Riley Bastard

As we were walking to class, Xander said something that caught my eye 

“You know today is supposed to be the day we get our squads.”

“Our squads?” I asked, not quite sure what he meant.

“Well, you know how the military fights in 5 man squads. Well, the school wants to get us used to that type of fighting, so halfway through your first year, you get assigned a squad that you will stay with the rest of the year, though I have heard that they can move people around if  a squad isn’t performing well,” he said

“Do you know how they pick squads?” Arthur asked

“I don’t know too much, but I do know it’s not a fair system. The students whose parents have the most influence get to pick their squads, and they take the strongest with them, so if you’re not someone strong or get on the wrong side of one of them, it’s an uphill battle.” Xander said with a hint of annoyance.

Most of the students were there when we got to the classroom. It was an understatement to say it was a classroom; it was more of an arena. There were no seats, so everyone was standing around in their groups. We just followed Xander, who seemed to know some people.

“This is Riley and Arthur,” Xander said to a guy with glasses and a girl with Two different colored eyes.

“They don’t seem as tough as you were making them out to be.” The guy with glasses said.

“Oh, come on, Bryce, they seem pretty scary to me.” The girl said.

“My name is Stacy and this dork is Bryce,” Stacy said 

“I’ve known these two since I was in middle school. They’re good people.” Xander said 

A loud explosion sounded at the far end of the arena before Xander could say anything else. When I looked over, I saw two kids that had crossed blades. 

“You fucked up now, Brian. You knew she was my girl.” Some skinny kid said.

“Like I told you, nothing happened, Shawn. She came over to study, that’s it,” Brian said 

After that, Shawn shot out a fire blast towards Brian. Brian managed to put up a stone wall in time, then countered with spikes. Shawn shot a blast of air below him and dodged the spikes. Another kid behind him had to put up a water shield to block them. Brian tried to conjure another attack, but before he could, someone encased him in a bubble of air; they teleported to Shawn and did the same. When Shawn and the man touched the ground, the man spoke. “I know I let you guys get away with fights, but please do it inside the arena’s fighting ring, not where students can be harmed.” He then walked along with the two boys in the bubbles towards a ring, moved them inside, activated a shield, and released them. The boys continued the fight, but the sounds were muffled and almost completely gone. 

“I see things have already gotten exciting on the selection day.” The man said 

“Please have a seat before anything else pops off.” as he said that, seats conjured out behind us, and slowly, everyone not fighting made their way to a seat.

“I have heard that we have two new students in this class, so I’ll introduce myself quickly. My name is Battlemaster Wayne. That should be all you need. Just call me Mr. Wayne. As most of you know, today is selection day, or should I say the committee has already decided on your squads. So sadly, we won’t see the two new students fight one another, or that’s what they want me to say, but I can’t train why, I don’t know.” He said as he lifted our desk in the air to be right in front of him. “So you two are the ones the committee has been making a fuss about just so you know they don’t like you. However, they don’t outrule the chairman, so he made your squad. So, since she has taken a unique look at you two, I will also.

How about you two fight me to test your skills so I know what I need to do to help you improve?”

I pondered the question, but before I could say anything, Arthur said, “You’re an old man, but I should warn you we won’t go easy on you.” I looked over at him, annoyed. 

“ha-ha, you got jokes, kid, huh? Well, in that case, I won’t hold back either.” Mr. Wayne said with a devilish smile on his face.

“Alright, class, I will be testing these two to see their skills, but I will be doing it in private, so each of you has been given a sheet with the names of your squad before we finish. Get in those squads and get to know each other.” As he said that, papers appeared out of nowhere in front of us.

“Hey, he can use teleportation magic. We need to keep our wits about us in this fight.” I said to Arthur.

“Yeah, I’m not scared of a little teleportation magic,” Arthur said as Mr. Wayne teleported us into a different ring than the boys with a black shield we couldn’t see out of.

“Don’t worry, no one can see us here. I don’t know why the headmaster doesn’t want your abilities to be known, but I plan to find out.” Mr. Wayne said 

“Well, I don’t think it’s a big deal. If the class knew, they would probably find out anyway when we fight against them,” I said 

I didn’t understand why we needed to be so careful. I know we have rare mana types, but it’s not unheard of. If I’m not mistaken, some third years have white, so it’s nothing new, but who knows? I know our father told us nothing when he sent a letter saying we were going to this school, and I haven’t even seen the headmaster since we got here. As I thought about that, he disappeared before I had time to react. Arthur pushed me out of the way from an invisible slash attack that sent him flying to the other side of the arena. I looked in the way it came and heard Mr. Wayne say, “I know I’m old, but did you take me to be that weak?” 

