The Beginning After The End (Beckoning Fates Book 3)

by TurtleMe

  “Yes! By the fact that I cannot sense your mana core level, I assume that you must be quite a bit higher level than myself. It is an honor to receive your tutelage.” While Feyrith’s response was very well mannered, he had a slight tone of arrogance, as if implying that even if the professor was higher level, he could stand his own against him.

  “Of course! I am a light yellow level stage after all! To make things fair, I will only use long range attacks in this demonstration.” He took out a two-handed sword from a dimension item he had on somewhere and stabbed it into the stadium behind him.

  I could tell Feyrith was about to protest that it wasn’t necessary but before he could, Professor Geist holds his hand up. “Please~ If I were to lose, I would at least have an excuse, right? Please give this old man some slack.” He winks at him as the other students start laughing.

  He sounded sincere but I could tell that he was confident in winning against Feyrith, even with this handicap.

  “Feyrith is going to lose.” Kathyln says softly.

  “Oh really? How can you tell?” For me, it was just a gut feeling but it seemed like Kathyln saw something that I didn’t.

  She doesn’t respond so I just go back to watching the mock battle that was about to start.

  “Let me quickly set up the barrier before we begin so that our audience is safe from mana projectiles.” The professor mumbles a few incantations and a space around the arena starts glowing dimly.

  “Let us begin!” He grins as Feyrith takes out his wand and prepares for a spell.

  “Water Serpent!” A stream of water circles around Feyrith and soon takes the form of a giant snake. “Flood Domain!” Feyrith instantly sets off another spell after the water serpent spell is formed and soon, a pool of water forms on top of the arena and the water serpent dives into the layer of water that surrounds both Feyrith and Professor Geist.

  A domain spell was a rather higher-level technique that was used to make the territory that the mage is fighting on more advantageous to them.

  “Fireball” Professor Geist simply shoots out a fireball but it nonetheless takes me by surprise. The low-tier spell that every fire attribute mage learns forms in Professor Geist’s palm but it was blue.

  It amazed me that an Augmenter was able to figure out and apply the theory behind the properties of fire when even the smartest Conjurers had trouble efficiently using it.

  The fireball that was a bright blue shot out of Professor Geist’s hand and flew towards Feyrith, who had no idea how strong that spell actually was.

  “You’ll have to do better than that, Professor!” Feyrith confidently lifts his wand and controls the layer of water on the ground to manifest into a thick wall of water.

  As soon as the fireball hits the water wall, steam gushes out and through the other side, a much smaller, but still existent blue fireball makes its way towards my fellow DC member.

  Feyrith’s expression changes as he realizes he’s going to get hit by the fireball but he’s able to react in time to form another layer of water in front of him to minimize the damage.

  “Oof” The fireball that was reduced to the size of a fingernail by the time it reached Feyrith nonetheless leaves a hole in the protective uniform that he was wearing, knocking him back a couple of steps before he stumbled on his butt.

  “Do you surrender?” Professor Geist gives a wide grin as he juggles two more blue fireballs in his hand.

  “Y-yes…I concede.” Feyrith has his head down low in shame as he makes his way towards us, his uniform wet.

  The students were all mumbling about how the DC weren’t that great, doubting whether we actually had the capability to protect them.

  “You did well Feyrith.” I pat the elf’s back. He did well considering he didn’t know what he was up against. What was this professor trying to do by making a fool of us here? Did he just want to boost his ego by picking on his students?

  “Would anyone else like to volunteer?” He states while looking at Kathyln and I. I was about to raise my hand but was startled when Kathyln suddenly shoots up from her seat and speaks. “Please guide me well.” She says simply before lightly hopping down to the arena.

  Chapter 51: Classes and Professors II

  “Kathyln Glayder. I must say that it is an honor to have your presence in my humble class.” Professor Geist gives a deep, exaggerated bow. “Please do not hold it against me for whatever the results may be from this ‘demonstration’.” He continues, putting on a pitiful face.

  With her emotionless face she just nods, drawing her staff out from the dimension ring she had on her pinky.

  “Very good! Let us proceed!” The Professor claps, fire igniting from between his palms.

  Without a word, she lifts up her sky blue staff. Before Professor Geist had the chance to unleash his fireball, two javelins of ice form around Kathyln.

  “Shoot.” I hear my fellow Disciplinary Committee officer mutter before the javelins fire towards our professor.

  So she decided to go the offensive route to keep Professor Geist from attacking her.

  A faint smirk creeps up on our professor’s face as he lifts up his hands that were still aflame, ready to block the ice spears.

  “SSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHAAAAA”

  As soon as the ice javelins touch the fire on his palms, it instantly melts, disappearing slowly as the blue flames decrease in size as well.

  “Ice Javelin.” She mutters again, this time, instead of two, 5 spinning javelins form near Kathyln.

