Phoenix Flight

"Well, what do you think?" Whisper asked, casually leaning back in her chair. "Anyone caught your eye, Casey?"

Briefcase pushed his glasses up and stared down at the tablet he held, which displayed a live view of hundreds of hidden cameras and drones scattered throughout the exam area. It had various pages he could rapidly switch to, and each new page showed a different section of the battlefield where the exam was taking place, featuring multiple people all engaged in combat.

"I'm still just looking." The man said after a few moments. His eyes flickered across the various feeds, watching as several unconscious figures flashed with blue energy and disappeared, teleported away to a medical wing. With a slight frown, Briefcase noted a few figures that remained motionless, the overlay on the drones noting them as deceased, as well as listing which participant killed them. It wasn't technically against the rules, but Briefcase knew to closely watch anyone willing to kill in an exam.

Luckily, this was just a simulation, so the people who 'died' would only remain so until they were taken out of the test. This sort of magic could only be performed by the magic towers that were scattered around. The Knights had taken a few apart and used them to build the testing area. It was thanks to that they were able to hold these tests and push the people taking them to their limit.

Mermaid blew on her pipe and remained where she was, leaning against the wall. Bubbles flew into the air around her, all floating higher and higher. "This year does have a few potential recruits I have my eye on. I hope Crow makes the right choice. We have people from Rossum, Gallenth, and even Mordheim taking the test this year. How many of them do you think are spies and are going to get caught in the final test the king set up?"

"Who cares about a bunch of small fries?" Tori mumbled quietly. She had her own tablet out and stood in a corner of the room. Her knuckles were white, and she was glaring at it, seemingly not happy with what she was seeing. "None of these people matter. They're nothing more than fodder trash we're using to fill out our ranks for the brewing war with Mordheim. I can't believe my father let people from other nations take the test this year with everything that is going on."

"My Lady," Gray began. "Do try to remember that even you started off as an exam taker back in the day."

Tori just scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

There were five of them gathered in total, out of the seven Vice Captains. Once the exam-takers had all been teleported away and sent to the exam area, many Knights moved further into the stadium, where hidden rooms were scattered around. That was where Tori currently stood, along with her fellow Vice Captains.

The room was a comfortable office space, featuring a table, a couch, and various chairs, along with refrigerators full of food and a TV screen that rapidly flickered through the many cameras.

Hydra Storm didn't have a vice captain at the moment, and Paragon, the vice captain of the Oak Watchers Guild, was too busy keeping her captain on life support, so she was unable to hang out with the other five Captains. Finally, the current vice captain of Phoenix Flight hadn't been sent an invitation since no one wanted to be around any members of that guild. The bad luck Phoenix Flight members had could be transferred to anyone who was near them, which was why most of the kingdom avoided them like the plague, and no other Knight wanted to work with them.

Gray plopped his feet up on a table and peeked over Briefcase's shoulder to look at the tablet. "Have you taken a look at Ms. Yuan yet?"

"I have." Briefcase nodded and clicked a button. The camera shifted and changed, showing a lakeside view. Next to the lake was a woman with reddish-brown hair who had a smirk on her face. Around her were dozens of boring, low-level mages who were all failing to land any notable attacks as the girl easily dodged past them. She wasn't even bothering to fight back, simply letting the guys attacking her tire themselves out. "She's one of the ones most captains have their eye on, I think. Her stats are quite impressive, but I am worried that a Yuan is here. It feels a little odd that someone like her would come to our nation. Her family is the inventor of the Martial Cultivators group, after all."

The screen changed slightly, and it brought up Ken Yuan's grimoire. Rossum's people didn't use the same magic that Estiria did and had other names for things. Still, since she was in Estiria, her core was able to produce an Estiria grimoire, just like how Davi Hawker also had one, despite technically being from Mordheim.

The people of Rossum had magic and cores, but they referred to it with their unique name and used it in vastly different ways. Their cores could still be read like any others, though.

Mana: Grade B, Endurance: Grade B+, Strength: Grade S-, Efficiency: Grade A, Resistance: Grade C.

Traits: Flame Core: Grade A, Sprint: Grade A, Stamina: Grade C, Wall-Walking: Grade C, Water-Walking: Grade C, Hand-to-Hand: Grade A+, Way of the Sun Open Palm Martial Arts: Grade S, Bearer Of The Title Of Ken: Grade C-, Loved By Spirits: Grade S+, Sealing: Grade A-.

"These stats and grades are what I would expect from an Arcane Knight." Briefcase mused. "Someone like her being here almost has an unfair advantage with the amount of Grade As she has, not to mention the two S grades she has."

