The Old Scholar

On Monday morning, the campus grounds were filled with activity as excitement and anticipation was in the air. Teleportation Town was bustling with work as the teleportation arrays beamed in people from continents across the ocean, while the main roads leading to University town were flowing with carriages of nobles from the Kingdom of Partoba and others from across the continent, all of these people, from nobles to commoners were all heading to one place, Imperia University. For today was the start of the Springtime Tournament, one of the three tournaments the university held for its students, and this one was projected to be the biggest one in years. 

At the gates of the campus, students met their families and escorted them all over the campus, with food stalls, stalls selling different clothing wares and even some blacksmiths selling their best items to the crowd coming and going before them. Some of the nobles met old friends from other continents, reminiscing about the old days when they were students in the academy, with students guiding their parents along the hallways and courtyards of the school, with some of them even greeting old teachers as they passed by. 

But most of the activity on campus revolved around the massive colosseum on the far side of the campus surrounded by even more stalls, the students and their parents actively made their way into and out of the colosseum as the morning progressed, but by 9:00 in the morning, things were about to go off. 

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The sudden chiming of the school bell recognized by students old and new told them that it was now time for the tournament to begin and the many families outside the colosseum and around the campus began making their way towards the venue with food, balloons, and side by side with friends and family, with everyone very much excited for the tournament that was to begin shortly. 

They filled the numerous seats and rows of the colosseum to the point where it was almost jam-packed and overly crowded, their gazes turned to the center which held several massive stages that were big enough for whole classes to fight on, and standing in the center stage of it all was Leilani dressed in her usual attire. 

"Good Morning everyone!" She greeted with a smile as she looked around the colosseum, seeing faces old and new and seeing them cheering as they laid their eyes on her 

"It is so good to see so many familiar faces in the crowd and new ones too! I hope that everyone is ready for the lovely tournament ahead! Let me hear you scream!" Leilani shouted with a smile on her face 

The crowd in the colosseum roared into a magnificent "WOOOOO" after hearing her words, from the freshmen to the seniors and even the parents and guardians, everyone was excited for what was soon to come, even Leilani. 

"Alrighty then! First Years! You guys are up first, we have a full week of fighting ahead of us ladies and gentlemen so fight on and fight hard as the winners of the class fights and individual duels get a prize! But you have to win to find out what it is!" Leilani added with fervor, her mentioning of a prize causing the crowd to cheer even more. 

"Ok, so. I hereby announce the Springtime Tournament, Open!" Leilani finished as she snapped her fingers and sent out a burst of fire from the tip of her hands as she pointed upward, bathing the entire colosseum in its warm glow and majestic sight. 

Giving one final bow, Leilani walked off the stage and nodded at a group of elven students in a large booth nearby who had a set of magic crystals that worked like microphones, they were linked to a set a larger set of magic crystals designed to act like speakers and once she gave them her signal, the duo in the booth with the mics set to work. 

"Now calling for the Class Fight, 1A and 1B, please proceed to stage A now" One of the students announced into the magic crystal in front of her, her voice echoing throughout the colosseum

As she walked back up onto the rows of seats above, she was greeted by many nobles and commoners who were once her students, all of them shaking her hand and saying things along the lines of "Good to see you again Professor" or "It is such a joy to be back here again Professor" and Leilani thanked them and shared their smiles as she looked at each of them, she knew who each of them were personally as she was their teacher from decades past and she remembered all of them, from their names to their looks it always stuck with her no matter how long it had been. 

Making her way upwards, she finally made it to a booth in the center of the lower and upper rows of seats and saw the numerous professors of different species, sizes, and shapes, that filled her staff all watching the students make their way to their respective stages for their class fights, their eyes observing and seeing if the students they taught were going to do great or would fail and be in need of improvement. 

"Hello all" She greeted with a smile, 

"Hell Ma'am" All of the professors greeted as they shifted their gazes toward her and nodded before looking back at their students 

Leilani smiled at them as well before walking out of the exit at the back of the booth and then began making her way towards the rest of the campus to check and see if there was anything happening, a small gut feeling gnawing at her that there was something afoot and it may cause harm sooner or later. 

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Unlike her beloved who was making her way out of the colosseum, Martha and the rest of the combat professors were acting as referees for the Class Fights, standing on the side of the massive stages and using their increased and fast perception to keep track of everything that was happening before them, making sure that all was well and good and that no one was cheating. 

Before her were Class 1C and 1D, both these classes were filled with over forty very youthful students who looked so young since they were all freshmen, she remembered that two of her senior colleagues were the ones managing these classes, and sure enough, she saw them on either side at their end of the stage one was an elf while another was a normal human, each of them trying to give directions on the evolving fight before her. 

