hour had passed and as she expected, all of the students dragged themselves back to the spacious meeting room attached to the hotel's main lobby. Satisfied that no one was late, Miyako began explaining the first regimen of her training camp from hell.

"Alright, so it looks like basically everyone's here so I will explain the first part of the training. Don't worry, it's a game that you all know and love: capture the medallion!" At that announcement, several students let out shocked gasps but quickly shushed themselves when Miyako glared at them. "We'll use the normal rules except the grace period is reduced to 12 hours and you have one week to rob each other of their medallions. Sounds fun, right?" she quipped. Receiving almost no reaction, she continued without missing a beat. "You all know how to make your own medallions, yeah? Oh, by the way, if you think you can subvert school rules by entering the Labyrinth on this island, you're sorely mistaken. Us teachers will keep a *very close eye* on the Labyrinth entrances so don't think you can use this excuse to kill each other, capische?"

She then finished off her speech with, "Any questions?" She fully expected a few students to raise their voices but they were either far too intimidated by the idea of this capture the medallion game with far stricter rules than normal or they were terrified that they would be berated for asking anything. In any case, Miyako picked up on none of this and finalized, "Alright then. In that case, start making those medallions. You have ten minutes before the competition begins."

In the back of the meeting hall, Natsuki Miyagumo and Asuna Himenomiya crossed their arms. "Hmm, I see," Natsuki mumbled. "This is indeed quite the idea for the training camp."

"Hah, an exceedingly restricted capture the medallion game?" Asuna snickered. "Count me in." With that statement, both girls began focusing their magic, preparing to cast a spell in order to create their personal medallions.

Meanwhile, about ten meters away from Natsuki and Asuna, a certain sixth-year hid her mouth behind her fan. "Ara ara, Miyako-*sensei* sure is merciless~," Manami Hisakawa giggled as she tossed up her already completed medallion. "I suppose I should take this time to coach the younger students..."

At the same time, Kanon Tachikawa intercepted Honami Asakura and hugged her. "Mmm, Honami-*chan*! Are you ready?"

"... Ka-Kanon-*san*, I can't breathe," Honami groaned. Gasping, Kanon let go and Honami cleared her throat. "I suppose I am. I *could* go ahead and challenge you but I don't think you would be interested in accepting, yes?"

"Oh no, Honami-*chan*!" Kanon sang. "My only job is to spoil the younger students~! I can't be here for too long so I'll see you later! Toodles~!"

Honami watched as Kanon whistled her way out of the meeting room, flipping her own medallion once as she stepped out the door. ".... I see that Kanon-*san* is up to no good again. Speaking of which, I'm curious." Honami then turned to her companion and asked, "Who will you challenge first, Arisa?"

Responding to her princess, Arisa chuckled. "Well, well, I guess I will find the easiest prey~... and that is by no doubt Hikari-*chan*!" She smiled brightly, in contrast of the conversation's context.

"Huh..." Honami muttered. "Well, I suppose you are correct... Although I'm not sure if Asuna-*chan* would like the idea of you bullying her senior and vice-head."

"... A medallion?" Kougetsu Yamashita mumbled. "What is that?"

*I suppose it should be expected that you would not know what it is,* his grimoire, the Astil Codex, replied telepathically. *After all, you weren't raised in a magical household despite carrying the blood of magicals.*

*Well, basically, it's a simple spell based in alchemy that you cast to create a medallion,* his other grimoire, the Illias Fragment, said. *Well, in any case, if you don't know how, you can just ask.*

"Alright then," Kougetsu said as he stood up and looked around to see if anyone could help him.

Suddenly, a voice from behind him called out, "Hey, Magic King Candidate! You look confused. What's up?"

Turning around, Kougetsu noticed someone that he didn't know walk up and talk to him. Judging from the color of the student's tie, he was a year younger than he was as a third-year. "How can I help you?" he asked.

"Well, you looked confused," the boy, Hiro Nakamura, replied. "I suppose if you are confused here then that means the rumors were true... Anyway, *Senpai*, if you need help, I can help you make your medallion."

"Really? That would be a great help, thank you." Kougetsu and Hiro then worked together to create Kougetsu's medallion. While doing so, they hit up a conversation and having more or less aligned interests, they hit it up quite nicely. Upon finishing the medallion, Kougetsu looked at it from both sides then flipped it once. "Looks good. Thanks a lot, Hiro."

"Oh yeah, no problem, *Senpai*!" Hiro beamed. "Anyway, I'll see you around! I wish you luck!"

"You as well!" Kougetsu watched the boy as he scampered away, whipping his head around as if he was looking for someone. "Well, I suppose I shouldn't dally for too long myself..." Kougetsu followed in his junior's footsteps and headed outside.

### Crossed-Swords Encounter

Shizuku Uranami sighed.

She was currently in a separate room adjacent to the large meeting room and was seated across from her older sister who was a faculty member and who was the person that made the announcement of the capture the medallion game. Here, Shizuku created her medallion under the watchful eye of her older sister; she fashioned the gold medallion before plating it with a coating of silver and embedding a single jewel in its center. The words '*Abyssum Abyssus Invocat*' was engraved across the bottom of the coin. Once she finished, Shizuku grabbed her spear and stood up. It was quite the relic of immense power considering that it was one of the Mythical Armaments. She had recieved it a little while ago as a reward for a certain dangerous adventure. This particular spear was known as the Astēr Lonkhē and it is famous for being the very same spear wielded by the great hero, Achilles, in which it is famous for being a '*Hero-Killing Spear*'. Tightly gripping her spear, she began making her way out of the room.

"What's wrong, little sister?" Miyako asked as she sipped at a cup of coffee.

Stopping, she turned her head around and replied, "There's nothing wrong... but are you sure I can do this, *nee-san*?"

"I'm sure you can," Miyako gently cooed although there was a slight sharpness to her tone. "You needn't worry too much. If you fail, simply try again; even if you are sent back home, there's always a next time. All you need is more practice."

"I have practiced," Shizuku refuted. "I've done far more than just practice."

