Entrance Exams Part 2

ABHIMAN KHATRI POV:

A few hours later, it was time for Alrik's group to face off against Abhiman's group. Each group had gathered at the bottom of the colosseum's arena, waiting for their match to start. Above them, the citizens of Prehcaster seemed to be having a mini-festival on the stands to fill the gaps between matches.

Contrary to their festive attitude, Abhiman Khatri stood with his arms crossed. He gazed across the arena at a certain someone who just pissed him off to no end.

'A fucking commoner? Are you shitting me?'

The person in question, Alrik Hakim, wore a brown tunic and black trousers, fitting for his lowly farmer origins. His short black hair was a mess, not even wetted down. His chin was covered in stubble. Commoners had dirty bloodlines, meaning that they rarely inherited any good skills. The

'Honestly, if he can't even look the part, why bother showing up? Is he mocking the Royal Exam?'

Alrik's teammates had at least attempted to look nice, but I guess Alrik just couldn't be bothered. After a few moments, Alrik's gray eyes finally noticed Abhimans hate-filled gaze. Even from their long distance, that cold gaze still made Abhiman shiver.

'Nonsense . . . he's just a commoner.'

Abhiman ignored his instincts and focused on maintaining Alrik's stare. After a few moments, wa

"You." Abhimans voice was low, his face hard as stone.

"I hate you."

Alrik's face morphed into one of sorrow.

"Why would you say that? I'm sorry if I upset you. Is there anything I can do to make up for it?"

'This bastard! How dare you act like you actually fucking care!'

Abhiman almost exploded with rage. He gritted his teeth and spoke, just barely containing his anger.

"If you have even a shred of decency, you will forfeit and leave this place you disrespectful, lowly, dirty peasant!."

Alrik shrugged his shoulders.

"Unfortunately, I have no decency left. I'm sorry that you are forced to endure the presence of such an odious creature as myself."

Alrik, who was obviously enjoying himself, looked at Abhimwith a smirk plastered across his face.

Abhiman's face grew red and veins popped out across his forehead.

Alrik's smile grew as he watched Abhiman struggle to control himself. If Abhiman lashed out at Alrik before the match started, he would be disqualified.

"My my! What an expression! You'll never like me no matter what I say, huh?" said Alrik

. He had begun to walk towards Abhiman, getting closer so he didn't have to raise his voice. Before he could make it very far, Alrik felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, um . . . Alrik, maybe you shouldn't piss him off?"

Cern spoke in a worried tone from behind Alrik, quiet enough so that Abhiman didn't hear him, but Alrik acted as if he hadn't heard him.

"Come on, speak up Abhiman! What exactly do you not like about me?"

Abhiman snapped and roared out in anger.

"What I don't like about you is your attitude! You waltz around, pretending to be sorry, but you're enjoying this, aren't you? You know that you're just a lowly commoner, and yet you still stain the grandeur of the Royal Exams like this! You havn't shaved and your clothes are tattered! I'll say this once more, if you had any decency or respect for the Royal Exams, you would have already left!"

His voice was so loud that a few people began to take notice.

'Check mate . . .'

Alrik spread his arms and spoke in a fake apologetic tone.

"I'm sorry, Abhiman, these are the finest clothes I could afford. My attitude has been nothing but respectful. Even so, I am still sorry."

Abhiman pointed an accusatory finger at Alrik.

"Shut your mouth! Every word that comes out from that mouth of yours is nothing but bullshit and lies. I should cut you down right here for mocking the exams, me, and everyone else here!"

By this point, the colosseum had gone silent. Abhiman, realizing that the entire place had gone silent, turned around and saw a small glowing orb there. His face turned bright red. Abhiman glared at the orb, completely humiliated.

'What is an amplifier orb doing here!?'

These orbs transferred sound across the whole stadium, giving everyone the experience of a front-row seat. It being right behind him meant that everyone in the stadiums had just heard him bad mouth a peasant who was ' just trying his best'.

He tried to speak, but no words would come out. People in the stands began to boo and jeer at Abhiman. Alrik, taking his silence as an opportunity, spoke out in a more serious tone of voice.

