"There are three continents partic.i.p.ating in this compet.i.tion, the Main Land, Heriz Land, and Yeron Land. The three biggest academies there each hold a local tournament which will narrow the partic.i.p.ating teams to two per continent. After that, the main tournament will be held in the Mid Island" Arima explained and projected a map with the three continents on it.

A redpoint marked the three continents, then they were connected together by a line. In the end, they ended up with a six-branch cross. And the point where all the lines were joined together glowed with a green light.

"That green dot is mid-island, at the intersection of the lines. That's why this tournament is called Cross Ranking" Arima said "Of course, at the end of that tournament, a ranking will be created by the jury. That ranking will not only list the teams or the cla.s.ses but all the students partic.i.p.ating"

Arima looked at this cla.s.s "I suppose you understand that I want you to aim for the highest possible" He said then waved his hand to change the projection. Then, a complex tournament bracket was projected, with a lot of different sections.

"That's the bracket for the main compet.i.tion. For the local, it's just eight teams competing until there are only two" Arima commented "Now, for the main tournament. There are in the end, six teams partic.i.p.ating. Those teams will compete against each other like this," Arima said and the projection changed to show six letters.

"Let's call the teams with letters, from A to F. First, the teams will compete like that, A vs B, C vs D and E vs F. The losing teams will be eliminated. After that we only have three teams, that's the important part. In that case, it will be A vs B, then C vs A and B vs C. But the teams won't be eliminated if they lose, they will acc.u.mulate points, the team with the most points at the end will win the tournament" Arima explained as his projection ill.u.s.trated everything.

"Now, there's, of course, the most important thing, what are the examinations of this tournament? How will they compete?" Arima raised the question and the projection came to the bracket "This bracket is separated in different sections, there's three to be exact at first" He declared and the image changed into three empty squares.

"One, it's of course, combat. Four 10 vs 10 matches, three 2 vs 2 matches and four 1 vs 1 matches" Arima said and the first squared showed an arena "Which means that I'll have to train you in teamwork too"

"Two, it's magic theory" The second square ill.u.s.trated a staff.

"Three, life force level and spiritual forces density" The third square showed four small symbols, Lf, Au, Mp, Ki "And, yes, killing intent is also part of the test" Arima added.

"These three categories will filter the first six teams. After that, there are five categories to determine the final winner between the last three teams. You have of course the three categories I just listed you plus two"

Arima declared and two more squares appeared "The first one is really important, it's magic control. It's a critical aspect of magic that must be mastered as much as possible" Arima declared.

Ofia nodded, she knew how important magic control was. And she had even the pride to say that she was better at it than all of her cla.s.smates.

"The final category is" Arima paused and smiled "Is what I showed you earlier; mana core" He said and everyone exclaimed in surprise "Of course, I didn't show you my cores just because an old man asked me for it. I wanted to show it to you even before he asked me" Arima said and Ofia smiled wryly.

"(Sorry, Gand)" She apologized to him in her mind.

"Well, what I just told you is on what the tests will be. The actual details of how it will unfold and how they will determine who won are for later. For now, from today onward, I'll make you focus in these areas for your training"

Arima smiled and stood up "And I will start now" He declared and everyone was instantly transferred into another dimension.

Night, Karma, Arister and Chulainn all sighed. Especially Night, he really hated teaching to kids. Karma was sighing because she was lazy to teach them. Arister sighed because he didn't want to get dragged in it, but he already considered Arima as a friend so he simply followed. Chulainn sighed because he felt that Arima was going to ask him to do something.

Lanya looked at them and then sighed too. It was for a totally different reason though, she just wanted to raise her level to the earthen realm. When she looked at the four individuals accompanying Arima, she felt really small.

"Stop sighing, it's bad for your mental health" Arima said to them when they were in the middle of a canyon.

********************************************

Meanwhile, Karaskan was flying in s.p.a.ce which was filled with different lights of varied colors. His speed was astounding, to the level where Arima wouldn't be able to see him well.

He suddenly stopped just in front of a huge star. The light illuminated his figure. The heat and arcs of fire coming out of the star looked very threatening.

Its size wasn't something as big as the sun in Arima's world but it was easily bigger than the earth. Karaskan extended his hand without a word and darkness escaped his palm in great quant.i.ty and density.

It spread around s.p.a.ce, erasing the starlight, even the fire coming from the burning star became nil when it touched the darkness. A veil of darkness soon covered the entire star and started to become tighter as it pressed against it.