Tori shook her head. "No. She's nothing special. She might be a little strong for a rat, but she's still a rat. Until someone's stat reaches the looping point, they're trash."

"Expecting anyone without Haru's mana to have a 1 in their stat just isn't fair." Whisper frowned and rolled her eyes. "You have too high expectations." The girl pulled her phone out and flipped through several of the cameras. "Speaking of expectations, did anyone notice that we have another blood magic user this year?" She questioned as the image of a white-haired girl appeared on her phone screen. "Mary, Lot! Mana: Grade D, Endurance: Grade C, Strength: C+, Efficiency: Grade C, Resistance: Grade A+. Traits: Blood Core: Grade C+, Knife-Wielding: Grade C, Scythe-Wielding: Grade C, Poison Resistance: Grade A, Venom Resistance: Grade A, Hand-to-Hand: Grade D, Sprint: Grade D, Stamina: Grade D, Quick Regeneration (Physical): Grade B+, Determined: Grade A. She's got a lot of traits, but only a few of them are worth anything, and her stats are quite low. Combine that with her blood magic, and I don't see her getting far." Whisper giggled.

Gray frowned at the mocking way Whisper said that. This was noticed by the white-haired girl since he didn't have his bull armor on.

"Something wrong?" She asked.

"No." Gray shook his head, and he stood up. "I'm gonna go take a walk. Let me know if anyone else catches your eye."

Mermaid made a face as Gray slammed the door. "What's his issue?"

"No clue." Briefcase shrugged. "We got a few other notable people this year also, like Rowan Zyne and a man named Bruno Moore, who has crazy high stats. This year is shaping up nicely, I think."

"I wonder who will be my new guildmates." Mermaid mused and once again played with her pipe. "I hope it's someone interesting."

Outside of the room, Gray stalked through the hallways. They were long and wide, with various lights hanging above, and every few feet, there would be a new door that would lead into another private room. All sorts of Knights were using the spaces to hang out with their friends or make bets on the exam-takers this year.

Any other year, Gray imagined he'd be interested in doing the same, but this year was quite different. He stopped in front of a door all the way near the back and opened it. "Hey, I'm back. How are you holding up?" Silence met him as he entered the room. It was significantly smaller than the others and resembled an inn room more than anything else. It had a bed, a desk, and a bathroom, as well as a stand for a TV, which hung up. "You don't like to talk much, do you?"

Seated on the bed was a figure dressed in a long black cloak, who wore a red oni mask. They were sitting motionless and holding a remote. Their gaze was fixed on the TV, which had a live view from all the cameras. They had paused the shuffling, though, leaving the cameras on only one viewpoint.

Gray walked over and looked at the TV and found a familiar face within it. A man with raven black hair and a nasty scar stood in a cornfield, about to face down some girl in a maid outfit. "Ah, so that's what you're focused on, huh?" Gray mused. "You found him."

"Why am I not taking the test?" Sieg asked quietly. "I should be out there. I want to see him."

Gray folded his arms and shook his head. "That's not how it works. Magical Mutants usually don't become Knights, as people are often scared of them. When a Mutant shows promise and is strong like you and catches the eye of a Knight like me, they're invited to take a special test once the other exams are over, and if they pass this special test, then there is only one Guild that will take them. Of course, if you wish to leave, you can still do so. We're not going to force you to join Phoenix Flight against your will."

"No. I'll stay. If he becomes a Knight, so will I." Sieg said simply.

Gray nodded. "I understand. But do you really think he can do it?"

"Of course." Even with the mask on, it was obvious Sieg had a smile on his face. "After all. My little brother is almost as strong as I am."

***

'Ow, I can't believe she stabbed me with several needles. What the hell?' Davi remained silent as he reached up and grabbed the sharp metal bolts that stabbed out of his shoulder. 'Rude.'

"What's wrong?" Ashley taunted. "Got nothing to say?"

Davi looked back at Ashley and continued his silent act, though in his mind, he was constantly speaking, repeating ideas back to himself. 'She's far away, and I don't have a means to close the gap. I could try to move toward her, but she likely saw my speed when I knocked out the other guy, and she's confident from where she stands. That likely means she can make distance if she needs to. She threw her attack at me without mana to catch me off guard, so she's not stupid either. I don't know how many needles she has or what her magic type is. She doesn't know mine either, but she likely guessed that I don't have a weapon since I tried to steal that one guy's sword. These walls will also make it hard for me to get away, since any direction I move in, the corn will shift with me, giving my position away. Not to mention, I don't know what's waiting for me outside of this or if there are any other people waiting for me. She was with at least two others, so they'll likely try to back her up if they show up, and if they don't know where she is now, they're probably going to be looking for her, so I should assume that I'm about to be jumped. Alright. I got it. I'll see how close I can get before she tries something and go from there.'