"I'm well aware of how much you have done before." Miyako stood up from her chair as she drank the last bits of coffee before picking up her mug. "That's why I'm confident in you, as you should be in yourself as well. You have more actual combat experience than most students. Stand up, Shizuku, and take your chance before the light dims and turns to another." Miyako then stood up herself and left the room, probably heading for the faculty meeting room to discuss prevention measures for duels that would inevitably take place in the Labyrinth (as Okinawa has its own unique Labyrinth system with numerous entrances all throughout the island that students could steal into to hold truly no-holds-barred duels).

Shizuku sighed as she walked out of the now-empty room and turned to her left. She took no more than five steps before someone leaning against the wall spoke up. "Hey, Shizuku. Care for a duel?"

Without caring to turn around, Shizuku stopped in her tracks. She knew this voice all too well. "Why do you seek me out, member of the Trinity Seven? Are you not satisfied with your ranking that you come after those below you as well? Or are you here to flaunt your achievements over me, perhaps?" Shizuku spoke softly as she seemingly stared forward. She did not seem pleased in the least bit that the first of all people to challenge her would be someone like this person. She was expecting some other arrogant fool that sought out her ranking, but this was certainly not a pretty sight in her eyes.

"Ara ara, why so testy today, Shizuku?" Natsuki giggled. "I shall apologize if I touched a nerve, however, dueling you has been one of my greatest wishes. This is simply the best opportunity for it. Or are you perhaps scared that you cannot measure up to me, someone who is on the same level as *your older sister*?" Natsuki purposely emphasized her last words, hoping that she could elicit an explosive reaction from Shizuku; it would be best if she was at least a little bit angry or Natsuki would not be able to enjoy the duel.

Shizuku brought up a smirk. "You? As strong as my sister? Don't make me laugh." She continued, "And, to answer your question, yes, I am quite anxious. However, I think I will refrain from your challenge for now. Let our fates cross again once we have both earned enough medallions." Shizuku, with her grimoire and spear, treaded forward and out of the building.

"Well, that's no fun..." Natsuki mumbled. "I thought I'd manage to get a rise out of her if I brought up the name of her beloved older sister. Ah, well. I suppose I'll go look for some juniors to bul-, er, I mean, educate." With that, Natsuki pushed off of the wall and, with her hands in her skirt pockets, ventured off outside.

### The Raven and the Crane: Hikari Yukigawa v. Arisa Asakura

"So, this is... my medallion." Hikari held the raven-headed badge high. The young girl examined it under the sun. There are various choices for engravings but obviously, she picked a raven. Quite a simple-minded girl, she is. Her grimoire, Sheriruth, sat on the sand, eyeing her Master.

Not long, she decided to stand up, getting rid of the sands from her frilly skirt. "So, Lady, how about we get going?"

"Sure." Hikari put her badge inside the pocket of her skirt. After a small chant, she activated her magus mode, smiling. "Well, I don't think I need to go as far as doing a spree; I will let them flock to me like a moth drawn into a fire."

"Nice confidence. Hope you can keep that up as you get defeated."

"Hush. *Karasu no Mure*." As Hikari said it, a flock of ravens, or a treachery if you will, appeared out of nowhere, flocking themselves on their master. "Hi there, sweethearts. I have a favor to ask. Be my eye in the sky, alright?"

The ravens cawed in unison, and they scrambled away, circling the skies above Hikari. She gazed at them with contempt and walked down the sandy shore.

After the short discussion with her *Ojou-sama*, Arisa walked downhill, to the location where she last saw Hikari. Sure, she can move at a high speed, but she doesn't like the idea of just attacking her out of nowhere. She is going to be a good friend and let Hikari get a chance in winning. Very light-heartedly, she walked down the path she had planned before.

With a smile on her face, she hummed an old poem, almost like a gibberish. She kept walking until she remembered something: she hasn't made a medallion yet. *Oh my, I'm so forgetful,* she thought as she hit her temple. "Well, guess I'll make a crane, of course." As the medallion was finished, she held it on her hand. It's just a crane, flying. But she felt something amiss. *Well, if it's just like this, Ojou-sama can also make it.*

Thinking for a while, she finally found what she can add. Smiling, she now gazed the insignia again. A two-headed crane. "Well, that definitely is me," With a vicious smile, she walked again.

One of Hikari's raven cawed, and Hikari threw a knife to the direction of where the raven have cawed.

*Clang!*

The sound of steels hitting each other can be heard. Someone is there. "Hai hai, Hika-*chan*~! As expected of you~!" The figure kept walking nonchalantly towards Hikari. It was Arisa, her friend. "Good to see you here, huh?"

Hikari sighed. She wondered what do this lady wanted right now; because it is now a *competition*, it has to have something about it. "I guess. What do you want, Arisa-*chan*?"

"Oh, not much," she drew her *tachi* that's already been casted a dulling spell upon. "Just one shiny metal of yours." Arisa chuckled.

"Very unlikely." Hikari fold her umbrella and drew the sword within. After drawing her sword, Hikari quickly swiped hands, saying "*Fracure Ray*," where then pillars of laser formed a prison around Arisa in an instant, leaving just enough hole for Hikari's hand to creak in.

"Oh my, this is troublesome." Arisa, again, chuckled. "I won't admit my lose however."

"Well, you're trapped now, Arisa-*chan*. I don't see how you would escape." Hikari closed in to the cage, but not too close as to letting Arisa's blade reach her.

"Eh, don't be so stiff; how about we change the topic a little. Like, where is that grimoire of yours?"

"Just hand me your medallion."

"Cold. Ufufu~" Half-jokingly, Arisa took out her medallion. However, she, with her magic, suddenly flung it away at incredible speed past Hikari.

"...!" Hikari did not expect Arisa to do so, and as a consequence, her eyes tried to follow where the badge goes, and there, she lose her concentration for a second. However, that one second is already a good window for Arisa. When the heat pillars weaken, she dashed past them to the side, burning a few parts of her body. Certainly, it is not bad. Hikari then realized her blunder and turned around only to greeted by an explosion of sands. *"Cough! Cough!"*

"Hika-*chan*, you shouldn't be too fixated." Hikari then heard Arisa behind her, and sent cold waves towards her, freezing some sands underneath.

"You know me and my ability." Again, Arisa appeared beside Hikari after making a trail of sand. Hikari followed Arisa's appearance, but not her leave, which left even more sand dusts. "So, you see. Like right now, I can very well limit your field of vision."

