Iode and seven others, Ceaser, Hector, Sylvester, Anna, Angelica, Loanna and Ataxia sat together in a row in the arena. They are watching Reinhardt performance down below. To be honest, the opponent of each student looks more real than augmented.
How they made it possible like that is known only to the tower officials. In the fight below, Reinhardt dodged the claw of the juvenile Trionyx by rolling on the floor. In normal circumstances, Reinhardt would never do something like that, but spending some time with Ceaser has rubbed some techniques to him.
After dodging, he said "wind slash". A whip of wind went towards the Trionyx right arm, severing it.
"Let's see how far you'll go without your damn claws". Reinhardt said.
He didn't waste any more time, he chanted
"Inferno blast". He summoned a huge ball of burning flame and hurled it towards the beast. Being an agile creature, the beast was able to evade the spell but not without burn marks.
Despite the condition of the beast, it refuse to give in to Reinhardt. With one arm still intact and strong leaping feet, it bounced on Reinhardt wanting to claw him. Reinhardt evaded the claw but he didn't see what would come after.
With its strong tail, the beast whipped Reinhardt in his stomach, sending him off a few meters away. Reinhardt slides on the ground, he gritted his teeth as he watched the beast stomping the ground, running towards him.
"Terra suspendus". Reinhardt said. The beast did not expect it. It was caught by the up shooting ground and fell hard.
"Wind slash". A whip of wind went towards the Trionyx head. It tried to avoid it but it was a second too late. The wind beheaded the beast cleanly and it turned into blue particles of dust.
Reinhardt breathe a sigh of relief, he passed his test. He went back to his seat raising his nose high and sharp.
"As expected of one of the strongest mage of our set". Angelica said.
"Yeah, yeah, i can do pretty much the same, but the one I'm interested in is Iode, i want to see how he'll disembowel his beast". Sylvester said.
'will this guy give me a break, for some reason he seems obsessed with always seeing me fight '. Iode thought giving Sylvester strange look.
"You really did well Reinhardt, well done". Ceaser congratulate Reinhardt, who sat right beside him.
"Of course, I'm Reinhardt de Samosa". He replied.
"Old habit sure die hard". Hector commented.
"Humph, we'll see what you do when it's your turn". Reinhardt replied.
The large screen kept selecting students and were taking up their tests. Then it was Iode's turn. His face turned grim seeing his name on the screen.
"You can do it Iode, you are stronger than you think". Hector encouraged him seeing his grim face.
"Thanks". He replied as he went down to the arena.
"What's with him, he doesn't need to be all gloomy, it just a silly test". Reinhardt said.
'maybe he does not want anyone to know his secret' Sylvester thought.
*. *. *.
"That's him, isn't he, the possible successor of Igor". Sara said.
"Yes, he is, we all saw him in the entrance assessment, that purple aura of his is hard not to notice". Bradford said.
"His performance today will give us the answer we seek, but what I'm confused with is the one star he still is after all this time, makes me wonder if it really Igor's powers or just a really irregular growth rate ". Bradford continued saying.
Pandavatton didn't say anything, he just watched Iode placing his hand on the magic orb, as if he was anticipating something big to come after, and he wasn't doing that in vain.
Placing his hand on the magic orb, an unexpected outcome unfold. Rather than the Great Normals or the Mega Fauna type of beasts showing in other students test, a Mystical Beast showed up, a juvenile Devastator showed up, causing an uproar in the arena.
"Interesting, i think we've gotten our answer". Bradford said. Sara nodded in agreement and Pandavatton gave a small smile.
"The anomaly mage, how much magic power does he have for such mystical beast to show before him, his he going to pass". Students start to chatter among themselves.
Devastators are considered mystical beast along with dragons and others because they have special abilities. Devastators are large beasts with long forearms ending with long sharp claws. They are quadrupedal beasts and walk on their knuckles.
On their backs, shoulders and heels, are long gigantic spikes. Their teeth are long and are more pronounced in the lower jaw. They also have long whip-like tails. If these characteristics wasn't menacing enough, their special ability is bone creation and manipulation.
Even though the Devastator before Iode is a juvenile, it doesn't make it any better, as it still has the ability, only weaker. Iode could only think of one reason such beast would appear before him - it's Igor's powers.
"Great, now i have to fight a mystical beast thanks to Igor but i don't even know how to tap into his magic powers, this is going to be one hectic battle". Iode muttered.
The beast snared at Iode then swiped its arm diagonally, then cones of bones were springing up towards Iode. It quite a common knowledge that bones are hard materials and are even super hard when they are being powered by a supernatural force, most low level elemental magic won't work against it.
So, Iode flew up using fire magic to evade the bones but the Devastator is quite intelligent, it hurled a lump of bones towards Iode in the air, knocking him to the ground. Before Iode could stand and make any reasonable judgement, he was knocked off to the side with a very powerful force coming from the whip-like tail of the Devastator.
The impact was strong as Iode starts to cough blood. He felt sharp pains from his internal organs and couldn't help but keep coughing out blood. He is the first student to have this kind of injury.
Pandavatton was tempted to request the test be stopped but he held it in, he wants to see what Iode can do, the other examiners are probably thinking the same.
The beast, walked slowly at Iode, snaring at him like a predator who has cornered its prey. Almost lifeless, Iode looked at Pandavatton, he saw the near disappointed look on his face and to his friends, they were all anxious.
He furrowed his eyes and thought.
"I felt failure four times in the past and i always get groggy when it happens, no, not this time I'm not going to fail again, that orb sensed Igor's powers in me and gave me this beast to battle, it means i have what it takes to defeat it ".
His eyes starts to glow purple and his seemingly invisible aura starts to become visible. The Devastator raised its hand to claw him against the wall.
"Ventus procella " . A very powerful wind pressure pushed the Devastator back making it rolled several times. Iode stood up and noticed the aura swirling around him, he smirked.
"It seems I've been holding myself back, no, holding back is not the right word, I've been limiting myself. Let see who would win in this state of mine". He said.