Throughout the morning of the next day, Astrid removed her ring for practice. She decided that she was going to learn another magic type: Mirage's duel was today, but hers was tomorrow.
When she left the hotel, she went to the forest. This way, any abilities she casted wouldn't be found out.
'Let's see...I haven't learnt blood or soul. Or the grey one, whatever that is.'
She pulled out the book from her bag and looked up the page on blood magic. Reluctantly scanning through, Astrid understood the instructions. It required some of her blood.
'Ugh, I knew it was gonna be something like this.'
But, she was determined still.
She winced at the pain, as she slit her palm open. Blood gushed out, yet she was fumbling about, putting her knife back in her bag. Once done, Astrid prepared to cast the first ability.
'Close my eyes, and concentrate...'
She breathed in. She breathed out. Then, she opened her eyes, seeing her blood manifest into a sword.
'Not a sword, i'm not gonna learn how to use that. Too much of a pain..'
So she made the blood sword manifest into a spear. Her arm stretched back, and the spear was thrown. It flew pretty far, before hitting a tree and creating a deep hole. With the wave of Astrid's hand, the spear liquified, and whooshed back into her cut.
'I may be learning this too easily...surely there must be a drawback?' She shrugged, her eyes narrowing as she saw a chimera in the distance. A grin appeared, while a blood spear emerged again.
The chimera lay dead on the ground. Astrid was wrapping her wounded hand with a bandage. She picked up her book, to go put back in her backpack, but slipped and dropped it. The moment it hit the ground, a slip of paper fell out, catching her attention.
It read, "To the Misfit reading this: Awaken your abilities. For you, it is an ascension. Open your eyes, mind and soul. You will not be able to do so, until you master all 7 colours. Good luck, Misfit. ~Chaos."
Astrid stood there, gaping at the paper. "There's awakenings!?!" Suddenly, her watch beeped intensively. This reminded her: She needed to watch Mirage's battle. She also wanted to see Mesh's abilities. Gathering all her things and putting it away, she rewore her ring and took a turn to the academy.
***
Gasping and out of breath, she was approached by Mizuki. He waggled his notepad in her face.
{Come on! The match is about to start!}
They entered the academy's arena room. This place was specifically used for fighting, no matter the type. The audience were sat around the edge of the room. Mizuki and Astrid found their place and readied themselves for an amazing battle.
The examiner concluded and introduced the previous and next match.
"...That was an amazing performance from the both of them! But now, we move onto the next match: Nagi Flaremore versus Mirage Cetera!"
A loud applause was given as the two entered the arena.
"Are you ready to fight?" Mirage nodded, Mesh scoffed.
"3..."
Mirage pulled out her scythe.
"2..."
Mesh smiled, and cracked his knuckles.
"1..."
Both of them glared at each other.
"Begin!"
Mesh instantly charged in for the first attack. It appeared that he was a brawler, his fists were his weapons. He gave Mirage a quick barrage of punches. She prepared to dodge them, and underestimated the attack. The hits were harder than she thought. Mesh launched her into a wall. Standing up, Mirage wiped her face, and created a row of clones. They then all threw their scythes at him. Mesh jumped up to avoid them, but they seemed to chase him. This was Mirage's plan, to chase him into her. The duplicates enhanced themselves with agility so they could catch up to Mesh. With attacks coming from all angles, the boy grinned and closed his eyes in preparation for what was about to happen. All the scythes took a slash at him, followed by the Mirages piling on top of him.
"Mesh! Give up! Or I will be forced to do something worse!"
There was a silence, for a good while. Even Astrid expected Mirage to win. But that wasn't the case. A rumble shook the ground, with Mesh erupting from the heap of bodies. He still had the arrogant smirk on his face. This time, it was filled with bitter intent. He slammed his foot on the ground, sending vibrations through the floor.
"Something worse? I couldn't give a shit. Come at me, phantasmic freak."
The advantage that Mirage had, gone, in an instant. It was the fear of death. Mesh would kill her. She couldn't lift a finger. He moved to Mirage.
"Give up."
The only thing she could do was surrender. Well, or face the fate that Mesh will give to her.
"I...I..."
"I can't hear you. Speak up." Mesh's smile grew even grimmer. Mirage controlled her breathing.
"I...I want you to go to hell, bastard."
Mesh was like a ticking bomb. Harmless until it explodes. And Mesh exploded. What Astrid saw, was a red aura, one of danger. Mesh pounced on Mirage and pinned her down. Using his fists, he hit her nonstop, until she passed out. She didn't get a chance to block. The crowd went from a sense of uneasiness, to a roar of anger.
"Hey, that was too far!"
"What's your problem!"
"There was no need!"
Mesh got off of the brutally injured girl and turned to them. "You've got a problem?"
No one dared to speak.
The examiner came into the arena with a group of healers, as they carried Mirage away.
"That's it for this duel, everyone! The winner is Nagi Flaremore!"
Mesh gave the man a dirty look.
"I-I meant, the winner is Mesh! Please everyone stay calm and wait as we continue onto the next fight."
Astrid and Mizuki, however, left immediately, and rushed to the infirmary. They couldn't believe she lost.