"Tch!" Hikari cursed as Arisa played around. It's a little pissing her off. "*Karasu no Mure!"* The flock of raven appeared near Hikari, trying to block whatever Arisa is planning.

"Oho? What's this, you have a new toy?" Hikari could sense something is coming from her back, and quickly raised her sword. True enough, Arisa is there, ready to slash a well-aimed *Iaido*. However, she didn't aim for her body; instead, Arisa purposedly changed what was about to be left-handed slash to a right-handed slash quickly, seeing as her right-hand can reach Hikari's sword better.

*Clang!*

The sound of two steel clashing can be heard. Hikari's grip wasn't tight enough, and her blade was flung upwards. Arisa smirked in what felt like a small victory. Hikari turned around and dashed backwards. She threw knives at Arisa, but all of them were easily deflected. Arisa's sped-up brain worked calmly, analyzing each knife's trajectory and moving her hand to deflect them.

"Tch." Hikari cursed again. She shot a laser to Arisa, which Arisa dodged just by small feint. Despite her potential speed, Arisa just slowly walked towards Hikari, like a bird eyeing it's prey. She drew one sword to the side, while the free hand grabbed the scabbard on her waist.

"Well, crap. And you threw your badge somewhere far away, didn't you?"

"Ohoho~ Not quite. I catched it again. Don't worry about it." Chuckling, Arisa walked slowly. "Hika-*chan*, I will propose an interesting thing to you!"

"And? I'd rather not have you team up with me. The possibility of backstabbing is high for both of us." She took out a knife and threw it towards Arisa, which in turn catched it and flung it to the side.

"It's..." With a deep breath, Arisa exclamated. "A marriage proposal...!!!"

A silence crept between the two. It's definitely Arisa's weird jokes again. Hikari facepalmed. "Arisa-*chan*...no."

"Pfft. Sure you won't. Anyway, you can pick up your sword and we're gonna have a fair sword duel! Isn't it nice? Rather than flinging your laser and they can't match up with my speed." Arisa once again chuckled, pointing at Hikari's sword afar.

"...in the end, I will lose anyway, huh? Your swordmanship is far more superior than mine. Fine, it's good to have a little fun once in a while." Hikari walked towards her fallen blade, still eyeing Arisa.

"That's right...! What matters in the end is we have fun! Ufufu~!" Arisa chuckled as Hikari picked up her blade. "Oh by the way, if you want, we can just cast off the dulling spell. Not like we will kill each other, right?"

"Oh I sure can't with a blade. You, however, Arisa-*chan*." She pointed at her with her blade. "No doubt that you *cannot* kill me."

"Oh, you're just as sharp as ever."

"That's just basic knowledge. How about we begin?"

"Sure~" As Arisa finished her line, she dashed straight towards Hikari, with her blade ready. Soon enough, both blades hit each other, sending sparks to the air. Arisa retreated before sending a flurry of strikes, slow enough to be followed by Hikari's eyes. It's a handicap from herself, and she abide to it well. Suddenly, Arisa sheathed one *tachi* and pulled another one from the opposing side, making a surprise attack.

Hikari was caught off-guard, and she was forced to guard with her free arm. She was thrown to the side by the impact, but she managed to hold herself from falling, and held her sword tight again. With a joyous face, Arisa shouted, "Score one for Arisa!"

"Tch." Disappointed in herself, Hikari charged straight to Arisa and sent slashes to corner her...if doing it in an open space can be called cornering. Arisa just smirked at the attacks and shrugged them off with her hand, misdirecting them to either hit air or hit sand. As Hikari's blade struck the sand Arisa struck her knees to Hikari's chest, trying to send her off flying.

Hikari dodged the strike as she feinted to the side, and swung her sword upwards, attacking Arisa. Arisa, still with on feet in the air, kicked the blade downwards and jumped back. "Oho, nice one."

Hikari sighed. There's just no way in hell she could beat Arisa with pure sword skills. And if she trapped her within laser cage, Arisa may just as well throw something off to distract Hikari, or poke her from within the cage. And it may end to unfavorable results. What can she do except give up....

But then it just doesn't fit her. However, she also see no reason to struggle further in a futile opposition. "You know, Arisa-*chan*. I don't think I see a way for me to win."

"Oh, giving up already? Well, that doesn't sound like you!" Arisa chuckled with her hand covering her mouth.

"I don't really like giving up, but I also don't like doing futile attempts. So might as well end this here." Hikari put the blade inside her umbrella again. She walked towards Arisa, showing no signs of hoastility. Her ravens have already soared the skies again, looking out the perimeter for her. Very calmly, she walked towards Arisa, taking out her medallion.

Arisa smirked. "Well, good luck on your hunt so you don't get eliminated, Hika-*chan*!"

Hikari sighed before giving the medallion and turning around to another direction. She opened her umbrella and walked away. Arisa, still smiling, waved her hands, sending her best friend away to an uncertain hunt.

### Three on Three

Kanon hummed merrily to herself as she hobbled across the beach sands, looking for cute younger students to dote over. "La-la-la-la-la, I wonder if there any cute little kittens for *Oneechan* to play with~!" She continued walking and humming before her hair stood on end, evoking an image of an excited cat. "Aha~! One cute kitten spotted~!" She then pounced on a certain student who was five years her junior, indicating her status as a second-year student.

"Uwah!?" the girl yelped. "*Se-Senpai*!?"

"Nyaaa, Shirabi-*chan*, you're so cuuuuute~!!" she gasped as she nuzzled her junior's check and trapped her in a bear hug.

"A-Ack...!" Shirabi groaned. "*Se-Senpai*, I can't breathe..."

"Whoopsies~!" Kanon giggled as she released Shirabi and allowed her to catch her breath. "Sorry, *Oneechan* here can't hold back when it comes to cute little juniors."

"... In any case, what do you need me for, *Senpai*?" Shirabi asked before her eyes slowly widened as her right hand shot to her waist where her wand was. "A-Are you going to plunder my medallion?"

