Black Bull Headquarters

[Bloodedge]

"That doesn't seem like it should be good enough," was all Leonis had to say about the redhead's apology. He continued moving, finding this to be even more of a necessity when Raina cast another spell which encompassed a large area of the ground and unleashed blood orbs bent on restraining him. He reacted by altering the direction of each explosion used to propel him, allowing him to weave around the segments of Raina's spell without making contact for some time. Eventually, this became tiresome. This may have been a test for him to avoid being hit, but as far as he was concerned, it was still a fight as well. As such, he grew closer to Raina during his evasive maneuvers. A wicked grin spread across his face as the pages of his grimoire flipped again. "Don't get hit for sixty seconds, huh? What makes you think you gave me the right test?" he asked. In the very next moment, his grimoire landed on the page that would determine his next spell.

"Manazōn... Karidusu Burakiumu Rengeki!" Leonis aimed his right hand at Raina, but the spell cast by him did not come directly from him. He made use of a technique called Mana Zone, which allowed him to grasp control of the mana surrounding Raina. In doing so, he caused a continuous series of fiery blasts to manifest, aiming to pummel the redhead from every direction for as long as he maintained the technique. During the upkeep of this spell, Leonis still managed to use his left hand for the sake of moving through the air.

[Apollymi]

According to their newest recruit Raina's apology didn't do enough to sate the potential problem of her magical abuse of her comrades. She seemed to be stunned by this, and shook her head. "But Klause really doesn't mind..." she said seemingly amused by the whole thing. Still she got to watch the start of this lad's evasive maneuvers and though she'd said he only had to survive her a minute, it seemed that part of his going strategy would be attacking her while he tried this. She sighed at this tactic but she couldn't say it was completely unexpected. "A minute is a long time, Vermillion," said Raina as the lad spun through the spells of his book before launching a new one. "Mana zone?! That's so advanced!" she exclaimed before having to do something a bit more stringent than her original use of a shield. This time she'd use a similar ideal creating multiples of the shields around her person in a hexagonal formation until she was completely surrounded in a dome like structure of these shields it would protect her for a bit but that wasn't really why she'd done this. The pages in her grimoire turned once more and she held the blood sword out before her sending several slashes out of the dome towards this lad. These bits of blood were more intense than most, and if they made contact with the lad in anyway they would taint him. They also came from all directions around the dome, and seemed to happen regardless of the direction she was standing. Though admittedly she was exceedingly hot in this moment, "Though... you're pretty good... 10 seconds." she said not caring about the outcome of her attack because by her own approximation it would last long to keep her from boiling alive. Hikage couldn't help but be excited, she'd not seen this technique before and she was stunned by it. "Sugoi."

[Bloodedge]

"Hmph! What are you looking for, then? Stamina? Maneuverability? Or are you just trying to pressure me?" he asked. On the other hand though, Leonis came to realize how little the answer to this string of questions mattered to him. Raina acknowledged the advanced level of the spell he'd most recently begun using, but to Leonis, it was just another example of his resolve. "Whatever; nothing's stopping me at this point anyway," he concluded. If his statement needed any more substance, he would gladly offer it as Raina produced her next spell. Whether Raina realized it or not, Leonis' first spell - the fire lion - hadn't gone anywhere since being created. He grinned in the face of her blood slashes while raising his right hand, and with a snap of his fingers, he called forth the massive creature of flame. The lion hopped toward Leonis with an open mouth. What came next was the most unorthodox thing Leonis had done thus far...

Before the slashes reached him, Leonis was swallowed whole by his own lion. Because of this, the lion was subjected to every strike which would have hit Leonis, and then some due to its great size. Still, it pressed onward until it landed in front of Raina and opened its mouth, revealing Leonis inside with that same grin on his face. "Sol Linea!" he exclaimed while pointing up the lion's throat toward Raina. From within his giant flaming barrier of a creature, he unleashed another concentrated laser-like shot of flames. His initial intention in this battle had been to pierce Raina's left shoulder with this very same beam, and he intended to see that to fruition here in these final few seconds.