After some time, the veil of darkness became distorted at several places like there was an explosion within it. Karaskan waved his fingers when the distortions disappeared. The veil then vanished and the sun had completely disappeared.

There was only a small object deriving in s.p.a.ce instead. Only someone with the eyes of at least the earth realm level would be able to see it. That object trembled and suddenly became attracted by something as it went toward Karaskan's hand.

The latter caught the object and looked at it. It was a small black box with strange designs on it. There were some runes on it that delivered a mind wave so strong that it would even make Arima dizzy.

Karaskan grinned "I thought that I would never open this box" He uttered "I wonder, a Life Hunter that I angered in the past who then became a Silver Emperor" He snickered "Isn't that destiny?" He said then flew away.

*******************************************

At the same time, Azes was overseeing multiple worlds when he suddenly felt a pain on his arm. His eyes narrowed and he looked at his arm as a strange black mark formed on it.

"d.a.m.nit!" He shouted with a voice that could even make Chulainn cower. He slammed his hand on the table and broke it. It was important to know that the material in which that table had been made was something that even Arima would have problems to destroy.

"I thought that the Pandora had been destroyed!" He said "How did he hide it from us?" He muttered and then sat down. He teleported on the roof of his residence along with his chair and looked around at the pure white city made of stone, filled with verdure.

A true depiction of G.o.d's Land. Azes looked at a peculiar structure in the distance, surrounded by majestic trees "I hope it won't take too long, I need to know his past even more now" He sighed then returned back inside.

************************************

"Okay, form groups" Arima said to his students who were gathered in front of him "For the tournament, I'll prepare you in advance by making you train together. The four groups of ten, you can make them as you want"

"But for the pairs and the four who will fight alone, they will be decided by me" Arima declared "First, the pairs will be Balan and Melody, Ofia and Lena, Isla and Gaodu" Arima listed and the concerned students formed the groups.

"The solo fighters will be Ferzia, Irian, Airon, and Kine" Arima listed one more time and the concerned students moved to the side and at the same time, the four groups of ten were formed.

Arima observed them and glanced the four he just called. Particularly the last entries, Airon and Kine. Airon was a 17 years old guy. He was basically an Arister junior, he was a gloomy and serious kid and used darkness magic.

And Kine was the only student in the cla.s.s who was of the demon race. She was 16 and her specialty was fire magic and Arima also noticed that she had traces of the Blood Eater.

Those two new students, along with Irian and Ferzia, were the four strongest students in his cla.s.s. At least in a 1 vs 1 fight.

"Good, now, I'll take care of the forty-six there with Lanya" Arima said "Arister, you'll train with Ferzia since I'm sure you want to" Arister forced a cough and went toward Ferzia.

"Night, you'll train with Kine" Night grunted and also walked to the student mentioned.

"Karma, you'll be with Irian" Karma smiled and nodded before joining Irian.

"And finally," Arima looked at the cub on his shoulder. The latter's expression fell "Chulainn will be with Airon"

"I didn't stay with you to act as you helper you know" Chulainn retorted as he jumped off Arima's shoulder. His appearance also changed and he became a three-meters-tall three-headed-hound. He looked at Airon with his four heads "You'll be in my care kid" The middle head said and Arion's expression twitched furiously in anxiety before he nodded.

"It's all good then, you four will princ.i.p.ally teach them magic control and spar with them and point out their weaknesses" Arima instructed.

"Now, for more specific things. Karma, you'll be sure to teach Irian martial arts. Night, you'll help her master the blood aura, I'm sure you can. Arister, teach her how to be aware of what's going on in a fight, she doesn't pay attention enough to her surroundings. And Chulainn, your job is to teach him how to use effectively his darkness magic" Arima gave all the instructions and brought the other students with him.

The four pairs teacher-student then started their training. And Arima also set his own training program.

"First things first, Gaodu, I need you to awaken your inheritance" Arima suddenly said and not only the student he was talking to but everyone around exclaimed in shock.

"What?" Gaodu was completely overwhelmed "An inheritance?"

"Yeah, I realized it when I saw you. You have an Earthen G.o.d aura hidden in your soul" Arima explained and Gaodu gaped.

"Are you going to do the same as me?" At the same time, Lanya asked.

Arima smiled and nodded "Kinda" He said then looked around "Melody, Balan, I'll teach you both a new magic. Ofia, Lena, you'll learn how to perfectly coordinate your movements when you resonate. Isla, I'll teach you how to make use of your biggest talent. And for you all, I'll give you the best magic you can use in a 10 vs 10 fight" He said in one go then smirked.

"Teaching younger generations is really funnier than I thought"