The weeks before their final term as second-years passed in a blur of missions and training at the mansion, with Clover stopping by from time to time and Clover challenging one of them, with him losing every time.
By the time the end of their second year arrived and their third year loomed ahead, none of them were the same students who'd walked out of Principal Agnus's office.
"Alright, you three are finally ready," Amelia said while looking at the trio.
"Ready for what?" Karasu asked. "Ready to have a sparring match with me and get your asses kicked!" Amelia shouted. All three of them were hesitant, but they had no choice and had to spar with her. Karasu decided to go first, after all he is the strongest one, he created his scythe and armor and lunged at her.
Her eyes glowed a light blue and electricity surged around her and bolts of lightning shot towards Karasu, but he dodged and blocked the rest with his blood orbs, but he suddenly got a lightning gauntlet straight to his face and his armor broke upon impact and electrified him, knocking him out.
Nex and Anas also didn't fare well against her, she was way too fast for Nex's bones and Anas's sapphire to hit and they both got their butts handed to them.
However, during her fight with Anas, she accidentally used a higher voltage lightning bolt at him and Al had to step in and used his eye magic and summoned giant tree trunks to wrap around her. This caught the eyes of Karasu and Nex because they didn't realize that Al was actually powerful.
"So this is the difference between us and a diamond ranked mage, huh? Well, we have a long way to go I guess," Karasu said.
"We improved a lot already and we will definitely be the top three scorers in our class," Anas said.
"Well it's almost the final exams, so we can't be so sure, but we might not see Clover for a while because he is graduating after a month," Nex said with a small frown.
"Maybe we can buy him a gift before he leaves," Anas suggested, "We made a lot of coins from our missions, so we can definitely spare a few to get him a gift," Anas continued.
"Great idea! But I won't tell any of you what I am giving him," Nex said.
"We can give him our gifts when he takes his final exam," Karasu said.
They all agreed to the plan and went to the shopping district in the northern part of the kingdom and they all looked carefully and thought which one would fit Clover the most, trying to beat the others with their own gifts. They looked until sunset and finally bought him a gift and prepared it for next week when Clover takes his exam and they are now focused on their exams tomorrow.
They all knew training was the only thing that can make a difference, and so they went on and trained until the dead of night.
The day of their exams have arrived, the trio was ready to give it their all. Their turns to take the exams were the most anticipated part of the day and principal Agnus decided to put their exams last to give the three more pressure.
Students took turns, each one getting from 60 to 70 on average and the highest was only 84/100. And after one and a half hours later, it was the trio's turn.
First up was Nex, he fought Mr Blaze because Nex has been challenging him since the beginning and he thought it was a good time to test how much stronger he has gotten.
"So, here we are again, you versus me. May the strongest stand tall," Mr Blaze said with a fiery determination, Nex just nodded and ready his stance.
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The battle began as Nex's purple eyes glowed and a rush of skulls came towards Mr Blaze. Mr Blaze, unfazed with his eyes glowing a bright orange, just snapped his fingers and a burst of flames disintegrated the skulls, no matter how many bones came at him, his flames were there to destroy them. He wasn't holding back unlike during the assessment tests, he was actually trying for once. Their battle ended with the ground scorched, bone fragments littered around and Nex lay on the ground defeated, getting 98/100 because he wasn't preserving his magic usage and was much slower at the end, but his output was impressive. "Damn it, I didn't improve my score!" Nex said in frustration.
"It's fine, this exam is much stricter than the assessment test. If it was the assessment test, you would have gotten 100/100," Anas said.
Next up was Anas, he chose to fight Ms Cheung for the same reasons as Nex. However, "If you beat me, I will be your girlfriend and future wife!" Ms Cheung said flirtatiously.
"Okay, I will fight you, Anas," the physics teacher and vice principal, Ms T said and Anas agreed immediately.
Their battle started, Anas created floating sapphire lances, designed for speed and shot at Ms T. She wasn't too impressed, her eyes glowed a light gray and metal blades parried his lances. It was his strategical thinking against hers, both were conservative with their eye magic and both were at a stand still before Ms T had enough and shot out giant metal pillars towards Anas. Anas, left with no other options, created an avalanche of sapphire and ultimately, Anas lost and got 98/100 for his strategies and his power output being way higher, his predictability no longer existed and unless the opponent could get close, they couldn't really defeat him without a high output.
"Let's go, I got the same as you, Nex," Anas said with a cheeky smile.
Finally, it was Karasu's turn and of course, he chose Mr X.
"May the angels be on your side, because you will need it," Mr X told him and that struck a nerve to Karasu. Karasu immediately shot blood orbs, Mr X eyes glowed black and dark matter tentacles sprouted, blocking the explosions. Karasu saw them and created his own tentacles and both were shooting out dark matter and blood without caring about reaching their limits. Karasu was also improvising, he created blood strings, darts and blood slashes on the spot, but the only one that was somewhat effective were the blood slashes. He lost due to him using way too much magic at the start and got 99/100 for his magic output and improv skills, but his carelessness held his score back.
"Maybe next time I will get 100/100," Karasu said while gasping for air.
"We definitely got even more attention from this," Anas said with worry.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDCyy7zebk
and then Add to home screen.