The Predictable

Kendell, stirring his soup absentmindedly, broke the silence. "I can't believe I'm going up against Leon Tilanaz. Given his family, he is bound to have a lot of ritual tattoos and power already."

Celia leaned forward, her eyes intense. "You know, this is our chance to really stand out. If you can take on Leon, imagine the statement we'll make."

Coli, fiddling with his fork, added thoughtfully, "Their family is known for complex and powerful fey rituals. You've got that new design you're working on that's based on illusion devils right? Maybe that's your ace?"

Celia added, "That's right! If you can mess up his circles or distract his fey, you can probably take him out with your Form Demon 1 if you can advance your mastery enough!"

Kendell nodded, his mind racing with strategies. "They'll expect traditional tactics. If I can integrate some unpredictability with the ritual I'm designing, it might just throw Leon off so I can get a crucial hit in."

"Shit I just remembered, Leon's family isn't just notorious for using Fey in their rituals," Celia mused, tapping her chin. "They are especially known for their use of the Mirage Pixie, known for creating illusions that can disorient even the most focused opponent."

Kendell's eyes widened. "So, deception is their game. I'll need to anticipate not just physical attacks, but also mental manipulation."

"Yeah," Coli added, "Maybe you could use a counter-illusion ritual. Neutralize their advantage before it begins."

Kendell nodded thoughtfully. "That could work. If I create a ritual that clears illusion-based magic, it could give me a solid footing against them. Maybe, I could use the base of the ritual we've been working on from Professor Grent's class."

"Exactly," Celia said, "And if you can combine that with some kind of illusion technique, you might be able to anticipate and seal whatever fey magic they throw at you without them realizing it."

The trio then delved into the specifics of such a ritual, discussing potential symbols and incantations that could provide the necessary protection and insight against fey magic. Kendell sketched out a preliminary design, incorporating elements that resonated with clarity and truth to counteract the Mirage Pixie's deceptions.

"The key will be in preparation," Kendell concluded. "I need to know my own rituals inside out and predict what Leon might throw at me."

Coli chuckled, "Sounds like we've got our work cut out for us. But hey, if anyone can shake things up, it's us."

Celia's eyes sparkled with ambition at Coli's comment. "I've been thinking about getting sponsored too. I want to use this opportunity to showcase what I've learned in the Duelist Club and spread our groups name even more. Maybe Professor Varex would sponsor me?"

"That'd be amazing, Celia!" Coli encouraged, "Your skills in combat and body enhancement are top-notch. They'd be fools not to take notice. Especially with your mastery of not one but two body enhancement rituals! If you went to Professor Varex I'm sure he'd take you on as his student."

Kendell nodded, "And with both of us there we can help each other in any group or non-combat challenges, we would have a leg up on anyone who is competing individually."

Their plan taking shape, they finished their lunch with a renewed sense of purpose. "This is going to be a challenging fight for us Celia," Kendell said, "but with the right preparations, I think we have a shot at turning the tables on the Tilanaz legacy and establishing the start of our own."

The group then headed back to the library to research as much as possible on basic fey magic and any illusion rituals they could get their hands on to help Kendell prepare for the coming challenge.

The next day marked the beginning of their presentations in both Body Enhancement Rituals, as well as the History / Language of Rituals.

The class still had only a few students perform Form Demon 1 successfully, and those were Celia, Kendell, Riven, Corgin, Slalia, and Coli- who finally mastered the very beginning level with the help of both Celia and Kendell's guidance. 

"I expect a bit more from the rest of you, please make sure to get help from those of our class who were able to get the ritual working. They are model students in this class and can certainly help you get it started."

The trio glowed from the praise, finally their determination and studying were starting to get them recognition here at the academy. 

"With that being said, I am going to award two of them the opportunity to be my pupils for the upcoming tournament. The way this is going to work is they are going to duel with nothing but their body enhancement rituals! This will allow me to see which students deserve to call themselves my pupils as well as a demonstration for you all to see their technique up close."

The students looked around, and a wave of excitement coursed through all of them at the opportunity to watch another duel, and not just one but a whole tournament!

Coli and Kendell groaned at the thought, Celia was going to wipe the floor with them so they were anticipating the amount of pain they were destined to endure at her hands.

On the other hand, Celia's eyes lit up at the opportunity- this was exactly what she was just wishing for! She grinned at looked around at her opponents, she already knew she could beat Kendell and Coli since they spare together all the time- Raven was probably an easy win too since she had seen his technique up close during his battle with Kendell. However, she had seen nothing of Slalia or Corgin's fighting style and didn't even know they had gotten their rituals to work!

Professor Valex let the students murmur amongst themselves for a second before taking back control of his classroom, "Alright! Now this duel is set for the next class, I have rented out the arena you all use for combat practice so you should be familiar with the layout and this will give the duelists enough time to prepare."

He then let loose a rare grin, "Now, given this duel is to see who is destined to be my pupil I am going to do something a little different this class... I am going to demonstrate my personal Body Enhancement Ritual to see if any of you can pick it up before the duels."

'Whoa, shouldn't this be a close-guarded secret? Only reserved for his highest-level pupils to pass on his techniques?' Kendell thought, 'I wonder if it is even safe for us to attempt? And if it is, is it to bold to steal it for myself...'

"Pay attention! I will only do this once. Even if you are not in the duel this is a valuable opportunity for all of you so try your best to take note of how this works," The professor moved to the center of the room and dipped his hands in some ritual drawing powder, "I am using extra bright powder for this one so that the lines are crystal clear. The way this ritual works is by scaling your strength based on any buffs you might currently have placed on your body from rituals- so essentially it is a ritual that will enhance other enhancement rituals' effects. The only drawback is if you mess up your body will double over in pain as the strength will be reversed instead of buffed. As far as rituals go this is a relatively minor punishment for a ritual this powerful. The hardest part of this is simply keeping enough ritual energy surrounding you to fuel multiple rituals at once. "

Celia and Kendell looked at each other wide-eyed. The strength of this ritual was insane!

'I am going to take this no matter what, even if it outs my secret in some way there is no way I can pass up something so valuable, with this ritual I only need to enhance my Form Demon 1 and 2 masteries and I can save space on my body for other types of rituals.' Kendell couldn't help but grin at the opportunity before him, this system was truly the best tool a ritualist could ask for.

The professor then began his demonstration.

With a deep breath, he entered his mastered Form Demon 1 ritual state using the tattoos on his body, once again the golden horns emerged from his head and the golden glow surrounded his body. 

"Now students, watch carefully. This is the only chance you will have to obtain this ritual for the next seven years."

With that, Professor Varex began drawing a complex circle in the air. It looked like the basic form of the Body Enhancement Ritual circles they had seen in their How to Create a Ritual Circle class, but then he added two layers to it. The first one was a series of three triangles that interlinked and surrounded the edge of the circle. As he completed this the light coming from the circle began to glow so bright it lit up the entire classroom with golden light. Then he continued by drawing a simple pentagram around the entire structure and writing one word in an ancient language in the center of the entire circle.

The glow coming from the circle was intense as the class felt the same kind of gust of wind that followed an extreme surge of light that temporarily blinded all the students.

As they regained their sight, their professor was gone! And in his place stood a glowing golden demon.