632Chapter Two: Trial By Fire
"Kenos Rossiu, so this is our newest member," everyone thought.
"It's nice to meet you Kenos, I'm Asta from Hage village!" Asta exclaimed as he walked to Kenos.
Yami, however, grabbed Asta by his head and lifted him mid-air. "What do you think you're doing kid, Finral is supposed to introduce all of you to him,"
Asta screamed, trying to free himself from the mage's grip. "I'm sorry, it's just a habit. Now could you please let me go!" he begged before being released.
Yami sighed as he did so, as Asta checked his head to make sure nothing was broken, he saw something. "Hey Kenos, what's that thing around your neck?"
Kenos looked down at what Asta was talking about, it was his pendant, a small violet crystal with the image of a wyvern silhouette engraved on it, the wyvern had its wings spread out and roared into the sky.
"Oh this, it's a pendant, the wyvern on it is my family's crest," Kenos replied. "It's a pretty big deal in my family,"
"Asta, do you seriously not know who that is," Noelle said, Asta turned to her and could see a look of shock on her face.
"What's with you Noelle, and you too Gauche, it looks like you've seen a ghost," Asta said.
"That's because this is Kenos Rossiu, the Rossiu House is one of the most if not THE most successful noble houses in the kingdom, even among royalty, they have a good standing," Noelle explained.
Gauche nodded, although no one in the squad knew it, he and his sister hailed from a noble house, during their time there, they had heard about the greatness of the Rossiu House and the mages that comprised the family.
"That's right, believe it or not, it was the Rossius that asked the Wizard King to do the second exam in the first place," Yami added.
Asta's eyes widened as he looked at the mage, his mind went back to when Yami mentioned that his family are personal friends of the Wizard King as well as done favors for him. "Hey Kenos, just asking, how old are you?"
"Um, I'm 16 years old," he replied.
"Okay, now it's time for the introductions, but you already met Asta," Finral said as he turned to each of the Black Bulls one at a time, beginning with Magna. "This is our squad's fiery wild child, Magna Swing,"
"Hey there rookie,"
"Over there is our battle-hungry wilder child, Luck Voltia,"
"Yo, wanna fight, I bet you're strong if the captain picked you,"
"Then we have the glutton of the group, Charmy Pappitson,"
"Hello there, just wondering, how big is your appetite?"
"Ignore her, after her is our mute, Gordon Agrippa,"
Gordon's mouth moved, but his words were inaudible, causing everyone to sweatdrop.
"Well, after him is the mysterious Grey,"
Kenos looked at Grey, a large man whose face was covered in shadows, smoke coming out his mouth, everyone sweatdropped once more.
"After Grey, there's Gauche Adlai,"
Gauche would normally be looking at the picture of his sister, but this time, his eyes were on Kenos. "How's it going," he simply said.
"Okay, now we have Vanessa Enoteca,"
"Hello there, y-you're pretty cute," she said, walking over to him, still clearly drunk, and as usual, wearing nothing more but a bra and underwear.
Kenos raised a hand to stop her advance. "I'm sorry, I bet you're really nice, but you reek of alcohol and I'm not into older women,"
Vanessa gasped. "Older women? I'll have you know I'm only 24, that's only 8 years,"
Finral placed his hand on Kenos' shoulder. "Don't mind her, she says a lot of things when she's drunk, next up is Noelle Silva,"
Kenos turned to Noelle. "Silva? You're royalty, can't say I expected you to be in this squad,"
"I could say the same for a noble of your status," she fired back.
"But doesn't your brother have a squad?" He asked.
She shrugged uncomfortably. "Yeah,"
The young mage picked up her discomfort and decided not to persist further. "Who's next?"
"Well, that would be me, I am Finral Roulcase, your superior as well as the squad's spatial mage,"
"Superior, should I call you sir then?" Kenos genuinely asked.
"Nah, Finral is fine, and now to our last introduction," he turned to his side. "We have the captain of the Black Bulls, the great Yami Sukehiro,"
"Yo, it's good to have you on our squad," he said before chuckling. "I still can't believe out of three squads, you picked ours, I can't wait to rub it in their faces,"
"And that's all of us, we are the Black Bulls," Finral finished.
"Okay then, so, when do I get my robe?" Kenos asked.
His remark earned a grin from Magna. "Oh, you'll get it alright, after you complete the baptism,"
"Baptism?" Kenos asked with confusion.
