Elizabeth looked up at the ceiling, which was now approaching at a pace faster than she appreciated. The floor beneath the Grand Infantry applicants was shaking as it rose, which caused both Elizabeth and Gabe to stumble, along with many of the others in the antechamber. Everyone's noises created a chorus of shock, just as the ceiling above them began to crumble into shimmering dust over them.
The ceiling above began to give way to the bright sky, causing Elizabeth to turn her head away and raise her arm skyward to block the rays of light as they struck. She blinked rapidly to get her eyes adjusted to the now bright surroundings. The floor beneath them continued to rise as the roars of a crowd grew loud. Quickly, the figures of thousands of people became visible to Elizabeth. Rows upon rows of people now surrounded them as the floor beneath them settled into the new coliseum arena.
"Elizabeth, we have to get ready to move." Gabe looked towards Elizabeth, the most serious expression she had seen laid bare. "Once the announcers tell us the event begins, we'll be targets. And I mean more than usual, we both have more mana than anyone else here individually. I scanned the room the second the official left, and more than likely, others did the same."
Elizabeth knew Gabe was right; the two of them had affinities unlike anything else in the arena, and she knew that. Regardless of whether the others could sense them as the focal points of mana, once either of them created a spell or used their magic, every participant in the exams would see them as a threat. "You're right, at the end of the day, they'll try and deal with us first." Elizabeth nodded in agreement.
"Ladies and gentlemen of Rege-Uptus! If I may have your attention for but a moment before the exams begin, we have a special guest, who's made quite the long journey to get here in time!" A voice rang out through the coliseum, one loud enough to silence the cheering crowd. Elizabeth looked around until her eyes found a man standing on a platform hanging just slightly above the northern portion of the arena. Several men and women stood on it, all of them in regal, traditional, spellcaster robes, signifying their positions as officials. "Once again, I must thank my fellow officials for their help in putting this year's exams together. I must also thank long-time friends of the kingdom, the Sonitus family, for aiding us with their affinity for noise manipulation, allowing us to host events for the entire kingdom." The official nodded back towards the one man on the platform without robes who wore much simpler clothes. "Now, as for that special guest I mentioned! He's travelled all the way from the Southern border just to be here today! With his continued leadership over the kingdom, we have known more peace than ever in history! The man who has single-handedly felled entire battalions, who's bested the last dragons in combat, who swears to protect this kingdom from threats until the end of his days! The greatest combatant in the kingdom, and the man who was born to thunder's call! The Archmagus of War: Gaurav Puerbia!"
Both the crowd of examinees and the crowd filling the coliseum began to murmur in surprise and shock. Elizabeth looked towards Gabe, her stomach full of a mixed feeling of excitement and anxiety. Gabe looked back, his eyes wide in shock. Everyone began looking toward the platform of officials, seeing no figure that could be the all-powerful Archmagus. After a short moment that seemed to last forever in Elizabeth's mind, thunder clouds swelled above the coliseum, growing until they blocked the sun out entirely.
Without a warning, lightning struck from above, striking the center of the official's platform. Suddenly, another figure kneeled where the lightning had landed. As the figure stood, Elizabeth's eyes widened in shock at the sheer size of the man in comparison to the officials surrounding him. Instead of robes, he donned a set of plate armor, with a royal blue cloak and sash. The metallic portions of the armor were made of a dark metal with a prismatic sheen, along with gold lining. He stood a frightening half meter over the officials surrounding him, and his shoulders were twice as broad. From where Elizabeth was, she had to squint to see it, but the gauntlets he wore were decorated with a crackling and spreading lightning pattern. This was the Archmagus of War; Elizabeth had no doubt about it.
