“What do you mean by partner? Her?” Sylvester asked while rudely pointing towards the silent new arrival.

“Yes! The headmaster decided to have the S-rank trails be done in pairs this time around.” Nitri replied.

“But why? He didn’t mention anything about pairing up earlier.” He continued his inquiry.

“We don’t know. We are simply following his instructions.” Tinri answered. “Now, please introduce yourselves to each other as a means of formality.”

“Ughhh, but I wanted a solo gig!” Sylvester complained inwardly.

With a deep sigh, Sylvester resigned and then stretched out his right hand inviting for a hand shake.

“Hi there, the name’s Sylvester Clearsight, a soon to be great magician. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He said in a well mannered tone.

The silver haired Rossa however didn’t give any sort of response to his gesture. She silently stared at his outstretched hand and then moved her cold and judgemental gaze to his face.

“What? Is there something on my face? Or did she get captivated by my oh so handsome mug?.” Sylvester joked to himself.

As things started to get a little awkward Rossa grabbed the sides of her long cloak lifting it just by barely a centimeter. She then placed her left foot behind her and slowly bent her knees to lower her body with her eyes still fixated on Sylvester.

“Rossa Argentum.” A dignified voice came from her mouth as she introduced her name.

“Huh, and here I was thinking she was mute.” Sylvester’s rude remarks continue to echo in his head.

“The pleasure is also mine.” She continued her greeting as she raised herself back again, shooting another ice cold glare towards the young magician.

“Uwaaah! What is this? Did I offend her? Is she telling me to stay out of her way or something? Wait a minute, she can speak english?” His thoughts jumped from one topic to topic, finding a reason for that soul piercing chill and a little baffled that the outworlder can speak a local tongue.

However he stood his ground and stared back with a cheeky grin of his own.

“Excellent, now that you are done with the formalities, please stand in front of the door and enter when it opens. The headmaster will give you further instructions inside.” Tinri said, interrupting Rossa and Sylvester’s staring contest.

Upon hearing those words, Sylvester jerked his head to face the twins again. “Headmaster?”

“Yes. The headmaster is the one overseeing the S-rank trials.” Nitri explained.

“Oh well.” he replied as Rossa took up her position and was now standing in front of the large grey door. Without another word Sylvester then immediately followed and positioned himself about one meter to the side of Rossa.

“It looks like our extra dimensional visitor princess is one of THOSE types huh.” He said to himself as he steeled himself for whatever is coming.

For some reason, he decided to steal one quick glance at his partner and was drawn once again to her eyes. They were now silently staring at the black grey door, yet it doesn’t seem Rossa is entirely there.

She seemed to be looking far into the distance completely out of focus, and yet there was a faint fire in those blank eyes.

“Just like before, sadness. But now there’s something else, what is it?” He thought to himself as the door in front of them slowly opened. Rossa began to move forward, completely oblivious to Sylvester’s inner musings.

As she moved forward and her eyes left Sylvster’s point of view, he could see for a split second. Rossa’s eyebrows furrowed, her pupils constricted.

“Oh, so it’s anger now. No, maybe frustration?” Sylvester then followed Rossa through the giant door.

A great space lay beyond the large door, yet it seems familiar. The rising seats in the distance looked more like a flight of stares and the familiar blue sky. They were now back in the coliseum from yesterday, but now the ground seems to be made from solid grey stone-like material instead of see-through glass.

“Please move to the center of the coliseum.” A familiar voice commanded from behind causing both Rossa and Sylvester to turn their heads and saw the twins standing behind them.

With only the sound of their footsteps echoing throughout the venue, they moved towards the middle in relatively awkward silence as Rossa completely focused on what was in front of her and Sylvester was busy looking around and inspecting the surroundings.

Suddenly, light particles started appearing out of nowhere. Gathering at a small point and slowly growing into a large rainbow colored ball, spinning violently while illuminating everything like a disco ball.

The large ball of light then exploded into a flashy torrent of light and from the figure of the headmaster emerged, still wearing the laurel wreath and the roman tunic. He adjusted his monocle for a bit and squinted his eyes as if inspecting the pair below.

“Ah!” Shouting as if he was caught off guard doing something he shouldn’t, he began to compose himself into his usual demeanor.

“Welcome to the S-rank trials! I’m sorry about that, this thing was a little out of focus.” The headmaster began another speech.

“First of all I would like to congratulate the both of you for qualifying for the most difficult trial!” He praised the two who were standing before him.

“Students like you are quite the rarity, and I was surprised that we actually had a total of four students who managed to make the cut. What a wonderful start this is for your batch!” The headmaster continued to ramble.

“Four?” Sylvester thought as he slightly tilted his head to side while placing his index finger and thumb under his chin. “Huh, I wonder who the other two are.”

“Usually, trials involve doing tasks like solving a puzzle or finding an item hidden in the academy. But this year I thought it would be best to do something more straightforward for the S-rank trial.” The headmaster continued.

“Tch, this is a waste of time.” Rossa clicked her tongue and complained in a low voice. She grows impatient with each word the headmaster says.

Sylvester however simply smiled in amusement. Taking joy in hearing the headmaster’s oddly entertaining rambling.

“So this year the trial will be..!” The Headmaster gestured and the sound of drum rolls suddenly filled the coliseum.

“Trial by combat!” The headmaster exclaimed while stretching his arms far and wide.

“Trial by combat huh? That’s as straightforward as you can get.” Sylvester said as he stretched his arms. “Seems like I’ll be doing some morning exercise today.” He continued while Rossa still only stood there in silence.

“Now, let me introduce you to your opponent.” The headmaster declared now with a hint of seriousness in his voice.

“Please look up at the sky, both of you.” He said as he pointed his index finger upwards.

Sylvester and Rossa looked up and saw a bright object cruising through the sky and it was headed towards them at high speeds.

Without a moment’s notice, the pair pumped mana into their legs allowing them to move out of harm’s way relatively easy.

This technique is called “Mana fortification”. It allows the user to enhance their strength and speed to a noticeable degree but is weak compared to any strength or speed enhancing spells or potions. It is however useful for quick maneuvers where one would find themselves not having enough time to cast a spell.

The object then crashed into the coliseum causing a loud and deafening bang, a shockwave released upon the moment of impact. Large plumes of dust and debri were shot high into the air as Sylvester and Rossa were pushed back even further.

A large figure was now emerging from the crater, it’s more intricate details obscured by the smoke formed from dust particles blown out by the crash landing.

Suddenly, the voice of the headmaster was heard once again.

“I present to you, series number 4 of golem designed specifically for training exercise-”

Sylvester wanted to pay attention to the headmaster, but he faintly heard his partner mumbling something to herself under her breath when he sensed a surge of mana coming from her direction.

All of a sudden a bright glow came from Rossa’s left hand.

“What the?” The headmaster and Sylvester said in unison as they looked on in disbelief at what the visitor from another world was doing.

“Piercing spear of Light!” Rossa’s voice echoed in the coliseum as the light she was emanating shifted and formed itself into a vaguely spear-like shape, energy pulsating from it like white arcs of electricity.

Without warning she threw the spear of light into the position of the object that was still obscured in smoke. And with that, a second violent explosion erupted in the coliseum as Sylvester and the headmaster continued to look on in confusion.