As Sylvester was conversing with WIlliam and Letisia a bright flash of light interrupted their exchange similar to how they were taken to the arena at the start of the event. Once his vision cleared, Sylvester saw that he was once again inside the coliseum where the orientation and his trial took place.

Upon looking around he could see ghostly figures lined up in the seats, filling up the arena. Immediately he began looking for his team mates and was surprised that he couldn’t find them.

“Oh yeah. we aren’t registered as a team so technically only I won.” Sylvester said as he scratched his head.

“Now what?” He said as another flash of light appeared before him that brought about the arrival of the man behind this entire skit; Leonardo Da Vinci.

The headmaster now donned an attire similar to what you would expect a host of your average variety game show would wear.

Sporting a white suit with a red bow tie, surprisingly, the monocle on his left eye was still present and his rainbow colored long hair simply added to the overall feel.

He smiled at Sylvester before breaking into a loud voice.

“Congratulations to the winner of this year’s festival of the beginning!” He declared as he held out his hand towards Sylvester.

“He’s doing that on purpose isn’t he?”

Sylvester then shook the headmaster’s hand and smiled at him in return before giving his own reply.

“Thank you Headmaster. It was a pretty fun ride if I say so myself.” he said in a cheeky manner to which Leonardo only laughed in reply.

“Now then.” He paused as he looked at Sylvester with a knowing look. “I suppose you would want to get your friends here with you before you get your rewards right?” The headmaster said in a playful tone.

“Yes. I would like that. One or two of them might be starting to get impatient already. The other one doesn’t really care and is pretty chill.” His words somehow manage to tickle Leonardo’s funny bone as he laughed heartily.

“Ah yes, I could see that.” He replied. “Now, without further adieu, here are the people that helped Sylvester as a team despite registering as individual participants!”

Leonardo waved his hand and then 3 flashes of light flared up beside Sylvester, all lined up into one neat row. And just like the group of four were reunited.

While Rossa and Estelle maintained their composure, Artian immediately started talking without much thought.

“Finally!” He shouted. “And here I was thinking I got conned.” Artian jokingly said as he looked at Sylvester.

“Hey, I’m a magician not a con artist!” He replied in a similar tone.

“What’s the difference?”

Sylvester then shot a sharp glance at Artian, squinting his eyes while smiling.

“Touche.”

Sylvester and Artian then burst into a fit of laughter.

“Ahem.” Rossa then interjected, grabbing the attention of both Artian and Sylvester. “The two of you do realize that the entire campus is watching us at the moment right?” She asked, trying to prevent the duo from goofing around.

“Yeah yeah we know.” Artian replied in a dismissive tone.

“Wait, what’s up with Estelle?” Sylvester asked as he saw her standing so straight and almost unmoving. It was like she was imitating Rossa’s poise and failing at it horribly,looking like a frigid robot in comparison.

It didn’t help that her attire wasn’t the most graceful looking things you could find.

“Ughh, she needs more practice.” Rossa could only sigh in defeat.

“I see you that your four are quite close already huh? Well that’s a good thing.” Leonardo then commented as it seems that the four young people he called forth forgot that he was even there in the first place.

“Well, uh. Hmm I guess you could say that right?” Sylvester asked as he looked at his group.

“As for the spell points rewards, you will all receive 1500 pts each. You can either go straight to the Chambers after this or contact me via the twins so I can bring you all there at a later date.” Leonardo explained.

“Sweet! Let’s go there before we eat lunch, I don’t wanna go there while full. Now can we just get this over with? It looks like Estelle isn’t gonna last much longer.” Artian replied as he pointed at Estelle’s every pitiful presentation.

“Ah, you’re right.” Sylvester then turned around to face Leonardo.

“Can I ask for that rule bending reward now?” He asked.

“Sure, go ahead young man.” Leonardo replied.

“I would like to create my own magic organization and for it to be recognized as a legitimate one and of course all three of them would be members effective immediately.” He declared.

“I see.” Leonardo smiled as he walked in front of the four of them. “But before it could be “recognized” your organization needs a name first.”

“Ah that makes sense.” He then turned to face his friends once more, as if asking for approval. It would seem that the 3 of them already had a hunch on what he was planning and nodded in turn.

"Do as you wish." Rossa said with a bossy yet consenting tone.

“Oh well.” Sylvester shrugged.

“From now on, we would like to be known as the Magician’s troupe!” Sylvester declared in a loud voice.

---

Those who lost during the festival were sent back to their organizations, and if they were a solo entry with no affiliation, they would simply be brought back to where they were prior to being pulled into the 4 quadrant arena.

Inside the elegant walls of the two storey Clarentum inquisitor base of operations, a group of four people hung their heads low as they watched the awards ceremony from their ID screens. Letisia and her team had bitter and remorseful expressions on their faces as they heard Sylvester’s request to the headmaster.

Letisia herself was silent and almost unmoving, until moments later she finally decided to lift her head up and face her teammates.

“I.” Letisia’s voice trailed off, but she immediately gathered her wits and forced herself to continue. Someone of her stature is expected to display something called grace in defeat.

“I apologize for losing at the very end. It would seem my strength just wasn’t enough.” She declared in a very defeated voice. Admitting defeat after all was something very difficult.

“No please my lady!” Frieda immediately replied. “It is not your fault. Our enemies were just too strong.” She said.

