Rising Against Fate

11th February 3068 (Thursday)

The winners of this tournament would get nationwide fame as the Eastern academy's first-year champion. Along with that, three participants from here would also be selected for the National under-20 ranking tournament.

Becoming a champion here was like being talked in the news. They will hear about you, talk about you, and after a week, they will forget about you. But being an under 20 champion was the real glory. One would be engraved in history as that year's under 20 champion.

After the first round, only 16 participants were left in the tournament. However, as the number of competitors was becoming lower, the competition was becoming tougher.

The matches were about to start, and at this point, all the participants had already gathered in the waiting area.

The 16 participants had been divided into two blocks — block A and B. Both blocks had separate waiting rooms since they would need to enter from a different side of the arena.

Inside block A's waiting room, the atmosphere was what one would call awkward. There were several reasons for that; the first and foremost being the way everyone was staring at one another.

Even though most of the gazes were focused on Razak, Kat looked tired just by being in that atmosphere.

Oruchi was staring at Razak with a look of anger on his face, and the reason for that was apparent. Razak was also a shadow mage like him, but unlike him, he was not from the Kage clan. So, it wasn't surprising that he would see him as a skill thief.

Other than that, there was Daichi, who was looking at him with a smirk on his face. The invisible aura that he was emitting was screaming, 'let's fight.'

In response to those gazes, Razak was just looking at the painting of horses behind Raiden with a small smile.

Kat was used to being bored, but he couldn't take a nap at a time like this. Not when his match was coming right up. So, to avoid falling asleep, he looked around to observe what other participants were doing.

There were Raiden and Asa, who looked like they were trying to avoid looking at one another. Kat had already heard about their little story, so that wasn't a surprise to him.

What's surprising was the way Amaya was looking impatient even though her match was second last. When he saw that, he asked himself, 'how impatient can one be?'

He found the exact opposite in Ren, who was patiently listening to music, utterly unaffected by the atmosphere around her. Though at a venue like this, that level of apathy was in itself weird

Kat sighed. 'Are these really the ones who are going to be top 16?'

The answer was obviously yes. However, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in them.

But it wasn't like he himself was completely normal, so he could understand why magicians who were raised to be magicians were like that.

Clan kids usually grew up in an environment where most people were already magicians. So, magic became a part of their life even before they were born. They grew up watching people do miracles, and because of that, their personalities ended up being a little different based on their abilities.

While he was thinking along those lines, a bald instructor came in.

"Kat F. Nerdy, your match is up next. Please follow me."

Kat stood up. Even though he was somewhat glad to leave the room, his slothfulness made him look reluctant.

As he stood up, Razak, who was trying to avoid all the glances by looking at the paintings, turned towards him.

"Dude, I guess I will see you in the evening now."

"Yeah, good luck."

Usually, one would say something more to a friend who is going out for the battle. But Razak knew that Kat wasn't the type who liked those things. In fact, out of everyone in this room, he was probably the one who cared the least about winning.

Kat followed the instructor as he took him to another waiting room. This room was where participants were kept alone to give them some time to prepare before going in front of the crowd.

If it were someone weak of heart, this room would boost their nervousness several-fold. But to Kat, this room was a perfect place to take a break after being through that irritating atmosphere.

He leaned in his chair and closed his eyes. However, this time, he wasn't trying to take a nap. He was thinking about this opponent — Kamin Sakurai.

He had already done his research on him and was sure that he would be able to win, but he also knew that it was going to be a pain.

Kamin was born from parents who were from different clans. Due to that, he ended up inheriting the abilities of both clans. His father was from the Kori clan, which specialized in ice magic, and his mother was from the Arasi clan, which specialized in wind magic.

Although both were considered traditional magic, also known as elemental magic, by MRS, their combination was regarded as advanced magic.

As for Kat, his discipline was considered modern magic, which was where all the magical arts that couldn't be classified into normal categories were placed.

After a while, a loud cheer was heard inside. And along with the cheers, the bald instructor came rushing in.

"It's time."

Kat nodded in response and slowly walked outside towards the stage.

Outside, the sun was bright, so he used his left hand to block the rays from falling into his eyes.

Compared to last time, there was a little more cheering for him, but he ignored them since they were of little to no relevance.

Once he walked up to the stage, he took his position facing his opponent. His opponent, Kamin, was a normal-looking boy with blue hair as his magical trait.

Unlike him, who looked like he was brought here unwillingly, his opponent was stretching in excitement.

Looking at that, Kat sighed once again.

"Looks like the participants are ready. Let's start the countdown!"

"Three! Two! One! Let the battle begin."