The Fourth Beast

21

A Different Beginning

V

Elemental Academy

4th Month

"I can see that every one of you wants to give your absolute all in the upcoming tournament. That is why, for the next two months, classes and assignments will be reduced by half. I expect all of you will utilize that time well."

The excitement in the auditorium rose again. Sona was no different. But to be fair, Sona looked to her side where Rias was sitting, she and her childhood friend knew about the tournament. So, the surprise element was lost to them.

While her eldest sister Serafall was not subtle about it, at least, she only told Sona the bare minimum. Thank the Satan for that. And as far as she knew, Rias' case was the same.

Yes, they knew that the tournament was to take place soon. A tournament where students were to group up and compete against others. A tournament where their values would be shown in front of the whole supernatural world. A tournament to see who was the best of the best out there from their generation.

What came as a surprise to Sona was how the gap between the devil students and students from other factions was handled. The 'Evil Pieces' the devil students possessed gave them an unfair advantage. She knew that the best approach would be to give something similar to the other students, a tool that would give them a power boost similar to the Evil Pieces. But she knew it was not easy. While the method sounded simple, implementation was another matter since there would be controversies if certain factions followed the Devil Faction's method. So, the other method, which she thought would be the way to go, would be to somehow put a 'lock' on their Evil Pieces during the tournament. A method, she was sure that not a single devil student would like.

But she just found herself proven wrong. Their principal, Khaoss, just announced that the 'Boost Pieces' would be given out to the non-devil students after they confirm their groups. But what took her by surprise was how transparent and direct their principal was. In front of all the students, he admitted that the idea was inspired by the Evil Pieces and so he asked the creator of the Evil Pieces to help him out with an alternative for other students.

Of course, he also mentioned that both Boost Pieces and the Evil Pieces would be going through multiple thorough examinations before the tournament; which was understandable.

"Before I conclude this session," Hearing his voice, Sona looked at their principal, "I want to inform all of you that from now on until the end of the tournament, I will personally oversee the security of the event as well as the whole campus."

The meaning was not lost, not to Sona at least.

The campus of Elemental Academy was a combination of multiple floating islands. There was a large island in the middle where all the academic buildings were situated, surrounded by smaller islands that were used as dorms. Then, there were a few islands slightly far away where special activities would take place. As for the dorms, each dorm as well as the islands they were on was supervised only by their faction. Under normal circumstances, Khaoss would not intrude but it seemed like these upcoming few months would be different.

"But not difficult," Sona then subconsciously looked at Riser's group, "At least for some of them."

The auditorium became noisy again as their principal left. Sona stood up and looked at her childhood friend. She sighed mentally when she saw the determined look in Rias' eyes as she scanned the auditorium. Of course, just a glance told Sona that the competitive spirit was quite high amongst her fellow students but some had it more so than others. And Rias was one of them.