  “Shoot.” Her face looks cold, reminding me of an ice goddess that would freeze anyone who gets near her.

  “Haha! Impressive! As expected of our princess!” Professor Geist grins, the class leaning forward to get a better view of this intense battle. Since most of the students were first years, they weren’t at the level where they’d be able to conjure something like this, let alone almost instantly.

  Our professor concentrates as the 5 spears head toward him ready to pierce through if not countered.

  “Ember Wisps!” The spell he was preparing was finished in time as Professor Geist jumps back, releasing small, floating orbs of blue flames.

  Wasn’t this the spell Lucas used during his rank examination?

  “Break.” Kathyln mutters and wills her 5 ice javelins to shatter into an uncountable amount of small, sharp shards of ice.

  “Fire!” Professor Glayder, his face not nearly so smug as before, wills his orbs of blue fire to shoot at Kathyln.

  Kathyln, on the other hand, was so focused on finishing her final spell that she ignored the incoming streams of blue fire about to hit her.

  “Ice Tornado!” Her voice filled with a faint panic as she realizes upon finishing her spell that she was about to receive the brunt of our professor’s spell.

  PROFESSOR GEIST’S POV:

  That idiot! Why didn’t she defend herself instead of trying to finish the last spell?

  As the tornado of ice shards begin to whirl around me, I become nervous. I wasn’t scared from this fancy spell; I was scared that she might be gravely injured.

  Wasn’t it common sense for a Conjurer to have a layer of defense in battles? I chose a relatively easy spell to counter and the fact that she’s a Deviant specializing in Ice made it all the more easier for her. Did she want to win that much that she chose to forgo that?

  I cancel the spell but only the ember wisps disappear. The streams of blue fire that they shot at the stupid princess is still heading her way.

  Fuck. I’m screwed.

  Scorch Field. I will a layer of heat around me to melt the shards of ice rotating around me. I’m left with multiple light scratches but I don’t care. What happened to the Princess? I didn’t hear any screams from the other students. Maybe she was okay?

  Damn… I should’ve stopped after making a fool of the elf.

  After the layer of ice shards that were blocking my view all melt, I immediately try to find the Princess but instead, I find the last member of the three
DC officers in my class, Arthur Leywin, in front of Kathyln, who was still covering her face with her arms in panic, with his palm out in front of him and his other arm around the princess.

  His eyes… I couldn’t help but involuntarily tremble from his killing glare that pierced through me. It felt even sharper than those ice spears that the princess threw at me.

  “I think this little game of yours has gone on long enough, don’t you think?” His expression stays icy, the innocent façade that I now know he usually kept on nowhere in sight as his domineering gaze looks at me without remorse. Was this his true face?

  “While I am thankful for your concern over the Princess, it was unnecessary, as I had it all under control.” No way was I going to lose face right here, on the first day, in front of all of my students.

  “Under control?” Arthur’s brow slightly twitches and I can sense his annoyance. Was it just me that was feeling this pressure? This isn’t normal. AA class mana beasts didn’t even have this much pressure.

  “Yes. Do you think that I, a Professor at this esteemed Academy, would actually put one of my students in harms way?” I say calmly. There was no proof! Today was all a little mistake.

  ARTHUR LEYWIN’S POV:

  This ingrate really plans on insisting that he had this all under control. I already knew from watching Lucas that once the remote spell from the wisps are shot they can’t be cancelled. Then again, there was no proof since I blocked it.

  “I see… then in that case, allow me to take the place of my colleague in this ‘demonstration’.”

  “Haha…well if you insist. I seem to have scared the Princess a little too much with my last spell. I should’ve cancelled it earlier if I knew you were going to interrupt. Now some of my students may misunderstand that I was trying to actually hurt her.”

  Even now, this pathetic excuse of an instructor was trying to defend his position. I could already tell from the various murmurs around the class that most of the students already believed in what he was saying.

  I turn back to Kathyln. “You’re okay, Kathyln. Do you think you can make it back to your seat on your own?” I gently stir her from her stupor.

  “Y-yes… I’m really sorry.” For the first time, I saw a change in Kathyln’s expression as she looked really embarrassed, her porcelain white skin, flushing a light red as she turned away, going back to her seat.

  “Then please guide me well.” I turn back to Professor Geist and draw Dawn’s Ballad. The translucent teal blade triggered gasps and mutters of amazement as even Geist looked at my sword, wide-eyed in wanting.

  “Quite the nice weapon you got there. Since you are an Augmenter, I suppose it would be fair to let you choose which method you would like for me to fight in.” He shrugs his shoulders helplessly as he walks towards where his sword was embedded into the ground.

  “It doesn’t matter.” I respond simply.

  I could see a vein popping in annoyance from our Professor as he looks back at me.

  “I Insist.” He retorts.

