Silence covered the entire area as Zain's bold statement left them in shock. Elise stood wide eyed before scoffing. She did her best to hold back her laughter, but couldn't entirely contain it. Tears pricked the corner of her eyes as she laughed for some time before standing up straight.
"You….a fifth class mage? I haven't laughed this hard at a joke in quite some time. I'll have to thank you for making this day slightly better. Alright then, let's get this little game of mine done and over with. I'm curious as to what classes I'll attend."
Her fingers snapped before crystal-like objects started to form around her body. They took on the form of curved blades and began to spin rapidly in circles.
"Harpies blade."
At her command they flew directly towards Zain who stood still.
'It's time to test what I've retained….first off, my reflexes.' Zain thought to himself. His eyes scanned the weapons that charged straight towards him as his body stood still.
'Their trajectory is slightly off…..It'll be a close shave but none of them are going to hit me.' His thoughts concluded, and as he predicted all of the attacks barely grazed his skin. They flew past his cheek and over his arms before harmlessly landing behind him in the wall.
"What?" Elise stood baffled after seeing Zain not attempt to dodge her attack.
'Was….was he just too scared to move? I just wanted to mess with him to see how he'd react to a sudden attack….to think he wouldn't move at all. Alright then, let's see how you react to a real attack!' Elise snapped her fingers again as Harpies Blade formed in the air yet again. They launched towards Zain with increased speed this time.
'An actual attack this time!' Zain's eyes widened as the blades went for both his head and torso. A two pronged attack with four different blades all reached for him at once. His hands intercepted to catch the blades between his fingers. He was left unharmed from the attack and even inspected the magic attack thrown at him.
"It's cold to the touch. Ice magic huh? Well dealing with you is gonna be slightly annoying."
Zain tossed the weapons aside before casually walking up to Elise. The woman in question stood in confusion, seeing as her attack was easily guarded against. He not only saw through her attack which was faster than most people can dodge, but he managed to catch such highly rotating blades with ease using his bare hands. Her eye twitched as she clenched her teeth.
"Deal with me? For a commoner you're pretty cocky. Very well then, let's see how you deal with this!"
Her voice raised up as a multitude of projectiles formed around her before getting launched forward at Zain. Shards of ice and more curved blades flew in at multiple different directions, but all tried to converge on Zain. His eyes widened as his body changed directions, dodging the fierce attack and landing elsewhere. They continued to rain down on him from different angles, yet his keen senses were sharpened to their limit, allowing him to dodge around the spacious arena. The floor around his feet got covered in ice shavings from all of Elise's failed attacks.
'Good….I can handle something of this level. Next is…'
Zain's foot dug into the ground before he dashed straight for Elise. His arm reeled back as a fist formed and his attack was let loose..
'Physical strength!' His fist collided, and a loud thud could be heard across the room. Zain's face slightly twitched in pain as his knuckles were pressed up against a hard and cold object. His gaze went upward, and he was met with what seemed to be the face of an ice sculpture. The sculpture raised it's hand upwards as a sword formed in it. Zain quickly leapt out of harm's way, as the blade barely missed his head before landing in the ground.
"To think someone like you even exists...attacking a mage without using magic? What are you, stupid?" Elise seemed to be annoyed by something, looking at Zain with disgust in her eyes.
"Well sorry my fighting style isn't refined like yours is." Zain responded to Elise as he continued to dodge her spells attacks. After dodging another sword strike Zain found the time to land an attack against the puppet. His leg landed cleanly on the dome, causing the head to go flying towards the other end of the room. Yet as he landed, the attacks continued to come from the body, even with its head missing, Zain barely had any time to rest.
"What?!" Zain continued to dodge out of the way of the attacks, his mind racing a mile an hour. Back in the stands the test examiners looked on with slight worry.
"Sir, he seems to be really struggling out there. I suggest you stop this before he seriously harms himself here!"
Zephyr remained silent as Zain continued to dodge down below. Elise could only stare on with an agitated look on her face as she saw Zain struggle against her one puppet. With a deep sigh she started to voice her complaints about this test.
"You all seriously called me here for this? To fight someone who was way in over his head? My time is not something to be wasted. I had higher hopes for a school of this status and merit, however it seems that was misplaced. Having me fight rabble like this…" With a snap of her fingers her puppet started to move faster. It's sword grew in size as it lorded it over Zain's head.
"Hurry up and defeat this common trash so I can go home."
The puppet dashed forward, fully intent to kill with its weapon. Zain stood still for a moment as the examiners were about ready to write him off as a failure.
"Sir!" Zephyr's secretary cried out, asking him to help him, but before he could move the sound of shattered ice echoed out in the hallway. Everyone's attention was gathered towards the center of the room where Zain stood with his entire forearm through the chest of the puppet.
"All of you are underestimating me….This is just a warm up for me." Zain muttered underneath his breath before pulling his arm out from the frigid statue.
"Even if you destroy it's chest the puppet will still!-" Carter was stunned into silence as he saw the puppet crumble to the floor before Zain.. Elise stood wide eyed after seeing her creation suddenly broken like that.
"So you also use rune magic...explains how you were able to move this thing around so damn much."
Rune magic is a type of magic writing that gives orders based on what the spellcaster desires. The more complex the spell, the more writing required. However, mages who have enough mana and skill are able to give more complex orders such as making puppets to attack their enemies. It's a skill that can only be fully utilized by the powerful.
"He broke it so easily…" Elise watched on in disbelief of what had transpired. An unknown mage had simply punched through solid ice to destroy her rune.
"Once you destroy the rune's giving it orders it's pretty much useless." Zain began rubbing his forearm to get the last of the shards off before staring down Elise once more.
"Now, are you gonna stand there all slack jawed princess, or are you gonna send more? This is the best workout I've had in the past few days, and I don't wanna miss out cause of you."