Diagnostic

Ten students sit in the half empty classroom, waiting for their teachers to arrive. They talk among themselves in the meantime. One among them, a dark-skinned, light-haired grinning youth, is guiding the conversation.

“Alright, I’ve got one. So here’s the plan: Levo, when they walk in, you force them down. Then, Victoria, you take their heads.” A boy with a downturned gaze answers with a wavering voice.

“I… I don’t think that’s… a very smart idea…” A girl with silver hair and a sword at her waist concurs with him.

“Indeed. I will not aid you in such a worthless task, and I will not shame my family. And neither should you, Callidus.”

“Don’t be so boring! I was just making conversation! Come on Castor, you get it!” A blue haired boy looks at Callidus.

“What? I haven’t been listening to you.”

“See Victoria!” He claps. “C’mon then, who’s up next? Theo, how should we greet the fine teachers!?” The boy with round glasses and brown hair doesn’t look up from his textbook. “Bah! That’ll never work!” Callidus stands up and walks over to lean onto another desk. In front of him is a girl with long white hair, white eyes, and intensely pale skin. “What about you, Ms. Sidus?” Her eyes flash with light.

“No comment.” Callidus smiles.

“It’ll go that badly? Well, carpe diem, I suppose!” Victoria chastises her.

“Stella, don’t waste energy on a fool like him. You’ll only encourage him.” Stella covers her mouth and silently laughs. Meanwhile, Callidus takes a seat, but rather than where he already sat, he sits next to a boy with bright, multi-colored hair.

“What are you thinking, Lucky?”

“I feel like my luck will take a turn…”

“Another auspicious sign, it seems.”

“Well then, Flamma, Flos, either of you got something?” A girl with golden hair answers him.

“Nothing comes to mind.” A boy with pale teal hair also answers him.

“I think that no matter what we do it’ll go badly. I mean, look at where we are.”

“I don’t think it’ll go well either! And don’t worry Favonius, I didn’t forget, I just don’t care.” A boy with pale green hair answers.

“What?! I’m sure I could come up with something!”

“‘Oh, I’ll blow a pleasant breeze on them just as they walk in’ come on man!”

The sliding door at the front of the classroom slams open loudly. All the students are startled. Gracia walks into the room. However, Libarius does not follow after her. She turns back when she realizes, fast enough for her to hear his trailing voice down the hall.

“Come now, everyone, let us take to the field.”

Gracia steps back into the classroom, still unsure of how to behave. The students look at her inquisitively. The students have clearly figured out that she cannot be much older than they are, yet while they sit in their black uniforms, mimicking the designs used in the military, Gracia clearly isn’t. Callidus asks the question, almost accusatorily.

“Who are you? Why are you here?” Gracia is caught off-guard by the sudden question, her mind still racing from Libarius’ sudden action.

“G-good morning. I’m Gracia Vis, and I’ll be your teacher.”

“Hah! There’s no way you can teach us! And aren’t there supposed to be two of you?” Gracia ignores the first part entirely.

“Well… The other one… he left.” Victoria slams her fist down into the desk in front of her and stands.

“How ridiculous! One teacher barely beyond us and another not even here? What a joke! How deeply does this place look down at us!”

“Ah, no, I said that he left, but he did say that we should join him at the training yard…” her voice grows quiet. “…I think.”

Gracia leads the ten students to the closest training yard. She sighs from the relief of seeing Libarius, though he stands with both his hands on his cane, as though irritated to be kept waiting. He looks to the group, Gracia at the front.

“Ah, Gracia, at last you’ve rallied them and brought them here.” He begins to walk towards the students. “Allow me to illuminate your current situation, if you have happened to forget. You all are but whelps barely weaned off their mother’s milk, nipping at our heels; babes capable of nothing more than copying the master. To remind you of your place, I have arranged for a diagnostic exam. It is a simple one, simply cast a spell at the targets.” Castor responds first.

“I can’t use offensive magic, only barriers.” Libarius grins.

“Ah, how fascinating. You’ll make a worthwhile subject. Allow yourself to be studied.”

