Conclusion of the Exam

Nova placed his hands together and aimed it right at Reagan.

『You think a paltry chant will hit me?』[Reagan]

『Birthed from the stars, Burnt to ashes, burn my enemies into nothingness...』[Nova]

『No... That spell! Are you insane?! Where did you learn that?!』[Reagan]

Nova didn't answer his question, instead opting for drawing an empty magic circle.

『From ashes to ashes, to stardust and nothing, incinerate the enemy into eternal night!』[Nova]

『That magic circle?! What is it?!』[Reagan]

He quickly dashed forwards to intercept the chant.

『Fireball!』

Seeing a fireball coming at him, he quickly stepped back, before realizing that the one who fired that was Jade.

『You?! Why would you?!』[Reagan]

She put her hands down and sighed a breath of relief. Then, she waved "goodbye" to Reagan.

『Inferno Purgatory!』[Nova]

A massive black hole appeared below Reagan, dropping him downwards before teleporting him up.

『Blessed Flame Rebirth!』[Nova]

Using the entire mana mist Reagan created, Nova consumed the mana and created a massive blue blaze that quickly ate through Reagan's mana shield.

『Another seed ability?!』[Reagan]

『...Student Nova has passed the examination!』

Moments later, the hole sealed itself, and Reagan landed safely on the ground.

He walked up to a Nova that stood proud and tall.

『...Where did you learn that?』[Reagan]

Despite being asked a question, Nova didn't respond.

『..Nova.』[Reagan]

The students that passed walked up to Nova.

『Is he…?』[Reagan]

Moments later, he began to sway backward.

Anastasia displayed a troubled expression.

『..Chronostasia.』[Anastasia]

She appeared behind him and caught him before he hit the ground.

『...』

She smiled at him, which caused the entire class to go quiet.

『...Nova.』[Anastasia]

------------

When Nova woke up, his entire body screamed out in pain.

「...This really hurts.」[Nova]

「Really? Then maybe you shouldn't have overextended your mana pool.」[Reischneid]

「What time is it? If the cafeteria is still open I can heal myself with mana..」[Nova]

「Midnight. You've been out since 2 or 3.」[Reischneid]

Nova felt his stomach growl, which sent waves of pain through his body.

「Ouch, this really stings. So that means the cafeteria isn't open either?」[Nova]

「Do you feel anything on your left hand?」[Reischneid]

「My left ha-?」[Nova]

He glanced down at his left hand, to find that it was being tightly held by Freyana.

『Freyana?』[Nova]

She looked up at him, before grasping even tighter onto his hand.

『Yes? Is there anything you need?』[Freyana]

『Uhm.. Did you think you could feed me again?』[Nova]

『...Yeah!』[Freyana]

She briefly left and brought back a large tray of food.

『..Thank you.』[Nova]

『Mm.』[Freyana]

After she fed him dinner, she said good night to him and went back to the Eternea Plains.

Nova slowly sat up afterwards.

「Tch. This hurts..」[Nova]

『Blessed Flame Rebirth!』[Nova]

His body ignited into blue flames, and his bruises and sore spots slowly disappeared.

「I mean, your girlfriend is looking after you, so maybe it's not a bad thing.」[Reischneid]

Moments later, a knock appeared at his door.

「Huh? Who could it be at this hour?」[Nova]

He opened the door and found Oswald and the rest of the student teachers there.

『Nova! Are you alright?!』[Oswald]

『Uh.. yeah.』[Nova]

『So.. You got master Reagan as a teacher..』[Sarena]

『Oh. Yeah! He beat me up really hard.』[Nova]

Behind the 3 of the teachers stood Derenne.

『..I'm sorry. I apologize on behalf of dad.』[Derenne]

『Huh?』[Nova]

They all walked into Nova's room and made themselves comfortable on Nova's couch besides her.

『Reagan is my dad. He spends all of his time researching Seeds and mana, which makes him disinclined to teach a class.』[Derenne]

『So, did you pass his exam Nova?』[Hanzo]

『I don't know. I think I did. I pushed my mana and body too hard, then fell unconscious when I cast Inferno Purgatory. 』[Nova]

Sarena's face twisted when Nova mentioned Inferno Purgatory.

『..You casted Inferno Purgatory?』[Sarena]

『Yeah! If I did win, it was because of it-』[Nova]

『You… IDIOT!』[Sarena]

As she was screaming the last word, she flipped Hanzo onto the ground.

『WOOOOOAH?! WHY MEEEEEEEE?!』[Hanzo]

He hit the floor with a thud, and broke the floorboards.

Nova began to display a nervous look and started to openly panic.

『Was I not supposed to?!』[Nova]

『Reagan was our teacher 2 years ago. Back then, it was only the 4 of us. We were then socially cut off from the rest of our year the moment we were in that class. They called us the "Monsters of 2-B".』[Oswald]

Hanzo pulled himself out of the floor.

『Even Hanzo?!』[Nova]

『Yeah! Even me!』[Hanzo]

He then slowly realized the implications of Nova's words.

『...Wait. Even I have feelings, man..』[Hanzo]

Sarena began to move her fingers around and restore the floorboards while talking.

『Well, if he figures out that I taught a houseless my signature spell, he'll probably hunt me down..』[Sarena]

『What about Rai? Didn't he learn Qi Acupoint techniques from Hanzo?』[Nova]

『Well.. Rai is in a different class, isn't he?』[Hanzo]

『...So, you lot ARE teaching them new things.』

A collective silence filled the room.

『...』

They all slowly turned their head to find that Reagan was standing at Nova's door.

『Did I pass?』[Nova]

『Did an attack of yours directly hit me?』[Reagan]

『..I don't think so.』[Nova]

『Then, you're lucky that the condition for passing was harming my mana shield.』[Reagan]

『Then?!』[Nova]

Reagan turned around, and was about to leave.

『Yeah. You passed. You're a damn nuisance though.』[Reagan]

『Hold on! Master, what did Nova do?!』[Sarena]

『...He helped a bunch of other students pass.』[Reagan]

Reagan left the dormitory area and disappeared.

『You.. had the time to help others pass?』[Sarena]

He shook his head.

『No. They seized the opportunity on their own. I just happened to be fighting against him when they chose to attack.』[Nova]

Nova just remembered something he wanted to ask.

『By the way, Hanzo..』[Nova]

『Yeah? What do you need?』[Hanzo]

『Do you think you can teach me sword techniques?』[Nova]

『...』