The rules of the physical combat examination were quite simple. Each student had to face Seraphine in a sparring match and last for five minutes.
Winning was impossible since Seraphine was already capable of using Aura. However, the students were expected to demonstrate good swordsmanship, strategy, and resilience against her.
"Marcus… Come up." Sir Roland said.
The first student to face Seraphine was Marcus, a ten-year-old boy and his classmate knew that he had a decent strength that could help him become an Apprentice.
The students felt glad seeing that it was Marcus first. Well, it wasn't because he was special.
He was only average among them, but because of that, he would be a good reference to see whether they could actually pass or not.
"I'm here… " Marcus said as he stepped into the training arena. He held his wooden practice sword tightly in his hands as he felt a bit nervous facing the gorgeous lady that he was about to fight.
Seraphine stood at the center of the arena.
She looked unbothered and calm as she knew this exam was like playing a sword fight with a child. It was not something she should take seriously.
"Please take care of me, Instructor Seraphine."
"Do your best."
Seraphine nodded as she held her sword lightly, almost casually, as if she was about to take a stroll rather than engage in combat.
"Begin," Sir Roland announced.
Marcus took a deep breath before he charged forward, swinging his sword in a horizontal slash…
Seraphine sidestepped effortlessly before she countered with a quick thrust, forcing Marcus to stumble back. Of course, she just wanted to see how Marcus would respond if she attacked his open side. She didn't even strike that fast.
Unfortunately, Marcus failed to dodge or even block the attack.
Marcus tried to regain his footing, but before he could return to his first stance, Seraphine attacked.
It was to see how he would respond in such an unexpected situation. However, Marcus seemed to panic after seeing how she was about to strike at him.
Instead of being calm, he swung wildly, hoping to land a hit, but Seraphine's wooden sword easily blocked or avoided those swords and tapped on Marcus' body several times to show how many times he should've been hit.
Less than two minutes into the match, Seraphine disarmed Marcus with a flick of her wrist. His sword clattered to the ground, and the students sighed as they realized that this exam was not easy at all.
However, they also knew that even if they didn't last five minutes if they performed well, they would be able to pass it and become an Apprentice.
After all, their opponent was much older and stronger than them. It was expected that they'd get beaten.
"Next… Riza." Sir Roland said as he wrote something on his note before looking at Riza.
Riza stepped into the arena with confidence. As soon as she got closer, she immediately held her sword in a defensive stance.
Riza was another ten-year-old student who was quite flexible and was also a good reference.
"Begin," Sir Roland said.
Riza moved cautiously, circling Seraphine and looking for an opening.
She feinted to the left, then charged forward with a quick thrust.
However, Seraphine deflected the strike with ease, and it seemed as if she really wanted to see more of Riza's move.
However, Riza just tried to keep her distance, using the Side Stance to deflect Seraphine's attacks. For a moment, it seemed like she might last the full five minutes.
But then Seraphine felt that she had seen enough and shifted her strategy and started attacking her in various angles.
Riza managed to clumsily block a few blows, but the pressure was too much.
Once again, less than two minutes into the match, Seraphine disarmed her.
"Good effort," Sir Roland said… "Next. Michael"
***
In the meantime, as the students waited for their turn to face Seraphine, the atmosphere in the training hall was tense. They couldn't help but feel nervous as felt that they couldn't find any method to last five minutes against her.
'Is this another test?' Hayden thought for a moment as he realized that making them watch each battle was probably some sort of mind conditioning as well. In any case, it wasn't too important for him.
He looked around and could barely recognize any of the test-takers because he had joined too early for his age.
Well, despite training and eating well, he still had a smaller stature than those of similar age. As a matter of fact, he was as short as a typical seven-year-old because he had been sick for a long time.
At this time, George, a ten-year-old boy with a reputation for arrogance, noticed Hayden….
"He's really here…" George muttered. He had always resented Hayden's success. He believed that the younger boy's achievements were due to favoritism or his family's wealth rather than genuine talent.
While the examination continued, he decided to approach Hayden to shake his confidence in this exam. It would be fun to see if Hayden failed this test since his title as a genius would become a joke.
"Well, well, if it isn't the Academy's little prodigy," George said in sarcasm. "You know, you're so small, I almost mistook you for a first-year."
Hayden glanced at George but didn't respond. They had an exam, so he didn't want to do something that might disqualify him.
He also knew better than to engage in pointless arguments.
George, however, wasn't done. "I heard you've been taking advanced classes. Must be nice to have a rich family to buy your way into everything. But let me tell you something, Hayden. Once I become an Apprentice, I'll take care of you."