"Lowly commoner, huh? I wonder, just how many people in these stands are commoners. Is that the way a noble treats his people?"

The stands turned even worse. Some even began to throw things at Abhiman.

"Oi, that boy has done nothing wrong, you stuck up brat!"

"Leave him alone! You don't know what it's like to be a commoner, you damn noble!"

Phrases like these were thrown en masse at Abhiman, and he could do nothing but take it. Abhiman's face went through a rollercoaster of emotions before he finally realized what had happened.

'This bastard planned this . . . he planned this all, didn't he?'

Abhiman looked at Alrik with an ungodly amount of rage. He shattered the orb with his bare hands, canceling the magic. One of the referee's spoke up about this, but Abhiman ignored him. As the shards of the orb scattered across the arena, Abhiman spoke in a low, threatening tone of voice just audible enough for Alrik to hear.

"I'm going to kill you."

Alrik's fake smile instantly disappeared, replaced with an angry sneer.

"Go ahead and try, you classist bastard."

Turning on his heel, Alrik walked back to his teammates to the other end of the Colosseum, just out of earshot. Abhiman began to walk forward with murderous intent, but his four teammates held him back.

"Just a few minutes, Abhiman. When the match begins, you can kick his ass all you want."

***

ALRIK POV:

Sherwin grinned at Alrik and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Seeing that arrogant bastard humiliated makes me happier than you'll ever know."

Alrik just shrugged in response and spoke in a cold tone.

"I need him off his game so we can win with the least possible resistance. If he's focused on me, It'll leave him wide open to counter attacks."

Cern raised an eyebrow.

"You actually have a reason for doing that? And here I thought you were just petty."

" . . ."

Alrik brought a hand to his mouth, hiding an obvious smile while neither denying nor confirming what Cern had said. Cern sighed while everyone else cracked a smile. Alrik then crouched down and began drawing on the floor.

"Because I pissed Abhiman off so much, he's going to come for me. We'll use me as bait to lure him into a situation he can't win. Me, Cern, and Sherwin will fight him in a 1 versus 3 situation."

Cern frowned.

"If us three are fighting him, what about his four teammates?"

"Brianna is a Gravity Tank. She can use the gravity well spell to keep them occupied. Amaya is a Deep Sea Mage. She can use the sludge and deep sea pressure spells to further suppress them."

Brianna crossed her arms and voiced her concerns.

"Abhiman is strong . . . ridiculously strong. Even if you guys could beat him, which I don't think you can, Just how exactly do you expect us to hold those four off? I think the most we can do in that scenario is five minutes."

Alrik put a hand on his chin.

"All I need is a minute or so."

Cern raised his eyebrows in surprise. Sherwin had a skeptical look on his face while Brianna and Amaya began to look at Alrik with hope.

"A minute? Alrik, don't you know who Abhiman is?"

Alrik closed his eyes and began reciting information as if he had memorized it.

"Abhiman Khatri, heir to the Khatri house and owner of the skill "Prideful heart of Achilles". He is one of the most, if not the most, powerful person his age. Even if all four of you came at him, it would take at least five minutes to subdue him."

"Then how do you expect only three of us to beat him in a minute?"

Alrik looked at Cern with an emotionless expression.

"You have me. We'll beat him in under a minute and then squash the rest in a 4v5."

Cern narrowed his eyes.

"But how exactly?."

"Let me show you."

***

ABHIMAN KHATRI POV:

The crowd's roaring was reaching an all time high. Two groups of five, opposite to each other, both looked tense and ready to explode at a moment's notice. Abhiman in particular looked fired up. His frow was furrowed, wrinkled with rage. He tapped his foot anxiously, when suddenly, something happened.

At the very center of the arena, a red sphere appeared. Instantaneously, Abhiman stopped tapping his foot and became alert. After a few seconds, the sphere flickered to a yellow glow. Abhiman bent his knees and channeled his mana into his legs. His legs expanded as they were flushed with power, and his grip on his sword became tighter.

