Affinity:Chaos

Grey stood calmly on the platform and stared at his opponent, he couldn't help but sigh with disappointment. His opponent was a girl from the Wind Hall, Grey had seen her some of the times he had attended classes there. Although they weren't friends, they were still acquainted.

She was in the Seventh stage of the Arcane Plane, but there was no way she was an opponent for Grey. Although he was disappointed, he didn't show it out, so it wouldn't feel like he was looking down on her.

"Hello," She said towards Grey.

"Hello," Grey waved at her with a smile.

"Begin," The instructor said after both fighters got on the platform.

"Please go easy on me," The girl said gently before using a movement technique to try to attack Grey with the element of surprise.

When she appeared beside Grey and sent out an attack, Grey suddenly disappeared from where he stood and appeared on the other side of the platform. He looked at his opponent calmly with a smile still plastered on his face.

The girl sent another attack towards Grey, but just like before, Grey was able to easily evade all the attacks. The girl went on attacking with Grey easily dodging them.

"You should just give up," Grey said with a sigh. He had already gotten a lot of chances to end the battle, but he didn't want her to feel bad if the battle ended too quickly.

The girl looked at him and bit her lower lips, from this little exchange, she knew she wasn't an opponent for Grey. But she didn't want to give up without even trying harder.

"No" She shook her head stubbornly.

"Okay," Grey answered before disappearing from her view once again. There was no need to extend the fight any longer, he had already allowed her to show some of her abilities. The sooner he ends this, the quicker he could start training for today.

Earth spikes suddenly came out of the ground, the girl immediately jumped upwards in a bid to dodge the attack. While she was still airborne, Grey appeared behind her and struck her on the neck. Since she was a student from the Academy, he didn't want to hurt her.

She was surprised by the sudden appearance of Grey behind her, before she could think of a way to maneuver, she suddenly blacked out.

Grey caught the unconscious girl so she wouldn't hurt herself before handing her over to the instructor. The instructor nodded when he saw Grey's conduct, it was clean and effective. He could tell Grey was not like most of the students from how he fought, Grey must have engaged in different life and death battles.

After handing her to the instructor, Grey walked out of the platform, it was like he didn't even take part in the fight that just took place. Only the students at the Eighth stage could excite him a little, but he wasn't sure they could make him go all out. Only those at the Ninth stage were the ones he regarded as his true opponents.

If not for wanting to take part in the competition, he would have just focused on his training and not bother himself with all this.

"All the students who advanced should come to the platform" The instructor called out. Since there was still time, the students would receive their new numbers today, so they could know the order of fighting tomorrow.

All fifty-four students stood on the platform. There were fifty-three battles during the first round, half of the students advanced while the other half were eliminated. Klaus got an automatic advancement, that made them fifty-four students in total who made it to the second round.

"Since the number of students tally, all students would fight in this round" The instructor explained before bringing out a big box which was filled with plaques.

The students already knew they would all battle after they did the calculations.

"Come forward and pick a plaque," The instructor said.

The numbers were placed randomly, so there was no way the students could choose who they wanted to fight with.

The first person went over to pick a plaque, the others followed in an orderly manner. Soon all the plaques had been taken.

"Just like the first round, the student with plaque number one would battle number fifty-four and so on. There would be twenty battles each day just like the last round also" The instructor said before dismissing the students.

"What number did you get" Klaus curiously.

"I'm forty-three," said Grey.

"I'm fourteen," said Reynolds

"I'm six, luckily you guys won't have to face me," Klaus said with a smile.

After leaving the arena, Grey headed over to the valley. He was looking forward to his training today since Chris told him he could start learning inscription today. The thought of learning inscription excited him. Even though it was slower, its attack power was higher.

Besides, as he continues training in it, the time it would take would decrease, till it will become almost instantaneous.

When he got to the valley, he went to prepare the meal they would all eat. He joins Chris most of the time when he was eating, even Brown has grown to like the food Grey cooked. So she was always excited whenever he came.

Over the period Grey had been coming, he had formed a close relationship with Brown. Chris always eats before he starts teaching Grey.

"How was your battle today?" Chris asked after they were done eating.

"It was disappointing" Grey shook his head.

"Why did you say that?" Chris asked curiously.

"Although my opponent is not weak, she's not really my match," Grey told Chris what happened.

"You shouldn't have an equal in the same stage, I don't think those in the Eighth stage can also pose a threat to you. Your real opponents are those in the Ninth stage" Chris said.

Grey nodded. He also felt that way.

"But there are some people in the Eighth stage who are terrifying, they are very rare though" Chris added.

"I know," said Grey. If he broke through to the Eighth stage, he would also be regarded as one of those terrifying ones, if not even stronger.

"Good, now to the business of today. I would teach you the basics of inscribing. Since you already have a good foundation in arrays, it shouldn't really be too hard for you to do" Chris went on to teach Grey how to inscribe.

It was just like Chris said, with his good knowledge of arrays, it didn't take long for him to get the hang of it. After multiple examples from Chris, Grey's knowledge of it increased more.

"It's just like making an array, only quicker, and it's done on the air," Grey said.

"Yes. Now that you know the basics, with your knowledge of arrays, you shouldn't have a problem with it" Chris went back to his chair. Since he had already shown Grey what to do, all he had to do was watch Grey practice and correct him if he makes any mistakes.

Grey followed Chris' instructions and tried inscribing, but failed. It was within his expectations as he didn't think he would be able to make it immediately. He continued with his practice, although he was failing, from his failure he was able to get more experience with inscribing.

After staying till sunset, Grey headed home. He was unable to inscribe, but he had made some progress nonetheless. He did his usual training after getting home before going to bed. Since he would be battling tomorrow, he wanted to be in his best condition. Hopefully, he gets a worthy opponent.

The next morning, they all gathered at Grey's place before heading towards the arena. When they got to the arena, just like before students were already there to cheer on the fighters.

After the instructors arrived, they immediately called for the students to start the second round.

The first set of battles began heatedly. In one of the platforms, two students at the Eighth stage of the Arcane Plane were battling. It was totally unexpected since the number of students in the Eighth stage was few.

Due to how random each of the fights is, students in the Eighth stage also battled during the first round. Now in the second round, they were also battling. The students in the Eighth stage who were eliminated would be unlucky since there are students they were stronger than.

But this had nothing to do with the Academy, although they wanted to take their best students there, they still couldn't act unfairly. Besides, without competent abilities, it would be impossible to advance.

The battle was very tight, but just like all battles in a tournament, there was a winner. The student from the Earth Hall was able to beat the one from the Fire Hall.

After the first round of battles, the second round began. Klaus would take part in the second round of the battle, it was the first time he was going to fight, and he couldn't help but be excited.

His opponent was from the Water Hall just like him but was one stage higher than him.

Among the group, Klaus was the one who is the most playful, but they all knew deep down, he was just as hardworking as they were. Klaus could also battle across stages, so the result of the battle was unknown.

After a long fight, Klaus was able to clinch victory. He was nearly defeated a couple of times, but he managed to pull through and win.

It was Grey's turn the next set, and just like the last time, he got someone who was at the Seventh stage. The only difference was his opponent was a boy from the Water Hall.

'How disappointing' Grey sighed in his heart as he looked at his opponent.

He didn't waste his time and ended the battle quickly since he had to go practice.