Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

Shin returned to the dressing room with a bright smile hung on his lips, and when everyone was congratulating him, the next participants of the next match were already announced. It was Leroy from the freshmen and someone of the upperclassmen will duel together.

All the students cheered for Leroy as he left. Well, everyone except Elior that was. Leroy unlikely needs any good luck to win his matches.               

"Sorry," Shin apologized to Enna. "You didn't get to heal me. Maybe next time."

Enna snorted through a curve and held her lips. "So, you are not here to get beaten after all."

"Well, of course," Shin replied, eyeing the screen where Leroy and his opponent had arrived already. "Truth be told, none of us here get beaten."

Lara, Ileana and others nodded with Shin. 

The match started and most of them concentrated on it. Leroy was up against another one of the upperclassmen who specializes in battle, right after Shin. Possible coincidence, but Elior thought otherwise. There were two things that could possibly be the reason behind such choosing. First, the one in charge of the draws wanted to lift the gloom that held many in the world that new talented guardians were at making, but that could be done if they fight against those who were not expertises on.

And the other reason was most likely. It was to stop the freshmen from going to the trial, though the first match was not so difficult. Elior reckoned the matches will only be started to get tougher from here on out, though there was no surprise in that. How could his stubborn old mentor let them go so easily? Though he had shown him some of his power, the others did not. And Professor likely wanted to see the depth of his strength.

On the screen, Leroy was battling against his opponent vigorously, none having an easy time at the match. The crowds were cheering in uproar as this second match was already this close. But Elior knew this was nothing but a sham. Leroy was likely hiding his strength, or more likely, he did not need to show his strength here. He was always the sneaky type after all, though none could find anything bad in his appearance.

Ileana was biting her lower lip, eyes glued to the screen. She seriously could not make out who had the upper hand and if Leroy even had a chance of winning. A couple of months ago, she had no interest in battles, and that leaves her almost oblivious to these things.

"Enna, you and Leroy are of the same section," Shin said to the girl next to him. "How much strength does Leroy have, do you think?"

Enna looked at Shin and then towards Ileana and others as they were interested in the question as well. "Honestly," she said and her eyes drifted towards the screen again. "I have no idea. Before this, I seriously had not thought any of you stood a chance. As for Leroy, even though he and I are in the same section, he rarely came to classes other than the training classes."

"That's unfair," Shin shouted. Why does he have to get bored in all those classes then? He can endure the ones related to mana and fighting, but why does he have to learn science, match. History, geography? 

"Well, you can get the temptation if your grandpa is the president," Elior chuckled, though his brows were knitted. This was news to him. He had not known Leroy did not attend classes even from his knowledge of the last timeline. But why though? 'I know Leroy had good relation in mother world, but he was not that of a bigshot now. Does he not need those classes? Or it could be, he was already schooled about those before. Leroy was after all not your regular human being.'

"Or if you have a big mouth like Elior," Ileana added.

"Bigmouth is not enough, if you asked me," Elior said, snorting softly at Ileana and his eyes moved towards Shin. "If it was true, then Shin won't have to attend any of the classes. Then again, exemption from the classes might put you into more troublesome stuff. Do you think Leroy waste his time just because he did not attend the classes?"

Shin said nothing, and eyed back to the screen, while Ileana gave a "Huh."

"What?" Elior picked his brows.

"Well, you have to acknowledge that I knew you better than anyone here," his childhood friend started. "But I don't understand what's going on between you two? Did something happen between you two? All the time I have seen you two together, you always tried to avoid dealing with him, and did not even converse as you do with anyone."

Elior raised an eyebrow. "Did I?" he feigned ignorance. "Maybe we are playing a game, where I use my everything to hide from him, while he tries to uncover me. And you know the interesting part he doesn't even know we are playing a game, much less the rules."

Ileana snorted, not even considering he gave an enigmatic answer. It was not her fault, Elior was a little weird, to begin with, and that was even before the last timeline—not that he knows how much it affects him.

The match continued for five more minutes while the upperclassmen actually could not go on for more. His mana already was exhausted, and he was barely keeping up with his physical stamina as it will look quite terrible to lose out to a junior. But in the end, the unthinkable happened. Yet again.

Leroy got a good opportunity and made his opponent give up the battle, holding his sword on his neck, but unlike Shin, Leroy was behind his opponent so he could not have a chance. He was more thorough even though he wasted more time.

In the high stand of the stadium, an old man and professor Aleister were watching the match. The head professor heard Ford announcing the winner as he looked at the elderly man beside him.

"Dean," Aleister asked. "What do you think about the freshmen?"

"The freshmen?" the elderly dean repeated, his eyes were still at his grandson who was walking away towards the dressing room. "It's only two matches, let me see more of them."

"You know what I am talking about," Aleister grumbled. "Let me rephrase it for you. Do you want your grandson to be on trial a week from now?"

The old dean sighed. "You are forgetting something, Aleister," he said. "You can't actually put Leroy together with everyone else of the freshmen. Sometimes, I did even know what was going through his head. It would have been so easy if he was a little less perfect and be more normal. He never has broken into a fit of anger or indignation since I took him here, can you even imagine it? It had been almost ten years, I brought him here, and I have seen nothing but respect and gratefulness in his eyes." The dean sighed again. "I went deep in my worries, didn't I? Yes, he will likely go to the trial next month, and I am unlikely to stop him."

Aleister nodded slowly. "Looks like I can't stop my student either," he muttered. 'Not after the show, he showed me.'

"That's interesting, ye," the dean laughed and looked at his head professor. "Of all the people I know, other than Old Neldor, you are the most stubborn person I knew. And here you are allowing a couple of months old chicks to the trial? Surely, time did not have that much effect on you, Aleister?"

"It's not the time," Aleister said and saw the face appearing on the large screen. A girl of the freshmen bearing a long sword and an upperclassman with a longsword as well. A contest between two swordsmen. "The situations in the earth is changing. Unknown dungeon of higher-order appearing everywhere on the earth, and even our ring is not safe from it. My student actually put an argument, telling me, they needed to grow and that too quickly."

"But surely, you won't be swayed by that?" Dean asked. "I know about the changes. It is threatening, but unlikely what happened eighteen years ago."

"That's why the tournament," Aleister said. "If they cannot even get to the threshold, I will not let them go. Still, I am surprised to see their growth." 

"Unfortunately, some grumbling students were least of our worry," the dean said. "How is it going on with our guest?"

"They are here, almost all of them," Aleister said, gesturing toward a closed stand where a group over a couple of dozen seated--all with different standing, and looks. these were the spokesperson from all over the world, here for the conference. "Most of theme was not good with the words, but still they were here.. I reckoned they would be really mad, if you don't show yourself to them soon."