"Oh no, no, no, I'm not *that* rude!" Kanon reassured her. "I like to tutor younger students; it's my duty as a senior to see you young ones grow up. I remember first meeting you last year and it was honestly love at first sight... You were such an adorable bundle of joy..." Kanon then corrected her expression which had fell back into a slovenly one. "*Ahem*. Anyway, as your senior, I'll help you out. Would you like to team up?"

"... Eh?" Shirabi blinked as her tensed and, gripping the hilt of her wand, went slack.

As she registered the voices that were coming from several meters away from her, Yuuki also didn't acknowledge them, an expression of pure lethargy creeping onto her face. She was in quite the dillema; while it is true that she no longer feels any great feelings of either confusion or anxiety, it doesn't make the fact that she was quite powerless any less annoying. "This is infuriating," she muttered as her right hand clenced into a fist. "Should I just go to Nanashi and use my «Midfall Memento» on him?"

Her head is currently filled to the brims with possible ideas on how she could avoid as many fights as possible. This is due to the fact that she isn't a battle-oriented mage with the only method of attack available to her being her above average blade throwing skills that are exponentially amplified by her grimoire's great telekinetic abilities. Aside from that, her only other means of attack, if one could even *label* it as such, is psychological; she has the ability to mess with a target's (or targets') psyches which is risky in of itself. As a result of this, her self-assessment is that it is impossible for her to fight.

"*That's interesting,*" said her grimoire as it hung at her waist in book form. "*Well, even without that magic, I bet the little boy would just give it to you if you ask him nicely enough, though.*" The grimoire snickered in Yuuki's mind as it pictured a certain white-haired boy simply giving his medallion to his mistress for no reason.

"I doubt that..." Yuuki replied while finally deciding to fully register the scene of the two people who were befriending each other right in front of her.

*Should I run?* She thought as she slowly moved away from both of them.

Getting herself into mage battles isn't fun, especially if one of the Trinity Seven was involved; that is why, for Yuuki, the most logical move when one encounters a member of the Trinity Seven is to escape from the scene as fast as humanly possible.

Kanon just happened to glance in Yuuki's direction and her eyes manifesting itself into heart shapes, she pounced on the poor girl. "Oooh~! Another cute kitten~! Alright, I've decided! This will be a three-on-three!"

"Ack." Unfortunately for Yuuki, she was unable to escpae fast enough and as such, she regretted her decision to not leave immediately after first hearing the member of the Trinity Seven talked; as such, she had no choice but to accept being glomped with the full force of one of the senior.

"*Yep, I knew it would end up like this,*" giggled the grimoire at her waist. Even without looking at his human form, Yuuki can imagine the shit-eating grin the accursed grimoire has on his face. "*It's them, after all. Besides, this is a compulsory activity. Why do you think it would be fine for you to not involve yourself?*"

*Can you shut up for a bit? I'm trying to figure out how to escape from this situation.* Yuuki racked her brain as she irritatingly scolded her grimoire, her annoyance crystal clear despite communicating with him telepathically. "Uhm, Tachikawa-*senpai*... I don't think I can be a good partner for mage as great as you," Yuuki said, hoping that her senior would listen to her plea by her obviously self-deprecating tone.

"An interesting proposition, *Senpai*." Before Kanon could respond to her junior, a new voice had entered the fray, one that belonged to a sixth-year. "In that case, shall *I* be your opponent?"

"Ah..." Sadly, Yuuki's pleas weren't answered by her but instead, from a new girl who had suddenly appeared from out of nowhere and approached her group.

"Oho? What an amusing proposal, Manami-*chan*~."

As his mistress tried to keep a straight face so as to not let her true angry emotions appear on her face, her grimoire, Allinone, was laughing from her waist with true ardor. "*What fun! Oh yeah, didn't you say that you were going to escape from this scene earlier? Hmm? What say you now?*" he snickered, his tone distinctly a mocking one. Her irritation was reaching its peak and as a result, Yuuki's greatest weakness of a mage is very close to coming to light: the fact that her psychologically-based magic would randomly activate should she feel a certain level of anxiety, resulting in all of those affected by her to attack her. "*I don't understand why you are desperately trying so hard to restrain your magic. Simply let it go berserk. After all, the fact that you are now involved in a battle that you cannt avoid will not go away.*" Yuuki could just envision the nasty grin her grimoire has on his face as he finalized with: "*Do it.*"

"*Seriously, shut your damn mouth,*" Yuuki growled. "*If anything, my magic will likely have no effect on any of the people present here. They are all older than me and I cannot imagine the dangers they face as older students. On the off chance that it* does *actually work, the only one who would be in danger is us as they would all treat us as an enemy.*" As she said this, Yuuki had a vivid image, seeing herself just being completely dismembered by the mages here thanks to her losing control over her magic on her vacation. While she no longer feels great fear at such an image like that, she *will* staunchly refuse from suffering such a laughably ludicrous death. Bracing herself, Yuuki then put on an act, pretending to be a scared child entirely afraid of violence; usually, this kind of act would succeed as she has the fitting body shape to do such things. "U-Um, I'm sorry but I really cannot imagine myself joining this fight... I'm not nearly as skilled as any of you *senpai* and I doubt I can even put up a good fight..."

"Awww, what a kyoot widdle junior~!!" Kanon said, her speech patern melting back into one that she would use on toddlers. "Don't worry, *Oneechan* will protect you!" She then turned to face Manami, her tone returning back to her normal playful tone. "Alright, Manami-*chan*, what do you suggest?"

"As you've said, Kanon-*senpai*," Manami declared. "You wanted a three-on-three. I'll give you one."

Resigning her fate, Yuuki gives up finding a way out from this situation. Changing her gear for a mages battle she then check for her surroundings. It wouldn't be funny if she was tripped or something.

"Oho? Then who are your teammates?"

Manami, who's hands have been behind her back for the entire discussion, suddenly pulled to the front, dragging two boys. "These two gentleman. With this, we have our teams of three."

One of the singled out gentleman was Nanashi Amagase. He could only sigh in reluctant acceptance after being forcibly dragged away against his will. Earlier, while he was pondering if he had chosen the right design for the engraving of his medallion, he was suddenly grabbed by Manami, an upperclassman, and a quite powerful one at that, and yanked along with her; for Nanashi who was among the weaker members among his third-year peers, he had no choice but to obey her as he definitely did not have the power to defy her.

