A Standout Performance

“Edward. You need to breathe, you are nervous.”

Edward was definitely quite nervous, the ghost speaking to him was correct. He just was not showing it at the moment.

He was currently waiting on the girls, standing just outside of the changeroom. They were at the proving grounds, the qualifiers to even enter the tournament. All three of them needed to pass to maximize the odds of success.

The other two sure seemed confident the whole way through, but Edward was left alone with a certain person that always pushed for success. Especially because, if he failed, he would never hear the end of it.

“And remember, once you ace the qualifiers, there is still the tournament. I would rather you improve in using my magic than get yourself bailed out by your two friends. They are failsafes, not the ideal. We’re trying to reach for the ideal.”

“Yes,” Edward responded, with a slight eye roll. Auranna did not seem to notice that, though.

“Also, remember that they are not just looking for strength, they want your discipline. This isn’t a haphazard contest of magical power, but a focused analysis of how you use the gift that I have granted you.”

“Yes. I get it,” Edward said, getting somewhat more impatient. He was hoping the two girls would come out to save him from this.

“Do not rely on others for this, you need to be strong on your own as well, and this is a rare chance to demonstrate it. Your friends are backu-”

“You literally said this ten seconds ago. I have a higher memory capacity than that!” Ed argued back, as he did, the door to the girl’s changeroom opened up and out came Adelyn and Cozy. The two of them seemed to have freshened up a bit.

“Hey, Ed!” Adelyn waved. “Is something wrong?”

“Huh? Uh, no. Not really,” Edward shook his head, turning back to Adelyn. “I was just waiting, you two took a while.”

“I was showing Adelyn how to put on makeup!” Cozy said.

“Cause appearances are important?” Edward finished.

“Yup! I’m glad you know me so well,” Cozy smiled. “I don’t have any tips for boy makeup though, so you’ll have to figure that one out on your own.”

“I think I’m fine,” Edward said. He figured it would be less bothersome in general if he preferred to not care about appearances. He did not need to stack on more judgements than the ones he already has.

The auditorium they were in was quite large. Multiple other young boys and girls were anxiously awaiting for the beginning of the test. The atmosphere did feel quite tense, all things considered. This was a big opportunity for a lot of them.

The door pushed open again, everyone turned, expecting something. Though, it was just another girl. She looked relatively unassuming, with an orange sweater and long skirt, blue eyes, and a magical staff. While interest faded in the event, the newcomer walked up to the group.

“Hey, is this the qualifier for the tournament?” the girl asked Edward.

“Uh, yeah,” Edward responded succinctly. “This is the right place.”

“Cool, cool!” the girl said. Edward was completely expecting her to walk away and leave them alone. However, contrary to his expectations, the girl kept standing right next to them.

Cozy and Adelyn were both having some kind of girl talk. Ed was not exactly following what they were saying exactly, so that left him awkwardly standing in the group. He stood alongside this strange girl, who had inserted herself into the dynamic as well.

“...can I help you?” Ed looked at her, for a second.

“Oh!” The girl threw her hands up, like she got caught. Though she had a small smile. “I was just listening to the conversation! Though I was curious, do you know exactly what the qualifiers entail?”

“You don’t even know that?” Ed said, a little bit confused. However, Cozy stepped in front of Ed to help save him from this conversation.

“Ma’am,” Cozy said. “The qualifiers consist of many challenges where you prove not only how strong you are, but how impressive you are. The exact details are unknown, but the general gist is that the judges are impressed by both creativity and strength. It’s a mix of both!”

“Ohhh, I see,” the girl responded. “Is strength enough, though?”

“Well, I suppose if you’re quite exceptional in that category…” Cozy said. “The judges would probably rule in your favor.”

“I think I should be fine, then! Thank you very much,” the girl said. “By the way, my name is Wendy! I hope you do well!”

“Good luck to you too, Wendy. My name is Cosette, though my friends just call me Cozy. This is Ed and Adelyn. Hope you impress!”

Cozy waved off the girl, who finally drifted away from the group into the auditorium. Edward whispered something through his teeth, to Auranna, while she was doing that.

“See, if we’re strong enough then we’re good.”

“Good is not enough,” Auranna responded back. Edward did not respond, however.

“Ed,” Cozy said. “Maybe instead of makeup, I can teach you something else. Like uhh, basic conversational skills!”

Edward rolled his eyes, again.

“I’m not that bad, give me a break.”

“Oh no. You don’t give a girl who’s asking pretty basic things the question of disbelief,” Cozy shook her head. “You need to at least do the bare minimum! Maybe she’ll remember it if you’re super nice, and next thing you know you’re married to the strongest woman in the world!”

“I think that’s a little bit unrealistic…” Edward responded.

“The point stands! You need to be representative of yourself, and us too! Cause we’re your associates! Isn’t that right, Adelyn?”

“Huh?” Adelyn said, seemingly a bit distracted, before snapping back to focus. “Well. I think there’s lots of kind people you can meet, so it’s best to be nice to them back too. No good deed goes unpunished, as Rumia said.”

