First Day (Part 3)

Leon walked into the sparring arena. His blond hair waved about as if a wind was blowing it about. "Ms. Sersk, you want us to go all out, yes?" She merely nodded in response. "Everything you have, send it at me."

Leon raised his arm, palm extending upwards. Countless balls of light manifested in the air. His other arm aimed down at the ground as runes began to coalesce on the ground.

Ms. Sersk inwardly thought 'Mage then?'. As she began to dash forwards at an exceedingly fast speed, the balls of light in the air began firing silent beams of light one after the other. Mrs. Sersk's hands formed scales as she began blocking, deflecting and dodging them. The runes on the ground lit up as she passed over them and soon after, exploded with a flash of light. Ms. Sersk however was too fast to be caught in the blasts.

Inna sat on the sidelines watching with a semi-curiousity. 'Hmmm, it seems that she has the physical capabilities of a snake, or can mimic them to some extent, it's stronger though. Perhaps that of a basilisk?' She was most impressed by the "hero". His abilities were more mage-like than most of the other heroes she met. Inwardly she thought 'Perhaps it gives him a modicum of control over the element of light. That seems plausible, and entirely on brand.'

The light of the hero that was deflected or dodged seemed to come back around faster, as if it being deflected angered it. Ms. Sersk was like a whirlwind, deflecting and blocking almost every single beam of light, while simultaneously moving fast enough to not be caught in the explosions.

Within seconds, Ms. Sersk's green scaled hands were left with scorch marks, with her face right in front of the hero, who hadn't moved. Inna internally noted that it was the constraint of controlling so many beams of light at once, on top of maintaining each rune that rendered him immobile.

The spar was determined over, and the hero was given some advice about knowing limits and remaining mobile, etc.

Next up on the spar list was Ember Ignis. Inna was pretty interested in this fight and decided to watch it as well.

Ember stood on the opposite side of Mrs. Sersk. At a glance, anyone could tell she was nervous. Inna decided to attempt to break her of that nervousness. Ember summoned a golden staff with a green jewel at the top as she prepared herself. It appeared ordinary at a glance, but was surely anything but.

Green fire sprouted from Ember's back, the heat was warm and inviting, it appeared as two pairs of bird wings. Inna recognized them as phoenix wings, denoted by the green glowing gem atop her staff.

Inna was inwardly impressed. Phoenix fire was good stuff, capable of a lot of different feats. Healing, burning and in some extreme cases, revival of the dead. She had seen it a few times in her lifetime, watching it was always mesmerizing.

Ember soared into the sky as Ms. Sersk appeared in her previous position. A rune was laid where she previously was that blasted Mrs. Sersk across the arena. Flipping her body with an unnatural agility and flexibility, she landed on her feet unharmed as she skid across the arena. She leapt into the air, catching Ember off guard as she was grabbed by Ms. Sersk. Fangs grew from her mouth as she bit into Ember's leg.

Ember's body began to feel sluggish, and within half a second, her magic dissipated and she began plummeting to the ground. Ms. Sersk was there to catch her, as Inna stood up suddenly. Ms. Sersk gently laid Ember on the ground and soon after, the venom was pulled from Ember and back into Ms. Sersk.

Inna was prepared to catch Ember, but deemed it unnecessary when Ms. Sersk knew what would happen and caught the falling Ember. This had entirely confirmed Inna's suspicion. Ms. Sersk had the abilities of a basilisk. When one was injected with basilisk venom, their magic would be suppressed. For mages, this was akin to full body paralysis, as the magic permeated their whole body.

Ember's eyes flicked open. The last thing she remembered was getting bitten in the leg, although she felt fine now, watching her teacher bite her on the leg was truly a bizarre experience. She groggily got up and returned to her seat in the stands.

Ms. Sersk took a deep breath and called for the next student. It was Draven, who strode onto the arena and drew the short sword attached to his hip. Inna realized it's shoddy craftsmanship. She wouldn't be caught dead wielding it, she wouldn't even look at it. She smirked and spoke as Ms. Sersk was about to begin the match.