“No, I mean, how am I supposed to do the test?”

“Make a barrier, preferably one without an incantation.” Castor obliges him. Libarius grabs hold of his cane and swings it at Castor, breaking the barrier in a single blow and sending the end of his cane flying. “Far too weak. Gracia, can you repair my cane?”

Gracia can hardly believe what he had just done. Not just the insanity of him swinging at a student within minutes of meeting, but that a person could just break a barrier so easily. Even if the students of the Magic Institutes are only students, not nearly strong enough for something like the Magic Corps, they still should beat the average knight without much difficulty. Gracia runs over to grab the rest of the cane, then joins the two parts together with a simple spell. She turns to face the students, still shocked into silence.

“Ah, then, as the rest of you use your spells, can you also introduce yourselves?” Castor snaps out of the trance he found himself in, having just witnessed his barrier fall down around him.

“Ah! Well… My name is Castor Aegis, one of the class representatives.” Libarius ignores him as Stella approaches him and Gracia. What catches his eye is the curse cast on her, one even stronger than his own.

“I’m in the same position; I am an oracle. My name is Stella Vidi Sidus” Libarius scoffs.

“How drab. What a thoroughly uninteresting thing; any could cast such a simple spell, if only they were allowed. And beyond that triteness, you fail to even prophesy properly.” He looks past her, at the rest of the students. “Well then, I hope the rest of you can cast your spells properly, and perhaps then you can even stave off my boredom some.” Stella doesn’t know how to respond. Callidus, meanwhile, has grown angry. He rushes forward. He already stands taller than Libarius. His cheery disposition has given way.

“Hey, bastard, stop looking down at us! I’ll show you a spell, you—!” Libarius hits Callidus on the ankle with his cane, just a light tap that will hardly leave an injury, but enough to shut him up.

“You will go last. If you dislike me so much, then show me that you’re undeniable.” Callidus can’t say anything back. Libarius’ face and tone hadn’t changed at all. And in a mere moment, he has already stopped looking at Callidus.

At that, the rest of the students begin to cast their spells, Libarius commenting on each one.

“I am Victoria Ensis, eldest daughter of the Ensis family.” She approaches a target and cuts through it with a magical sword made of fire.

“Too straightforward and utterly dull.”

“My name is Favonius Caelum.” He shoots a burst of wind forward, rattling the target.

“Far too lacking in force. Utterly dull.”

“I’m Theo Usus. I can’t cast spells.”

“To think that there would be a greater lack than the cursed one. Utterly dull.”

“Ah, I-I’m Lucky Fors.” He shoots off a small bullet made of magic power.

“A spell so basic it’s among the first a mage must learn, yet still it is so unrefined. Utterly dull.”

“I’m Flamma Fulmen.” She shoots an arcing bolt of electricity at the target.

“Far too simple. Utterly dull.”

“My name is Flos Gelu.” He shoots a pointed shard of ice through the target.

“Far too small. Utterly dull.”

“Ah, I’m Levo Gravis.” After several seconds, the target is forced into the ground.

“Far too slow. Utterly dull.” At last Callidus’ turn comes. He glares at Libarius.

“I am Callidus Mercurius! And I’ll definitely shut you up, bastard!” He shoots off a stream of fire, scorching the target, clearly quite a bit stronger than his classmates. Before the stream of fire even begins to dissipate, Libarius walks up next to him.

“Utterly dull. Talent and resources yet this is the extent; such a weak spell does not befit you.”

Libarius casts the same spell as Callidus. However, rather than a simple flame, it dances through the air. It slithers its way forward, as though it were a serpent made of flames. The serpent crashes down, consuming the target and Callidus’ own fire both.

Callidus is taken aback. He tastes the bitterness of defeat watching himself be showed up so totally. He never knew there could be such a gap between the same spell. He had been forced to be quiet. Forced to remember his place. And yet, looking at the large smile on Libarius’ face, there’s only a single thought in his mind.

“Ah, so that’s what it means to be undeniable.”