Just then, the duel began. Allen was ready for this duel. He may have failed the previous tests, but this was something he was confident in. Although his opponent looked strong, he was underestimating Allen. He could use this to his advantage.

Allen then drew his sword from his waist. The blade was gray in color, the length a good size for a one handed sword. He pointed it towards Charles, waiting for his next move. It was then Charles looked at him in surprise.

"A sword?", Charles laughed, "You mean you are going to try to beat me… with a sword?".

Allen didn't say anything. He began to prepare for Charles' first attack.

"Well, if you aren't going to make the first move, I will!", Charles shouted.

After lifting his arm, a blue magical circle came out. It then released a huge blast of water towards Allen at full speed, ready to knock him down. But Allen was ready for a move like this.

Just as the water was about to reach him, Allen cut through Charles' magic and made it dissipate. It had done no damage whatsoever to Allen.

Just after Allen cut through the magic, Charles looked in surprise.

"How did you do that? Well no matter, just take this instead!", he shouted at him, getting his magic ready for his next move.

Once again, he shot more blasts of water at Allen, but this time they were stronger and there were several of them. Allen once again cut through each one, like it was butter.

"Wha- no way you did that! That's it, you're going to face my real power! No holding back against you!", Charles began charging up his magical power inside of him, fueled by his anger.

Allen knew if he didn't move quickly, Charles could bombard him with spells, and it would be even harder to cut through all of them.

He began charging the any and small amount of air magic inside of him, feeling it flow through his body. He concentrated enough to move it closer to his legs. It was a trick he learned from his mentor.

"Even if your magic is weak, you can still control the magic within your body", his mentor's words echoed through his head. "In fact, the less magic you have to control, the easier it will be. Let it flow through your body, control it Allen!".

Just then, he stood in his battle ready position, ready to move. He then used the magic within him to push him forward, sending him towards Charles at full running speed. Charles at this point noticed what he was doing.

"No you don't, I won't let you!", he shouted, sending a full forced blast of water towards Allen.

Allen then quickly maneuvered to the right, then started to head towards Charles.

Charles could barely react, still in the middle of casting the original spell. He put up his other arm, sending out another blast of water magic, but weaker than his spell previously.

Allen then cut through his magic easily, then finally reached Charles position. He suddenly stopped moving at full speed once he was within arm's reach of him, moving his sword up towards Charles' neck, his sword almost touching it. This was checkmate.

Charles then realized the predicament he was in. He knew it was over. A wave of surprise showed on his face as he realized his humiliating defeat. How could a weak magic user beat him, a strong mage from a distinguished family?

"It's over Charles, I beat you", Allen looked at him, ready to take action if Charles tries anything else.

"NO! This can't be, I can't lose!", he exclaimed. You could almost hear the uneasiness in his voice due to the predicatment he was in.

"Charles, you've lost. It's over. I won", Allen exclaimed, his sword still almost touching Charles' neck.

Charles stood there for a few more seconds before finally speaking.

"I- I admit defeat", he finally said.

The whole audience just watched in awe of the spectacular battle they had just seen. The previous battles weren't even as crazy as this one. Either they were one sided and ended quickly, or both mages were on the same level and it lasted a good several minutes. But this battle was between a strong and weak mage, and the weak mage won.

"The battle is over! Allen Fleming wins!", the examiner shouted.

The audience roared with excitement. Any doubts of Allen being weak were almost cleared. Half the audience in just complete amazement while the other half disgusted at Allen's win. No matter how they felt, Allen had definitely won, even though his magic was weak.

Allen had sheathed his sword and then extended out his hand towards Charles.

"No hard feelings, ok? It was a great battle"

Charles slapped his hand out of the way.

"No! I shouldn't have lost! A powerful mage like me losing to you? Never! Trust me Allen Fleming, you will regret this later on!", he began stomping away, angry with his defeat.

Even though what Charles had said earlier before the duel angered him, Allen was willing to forgive him. But now that he had refused to make up with him, he felt like he'd never get along with Charles in the future. All he wants is to get along with his fellow peers and train to become a magical knight. He didn't let Charles' words or even the audiences before get him down. They had just underestimated him, is all. He must keep reminding himself of his goal to become a powerful magical knight.

Allen walked back to the side of the arena. Some people congratulated him and said sorry for doubting him. Others just ignored him simply because they didn't feel like he won properly. Or maybe they were jealous at the fact that such a weak mage such as himself was able to beat a mage such as Charles. Either way, Allen thought that the battle turned out alright, and he felt more than ever he was going to pass the exam. After all, he just beat a powerful mage, did he not?

"Hey great job out there man! Glad to see you won!", someone had told him from behind. It was Thomas.

"Thanks, it was an interesting battle alright", Allen told him, still a little exhausted from his battle.

"So, how did you do that? You were just able to beat Charles just like that? How do you know how to use that sword? Man I'm just so pumped up from seeing that battle!", Thomas kept asking questions while going crazy from excitement.

"Well, I've been training ever since the age of 8. Since my magic was so weak, my mentor told me to train in other ways too, like with the sword he gave me", Allen responded.

"Woah that's so cool. You said you came from a small town right? Who trained you so well? Was it a well known mage?", Thomas asked, curiousity in his eyes.

"Oh my mentor? His name was-", but before he could finish, the examiners were calling everyone to receive their exam results.