"Hello all!" The Archmagus of War's voice boomed, thunder from above sounding, causing the storm clouds to disappear. The roars from the crowd continued, to which Gaurav raised his arms in acceptance. "Thank you, thank you! I know, it is such a pleasure to have arrived in time for the Grand Infantry Exams, and be surrounded by all of you who have taken time from your days to watch!" His voice was deep, powerful, and commanding, the voice of a natural leader. "Now, if you will all calm yourselves, I would take great pleasure in explaining the next event to you all." The crowd silenced quickly upon his request. "Now, as you can see, all of our examinees are wearing the same sets of leather armor. These are specially enchanted to dissipate upon being struck with enough magical energy. Whether it be from mana-infused strikes, raw magic, or spellcraft has no significance; however, the strikes do need to reach a certain threshold. We wouldn't want contestants to be eliminated unnecessarily, of course. Our examinees are also allowed to join together in teams if they so choose, or ally with one another to eliminate others before challenging each other. The only rule is that after enough damage has been done to their armor, it vanishes, and they are eliminated. The event ends once thirty-two examinees remain. Once I fire a lightning bolt into the sky, the battle royale will begin. Now, to everyone in the crowd, I would like to thank you all for coming today, and for your loyalty to the kingdom. And to those in the arena, preparing to be initiated into the Grand Infantry, I wish you all nothing but the best of luck. May the Golden Phoenix watch over you all."
Elizabeth and Gabe looked to each other as the Archmagus finished his speech and raised his hand skyward, above the center of the arena. Elizabeth's legs began to shake, and Gabe raised his hands with open palms in a defensive motion. Many of the other applicants began looking around, all of them getting into position for combat.
"Begin!" Gaurav shouted to the crowd and competitors as he pointed and launched a yellow bolt of lightning into the sky, exploding into sparkling mana overhead of the arena. The crowd then erupted into cheers and screams, and chaos ensued in the arena.
Blasts of different magic were sent everywhere the second the lightning blast went off. Flashes of various spells and abilities came from everywhere. The entire arena became as close to a warzone as Elizabeth could imagine in mere seconds.
"Elizabeth!" Gabe shouted as a gust of wind flew by her, so strong that Elizabeth could see it. "We have to move, now!" Gabe shouted as the wave of compressed wind blasted right past her and struck another participant who was growing near, launching him back. Gabe grabbed Elizabeth's wrist and ran her towards the edge of the arena they were closest to. The sand underneath their feet padded their steps as they went, with Gabe summoning walls of magical air to protect them from oncoming spells and people.
Elizabeth's eyes flinched at every sudden move and flash of mana, unable to form a thought as Gabe dragged her to the edge of the arena. When they reached the carved marble walls, Gabe turned towards the rest of the arena and threw his hands up, creating a bubble of compressed air surrounding them and using the wall of the arena as a backing. The speed of the wind now surrounding the pair made the outside environment fade, as if the two were behind a barely visible wall.
"Elizabeth, you have to pull yourself together!" Gabe shouted over the now surrounding winds. "Those people out there, they're all after us! Anyone is a target to them! They don't care if you're stronger, faster, or smarter! You have to fight!"
Another participant ran towards the forcefield of wind, getting low to the ground, picking up sand, and throwing it with the grains exploding upon contact, shaking the barrier. Gabe turned towards the approaching man, now picking up and throwing sand repeatedly, with each grain exploding against Gabe's barrier, causing the gusts to shudder and slow.
Gabe raised his arm forcefully, causing a gust of wind to launch from the ground into the attacker, blasting him away and causing his leather armor to begin glowing and spontaneously blast away in shards of light. "Elizabeth, I can't keep up protected all alone! They'll keep coming, and eventually I will run out of mana! We're the biggest targets, and eventually that will be a problem!"
Elizabeth's head swiveled from person to person, Gabe's voice sounding more like a dull beat in her head. She could barely make out what he was saying amid the exams. She could hear the crowd and the officials above all yelling, and saw the utter display of mana and magic before her. Affinities of every kind were being put on full display, all used combatively. She could only guess as to who cast what magic, or what the affinities were even were she was witnessing, but the arena seemed to be dwindling fast. From what Elizabeth could see, already half the applicants who made it this far were eliminated, walking off to the arena exits.
"Elizabeth!" Gabe grabbed Elizabeth by the shoulders to get her to look at him. "You have to focus! Do you want to be a part of the Grand Infantry?" Gabe shouted his question as more spells began shuddering his wind barrier. "Cause you won't be if you can't just focus! Focus on your mana! On your magic! You didn't come all this way from your home just to fail now! Focus, and fight!"