[Apollymi]

Raina was asked a great many questions by this lad. She hadn't expected him to be so curious, if she was being honest, initially she wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she realized it as they fought, which is probably what her Captain was going for. She wasn't aiming to pressure him, nor did she much care about his skills as he obviously had them. Raina was the type of person who questioned the motivations of others, this lad could have taken it easy and chose not to, as such it made her wonder what else he was willing to push for. "Sou ka... found it!" she said thinking about it more. But in the seconds before time would be up, and she'd get to witness this boy dodge her barrage, by being swallowed by his own fire lion. "Sugoi!" she thought seemingly amazed by this entire situation, but she didn't have time to think about it much more as the mouth of this lion was open and firing upon her again. She didn't have enough time to move nor add anything else, instead she had to turn her magic in on herself. She cast a spell which hardened the blood within her blood vessels so that when Sol Linea was cast to shoot through her person, it pierced through layers of shielding and hit her shoulder but didn't exit it completely. "Well, shit that is pretty tough," she said as her grimoire closed. "Time's up by the way... he's fine, Danchou. You didn't do bad this time..." she said offering the man an off-handed compliment a she looked at the hole in the shoulder of her outfit and walked off with the intention of changing clothes. 'That guy is so awesome!~' thought Hikage as her eyes sparkled.

[Bloodedge]

The protection of his lion's interior proved to be enough for Leonis to pull off his offense without a hitch. Raina managed to use some form of defensive, or perhaps augmentative spell to bring the damage to a more absolute minimum than he'd ever seen, but that was alright. Leonis still achieved his personal goal in this encounter, and if his Vice-Captain couldn't manage at least this much, his climb to the top would be far too easy. "Heh... Gotcha!" he proclaimed. He knew time was at an end; he'd been keeping track all along. He had known the capabilities of Raina well enough to know there were few ways he could pull off a successful attack against her, especially under the circumstances of this initiation, and had thus been spending the final moments pushing toward a way to succeed using the very spell he finished with.

The fight was over, and Leonis had his lion fade away to leave him landing on the ground in front of Raina. "That was fun. I see where I need some improvement, so let's try again later," he said in passing while returning to Hikage and the Captain, the latter of whom was ready to address both youngsters. "Great job, both of you. Welcome to the Black Bulls!" Heero said while opening his own cloak to reveal two smaller copies of it, one meant for each of his new members. Leonis took his out of the man's left hand and threw it over his shoulders immediately, though he didn't seem to hold much of an attachment to it from a sentimental standpoint. With that done, he casually turned toward Hikage. "Congrats, I guess... But I think you care about what squad you're in about as little as I do."

[Apollymi]

"Yeah yeah... next time. If that's what you want..." she said to the ability to practice again with him later. Of course, she felt very strangely about this, considering most people found her magic creepy and once they figured it out they generally didn't want to deal with her anymore. She was less surprised someone chosen by her Captain was less likely to be this way. The two younger members of this squad were soon presented with their cloaks, and Hikage took hers out of Heero's right hand looking it over before slinging it over her own shoulders as well. "Arigatou..." she said to the Captain of their division. She was rarely praised in this way and seemed to take it in stride. More directly concerning to Hikage though, was Leonis who seemed content to congratulate her, while pointing out that she also didn't seem to care much about the squad she was in. "Same," she mentioned giving the lad a simple congratulatory statement before making her own clarification. "I don't care much. I didn't join that other one because the woman felt annoying..." she said calmly of her potential to have joined the Blue Rose, and in reference to her ever dependable gut feelings. "But I'm glad I ended up here, 'cause it gives me easy access to good fights. You seemed like you had a lot of fun, that was some crazy stuff with that lion too!" she said, strangely Hikage hadn't seemed very excited about anything but this lad's battle had gotten her blood pumping, even with it only lasting for a solid minute. She had a burning desire to slay this lad, who she saw currently as the pinnacle of the kind of ability she wished to possess. Beyond that she respected his moxie, being a Royal but not choosing to take the easy way out. Besides that, he was about the nicest noble she'd come across since making her journey.

