Two Quick Taunts

The examination began promptly after Nagisa's arrival. A recap was briefly held to catch Nagisa up to speed, explaining things swiftly due to his late arrival in order to start the exam. Thereon after it moved quickly onto the first task, and the written part had commenced.

The idea behind the first task was to test one's knowledge and how studious one was about core magic, abilities and a standard part covering multiple scenarios; whether it be combat, survival tactics or efficient usage of your own magical power.

Nagisa mischievously smiled once the material was given to him. Even the advanced section appeared to be easy. Basic magic covered. Advanced magic covered. Magical circuits and training covered, even the battle techniques and strategies.

It all appeared to be a walk in the park for Nagisa who had meticulously been a textbook bookworm about all kinds of books he could find in his village's old library.

After having the papers briefly flicked for a sneak peek at all the questions his hand and pencil never stopped to rest for a second. It only took a couple of minutes before Nagisa arose from his seat and approached the teacher at her desk to hand in all the examination questions, fully filled in and answered in an utmost detailed fashion.

"Are you really done, or just playing?" She questioned with a frown.

Her question was valid since only a mere twelve minutes had passed by since the examination had begun.

"Yeah, you may check it if you would like. If nothing else, do you mind telling me where the next exam is being held?" The young man standing before her grinned largely.

It caught everyone's immediate attention. People were in disbelief that he had fully answered every question so quickly. Nagisa utilized his keen sense of memorization and took fully advantage of his Arcane ability, hence it made remembering patterns and structures even easier.

"There is no way you are already finished, this would set a record within the academy's entrance exam…" she shook her head at the arrogant kid's smirk before her.

The supervisor then reached and flicked through Nagisa's test papers. Her jaw dropped, the questions were answered flawlessly. A mere single glance at his impeccable detailed explanations revealed the tale, Nagisa did not lie when he claimed to finish writing.

"... Wait in the area down the hall, the next test shall be held there," she sighed in response and regretfully held a hand over her face to dread over the matter.

Nagisa walked across the examination room, passing by Daiki's desk with his kept smirk, and exerted it into a larger one to indicate; "I just beat you".

The endeavour made Daiki put on an infuriating and cold face with a late twisted smile after a brief second. The two of them felt it, Daiki was clearly cracking up inside, accepting that two more challenges laid in wait for redemption.

Nagisa exited the room and made way through the hallway, noticing only how decorative it was. It had a red carpet and paintings on both walls, and the roof was decorated with ancient chandeliers.

Further down the hall he found the only room with an open door and walked in. A new supervisor greeted him. He told him to proceed at his earliest convenience when he was ready to proceed through the next door within the newly entered room.

There were a couple of chairs and the supervisor was sipping on a cup of tea. The room was small, and there was an invisible thick glass window separating the larger portion of the room ahead with the smaller one.

Without any second thoughts, Nagisa entered the next room and embraced the second challenge. Once he had entered the room, the door shut close rapidly and there appeared to be X-marked by its center, and it had multiple obstacles surrounding it. Nagisa walked and stood upon the marked area and voice began resonating throughout the room.

"Initiating target practice. Please draw your sword and strike your targets as efficiently as possible while also exercising your dodging skills. Remember, your results here will affect your final score!" The voice explained briefly.

Once it was concluded there was a sound building up inside the room. It was almost like gears collided, crashing and grinding together, building something up. Magical illusions came into sight and were created in front of Nagisa, swiftly moving in and out of sight throughout the obstacle course.

"3… 2… 1… Commencing test," The voice counting down before initiating the test.

Nagisa grinned and readied a question to pose while unsheathing one of his swords, "Is this being recorded or broadcasted?" he asked the system.

"Neither, due to magical coating on the walls and the system to not cause magical interferences while valuing absolute focus. Therefore only the participant has ongoing knowledge of the examination in process, except the results which the AI will record publicly for you," it replied back to him lengthly.

"Excellent," Nagisa smirked and began his enchantments.

< Enshrouding Wind > & < Enshrouding Cloak >

Nagisa began coating both himself and his weapon.

< Arcane Awakening > & < Arcane Coating >

He pulled out all the stops. This was his absolute secret that he could now unleash within this exam to attain hopefully a really high final score. The "Arcane Coating" served to further buff his enshroudment from Stage 1 to a Stage 2 equivalency.

It buffed his current stage and increased the white mist surrounding his weapon and body slightly with a pink stream, almost invisible to the naked eye, coursing through it. The "Arcane Awakening" served a different purpose.

This took Nagisa momentarily back to a moment right before Risa's illness had struck. She instructed him to kick trees with weaker branches to make the leaves drop and then to attempt slicing them while there was wind drifting. Nagisa was always frustrated with this training method in particular, until he had figured out due to his "Arcane Awakening" how to slice them.

The ability analyzed preemptively how the wind would impact and carry the leaf individually and during what precise moment to strike it. After the brief reminiscence, Nagisa dashed towards the first targets in range. The targets responded in a similar fashion now that he had exited the marked standby area.

The various magical embodied silhouettes aimed at different spots to strike Nagisa, while having a marker where to precisely strike them. Nagisa saw their preemptive strikes coming and jumped left upon impact with the first two targets, dodging the first strike pointed at his torso, and the other at his throat.

Thereon after Nagisa would delicately move and find gaps to exploit and make his own precise cuts on the targets. Target by target fell. Diagonal shoulder cut while dodging slightly to the right. Avoiding two colliding strikes by leaping backwards, then a deep thrust into the knee cap from an above angle, and finishing the second one by severing the torso by its side.

Due to his Arcane ability and training, this seemed like child play. Even more so considering Nagisa had both the ability to foresee any possible hit and dodge with his buffered Stage 2 and Risa's physical training regime coming into play.

The final target approached him with an increased speed, and Nagisa could barely read it in time. Where to both dodge and strike to successfully conclude the examination.

It was then, an additional, "bonus" shrouded target who had remained hidden all this time, chose to appear inconveniently. The target that was previously lurking in the shadows, quickly creeped behind him with the attempt of doing an uppercut through Nagisa's left shoulder.

"Ah… shit!" Nagisa screamed as he tried his damndest to outmaneuver the target in front.

Nagisa hurried with the first target, and dealt the final blow, then turned to the one behind. Nagisa barely had any time to respond. It was clearly an overlap and an insurmountable task. A loud conclusive sound filled the room to signal the end of the second task.

"Test complete! Final score, 103%!" The AI announced.

He scratched his head. The score seemed a bit off, did the final target add an additional bonus percentage? Upon exiting the room, the supervisor applauded the dumbfounded Nagisa. Some people had finished the first task and were seated or standing in the room.

"103%?! Is your system faulty or something?" Daiki stood before the supervisor, protesting.

However he was informed that if you managed to complete the test, he would have the chance of understanding the scoring himself.

"You are next, right?" Nagisa chose to stand between them, taunting Daiki to go in next with a grin on his face.

This made Daiki burst out into an uncontrollable laughter and head in with an unyielding focus in his eyes. Coming from a noble house, the only accepted result was excellence and nothing else.

The supervisor leaned in to whisper.

"How did you manage to deal with the final blow from behind, if I may ask?"

His dying curiosity made him ask Nagisa secretly in person.

"It is a family secret," Nagisa kept his grin and asked for the third and final task.

The supervisor informed Nagisa that there would first be a lunch break. After the break they would meet outside, at the south eastern wing's terrace, for the final exam. Nagisa nodded and then spotted Sakai leaning against the wall, and chose to approach him.