"Ha... Life isn't fair, isn't it?" Nanashi mumbled to himself in a dejected tone after noticing his three opponents which happened to include Yuuki. *Let's just get this over with... I am certainly not a fan of being surrounded by several mages who are multiple orders of magnitude stronger than I am.*

Right after Yuuki saw that Nanashi is the one who showed up as a member of the opposing team, she could no longer cover her grin. Indeed, what came across her face was a perfect smile, one that truly displayed how much she loved the boy in front of her. "Oh, it really isn't fair, Nanashi-*kun*. For you to be my opponent... Oh, the fires in my heart just refuse to settle down..."

"Then I suppose it is fair for me to use my miasma then," Nanashi retorted. He didn't intend to break his promise but he had learned a new *Thema* just for her. As a boy in love, he always wants to prove to the girl in his heart that he is stronger than her and can protect her come what may. *I might as well use it and show the results of my training. This will also help me impress upon her that I can protect her from harm...*

The other singled out gentleman, Kougetsu Yamashita, looked a little more confused after having been dragged along by Manami and suddenly being recruited to join her team. He then activated Magus Mode but hesitated in manifesting his gun; after all, the signal to begin had not yet been given. However, he didn't remain confused for long and instead, composed himself. "Don't screw this up, me..." he told himself so as to pysche himself up in order to take his magic to the next level so he can surpass his former self.

Yuuki's lovestruck grin suddenly disappeared when she caught sight of the other member of the team. This teenage boy was the most infamous Magic King Candidate currently attending Royal Biblia Academy, Kougetsu Yamashita. According to rumors, the boy has a unique magic that can strip mages, rendering their magic *and* their vestments null. Even if the rumor was untrue, Yuuki doesn't want to imagine being stripped in public, especially considering that she would be showing her skin not to just Nanashi but to Kougetsu as well.

With that kind of apprehensive thought in mind, Yuuki slowly backed away a few paces, opening up a great distance between herself and the opposing team, especially from the Magic King Candidate, and readied her grimoire.

At her waist, meanwhile, Allinone was far too busy laughing his (currently) nonexistent ass off as he found his mistress panicking and sending quite a distress signal to him. "*Look at that! 'I suppose it is fair for me to use my miasma,' he said! What a jest!*"

*Shut up.*

"Oho," Kanon muttered. "This might be more interesting than I initially thought. Very well, I accept your challenge."

"Following standard procedure, you and I cast our dulling spells at half-efficiency while the younger students cast it at maximum efficiency," Manami stated.

"I suppose that is fair," Kanon agreed. "How shall we divide the medallions?"

"Well, since we all only have one for the time being, it must be total-loss." In capture the medallion, there are three different ways one can divide the medallions in team duels. The first way is single-loss in which the losing team only gives up one medallion. The second way is half-loss in which the losing team gives up half of their total medallions and said medallions are then split in any which way in accordance to the wishes of the winning team; the third and final way is the same as half-loss except the losing team loses all of their medallions hence why it is known as total-loss.

"I suppose. Now, it is time to begin." Kanon drew her sword, a simple standard-issue katana, and her wand. She did not need to use either her grimoire nor her personal Mythical Armament. Manami did the same, drawing her katana and her wand; she also forgoed using her grimoire or Mythical Armament.

""***Securus.***""

Two voices chanted in unison as both Kanon and Manami cast the standard dulling spell on each other's swords at half-efficiency. This spell is the most basic spell and almost always the very first spell taught to a mage as it is this spell that prevents mages from injuring, let alone killing, each other in proper duels. The reason why mages cast the spell on their opponents' blades instead of their own is what one would call a mutual trust exercise: if a mage cast the dulling spell on their own sword, there is a nonzero chance that they cast it at a random level of efficiency whether it be maximum, half, or nearly nil and as such, one mage can very much maim the other with their dulled blade purposely botched.

"Cast those very same spells on your opponent," Kanon stated.

"You two must do it as well," Manami ordered.

""***Securus.***""

Yuuki and Nanashi cast the dulling spell on each other at the same time; of course, since neither were fourth-years, the spell was cast at maximum efficiency. While he needn't worry about being gravely injured, he still has to watch out for the mental attacks. His mind was most at-risk if he fought Yuuki. "Well, I certainly didn't expect that we would fight so soon after what happened between us but good luck, Yuuki-*san*. I won't go down without a fight." As Nanashi paces back a few steps himself to create distance, he adopted a low posture, the stance of his family's sword style. Finally, he relaxed his mind, as if he was meditating under the sheer coldness of a great waterfall falling upon his head, in order to provide some protection against Yuuki's spells. He then opened his eyes. "I am ready."

Grinning at Nanashi proclamation, Yuuki that already readied her grimoire, preparing some surprise attack behind her back. "Eh... Are you sure you're ready..? It's still not late to take back that word you know?"

"O-Okay..." Meanwhile, Shirabi drew her sword and wand before pointing her wand at Kougetsu, her chosen opponent (she had noticed that her teammate, Yuuki, had backed away in fear of facing the Magic King Candidate so she took it upon herself to face him), and was about to cast the spell when she noticed that he did not have a sword. Tilting her head in confusion, she asked, correctly identifying his status as a senior student by two years, "*Senpai*, are you not going to draw your blade?"

"Sorry, I'm not much of a swordsman," Kougetsu replied, only to swipe his hand in a swift motion as he charged magical energy. Taking advantage of the Fall *Thema*, he pictured the rifle that was used so many times before, manifesting it in a single swipe. *'Alright, now let's see what I can achieve with this.'* Raising his rifle, the barrel aimed down at Shirabi and charged with Anti-Magic.

"Hmm, I see," Shirabi muttered. "In that case, I shall take you up on your offer." Lowering her wand held in her left hand, she hefted her sword which had no such dulling spell cast on it due to the irregularity of the fact that her opponent was using a gun. She looked at her senior for approval and Kanon made an expression as if she was thinking before giving Shirabi the thumbs up. "Alright, I have *Senpai*'s approval." She began drawing on her inner power and infused her sword with magical energy. "Here I come, *Senpai*!" Shirabi charged forward and swiped her sword downward in a vertical arc, aiming to cut at Kougetsu's exposed torso.