[Bloodedge]

"She looked pretty annoying, to boot!" Leonis agreed. "Really, I would have taken any of the offers I got... but you came here, so I figured it was worth a shot. Good instinct," he continued. In all truth, this was the exact reason he'd decided to join the Black Bull squad. Hikage had mentioned this gut feeling way of hers in the early stages of their exam battle, so he figured he'd gamble on her when choosing his squad, since he happened to be given the same offer. If Hikage had some level of respect for Leonis and his moxie, he had the same form of respect for her grit. With his hands on his hips, he stepped directly toward the girl, leaning forward with a piercing red gaze and a toothy grin on his face. "So, I guess you'll be taking responsibility for leading me to this choice, huh? Keep getting stronger with that instinct of yours, and we'll break each other over and over again, until there's no more room to grow from rebuilding."

[Apollymi]

"Hai, and she was really loud the entire time too..." she said remembering the Magic Knights Entrance Exam in a bit more detail. Overall she knew that joining the Black Bulls was the best choice for her, but she was quite surprised by what Leonis had to say next. Apparently the other lad, had gone along with the same choice she'd made, simply by virtue of trusting in her gut instinct because he had the same option open to him. "Sou... ka," she mumbled, finding it strange that he'd gone along with her decision based on something as simple as their previous battle. Beyond all this the lad stepped forward and stood before the young woman with his hands on his hips, this piercing red gaze of his was met by her own, as the slit pupils of her golden eyes tightened. She was quite elated at the idea of the two of them fighting repeatedly until one or the other of them succeeded. Beyond the fact that it was a method for both of them to improve she felt somehow enticed by the entire thing. "I guess if you made a decision like that because of me, it's the least I could do. And it guarantees you'll be up to fight me again, which I'm all for. So long as you keep up that fight you got in ya'..." her very soul burned with this newfound rivalry or maybe it was something else entirely. Regardless of that this moment had gotten rather suddenly tense, and Hikage wasn't entirely sure how this would play out long term, but she was very certain her life in the Black Bulls would be very interesting with this lad around.

[Bloodedge]

With Hikage's response given, Leonis had his grin widen even more. He doubted he was as interested in the fight itself as Hikage, but he was interested in reaching the pinnacle of the proverbial food chain. He would do it, and he would have it be unquestionable when it happened... and to accomplish that, he had to keep fighting, to keep winning... to keep growing. The more they conversed, the more he came to believe Hikage would play a key role in this master plan. "My fight's not goin' anywhere. Remember this promise: I'm going to keep evolving... and if we keep facing each other, I'm gonna destroy you just like everybody else. No... I'll even step my game up for that. You're my rival now; I can see it in your eyes. When I destroy you, it'll be different; I'll have to do it way harder."

As this conversation progressed, Heero looked strangely at the new Black Bulls. He decided it was for the best if he did not involved himself in this discussion at all, and in fact, it would be better yet if he left the two alone. And so, he did... while making sure he snatched up the still-smoldering Artem from the ground outside. 'Wow. This is going to be an interesting year.'

[Apollymi]

Hikage was interested in the fight, this one, and any one she could have. It wasn't about winning or losing, it was about the last breath, pulling out all the stops and offering everything you had in the heat of the moment. At the very least, she'd found that Leonis was the type of person she felt compelled to fight, as long as possible, as much as possible. He was a person whose fighting tactics and skill she aimed to obtain for herself in some way. So as his grin grew so did hers. She heard out his next words and after them that malicious giggle would escape her again. "Kufufufufufu~ I've never been a rival before... but this shit is giving me tingles!~ You should know though..." she stared at him with great intensity, if this was rivalry she was fine with that. "I won't be destroyed by anything. Even if I have to put all my pieces back together, as soon as I can hold a blade again... I'm coming for you. Battling my hardest is what I want... and if you couldn't stand up to it, it wouldn't be worth it. So show me what you will turn into, and I'll fight you with everything I've got," she respected this lad for wanting to evolve and all. And if it meant she always had something to do, and a new challenge to face, even if it was out of one person, than she was satisfied. As their conversation progressed she hadn't noticed the leaving of the Captain and their superior officer as he carried him off. No, this moment of intensity between the two young people and freshest recruits to the Black Bulls was one which gave her tunnel vision and a special excitement down in the pit of her stomach she couldn't explain.