Third week of June, the students spent the last two weeks in intense batteries of theoretical tests to test their knowledge, and today the first year students would have to prove it in a practical group test that would determine their performance, it was the turn of the class A, and it wasn't a mere exam, it was a practical exam in the Arena of the academy with all the other students, teachers and the twelve master mages watching, the last twelve referred were in a special box that had the symbol of the Royal Guard and the twelve lined up on the bench, in the arena the second and third year students were all sitting in trios spaced by the gigantic arena, there was space, many of the first year students were happy and others with a sad and goodbye face, but in the Arena they were all 33 first-year class A students waiting for further instructions, the Hecatrix twins were nervous, after all their aunt would be watching them, even in that setting there was a celebration and noises of enthusiasm from older students for that solemn moment. The students were spaced out across the arena, but the group of nine friends was close by. The noise seemed to cease as Otrera seemed to be standing to speak.
– Students... One more exam begins, and I reiterate here that performance is fundamental, those who do not reach the minimum average along with the theoretical tests will be relegated to the Academy of the common army, the Royal Guard is serious business... headmistress Margareth, when you want to start the exam. – Said Otrera who sat down again, she would keep an eye on her nephews.
– You heard the Grand Mistress... And let the test begin. – Margareth said giving the departure signal.
The arena field changed, it looked like a battlefield full of obstacles and opponents, thousands of magical opponents reinforced land, amphibians, air, winged beasts and quadruped land beasts, they were totally surrounded and now that the thing was going to get excited.
– It's time to rock! – Artemisia said that she left throwing punches along with acrobatic screw jumps.
Otrera and Morrigan looked at that and then looked at Edward.
– You have your finger in this story. – Said the two together.
– I just gave some tips on how to leverage the thing. – Edward laughed.
– She learned very quickly, I remember when you used to do that at the Academy. – Commented Morrigan.
The test field was a gigantic fight full of tricks and skills. Eve was struggling controlling two tactically dressed humanoid puppets that hid weapons in their bodies, blades in their arms, acid jets from their mouths, firecrackers protruding from their waists. Declan had conjured daggers of darkness and went off slaying magical opponents. Erik showed his skill with bursts of quantum magic, a multicolored plasma energy. Mira used a grimoire, from it she took a chain with a curved blade at one end and a weight on the other she showed herself deft in this weapon. Leila conjured flowers of paralyzing pollen. Lucas used magic that boosted their natural attributes and slapped four-legged beasts. Theo was using lightning to fight. Lilly used light bristles to take down aerial opponents. Baron set up a water trap in the form of a water net that turned into a sphere, drowning opponents. Damian released waves of wind and supersonic screams. Vetrix shrewdly moved cyanide bristles into opponents' mouths as well as venom blades. Amon stirs waves of lava against several of the creatures. Josh sinks pieces of earth and in the ditches he provoked thorns of reinforced rock. Bianca was an expert in animal magic, she conjured two black Dobermans of two meters each that helped her in battle. Sheila proved to be a user of booster magic, but specifically in agility and power scalpel hands. Drusilla used plant magic by exhaling numbing toxic gases. Agatha proved to be a skilled user of shadow magic and dark vortex. Pierce has a spellbook of weapons, he conjures a spear tipped on both sides were shaped like anchors, but very sharp. Liam proved to be a dimensional summoning mage by moving around and conjuring special folds swords and spears. Ian demonstrated dimensional summoning magic by conjuring powerful murderous insects against opponents. Matthew demonstrated pressure magic by crushing enemy beasts with the force of pressure. Theodora used celestial magic to face enemies. Kalin used the infernal energy in his fists, hammering enemies. Malik released bursts of quantum energy like lethal fireworks. They were demonstrating service very well, but the ones who really shined were the group of nine friends, they took things to the next level.
– It's time to impress. – Sandy said that he launched real sand typhoons dragging several targets together and then causing a shower of piercing sand thorns.
– I'm just warming up too friend! – Laughed Gale who used her super speed leaving a trail of celestial energy crossing the targets.
– Better get out of the way. – Said Adam that advanced with everything wielding the Death Scythe crushing enemies, the mage was accompanied by sparrow daggers in battle.
– If it's for fun, it's for real! – Keith said that he demonstrated a wide range of abilities, gravity magic and chaos magic, a dark red energy.
– I'm here to be the queen of the hill! – Laughed Megara who was in the mode of Kozumikkubaree (Cosmic Ballet) fighting like the expert he was, showing a lot of skill taking down enemy after enemy.
–They may not be human, but my magic works. – Alana laughed, who manipulated the beasts' senses and crossed them with their fingers together in a battle position.
– This challenge is a good one, here I go for the next semester! –Nathan said, he punched the ground projecting a large puddle of darkness that stretched several thorns of darkness passing through the opponents and then absorbing others, the puddle seemed to widen.
Morrigan was surprised from the cabin, not just her, all three legendary mages.
- A Gallard with dark magic, I've never seen it before. – Morrigan said dazzled and intrigued.
– It is extremely, extremely rare, but the Gallard spawn dark magic mages, even though celestial and luminous magic are more common, this is in part because of his father who was a manipulator of darkness. – Commented Ethan.
– Impressive, rare, we can expect a lot from him. – Morrigan said with an interested look, she met Nathan's father, they had a strong connection, but she didn't know that the dark magic was passable to Gallard, she knew secrets about the prince's father that the others and maybe even Emma didn't knew, and some of them worried the legendary mage.