Abhiman's gaze wasn't on the sphere like it should have been, but rather on his target, Alrik Hakim, who had his hands in his pockets and a bored expression on his face. Abhiman felt his rage building up again inside his chest, like a flame that had been doused with lighter fluid.

'Just you wait . . . I'll smash that face of yours until not even your own mother will recognize you!'

Finally, the sphere at the center of the arena flickered red and vanished. A split second later, Abhiman's figure blurred. Like a wild beast, he shot forwards as his mana exploded from within. The ground where he had been standing cracked from the force of his sudden acceleration. Abhiman unleashed his blade from its sheath and increased his speed, quickly leaving his teammates in the dust. They yelled something that Abhiman couldn't hear but he didn't care.

His blade began to vibrate slightly, releasing a low humming sound. The mana inside Abhiman was quickly sucked into it. In no time at all, the blade stopped absorbing mana and released an orange glow. Translucent magical flames began to cover the blade, and the edge glowed a bright red. This was one of the spells engraved onto the blade known as "Flame Edge", it sharpened the blade as well as superheated it. If one looked closely, the air around the blade wavered and distorted like it was a hot summer day.

In no time at all, Abhiman had covered the distance and arrived before Alrik's group. Two girls stood at the forefront of their group, while the three boys hadn't even moved from the starting line. As Abhiman came closer to the two girls, they each jumped out of his way. Abhiman didn't even stop to fight them as he flickered past them like a bolt from a crossbow.

'Cowards! This will be even easier than I thought!'

Abhiman began to grin darkly as he basically salivated over the thought of beating Alrik into submission. After a moment, he closed in on those three and raised his sword high above his head. Once he was within thirty feet of the three, Abhim jumped into the air, screaming as he swung his blade down.

"FIRESTORM!"

As his blade cut the air, the tip of the sword drew an arc in the air. This arc shot forwards, quickly growing into a huge, raging tsunami of heat and flames. It was Abhiman's strongest spell, an indiscriminate raging tidal wave of force.

Abhiman half expected them to die from this alone, but just in case, he charged into the flames and felt one of his passive skills activate. A robotic voice sounded off inside his head, confirming his thoughts.

'Excess Heat Detected . . . Thermal Conductivity Level Three Activated.'

Abhiman could feel his body become stronger, faster, and lighter. It had taken about a third of his mana to cast the spell, but thanks to Thermal Conductivity which transformed heat into power, he was able to recover some of the mana he spent on the spell. Now, he had only used about one tenth of his mana pool.

Inside the flamestorm, Abhiman wasn't able to see or hear anything, but suddenly, he sensed mana fluctuations above him. Abhiman looked above and saw an elven archer aiming directly at him . . . and he was standing on nothing but air. Although this confused Abhiman at first, he quickly got over it.

In no time, an arrow was released and flew through the flames, threatening to implant itself in Abhiman's forehead. However, Abhiman's blade was faster. The sound of steel hitting steel was heard, even in the roaring flames, and the arrow was deflected. The archer furrowed his brow and quickly stepped higher into the air, trying to distance himself from Abhiman.

Abhiman crouched low to the ground and exploded upwards. The ground was rendered asunder, and he flew upwards as if he had been shot from a cannon. The Archer stopped trying to run away and knocked an arrow. Abhiman swung his blade, yet right as he did so, he could feel someone approaching behind him at lightning speed.

Abhiman quickly changed the direction of his blade and twisted his body in midair. The clanging sound of metal on metal could once again be heard as Abhiman intercepted the blade of a blonde man who had suddenly appeared behind him. As soon as his blow was blocked, the blonde man grinned. Abhiman, at the last moment, remembered that the archer had knocked an arrow, but it was too late.

The twang of the bowstring accompanied the whistling sound of something cutting through the air. Although Abhiman couldn't dodge it completely, he was able to twist himself enough to make it non-fatal. The arrow buried itself in his shoulder. After a moment, the momentum of his initial jump wore off, and gravity once again took effect.