Before he realized it, Asta and Luck grabbed each of his arms and pulled him backward, opening the gate and leading him outside.
"What the hell is going on here?!" He exclaimed as they let him go, the other walked out as well and stood on the side, Asta and Luck joined them as Magna stood opposite of Kenos.
"You mind explaining what's going on?" he asked once more, looking for an answer to what exactly was going on.
"Even though you were picked by Captain Yami, you still have to earn your robe, and to do that, you must go through my baptism," Magna explained. "Every rookie did the same thing, and now, it's your turn,"
"Oh, I see, and what exactly must I do to pass this baptism?"
"First, let's test your strength, do 300 push-ups!" Magna exclaimed.
"300!" Kenos exclaimed, getting down and beginning, he was going strong for about ten minutes, but then he started struggling.
"I workout, but nowhere near enough to do this many, I can probably only get 70 at a time," Kenos mumbled.
"C'mon Kenos, this is easy, Magna made me do ten times more, I know you can do it!" Asta cheered, giving his support.
After about half an hour he finished, his muscles were crying out in pain.
"Not bad, I have seen some that take longer," the shade wielding mage congratulated. "But you're not done yet, this time we'll test your stamina, run 10 laps around this area, get to it!"
Normally, Kenos could've done it, he does eleven laps of running as his daily exercise, but after doing all those push-ups, he wasn't sure if his body could move anymore, despite that, he kept going.
"C'mon there Kenos, push past your limits!" Yami called.
"Got it," he silently replied as he picked up his pace, quickly finishing it in 15 minutes.
"Alright that's not bad, but of course, we've only just warmed up," Magna grinned.
Kenos on the other hand groaned. "Shit, this baptism is going to be the end of me,"
An hour passed as he did an assortment of random things, from running in place, to squats and lunges, to doing pull-ups on trees, to even holding up large pieces of stone, he had been given twenty minutes to rest before the final part of the baptism began.
"Okay Kenos, break's over, it's time for the last part, once you complete this, you'll be initiated into the Black Bulls, but don't worry, this one will be the easiest,"
"Somehow, I doubt that," the rookie thought.
"For the last part, you'd normally have to stop one of my magic attacks, but since you're a high ranking noble, that might be too easy, so instead, we're going to battle," Magna explained.
"And just how is that easier?" Kenos asked.
"It's easier because if you can lay even a finger on me, you win, pretty easy aye,"
Kenos stroked his chin, that was easier, but he still wasn't aware of the attribute Magna's magic was, but then again, the opposite was true as well.
"Okay then, let's begin," Kenos said as he took out his grimoire, it was primarily blue, with an array of intricate orange linings around it, it was then covered in an orange aura before it floated in front of him.
Magna did the same, his grimoire floated in front of him as they both prepared for combat.
"To be fair, I'll let you get the first move, then we'll truly begin!" Magna called.
"How kind of you, but you might want to look up for this," Kenos said as his grimoire flipped through pages before stopping on one. "Take this, Solar Creation Magic: Rain of Solar Daggers!"
At his command, an orange circle appeared above Magna, dropping daggers of sunlight on the mage, Magna was half expecting them and dodged them as they fell to the ground. "Solar magic aye, interesting, never actually heard of that attribute,"
"Thank you," Kenos ran towards him, using this as a chance to touch the mage. Magna, however, saw that coming.
"You really thought I would be defeated by something that simple, think again rookie," his grimoire began flipping through pages. "Here we go, Flame Magic: Exploding Fireball!"
A ball of fire came to his hand as he pitched it right at the solar mage, luckily, he managed to duck out of the way.
"Don't think that's it, take this!" Magna exclaimed as he fired another one.
Kenos had just ducked and didn't have the time nor the footing to do again quick enough, his grimoire flipped to another page. "Solar Creation Magic: Amaterasu's Guard!"
Right in front of him, the Japanese sun goddess appeared, protruding her hands forward, creating a shield to stop the attack.
"Not a bad defense spell there Kenos!" Asta exclaimed.
"He's right, you have good attack and defense spells," Magna complimented.
"Thanks, from what I've seen due to experience, Solar Magic is a synergy type attribute, it focuses on a lot of categories, attack, defense, speed, accuracy, among other things," Kenos explained.
"Not bad, but you still have to catch me,"
"Alright then, I'll need speed, I have a spell for that," Kenos stated as his grimoire flipped to a new page. "Try this on for size, Solar Reinforcement Magic: Sunshine Aura!"