“See, exactly. Adelyn gets it.”

Edward sighed. Though, as they finished speaking the door opened once again. This time, it looked like someone important. Two guards followed behind a striking woman with long green hair, ruffled and somewhat messy. She wore a long beige coat, with an armband containing the logo of two blades crossed. The other thing that was noted is that the woman looked unbelievably tired. She had two eyebags under her eyes, as if she had not slept in weeks.

The crowd shifted to let her pass, before she stood at the center of the auditorium.

“Young ladies and gentleman, thank you for waiting. As you already know, I am your Governor of Battle, Valentia Knox.” her voice said. A little bit strained, but still able to give a powerful command. “I’m honored that so many youths have shown interest in defending our city, and our country as a whole. Whether it be for magical expertise, rich rewards, or just patriotism. We welcome all of you to showcase what you are truly made of!”

Claps came from around the auditorium. Cozy and Adelyn clapped as well. Edward would feel awkward to not clap, so he also joined in.

“Now, you will undergo three trials. The first is the baseline physical test, the second is the written strategy test, and the magic demonstration. Those with exceptional grades up to a certain level will be granted entry into the tournament. After which, you will attend in three days.”

“This seems straightforward,” Ed said. “I think if we do good on two then we’re good overall.”

“And you should be excellent on all three,” Auranna said. Ed sighed, he forgot that arguing with Auranna was a pointless endeavor.

“Let us begin with the physical test. We have been given some arcane golems from the capital, and you each will be assigned a group and will take turns battling against them. Understood?”

Nods came across the entire auditorium. Eventually, the guards began walking around the auditorium and began assigning numbers to people. Adelyn, Cozy, and Ed all got put in the same group, as well as that Wendy girl from earlier. There was one more girl that Ed did not recognize in their group, however.

“Elaina?” Cozy spoke up.

“Oh, hey, Cozy!” The girl replied with a smile. “Same group, huh?”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

Cozy’s face seemed to get a little bit annoyed with the girl. There seemed to be some past history that he was missing. Probably girl stuff, again.

“It’s good to meet you again, Elaina,” Adelyn said formally. “I hope you’re successful in the tournament!”

“You too! Adelyn, right? Where’s the other girl that was with you?” Elaina responded.

“Joyce? We split at the village, she probably went to do the qualifiers on her own,” Adelyn answered.

“I get it, so temporary partnership then,” Elaina responded. As they discussed, Ed began to notice the auditorium getting sectioned off into groups, and that their own group was being put into a box.

Then suddenly, a medium-sized golem, slightly taller than they were, fell from the skies. It began to assemble itself, magical energy glowing from a crystal in the middle of it. The glow managed to grab everyone’s attention, cutting through the blue light of the auditorium lights with a purple color.

“These are your opponents, please present yourself one at a time for the physical examination.

“Well,” Elaina stepped forwards. “I think I can set a pretty good example.”

As she stepped forwards, the golem raised an arm and fired at Elaina. In a second, the girl blitzed forward and the missile was sliced into a dozen pieces, and the golem itself was split apart all the same as well.

“Easy,” Elaina said, confidently. She turned back to admire her handiwork, but as she did that, she immediately had gotten nailed in the face by a crystal piece!

“AGH!” She gripped her cheek and fell to the ground. “What the hell?!”

Ed looked at the golem. It seemed to have reconstituted itself quite quickly, with the crystal that hit Elaina being a part of the golem’s arm. A single X was formed on the creature’s shoulder, most likely signaling a hit.

Elaina was still recovering from the shock of that sudden punch, and the golem didn’t let up. It began to fire even more crystal missiles at her.

“Ah-!” Elaina immediately got back onto her feet, and immediately took a second punch to the stomach. Though she managed to cut the second one to pieces with her knife. The golem now had two Xs on it.

The girl was now more aware at the very least, and the battle became a lot more even. She was a blur to the eye, outmaneuvering the golem with swift movements. Straight dashes in a way that the creature could not keep up. She kept on attacking, and attacking it, cutting it into pieces, though it would reform shortly after.

Eventually, Elaina made a misstep, and took another missile to the face. This knocked her onto the ground in front of Cozy, who snickered a little bit.

Three Xs appeared on the golem, one on the head and two on the shoulders, before dissipating. It seemed like Elaina’s test was over.

“Eugh… these things hit way harder than I thought,” Elaina groaned on the ground, touching her cheeks.

“And here you were looking so confident before!” Cozy said, with a slight bit of passive-aggression. “Here, let me show you how lucky you got last time we fought.”

Cozy stepped forwards, her test was next. Her eyes began to glow as a crystal wall immediately formed under the golem, tearing it apart. It seemed like she was playing aggressively, compared to Elaina’s more defensive dodging.

She was working pretty well, the golem had trouble regenerating against Cozy’s barrage of ranged magic. Whether it be her crystals or her blasts of energy, the golem seemed to be quite pressured for a while. Cozy barely even had to move.

Until, the golem pulled out a new trick. Upon getting spiked by a crystal again, it suddenly blew itself apart. All of the crystals from that minor explosion circled around and homed in on Cozy.

