On an uncharacteristically hot morning in Colohen City, dozens of baffled gang members were rounded up after a miserably failed attempt to enforce their territorial dominance. The elite forces of the Elendir Institute of Magic kept them frozen where they stood while they obediently adhered to the instruction in the face of all the magiguns and floating mages glaring at them with intense expressions.
Cæ hovered in the air among them, his Fyreveil magic raiment stood out even among the premium and cutting-edge enchanted magigear that the other magetants donned. His intensely dichromatic gray eyes slowly swept over the gang members with a cold expression.
He couldn't hide the contempt and hatred he had for the gang members that they had apprehended.
These people were the reason life was even more miserable in the slums than it had to be. As memories of old from his early life popped up in his head, he couldn't help but feel old frustrations and gripes bubble up.
If it wasn't for how dangerous these bastards made life in the slums, he may very well have not harbored the desire to escape the slums and head to the inner city. Although he wasn't familiar with this particular gang, they were all the same in his eyes.
They were marked with their own distinct dress code, in this case, a blood-red top with tattoos of claw slashes across a skull.
Cæ's eyes sharpened with a glint of peri as his gaze fixed on the ringleader of the gang, who stood at the very front.
A young man who was about his age with a fierce scowl.
His blond hair was slicked back in a careful manner, in sharp contrast with the messy clothes that he wore, comprising a red jacket atop a tank top with simple trousers. His sharp red eyes were filled with an aggressive intensity that was locked away by the barest shackle of self-restraint.
His expression appeared to be permanently curled with contempt, snorting with anger and hatred even as he raised his hands before the vastly superior security teams of the Elendir Institute of Magic.
His gaze temporarily brushed past Cæ's as the two young men briefly exchanged glances.
"Please place your hands on the orb for just ten seconds, mister."
A testing team reached him, ready to test his magic aptitude.
He spat, glaring at the testing team with a menacing scowl. "Fucking bastards, coming in here with all this fancy nonsense telling me what to do, why I oughtta…"
He surged forward with a violent step.
"Take one more step and I will kill you."
He froze as Cæ's bloodlust washed over him.
A ferociously intense and malevolent rage and hatred emerged from the depths of his eyes, converging upon the gang leader.
The man felt chills crawling across his skin.
He felt goosebumps running down his spine.
Cæ's hostility was so intense that it warped the atmosphere, turning it electric with peril.
The gang leader broke into a cold sweat as he realized that Cæ wasn't joking.
He would genuinely kill him right then and there if he so much as took one more step towards the members of the task force who were simply doing their job.
"M-May I know your name, Mister?" The male student slowly gulped.
"…Relf," the young man snorted with contempt. "Just get this clown show over with so that you bastards can fuck right off from where you came from."
He was clearly furious at having his territory so flagrantly taken over by a vastly superior force, far beyond anything that they could ever even hope to compete with. While his gang, the Skullfuckers were known for being overtly aggressive, in the fact of an security force that looked like it had come straight from the special forces of the Elendir Army, he knew that they would all be massacred in the blink of an eye.
He didn't want to lose his life and everything he was building in the slums for something that clearly had nothing to do with him.
He just gritted his teeth and waited for these weirdos to get out of here.
And yet, what followed would change his life forever.
The artifact shined brightly, drawing a wave of reactions of delight from the members of the task force.
After having seen it several times in the past week since the operations began, they were no longer as blown away by the finding as they were the first time, but it was still quite a validating sight to behold.
"This…" Relf murmured with a stunned tone, his scowling expression unfurling for the first time. "What does this mean… who the hell are you guys?"
STEP
Cæ landed before him with a serious expression.
"We are from the Elendir Institute of Magic."
His tone grew more intense.
"And you have the potential to master magic at our institute."
Relf's red eyes widened with shock as he stared at Cæ.
"…What?"
Cæ snorted with contempt, clearly disapproving of the young gang leader. "You have been blessed with the opportunity to master magic, you scoundrel. You have two choices…"
Cæ raised a finger. "You can ignore this and continue living a dreadful miserable life in the slums as a gang leader where you will eventually join the Underworld and your talent will be put to shitty use with shitty resources after which you will become a high priority target by the Elendir Institute of Magic and will have to live the rest of your life scurrying around a like a little rat or…"
He raised a second finger. "You can abandon this life behind and join the Elendir Institute of Magic and become a lawful mage with excellent training and resources, living a life of genuine comfort and luxury with virtually nothing to worry about."
Cæ's eyes narrowed.
"Choose wisely."