  “Then please go with what you’re more confident in.” I take a couple steps forward, my face still peering deep into him, studying his every movements and actions.

  Scum or not, this Professor was still a light yellow class veteran Augmenter. The fact that he had the insight to use blue fire means that he’s pretty capable.

  I see the once grinning professor scowl, as his face turns a bit red. I could tell he really wanted to leave an amazing impression on his class, and so far, I wasn’t giving him much face.

  “Very well then. I’ll be sure to go easy on you.” The upper portion of his face betraying the smile he was trying to put on.

  Pulling out his sword with ease, he makes his way towards me as well, his sword dancing around him gracefully as he handles it with little effort.

  “CLANK!” He blinks towards me without warning, swinging his blade down with a force that wasn’t just ‘going easy’.

  His sword was imbued in a layer of blue fire, the heat that radiated from it making deadly. After parrying his initial surprise attack I use wind attribute mana to keep the trail of fire away from me.

  Being only able to use wind and earth mana made me have to really think about how to best utilize my assets to overcome a stronger opponent. While it would’ve been easy to use blue fire myself, I didn’t have that option right now.

  His bombardment continues, the force of each swing and stab getting faster and stronger, as if trying to test the limit I could handle. Every time I parried it or dodged his attack with ease, his next attacks would be kicked up a notch.

  I wasn’t using any spells to receive his attacks, just mana strengthening and pure sword technique, which seemed to frustrate our Professor even more.

  “I’m sure the Disciplinary Committee aren’t only rats who keep dodging and running away.” He says loudly, putting on a joking face.

  “Is there really a need for me to attack when our esteemed professor can’t even land an attack on a first year student?” I counter, putting on an innocent face.

  He doesn’t answer as his lips contort in anger. By this time, a couple of the students have already caught on that this wasn’t just a simple demonstration, some whispering if they should call the Director or the Student Council over.

  Professor Geist’s attacks become fiercer as he starts implementing several spells along with his attacks.

  “Flame Pillar.” A stream of blue fire shoots up from the ground beneath me as I instantly sidestep to avoid it, countering him with a concise strike to his neck.

  Catching him by surprise, in order to dodge my blade he jumps back a lot more than he has to, a bead of sweat forming.

  “Even rats become deadly when cornered, Professor.” I shoot him a snide grin as I immediately close the distance between the two of us.

  Appearing right next to him, I will wind mana around the blade of my sword as I prepare for a spell. Each swing I take forms a still path of wind, confusing Professor Geist who was still able to block my blows. Every swipe, every lunge, and every swing I took created an almost transparent path of air in its trajectory.

  Professor Geist wasn’t trying to put on an act of confidence anymore, concentration etched unto his face as he tries to block my flurry of attacks.

  He was reaching the edge of the arena as each blow from me forced him to take a step back, the flames on his sword flickering helplessly upon receiving each attack.

  It’s about time to end this.

  I will the surface of the ground where he was about to take his next step to concave in, making him slightly lose his balance. As expected of a veteran Augmenter, he stumbles for a split second but was able to soon regain his balance. However, that split second was all that I needed.

  Tempest.

  The dozens of trails of wind that was produced from each of my mana-instilled blade suddenly glows and shoots out. My assault reached its climax as the speed of my attacks increased, my blade becoming barely visible. All the while, the spell, Tempest, I just activated followed behind each of my attack, making my barrage a chain of both my sword and the sharp blades of wind.

  “AHHH!” Overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of attacks that he couldn’t hope to all block, he stumbles unto his butt and rolls out of the arena.

  “BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM…” The protective barrier that blocked all spells from going through flickered and cracked as my tempest spell bombarded against it.

  “CLANGG” A very sharp sound was produced as the barrier broke. It was strong enough to block all but one last blade of wind from my spell, which grazed my Professor’s neck, producing a trickle of blood.

  Fortunately, the Professor’s mana imbued body was strong enough so that my deadly blades of wind only grazed him, but he was still flat on his ass, his face pale in fright and knees shaking as I bury my blade in the ground right next to his carotid artery.

  Pulling out my sword and putting it back into my dimension ring, I look down at our Professor. “Th
ank you for your guidance.”

  As if on cue, the bell rings and I walk out of the room, leaving the entire class’s eyes wide and jaws slack.

  “…A-Arthur~” I hear a soft voice from behind me. It was Kathyln running towards me with Feyrith following behind.

  “I had to admit that you were impressive back there Arthur. As expected of my rival.” He crosses his arms, but his face looks a little disheartened.

  Putting an arm on the elf’s shoulder, I say to him. “You did good out there, Feyrith. If you knew the type of spell that the professor was using, I know you would’ve made more preventive measures.”

  “O-of course! If I knew that the specific spell he used was a lot stronger than I anticipated, I’m sure I would’ve came out as the victor in the end.” He says, but the faint smile on his face showed that he appreciated what I just said.