Ashley frowned when she saw that Davi didn't budge an inch. He just stood there with his blank look on his face. "If you're going to make it easy for me, then be my guest!" She held three needles in each hand. Her right arm suddenly lit up as she poured mana into it, and she launched the needles out as hard as she could. Now that she was using mana to boost her strength, they blasted out like a bullet going off, and as they went flying, she also threw out the other ones in her hand, but didn't use mana to boost them. She made sure they lagged behind the first three, hiding behind them in a blind spot where Davi couldn't see.

Her plan worked perfectly. Davi put mana into his legs and boosted them, allowing him to dodge to the side. The first three needles blasted back at him, and he was about to launch himself toward her, but before he could, the other three needles stabbed into his stomach, piercing past his shirt and spilling more of his blood. The sudden pain caused him to overstep and mess up his running start, which slowed him down just enough for Ashley to draw six more needles.

This time mana covered both her arms, and she launched the six needles out at the same time, sending them all toward Davi, who was rapidly approaching. Due to how close he got and how fast the needles were moving, he no longer had the ability to dodge them. The needles were also spread out, so he had to cover his entire body in mana, which caused his skin to glow with a faint blue light.

By coating a body in mana, it could be boosted and strengthened beyond normal human limits. If only one part of the body were covered in mana, it would be significantly increased, but if a person covered their entire body in mana, all of them would be boosted, but to a much smaller degree. Since his whole body was now bathed in his mana, Davi was able to increase his defense; however, it wasn't to the same degree it would have been if he focused it on one area, so when the needles hit him, they tore into his flesh, leaving him with six more wounds. This time, Davi was ready for the pain, and he didn't slow down.

He finally reached Ashley, who didn't have time to grab any more of her needles. She had remained standing and didn't try to dodge or run. Instead, she used her first spell.

"Row Dust Barrier!"

A wave of grayish dust erupted out of the ground. Dirt and ashy-looking flakes flowed in the air, forming into a large circular shield that sprang up just in time to block Davi's punch. The barrier cracked and shook, and Davi said a spell of his own, but Ashley wasn't able to hear it from how loud her shield creaked. Now that the construct was formed, she sent a pulse of magic through it and altered it, causing jagged spikes to stab out where Davi was in order to pin him down or outright kill him. Then she jumped to the side and drew more of her needles, ready to throw them out at Davi, but all she found was empty air. He wasn't impaled on her dust spikes.

Ashley barely had time to process that fact before her entire shadow jutted upward, and Davi came blasting out of it and rammed his fist directly into her stomach, pouring all of his mana into his arm. The pain nearly caused Ashley to vomit, but it was nothing compared to the intense stabbing sensation. She was launched into the air and crashed back to the ground. As she hit the ground, she groaned and stared down at her stomach in horror, which now had several of the needles poking out of it.

Davi had taken them and held them between his fingers when he stabbed her, impaling her with her own weapon.

"Y-You bastard." She hissed out. "Shadow magic? You can teleport through people's shadows?"

"Sure." Davi held his hand up, gripping three more of the long needles between his fingers. He punched the air a bit and made a stabbing motion. "Let's go with what you said." He, of course, didn't have such an ability. He could open his vault and go into it and then leave his vault, but that was it. The way he stepped through Ashley's shadow was the same way he had lifted himself through Gray's. When two shadows came together, the bigger one would devour the smaller one, and his shadow was infinite in size; therefore, any shadow that came in contact with his was part of his shadow. His shadow had touched the shadow of the dust barrier she formed, which in turn touched her own shadow, thus allowing him to step through hers. Now that her shadow was no longer touching his, it meant he couldn't do that trick again unless he got close to her. "The test said I had to knock you out, so don't take this personally, okay?"

Ashley reached into her uniform to grab more needles, but before she could, Davi casually threw the needles he held and forced mana into his wrist. They impaled Ashley's arms, pinning them to her chest and stopping her from grabbing anything. "Row Dust Blades!" In a panic, she screamed out a spell, summoning up more dirt and dust.

The dust swirled together in the air and formed jagged blades that Davi would have loved to use as his weapons, but they were sadly missing the handles. The blades spun and whirled through the air as they launched themselves at Davi, who jumped to the side in order to avoid them. His earlier strike had sent Ashley flying back, and now that she had the distance, she wasn't going to let him get close again.