Elizabeth blinked, her mind going blank for a moment. Gabe released her and turned towards those gathering around his barrier, all of the opponents trying to knock out a primary elemental affinity user. Gabe waved his hands around, using his mana to create rudamanetary magic in the form of small aeroblasts, trying to either push opponents back or knock them out entirely. The barrier began wavering under the assault, unable to take such more damage.
Elizabeth looked towards everyone trying to knock her and Gabe out of the exams, and then closed her eyes, focusing. She took deep breaths, clearing her mind, focusing on the mana circulating through her body and the area around her. She began to move it, focusing on shaping it into her ice magic, but then began to fold it on top of itself, creating something more complex. She began crafting a spell in the heat of battle, even though she knew it wouldn't be perfect. After creating the spear of ice, she had an idea of what to do, just enough of one to make something new.
"I-!" Gabe got cut off due to casting another gust of wind and pushing yet another opponent back. "I can't maintain the barrier for much longer! I hope you're ready, cause once it goes, we'll have to fight!" Grabe shouted to Elizabeth, the mana in the winds surrounding them slowly beginning to disappear under the damage.
The shield of wind fell, and as it did, Elizabeth opened her eyes, raising her arms. Dozens of ice chunks materialized in the space above them, causing many of the opponents cornering the pair to back up slightly. Elizabeth then swung her arms down quickly, crying out, using as much mana as she thought she would need to bring the chunks of ice down at her fellow participants.
Elizabeth's ice flew everywhere, crashing into opponent after opponent, shattering their armors into pieces of light. Some examinees attempted to dodge, but the ice turned, strong gusts of wind propelling them towards those who tried to flee.
Gabe smiled as his hands were outstretched towards the arena, turning his head back to face Elizabeth, "Don't worry about aiming, I'll help with that!" He shouted as more pieces of her ice flew around the arena. "Glad you decided to join me, Elizabeth! Now let's show them what we can do!" Gabe shouted, beginning to run forward, jumping into the air, and making the wind around his hands and feet propel him into a sustained flight. "Been waiting a while to use this one!" He brought his arms up at an angle, causing winds to circulate points in the air. The air began to condense into what looked to be blades from what Elizabeth could tell. "Storm of Slicing Winds!" Gabe shouted as he brought his hands down, causing the daggers surrounding him in the air to fly down and towards those beneath him, eliminating another bunch of examinees.
As Gabe's spell began eliminating the others, several people began running towards Elizabeth, one of whom materialized what seemed to be a metallic ball into his hand. The man pitched it towards Elizabeth, who quickly used her magic to create snow under her feet and slide to dodge. As Elizabeth prepared to create and launch ice, the man then waved his hand, causing the ball to fly back towards Elizabeth. She placed her hands in front of her, ready to create a blast of ice to counter, and then the ball suddenly split into ten smaller orbs, all flying around faster than the ball before them.
"Gotcha!" The man controlling the ten flying orbs laughed. "Do you like my affinity? It's a projectile affinity! I can create and control simple projectiles, and even split them apart. The smaller the object, the faster I can move it with my mana. It also lets me control projectiles that I don't even make, meaning you can't beat me, and neither can that walking tornado up there!" The man bragged, laughing as the orbs continued to fly around Elizabeth.
Elizabeth's eyes moved quickly, trying to see which orb would strike her first, when all of a sudden, she felt one strike her shoulder blade, causing her to gasp, the wind being knocked out of her. She stumbled forward, just as another orb struck her in the gut. Even with them being only the size of marbles, each one felt like a punch to Elizabeth due to their speed. Her armor still hadn't broken, but if she didn't do something soon, it would, and she knew it.
"Enough!" Elizabeth cried out, throwing her arms down and expelling her mana as quickly as she could to create a massive circle of ice, which angled upwards into points. The magic launched itself from her, destroying the tiny metal orbs, and went so far as to hit the man she was fighting. His armor became but a glimmer in an instant, as did several others in Elizabeth's radius. The circle of Elizabeth's ice was several meters in radius, and she managed to create it in an instant, without anyone being able to react.