An orange stream of energy surrounded the mage. "This spell is good for increasing the accuracy and control of my spells, while at the same time boosting my physical speed and strength," he explained before running at Magna again.
"Wow," the flame mage remarked, Kenos was right, with this spell, he was moving a lot quicker than before, he backed up and used a reinforcement spell to boost his speed as well. "How do ya like that, now we're moving on equal ground, Flame Magic: Exploding Fireball!"
With the speed Magna was moving at, it made the spell a little harder to dodge, but with his boost in speed as well, evading the attack was nothing he couldn't do.
"He's doing quite well, there hasn't been anyone who's made him need to use a reinforcement spell," Vanessa stated.
"No fair Magna, why do you get to fight him, I want a go!" Luck exclaimed.
Kenos was about to move again before he dropped to his knees, the aura disappearing, due to all the physical strain his body went through during the baptism, even after a break, his body was struggling to keep up with the number of spells he cast.
"I think I got one more spell in me before I need rest, I have to make it count," he thought.
"It seems you're getting tired there rookie, better finish this right now," Magna said as he deactivated his reinforcement spell, and planted his feet firm on the ground, his grimoire flipped through one page. "This is it, Flame Magic: Explosive Scatter Shot!"
The shade wielding mage prepared the same way he would for an Exploding Fireball, but this time, when he released it, multiple shots came out, all heading in Kenos' general direction.
"This is bad, I could use Amaterasu's Guard, but if I do, I won't have enough energy to cast another spell, I could use Rain of Solar Daggers, but I wouldn't be able to defend myself and I need to touch him, not my spell, there's not even a chance to dodge seeing that it's multiple shots, that only leaves me with one option, but this is going to be risky," Kenos thought as he ran toward the spell.
"What's he doing?" Noelle gasped, surprised by the noble's action.
"Finral, prepare a spatial portal in case it gets too rough," Yami ordered.
"On it,"
"You've got guts rookie, running straight into my spell like that, let's see if it pays off!" Magna exclaimed.
"You're right, this does take guts, I'll face your attack head-on!" Kenos exclaimed as he grimoire flipped to one more page. "My last attack, everything I got right now, Solar Magic…," sunlight began charging in his right hand.
"...Sunbeam Ray!"
He fired the beam straight at the shots coming at him, smoke quickly surrounding the area.
"Darn it, I can't see a thing," Charmy complained.
"Do you think he's okay?" Vanessa asked aloud.
The smoke soon cleared after a few seconds passed, and as they looked at the scene of the battle, their eyes widened at what they saw.
Kenos was holding on to Magna's left shin, a slight look of triumph was on his face.
Magna smiled. "Not bad rookie, you did it, you passed the baptism,"
"I...did it, damn...I wasn't expecting it to be that hard," Kenos sighed as Magna helped him up.
"You did it!" the other Bulls ran to him, however, Yami, Gordon, and Grey stayed back.
"That was awesome, how did you do it, how did you touch him, I couldn't see anything past that smoke?!" Asta exclaimed, starry-eyed.
"It wasn't easy, I fired my Sunbeam Ray at his attack to create the smoke, but I had to make sure he couldn't hear me, so after the smoke appeared, I jumped, hoping that I would land close enough to touch him, if I didn't make it, I'd have to run or crawl, then he'd hear me and react, in other words, I'd be screwed,"
"You took a chance and it paid off, not bad, I know you'll be a good addition to our squad," Magna said as he reached out into his side and pulled out a folded robe. "Vanessa,"
"On it," she said back as she took a wand out and levitated the robe over Kenos, lowering it down and releasing her hold on the robe. "There you go,"
"You actually look pretty good in it," Yami said as he, Gordon, and Grey made their way over there.
"Thank you," Kenos said.
"Now that you're a part of our squad, remember, don't do anything to bring shame to Yami, or to the Black Bulls, and you will fight to protect the Clover Kingdom," Magna said with a tone of solemnity.
Kenos nodded. "Yes, I will do my best, I dedicate my grimoire in service to all of you, and to the kingdom," he said as he took out his grimoire and showed it to everyone.
He then looked down to admire his robe, but by doing that, he was unable to see the look of utter shock on the faces of everyone there, not able to comprehend what exactly they were looking at.
They saw it, on Kenos' grimoire...it had five white leaves.