Abhiman fell to the ground, where the effects of the flamestorm had begun to calm down. Abhiman clutched his shoulder. Blood was now trickling down his arm, wetting his shirt and filling the air with the smell of iron. Gnashing his teeth, Abhiman looked up at the archer, who had knocked yet another arrow while standing in the air. The blonde swordsman was calmly walking towards, his blade now in its sheath.

Abhiman got to his feet and made up a plan in his mind. He let his arm droop, as if he couldn't even move it. He showed visible pain in his expression, and acted as if he couldn't lift his sword.

'Take the bait . . . just a little closer.'

However, just out of range for what Abhiman wanted to do, the blonde swordsman stopped in his tracks. He just stared at Abhiman.

"Come on, finish me already."

With a pissed tone of voice, Abhiman acted as if he had given up. The archer still hadn't released his arrow, but Abhiman was ready at a moment's notice. The blonde swordsman said nothing, staring at Abhiman.

Abhiman, intent on getting within range of the blonde swordsman, raised his foot to take a step forwards, when suddenly, he froze. He could feel . . . something behind him. Never in Abhiman's entire life had he felt terror like this before. His heart pounded in his chest, and his pupils dilated.

Completely forgetting about the arrow trained on his head, Abhiman whipped around and activated his final move.

"Last spar- !"

But before he could finish preparations for the spell, Abhiman realized who was standing behind him. Abhiman was so confused that his mouth stopped involuntarily. His mind raced, thinking there was no way that this person posed him a great danger. Standing behind him was the familiar, annoying face of Alrik Hakim.

'He's just a commoner, what was that feeling?'

In this moment of confusion, Alrik smiled at Abhiman and spoke.

"Checkmate."

While Alrik was speaking, Abhiman could feel two presences bearing down on him from behind. Whipping his head back around for what seemed like the hundredth time, Abhiman saw the blonde swordsman flying toward him like a thunderbolt, and an arrow screaming towards him from the sky. He had no time to activate the spell 'last spark', but that didn't mean he gave up.

Abhiman reacted quickly, swinging his blade at the swordsman with one hand and reached to catch the arrow with his other. In a split second, he completely countered both of their perfectly timed attacks. The arrow froze inches away from Abhimans eye, grasped in his hand. The blonde swordsman grinned once more, even as their blades ground against each other. Abhiman, upon seeing that confident smirk, frowned. Remembering the last time he had that smirk, Abhiman panicked, but it was too late. Without even sensing any mana fluctuations, he felt something slam into the back of his head. Abhiman stumbled forwards onto the ground, stunned.

'How? I didn't sense any mana from behind me . . . what just happened?'

Then everything went dark.

***

ALRIK POV:

Alrik stared at Abhiman as an arrow pierced his skull. About fifty milliseconds later, his head was then decapitated by Sherwin. A second later, his body disappeared into particles. Alrik then turned and sent out a thought to Sherwin and Cern.

'Let's go assist Amaya and Brianna.'

Unable to say anything back since they didn't have the mind link skill,showed their affirmation by sprinting towards the two girls. A few dozen yards in front of where they had battled Abhiman, Brianna and Amaya could be seen barely holding off four people. Alrik closed his eyes and sighed internally.

'Thought Acceleration'

The world slowed to a snail pace, and a huge headache assaulted Alrik's mind. In this place where time had been slowed down, he could easily see where and how each of the four people planned to attack. However, just to be sure, Alrik activated another skill within this slowed time.

'Eyes of Ammit'

After a moment in Alrik's time, but instantaneously in everyone else's, Alrik's eyes glowed a dull green. With these eyes, he could feel a large amount of information about his enemies enter his brain. Their thoughts, feelings, and intentions at this moment. After confirming what his enemies were about to do, Alrik activated Mind Link and warned his teammates. First was Brianna.

'Take a step backwards and lower your head, the man in front of you is going to try to decapitate you. '

Then, Alrik sent thoughts to Amaya.

'Fall flat on the ground. Two people are going to send spells at you.'

As he gave these instructions, he sent thoughts to Cern and Sherwin as well.

'Amaya is going to take a step back right as someone swings at her. While that person is off balance, strike together and take him out.'