Cozy, feeling confident, raised a crystal wall around herself to defend. Each of the crystals blocked the crystals own golems, and she was unscathed.

Then, a massive explosion blew out the walls from the left side, knocking her into the right wall. Then the right wall exploded, immediately knocking the girl face first onto the ground.

“OW!”

Cozy groaned. Two Xs formed on the golem’s body. It seemed like she got struck twice in a row, which was unlucky. Cozy immediately got back up and summoned her wings immediately, starting to float off the ground. The merchant weaved around the missiles as they came. The golem seemed to get better at avoiding her crystals and blasts, meaning that it was a ranged standoff at this point.

Cozy got multiple good hits on the golem, but the golem kept on regenerating. Eventually it scored the last hit on Cozy, knocking her down for the third hit.

“Hah, not so easy, was it?” Elaina said, still recovering from the punch to her face.

“Shut up…” Cozy said, dragging herself to the sidelines. “It didn’t even bother to use that attack against you, so I’d say I won this round.”

“Whatever you say,” Elaina shrugged.

Ed had been observing the two fights, and was thinking of multiple strategies for when it was his turn. It was likely helped by Auranna immediately becoming annoying if he ever got too distracted, as that led to him thinking for a while.

However, he was not next to go up. It was Adelyn, who confidently stepped up. Her chainsaw floated right next to her, as it revved up. Then, the battle commenced.

From Ed’s observations, Adelyn did pretty well. At the start, she began simple, but managed to use her telekinetic abilities to cut through the missiles quite effectively. Ed could tell that Adelyn wanted to use her summons more. But fighting by herself, she did not have a lot of cover to properly summon them, especially if she did not want to get hit.

The creature attacked fast, even when it was regenerating. While Adelyn was doing great at not being hit, the battle dragged on for quite a while. In turn, Adelyn did not do as much damage as Cozy did. Though occasionally, she did manage to pull off a summon, and with those attacks, she tore apart the golem quite easily.

However, Adelyn was also getting quite winded. The constant aggression was something she could not keep defending against for long. With a few summons, Golus, Luz, and Igna being the most notable, Adelyn eventually ran out of steam. She then got struck three times in quick succession.

She managed to damage it on a similar level to Cozy, but not as fast, leaving her to the side to rest.

“Phew… I hope… I did good. I need to… work on my summoning speed… more…” Adelyn huffed.

“That’s fair, you usually have Cozy or I covering you, but it would be nice if you could spawn them more quickly,” Ed said. At this point, he figured it was his turn.

“Good luck,” Auranna said, as Ed put on the mask. Auranna’s power entered into Ed’s body, as he summoned his golden glowing sword. The golem looked at him, and fired a missile once again.

With a slash, he cut the missile into pieces, and in his other hand, he formed another blade of light to throw at the golem. In an attempt to deal some damage towards it, the blade of light pierced through the creature. It did cut the golem in half, but it began regenerating.

The golem began throwing out more missiles as it regenerated, forcing Ed to get on the defensive. A trick came to his mind however. He transformed one of his blades into a rope, and wrapped them around the missiles. Then he swung them back at the golem. This kind of a strategy allowed him to keep up the attack and defense at the same time, to hopefully push it into the next phase.

And that is when the first missile exploded, and Ed got tagged while holding onto it with his rope. He got caught by the same trick that Cozy did. Which was not great. He knew had to focus on the upcoming attacks. He narrowed in on dodging and disrupting the missiles directly as they came out. Thus, he created a beam of light to blow up the missiles directly in the golem’s face. The golem did not focus on just one attack for too long, however, and began to attack in multiple ways.

The crystals were interrupted by Ed’s own attacks, but suddenly, the golem exploded. Not because of the force Ed provided but of its own nature. Two smaller golems appeared to both sides of Ed and struck! Getting him tagged a second time. As a response, he created a hammer and spun in a circle to send the duo flying, before they reformed into one.

The duo reformed into one body, before blasting at Ed with its arms. Ed cut through the arms with his sword and sliced the crystal golem in half once more. The golem dissipated into hundreds of tiny little shards. Ed was not sure how many hits this would count as if he got struck. He decided he would rather be safe, so he formed a protective light shield around himself to block all of the shards. He could feel the explosion rattle the shield and send him down onto the ground.

Shortly after, he let down the shield. But out from behind, the golem came and struck him in the chest, right after he dropped it. Putting him out with the third hit.

The golem walked back to the center, and Ed sat on the side, taking off his mask.

“You did… alright. I suppose,” Auranna said beside him. “You’ll need to perform in the next two tests, though. For sure.”

“Eugh,” Ed groaned, falling onto his back and lying down.

“Hey, Ed!” Adelyn said. “We’ve got this. I wasn’t expecting that golem to be so tough too, so I think we did well!”

“Thanks.”

Adelyn’s words were encouraging, though Ed still felt a little bit disappointed. It was hardly a standout performance, just a solid one. Hopefully he’ll do well in the next tests.