Alright, that last fight had only taken around twenty percent of my XFE, and I had about forty-five minutes before my next duel, so by then, I'll have more XFE than I did at the start of the last duel. I was currently in the cafeteria, I'd just ordered three donuts, gotta replenish my energy and whatnot. Sugar was good for that, so yeah. The best part was that I had the entire cafeteria to myself, so it was nice and quiet.

That duel had taken only a little over two minutes, but I had been constantly on the move, plus the fight against the Mutants in the first stage had also taken a bit of stamina. I wasn't particularly tired since I had built up my stamina quite a bit during my training, but better safe than sorry. Also, I was kinda craving something sweet, but that's, uh, only a minor reason for this...

​​

Anyway, I was pretty confident about winning my second duel, though I was a little worried about the third one...but I'll focus on the more immediate fight for now. I had to say, I wasn't liking how long this exam was taking, was it going to be like this during all the monthly exams?

"Hey, how's it going, Zax? You really need to lay off the sweets, kid," Remarked a familiar voice, walking up to me.

Huh, I thought I was only person here. But then, this guy was pretty easy to miss, since he was, you know, really short, though I definitely shouldn't say that out loud. Oh, and he'd started calling me Zax like my sister did, which was weird at first since till that point, she was the only one who ever used that nickname, but I guess that, eventually, I got used to it.

"Oh, hey, Kumar. What's up? And on the contrary, I think my level of sweets consumption is moderate," I argued as I took another bite.

"Whatever, it's not I particularly care...oh, and call me Instructor Silva here, I'd hate it if the other students started calling me by my first name too. You get a pass because of Kilella, and also because I have to acknowledge that you've got decent skills."

"Jeez, if it bothers you that much, I'll just call you instructor, it makes no difference to me," I replied with a shrug, "And I appreciate your acknowledgment or whatever, I guess."

"Like I said, I don't mind you calling me by my first name, just don't do it in front of other students...but, just so you know, it makes no difference to me either way, got that?"

I've always wanted to see a tsundere reaction, but not like this...

"Yeah, sure. So, uh...was there something you needed, or what?"

"Just some advice for tomorrow's exam...you'll definitely fail if you use your teammates the way you threw that girl at me when we dueled. The exam will mainly evaluate your aptitude with teamwork, but using your teammates like tools is a big no-no...that's actually a bit part of why I'm suspended for a year and am taking this teaching job, I'm not great at working with others either. If you can't work together with whoever you get teamed up with, then at the very least, try to go about the exam without getting in each other's way, that's the absolute minimum you'd need to do to pass."

Most of that was just stating the obvious, I already knew that I couldn't very well do things the way I usually did for the teamwork exam, or I'd fail. That's why it was the exam that I was the most concerned about. You'd think he could give me something more useful though...

"Hey, anything you can tell me about the details of the exam?" I inquired hopefully.

"Hmph, no way, unlike your sister, I still have my integrity," He immediately declined with a huff.

"Tch, goody-two-shoes."

"Wha-!? That is the last thing that I am!"

"Oh, yeah? Then prove it, what's the exam gonna consist of?"

"Real subtle...I'm not going to be that easy to manipulate, you know."

"Eh, worth a shot. Well, then, how about the teams, you could at least clue me in on who I'll be stuck with. Come on, throw me a bone, Kumar," I requested with a sigh.

If I get stuck in the same team as Tairo or Bytra, I'd almost definitely fail.

"Actually, I haven't even grouped the teams yet, though I guess there's no harm in telling you that it'll be teams of four," He replied after a brief pause.

"Okay, fine, but can I at least make one request...there are three people in particular that I absolutely do not want to be teamed up with, so maybe you could keep that in mind when forming the teams?" I asked hopefully.

"Hm...I really shouldn't, since this is supposed to be done on a random basis...but okay, I guess that's not too big a deal," He relented after considering it, before bringing up a list on his holo-screen, "Okay, so which ones don't you want to be teamed with?"

"Tairo Najimi, Bytra Lichood and Misaki Aki...oh, actually one more, Makoto Amano too. There was another, but that turned out to be a dumb-ass misunderstanding due to ignorance, so yeah...so long as I'm not teamed up with any of these four, I can at least try to work with whoever else."

"Right, okay, I'll make a note of that and make sure you aren't teamed up with any of these four...now, then, I better leave before you rope me into giving you a further advantage, both you siblings have a sneaky nature that I find unpleasant," He remarked warily.

"Yeah, well, I probably wouldn't have made it this far if I was all straight-laced and valued integrity or whatever," I shrugged, finishing off the last of my donuts as he headed off.