Relf stared at Cæ with a shocked expression.
And yet, the choice was a no-brainer.
"This…" he gritted his teeth as he gazed at Cæ with desperation. "This is real, right? You aren't just making this shit up?"
"It's all real," Cæ snorted. "I am living proof of it. I am the first student to have come from the slums."
Relf's eyes sharpened. "Where from?"
"Irandur," Cæ replied smoothly and quickly. "South Irandur near Glave's Block."
While the districts were officially codified with numbers, they had come to have their own names based on their own histories and the histories of the gangs in that region. It was not something that people outside of the slums knew much about.
Relf's eyes widened as he grew increasingly convinced by Cæ's story.
"I… I can become a mage?" his tone was one of disbelief. "Just like that? I can put all of this shit behind me?"
The gang members behind him stared at him with an expression of betrayal.
"Yes." Cæ calmly affirmed. "Last opportunity. Do you accept or do you refuse? Make your mind quick because…"
His eyes sharpened.
"There are plenty of other fish in the sea."
This was a lie.
In reality, they were desperate to get their hands on any and all fish, but Cæ knew that it was unwise to allow him to realize how much leverage he had. In reality, he didn't need to join the Elendir Institute of Magic at all. Especially since they couldn't hide the results of their test, he would be welcomed with wide open arms in the Colohen Mafia and get training, gaining power within their ranks.
It wasn't the worst deal for someone who had already spent their entire lives in crime in the slums.
That was why Cæ framed it in the way that he did to manipulate the gang leader to accept their deal, while pressuring him with time and the falsehood that they didn't really need him.
"Ok! Ok!" Relf gritted his teeth. "I'll join! Just don't go back on your word. I will fucking kill all of you if you do."
It was as though he could seldom believe what he was told, entirely paranoid about a betrayal, and yet, he couldn't resist the allure.
He joined the task force, taken to the Elendir Institute of Magic immediately to ensure that he was registered and put into training as soon as possible.
Not magic training, of course, that would begin only after the academic year began.
The people of the slums who had been admitted into the Elendir Institute of Magic would be undergoing special training to ensure that they were able to integrate into the Elendir Institute of Magic as smoothly as possible without disrupting the campus order.
Things like civil sense, conduct, the rules and regulations, and just the basics of how a magitechnologically advanced campus like the Elendir Institute of Magic functioned and how they ought to use it.
Many of them would also need to undergo some basic education as far as their literacy rates went, for many of them had not completed their schooling education yet, leaving them illiterate and entirely unqualified to handle the magicademics of the Institute.
These mages were also intended to become a part of the Elendir Magic sector as fully functioning units of society. That was why they needed to be reeducated, as charged and controversial as the term was, before they were introduced to the campus.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!
"We're under attack!"
A sudden flurry of magigun shots emerging from the distance jolted Cæ out of his reverie, immediately setting into combat mode. Several magic circles emerged before him as he conjured a powerful shield of earth with a wave of his wand while taking to the air.
His eyes sharpened as he strained his vision in the distance.
A second wave of his hand caused boulders to manifest above him as several more magic circles emerged before him.
FWOOSH!
The boulders ignited with fire, spinning at great speeds.
With a final wave of his hand, they were launched flying towards the distant gunmen perched in the distance, launched with great destructive power.
And yet, they never reached.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The powerful long-range flaming boulder attacks were intercepted by shields of manipulated earth and conjured water, causing the flames to be snuffed and the momentum of the attack to be completely negated.
The air grew perilous as several mages emerged from the distance, cloaked in darkness as they waved their wands while several magic circles emerged from them.
The air boiled with peril as several attacks of light, fire, and earth were conjured and manipulated.
The atmosphere grew electric with danger as those attacks surged from the enemy side.
"DEFENSE!" a magetant leading the security team bellowed.
Countless shields and defenses of myriad kinds emerged as the security force protected their side from the volley of attacks that the other side launched.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
"ATTACK!" The security team turned into a full-on active assault team as the apprentice magetants surged forth, flying through the air as many magic circles emerged in the air before them, allowing them to weave eidos with great speed and precision.
What surprised the magetants of the security team was the fact that Cæ was able to keep up with the professionally trained apprentice magetants in combat.
In the blink of an eye, several magic circles emerged from him.
Spells that were born from the combination of various elements and Fundamental Forms.
All cast simultaneously.
The sheer speed of his processing eidos and his mana-motive force in combat was impressive even by the standards of the professionals.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The battle between the task force and its assaulting enemies grew intense as both sides sought to vanquish their enemies.