Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

Ileana pulled out an invisible shield to block the fires shot at her, while in between she was working to make another spell to offend her opponent.

Her opponent could not be called as an elite of the combat courses, but he still had good abilities to play against juniors who were not even here for a couple of months. Even though he was not elite in the combat class, he was good at making stuff, disposable or non disposable stuff.  The fire he just attacked with was a disposable stuff he made, and so was the other gun he pulled out from his back.

It was a long airgun that shot bolts of air, compressing it. He did not stop for a moment and fired without delay at the shield Ileana had put together.

Ileana gritted her teeth as soon as the cracks started to appear in her shield. She supplied more mana and worked on steading the formula again. Beads of sweat dripped from her forehead as she saw her opponent coming towards him.

Her eyes narrowed and gripped the borrowed wand harder. It was finally time to use this thing. Other than the shield, she was preparing other spells, though she hid it well with the usage of the wand, but it's time to unfold her spells now.

Her opponent was coming at her shooting, but when he was just about four strides away from her, his legs stopped. It was not an intentional stop, but he was stopped.

The earth below his foot turned muddy, strangling on the very spot, and that was not all. It was almost like the quicksand, trying to sink him the harder he tried.

Then the flames came, weaving all over him, surrounding him in a ring. He was about to shoot again, then a sharp blade of gale came, flinging away his airgun.

"Admit defeat," Ileana snarled. The beads of sweat never stopped dripping. Other than the spell that made the quicksand, all her other spells were elementary, still, it was exhaustive for her. More than physical, her mental energy was all drained and so was four-fifth of her mana.

The upperclassmen seemed to have a second thought about his choices and then saw the ring of flames rushing at him, threateningly.

"I concede," he said, sighing.

Ford whistled and announced the end of the march as Ileana collected her first victory. Ileana had dealt more spells than needed here to defeat this opponent, but she did not want to take chances. Especially after her first miserable defeat. Luckily, knowing Katherine did not cause her all that misery intentionally helped a little, making her mood brightened. And Aanya also helped  regaining her lost confidence.

"Much better than her first match," Shin said in the dressing room.

"You don't say." Elior saw Ileana returning to the dressing room with an exhaustive look. The match had drained a lot from her, and it was unlikely she would get to the next round. Then again, many of the upperclassmen will not be there.

Luckily, for them, they did not need to get to the second round to get the opportunity of the trial. Though it will still be hard for Ileana. Lara and Shin will get to the trial easily, but he could not say same for them go to the next round.

"Congratulations!" Along with Elior, every one of them congratulated Ileana on her first victory. 

"Thanks," Ileana said, letting out the steam. 

"Shin, it appears you are up," Enna said as Shin's face appeared on the screen with another swordsman named Carlos. She checked details about Carlos in Shin's hollow book. "Looks like it is going to be difficult for you."

"Let me see," Shin said and took his hollow book for her. What they were seeing in the hollow book was something illegal. Shin had hacked into the system of the institute and brought the details about all the students. Though the context there was not overly detailed, it was still better than going blind.

"He's not actually an upperclassman," Shin muttered first when he read the details. "On our year, though, he was in the institute for over two years. It is said here that Carlos is bad at mana usage and could not even put together simple armament at the end of the first year."

"But his swordsmanship was top of the class," Enna continued, peeking from the sides. "He was already a true swordsman, just his deficiency in mana stopping him."

"It said, he intentionally did not advance to the next classes," Shin continued. "Well, he might be a true swordsman; I still had the edge with my mana application."

Elior knitted his brows from the sides. He actually remembered this Carlos—a kid who sold himself during the great calamity. But his mana deficiency reminded him of an old friend. Unlike Carlos, he had not sold himself but died in the cause. 'I will meet him soon,' he thought. 'Perhaps in the trial.' 

"Looks like I have to go full force this time," Shin muttered and stood up on the way to leave. Elior only bid good luck, knowing Shin knew what to do in the match.

Shin found his opponent already ready when he arrived in the arena. Carlos was a hardened face young man, hair trimmed from the sides and he had thick armour on his body, giving him a vibe that he was a heavy warrior rather than a swift swordsman.

'He was in the institute for over two years, and even with his mana deficiency, he should have reached the second order, or at least closer,' Shin thought. 'Most likely, the former.' Since this guy is a true swordsman, he likely had reached second order.

The whistle was blown and the two contestants approached one another slowly, knowing it won't be anytime soon this will end.

Rather than what Shin thought, Carlos was better prepared. He had placed the mana armament surrounding his body, while for his weapon it was a strange one that was running currents of electricity over the blade, and it was not coming from Carlos. Most likely, a weapon with an inbuilt charge, but that does not mean it was that appealing. These types of weapons had a lot of limitations—still, it was far better than the junk Shin was holding.

Shin stepped cautiously and since his opponent was not dealing the first blow, Shin did it. His sword cut towards his opponent in the right thigh, but he had to jerk it the other way instantly as soon a lightning sword drifted towards his heart in a swift blow, far faster than Shin had assumed.

Shin barely blocked and withdrew. He gave his opponent a second glance and thought a true swordsman was not just a title. His friend Lara was reaching the realm as well, though he had not seen her move so abrupt and fast. He rushed the mana more, remembering there were more than 20 levels of difference between them. He had certainly worked hard, and that should be enough to narrow down the difference, but who could tell how much this swordsman worked?

Shin's legs moved, faster than before, swirling mana emitting from his lower body. His sword moved, and he saw his opponent coming with a block, but Carlos did not actually block. He twisted his body sideways, dodging Shin's sword, and at the same time, his lightning sword feinted to deal a blow on the side of the thighs of Shin.

The armament on his thigh broke, and Shin felt a rush of electricity on his thighs. He gritted his teeth and worked on dissolving the lightning. Before he could do that, his opponent came again with the sword.

A weave of wind formed along with Shin's sword and he swung forward at the sword approaching sword. The electricity in his opponent's sword warped fuhrer, and his blade of wind was not light either. They clashed for an instant, brimming with warping noise as well as discharging colourful mana.

Both of the duellists withdrew as the audience cheered in an uproar. Finally, they got a neck-in-neck contest.

'Looks like there was no time to learn in the match,' Shin thought and wind warped around his sword, prepared to discharge at any moment. And such preparations were happening in his legs as well. Shin was condensing the wind, the wave of air surrounding his legs to release for a sharp speed to catch his opponent off guard.

This type of condensing was something Elior taught him, and he had learned it easily, though he had failed royally in the other thing. In the move, he was mostly using the wind, and manipulating it with his mana, unlike creating it. Still, it would be one heck of a useful move if he could use it at the right time.

Carlos came at him again, bearing his long-sword threateningly, the lightning discharging as large as his winds.

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I would like to give two chapters each to bring out details about Elementalist and Waverunner apprentice classes, but I can't help but jumbled them together.. SO, you will get four chapters together with all that.