The moment the battle began, Nanashi immediately activated his *Thema* and entered Magus Mode. He then did something that he had only experimented with before: simultaneous activation of two *Thema* with his Magus Mode being that of his original Thema of *Inicio* and then invoking his second *Thema* of *Efficientis* . As stated previously, he has only experimented with this before but had never had the opportunity to put it to the ultimate test by using it in battle. Seeing that it was a successful attempt, Nanashi quickly began using his magic at a potential that he wasn't able to do before, covering a five-meter area around himself with a sickly black miasma for the purposes of hiding himself. Before this, the miasma would rapidly dissipate but now that he has a higher mastery over his magic, it can stay for significantly longer and is more lethal for only a fraction of the cost it used to need.

In response, Yuuki also actuated her own *Thema* and entered Magus Mode. Making the choice to escape from the epicenter of the fight, Yuuki throws 3 knives from her pocket toward Nanashi as her opening attack; of course, her grimoire's telekinesis greatly helped in guiding the knives so that it would curve to attack Nanashi from his front, his left, and his right at the same time.

As for the Magic King Candidate, his special Anti-Magic charged faster than his junior's attempted attack on him and as he watched his junior rapidly close the distance between them, he quickly stepped back himself to keep out of the reach of Shirabi's sword before suddenly firing a massive blast of Anti-Magic, erecting a barrier between them: "***Stella Unda!***"

Meanwhile, Kanon and Manami simply faced off against each other. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't be fun if we simply stayed like this all day... so I shall strike first," Kanon declared. "***Flamma!***" A large fireball appeared at the tip of Kanon's wand and fired at Manami.

"***Urna!***" Manami countered with a water spell which collided with the fireball and exploded, covering the battlefield in steam.

Initially hidden in his dark miasma, Nanashi can feel anything and everything that is moving within it. He then felt a strong disturbance, the steam explosion generated from the colliding flame and water spells of Kanon and Manami, which blew apart Nanashi's makeshift barrier as well as blowing him off balance. While he did fall onto his butt, he quickly regained his posture and erected a new barrier and with his ability to sense any disturbance within it, he was able to feel Yuuki's thrown knives which had earlier been blown off course thanks to the staem explosion but was corrected as a result of telekinesis. Nanashi moved back through his miasma barrier and since Yuuki has lost sight of the knives, she can only vaguely control them and Nanashi's senses were telling him that if he simply moved back, the knives would instead attack Shirabi, who is within his barrier.

On the other hand, Yuuki was blinded by Nanashi's miasma before being blown off of her feet thanks to the steam explosion. Again, just like Nanashi, she regained her posture as quickly as she could before rapidly retreating. While running, Yuuki used a basic wind spell and gathered up small pebbles in her hands before flicking them one by one and accelerating them with telekinesis. Her goal was to punch as many holes (and while she was unaware of it, she would also simultaneously confuse Nanashi's senses due to the high number of incoming projectiles piercing his barrier) into Nanashi's barrier as she could.

"Whoa!" Thanks to the steam explosion, Kougetsu's body was pushed back, however, unlike Yuuki or Nanashi, he stood his ground, only eyes widening his eyes in shock. Nevertheless, Kougetsu's small barrier was also easily blown away by the force of the steam explosion caused by his seniors. He then decided to open up the distance even more before once again charging his magic and firing a second shot.

Thanks to Kougetsu having stepped back the first time, Shirabi's attack only grazed air. She quickly sidestepped Kougetsu's anti-magic bullet before being forced off of her center of balance by the steam explosion. Fortunately, she had not fallen over and instead used the momentum rippling through her body as a result of the explosion's force to propel herself forward. This time, she got within sword range of Kougetsu and swung once more but was once again thwarted when Kougetsu stepped even further back and it was then that Kougetsu fired his gun. Left with no choice, Shirabi performed a single rising cut from her left waist and used her sword technique to cleave the anti-magic bullet in half. She then pointed her wand at Kougetsu and executed a simple lightning spell, "***Tonitrus!***"

"Ara, ara, our juniors sure are doing quite well~!" Kanon cooed, her sword locked with Manami's (as after the steam explosion, both girls rushed into the epicenter and blew the steam cloud apart through the sheer force of the collision between their half-dulled magically-enhanced blades).

"Likewise," Manami replied. "Although I would think it would be best if us two changed venues?"

"Indeed, perhaps it would be best to observe and provide advice from afar..." Kanon smirked as she slashed downward, pushing Manami off of her. She then channeled magical energy to her feet and jumped into the air; she was currently performing an advanced technique that focuses primarily on magic control, described as a spell that '*bunches up the air beneath one's feet to create a solid foothold*'.

"Oh, the sky? I suppose that *would* be a challenge," Manami quipped back. She too jumped into the air and slammed her sword against Kanon's, once more locking blades with her. "I'll play along, *Se-n-pa-i*."

Nanashi tried to make sense of what his seniors were doing, what with deciding to take their duel to the skies. However, he decided to just chalk it up as the antics of senior students and decided to focus on the projectiles that Yuuki had thrown at him. He was able to very easily evade them, while thinking to himself, *Stay calm or she will terrorize you again.*. As Nanashi safely dodged all of the pebbles, he gazed through his barrier at the direction of Kougetsu who was currently being pushed back by his junior. Nanashi elected to entrap both within his venomous miasma as he stuck his hand out in their direction, commanding the gas to encircle the two mages, in such quiet that neither would notice that they were slowly being trapped within a cloud of poison.

Yuuki, meanwhile, clicked her tongue in disappointment as she noted that none of her projectiles had hit home; in fact, they had all been deftly avoided. Nevertheless, Yuuki continued picking up small pebbles and throwing them with her telekinesis, making sure to do it in irregular patterns so that Nanashi wouldn't be able to predict where they would come next and therefore, forcing him to remain alert at all times and gradually shaving away at his mental strength as he expends it to keep his mind in a constant state of awareness.