At this point, Alrik's headache rose to new heights as using Eyes of Ammit and Thought Acceleration at the same time was too much. He quickly deactivated his skill. In an instant, Amaya fell to the ground and Brianna took a step backwards while ducking under the man's swing. Not even a fourth of a second later, Sherwin flashed forwards and swung his blade while Cern released an arrow. With perfect coordination like this, the man could do nothing. Either die to an arrow or die to the sword.

While he dodged the arrow that was headed for his head, he couldn't dodge Sherwin's blade. Sherwin's impossibly quick blade pierced his heart. The man stumbled backwards, before he fell to the ground as his body disappeared into particles. The other three were so surprised that they froze for a moment. Alrik, seeing his plan working, once again activated Thought Acceleration and then used Mind Link.

'Amaya, cast sludge beneath those two spell casters. Brianna, use gravity well on the one closest to you. Sherwin and Cern, attack at the same time again.'

After Alrik had once again finished giving instructions, time sped up again and all four of them moved at once, like a perfectly well oiled machine. Amaya said something and waved her hands, causing the two spell casters in the back to sink into the ground, breaking their concentration. Brianna yelled and stuck her palm outwards, where a black sphere manifested itself, causing the person in front of her to be knocked off balance and sucked towards her. Then, Sherwin and Cern did their thing. A second later and another person transformed into light particles. The two spell-casters, with no vanguard to project them, didn't even need Alrik's instructions to finish, sho he simply let everyone else clean them up.

Alrik sat on the ground and brought a hand to his throbbing head and sighed.

'I need a nap.'

***

HEADMASTER POV:

The headmaster watched as the battle began. Instantly, Abhiman Khatri dashed forwards, quickly leaving his own teammates in the dust, causing the headmaster to shake his head and sigh.

'Foolish, but knowing him, he'll be fine. He has more talent than even his father . . . he should be able to hold off against those five until his teammates get ther- eh?'

The headmaster tilted his head as the two people at the front suddenly jumped to the side, allowing Abhiman to charge right through them. The headmaster leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin.

'Interesting . . . Abhiman is blinded by his rage, so he'll go for Alrik at the back . . . but, can the three of them take him? And how will those two fare against the rest of Abhiman's team?'

The headmaster's eyes twinkled as he smelled something interesting about to happen. This situation was out of his predictions. In no time at all, Abhiman fell to the ground, defeated. As his body was teleported outside to the medical ward for resurrection, the headmaster couldn't be anything but impressed.

'What amazing teamwork . . . each of their moves is coordinated with each other, working off the opening their ally creates. Even that boy contributed with that weak bullet spell . . . interesting . . . how interesting!'

The headmaster watched with even bigger eyes, leaning forwards in his chair, wondering just what this well-oiled machine for a team would do next. Just as he thought, as soon as Alrik and his two teammates reunited with their other two allies, the remaining four were dealt with efficiently and ruthlessly. After it was all over, the headmaster fell deep into thought.

Next to the headmaster was the vice-teacher, the second in command of the royal academy. He brought a hand to his chin and spoke in a measured tone.

"Something is going on. That coordination is unnatural."

The headmaster nodded in agreement before pointing at Alrik.

"It has to be him."

The vice-teacher frowned.

"Are you sure? If we take a look at his stats, he is nothing special. He no doubt ran out of mana after casting that bullet . . . wait, how did he cast a spell? He has no combat abilities, mana type, or class."

The headmaster grinned even wider as the situation became more and more fascinating. The headmaster was someone who loved unexpected things and riddles, so this situation intrigued him to no end. After a few seconds of silence, the headmaster had an 'ah hah!' moment.

"He's hiding his status."

The vice-teacher's expression morphed into one of complete surprise.

"The teacher assigned to each classroom of thirty each checked every student as they arrived. Are you insinuating that a mere child could fool the eyes of someone who teaches at the best academy of all of Avalon?"

The headmaster switched his gaze to the vice-teacher.

"He used a spell. His status shows he has no spells, it's quite simple really."

The vice-teacher frowned and thought for a moment.

"Perhaps he is hiding a wand?"

The headmaster shook his head.

