Serah and Nickie walk forward, on the way to the school assembly. They would be announcing the formats for the year-end exams. Serah had heard stories and apparently these were unlike any exams she had before. These exams were setup to make as many students fail as possible, and apparently, depending on the format, multiple student deaths were usually a non-issue. Serah was currently very anxious about the matter, and, with the way things stood, she ultimately decided to prioritize her life. If she failed, so be it, but living would be a great many times more important than passing an exam.

As they continue to walk, Carter spots them from a distance and hurriedly rushes over. “Serah! Serah!” He calls out, also looking to be quite anxious.

Serah looks at Carter’s sweaty face, and she frowns. “What’s got you so worked up? Don’t tell me you finally found someone to share all that affection you’ve been bottling up.” She says with a teasing smile.

“No, this isn’t about my desperate yet unrequited love for you. This is important. I think we might be in danger.” He says as he tries to catch his breath from the jog. Damn. Am I so out of shape? He wonders, deciding to put more time into his exercises.

“Danger? From what?” Serah asks, curious and somewhat in doubt.

“I asked around about that place we burned down. We, ugh, kind of didn’t do a very good job of covering it up.” Carter says with a bitter smile.

“What are you talking about? We wore masks didn’t we?” Serah asks with a raised eyebrow.

Carter stares back blankly. “No! Our faces were uncovered the whole time! And we even let a decent amount of witnesses go, not to mention all the sex slaves we released!” He says in a panic, wondering how Serah could have missed that.

Serah’s eyes widen and she taps herself on the head. “Damn! I knew I was forgetting something!” She says in self-rebuke.

“Never mind that! Just know that basically, those guys have our descriptions. I looked into them and apparently that place is run by a very successful bandit gang that lives on the mountains, outside the city. They’re called the Mountain-Peak Bandits, and apparently have three blade masters! We managed to kill one, but the other two are probably searching for us. If they find us we’re dead!” Carter says anxiously, in a weird rhythm.

Serah simply waves a hand. “Forget about that. They can’t touch us while we’re in the college. After the exams are over, we’ll go up to that mountain and show them how far one can really fall from a mountain peak!” Serah says with a fist pump, unfazed.

Nickie simply lets out a giggle, amused. Why is she so cute? Nickie wonders with pink cheeks, very much wanted to grab hold of Serah right then.

A bunch of angry words bubble up in Carter’s throat, but all that comes out is an exasperated sigh, as his shoulders slump in defeat.

…

…

“Alright, kiddies. Gather ‘round. Let me tell you how the exams are going to go down for the first-years.” The black-robed man says on the stage, seeming to be delighted to once again be in the spotlight.

“This year, we’re playing a game I’m calling Defending Your Innocence. This one’s a classic. I’m sure many of you have played it before, and like in the games you’ve played, once you fail to defend your innocence, it’s gone forever, meaning you failed your chance at passing on to the next year. At that point, you can join the rest of the half-trained mages wandering the kingdom, or you move on to your redemption test, which is really just us giving you one of the many shitty tasks in the college that no one else wants to do. After that, you’re good to join the next year.” The black-robed teacher explains with a smile, appreciating the college’s obviously flawless system.

“Let me explain the game. You will be split up into various teams and matched against an opposing team. One team will be the defender and one will be the attacker. The defender will be given an apple to defend, representing their innocence, and it’s the job of those sneaky, covetous attackers to somehow damage that apple, or your innocence.” The black-robed man says before having to stop to let out his laughter. He slowly gathers himself before continuing. “Okay, okay. Sorry. I’ll be serious, I promise. Anyways, if the defender’s innocence is damaged in anyway, if it’s bruised, or even if someone takes a bite out of it, the defenders fail the exam, and those bastard attackers get to move on to the next year. That pretty much sums it up.” The black-robed man says with a very wide smile, almost ubable to hold in his laugh.

“We’re going to make the defender team’s size bigger than the attackers, to make this moderately fair, but just a fair warning, it doesn’t always work this way in the real world. Anyways, that’s all. Go enjoy your freedom while you can.” The man says before letting out a chuckle. He was very glad that they let him come up with the name.