S-Class Promotion: Vance's Promotion or Excommunication?!

July 1st, Aconite Town the Heat Festival starts, the festival that starts the heat from the summer. It is also the Pantheon's S-Class Promotion trial. "Vance!" Nikolai called for this year's candidate.

Vance sitting on a barstool in the  Pantheon looked up from his over-large burger. "Mfhmmfhm," Vance tried to talk after having taken a large bite out of his food. Vance looked at Nikolai, confused and perplexed by the serious look on his guild masters face. "What's up Nick?" Vance asked him after swallowing the food in his mouth.

"What's up Van?" Simca, Vance's younger sister asked as she walked out from behind the bar, wearing a tight, short sleeved shirt that showed off her body, namely her breasts and a pair of short shorts that emphasized her backside as well.

"Stay Simca this affects you too. Vance it's the Heat Festival, I don't particularly don't do much during it. So I thought it would be good, to host the S-Class Promotions during this time. Vance Kervic, your my only candidate this year. Selina Wasureru, is one and in Magic Power your far stronger. Honestly, your the fourth strongest Mage in the guild by raw Magic Power. Do you accept the Trial? But one condition pass I'll open you to the Magic I reserve for the S-Class mages. Fail and its immediate excommunication from the guild. I have no use for failures. Not everyone can be a S-Class and that's ok. But, those rare ones that can shouldn't fail. It just proves they aren't worthy of my praise or protection. I protect the weak and praise the strong, there isn't a middle ground here. This is a make or break it, pass fail test. The chances of you failing are at 78%." Nikolai looked with a face so serious, a dragon would step back a step.

Vance had a slightly grim look on his face before a grin formed, a grin that stretched ear to ear on his face. "Do you really need to ask? I fought you. Hell I fought a Wizard Saint and he scared the shit out of me, but I still fought him. So, bring it on!" Vance declared to Nikolai with a great amount of confidence. "So what do I have to do to pass?"

"Um, what does this have to do with me? If it's only my brother, then how does it affect me?" Simca asked Nikolai.

"Simple Simca if he fails you are my next candiate. Although the same rules apply to you. However, Vance you accepted so now fate is sealed. As they say only the gods can alter or control a person's fate. So now here is the Trial of Fate." Nikolai had one of his other guild's members use Separation Magic to separate Nikolai into two exact copies of himself. One however used his Creator's Eye to chance one of their apperances with black hair and blood ruby red eyes. The altered Nikolai spoke.

"I am the haft of Nikolai that possess his darkness. The gentle one you faught was going easy on you. I may have haft his power, but I still possess slightly more Magic Power than you. Simple we fight, prove to me my light is as needed as my darkness, you pass. If you can't you fail, and one warring I don't play fair as when we are whole. Now Spiritual World: (精神, Seishinkai)." Simca, Vance, and the dark haired Nikolai were suddenly on a volcano island. "Come."

Vance grinned, then threw back his head as a laugh escaped from him. "Fine by me. I'm pretty much a street fighter, so I'm not going to fight fair either." Flames emanated from Vance as his magical power rose before settling at a certain point. Vance vanished, appearing before the dark Nikolai in a slightly crouched position as Vance swung his arm upwards striking Nikolai in the groin and sending him a few feet up into the air. "And Nick, fate and gods can kiss my ass. I make my own choices. I decide, not fate." Vance told Nikolai as he charged brilliant white light into his left hand "Holy Ray" before releasing it in a scattered, shotgun-like fashion; each shot homing in on Nikolai who was still airborne. Numerous shots connected, causing a large explosion where Nikolai was at in the air.

After the smoke cleared, Nikolai wasn't hurt much. "Ouch..." said sarcastically. He used telekinesis to make a barrier protecting himself. But a few shots got through, rendering his left arm not useable. " Now here is what a fight is about." He used his telekinesis to break the bones in Vance's left arm. "You hurting now?"

Vance looked at his left arm and tried to move from the elbow down to his fingers to no avail; then tried to move his shoulder to his elbow. It moved with some luck, "Well, this sucks." Vance said as he shrugged off the inconvenience. "You'll have to better then than. My mom beat the hell out of me on a daily basis, and at the most inopportune of time, even one time while I was takin' a leak. That sucked." Vance said on a laugh as he remembered a fond memory.

Vance released a blindingly bright, white light from his body as he was covered in a cloak of white light. From his broken left arm a hand of white light emerged from the elbow, followed by two more. "This will have to do for the moment." Vance said to himself as the three hands of light closed each of their ring and pinky fingers while pointing each of their index and middle fingers at Nikolai in the rough shape of a gun as Vance called out, "White Dragons Silver Gun, times three," as three large, bullet-like shaped beams of light were released from each of the three cloak formed hands. Each of the "bullets" flew at Nikolai at high speeds. The first shot was nullified by Nikolai's telekinetic barrier, but weakened by said blast, followed by the second shot which broke his barrier but caused no harm to him, having lost to much power in the process of breaking the barrier, and quickly followed by the third shot which completely connected with Nikolai, exploding violently on impact.

Nikolai's clothes were ruined. "You haven't proven that I am as needed as my light. You are failing this test. Let me in on a little secret, in my fight against you and Shojiro. I didn't even use the full level of power that only I have in those fights." He then telekinetically erupted the volcano and then gathered the lava and made a wave of it at Vance. "What did my original self see in you, your weak." On top of the wave of lava. He released a white release of fire at Vance. "Creator's Eye, Heavenly Voice: these flames have Godslayer magic Ethernano infused with it, but I changed the color to white, these are the white flames you can't eat." The wave of lava and white fire stream was about to hit him.

