When looking at the boy's golden hair and the shining trident in his hand, Leox's first thought was that he resembled an angel. If not for his overview clearly stating that he was of the first awakening stage, it wouldn't have been foolish to assume he was much stronger.

  The older student who had previously taunted him had wiped any sign of hesitation from his face and stepped forward. The crowd had naturally created a circle around the two students, as though they were about to watch an arena duel.

  Suddenly, the oldest student raised his arm above his head. The winds started to blow around his fists fiercely, spiralling and coiling around the length of his forearm, before viciously expanding and taking on a physical, translucent shape. It was a ginormous shield, seemingly made from wind.

  The older student smiled as he listened to the students around him gawk at the sight of his skill. Yet, he wasn't finished. With a roar, he thrust his shield into the air, and this time, flames flickered into existence. It mingled with the winds, creating sparks of small lightning. The shield was no longer made from wind or fire but rather from lightning that sparked continuously.

  Leox was completely taken aback. Had the boy mixed two skills together? He wondered whether this was some possibility for those who had reached the second stage of their awakening. From what he could gather, the boy had used wind to create a giant shield, before using flames to heat the winds, causing a strange spark effect.

  Just as he was about to make a prediction about the skills name, hoping it would show up on the boys' interview, it was explained.

  "That's Drake's Shockshield." He heard a student in the crowd whisper to another. "Do you know how many times he's wiped the floor with me in training with that skill? It doesn't just defend, but attacks as well."

  Leox looked at the boy with the shield and focused on his Overview.

  ---

  [Drake]

  [Awakening Stage: Second Stage]

  [Classes:]

  Fire Mage

  Wind Mage

  [Class Skills:]

  Wind Shield (Wind Mage Skill)

  Blaze (Fire Mage Skill)

  Shockshield (Wind Mage/Fire Mage Fusion Skill)

  ---

  It was the first time that he had ever seen someone's overview display a fusion skill. Immediately, he found himself becoming enamoured by the concept. He also had both the wind and the fire mage classes, so wouldn't such a fusion be possible for him in the future too?

  Drake slammed his shield into the grass and left it there, sending a shockwave of energy across the crowd. Afterwards, he leaned against the 'weapon' and glared at the younger boy facing him.

  "What's your name, golden boy? I should at least know who you are before crushing you."

  "Astra." The boy with the trident responded calmly. "Are you sure that you want to fight?"

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  Before the words could even leave his mouth, Drake had lifted his Shockshield out of the dirt and started charging towards Astra. He held the shield out in front of him, almost hiding his entire body behind it as though it were a wall. It was a defensive, offensive confrontation with no frontal openings.

  Leox focused on Astra, who seemed unfazed by the approach. An immense amount of anticipation surged through him as Astra's fists tightened around the length of the golden trident. What was he going to do? What was about to happen?

  Before anyone could find out, a voice cut through the field.

  "Enough!"

  The noise died down, and they froze as they turned their heads towards the voice. It sounded powerful, and loud enough to strike fear into the hearts of everyone around them. For a moment, they suspected that it was a teacher who had come to punish them.

  But instead of a teacher with authority, what they saw was a thirteen-year-old boy of average height, dressed in the school uniform... and most importantly, had a face of clown makeup spread across his face. The boy stood there with his hands on his hips and a wide smile on his face, which looked even more foolish with the painted red smile spreading from ear to ear.

  "Now then, kids. Why fight when you can watch a real show?"

  Laughter reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards held together by a piece of string. Unfortunately, they slipped from his hands and landed on the floor, though remaining in their stack.

  Everyone watched in stunned silence as he bent over to pick them up. As he did, the cards suddenly disappeared, vanishing into smoke.

  Poof!

  By this point, Astra and Drake had both let their skills fade away. Their heads were tilted as they watched the strange clown performing his act.

  Laughter... Leox palmed his face. What are you doing?

  Laughter tapped his hands against each of his pockets, as though searching for the missing cards. Eventually, he clicked his fingers, as though he had just remembered something.

  "Aha! Could you all check your pockets, please? Those cards are very important to me." He said loudly.

  At first, no one moved. A few people laughed and whispered about how the first-year students were seriously weird. Until Leox reached his hand into his pocket and pulled free a card that had somehow ended up there.

  "Erm..." He held the card up in the air, which made everyone look at him. It was the King Of Hearts.

  Laughter smiled wider and skipped his way over to Leox, winking at him before taking the card and placing it back into his own pockets. Shortly afterwards, fifty-or-so others found cards in their own pockets, and were left in complete shock. One by one they handed their cards back to the Laughter. The other students assumed that this was some sort of performance set up beforehand, but when they were told by their friends that this wasn't the case, they were left completely fascinated and entertained.

  By the time they turned back to the two students who were about to fight, Astra was no longer there, and Drake was distracted by the fact that the Seven of Spades had ended up in his pocket. Eventually, they gave a round of applause for the clown, and the crowd started to disperse shortly afterwards.

  Laughter made his way over to Leox and joined him. From the look on his face, he was clearly impressed with his performance.

  "I hope you enjoyed the show, Leox, the King of Hearts." Laughter said with a bow.

  "What in the fourth world was that?" Leox asked, excitedly fascinated.

  Laughter put his arm around Leox's shoulder in a brotherly manner, and the pair began to walk across the grass of the school field, enjoying the sun. All the students who remained in the field seemed to be in a good mood. It was as though Laughter's playfulness had rubbed off on everyone else.

  "We're gonna be here for three years, Leox. What better way to introduce myself than to stop chaos?"

  Leox shook his head. "No, I meant that magic. What was it?"

  "Oh, that? I'm sorry bro, but a magician never reveals his secrets." Laughter wagged his fingers before swiftly moving on to the next subject. "Anyways, have you been to the Academy's Cafeteria? The food looks insane. We should get a bite to fuel ourselves for our big first day tomorrow."

  Leox frowned, but eventually agreed to go and eat. After all, he still needed to put back on the weight he had lost over the last six months. But, a thought lingered on his mind the entire time that they ate.

  Laughter and Astra were both Class One students. After seeing Astra's ability to summon a golden trident that seemed to come from the stars, he understood how the soft-looking boy could pass The Judge's Trial, but what about Laughter?

  He said that his class was the Jester, but had yet to show any way that he could possibly kill nine other students. Any time Leox tried to breach the topic, he avoided it by using the excuse of a 'magician's secrets'.

  So he decided to ignore it for the time being, but also kept caution in the back of his mind. There were a lot of powerful students in the Academy, as it was clear that Leox couldn't afford to fall behind.

  He had to get stronger.