[Common Region] Kikka

[Bloodedge]

"Heh! That's the spirit!" Leonis said in response to Hikage showing her resolve. He may have pointed out the very real chance of most Captains not being keen on recruiting someone like this girl, but he did believe it would be possible for her to make it as a Magic Knight in this year's entrance exam. Even if that weren't the case, though, Leonis was sure he and Hikage would see the proper conclusion of their fight, one way or another. "Keep getting stronger. I'll do the same, and we'll push each other to the limits later. Ciao, Hikage," he said while walking past the green-haired girl, offering his farewell in the form of a passing shoulder pat.

Several more fights would ensue. The more these battles took place, the more one particular participant thought he was all but out of luck. The cloaked figure with the four-leaf clover grimoire had gone without a challenger since the beginning of this exam segment, and now here he was, still just wondering if he would find an opponent before it was discovered that he'd come here against the wishes of those who looked after him.

[Apollymi]

Whether Hikage thought it possible or not, she would definitely be joining the Magic Knights. The last words that Hikage would speak would be warm ones as she was stunned by this young man's kindness, "Hai, see ya' Leonis." Unbeknownst to most, she didn't have a problem with the idea that she might not immediately be everyone's cup of tea, but if none wanted her she was sure they'd eventually change their minds. The golden eyes of a certain Captain were shining though. 'Sugoi! She could be so good... I definitely want her,' thought the leader of the Blue Rose. In fact, she was looking exactly for a girl this rough to make the shining gem of her own group. She'd appreciate a girl like her, who knew how to get her hands dirty. Irrespective there were more fights to watch and watch she would. Another rather interesting one was about to happen.

A girl with glasses soon approached the cloaked young man. It seemed she'd drawn short lots as another girl with blue hair had mentioned to her wanting to fight the lad she'd spoken to outside. A bit of a pushover she'd let the girl have her way in this and hadn't interrupted. "Ano... would you mind if we fought each other?" she asked seeming to not know what else to say. She was a slim girl wearing a mint green overcoat with wire framed glasses over purple eyes. Sleek black hair was pulled back in a tight bun and she seemed very by the book, even so she didn't mind the idea of facing someone pretty quickly. She didn't have much by way off offensive magic, but if she could catch someone off-guard, she might be able to manage something.

[Bloodedge]

After dozens of battles had taken place for the exam, the cloaked young man finally encountered someone willing to face off against him. Until this very moment, either others had been fearful of the alleged four-leave clover he possessed on his grimoire, or they had found some other reason to desire a fight against someone else entirely. Perhaps it had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with their individual preferences. Whatever the case, here before him now stood the glasses-wearing girl who had been a couple of places ahead of him in registration. "Ah... of course! I've been hoping for a challenger this whole time. I... figured I would end up being last."

[Apollymi]

A small smile came to this young girl's face as she also nodded. "Iie, I know how you feel. I was a bit scared after a couple of those... I had to work up my nerve. Kirsa Chambers, yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" she said offering the lad a bow she couldn't help her nature led her to be polite and formal. Given the circumstances that they would be battling she saw no reason that they couldn't be cordial. Even the green haired animal girl had managed it, in her second fight at least. Though the girl had a plan to use her magic as quickly as possible in this demonstration she couldn't help but be a bit wary of it over all.

All the while after this cloaked young man approached one of the female Captains, the one sitting far to the left had straightened up her posture just a bit. She had on a large white witches hat with several gemstones in it and her face seemed passively frozen in a state of melancholy. Unlike many of the other Captains, who'd managed to show approval, speak, or even tease each other, the entirety of this proceeding she'd only managed to widen her eyes once and that was at the brutal take down of a boy who thought he was strong. Otherwise she hadn't shown anything even resembling care, but that there was something about the mysterious boy in the cloak which caught her attention and she wasn't sure why that was yet.

