The Test

The four of them were magically transported, arriving in a completely different place, one they hadn't seen during the tour.

The place was like a gladiator ring that stretched much farther like a racing street. It had the aesthetic such as uncompleted buildings, destroyed properties and just straight up decimated buildings.

The lighting from above was very bright unless, the place would have been covered in the darkness as they were no windows in sight.

The other students had also arrived and they all seemed to be slightly disoriented by the feeling of teleportation and as their eyes struggled to adjust to the change in lighting.

Ahead of them and above them was a red starting line and a starting line flag above it.

"What the hell are we wearing?" Luz had to ask because what they had been wearing pre-teleportation was not what they were wearing now. They were clearly wearing uniforms of some sort. They were purple in color with MCA written on them and most of the students found them displeasing to the eyes.

"Ah, what?"

"This is a fashion crime."

"They must really not want us to enroll."

Of course, nobody was brave enough to actually air out their opinion to the official that was standing on a swinging structure like those used for construction, waiting for something.

"Welp, if we're racing or something, there's no way I'm wearing these eyeball destroyers. I got you guys." They heard the snapping of her fingers as Luz' palms sparkled with a rainbow hue which travelled out of her hands and swirled around all four of them.

All of their uniforms changed colors. They were still somewhat uniforms but had the design of what they were formally wearing.

"Whoa! Thanks, Luz." Arina and Serena thanked, even almost praising her. She blushed a bit although she received no gratitude from Yuri, she didn't do it for him. He wasn't even her friend although the girls right next to her, it was a possibility they would become great friends.

The official that had been watching them from above had seemingly disappeared before they knew it and instead, a large fly trap appeared where he had been.

"I love it when she does that." Some boys whispered to themselves, causing Ririka to whip her head in their direction, much to their fright.

Ririka, the headmistress of My Caster Academia was a Lush Caster. It meant that she could fabricate flora such as vines, plants, special plants, wood, et cetera.

"On this day, you Casters will face a challenge most of you have never gone through before. We call it: The Drach Race." Just like how they had arrived, a bright light radiated across the gladiator like area from the starting line forward and what were once empty grounds were now filled with beasts of different kinds.

Some looked like frogs, bears, others looked like plants and some had no specific identification to describe them. These ethereal creatures were known to the world as Drachs. Not long after magic had been discovered, special animals imbued with magical abilities had also been unveiled to the world and they had been named Drachs with the 'ch' being pronounced as 'k'.

Safe for their magical powers, they were mostly like ordinary animals that mated, fed on other lifeforms to survive and had low level of intelligence.

"There will be twelve stronger Drachs in the field in total with other weaker ones in different positions. What would aid your race is being able to discern which Drachs are high ranking and which one are not? Which would prove more difficult to handle and what can be handled without wasting any time?

"So a good amount of knowledge on Drachs would really help your situation." Arina sighed hearing that. Back at normal human highschool, they weren't taught such things and she felt like she was at a disadvantage.

"No, I can't think like that." She strengthen her resolve, opposing her negative thoughts. If she was at a disadvantage here, she would just have to try much harder than the others to pass the test.

"This field stretches about three miles. You have to make it to the finish line before the timer runs down." Ririka announced. There was no need for an 'or else' as the students pieced together that it would mean failure.

"Violence or foulplay among each other attracts immediate elimination."

Multiple screen shaped black squares appeared in the air all over the field and they were obviously the timers.

Every Caster got in a starting position. The starting line was pretty wide so everyone could stay at the very front as they waited for the timer to activate.

Arina couldn't help but notice that some accessories on some of the students began to shine. Those were their Charms, the tools that gave them most of their magical power and some of them had been able to unlock theirs.

The timer showed a three, then a two then...

  "GO!!"

Some ran straight ahead, some moved in zig zags and some leaped into the air. Yuri had activated his Charm which was a brooch that looked like two crescent moons facing each other with ten clear gems decorated on it, three of which were shining. When a Charm would give its wielder more magical power, it would come in the form of a Spell which would be shown to be unlocked by the radiance of a gem on the Charm, kind of like slots. They would become open

10 open gems meant that the Caster or Seraph had unlocked their maximum of ten Spells. In Yuri's case which was pretty impressive for someone his age, he could use three spells.

Arina had gotten split up with the girls and was on her own and she was running as fast as she could, "Uh oh." A piece of debris fell from one of the partly destroyed structures and she slid out of the way on time.

"Okay piece of cake. But now I gotta catch my breath." As a girl who had just ran about 150 metres, she was exhausted and there was no water around so she sat on the ground to recover.