My sister tended to bring him along almost everytime she came over to my place since the first time he visited, so I had gotten used to talking to him pretty casually. And as a result, even knowing how powerful he was, I didn't feel intimidated by him anymore. He had a pretty big ego though, so I wasn't going to bring that up. Huh, I could probably use my X-Ability to tell him that and see how he reacts and then undo it. I'll keep that in mind for later, maybe for when after the exams are over...

...

A little over twenty minutes after I finished my donuts, it was time for my second duel of this exam. I had a decent amount of XFE restored, my stamina was pretty much full, and I felt plenty confident too. Which means that it'd suck to lose this fight, so if I do happen to lose, I'll make sure to undo it and try again. Well, that's nothing new, I'd always planned to keep a Save point ready anyway.

I was currently in the training hall where this duel was supposed to take place at, waiting for my opponent to show up. Makoto Amano, the guy was kinda a huge sleazeball. I found him repulsive, he often joined in when Tairo and those two bitches gave me crap, though even they didn't seem to like him very much, I guess Tairo only put up with him because there was no one else in the class interested in joining him in his bullying, though the girls made no efforts to hide their dislike, since he tended to make some pretty crude remarks at them. I think that was his idea of flirting.

Plus, the guy was always eating, he seemed to constantly have a lollipop or jawbreaker or some form of hard candy in his mouth, it was especially noticeable in class, the sound of his saliva echoed through the classroom everyday. It was super off-putting and distracting, but he either had no self-awareness or he just didn't care. Anyway, bottom line, the guy was disgusting.

The door then opened and he walked in, sucking on a lollipop. As he strolled onto the training area and the drone formed the Duel Field around us, he gave me a condescending smirk and cracked his knuckles. What, was that supposed to be threatening? Talk about cliche. I readied my weapons as the countdown began, the two of us taking out places.

"Hope you're ready for me to beat your scrawny ass, Dud!" He remarked with a cocky chuckle.

I had never actually retorted against this guy before, so this'll be the first time I speak to him...hm, what should I say in reply...oh, how about something like...

"I'd like to see you try, fatass, I bet you won't even be able to touch me," I replied with a smirk.

"You little shit...!" He growled, his expression darkening, ", !"

The timer was almost done ticking down. Three...two...one!

He shot towards me and swung both hammers down at me, I swiftly sprang back to avoid it, his weapons slamming into the floor and leaving a deep dent upon impact. He has a lot of strength, but he wasn't all that quick on his feet. I can run circles around this guy.

I fired a couple of shots at his head, he began to spring off to the right to evade them, dodging one of them but the other struck the left side of his head, as he let out a groan of pain. Blood trickled down the left side of his face, his slightly dazed expression turning into a look of fury as he charged at me with both hammers raised. Wow, he's completely stopped thinking, his rage had completely taken over and he was rushing in blindly...

I fired a barrage of six shots at him while keeping my distance, he blocked them with his hammers, before throwing one of them at me with a yell. Seriously? I could dodge that in my sleep. I jumped out of the way to avoid it and shot towards him while firing eight shots at him. He tried to block them, but could only deflect half of them, getting struck on the right shoulder, right knee, abdomen and left wrist, his Primary Manifestation destabilizing.

This fight is over, time to finish this. I sprinted towards him as he desperately tried to stabilize his remaining hammer, the one he threw at me had already disappeared, and he wouldn't be able to re-manifest it unless he dispelled the current Manifestation completely. And he had nowhere near enough time to do that before I'd reach him.

He stumbled back in alarm as I neared him, I got low and fired another shot at his wrist, before driving one of my blades towards his neck. He began to tilt his head away, my blade striking the side of his collar...and slashing through it, leaving a gash in the left side of his neck, blood pouring out profusely, as he let out an agonizing scream of pain. Huh, he didn't get teleported out? I don't think that's my fault, so...it should be fine if I keep fighting, right? Maybe I'll be nice and do him a favor by slicing off some of that excess fat...

Before I could make another move, the barrier began glowing red as an alarm began blaring from the drone. A voice then rang out from the drone, it sounded like Instructor Satou...

"Stop, stop, stop! This duel is over, Kilzachs wins! Makoto, get to the infirmary, you're losing a lot of blood!"

"D-damn it, this hurts...! I-I'll get you for this!" He stuttered with a dazed look in his eyes as he shakily stood up, before rushing off while pressing on his neck to stem the bleeding.

"Big talk from someone who couldn't even lay a finger on me!" I called out with a laugh, as he headed out the door.

Heh, that felt pretty good, I totally dominated that fight, I don't think he'll be bugging me and calling me a Dud anytime soon...probably...no, actually, I doubt this changed him, if anything, he'll have it out for me even more now. Well, whatever, I can deal with him no problem if he tries anything. Alright, then, I was almost done with this exam, two duels down...one more to go...

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