About fifteen minutes later, and with the help of some nearby people to know where to go, Micheal was standing in the fighting ring looking around with his hands in his pockets. The entire arena was a giant 40 meter square room with pillars interspersed roughly every 5 meters exactly like the training hall back home. He didn't really have time to change out of his jeans and t-shirt either. He idly wondered how much force one of the pillars here could take when movement caught his eye. Turning his head to look, his mouth fell open at what his opponent was wearing. It looked like the ugly lovechild of a 17th century pirate and a 14th century cavalry soldier.
"You look dumbfounded. Clearly you have realized the gulf between us. I'll give you the chance to back down if you get on your knees and apologize." the man sneered cradling a helmet under one that had a giant four foot feather coming out of the top of it. In his other hand he was holding an odd looking lance of some kind with a bulge on the tip.
"Yeah, not doing that. If you want to do it feel free to." Micheal taunted as he squatted down and stretched his legs a bit. He idly glanced around the arena feeling a bit bored
I've been here less than half an hour and I'm already bored of the posturing. That has to be some kind of record…
He focused back in and hopped out of his leg stretch to start stretching his arms as the man glared at him with open hostility,
"You'll regret not accepting my offer. Here are the rules: No killing blows. No attempts to maim or cripple. Stop when we're either unconscious or if we surrender. Agreeable?"
"Yeah that works." Micheal nodded and felt something press on him across his entire body as soon as he said it.
Must be the binding spell I was told about. Feels like I'm being coated in something heavy across my entire body.
He smiled ruefully as he realized that his mom was going to be fucking furious with him.
"Whatever your smiling about," Came the muffled voice of the now helmeted mage, "I'll see to it that you'll never be smiling again."
Micheal zoned back in smile turning into a feral grin as he flooded his nerves and muscles with his mana as the man charged him holding the weird lance out bulge first. Micheal didn't even bother activating his reaction field and just dashed around the man by augmenting his reinforcment spell with lightning mana. This had the effect of making it look like he had vanished into thin air causing the man to look around in confusion as Micheal leaned an arm on the mans shoulder and poked his helmet with a finger,
"So I gotta know. What kind of bet did you lose to have to wear all of this?"
Yelling in rage the man reinforced and swung his arm backwards at Micheal who had already ducked under the blow. The man tried to swing the lance but Micheal was firmly within his opponents guard so it might as well have been useless. The man reinforced his legs and pushed away to get the distance needed to swing the lance as Micheal stood there grinning.
Moms gonna be furious no matter what I do so might as well have a bit of fun…
The man landed and braced himself to charge right as Micheal whistled a quick series of notes before snapping his fingers causing a small blizzard to sweep past him and envelop the man. It wasn't meant to do anything more than remove him from the mans vision.
Alright now that he can't see. Lets see how he handles this.
The man quickly blew the blizzard apart with a wind spell but Micheal had already shot forward using his augmented reinforcement magecraft. Before the man could properly react he reinforced his fists and delivered three rapid fire blows through the metal surround the mans torso denting it badly,
Head, Ribs, and Liver. Lets see how he handles that.
The man roared as he stagger from the blows but managed to stay upright. In response to this Micheal jumped in place, pulling up both his legs to his chest, and drop kicked the man causing him to blow straight through a nearby pillar. Micheal whistled appreciatively at the distance the man flew only for the man to get up shakily and glare venom through his visor as he tore off his chestguard.
"You have no one to blame but yourself for all of this you know. You challenged me."
Micheal stated smirking as he put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. The man inflated again, yelled something in a language Micheal didn't know, and charged him lance first. This time something was different as the tip of the lance had started to glow and pulse orange.
Explosive or heated… I'd be fine obviously by my clothes not so much. I like this outfit.
He reinforced his body again he dodged to the left this time away from the lance and into the mans blindspot. He continued moving, circling around him, and then lifted his leg to delivere a roundhouse kick into the back of the mans helmet causing a satisfying clang and making him faceplant forward into the floor with a metallic crash.
Muttering came from overhead and Micheal looked up to see people had gathered to watch from the balcony. He looked back down at the man just in time to jump over a swipe with the lance aimed at his legs. He shot backwards until he was a good 4 meters from the man who stood up and yanked off his helmet. His face was purple with rage, he had a bloody nose, but his eyes were manic with rage. He stabbed the bulbous point of the lance into the ground and spoke another word in that same language.
