[Third Person POV]
After Squad 7 was eliminated, Ryujin took out their flag.
(Squad 1 has been eliminated.
30 points to Squad 1)
None of the squad had more than 20 points and Squad 1 already had 60 points. Ryujin's team would win by default if another squad is eliminated by them.
Ryujin finished healing Adam and Aqua.
Adam looked at the map in his smart watch.
"The next squad is quite close to us. What should we do now?"
Ryujin thought about it for a while. There were still two hours remaining in the test. There was no need to hurry, but he wanted to finish this and go home.
"Let's just attack them head on."
The entire team started moving forward in a different direction after he expressed that.
*****
Ciel got out of her VR pod. She felt dizzy and rubbed her forehead slightly because of it. She looked around and saw his squad members, Lucius, Arlo and other teachers looking at the big screen.
'So only our squad got eliminated.'
She was ashamed of herself. However, she also felt angry at the same time. She felt angry because of Adam.
She was upset because she lost the fight, but what Adam said did her cheek a little red. Ciel was in control of the fight. Adam was definitely strong, but not enough to defeat her. Aqua's water magic was also perfectly countered as she could freeze the water.
When she remembered the fight, it made her blood boil.
Just as she was about to go for the kill strike, Adam said to her in a sarcastic tone " You know that Ryujin likes someone with darker hair color and bigger chest."
Stunned, Ciel missed her strike completely.
"What are you taking about?"
Adam had this weird grin. He had perfectly caught the fish in the bait.
"I am just telling you this because you have zero chance of going out with Ryujin. Just give up."
Ciel felt angry now. Adam's words caused her emotional pain, not because he was speaking in the middle of a heated argument.
"Why do I care about that?"
Ciel refuted.
"Why do you care? I mean, don't you like Ryujin?"
Ciel got even more flustered. She was beet red now.
"I don't like him. Don't go assuming things."
Adam folded his hands.
" I see! I mean Ryujin can still get girls that are better than you."
'This fuck*ng guy.'
Ciel has reached a point where this was no longer relevant. She was ready to attack Adam, but a water spear pierced her stomach.
Adam immediately saw his chance and swung his sword at Ciel's neck. She was eliminated not because she was weak, but because she was distracted.
Ciel shook her head.
'There is no point in beating myself for a loss. I was responsible for that.'
Ciel sat down next to her buddies to watch the exam. Ryujin and his team had already advanced to take out a different group. Now, Squad 1's victory was a given.
Anna was attentively observing the game as well. She wasn't sure how they managed to get past her magical barrier still.
"How did they get past my defenses?"
Emily gave it some thought as well. She was certain to have seen Squad 1 run in the direction of the hill.
"But why didn't they head for the hill? How did they descend so quickly?"
Except for the professors and Lucius, none of them were aware. On the exam, Lucius was totally concentrated. From the squad, only he was eliminated. Due to his own foolishness, he was ousted, but he wasn't prepared.
"They never entered the hill."
Lucius spoke in a low voice. Akio and the four girls looked at Lucius.
'When did this guy start speaking?'
Lucius was not the type of guy to talk too much. He ever hardly spoke to them.
Emily wondered about Lucius's answer. She definitely saw them enter. Even Anna saw them.
"I saw them run towards the hill."
Lucius looked at Emily and gave a smirk.
"He urged you to witness their arrival.They only made a deliberate effort to make it to the hill and concealed themselves behind the trees. The elf performed his water magic and made water clones. Ryujin employed a magic spell to reflect their images on the clone and made it appear as though they were actually running up the mountain."
This news left them in awe. Doing this was a tough job. The aim of Squad 1 was to have a clone that could mimic human behavior by controlling water levels.
A flawless reflection is necessary.
Anna was more impressed. Being a mage, their actions were not typical.
She reflected on how they managed to dismantle her barrier. She had a distaste for Lucius but also was curious about how to managed to destroy it.
"In what way did they manage to break my barrier?"
The screen prompted Lucius to glance back.
"I am clueless about that. It appeared that Ryujin was aware of the barrier's position."
"The situation was characterized by an overabundance of mana. He boosted your barrier with his own mana. The barrier is only recognizable when someone attempts to enter or damage it. Ryujin was able to defeat and destroy the entire mana. You were not informed about the destruction of your barrier for that reason."
Arlo shared his thoughts with them while observing them.
Lucius was taken aback by this news. It's not a simple task to do things like this. Perfect control is essential. A theory and a practical application are vastly dissimilar.
The teachers and students present at the game were now convinced of one thing. Ryujin's power was not restricted to his Divine Ability alone.
Within a 30-minute timeframe, Squad 1 eliminated two squads and took their flag. They had accumulated over 100 points, and the other teams were unable to match their performance.
The examination was terminated prematurely as there was already a conqueror.
"The score of Squad 1 has reached 110 points." The examination will conclude now."
Upon hearing Arlo's voice, Adam glanced at his team members.
"It seems like we were too good this time around."
Cary chose not to comment. He wasn't doing as well as he should have today. Aqua was pleased with the outcome while Ryujin appeared bored.
Never in the history of Astrik Academy had a squad dominated this much in their first mock test.
The test ended and the remaining students got out of their pod.
Ryujin exited his pod. He gazed around and observed that everyone was staring at him. He was looked upon with admiration by some and in others as if his face showed a monster's.
If you perform well, people will call you a monster. If you suffer a setback, people will call you disappointment.
Ryujin had witnessed such gazes on numerous occasions, and it didn't concern him with the matter.
Adam positioned his arm around Ryujin's shoulder. The win brought him happiness and made him feel good.
"Let's have a barbque today."
Ryujin nodded his head in delight. He observed Aqua and Cary.
"Are you interested in joining us for the barbeque? "
"Yeah!"
Aqua promptly responded.
Cary's demeanor was still somber, with a mournful tone.
"I appreciate your invitation, but I won't be able to participate as I was."
"Students join your team and wait in a line. "
Arlo gave orders to the students. The students swiftly made their way through the area and remained in a queue.
"The winner of this test is Squad 1. The battle has been won by them. Squad 1 members will each receive 10 merits points. It is my desire that you learn from this experience and strive to improve your errors. There will be no pratical lesson tomorrow. You can go back now. "
One by one, the students began to exit the room.
"Ryujin!"
Ryujin observed Akio waving towards him without any hesitation. Akio proceeded towards Ryujin while walking.
He raised his hands and spoke.
" The match was fantastic."
Ryujin smiled and shook his hand.
"Akio. Do you want to have barbecue with us?"
Akio was astonished when Ryujin asked him out. He was definelty happy but he was skeptical at the same time.
'I dont think your friends want me there.'
"Dont worry you can come."
Adam assured Akio.
"After all meat tastes better with everyone."
"That sound sus" Ryujin said with a frown on his face.
Aqua and Akio giggled a bit.
Akios dilema vanished.
"Ok I will go"
"Akio."
Lucius called him. He was pointing his finger at Akio.
"Duel me"
Akio sighed.
"I have plans today. Lets have a duel next day."
"No! We will fight today. Come to the arena after 30 minutes."
Akio sighed.He looked at Ryujin and scartched his head.
"Looks like I wont be there."
Ryujin put his hand on Akio shoulder.
"Dont worry. You can still come. We will go after your duel. Just do me a favour."
Akio was delighted that they would wait for him.He also wondered what Ryujin was going to ask him.
"Ok but what should I do?"
"Go all out on Lucius. Make sure to show him the difference in power between you and him."