"Well if I can't eat them, I'll have to dodge them for the moment." Vance said on a sigh as wings of shite light erupted from the back of his cloak of white light before they started to flap, lifting Vance up into the air and over the lava and flames. "Well what to do? If I cant eat the flames, how an I supposed to deal with them?" Vance asked himself out loud as he scratched his head, clearly confused and perplexed at the current dilemma. Vance inhaled deeply before he opened his mouth, releasing a wide beam of white light at the wave of lava below him as he calmly stated "White Dragon's Roar", causing the lava to scatter in every direction and causing the white flames to explode violently with the beam of light. "I'm not even warmed up yet, so before you write me off as weak let me hit my groove in this fight, okay?" Vance asked dark Nikolai.

" Your weak." Nikolai used his telekinesis to rupture Vance's left eye's cells. Causing him to lose his left eye. "Your not even getting it. Your an idiot. Time to finish you off. Creator's Eye, Paradiso Art No.9: Blazing Earth." Blue fire came from his right hand's palm. The fire swirled around him. "One of the strongest attacks I have like Heavenly Voice it's infused with God Slayer Magic, but these fires are blue to show the hottest fire. If you don't find a way to stop them, you, this island, Simca, and I will be destroyed. The flames continue to grow.

Vance's ears twitched at Nikolai's comment about Simca being destroyed. Vance charged strait at the blue flames created by Nikolai and started to devour them when he got close enough. Vance devoured every trace of the created flames, "A little spicy. If this is what a God Slayer tastes like, I might try to find on—" Vance fell to his knees and clutched his throat as he started to cough heavily. Vance forced himself to get off of his knees. Vance looked at the dark haired Nikolai and stumbled his way over to him until he stood directly in front of him. "Well, I just ate a god's power, so I guess that makes me one as well, doesn't it?" Vance grinned before he pulled his right arm back and hauled off, striking Nikolai as hard as he could forcing the punch downwards at the same time slamming Nikolai into the ground and knocking him unconscious at the same time. "I... told you... never threaten... my SISTER." Vance roared in between gasps for air. "I just kicked your ass. This is over!"

"...Not quite." The dark haired Nikolai got up. "Is that all you got? I told you only a god can change a men's destiny. You are neither a man or a god. Those in between are the truly sad. Despite their great power they are still subject to gods and fate, and cannot be given a place among humans. I will not give you another chance. Creator's Eye, The Sustainer." Nikolai used blood from the wound over his left eye, and linked himself to Simca. " If I die she dies, and no magic you if she knows can dispel it. Any interference with the link will automatically kill us both. Now choice to be a human, something between, or a god."

Vance stood dumbfounded, "A human, god, or in between? Well being a god would be nice, but I'm human and I like things as they are. Something in between, a human with god-like powers?" Vance said out loud, but wasn't directing his comments at anyone in particular.

Vance then registered what Nikolai said about Simca. "You. will leave. HER. ALONE." Vance roared out like a true dragon, his rage erupting like a volcano. Vance felt a strange sensation running through his left forearm, it stopped and Vance was amazed that he was able to move his arm again. He then felt the same sensation in his ruptured left eye, it to stopped and he was able to see out of his eye again. Vance was confused, but he didn't let it bother him. "Human? God? In-between? Hell even a demon. What does it matter what I am, so long as I'm me, right." Vance asked the dark haired Nikolai as he made his way towards him. Vance lifted his left arm up once he stood in front of Nikolai and wiggled his fingers, "Well my arm and eye are fixed, so I guess this makes me a god. Now then, go fuse back into one person," Vance grabbed Nikolai by the throat and slammed him against a wall, a wall that wasn't there. Vance pushed Nikolai harder and harder until the volcanic island shattered like glass and himself and Simca were back in the Pantheon guild hall and there was only one Nikolai.

Vance gasped and panted heavily, "Well did I pass or what?" Vance fell straight back onto the floor, holding his left thumb up in a thumbs up fashion.

"Nikolai clapped his hands. "Impressive, you forced me out of the world I created in your mind. Now do you understand? You changed the course of my fate. I was only a man with a doomed fate, my dark side would have killed you and your sister. As my destiny and fate was to be like that. Only a god could have changed that fate. That is why I called my guild Pantheon, and why even more so the S-Class mages are gods that control the fates of others. To protect the weak, help the brave, and destroy our enemies. I had to make dive into the core of your being, to find that separates humans, between, and gods. I left plans to make sure, no one was hurt. You had to prove that you can change your fate but others. If you couldn't that my guild would not have helped you. If I could bring your true power, what good could you have gotten from my guild? I do apologize if my dark side said things hurtful."

Still panting, Vance looked over at Nikolai and said, "No problem. Just never do that again, okay." Vance sat up and pulled himself into one of the barstools at the guilds bar, "Simca, I'm starving can you bring me two of my usual sized burgers?"

"Really? You want two of them when you just ate one before all of this happened." Simca asked her brother with an exasperated sigh. "Fine. Give me a minute." Simca turned around and headed into the guild halls kitchen.

"Vance you did fail at one point. You failed to recognize Simca is her own person. You aren't her father, your job is to protect her. Yes, as an older sibling it's almost in your programming. However, what are you going to do when she finds a man...or a woman?" Nikolai said while blushing slightly. " You need let her grow." Take it from me, losing a child because your stubborn is a regret you don't want."