[Bloodedge]

A few steps led out into an open space that would become the stage for this next battle. The cloaked lad had been shown kindness the likes of which he hadn't seen this entire day at this venue. This young woman even offered her name to him prior to their fight. "... Asher. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu, Kirsa-chan." Since his battle was upon him, the cloaked male named Asher unveiled his golden grimoire. Though he opened it, he did not cast any of its spells just yet. Still, the grimoire glowed brightly, returning the visual that was Asher's rainbow-like hair accents beneath his hood.

[Apollymi]

It seemed this young man was nice enough to introduce himself as well. "Asher-kun, I'm glad we could help each other out here..." she said as she finally managed to step out into the arena with the lad. She felt the need to give him a bit of warning, because her own skill set was presently limited, but it had a few choice uses that she thought she could get by with. "Gomen, I don't think this will last very long," the girl said rubbing the back of her head just a little. "That isn't arrogance or anything, I just... have a limited skill set," she mentioned, only to have her book floating before her. It had a three leaf clover on the front and glowed a shade close to a magical mint green. She looked at the boy's shining hair and smiled. "Sugoi! I never thought I'd get to see it up close," she mentioned in a moment of admiration. "Verre Epée," the girl said holding her hands in the air, this cast a spell which created several glass swords which rose up from the ground aiming to impale and surround this young man in a single go. This was the only real spell she had to attack with, but she maintained a supreme bit of mana control, which allowed a rather dense use of this magic compared to many others. It was about all she could do, and it wasn't about impatience but she thought it a bad idea to dawdle too much with a user of magic she imagined was truly advanced.

[Bloodedge]

"Iie. I know what you mean; I don't have a lot of options, either..." Asher concurred. It seemed both parties were of the opinion this would be a short-lived battle, albeit likely for different reasons entirely. Asher was more than ready for what was to come, but he was slightly taken aback when Kirsa mentioned getting to see something up close. "My grimoire?" he wondered aloud. He obviously expected this to be the case, since the grimoire he wore was something many obsessed over after discovering it.

The first spell was cast by Kirsa. Her glass magic erupted from the earth itself with speed and precision leagues above what was possible for many of Kirsa's peers as seen today. In fact, most would - and did - consider this one an automatic acceptance to more than one Magic Knight Squad based on this single spell alone. Asher was not felled by this, though. In fact, by the time spectators witnessed the eruption of glass blades from the ground, Asher had already changed location. He hadn't teleported or anything of the sort, but he had somehow moved at the speed of light itself to stand atop this collection of blades while holding out his own grimoire. If one were to discern whether he'd moved or vanished, perhaps the answer could be drawn upon seeing that his hood was now down, revealing his full visage to the crowd at large. "Hikari Mahou: Danzai no Kouken!" The first spell Asher's grimoire offered him produced over a dozen shards of light in the area around him. Each blade/spear-like shard had four smaller lines crossing it along its length. Quickly, the shards traveled through the air en route to Kirsa. One could note that none of these were aimed at any location that could be considered vital. No, instead it seemed Asher intended only to restrain Kirsa by pinning her every extremity to the ground below and behind her.

[Apollymi]

As they moved on in the conversation, Kirsa found the lad to be strangely taken aback by her stunned admiration of his Grimoire. "Hai, you'll have to get used to it pretty soon. Something like that is rare, it will draw attention to you," the girl mentioned seeming to think it odd he wouldn't know this already. But their conversation would likely be as short-lived as her attack. It seemed the lad was not to be caught by any of the magic she'd put forth. The glass swords converged the way she thought they would, but none of them would actually make contact with the lad. She hadn't seen him move, but he had done it, and she could now see his face. 'So fast!' she thought but there was no time to defend. The words he spoke caused several blades of light to converge upon her, and beyond this she was soon pinned to the ground where she'd previously been standing her extremities pinned. 'Crap!' there was nothing she could do or say to stop this from happening so it simply was. 'Oh well, I knew it would be over fast, I just didn't expect to get completely out-classed...' the girl thought. "Asher-kun, I surrender... you're really impressive."