"Impossible. All of their belongings have to be registered before they enter the arena. Even if he did smuggle in a wand, that would require some kind of spell, which cannot be seen on his status. Therefore, the only solution is that he faked his status with a skill higher than five."

The vice-teacher's face paled.

"But sir, not even you had a level five skill when you first enrolled in the academy . . . that isn't- it can't be possible."

The headmaster shrugged.

"Wake up to reality. We have come across a once in a thousand years talent. As much as I would like to rank him number 1, he is probably hiding his status for a reason. After the tournament is over, invite him to my room. I will speak with him then. Until that time comes, give him the rank he deserves from whatever we could see."

The vice-teacher, still skeptical, nodded his head reluctantly. Although he personally didn't believe this kid had a level six or higher skill at such a tender age, he trusted the headmaster more than himself. Bowing low, the vice-teacher responded.

"Yes, headmaster Eyzin."

***

CERNUNNOS POV:

Now back on the balcony where they had originally gathered, he and his three friends all absent-midely watched other groups battle it out in the Arena. Cern was the first one to speak.

"I told you so."

Sherwin shook his head and laughed boisterously.

"Who could've guessed that we got a genius? Now that I think about it, he's probably some super powerful noble who doesn't want any attention."

Amaya shook her head. Sherwin looked at her questioningly, so Amaya reluctantly gave her reasoning with her soft, quiet voice.

"If he wanted to blend in, he could have just acted as any other noble. I think he's really just a commoner."

Cern nodded in agreement.

"It's common knowledge that nobles are born with more skills and mana as their bloodlines are more pure, so if he really wanted to blend in, that's the first thing he should have known."

Silence gathered over the group as they all fell into thought. After a few minutes, Brianna broke the silence.

"Say, what type of skill was that anyway? The one where he spoke to us in our minds . . . that was creepy."

Cern shivered.

"Tell me about it, but on the bright side, at least we won because of it."

Brianna frowned.

"Another thing I don't get is how he could tell what they were going to do before they even did it."

Sherwin put his chin in his hands as he watched the fight below them get fiercer.

"Why don't we just ask him?"

Cern sighed, while Brianna smacked him on the head.

"He obviously won't tell us, dude, he hid his status for a reason."

Sherwin rubbed his head and looked at Brianna angrily.

"Hey, I was just thinking out loud! No need to hit me you crazy banshee!"

"Who you calling a banshee, goldilocks!"

The two delved into an argument like they always did. Cern and Amaya both smiled at the two who obviously had a lot of chemistry. Eventually, after some stern looks from their fellow observers, the two calmed down.

Some few hours later, and the final team fight came to an end. Shortly after, a huge magical display, big enough for everyone to read no matter where you sat, appeared in the center of the arena. Two lists appeared, one displaying team rankings, and the other displaying individual rankings. Surprisingly, their team placed first overall and each of them landed in the top fifty students of the day. At this sight, all four of them froze as their jaws dropped. Amaya was the only one who managed to keep her calm.

Suddenly, Sherwin let loose a loud victory cheer, flaunting his placement to the others nearby.

"Oh hell yeah! First place! Who's a lowly noble now?"

While Brianna went to stop Sherwin from being a showoff, Cern realized Amaya was staring at the board with a sad expression.

"Amaya, what's wrong?"

Amaya pointed at the board.

"Rank number 1456, Alrik Hakim."

Brianna suddenly stopped and turned, looking at the board as she heard Amaya. Cern didn't understand why he had been placed so low at first, but eventually realized something. After a minute, Sherwin turned around with a huge grin having finished gloating.

"Guys, come on! What are you looking at?"

Sherwin's smile slowly left as he looked at the board.

"What a load of bullshit, why did he get placed so low?"

Brianna sighed and put her hands in her pockets. She seemed actually mad, unlike when she was just teasing.

"No one saw him do anything. I can't believe no one noticed that he was using magic to help us. Arent the best professors in the world grading our performance?"

Everyone shared her thoughts. It was at this moment that they all realized something. Alrik had seemingly fooled the greatest educational institution in all of Avalon.