"The annual compitition will be held in a few days. Everyone who is interested in participating needs to enroll for the compitition before the end of the day tomorrow." Xavier information everyone during the lunch time.
The whole dining hall was buzzing with energy and enthusiasm.
Many Inner and Outer group students wanted to show their progress and impress the masters.
After that days combat Training class, Xavier called all the Elite group of students and addressed them. "For all of you in the Elite group it's mandatory to participate. Except for Phoenix."
"What.....!!! Why.....???"
Phoenix was shocked and dumbfounded.
"Yeh..., Awesome....."
At the same time everyone else shouted in triumph and looked visibly relieved. They all knew how strong Phoenix was and now they were hopeful of having a chance to get their hand on the championship.
Xavier smiled and patted Phoenix's back. "You are too strong to attend this competition lad. Let others have a chance to get the Championship this time around."
Sighing deeply, Phoenix nodded his head in agreement begrudgingly, his face sullen and muttering curses under his breath
Over this period, all the Elite group of students had progressed drastically. After testing, Headmaster recently had announced that all the students in their group would develop their mana pool soon. This news motivated them to work extra hard and achieve new heights.
Similarly many students from the Inner and outer groups were also progressing at a tremendous pace but that was no way near to what the Elite group had achieved so far.
After the days training everyone went to cheer up Phoenix as he was still sulking. He had just sighed, cursed and looked adamant the whole day for not being able to participate in the upcoming tournament.
However no one can wipe the smiles of their face at the thought of not facing him in the event. This made him sulk even more.
"Cheer up you jerk. How can you expect anyone having a chance at winning against a monster like you. Even if all six of us teamed up together. You are acting like a 10 year old girl." Fred patted Phoenix's shoulder and said earning him glares from all the girls.
It took the entire class the whole afternoon to get Phoenix out of that mood and by the time all of them were having the Tea, Phoenix was back to his normal, smiling and loveable state.
....
" How am I going to test my strength or my progress if I am not competing with othere?" Phoenix was complaining to the great being in his dream.
The God of death. Yama. Who alway was depicted as a cruel, angry and glaring entity was smiling fondly at this young ones complaints. If other gods were to see this scene, their jaw would have dropped to the ground and their eyes popped out of their socket in shock and disbelief!!!
Ha ha ha..... The laughter of this being made the space itself shake.
Watching this seen, Phoenix felt somewhat good. "Don't worry child, you will face new challenges and will be able to understand your standing and the level of improvement you have achieded soon." Hearing this, Phoenix felt happy and they continued talking for a long time after that.
During the inital couple of times when this being came in Phoenix's dream, the headmaster had visited his living quarters without his knowledge due to the death aura he felt. But when he failed to detect anything out of the ordinary, he let it go and gradually he stopped bothering about it as the aura also got extremely thin.
The god of death observing the reaction around Phoenix when he appeared started to mask his aura.
Over this period of time, Phoenix gradually improved and was understanding other subjects better thanks to all his friends. And he in turn had helped them to improve in combat arts.
Not only the Elite group, he also was helping those who had requested him from both the other groups. This made his quite famous and likeable person.
Even the senior students were eger to have a sparring session with him due to the reputation that was built from all his monster hunt he carried out with the high level adventures and teachers during that year.
On the other hand, the resentment Logan Mason had towards Phoenix grew day by day. Unfortunately the assassins he had hired were unable to carryout their task as Phoenix never wondered alone out of the town. He was always accompanied by high level adventurers or his Masters or he was always surrounded by friends.
Before the start of the annual tournament, the first student of their batch broke the barrier and awakened his magical abilities.
He was not from the Elite group or even from the Inner group students. He was infact one of the most humble and hardworking teen from the outer student group who was constantly been bullied by Logan Morgan.
One day unable to bear the shame and the ridicule, he lost his temper and his mana burst out throwing Logan more than 10 meters away. Who almost peed in his pants at the murderous look in the boy Andy's eye.
Andy was taken away immediately by the teachers to the Headmaster's office to help him control his mana and help him start his cultivation journey.
To his surprise and delight, he was even promoted to Elite group and was given a seperate house with a beautiful courtyard.
The annual tournament was a lackluster one. The Elite students bulldozed almost all the other ones not just because they were considered as Elite's. The effort they had put and the time spent sparring and training with the best combat master and their friend Phoenix had yielded great results.
There were a few exceptional students who even being in the Outer and Inner groups had shown great potential and were able to face the Elite group students for more than 20 moves.
In the end, Fred from the Elite group came out victorious.
The year end assessment was held a week after the tournament. This was basically held to gage the improvement of the students and also to determine whether a student could be promoted or demoted from their existing group.
Andy who had missed the Annual combat tournament while stabilizing his core, took the anuall assessment and did pretty good in it. And was naturally considered for the Elite group.
The first year at the academy ended at a high note with all the exitement and expectations for many to get promoted from Outer and Inner groups to a higher one.
The result was to be announced on the final day of the academic year when the final year students would move out of the academy to start their own life.