"Each person's number will be called up one at a time. The examiners have already tallied all the scores, and have given them to the directors. It will be up to our 3 directors to determine if you will be accepted or not. If accepted, you will receive your rank and then will be given further instructions after the results. If you did not pass, well you can just go home and try again next year. Now then, number 1 please come forward!", one of the examiners announced.

"Well, I'll catch up with you later Allen!", Thomas said while walking away towards a few other examinees.

"Yeah, see you later Thomas", Allen responded back.

Now it was time to wait for his results. He waited until his number was called. For the most part, most people passed and were accepted, however very few were not accepted at all. Mostly ranks C and D were given out while A and B were rare. Most of the A ranks tended to be the powerful air mages and most of the B were the water mages.

"Number 97! Please come forward!", one of the examiners called out.

Allen made his way forwards. He could see the examiners lined up underneath the stadium seats but to the right or left of the area the directors were sitting. He looked up and was able to get a good look at them.

To the right was a middle aged female director, who wore a distinguished water like blue uniform. Most likely the uniform matched her element color, so that would make her element water.

To the left was a male director, a bit older but still wearing a similar distinguished uniform, but it was an earthly brown. That would signify him to be an earth mage.

Finally in the center sat a middle aged man, with slightly long gray hair, with gray eyes. He wore a pair of circular shaped glasses, almost giving himself an intimidating look. It was then Allen finally recognized him now that he had a better view of him. Even though he looked slightly different, that was no doubt his old mentor, William. But what was he doing here? How was he a director?

"Number 97, Allen Fleming. Your results are in", William spoke while looking at the paper results. He showed no indication of recognizing him. He obviously knew who Allen was, after all he trained him for 5 years. So he must've been doing that on purpose. Either way, Allen can find a way to speak to him later.

"While you did extremely poor on most of the exam's tests, you did exceedingly well in the duel. You were able to beat a powerful mage, a Rivertide at that. The audience here has all seen your real strength, and no one can deny it now", William had continued.

This was it, Allen thought. He can finally become a magical knight!

"However, given that the duel part of the exam is new, and with a vote based on the directors, it seems like you did not pass", Williams words echoed in Allen's mind.

For a moment Allen didn't believe what he had just said. He didn't pass? After all of those years of training, for nothing? Was it just never meant to be?

A lot of people from the audience reacted in various ways. Some were saying Allen should've passed. Others diminished him for being magically weak and it didn't matter if he won the duel. Or perhaps they just think that Allen didn't belong here.

"However,", William began. "I have a proposition if you will…".

The audience became surprised. The other examiners were all curious and even the other two directors were in surprise as if they didn't know William was going to say something like this.

"What do you mean, proposition?", the water director asked.

"Yeah, what sort of thing are you talking about, William?", the earth director asked.

Everyone just waited for Williams' response.

"This school for generations has trained mages of all sorts of calibers. While there are 4 elements, or should I say 3, each student uses their magic differently", William explained.

"And? What of it?", the water director asked.

"The ranking system of A-D is based on magical power alone, but ever since the change of the academy, we started to change a few of the policies…", William continued.

"So you mean you are going to-", the earth director started.

"And sometimes we accept students even if their magic is weak, under the F rank", William explained.

The audience was in awe. F rank? Allen has never heard of it before.

"You mean you are going to accept the boy as a F rank of the school?", the water director asked.

"Correct, and of course, since he will be F rank, he must make it to at least D rank by the end of the school year, least that's the normal policy when on the rare occasion accepting an F rank", William continued to explain.

"But that F rank title is usually given to students during the term. Usually when we accept an F rank, it's under very special conditions, and usually it's a failed child of a prominent family", the earth director explained.

"Yes, this is a special condition. Allen has shown that he is very excellent in battle, which is what magical knights strive for. However his magic is weak, making this a special case. Since he's not from a prominent family, I will add more conditions to his entrance into the school", William continued.

Special conditions? What did William mean by this? There's more to this than being this supposed "F Rank"? Those were the thoughts in Allen's mind.

The entire audience's curiosity was almost as much as during the battle.

"Therefore", William continued while standing up from his seat, which then he summoned air magic from underneath him, sending him down to the arena area near Allen, facing him directly. "He will be given 2 other conditions".

Everyone in the entire stadium was in shock of William simply jumping down into the arena area. What was William doing?

Allen looked directly at him in surprise. It was definitely his mentor from those years ago. He wasn't able to say anything, just wait for what William will say next.

The directors leaned forwards, ready to hear these conditions of his.

"And? These conditions are?", the water director asked, waiting in anticipation.

"Well the first one obviously being that he will start off as a F rank", William raised a single finger up. "The second one," now putting up two fingers, "that instead of having to reach D rank by the end of the school year, he must reach C rank…".

C rank? Is that even possible? How will Allen even reach C rank, if he's going to have trouble with reaching D rank alone?

"C rank? You're kidding. That boy's magic is the weakest I've ever seen", the earth director was in shock, same as the water director and the rest of the audience.

"And then finally the third condition, probably the most difficult to deal with", raising his third finger. "Allen must participate in the Annual Magical Knights Tournament near the end of the school year, and he must at least win 4 consecutive battles in the tournament in order to graduate"

(Continued in Part 2 of Chapter 3 due to 15,000 Character Limit on Chapters!)