Much to Nanashi's dismay, Shirabi very clearly sensed the cloud of death surrounding her. Clicking her tongue, she broke away from her confrontation with Kougetsu and jumped straight up into the sky. While she kept her true lineage hidden, she could still access her powers as a fox spirit; levitation was one of them. She floated in the air, avoiding the venomous cloud as she charged her sword with mana. "*Ryūdō Jōtai Shintōshiki.*" While remaining floating in the air, she continued muttering to herself, "*One-Sword Style Offensive Technique Eighth Form...*"

Shirabi swung her sword and sliced thorugh the air. "*Great Dragon Quake.*" Her attack was meant to dissect Nanashi's venom cloud while simultaneously, rending the beach although whether or not the attack would have an effect (due to the sandy makeup of the beach) is yet to be seen.

Upon seeing and recognizing the use of the basic lightning spell, Kougetsu made the split-second decision to sacrifice his weapon, chucking his rifle into the path of the spell which destroyed it, and due to its anti-magic properties, the explosion disrupted Shirabi's spell and protected Kougtesu. "Shit..." Kougetsu muttered as he took a moment to steady his nerves before raising his hand, intent on creating another gun. "*Conception!*" As magical energy flooded into his hand, it suddenly stopped as fast as it started. Fear bit into his body as he sensed danger all around him what with the venomous cloud trapping him in; looking up, he saw that Shirabi had jumped into the air and was simply *floating* there, as if she was using the same spell her seniors used to fly (this is a misconception). "No use in screwing around so it's time to figure out what I can really do!" Kougetsu scolded himself as he refocused his magical energy, only this time, he was searching on a specific shape.

"Sora, Illia, don't help me for this next part," he commanded his grimoires. "I don't want to screw up and hurt you guys." His grimoires sighed in admiration as they noted the new look of determination on Kougetsu's face as he began intricately layering a stratum of his magic on his hand, almost as if he was replicating a glove. Soon, the stratum began to differentiate with patterns not unlike electronic circuity beginning to race its way across the "glove" before parts of his sleeve began being shorn away due to the interaction of the anti-magic in Kougetsu's hand and the magic of his Magus Mode. Using his right hand to brace his left, Kougetsu charged a small orb of Anti-Magic as various wires began to violently unwind from his hand and cover the area, its metallic texture suggesting something extremely solid; contrary to its visual appearance, however, the strings flowed like water. ***"Astra Hydrae!"*** Raising his hand, he aimed the strings at Shirabi.

Meanwhile, Nanashi too looked upward and stared dumbfounded at how Shirabi managed to stay afloat. However, he was taken aback once more when Shirabi entered into a stance that he was very familiar with as a fellow disciple of that sword school. *Never expected to fight another student of my school... She's more dangerous,* he thought. *I'll have to eliminate her first.* Gathering magical energy into his legs, he hefted his sword, muttering, "*One-Sword Style Movement Technique, Third Form...*" He then jumped into the sky. "*Arterial Breakwater.*" As soon as Nanashi reached the levitating girl, he let go his sword with the intention of stopping Shirabi from swinging. Unfortunately, he didn't make it in time so he elected to do the next best thing: lock her arm, using his right hand to grab Shirabi's right hand. He then wrapped his left arm around her neck and choked her, fully intending to either wait for her to give up or asphyxiate her unconscious.

*Crap, I might be screwed...* Shirabi thought to herself as she contemplated her predicament. While her attack did succesfully land and destroy Nanashi's venom cloud, she was subsequently caught off-guard and trapped in a chokehold. She tried wrestling her way out of the chokehold her senior had her trapped in but unfortunately, in terms of brute strength, she was weaker than he was. On top of that, there was the pesky strings that were tearing into her. When Kougetsu's strings latched onto her leg, they began burning her skin due to the fact that Shirabi constantly kept a thin layer of magic up around her person to help hide her lineage as a kitsune. Since Kougetsu's magic was a magic to nullify magic, the protective barrier she set up around herself was being shorn away and this manifests on her person as burn wounds. Shirabi bit her lip to stop a scream from escaping as the searing pain from her legs threatened to do her in more than the chokehold stopping her from breathing.

"Arara, I suppose it's time I should lend my cute junior some help," Kanon said as she casually fended off Manami's high-speed sword attacks before breaking away and floating over to Shirabi. However, she instantly felt a blade of murderous intent behind her which she immediately dodged to her left before blocking a strike from above her. "Hoh, interesting... So you know how to throw your killing intent."

"I'm sorry, *Senpai*, but I can't have you breaking into their fight just yet," Manami smiled as she began gathering magical energy into her sword.

"Ara ara, now I simply can't play through this," Kanon replied.

*Should've known Hisakawa-*senpai *wouldn't let Kanon-*senpai *run to my help...* Shirabi internally slapped herself for believing for a moment that she could have a third party help her out of her problem. She then raised her free left leg and brought it backwards, aiming squarely at Nanashi's jewels. The impact forcibly loosened his grip on her and she wrestled her way out before wincing in pain. "These damn strings...!" Shirabi groaned as she took her sword and slashed them apart. Freed from Kougetsu's grasp, she retreated further into the sky to recuperate, inspecting her burns. *Damn, no wonder they hurt like crap... Third-degree burns... Ungh, I'm going to need to have this looked at by Serebryakova-*sensei *later.* Chewing her lips to stop another howl of pain from escaping, she tried regaining a proper stance but she could barely muster a poor excuse of one due to the throbbing pain in her leg. Pointing her wand, she spoke a multiple incantation that should not be possible for her as a second year. "***Alta Ventus Gladius!***" The triple-layer incantation summoned a gust of wind before shaping it into a large wind sword and swinging at the falling Nanashi (who is also simultaneously staggering from the pain of having his jewels kicked in) and Kougetsu (who is falling due to borrowing Shirabi's ability to levitate via the strings which had been severed).

Yuuki watched the events unfold up to and including when Shirabi nailed Nanashi in the crotch with her reverse kick. Several veins popped in anger in her head as she angrily thought, *Who the hell does that tramp think she is!? Those are my lover's family jewels of which I want to partake in!* She whipped out several of her knives and threw them at Shirabi, accelerating them with her telekinesis. However, Shirabi, who had not noticed the projectiles, safely dodged them when she floated higher into the sky to inspect the injuries Kougetsu's strings gave her. "Tch," she growled. She was unable to retrieve the knives she had just thrown because they were already outside of the range of her telekinesis ability so she instead elected to circle around to strike Kougetsu from behind as he was currently freefalling. As an aside, it should be noted that what Yuuki did, attacking her ally, is an extreme transgression of mage duel etiquette and she would normally be severely punished for doing so except in this case, there were no witnesses as everyone else is currently occupied with something else.