Elizabeth started panting, her breathing becoming labored as she took a second to catch herself. She looked around at the wall of ice that now surrounded her in every direction, almost in awe of her abilities. She knew she had trained for this, but she had never had to create magic so strong, nor so large, before. Her head felt faint, and she stumbled, but she shook her head to stay awake. She then heard a crash, the sound of ice being shattered on the outside of her new defenses. Elizabeth then heard it again and again until she saw a large, brutish man kick through the last remnants of her ice in front of him.
Elizabeth didn't see or hear any sort of affinity-based magic, which caused her to shift her weight backwards. She figured that he must've reinforced his body with mana and struck her wall of ice, breaking chunks off to reach her. She tried to jump back, blasting snow under her feet to propel herself behind her circle of ice and to shake the man's footing. Yet, before she knew it, the brute had taken hold of her ankle, with such a grip, Elizabeth feared he'd break her leg with ease.
The man yanked Elizabeth down, practically throwing her in the now-empty portion of her icy barricade. She landed on her back, causing the air in her lungs to be expelled. Her eyes went wide from the force of the impact. The sand underneath her was coated in her ice, which made the surface rough and uneven, causing her pricks of pain all through her back.
The hulking man stomped towards Elizabeth, raising a fist, preparing a final strike. But as soon as his fist was up, three yellow lightning bolts exploded overhead, and the officials in the stadium shouted over the conflict.
"It's over, the second phase of the exam is over! Please, cease any hostilities and exit the field in an orderly fashion! If you still have your armor, then you will continue to the final phase of the exam!" The official from earlier shouted, to which Elizabeth sighed in relief, still in incredible pain from the thrashing she had just received.
"Sorry about that," A surprisingly soft voice sounded from above Elizabeth. "I hope I didn't hurt ya too bad. Those guys up there are watchin' us, and I wanna make a good impression, is all. Taking down an ice affinity woulda have been nice." The large man above her reached out an open hand to help her up.
Elizabeth blinked hard a few times, trying to get her eyes to focus through the pain. She reached out for the man's hand and he there her up onto her feet instantly. Elizabeth gasped in pain, clutching her sides and wincing. It felt as if all her bones in her torso were broken, and her body felt like it was on fire. "It's fine..." Elizabeth managed to get out through the pain. "No hard feelings, big guy..." She said as she limped off, the man behind her following.
"Actually, my name's Rouss, some people like callin' me Roussi. Sorry for throwin' ya again." Rouss corrected. Elizabeth then looked up at the giant man, who easily seemed over two meters tall and looked to be anywhere from two hundred fifteen to two hundred thirty kilograms.
"Again, no hard feelings... but man, you hit hard..." Elizabeth laughed, causing her to wince in agony and clutch her rib.
"Yeah, my 'ffinity is for reinforcin' stuff. Pretty comm'n for a sold'a." Rouss explained, "Had to be big and strong, ya know?"
"Yeah... yup, I can feel that," Elizabeth responded as she continued limping towards the exit. She then saw Gabe from above come and land next to her.
"Hey Elizabeth!" Gabe called as he descended, the gusts providing him lift dissipating slowly. "Sorry to leave you back there, I tried to take out as many people as I could to get this over with, but you did great!" Gabe cheered, patting Elizabeth on the back, which caused her to gasp and wince all over again.
"Yeah, uh huh... feeling so great over here," Elizabeth said through gritted teeth. "So glad you were in the air and all. Ow..."
"Yeah, again, sorry about that," Gabe chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck. "At the very least, we made it to the next phase, and I'm pretty sure anyone who makes it this far is guaranteed a spot in the Grand Infantry. By the way, who's the big guy?"
"I was the one that threw her down, name's Rouss." Rouss smiled proudly, his soft voice sounding less like a soldier with every word.
"Ah, nice to meet you, name's Gabe," Gabe responded joyfully, the two men then shaking hands. "You are a giant, by the way," Gabe chuckled, "What did they feed you as a kid?"
"Normal stuff, I guess," Rouss answered sincerely, shrugging his shoulders. Gabe had a laugh at that, continuing to probe Rouss about his size, the two sharing their affinities, workout routines, dieting tips all the while Elizabeth hung her head in pain and continued towards the arena exit, just waiting to sit down.