 The fight before her was fierce as she saw students of all kinds unleash their best attacks upon one another in a bid for victory, she saw a pair of female elf students, one with blonde hair and another with red hair, dueling one another in the midst of the massive melee 

The blonde elf went on the offensive as she sent out a flurry of speedy thrusts and stabs while moving around and round and using different angles of attack, trying to break the defenses of the red-haired elf holding up a tower shield, shifting ever so slightly to ensure that the blows landed harmlessly upon her bastion of iron. Martha saw the red-haired elf smile as she saw another strike by the blonde elf thrust forward, but instead of using the tower shield to absorb the attack like before, the red-haired elf moved forward, pushing her tower shield into the path of the thrust and thanks to the force being applied, allowed the rapier to pierce through the shield, surprising her opponent who thought she was about to win. But the red-haired elf was not finished as she then suddenly pushed her shield aside, ripping the rapier out of the blonde elf's hands and leaving her open to the retaliatory slash that followed, striking her abdomen and sending her flying back a few meters before becoming a puff of smoke and materializing outside the stage, much to her shock. 

'Huh, impressive play' Martha thought as she glanced at her colleagues, seeing both disappointment and a smile at what had just occurred before shifting their focus back to the bigger melee 

It was a tense few minutes for the rest of the match as student after student from both class 1C and 1D fell one after the other, she saw several students from 1C get blasted into elimination from lightning strikes that struck them all at once by a trio of mages from 1D, before a retaliatory fire wave from a mage of 1C blasted the trio and some adjacent classmates into elimination as well. Then there was another moment as an orc classmate of 1D was able to bring down five other opponents with his battleaxe skills before he and another four were eliminated by a single swordswoman from 1C, with the orc unable to stop her rampage before she too would be stopped by another opponent. 

Soon, there were only two people on stage left. One was a young human boy with short spiky black hair wielding a broadsword, although his stance was stoic and he looked ready, Martha and the other combat professors could see he was on his last legs, seeing that his breathing while subtle, was very much ragged by now. Opposite him was a young human girl with fiery crimson hair who wielded a large claymore, she too was in a stoic and battle-ready stance but was also subtly breathing raggedly. 

"Whoever wins this duel will decide the winner between class 1C and 1D!" The announcer shouted, causing the crowd watching their fight to roar into cheers for both students remaining 

Martha shifted her gazes towards both of her colleagues who both gave her nods, 

"Five-minute time out! Both of you head to your respective sides!" Martha shouted as she raised her hand, with both students caught off guard by her announcement 

Both of them looked at her and then at one another, they thought about just ignoring the order and finishing the fight there and now but seeing Martha's crimson eyes stare at them, made them rethink their choices and made the duo walk back to their respective professor who was giving them advice on how to win. 

After the five minutes had passed, the two students made their way back to their spots on the stage, both of them having determined and resolute expressions on their faces as they stared each other down. They both then turned their gazes to Martha who was still looking at them, trying to see if they were both ready to finish this fight, and after a few moments, she raised her hand again while the students locked eyes once more. 

"Ready...Begin!" She shouted as she dropped her hand 

The two students immediately went at it the moment her hand dropped. The duo closed in on one another and before the young boy could attack, his opponent fired first, swinging her much longer claymore in a horizontal slash that he blocked with his sword, the force of the blow sending him stumbling to the side as he lost his balance but successfully blocked the slash. The girl tried to follow it up with another slash as she dashed forward but the young boy was able to stop her in her tracks by firing off an earth spell that wrapped some vines around her legs which caused her to stumble and almost fall flat where it not for her quick thinking in using her claymore as a makeshift stand, plunging it into the stage floor. 

Quickly recovering after both of them were immobilized, the two students began circling one another as they both tried to see an opening, both of them sizing up their opponents properly, neither of them willing to be the one to go first. 

{!} 

Suddenly, the young male student charged forward, determination in his eyes as he fired off several vines from his arm while his sword glowed with a shimmering green aura. The young girl was able to slash away the vines that were coming her way and barely dodged the slanted slash that her opponent fired off when he got close, she allowed the blade to pass her as she dodged to the left and then replied with a sudden punch that struck her opponent's abdomen, causing him to cough as he felt the fist's impact. He tried to reorient himself but his opponent then followed up her punch with a horizontal slash from her claymore that he blocked but in the process, lost his weapon as it was sent flying off to the side. 

The young girl was now smiling as she then swung her weapon again in another slash but to her surprise, her opponent was able to duck under her attack and then quickly replied with an uppercut that struck true, rocking her jaw as she staggered back. The young boy was not one to pass up the opportunity as he then performed a jumping spinning back kick that struck the young girl in her chest and sent her crashing onto the stage floor, with the young boy unable to capitalize on his opening due to him running out of breath and deciding to just pick up his weapon. 