"Ahh, that's a bit unfair. If he uses that sword on you, it'll snap in half like a wooden stick."

Draven was a bit surprised, this mysterious woman's voice that was almost always cold and uncaring seemed somewhat entertained. She truly kept her feelings and emotions open. Inna's words cut off his next thought.

"Here, take this one." Her arm reached towards her chest as she pulled a pitch black blade from within herself. No light was emitted from the action, and she tossed it towards Draven who caught it with a heavy hand. "Just will the sword to whatever kind of length you want, and it will obey. If it suits you, feel free to keep it, I don't mind."

Ms. Sersk was stunned and became astonished when she saw it. It looked eerily similar to a friend's soul weapon, one she hadn't seen in awhile, it reminded her of her friend Alice, but she dismissed this, it was impractical to use other's soul weapons. Furthermore, this one was a much different color. Souls were bound to individuals, there was no chance this was Alice's.

Draven nodded towards her as he re-sheathed his previous weapon, soon the pitch black blade matched his previous one in style ang length. He moved into a ready stance as Ms. Sersk motioned for the match to begin.

As soon as it began, he teleported behind Ms. Sersk and swung the sword at her. She raised her scaled hand and blocked the strike. Inwardly, she was a bit shaken by the strength of the weapon. Draven appeared suddenly in another location and swung again. Before he could react properly, Ms. Sersk grabbed his sword hand and kicked his feet out from under him. She had him pinned down and he relented.

Draven could have teleported out, but Ms. Sersk had learned all she needed, and thus took him down in a show of force to get him to relent. She didn't want to traumatize the students, but she did want them to know they had a lot to learn.

Draven returned to his seat and looked towards Inna. "Thanks for the sword, this thing is of the best make I've ever seen. Where did you get it?"

Inna smirked softly. "I made it, well, reshaped it anyway. It's not just a sword either, you can morph it into whatever you want. Keep it, I have plenty of weapons to match it." Draven merely nodded in response.

Next up on the spar list was Juno. She summoned a large greataxe, and Inna wasn't very interested. Her ability was basically summoning a greataxe and increasing her strength and speed. However, she was an expert at using the unwieldy thing, and Inna admired that.

.....

Inna stood on the other end of the sparring arena. "Ms. Sersk, is it? I'll relegate my soul strength to match yours and we can have an actual fight. I suspect you haven't had a good one in awhile, what with being cooped up in this academy the whole time."

Ms. Sersk was of course, informed of this student. She knew of the immense strength and decided this was for the best. Truthfully, she was surprised Inna was this tactful. She had expected her to be rude and uncouth, most strong youths were.

Inky black darkness seeped from Inna. It permeated the entire room and seemed suffocating in it's absolute authority. The safety barrier shattered like a weak piece of glass. Suddenly, a vortex opened as Inna consumed the inky blackness. When light was again granted permission to view Inna, everyone watched as a purple lock appeared in front of her, as it clinked together followed by a whooshing noise. The inky black darkness was sucked back into Inna, who seemed less overwhelming, and more approachable now.

She opened and closed her fist, feeling her diminished strength. "Hmm.. This is a bit..strange, but I'll manage."

Ms. Sersk dashed towards Inna, who smirked in response and caught her fist head on. Inna gripped Ms. Sersk's fist hard enough to emit a grunt of pain from her. Using one arm, Inna raised Ms. Sersk and slammed her onto the ground behind her. The impact created a crater and a cloud of dust. Ms. Sersk flipped around and wrapped her legs around Inna's arm and flipped her over, intending to pull her into a grapple.

Inna sighed inwardly. 'Is there no one here who can give me an actual challenge, that's somewhat disappointing.' Her arm shifted into an inky black tentacle as Mrs. Sersk's grip slipped. Inna whirled her other hand back and punched into Ms. Sersk's stomach as she was curled up attempting to pull Inna into a grapple. Ms. Sersk gasped audibly as she coughed blood and collapsed on the ground, entirely unmoving.