Clack
Walking out of his room, Aiden closed the door with his trembling hands.
'Ahhhhh, I'm scared.' He thought as he started walking throughout the hallway.
'Don't worry. As long as your identity is not revealed, you don't really have to attend the academy either.' Eden tried to calm him down.
'It's like you already know that I'm going to fail.' Aiden said as what Eden said didn't help him at all.
'I mean. We have to think realistically,' Eden said.
'Whatever.' Aiden said as he kept on walking through the hallways.
Soon, he reached the garden located at the back of the mansion.
'They are already here.'
Keeping his face solemn to avoid being read as nervous, Aiden walked towards Louis, who was standing by a bench.
"So, you came."
Enel was also present in the garden with his usual stoic voice and tired eyes.
"I want to attend the academy after all." Aiden replied with the same stoic voice as Enel.
'Haha, he is really becoming more like his father.' Louis thought as he helplessly smiled inside.
"Then, let's start the exam." Enel said as he folded his hands.
But, before he could talk any further, Aiden raised his hand and spoke.
"This will truly be the last exam, right?" He questioned Enel.
"Don't worry. This will really be your last exam." Enel replied with the same stoic voice, which made Louis shiver.
Then, please explain the exam. I will be the supervisor of this exam." Louis walked in as he said so.
"Five minutes." Enel raised his palm as he indicated the five minutes.
"If you are still standing after five minutes against me, you pass the exam." Enel said.
"Th-that's not fair. The young master still hasn't recovered yet." Louis instantly voiced his worry as he retorted to the exam.
"That's why I only said five minutes, and I will not be moving from this position for that entire five minutes." Enel replied as he looked straight into Louis eyes, despite him covering his face.
"…Young master." Louis muttered as he looked at Aiden.
"I accept." Without hesitation, Aiden agreed with the exam as he walked forward and stood about five meters away from Enel.
"You start the exam," Enel said to Louis as he looked at Aiden.
"Then, it will start on the count of three. Please prepare yourself." Louis said as he raised his hand.
"3, 2, 1!"
Dropping his hand, he started the exam.
BOOM
…
"If you are still standing after five minutes against me, you pass the exam." Enel said.
'…Hey, your guess was pretty spot on.' As Aiden listened to Enel's simple explanation of the exam, Eden chimed in, feeling impressed by Aiden's guessing skill.
'I mean, he definitely didn't want his son to pass. And what's the simple and best way to do that other than fail him yourself?' Aiden said to Eden.
'Does that mean you can pass now?' Eden questioned Aiden, who hesitated a bit.
'Obviously not.'
"…Young master." Hearing Louis's voice, Aiden opened his mouth.
"I accept." He said it without showing any hesitation as he walked forward.
'Well, hang in there, I guess.' Eden said as Aiden nodded his head.
Aiden stood five meters in front of Enel as he faced him directly.
"3,"
'Huh,'
As soon as Louis said three, Aiden's vision turned gray as the whole surrounding area lost its color.
"2,"
Ding
[Danger sense automatically activated.]
A window instantly appeared in front of him.
"1,"
'Shit.'
BOOM
…
Right after Louis finished counting down to one, a huge explosion followed, surprising Louis.
'I-is young master all right?' Louis thought, full of worries, as he looked at the scenery in front of him.
Enel, just like he had said, was standing still in his initial position with a huge black arm emerging from his shoulder.
The black arm was standing frozen right in front of Aiden.
'…A barrier!?' Observing the scenery more carefully, Louis realized that the black arm, which was aiming for the young master's head, was being blocked by a barrier.
[Reflection
Description: Create an invisible shield around yourself that protects you.]
'This guy is gunning for my head.' Aiden thought as he solemnly looked at the creepy black arm that was being held off by the shield. He didn't even want to think about the consequences that would have occurred if he hadn't used his skill in time.
Ding
[The 5-second duration of the skill [Danger sense] is over. Please wait for 5 minutes of cooldown.]
'…Shit.'
The skill that just saved his life was no longer usable for this exam.
Crack
'Huh.'
Feeling webs like cracks suddenly appearing on his shield, Aiden frowned.
'Huh, what is happening?' Aiden thought as he raised his guard to its fullest.
He couldn't believe what was happening. The skill [Reflection] should be powerful since he used a lot of mana for it.
Ding
[The attack's output of mana seems to be higher than that of the host's shield.]
'Damn.'
Swoosh
BOOM
Feeling a shiver down his spine, Aiden quickly moved to his left as another black hand appeared from beneath the ground that he was standing on.
'Five minutes is already starting to feel like a day.' Aiden thought as he gritted his teeth and looked at Enel.
Enel, feigning indifference, was standing at his place as he controlled the two black hands with just his mind.
Swoosh Swoosh
The two black hands flew towards Aiden with full speed as they carried a sense of lethality to them.
Boom Boom
They both crashed to the ground as Aiden swiftly moved away from his position and started running.
Tap Tap
'Oi, you are asking for death.' Enel said as he panicked when he realized that Aiden wasn't running in any random direction but directly towards Enel.
'There's no way I'm surviving this for five minutes.' Aiden said as he gritted his teeth.
Taking out a green elemental orb from his pocket, he unsheathed his sword.
Enel raised his chin as several more black hands appeared in front of him.
Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh
He sent all of them fliying towards Aiden, who gritted his teeth more in frustation.
'For FREEDOM,' he screamed internally as he kept running straight.
[Reflection]
BAM BAM BAM
Just as he reached in front of them, he summoned an even greater shield with greater mana input.
Swoosh
Just as they collided, he immediately jumped sideways.
As he jumped, he got a clear vision of Enel.
[Elemental sword coating]
Quickly activating his skill, his sword's blade was instantly covered with swirls of wind.
'Hope it works.'
Swoosh
Swinging the sword horizontally towards Enel, a crescent-shaped blade made of pressured air flew towards Enel.
'This isn't enough.'
Swoosh Swoosh
Swinging some more, several air blades flew towards Enel.
'Thank God I practiced it yesterday.' Aiden thought as he felt a little hope of winning.
'AIDEN.'
Unfortunately for Aiden, he let his guard down a little as Eden called out to him of the upcoming danger, but it was too late.
BAM
While Aiden was attacking the air blades, a black hand appeared from above and hit him, sending him directly to the ground.
"Cough."
Coughing out blood from his mouth, his vision became blurry as he looked towards the Enel.
Swoosh Swoosh
The several air blades that were sent towards him were easily blocked by a bigger black hand.
'Damn it.'
Ding
[Elemental sword coating deactivated. Please wait for 10 minutes of cooldown.]
'H-huh?'
Looking at his hand, he realized that he was no longer holding the sword.
'Shit.'
The sword had flown away while falling to the ground.
Brrrr
The ground shook.
'Wake up, wake up! There's more coming!'