While she recovered, a boy had run past her but had been attacked by some kind of monkey before just disappearing from the field, "Whoa!"

"If we think you are about to be hit by a lethal attack from any of the Drachs, we will pull you out of the race effective immediately." Ririka added, nervously wrecking some of the teenagers on the field.

Arina continued running but had reached a dead end with a wall to large to jump over in her way. It was a bit dark in the field so it was hard for her to see. "Those light balls would have really come in handy."

She turned back but then heard growling noises which sent chills up her spine, caused her pulse to race and her heartbeat to accelerate. Adrenaline kicked in as she stood before what looked like a lion made out of an exterior smile substance.

The slimy lion opened its mouth, revealing its dangerously pointy teeth before magical energy could be seen building up in it's mouth. It was too big for Arina to just run past without it landing a hit on her so she was going to rely on evading the blast it was charging.

With a ferocious and vicious roar, a purple blast of magic was released from the Drach's mouth. However, Arina had picked up some kind of pipe and placed it against the wall and using it to backflip into the air while raising it up again, avoiding the attack as she was now at a higher ground level. If one saw her now, they would think she was a professional acrobat from the surface or something but in reality, her body was in serious pain. She had used the adrenaline in her blood to perform such a feet

"Now's my chance. Please work." She had gotten high enough to jump over to the other side of the wall but it was way too high for her to jump down from without breaking a few bones in her leg which would without question mean disqualification. However, she did it anywhere but a few inches before she got to the ground, a cluster of glimmering golden spheres appeared beneath her, providing a type of cushion for her landing before they disappeared abruptly. "Good enough, at least. I'm never doing that again."

She tried running but the Drach Lion released another blast that caused a building to fall in her path, "Haha, nice kitty."

She waved her hands while slowly walking backwards desperately as it prowled forward slowly, showing its sharp teeth. Her fear increased and then light balls formed around her. She took in a deep breath.

"I can do this." She focused on her target, closing her eyes before opening them fiercely. It jumped in the air, ready to tackle her but all the light spheres were released at it and the impact destroyed it as it became dust that evaporated into the air, leaving something on the ground but she was too excited for her achievement to care.

"Yes! I actually did it." She looked at her hands which began to emanate a golden light that swirled her entire body, "Huh?" She floated into the air, lifting her up and a brooch fabricated in front of her and floated onto her chest.

It was a brooch resembling a sun with 10 gems and one of the gems opened up.

  "It's my Charm." She looked at her sleeves which had the sun pattern on them. She loved it. She also felt information flow into her brain on the Spell she had just unlocked.

She stuck her hand out, her heart raced in excitement as she performed magic for the first time, her hand glowing golden, "Light Casting: Light Board."

A flat circular body of light appeared below her feet and levitated her upwards into the air which she used to hover, on the move to the finish line.

* * * *

Meanwhile, Serena was having trouble. A bunch of rowdy teens had run past her, one of them accidentally bumping into her, causing her to fall on the ground.

"Ow!" She complained, "They were awfully fast. Were they running from something?"

Her question had quickly been answered as from behind, she could three Drachs moving in a frenzy. They were monkey based with hunched backs and three eyes on their face and ran on all fours.

"I just had to ask." She ran away from them as fast as she could but they chased after her. One of their tails glowed and she could see it and slid under a car in her path and spikes had hit the broken vehicle.

  More of the three-eyed monkeys tails glowed and they continued shooting spikes, some aimed at her, some just hitting random areas and even spurring the elimination of a student in the process.

"Oh, crap!" Sticking out her hands, Serena the Mech Caster formed large silver steel wires in her hands and swung them, trying to grab one of them but the other two shot spikes from their mouths and broke them into pieces.

Serena thought fast as there was still space for her to run, she grabbed a random crowbar on the ground and hit a fire hydrant in the way which had released a pressurized blast of water, knocking the monkeys down as she continued her run.

In anger, the monkeys touched each other until they had fused, become a single, larger monkey with increased speed that chased after her.

It hit the ground and created a shockwave that made her trip on the ground and before she could get up, it was right in front of her.

"No. I have to win."

She strengthened her resolve and spontaneously, a metal shield appeared, blocking a punch from the Drach.

Like Arina, magic enveloped her body but hers was blue. It rose her up and a pair of black shades with blue diamonds engraved along the lens appeared in her face. It was her Charm.

"Yes, my Charm. Finally. Mech Casting: Speed Suit!" As the blue magic died down, a suit of metal wrapped around her body forming an exoskeleton that allowed her to run faster, she could tell and knew.

With new courage, she punched the Drach in the face and it turned into a puff of yellow smoke.

The only girl left was Luz who was probably in the worst situation yet.