“Son of a bitch that hurt,” Arthur said as he sat up. “You know, if you would have been paying attention, I wouldn’t have had to save you.” Before I had time to respond, Mr. Wayne was on top of me. He had a rapier that he was using. It was coated in a bright blue fire. He swung it at me, and I dodged it. As he disappeared, I felt the hairs on my neck stick up, and I managed to dodge his attack and conjured a sword made out of black wind. “You know it’s a little unfair you get your weapon, but we don’t get ours,” I said, trying to stall for Arthur to finish the spell. Unfortunately, he didn’t bite. I noticed Arthur concentrating on a spell, and I saw him appear in front of Arthur. I used wind to launch me towards them. As I got closer, he looked at me and looked back at Arthur, who had realized his situation. He encased himself in white ice and kept focusing on the spell. When I reached him, he shot a blast of fire at me, but I managed to use wind to shoot at the ground and dodge it. At the same time, I took my sword and slashed at his right arm and hit it and watched his arm go numb, and he teleported away. Arthur finally came out of the ice encasing him. “It’s about damn time I managed to take his arm, but it looks like he can heal it.” The arena had a feature where if you took a solid hit, you would feel the pain but wouldn’t take damage, but it would numb said body part.

“I wish I could use healing magic. This slash hurts like hell.” Arthur said

“I don’t give a damn what hurts. Didn’t you finish your spell? If you wouldn’t mind using it, that would be nice,” I said

“Oh right, release,” he said, saying that his wound healed and he became more agile and muscular.

“That’s it. You sat in there for 5 minutes for that,” I said

“Just wait and see,” he said

Right after ice came out of the ground to propel him forward, when he was about halfway, he formed a massive white ice sword taller than me and slammed it over. Mr. Wayne reacted by blocking with his rapier, but he was overwhelmed and teleported out of the way. When Arthur’s sword hit the ground, it was a loud bam, and ice creeped out from where it hit. It seemed stuck in there tight, but Arthur lifted it like it was nothing. After his attack, I shot a blast of wind mixed with fire at Mr. Wayne. The wind enhanced the fire and made a raging firestorm. He put his left arm up and pushed the firewall back with gravity magic but couldn’t hold it long and had to teleport out.

“Well he has to be low on mana by now,” I said to Arthur, getting ready to send another attack.

“I hope you’re right because this is draining,” he said as he conjured a massive block of ice and condensed it into a small needle.

While talking, Mr. Wayne finished healing his arm and said, “So you have black mana while he has white mana. No wonder the headmaster doesn’t want you to reveal that.”

“Why? I can understand they are rare mana types, but it’s not unheard of.” I asked

“Well, I can’t speak for her, but some would say black mana has bad luck, so people treat those with black mana like outcasts well, at least nobles do. Simply put, you’ll have a target on your back from the high houses.” He said, 

“Do you have any idea which house?” I asked

“I would watch out for Thorn and Umbral. They are lesser houses and i wouldn't put it past them to gain power by using dark magic.” he said 

Before I could say anything he appeared in front of us and slammed our heads together. When I awoke, I was outside the arena in what seemed to be a medical center.

“Well, I don’t see any long-lasting damage done to you, so you should be fine returning to class.” A feminine voice said, “Oh, you’re finally awake, Riley, was it? Do you feel any dizziness or the need to throw up?” they asked 

“No, I feel fine. Do you know where my brother is? He is like 6’3, and has the same hair color as me. His name is Arthur,” I asked, not realizing my nose was bleeding.

“I just sent that boy out, but you need to lay down while I check you out with that nosebleed. By the way, my name is Donna,” Donna said 

I laid back in the bed while she used yellow healing magic to scan my body. It was a weird feeling. “Well, it seems just to be a normal nosebleed, but to be safe, take these pills. They will help with any after-effects of the arena, but you should be good to go,” she said 

When I left the medical wing of the school, I saw Arthur chatting with Xander. When they saw me, Xander waved me over.

“So you let your guard down, and he smashed your heads together?” Xander asked

“Well, when you put it like that, we sound incompetent,” Arthur said

“Well, as for the squads, you two got put in Phoenix squad with Bridgette, who you both met, and another girl named Rose, who I’ve never seen before, but Bryce told me that she went to his grade school and was pretty and smart, Lastly is Tristen he is well quiet won’t talk much. Your squad leader is Bridgette, but that could change tomorrow. You’ll meet them, but class got canceled after your incident, and the professor is talking to the headmaster now.” Xander said as we chatted about what had happened. An announcement rang throughout the school.

“Attention, Arthur and Riley bastard, please make your way to the headmaster’s office, please, and thank you.” 

“What did we do wrong? He fought us,” Arthur said with frustration in his voice. 

“I don’t know, Xander. Do you know where the office is?” I asked

“Yeah, I can take you there if you like,” he said 

“That would be great. I said