บท 26: Take Note

"Great job kid! Keep up the good work!" shouted someone spectating in the crowd.

"Plant elementalist, nice moves!" shouted another.

Eden made his way up to Isaac, Adara, and Headmaster Oak amidst the applause of the small crowd watching.

"Eden! You were amazing out there!" shouted Isaac. "I for sure thought you were a goner after Soldan baited you with that opening!"

"I still have a bit more to learn." shrugged Eden. Eden pointed to the several cuts on his body that the wind blade still got to him.

"It is good that you know Eden. There is always something to learn from every battle. Keep learning, keep growing." preached Headmaster Oak.

"Yes Headmaster!" replied Eden.

"Looks its my turn coming up soon. I'm going to prepare!" said Adara as she made her way downstairs.

The group proceeded to watch the next to matches before Adara ultimately came up. Adara's battle went by extremely quick. Zoldan, unlike his brother Soldan, was a fire elementalist and preferred to fight at close range. At the beginning of the match both Zoldan and Adara charged in. Zoldan threw the first punch but hit nothing but air. Adara read Zoldan's move and ducked and channeled her mana into her fist. She rose up gave him a powered-up uppercut to his chin which sent him flying. She literally ended the match in one punch!

"Ignis, taught her a truly double-edged move..." sighed Headmaster Oak. "If Adara had whiffed on that, she would have been exposed to an onslaught of attacks. Flame Uppercut. A fire elementalist would channel their mana into their fist and feet, duck and explode upwards from the momentum of a release of mana from their feet. This move will not work twice if missed."

"Wow! One Punch! This girl is good!" shouted a spectator in the crowd.

"That move was splendid! She's definitely one to watch!" shouted another.

Adara raised her fist in the air and and basked herself in the cheers and applause. She has been waiting for this moment for a long time. Adara had finally washed off her loss to Eden back in Border town.

Adara made her way to the hallway where she received her stone from the attendant with her rewards. She went upstairs and sat with Headmaster Oak, Eden, and Isaac to spectate a few more matches before departing.

Little did Eden and Adara know, their matches, although irrelevant in the grand scheme of things since it was their first, caught the eye of several groups. Oak Academy, who had two wins today, appeared to be a fresh face to Crux City so several groups were taking note of their appearance.

Amongst the crowd there was a boy with red hair wearing a black cloak with a circular symbol depicting a labyrinth. He was sitting next to a girl with violet hair also wearing the same cloak.

"Hahaha Oak Academy, interesting. I'll have to keep my eye on them. Eve, how do you think you would hold up against them?" said Apollo.

"That girl and I are at the same level. That boy with the plant elementalist, Eden, he looks to be significantly weaker" replied Eve nonchalantly.

"Oh? I think that Eden is a pretty interesting. We didn't see much from him yet, but from the small usage of his spells, he seems to be pretty crafty. During his fight with Soldan, he was dodging those wind blades seeing how Soldan would attack. He waited to reveal his element and so Soldan didn't know what kind of attacks were coming. The timing of his spell to disrupt Soldan's surprise attack was perfect as well. Sadly, my element counters his, if only he had a different element, I could crush him easily." sighed Apollo. " On the other hand, that girl Adara threw all her power in one attack. We don't have enough information on her but she clearly has alot of firepower. Being able to knock out Zoldan in one hit is pretty impressive."

"Just another stepping stone for us and Maze Academy" grinned Eve.

The reason Apollo was interested in Oak Academy was that they were a new name he has never heard of. Apollo wanted to scout out any future opponents that could impede his way to the top, but he also wanted a great opponent.

'The two from Oak Academy... they are certainly look promising' thought a lady that was spectating. She had a golden ring on her finger, a symbol of three golden arches were on it.

This was Sophia who went to scout the academy students participating in the Coliseum at Crux City. Due to the news that King Ash would select a successor at the next academy tournament, the Golden Arch wanted to find a viable candidate to provide their support to. The news of a successor was not widespread yet at the moment so the Golden Arch and a few other groups had a head start to find a candidate. Sophia began to scribble their names down to bring back to the Golden Arch for consideration. 'I'll examine them some more, we have a long time before we have to ultimately come up with a decision.' Sophia continued to stay in her seat and scout out additional academy students.

In one of the private viewing rooms of the arena. An old man with white hair, spectated the battles that Eden and Adara just had.

"Interesting choices former shield of the king... Interesting choices. Let's see how far they progress. Not many may know of you... but I do... a shield of the king retires after many years and King Ash grants him one request. The man asks for nothing but an academy certification so that he can start his own school, and a right to reserve a few prospects. Lazarus Oak we shall see how far you can take these kids. Maybe you'll gain the help of the Rainbow Door.' chuckled the old man to himself. He looked towards the direction that Sophia was sitting in spectating the matches. 'Golden Arch is making their move soon as well. These next few months will be very entertaining."