Surprisingly enough there was an extreme level of shock when this happened. Other potential magic knights found this to be an extraordinary case, even after witnessing the first brutal beating of the day and a couple of the other matches to boot. There was the matter of a certain woman who'd be stoic in her visage who was now at the edge of her seat. Whether she'd seen him move or not wasn't important, she could now see the lad's face and her eyes went wide. "Asher," she murmured. Many of the Captains would likely want this lad based on what he could grow to be, but this young woman, recognized him, and wanted him for different reasons entirely. Mainly, she'd been looking for him for some reason or anything and this would be the first time she'd set eyes on him in a very long time. Even so, she recognized his eyes, and the rainbow coloration of the ends of his hair. Even as a fully grown man, she saw in his deep purple eyes the infant she'd known him as. Her normally stern expression broke out into a smile of pure elated joy, for reasons completely unknown to her peers.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai. I figured as much, but it didn't seem like that's what you were talking about for a second," he said. Regardless of what was meant, or what Asher initially thought was meant by the young woman's statement, his first offensive spell found its target and restrained Kirsa in a way that left her offering forfeit. Asher had already taken up one of the light shards to wield as a melee weapon if needed, but there was no point in the end. As such, he allowed his spell to fade while hopping down and offering Kirsa a hand up. "Arigatou."

Even with all the spectacles previously seen, there were still battles to be witnessed. The final battle of great merit would take place late in the event indeed. One of its participants was the muscular young man with spiky black hair, who many became acquainted with - for better or for worse - during registration. "Yare yare! There's too much hype to live up to now! Should've gone earlier..."

[Apollymi]

Kirsa managed to look a tad abashed at the confusion surrounding what she may or may not have meant by her earlier comment. In truth her admiration could have been easily applied to the lad's rather stunning hair. Beyond this though there was the mark of his kindness which came with an extension of the lad's hand to her after he released her, accepting her surrender. Her own magic faded as her grimoire closed, she sat up in this moment and took the hand outstretched to her offering the lad a smile. "Iie, no need to thank me," she said seeming to mean this more than most. Their battle concluded she went off to the sidelines to watch what was left of these battles to take place.

And watch they did, all the way until a certain very muscular lad, came onto the scene. It seemed he'd ended up going last, even though someone had stated they wanted to fight him earlier. Of course, his words would be heard by the opponent who chose him, a blue haired girl dressed in frilly skirts white in color and a dark blue vest like top. Her eyes were wide and also a deep shade of blue and her tone would be that of mild amusement. "Iie, Gray you save the best for last..." she mentioned as she held out her hand not bothering to bring out her Grimoire just yet. She held out her hand with in front of her and pointed it at Gray. "Let's test the waters a bit, hm?" she asked the lad before a collection of water in the form of a large bullet gathered before her hand flying off aimed at this young man's fore, to splash him with water and send him reeling from the potential concussive blast.

[Bloodedge]

Gray's opponent had an opinion that differed from Gray's. It was her belief that he'd saved the best for last, which was yet to be seen. He could at least hold out hope that there was some truth in this, but not too much. Her offer to test the proverbial waters was joined by the grand unveiling of her magic affinity, which was - interestingly enough - water. "Was that on purpose?" he asked hastily to address the obvious pun. In the face of her opening attack, Gray held out both of his arms and used his own magic to release a blast of ice into the water bullet. This effort alone caused the water to freeze, and a second blast from Gray shattered itself and the frozen bullet. When next seen behind the diamond dust, Gray would be without even the jacket he previously wore, and he would also be wielding his grimoire with his left hand. "Kouri Mahou: Tengeki Hyouga!" he announced while swinging his right arm toward his opponent. The ground between himself and the blue-haired girl produced a mass of ice then and there, angling itself up into an icicle with its tip aimed at the girl's torso. While pointed, the tip of this icicle seemed more capable of causing blunt damage than piercing.