"Ghhh..."

Meanwhile, Nanashi winced in great pain as he hobbled as best as he could in the air to dodge the triple-incanation spell chanted by Shirabi; after that, he began focusing his magic to dull the pain echoing in his crotch. Having earlier put his wand away to perform *Arterial Breakwater*, Nanashi quickly retrieved his wand from his pocket, chanting "***Ventus!***" Calling upon a soft wind, he allowed it to cushion his fall toward the ground and upon landing, broke his fall with a roll. He once again winced in pain because the excessive movement rocked his crotch further despite having temporarily dulled the pain. *Well, crap, what do I do now?*

"Shit!" The wires were snapped, Kougetsu cursed as the metallic wires began to disperse before the remaining wires (Specifically 8) began to whip around randomly, the Magic King turning back to see the ground closing in quickly. 'Focus...' He would take control of the wires with a solid focus on his intention, suddenly firing into the ground and catching himself, keeping himself in the air. The wires were as flexible as water but as durable as metal, suddenly turning rigid and solid to keep himself in the sky. The ***Astra Hydrae*** began to reform the broken wires, effortlessly cutting down the Wind Blade, the Anti-Magic wires showing no mercy on the spell.

He stared down at the beach and formed a rifle, letting the wires regain their fluid nature and let him enter free fall as Yuuki came at him, intent to cut him down. Dropping to the floor, the rifle was aimed down and fired at her with a massive charge of Anti-Magic, generating an Anti-Magic dragon that overtook her scale while the wires acted as a cage to keep her in place. The Anti-Magic dragon powerful enough to destroy her Magus Mode. ***"STELLA DRAGONAR!!!"***

"Ah..." When she saw the giant dragon coming at her with ridiculous speed. Yuuki peeks at Nanashi that still pained by his childsack. As she know the nature of Kougetsu magic by observing the effect with her very own eyes before, she know that it was too late to dodge and it's doubtful that she can block an anti-magic projectile.

Thinking that she will going to be naked if the dragon reach her Magus mode. Yuuki gives up and release her Magus mode right away. If she going to lose either way, it's still better to lose without getting herself naked especially in front of Nanashi.

Nanashi finally recovered from getting his sacred family jewels vibe checked. He quickly greeted by the sight of a Dragon about to approach Yuuki, atleast that's what he thought it was. His mind had abandon logic and limitations and tried to quickly save Yuuki from the dragon as his mind only filled of the thoughts of Yuuki and to protect her. He got up in an instant, faster than the dragon could move another centimeter towards Yuuki and flashed away for him to catch her and let the momentum brought them to the surface of the ocean, away from the dragon.

The dragon almost touched them by a hairlength. However, they successfully dodged at the cost getting flung to the ocean and getting wet. "Sorry, but this is way better than getting you killed." Nanashi relaxed while Yuuki looks at him all weird. It was not a dragon -it only looks like one and not as dangerous as a real one, except it maybe dangerous for the social aspect for those who touched it.

### Dusts of Treason: Touya Tachibana v. Hanayuki Takeda

If anything, the announcement of the capture the medallion game greatly shook Hanayuki Takeda.

While he was certainly a student and is capable of holding his own, Hanayuki isn't one to look for fights; in fact, he always attempts to blend into the background. This, despite the fact that he is a Magic King Candidate which would make blending in practically impossible in the first place, was what made Hanayuki Takeda quite the beacon of interest. That aside, currently, Hanayuki was in a dilemma as since he was one who primarily liked spending time alone in his personal workshop in the Labyrinth, he has exactly zero friends; if he had friends, he could simply ask them to duel him for the current assignment. Alas, that is not the case.

As such, Hanayuki explored the beach searching for a worthy opponent; he had taken notice in the battle just a ways away which piqued his attention but not quite his interest. Instead, he spotted a fellow Magic King Candidate, sitting atop a rock with an expression of great contemplation. Jamming his *bisento* firmly into the ground (serving as a last-resort weapon should his mana run out), Hanayuki shouted, "Hey, you there! We're apparently supposed to fight each other because of this game set up by the teachers so I guess I'll challenge you as there's no one else around. My name is Hanayuki Takeda and I am formally requesting a duel with you, Mr. uhhh... actually, I don't even know your name."

The boy Hanayuki had addressed was Touya Tachibana. He was a rather well-known student among his peers although he certainly isn't as popular as the fourth-year who is currently at the center of everyone's attention, Kougetsu Yamashita. His profile from behind is never truly seen so it was no wonder that Hanayuki didn't really recognize him despite instantly sensing that both were of the same kind: being Magic King Candidates. Like Hanayuki, Touya was busy contemplating as while he wasn't much of a *hikkikomori* than Hanayuki, he still was quite difficult to converse with. Outside of several girls who hold great affections for Touya, most students usually keep their distance, especially considering Touya's unique magic. Upon being called out, Touya proceeded to miss catching his medallion (he had been flipping it up and catching it over and over again as he sat thinking) and it fell into the waters below him. "Ah shi-" Touya yelped as he immediately dove into the water to fetch the medallion.

Hanayuki held in his laughter and got straight to the point. "So... this isn't really the holiday I was expecting and I guess I should participate in this stupid medallion event just to keep my grades afloat so my mom doesn't kill me. Miss Miyako is a prick for putting us up to this. I just want to get this over with, so let's fight-" His sentence is cut short when he sensed a unique presence from Touya. His magic king element began reacting to Touya, acting as a notifier that Touya is another fellow magic king candidate. "Shit..." Hanayuki blurts out. Now being more cautious, he's ready to try his best and take things seriously, but first Touya has to find his medallion, to which Hanayuki adds. "Oh, erm, you lost your medallion, I'll just try to help you find it and then we fight?" He rolls up his pants and walks into the swallow waters, using his hands to feel around the sand to try and find Touya's medallion.

### Presence of Treachery

Jeweled Emblem Scramble: Presence of Treachery