– I'm just surprised. – Laughed Otrera.
– I just want to see what happens. – Edward said.
The twins showed a lot of skill fighting, they were moving away as the fight, but did not lose intensity.
– You kids can come with everything! – Said Artemisia who jumped and landed with a flaming kick that charred the beast that was hit, so she continued to fight with her arms on fire and after a sequence of blows she released a comet of flames that ignited several enemies.
– It's been fun, even with so much at stake. – Apollodro laughed, facing several advanced land enemies, he fought with agility and strength increased by the reinforcement magic, his hands emanated by water like a water scalpel, and with his movements he also conjured sharp and rusty pillars, he was even aloof, in addition to passively activating his regeneration medic ability, several of the other mages had even been injured during the battle, he was the only one 100% physically.
All mages gave their best in battles, some even helping each other in combat by joining their skills. Sandy used his sandstorm to cloud his opponents' field of vision and Adam prepared a sparrow daggers advance against them by hitting them squarely, and Gale with his speed grabbed the corpses' daggers and hurled them at aerial opponents.
Alana with her sensorial abilities took a large group of opponents to an isolated corner, Keith came in with pressure to pin them to the ground and Megara finished destroying them with cosmic energy.
Apollodro was cornered fighting four magical opponents ten feet and a half very strong, he would be hit with everything, but in the last second almost at the speed of a shadow Nathan rescued him and leaping away with his beloved in his arms. Apollodro was even red from being in the prince's arms, but would not relent, when he looked back he saw that Artemisia had roasted the four opponents.
– Thank you very much, but I didn't need to, the healing magic is active. – Apollodro laughed pointing to the marks on his face.
– Sorry, I just wanted to protect you. – Nathan said embarrassed.
– It's okay, friend! - Apollodro said giving a kiss on the prince's cheek. – Are you hurt? –
– Just a little. – Nathan said showing the wound on his arm.
– I'll fix it. – Apollodro said using his magic on the mage's wound.
They went back to the fight and within a few more minutes they were done, all the foes down, the young mages victorious and many in threes almost naturally, it had been quite a test. After everyone calmed down they lined up next to each other, the 33 waiting for what would be said. Margareth got up.
– Well, what I saw here was a show of talent, older students can even attest to it, a demonstration of ability, I have to agree that this was the best group, the results will soon be released, they will know who will progress and who will leave us... The next semester will be vital for you, it will be the time for the formation of trios for the next years of academy, for the final year students, it will be your last test to enter as neophytes of the Royal Guard. – Announced Margareth.
The students were nervous, it was their future at stake, Otrera was proud of her nephews, the young mages were increasingly stepping into a world of duty, dedication and effort.
***
In the afternoon of that moment the results of the three years that took the exam that day had come out, the first-year youths went to see their classifications, many were happy and relieved, others sad at having to leave, but something extraordinary, all the top 10 students in overall average were A-class : 1. Apollodro; 2. Gale; 3. Sandy; 4. Megara; 5. Artemisia; 6. Adam; 7. Nathan; 8. Keith; 9. Alana; 10. Erik. Students who had passed could not hide their joy.
– That! First place! – Apollodro said excitedly.
– Congratulations, Polo. – Nathan said.
– Thank you friend. – Apollodro said that he was still trying to control himself.
– Well, we have one less back problem, now it's time to enjoy a month and a week of vacation... Praise Herah! – Alana thanked that she could not wait for some rest.
– Don't tell me, I'm going to sleep for a week after everything I've been through studying. – Adam said he really looked tired these days.
– Apparently you got it, cocky. It managed to pass me in the classification. – Artemisia laughed.
– Almost, but you did well too. – Said the Nihondess.
– I'll miss you on vacation. – Apollodro said.
– We can meet on vacation, we've always done that. – Said Adam.
– Of course, what are your plans? - Asked Apollodro.
– I go to Yaxley with the family, my "dad"'s parents live there, spend some time with my parents. – Keith said, he realized how much less angry he was with life, all thanks to new friends.
– I'm going to visit the rest of my family in Kora'q, I'll be back just before the last week of vacation. – Sandy said.
– I'm going to visit grandma in Forthquill, I'll be back at about the same time as Sandy. – Said Adam.
'Ivy and I are going on vacation together, we're going to Nihondo, my grandparents miss it and Ivy really didn't have any plans. – Megara said.
– It's going to be fun, I've heard of some magnificent shopping spots. – Alana said, already thinking about what she wanted to buy.
– Polo and I are going to the countryside to spend a few weeks at the country house… And you Gale? – Asked Artemisia.
– Nathan and I don't have anything scheduled. – Gale said that she knew they had a trip to Bricttany scheduled, but he wanted to give Nathan one more chance to conquer Apollodro, Artemisia and Nathan took it in the air.
– Ah yes! Yeah, we didn't have anything planned. – Nathan stated, he knew that his brother would be sad, but he would spend the last week with him and the end of the year to make up for it.
– So why don't you come with us? Since there's nothing in the plans, it would be fun to have company. – Apollodro said, he really didn't make up his mind about his feelings, he needed to make up his mind soon if he was going to risk it or not, I couldn't also torture him so much.
– Of course! – Nathan said.
The vacation was there, they spent a busy semester, it was a new life, a lot of effort, they deserved a good rest, each one went to a corner, but thinking about the friends they had made there, while they wanted to enjoy the vacation, they wanted the days to pass to see each other again.