[Apollymi]

The young woman with the blue hair had the grace to look a bit abashed a red tint coming to her face as her pun was addressed. "In this case is it better or worse if it was on purpose?" she asked. Strangely enough, she was somewhat known for making a bunch of puns, but this was almost always an accidental occurrence. That being said, she didn't know if the lad would find this more or less appealing and as such aimed to find out, rather than answering directly if she'd done it on purpose. Still the young man had a rather hasty answer for her water ball, which came in the form of a freezing bit of air and then the shattering of it, turning it into diamond dust by the time the lad was done with it. "Sugoi!" she chimed, but the reasoning for this could be many things, not the least of which was the now exposed body of the muscular lad. "Do you always strip when you start using magic?" she asked, wondering if she should feel special or think strangely of the lad for his clothing abandonment. Beyond this his magic proper was unveiled with the use of his Grimoire after which he created an iceberg between them. She was not fast by any means, and as such found herself bluntly assaulted about the stomach. Even so, while bent over this particular iceberg she used her own glowing blue book. "Mizu Mahō: Akua Jaberin..." created in her hand a long javelin which she immediately let fly in the young man's direction aiming it at his left shoulder.

[Bloodedge]

"Uhh... I dunno. I'm no pun expert," Gray said as his icicle struck its target. To the question of whether he always stripped when using magic, Gray had no immediate answer. In fact, one could say he had no prior knowledge of this alleged stripping before it was mentioned. Just before he could even formulate a response for what was asked of him, or even recover from his most recent use of magic, his opponent staged an offensive which traveled back down the length of his icicle to pierce his left shoulder. "Ack! Kuso!" he exclaimed. Frankly, he hadn't expected a quick retaliation at all, and had actually been hoping to avoid one. Fluidity in offense was certainly not one of his strong suits, and that extended to his ability to shift between offense and defense as well. Taking a step back from where he was struck, Gray reached up with his right hand to grab the water javelin and freeze it, both removing any future threat it presented, and sealing his wound. "Kouri Sousei Mahou: Kourudo Ekusukaribaa!" Since his enemy in this battle had this obvious edge against him, Gray decided to make use of the physical abilities he'd given himself because of how his magic manifested. His grimoire glowed brightly as two long swords of ice formed in his hands, both presenting the sharpness and durability of a steel weapon while also boasting the ability to trail large amounts of ice in their wake. A freezing mist was around Gray during the activation of this spell, and as it began to clear, one could note that he had been reduced to wearing a pair of heart-patterned boxers.

[Apollymi]

The response to her bit about whether or not pun making was good, there was nothing but another one to fall out of the girl's face. Again, not necessarily on purpose, but this was simply how she spoke. "Well, I'll go with the flow then... and see how it turns out," she said in all seriousness. There wasn't any response to her question about his stripping, but she did indeed make contact with her most recent attack, giving her a chance to recover and remove herself from the iceberg she was upon. "Sugoi! It's going to be difficult with you freezing everything I do to you..." she commented absently. Of course, soon after he'd taken care of himself, she found him using yet another spell, this one led to the creation of a couple of swords, which was rather interesting, aside from the very obvious secondary effect. Her face turned a bright shade of red and she tried not to look directly at the lad now in nothing but his boxers. "Um, seriously... why are you in your underwear?" she asked doing her hardest not to allow her gaze to wander.

[Bloodedge]

A deep exhale followed the creation of two ice swords, and Gray still didn't seem conscious of the fact that he'd discarded even more clothing. A second reference would not be missed. He couldn't even think for a moment that this pun was unintended. "Well it's gonna be difficult if you keep bouncing back from my attacks. Let's go then," he said. No further time was wasted before Gray dashed forward, traversing the icicle of his own creation en route to the blue-haired girl. A counterclockwise spin occurred once he was in range, first resulting in a horizontal slash using his injured left arm, then a stronger slash aimed from his enemy's left shoulder to right hip using his undamaged arm. Still, he didn't seem to care at all about his state of undress.