Chapter 304: Diagnostic (1/2)
In a broad, expansive dome-like area, a massive door automatically opened from a tunnel, and from that tunnel emerged an entire group of young adults not in their usual uniform, led at the head by a tall, tanned, smiling man.
As they entered, they were dazzled by the blinding light, before the entire room came into view…
They all felt utterly dwarfed. The dome itself was the size of dozens of football fields and spanned hundreds of meters in height. The walls were black with purple tinges, matching the entire aesthetic of the school, rows and rows of benches were seen all around them protected by a green energy dome keeping off any possible attack at bay, of course completely empty.
Most people in the class, including Moby, looked absolutely stunned, while others seemingly could not care any less or were too nervous to react. To Moby, it seemed like the room was similar to that of his future father-in-law's arena, only on a far, far larger and grander scale.
”Okay class! Welcome to Arena D2 of elite school!” Professor Zave motioned wide with his hands, a slight echo being heard from his voice. ”You all have chosen to do the training first and skip the lecture, which is actually quite surprising… Every year, people chose the lecture to save face, but it seems like all of you are quite eager to show me what you're made of!”
The entire class simply stared firmly back at him with determined eyes, even the nervous ones immediately shifted at his words and mannerisms.
”Good! Now, first off, I need to get a good grasp of where you all are! One by one, show me all of your spirit modes!”
And just like that, the entire class stared wide-eyed once more, yet they did not want to talk back out of fear of losing points, which seemed to not surprise the professor at all.
”Like I said, spirit mode is no secret, you will be forced to use it all the time anyways! This is no time for such childish ideals! Now, once I call your name, you will demonstrate your spirit mode to me! Understood!?”
”...” The class remained deathly silent, trying to take in everything before they somewhat hesitantly responded all at once.
”YES SIR!”
”First! Irilim, it's your turn, show us your spirit mode. Don't worry, this is not a test, but a diagnostic. You have nothing to lose, now show me what you got!”
”YES SIR!”
She walked out of the crowd with her back straight, now standing between the teacher and all the students who were keenly looking in her direction.
She soon after closed her eyes and calmly took a deep breath, hints of red mana flowing all around her before it all exploded into a brilliant shine.
She completely changed, her previously pitch-black hair now had a rosy shimmer and undertone, masked by the light of her flapping, butterfly-like crimson wings. On her face, there were adornments and decorations of red aura, along with two antennas sprouting out. She finished her demonstration by flying around closely towards the ground before softly landing back on the arena floor, reverting to her base form.
”Hmmm,” Professor Zave nodded. ”Beautifully done Irilim! You can go back to your spot now!” He smiled at her.
”Thank you so much for your kind words professor,” She bowed deeply with a smile, her voice sounding slightly high pitched, raising her head and returning to her spot.
”Okay! Next! Rashford! You're up!”
”Yes sir!”
For the next ten minutes, students went by one by one, and Moby analyzed every single one of them. Indeed, he found them to be quite impressive, but only a few managed to really catch his eyes.
”Next! Moby Kane! You're up!”
That was when it was finally his turn. He hoped he would have been before everyone else, especially Artorias but he simply had to deal with it.
”Yes sir! Right away!” He shouted with passion, walking up to centre stage with all eyes keenly on him.
Just like everyone else, he closed his eyes and focused his energy. And, not too long after, energy began pouring and flowing all around him, one ominous, pitch black, and dark in nature.
The ground underneath him started trembling as the aura began to encircle his body, forming scaly armour, one both sharp and soft in nature.
Sharp black scales slowly crawled up his face and stopped sitting firmly under his eyes in a jagged state. The shoulder pads were not at all symmetrical, the right one being far more spiked than the other that looked very lacking in comparison.
The gauntlets were almost claw-like in nature, and were protected by pointed, layered metal rerebraces which sat loosely under the shoulder plates, entire chunks missing from the right side. On the chest was a massive, scaly chest plate that slightly protruded forward in an odd manner, far different in all areas, the non-symmetrical nature making it seem rather badly made.
His leggings fully matched his upper body, both in colour but also in its scaly, unpolished design. It was to the point that the left leg was completely missing a knee guard, and the right leg was missing vital areas in joints.
Taking a deep breath, Moby once again opened his eyes. And, the first thing he witnessed was the rather approving look of his professor who gawked at him with nearly star-like eyes, the most of any student so far. So, he couldn't help but smile.
But, that was when he turned around to face his class, and unsurprisingly, some of their faces were red, trying to hold something in.
That was when one of the boys completely broke…
”... … AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! What the hell is this shit!”
That initial outburst caused many other people to follow in his footsteps.
”His spirit mode looks like it's straight out of the ghetto!”
”PFFF! No! not even! It's so scuffed! I doubt that it's complete!”