'Interesting' Martha thought as she saw it all go down, a hidden smile under her stoic demeanor as she saw the two students give themselves some breathing room. 

Her eyes shifted to her colleagues on either side of the stage and saw both their uncertain expressions as neither of them could tell who was going to win, so far it had been pretty even between the two sword fighters and it seemed it was to remain that way until one of them made a mistake. 

{!} 

The sound of lightning and fire clashing with one another drew Martha's attention back to the two students, she saw two separate streams of fire and lightning clashing with one another, their discharged meeting in the middle and creating a spectacular display of magical energies clashing with one another, the young boy and his bright flames while his opponent had her dazzling lightning, both streams of magic coming out of outstretched palms. 

And when the streams subsided, the two students charged at one another again, their swords meeting each other this time around and filling the air with the sounds of metal striking metal. She watched as the two students went at it for another few minutes as both of them moved and attacked one another from different angles, firing off thrusts, slashes, stabs, and blocks, all in an effort to emerge victorious. To the spectators in the crowd, it was clear that the two students were evenly matched and it would seem that the match would end in a draw, but to Martha and her colleagues, it was clear that the young boy was already losing steam as his attacks were slowing down while his blocking had also begun to lose their potency. 

Their assumptions came true as when the young boy tried to fire off another slash, it missed by a wide margin and gave his opponent the window she needed as she landed a devastating knee to his gut that sent him staggering back and then landed a clean and powerful downward slash that turned him into a puff of smoke before materializing outside the stage, exhausted and defeated. 

"Final K.O! Class 1D is the winner!" Martha shouted, turning her head to the announcers in the booth 

"And the winner is, class 1D!" The announcer called out, with the class being mentioned going ballistic as they roared with delight, 

Martha saw her colleagues smile and nod at one another, congratulating each other on the outcome of the match, they also nodded at Martha herself who was a good referee. She saw her elf colleague assigned to 1C go down to her class and patted everyone on the back for a fight well fought, although the students themselves had sad and disappointed expressions on their faces, meanwhile, her human colleague assigned to 1D was cheering along with her students as this victory meant they were moving up in the tournament and would soon be facing other First Year winners. 

'They gave it their all...and that is just fine' She thought as she moved off the stage and went back to the booth where the rest of the Combat department was, satisfied for doing her part for this section of the tournament at least. 

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As the morning progressed, the campus was still in full swing. Leilani found herself sitting in one of the canteens of the campus, eating some delicious brownie ala mode while she was listening to King Veryat II and Queen Tatsuki who had come to watch the matches and visit her with their kids in tow. 

"These tournaments always bring me back to when me and Tatsuki were students here Great Mother" Veryat II began with a smile as he stoked the hair of his young daughter on his lap 

"I feel the same way as Veryat, Great Mother, it feels electric having to watch the matches again, the feeling of planning on how to defeat your opponent and the thrill of victory....ah, feels so nice" Tatsuki remarked as she thought of days gone by, also stroking the head of her daughter on her lap 

"Well, I am glad the two of you are enjoying yourselves, and I am thankful for you and your family for coming" Leilani said with a smile as she patted them on the head 

"That being said Great Mother...have you found a suitable marriage partner yet?" Veryat II asked with a curious expression 

"Oh yes, have you found someone yet Great Mother?" Tatsuki added, her own expression being just as curious 

Leilani smiled at them, internally laughing at their curiosity as she was very much amused by their question, it had been a long time since someone had asked her this question, and she was eager to answer it. 

"I do" Leilani answered them, causing the duo monarchs to lean forward with mouths agape and eyes wide 

""Who is it?!"" They both shouted as they locked eyes with her 

"I will tell you in due time. But just know that I am seeing someone as of the moment, someone...I genuinely love. So I better not get any marriage requests like last year" Leilani said as she smiled, her gaze going back down to her treat 

"Of course and we understand...someone like you with such a long life deserves to be happy...and recognized" Veryat II stated with a small smile 

"Hmmm...maybe so...maybe so" Leilani replied as she turned her gaze toward the window of the canteen, seeing the large colosseum in the distance 

A/N: And here we go! The proper start of the tournament! I hope you all liked reading the fight between the 1C and 1D, I was contemplating on what to do honestly, should I showcase all of the class fights in general descriptions or should I go in depth and give a more detailed look through the eyes of everyone witnessing the match firsthand. I think the latter will be the one going forward with the arc and I am grateful to those of you who were patiently waiting for this, I am eternally grateful! So leave a comment or a react if you want me to read and reply to and as always, Stay Safe and Enjoy Your Day!