“Frieda is right lady Letisia.” Ronald then joined Frieda’s side.

“We were unlucky to have faced people far above our league. It was frustrating to feel so helpless in the face of an overwhelming strength.” Josef said as he clenched his fists.

This was a feeling Letisia knows all too well. No matter how they twist it, the representatives of the Clarentum Inquisitors suffered a devastating loss. While it was insignificant in the grand scheme of things, the damage to their pride would make them question themselves.

As the four of them continued to lament on their performance, Clarence then walked into the main hall of their headquarters.

Letisia and her followers immediately noticed this and stood up as they prepared to greet the student leader of the Clarentum Inquisitors.

But before they could say anything, Clarence gestured for them to sit back down as a serious expression could clearly be seen present on his face.

They immediately knew what their leader had to say for them.

Glancing at them one by one, Clarence let out a sigh before he addressed the elephant in the room.

“I’m sure you all know why I am here, but contrary to what you may think I am not here to chastise you, since you all already experienced a very crushing and one sided loss that whatever I say will understandibly not match it.” He declared.

At this point, all four of them felt even more pathetic that they did before. Imagine being so pitiful that your leader could not even come up with the words he needed just to reprimand you.

It was a unique kind of depressing emotion, but Clarence’s next words were not what they expected.

“Now, with that said. After that embarrassing loss, you should have realized one thing. You realized that you are all still very weak.” He continued.

“However, you should hold on to that feeling in your heart. Hold on to that frustration. Use it to get stronger. Use it to give you the strength to push forward so that one day you may reclaim that lost pride.” Clarence declared, much to the surprise of Letisia.

It was as if Clarence was trying to cheer them up in his own very uptight way.

“Remember what I said. The end justifies the means. If this loss is going to be the catalyst for your growth so be it! All that matters is the result at the far end. Your fight only starts now, are we clear? Now hold your head high and answer!” Clarence demanded

Almost immediately Letisia and everyone else straightened their backs and stood up with their chins slightly upward as if to declare that they have regained their confidence. Letisia then looked Clarence in the eye before giving her response.

“Yes! I understand!” She declared in a loud voice, an action that the rest of her group mirrored.

---

Elsewhere, in another part of Inanis Orbis. Inside a large barracks like structure, another group was wallowing in post defeat depression as William, Mary, Julia, and Sharn laid down against the fur rugs that were scattered about the main hall of their headquarters.

They didn’t even bother watching the awards ceremony live stream as they still couldn’t completely wrap their heads around what they had just gone through.

William’s encounter with Sylvester was one thing, but Mary and the rest of the girls’ went through something arguably worse. Their battle with Rossa was something you could classify as traumatizing.

It was their first time seeing a 4 line spell and unfortunately, they were at the receiving end of it.

As the four of them continued to stare at the ceiling, Julia suddenly began to speak, breaking the long and heavy silence that filled the room.

“Hey guys?” She asked.

“Yes? Julia?” Mary replied with her still focused on the ceiling above them.

“I think I now know what people mean when they say blinding light.” She said in a monotone and defeated voice.

“Yeah I understand.” Mary replied in a similarly defeated manner. William continued to lay there silently until he heard heavy footsteps entering the hall.

As the four of them lazily sat up to see who it was, their mind was then sent into a panic as they realized that their guest was none other than Victor Mandeme. Despite the loss, Victor didn’t seem to lose his very charismatic smile as he walked towards William and the rest.

The four then stood up and couldn’t decide whether they wanted to salute or just hide in a corner as they shook about in a very panic stricken frenzy. Victor however simply laughed at their actions and told them to settle back down as he too sat on the floor in front of them.

“Now, now don’t be worked up. I’m not here to scold you!” He declared, but before he could continue William then interrupted him.

”I’m sorry for losing!” He suddenly declared with his head hung low. “I’m sorry for letting you all down even though you guys put so much faith in me. I’m so sorry.” William blurted out, almost in tears.

“William.” Mary gently said as she stretched out her hand to pat his back.

“Why the long face?” Victor suddenly asked. “It’s not the end of the world, it was all just a simple game. You win some, you lose some, that’s how life works.”

“Now, I guess you have an idea of your own strengths and weaknesses so in reality you didn’t lose anything but gained something even more precious than spell points.” He then looked at William and gestured for him to look up.

“I told you, there is potential in you. Now, it is up to you to reach for it. May this festival be a lesson for all of you.” He then stood up. “This is only the beginning of your journey! Stand up and hold your head up high, there is more to come!” He declared.

William could not help but flash a genuine smile before he could give a reply.

“Yes! Thank you!”

And thus with new connections being forged and strengthened, the true purpose of the Festival of the beginning was fulfilled.

 

---

Author's note

Hi there. 

First of all, if you're reading this author note then I would like to thank you for sticking with my story for as long as you did. I myself didn't expect I would be able to write for this long since my urge to procrastinate is very strong. Nevertheless I pushed through and managed to pump out 62 chapters while maintaining a somewhat regular release. And now, we're heading towards the final arc of the volume! I really didn't think I would get this far, so I am little bit proud of myself.

Again, thank you all for sticking with my story and continuing to read (and hopefully enjoy) this world I have crafted. I know I still have a lot of stuff to learn and I still have a lot of stuff I want to write, so I hope you will all join me to throughout the rest of this journey.