Archangels of War

Who the hell slips cryptic messages unto someone else's weapon? I thought to myself as I stepped out of the Wand creation room, into a sort of testing facility. It was a room made out of completely silver metal. There were places to sit down and talk, as well as multiple racks of targets to test out magic. There were even multiple stations where you could duel specially engineered robots. It was sort of a double testing area. Where not only students could test their wands, but it was also a place for those in the engineering branch could test their inventions and developments.

I was still in a bit of shock as I walked over to one of the shooting targets that was fairly far; at around 10 meters away. Riko had said to consider it a present from the student council president. The message behind Suijin's action were quite clear. I brought my sword in front of me, giving myself a better look at the top of the handle. The pink heart seemed to smirk at me. "What about your heart?" I recalled Suijin's words from that day in the student council office. I doubt she's going to let up. I thought to myself. She was extremely similar to Kami in that manner. She would not let something go until she got the response she was looking for. 

"Cute, but it kind of looks out of placed on that long sword of pure black." A voice said from behind me. I turned my gaze to the side and noticed Nova's brown curls. I was the first one of the groups to get their wand done. When I turned around, I noticed Nova standing behind me with her arms crossed. At first, I couldn't actually see her wand. When she noticed, she smirked before holding out her right hand in front of her face. A gold ring with gems inside it that was the shape of a star sat on her ring finger. 

"It definitely is fitting." I said as I looked at the star shaped ring. Her name literally meant a star that suddenly increases its brightness. "That much cannot be said about mine, however." I sighed as I glanced down at my weapon. 

"Really? I get that the heart may seem out of place, but I don't exactly think that it's bad, or unfitting." Nova shared her opinion on my wand. "Besides, the actually look of the wand isn't even the best part." Nova stepped in front of me, aiming a finger gun she made with her left hand. I could feel the mana in the air beginning to swirl towards the tip of her finger as she charged up a spell. Grade C fire spell. I instantly recognized the spell type and its grade. 

Nova fired, and a streaming blast of flame erupted from the air in front of her finger. It traveled the distance towards the target quickly, and when it made contact, creating an explosion the size of the targets head. When the smoke cleared, there was a hole the size of an orange was created on the left side of the targets head. The blast had missed the bullseye in the center slightly. "Now, let's try it with the wand." 

Nova held out her hand once again and began to charge up the same spell. This time, there was a noticeable difference. Not just in the concentration of magic energy and flow of mana, but also just in the air. I could feel the air begin to heat up from where I stood, and the point near her finger was blurred in a haze of heat. Grade A fire spell. Just from using the wand alone a basic fire spell jumped up two whole grades. 

When she fired, a massive torrent of flame shot out and, in an instant, it crashed against the target. The target provided absolutely now resistance as the spell turned it into ash immediately, before continuing to travel until it contacted the back wall, which must have had some sort of magic nullifying properties, because the spell died out immediately. The light and shadows that had covered the area around us when she fired the spell died away. 

Both I and Nova's hair fluttered back to their neutral positions, after being launched into the air widely after the wind caused by the blast. I was impressed. "Exactly like a blazing hot supernova." I muttered under my breath, having been completely taken aback by the beauty of the fire I had just seen. Nova turned back to look at me with a sort of sad smile on her face. 

"Flattery? Doesn't work." She said jokingly. 

"It was a genuine compliment. Grade A spells are no joke." I reiterated that my statement was not as superficial as basic flattery. 

She nodded, turning her gaze to the ground. I could see the solemn but also disappointed look in her eyes. "If only that was good enough." 

"What makes you say that?" I might have come off as prying, but I really did want to hear more. It reminded me of that moment after her mock battle with Aura. I could read the expression on her face, and hear the disappointment in her voice, despite the amazing performance she put up. It could have just been that she was an overly competitive perfectionist, but there also could have been more. And if there was more, then...

I know that feeling all too well. 

Nova looked at me for a few seconds. After a prolonged silence that made me feel really awkward and consider apologizing, she spoke. "I have a goal." She said it with such conviction, that if she didn't take the time to explain anything else, I probably would have been able to get a good grasp on why she was so hard on herself. But she did continue to explain. "Something that I was told was impossible by all of my peers around me. Something that not even someone I idolized so much could achieve. I comparison her, I was almost pitiful. So, I wanted to become stronger in order to fill the shoes that were so unimaginably large." 

A feeling of disappointment because you aren't good enough. Especially when your being held in comparison to a seemingly unattainable perfection. It was something that I could understand. "So, you push yourself to do better than good and be better than the best at all times." I finished for her. Nova nodded. 

"Have you ever heard of. S-Rank abilities?" She asked me. 

I nodded. "It's based off the phenomenon of magical abilities, right? Just taken to such a level that it is considered unstoppable." I gave Nova my answer. 

Nova nodded. "Magical abilities are born from when a magician ties together multiple layered and connected lines of magic sequences, in order to create an effect. For example, famous magic knight from Europe, Julius. He makes use of multiple incineration spells that are layered together with light and sensory magic, in order to create an infinite number of automatic blades of light that -fight for him. i want to be able to create an S-rank ability like his. Thats one part of my goal. 

I nodded. The magic knight of legends, Julius of the Holy European empire. One of the few magicians in the entire world who were ranked above basic grades. They were considered, "World enders." Their power was fabled to be able to destroy the entire world if used for evil. The golden-haired knight in particular, was an extremely popular one, not only because of his good looks, but because of his legends. He was fabled to split the entire continent of Africa in half with just a wayward swing of his blade. He was also an extreme advocate for, "justice." 

"Thats more than just a tall task. Creating a magical ability itself is already one of the hardest things a Magician can attempt to do. But an S-rank spell? Thats nigh unattainable." I shared my realistic viewpoint of Nova's goal. 

"As unattainable as you believe justice is?" A voice from behind me said. We turned around to see Masayoshi and Erika approaching. I immediately took notice of their wands. Masayoshi's was a very unique one, being multiple rings on all ten of his fingers. Each one had a scale in the center. He also held a book under his arm. Erika's was a long Katana nearly identical to mine, albeit the sheath and blade handle were red instead of black. on the top of the handle of her blade, was a flame design. 

"As you can see, I thought that Raiden had a pretty cool Idea with the Katana, so I just copied him!" Erika shouted as she began to flaunt her wand. Masayoshi looked from my blade to hers. 

"You two seem to be on the same wavelength." I seriously hoped that wasn't his attempt at a compliment. 

"Your wand seems to be pretty unique. What exactly was your vision, or inspiration?" Nova asked. 

"Kurapika, from Hunter X Hunter. However, I decided to ditch the chains for the book, to emulate a bit of Chrollo." Masayoshi name dropped some Hunter X Hunter characters. I wasn't caught up, so I extracted myself from Nova and Masayoshi's conversation, as they began to discuss the latest chapter. 

As I moved away, Erika followed me, muttering something about, Spoilers. Then she turned to me and took a good look at me weapon. She then smiled as she seemed to get an idea. "Hey Raidennnnnnnn?" 

From her tone of voice to the way she stretched out my name as she called me, I knew something bad was going to happen. "Yes?" 

"I challenge you to a duel!"