Frowning Micheal activated his eyes and in a few seconds that the ground under him would explode with a combination of fire and earth magecraft.
Honestly this has gone on long enough and this is clearly Puffer Fish's best spell given the mana cost. Might as well end it now.
Reinforcing his legs he jumped back away away from where he had been standing right as it exploded upwards. A few pieces of molten rock landed on his jeans which he quickly removed with a flick of his finger
"Well would you look at that. You actually managed to damage my clothes. Shame. I liked these jeans."
The man's face turned almost black with rage at Micheals taunting and shoved the lance further into the ground practically frothing with rage.
Alright then. He's lost control which means I've just to finish this now.
He ran around the arena using the pillars to obfuscate the mans line of sight as explosions trailed him. He reached into his pocket to pull out a steel ball bearing. He quickly loaded it with an electromagnetic charge so that it would float between his hands and paused behind a pillar.
"Alright… first time for everything. Lets see how well this works..."
He muttered under his breath as he checked his mana and grinned.
Just barely enough. The problem is the timing...
The trick to this would be swapping from the augmented reinforcement magecraft to his railgun spell. He wasn't able to use both at the same time for a few reasons not least of which was the mana cost. He'd have to swap between the two of them within the span of a second and a half. At least that was his best guess with his current level of control and the mans reaction time. He took a deep breath, grinned and once again reinforced himself up almost to his limit. He cracked ground under him as he shot out from behind the pillar to get behind the man who was still focused on making him explode.
He quickly planted his feet, extended his hands, and let the ball bearing float between his palms as he quickly wound up the fields.
Shit right. No killing or serious injuring.
He wound down the power to the fields right as the man seemed to realize that he was behind him. He began to drag the lance through the ground to swing it behind him and hopefully strike Micheal who just grinned,
"I win."
He fired the ballbearing into the center of the mans back with enough force to propel him forward to crash into a pillar with enough force to make dust fall from the ceiling. He got out of his stance and quickly activated his eyes seeing that the man would fall off the pillar battered and bloody but never the less alive. He deactivated his eyes and turned around with finality as the man fell to the ground unconscious which led to the pressure of the binding spell to lift off of him.
As he lowered the amount of mana he had been flooding his body with he stumbled a bit as he entered the prep room he had left his luggage in. It had been a while since he had needed to use that much continuously. H
I need to find some way to either increase my natural mana or, more likely, refine my control more.
He frowned and idly pulled another ball bearing out of his pocket to weave inbetween his fingers as he sat down on a bench and caught his breath.
#####
A few minutes later he had grabbed his luggage and left the prep room. He entered the halls of the Clock Tower once again and after asking some students for where to go found himself outside Professor Arneheartes office.
He reached out to knock on the door when it swung open on its own and a flustered girl ran out almost colliding with Michael who moved out of the way in the nick of time. He watched as the girl ran down the hall and leaned onto the door frame, arching an eyebrow at his uncle as Arnehearte ignited a letter over his trash can.
"Still breaking hearts I see."
"Oh? Micheal! You made it! …Please tell me you didn't hear any of that."
"Nope. I was about to knock when she flung open the door and ran out."
"Ah okay. Come in, Come in! Have a seat. How are you doing?"
Micheal smiled as he walked into the office of Shear Arnehearte. He hugged his uncle who hugged him back before he held Micheal out in both arms and studied him concernedly causing Micheal to roll his eyes,
"I'm fine. I swear between you and mom-"
"You can't blame us for worrying. Speaking of. What's this I hear about you bullying another student on your first day?"
"...No idea what you're talking about."
"Micheal." Arnehearte said warningly.
"Also define 'Bullying'."
Arneheart grimaced and then started laughing
"Not even a day in and already making a name for yourself. You remind me of your mother. Tell me what happened. Oh I'll put on some tea as well."
Arnehearte busied himself with making some tea as Micheal sat in a plush armchair sitting adjacent to a coffee table. After the tea was served he told Arnehearte what had happened. To his credit he was a great listener only interjecting to ask how Micheal felt when he did specific actions.
When Micheal was done his uncle shook his head ruefully and smiled at his nephew
"At least you stood up for yourself."
His face darkened for a brief moment before he clapped a hand to his forehead
"Ah right! I completely forgot to tell you or your mother."
