Battle Academia (The original one)

Chapter 16: The Mirror Dimension

Sooner or later everyone had come to terms with the idea that Zoe was now a part of their team, despite their initial reactions. The girl was undoubtedly strong. Probably stronger than any of them. If she didn't have that cheerful attitude, she could probably demand fear. And Ezreal knew that very well.

For the past days the group had been gathering on an everyday basis and practiced their skills in the Battle Club classroom late at night. Thankfully, no one had realized what they did in order to stop them from violating school rules.

Katarina and Ezreal were mostly doing target practice on dummies while the others were trying to build up resilience and strength. Luxanna was already quite powerful but she lacked stamina. Her magic begun to fade after about half an hour of constant use.

Kayn was mostly shadow fighting and he seemed to be in peak condition, while Zoe was sitting around playing with her yo-yo. When they confronted the girl about not trying as hard as the rest of the team she simply dismissed them, claiming that THEY needed to practice more and order to even come close to her level. She was a (self-proclaimed) goddess after all.

As time passed, they would figure out one another's fighting styles, strengths and weaknesses. But time was up.

The six of them were sitting in the auditorium all lined up. Zoe had picked up the chance to snuggle up against Ezreal's shoulder. At this point he would just roll his eyes and leave her be. The atmosphere in the room was growing even more tense by the second as everyone was both excited and nervous for what was to come. The silence among the student body was deafening.

Tianna Crownguard had took the stage in front of them. A wooden door with weird symbols carved on it was placed behind her. Professor Graves was observing his students with a serious look on his face.

"What are those?", he heard Lux ask two seats away from him. Her batton was firmly clasped between her fingers.

"Wouldn't know, wouldn't really care", replied Katarina unphased.

"I think they're some sort of runic symbols", Ezreal said making the red haired girl to stare at him, seemingly pleading for more information.

"You've seen these before?", she asked.

"Well, I used to be fascinated by archeology as a kid, so.. I've done quite some research", he replied as modestly as he could. I've also stolen plenty of ancient artifacts but that's a story for another time. Maybe.

Principal Crownguard had been talking for a while now, but they had missed most of it while they were chatting with eachother.

They were the first team to be called up on stage. Hesitantly they stood up and walked over there with Sylas leading them.

"Are you the team leader?", Tianna Crownguard asked him. We don't really have a team leader but that's definitely not Sylas.

"Ahh no.. That's probably Luxanna", he replied scratching the back of his neck.

Luxanna seemed dumbfounded at his reply but Ezreal gave her a gentle push on her back to help her move to the forefront.

"I see", the principal said welcoming her niece closer to her and the wooden door.

He could feel the warmth surrounding him as they were making their way inside the door. At first, a cold gust of wind took them by surprise. It was too dark for him to see anything othen than Sylas' back leading the way.

Someone had grabbed his arm so as not to fall. He could tell from experience that they were walking through a cave. A glimmering light suddenly showed up so they followed it obediently. As they kept walking down a narrow path he felt as though he was being a embraced by the warm rays of the sun.