<< CESKY TRELEWN >>

Cesky watches Fon, as she entangles herself from Ayin. Fon is looking at him bitterly, and Ayin looks suspicious. His expression tells her as if he is expecting to be abused soon. But Cesky cannot help but notice, that somehow, Ayin enjoys the congratulatory hug as well. Is he, perhaps, admiring her even when he's always suffering from her taunts?

"One point for Ayin!" Jayden announces.

Then Cesky realizes that everyone is quiet. Who wouldn't be? It was Fon who did that embrace. The infamous frozen, heartless witch in the entire Freya Academy. However, she found out today that she is not as heartless as she thought she is.

Cesky looks around at the shocked faces of most Freya students. Understandable, Ayin is a heartthrob for them. Maybe, Fon did that because she wants to enrage his fans? She thought for a while, that's impossible. She might be a prodigy witch, but she doubts, she already knows the matters of the heart. Too bad for Ayin though, he'll be in a lot more abuse before she realizes that.

Then, when she sees Sven's flustered face, she wants to take back her thoughts. I wonder who that little girl is crushing on.

Then, Cesky grins. Her eyes search for Rissa among the spectators. She is glowing and crying at the same time. Another romance-insensitive girl.

Her thoughts are interrupted when Jayden breaks the silence. "To explain the barrier created by Fon. It is something that can only be broken by three attacks given a minimum amount of magick."

"What?" Cesky heard Sven exclaim.

Cesky shares that surprise. If only she attacked three times without giving up, she would be able to break it. She smiles. Seems like Fon also notes her opponents' mentality. She's assuming that Fon created the barrier to test the state of mind of each candidate. She is even fair enough to set the minimum amount of magick to that of Ayin's full magick, to give him a fighting chance at least. And that only means that Fon knows exactly the amount of magick each candidate has.

"Let's continue with Cesky," Jayden declares. He gestures for her to take the center of the grounds. "The other candidates will copy the object that Cesky will create. Whoever can clone it first will win this round."

Then some student assistants come into the grounds and place two tables in the middle. Cesky goes behind one table and then activates her magick.

Within a minute, she is able to present a vase with intricate designs. It had at least twenty different objects in it. She looks around the faces of the crowd. They all look surprised. Creating an object with twenty attributes that is not intrinsic to a vase, in under a mere minute, is nothing short of amazing.

A few minutes after, Fon walks toward her. She passes Ayin and says to him, "Looks like Cesky wanted you to win. But I told you, one win is enough for you." It's something that Ayin responds with a scowl.

When Fon faces her, she places the cloned vase on the other table. A few minutes after, Ayin did the same. It's clear that Ayin's craft is more identical to what she did but unfortunately, the task focuses on speed.

"One point for Fon," Jayden says. "Most of you won't be able to see this but Cesky used glamour to hide the fact that this vase only has three attributes attached. Creating an object with at least 20 attributes in a minute is still a miracle to this day. But seems like Fon and Ayin saw through it."

Cesky watches Sven as she narrows her eyes and focuses her magick on her vase. As Jayden revealed, the vase only has three attributes. Glamour is the ability to hide things or create illusions and Cesky is an expert on it. The problem is, that even if Sven uses Restoration, studying the composition of the vase will take over five minutes. Since Sven is known to be a prodigy of the Kleinfeld clan. It will probably take her three minutes before she could manage to clone her vase.

Cesky continues to observe Sven who is sighing and looking at her sister on the judges' table on a platform. However, Myrielle Kleinfeld is looking down on parchment. She seems to be writing on it as well. With her sister busy, Sven looks at the male aberrant. He is smiling with his hands stretched towards her. His thumb is pointing up. I'm not sure what it means though, only that Sven is happy about it.

"Next we have, Sven Kleinfeld."

Sven walks to the center and starts drawing a circle on the ground. She places a lizard in the center and starts to chant. Sealing circles is an archaic form of magick. Almost no one knew how to use and create it. It's not even taught in Freya Academy.

"Sven will seal a lizard and the other candidates must break the seal. Anyone who will be able to break the seal must recreate the seal with the unhurt lizard inside. Who is going to try first?" Jayden asks.

After a moment of silence, Fon comes forward and volunteers, "I'll do it. I'm not sure if I can get the chant right, but let me try."

Sven's magick peaks. Cesky knows that she already set the seal. She watches Fon plays around with the seal. She goes around it as if in deep thought. Then, she kneels in front. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When her eyes open again, she pushes her magick against the edge of the drawing.

It takes only a minute. When Fon's magick subsides, the lizard gets out of the sealing circle. It also looks unhurt by the magick that Fon placed on it. Then, Fon catches the lizard with her bare hands, something that she shivers in disgust, and places it back within the circle.

Fon's chants start. It sounds almost the same as how Sven chanted it a few minutes before. This time, it takes her longer than breaking the seal. Yet, the lizard is still properly sealed. Fon might have browsed through the restricted section of the Freya Academy's library.

Sven's sighs are too obvious. Sven might not know it, but Fon is not only a witch with an inexhaustible amount of magick. Fon is also a hardworking one because if that's all she is, then Fon will never be her rival.

Jayden continues, "Since this is an ancient form of magick, I presume no one else can complete this?"

No one answers.

"Well then, one point again for Fon. Let's continue with Prim," Jayden announces.

Prim takes the center of the ground and applause is heard again.

"Prim will transport an object from the center to the edge of the ground. This task requires teamwork. Each of the candidates must be able to balance their magick with everyone in the group. Whoever that will be cut last by the connection will be the winner of this round." Jayden explains.

All five of the candidates walk to the center and hold hands. A crystalline object is set in the center that will serve as a focal point where every magick will connect and converge.

Cesky prepares herself. If Fon is feeling generous, then she will allow the other participants to slowly separate from the crystal object. If not, then she will let her magick burst through and all the rest will simultaneously drop to the ground. Their magick depleted yet, Fon will still have a lot to spare. Is Prim really thinking about this challenge?

"Start!" Jayden signals.

But at the same time, Myrielle shouts a, "Stop!"

A/N: See you next chapter!