"Row Dust Blades! Row Dust Blades! Row Dust Blades!" Her arms were still pinned to her chest, the needles going all the way through her wrists, her clothes, and into the flesh underneath. She could have attempted to pull her arms free, but the pain was too great for her to muster, so instead she focused on just spamming her spell over and over again. "Row Dust Blade!" Each cast summoned three of her dirt swords, and with how fast they fired out, Davi was forced to stay back constantly and couldn't approach her without risk of being impaled. Her swords were loaded with enough mana to rip through him, and she could speak the incantation faster than he could run.

Davi dodged and weaved through the literal barrage of swords. They were being launched much faster than the needles, and if he got any closer, he'd have no time to dodge. Even from where he was, he kept getting nicked by the blades due to their sheer speed.

'Would be real handy to have a gun right about now. Could just shoot her or something.' He thought bitterly. 'I could put my armor on, but if everyone is watching, then that means they'll all see me in my Ebony swag, and I don't think that would end well for me. That's okay, though. I don't need it. If they want a show, I'll give them a show.'

Davi dodged once more, and he reached for one of the ears of corn.

"Row Dust—" Ashley opened her mouth to speak, and Davi struck, throwing his arm forward and forcing all his mana into it. The ear of corn launched out like a spear and rammed itself directly into Ashley's mouth, whose eyes went wide with horror. She choked on the object and gasped. Several of her teeth broke from the force of the strike, and tears streamed down her face. She had no choice.

Pain exploded through her as she ripped her arms up, yanking them across the nails. The white of her maid's outfit was stained red, but she managed to grab the corn that was impaled in her mouth and ripped it, along with several teeth, out; however, it was too late.

Davi slammed his fist down and rammed it directly into Ashley's face, shattering her nose and knocking her out in one punch. "Davi wins." He announced and posed for the camera. "Shit, I hope I didn't accidently kill her."

Back in the room with the vice captains, Briefcase wrinkled his nose. "What sort of bastard hits a woman that hard?"

"Did he use corn as a weapon?" Mermaid snorted.

Whisper scratched her chin. "Something tells me this guy is a bit nuts. He totally let himself get stabbed, and he looks a bit scary. I don't think he'll be a good Knight. What do you think, Lancey?" Whisper looked to Tori, and her smile faded when she saw Tori's expression.

Tori's face had turned a deep red, and the blonde woman almost looked to be drooling. "He's perfect. Just a bit more."

Whisper looked away, deciding not to ask why Tori looked so aroused. "Has anyone checked his stats?" She asked.

Briefcase shook his head. "I tried looking into his file, but it kept coming up blank. He isn't from our kingdom and doesn't have any notable records. It's like he just appeared out of thin air. My guess is he's from outside the Kingdom and wandered in. A total nobody, like a street rat or something. Would you like me to pull his stats up?"

"Nah." Whisper shook her head. "No point. If he doesn't have a serious record, it won't matter what his stats are. Total nobodies can't become Knights. Once a street rat, always a street rat."

"He's not a rat." Tori's words caused Whisper to look back over to the woman, an action Whisper deeply regretted since Tori was practically panting now. "He's a bird."

Mermaid looked deeply uncomfortable and shifted away from Tori. "Can we go view someone else?"

Back over in the cornfield, Davi rubbed at his wounds, which were still bleeding. He got the notification that he now had two points, but he didn't know if that was good or not. He stood over Ashley and looked around the field, which was now mostly destroyed and torn apart due to all the blades the mage had launched at him.

He could see more of the battlefield he had been placed in, and his scar ached, allowing him to sense dozens of mages who were all engaged in battle. He could even hear shouting and explosions. It was also thanks to his intuition that he was able to sense someone was watching him. Someone full of bloodlust who wasn't holding their mana back.

"You! You hurt her! How dare you hurt her!" A voice screamed out. Davi made a face, and he found Rowan standing before him. The man had his hand on his sword, and his eyes were red and bloodshot as he stared at the unconscious Ashley, who rested at Davi's feet. "You hurt what was mine!"

"Oh." Davi's eyes lit up as he saw Rowan draw his sword. "You're the sword guy, nice. If I beat you, am I allowed to take your weapon, or is that illegal in the test? It didn't say anything about it, so—"

Rowan screamed and launched himself forward with shocking speed, catching Davi off guard. He swung his sword out with both hands, his body being boosted due to the enchantment that fueled his blade.

"Row Shadow Vault." Davi opened his vault and grabbed something just in time, and he raised it.

Rowan's sword came down, but to the nobleman's shock, something blocked it. It wasn't a sword or even a weapon that Davi held, though.

It was a fishing pole. One filled with so much mana that it was able to withstand the strike.

"A fishing rod? Are you mocking me!" Rowan demanded.

"Yes," Davi said flatly. "I'm about to show you what it means to have an S-grade fishing skill."