"What's that?"
"You'll be staying with me and not the Velvets during your time here at least until we can get you a dormitory room."
Micheal set down his cup of tea and looked at his uncle with narrowed eyes.
"....What happened."
Arnehearte grunted noncommittally
"Figured it'd be better for you in all honesty."
"Is that so."
Micheal narrowed his eyes at Arnehearte who took reached under the table to get a decanter of bourbon. He poured himself a few fingers and took a few sips of his bourbon trying to look everywhere but Micheal.
"Either you tell me whats happened or I'll track down Velvet and ask him myself."
Arneheart looked at Micheal and sighed knocking back the rest of his drink and pouring himself another glass,
"ClockTower bureaucracy."
"I've barely been here 4 hours and I'm already in the middle of it?"
"No you landed in the middle of it when you were born but if you want to be specific this particular pile of it was due to you thrashing that golem when you were 14. You remember the Clock Tower lord involved in all of that and how both you and your mother embarrassed him terribly between the two of you?"
Micheal thought back staring at the ceiling as he remembered back to the interaction with some relish. Smiling evilly at the memory he looked back at his uncle and his smile vanished at the look on his uncles face.
"....Oh you're kidding me. Really?"
"Yes. The Velvets are a rather new family, only being a couple generations long, but when someone talked about how that clock tower lord had been disgraced by you at the age of fourteen the Velvets understandably backed out."
"Okay it was not just me." Micheal muttered,
"Yes well since they can't get back at your mother…" Arnehearte trailed off meaningfully. Micheal swore under his breath and then looked back at his uncle
"Okay….what else aren't you telling me."
Arnehearte swirled his drink and seemed to think for a bit.
"Tensions in the Clocktower are running high. Very high. There's…an event happening in two years that has everyone on edge."
Micheal rolled his hand at his Uncle's sudden reluctance to keep talking
"Well? Keep going. You can't just tell me that somethings going to happen and then not tell me about it. Also what kind of 'event' would be stirring up anxiety two years before it happens?"
Arenhearte suddenly looked twice his age as he slumped into his chair before looking at Micheal
"I'd rather have you sign a geass. I trust you but I feel like having you sign one would be-"
"So write the geass. Every secret in the Moonlit World is bound by one."
Arnehearte arched an eyebrow and set down his glass on a nearby table before getting up and walking over to his desk. Rummaging around to find some parchment he fished a pen out of his jacket and wrote down the terms. Walking back to the chairs he handed Micheal the geass and as he read it his eyebrows kept going higher and higher
I, ________, Hereby swear to keep all information regarding the 4th Holy Grail War secret. I am not to discuss it with anyone who does not already know about it as of the signing date of this geass.
I am allowed to discuss it when under extreme threat to my person or life, under extreme duress, or when under external influence with no repurcussions.
This geass will be considered complete and rendered null upon the start of the 4th holy grail war in Fuyuki, Japan.
The rest of the geass went more indepth with what was and wasn't allowed as well as the usual punishments for breaking it. Micheal nodded and reached into his bag for a pen and signed it. He handed it back to Arnehearte who gave it a once over, nodded, and put it into his pocket. He picked up his glass and took a large gulp
"This entire thing is going to blow up when word of it gets out. However, even that is too soon for this. Things are moving quickly. Too quickly in my opinion."
"So…whats a Holy Grail war? I've never heard of it."
Arnehearte grunted,
"Not surprising. The entire thing seems far fetched. Basically Seven people summon seven familiars and then fight until one pair is left. The prize at the end is the aforementioned Holy Grail."
"Thats…it? Also it cannot be the actual Grail. The Church would be all over the ritual like maggots on old meat."
Arnehearte gave Micheal a look at his tone,
"I've read about the war between us and them. I'm firmly on the side of the Lafaires on this."
Arnehearte hummed approvingly and threw back the rest of his glass glancing up at the clock. Sighing he stood up and looked at Micheal
"I'll give you some books to read up on more of it. It is a fascinating ritual in all honesty. Although the reward the 'grail' gives out to the final pair seems too good to be true."
"Whats the reward?"
Micheals interest was piqued.
Arneheart walked over to the door as Micheal gathered his things to follow him only to turn around as he looked at his nephew with a glint in his eye.
"A wish for anything you could ever desire."