I also had almost no way to defend myself. I was out of mana and out of wire. That left me with Sir Stabbington Spike and the ability to ruin the day of anyone who tried to duke it out within 120 meters of me. While useful, this was a never-ending mage fight. Suffice to say, my hands were trembling. Actually, all of me was trembling. I clenched and unclenched my hands in an attempt to banish my jitters but it was a fact that around a hundred people were barreling down these hills in order to beat me up. I was slightly more afraid of Grey’s side because he was probably pissed right now. I can say that with certainty because I hadn’t seen anyone from his side in a while and I kept seeing little streaks of light signifying people getting teleported while in the woods. 2:47 to 3:48. Suddenly I felt a bit of warmth like the sun had come out from behind some clouds. In front of me, where Grey’s side was running into wires, a massive golden spear of light exploded from the trees, tearing a path nearly straight from the top of the hill to the point. The spear continued towards the opposite hill only to be stopped by an avalanche of water that sprung from the trees. I drew my knees into my chest and activated enigma as strongly as I could with a fearless smile on my face. Yes. You heard that correctly, fearless. 2:47 to 4:01. It looks like I bought just about as much time as I was going to. Right after those two displays the ground started to rumble gently and the high pitched screams of students started to spill through the trees. 80 people should be running to this point right now. Better go out with a bang at least. I stood up and faced Grey’s side. Piercil said magic had to look cool. I turned off enigma and walked to the middle of the point. 2:47 to 4:10. I put my claws back on and put my badge firmly in my pocket. 2:47 to 4:15. I’m a bit glad that they both decided to muster up everything they had before coming. With that thought, a bolt of electricity slammed into my back and paralyzed me.

“Daaaaaaammmmit!!! We were so close!!!!” Kel whined while eating a sweetroll next to me in the cafeteria.

“I’ll admit, I didn’t expect you guys to get all the way to four minutes and forty seconds. If we didn’t have the tech guy fix our cannon, we probably would have lost.” Grey stabbed his own sweetroll with a fork and mused.

“Yeah that’s fair. It’s all good though, at least I managed to take down this loser.” Jules laughed while toasting with a cup of coffee. Yep. The dick that had knocked me out from my own team had been Julian, naturally. I flicked a pea at him before spraying his coffee at his face. “AAAAIIIIIEIEEEEEEEE”

“Fuck you Jules. Ahhhhhh oh yeah, Grey? How did you know it was me?” I turned to look at Grey while stuffing a roll of my own into my face.”

“I have the leveled up version of time-dilation as a skill: focused time. So when I heard Molly shout I used it when I turned around. I honestly didn’t see how you hit Sandal, the spy who was by the cannon, but since I literally didn’t see anything hit him I assumed it was the work of an assassin, poison probably. Also, you never mentioned finding the spies on your own as an assassin and you seemed reluctant to attack the point. By the way, how did you hit him?” I munched my sweetroll grumpily. Was I that bad? I know I’m no actor but damn, guess I should work on that.

“Well you’re right about the poison. I just injected them both with paralysis poison.”

“With what? The dart you threw?” Damn. So he did see that. That’s embarrassing.

“Oh I know!” Jules raised his hand and waved it around comically. “I’ve fought this guy exactly thirty times now-“

“I’m not counting that you shot me in the back”

“-and we’re even at exactly 15 to 15-“

“Shot. Me. In. The. Back.”

Jin turned to me and wagged a finger,“-you shoulda been ready. We both knew the real fight was you versus me.” He grandiosely turned back to the others, “SO I know what he’s capable of! He probably made an ice insect didn’t ya Jin?” Damn. I guess I’ve been experimenting too much in my fights against Jules.

“Yeah I did.” I said while raising a finger. “I can make them about as small as a fly but they’re dammed difficult to control so I can’t move them very far.” I explained while forming an ice mosquito on my fingertip. Kel’s sweetroll dropped from her mouth as her jaw fell open. She turned her eyes to me and I saw the light of worship there. Grey too held a shocked expression while Jules gloated. His ‘I told you so’ pissed me off so I sent the mosquito to bite him. He casually waved it away with a few flames.

“You’re still hella weak but your control is really on another level, man.” I grinned at Jules for a second then stopped and glared at Kel and Grey.

“While I’m very proud of myself, what the hell was that at the end?? Grey? You can make giant weapons out of some kind of holy light?? AND KEL. WHEN THE HELL DID YOU BECOME ABLE TO MAKE LAKES?”

“Yeah I properly shit myself at that too.” Jules chimed in.

“I can use holy magic.”

“Horsig told me I rely too much on my amplification skill and made me use magic without it.” They both responded like it was nothing and went back to eating.

“AAAAAANNNNDDDD???” I pried with both my words and my hands…on their faces.

“And there are still four trials left so I’m not gonna reveal all my skills yet.” Grey laughed and swatted my hands with a spoon while Kel bit me. I borrowed Grey’s spoon and whacked her.

“So what are the other four then? Not the same thing?” I grimaced, thinking of having to try to play ‘guess the liar’ with Grey four more times.

“Nope,” Julian finished his coffee and wagged a finger at me. “They started with the battle royale to get us all pumped, but it’s mostly standard tests left. I don’t know which is first but there will be a power test, a speed test, a control test, a concentration test, and a bonus fighting tournament that they don’t reveal to us until after all the other tests are over.” He grinned happily and leaned back in his chair.

“Then how do you know about it?” Kel asked while trying to push his chair over.

“Aha! That’s because! –oogh- that’s because most of my siblings have come here before.” Jules finished from his back on the floor.

“Well thanks for telling us.” Grey, ever the white knight, helped the fallen maiden to his feet.

[[Announcement. All beginners please come to the Coliseum for the second part of the trial.]]

“Oh boy~” I hopped up and we all filed back to the THUNDERDOME. The tests this time went far faster than the capture the flag one with the cannons as these were mostly just measurements. As the principle explained to us, the white ball we’d first used measured potential, while here we were measuring current levels of skill. First up: power. For power they had us lift a giant metal ball using wind magic. On the ceiling they had a force sensor set up. They asked Kel and Grey to go first, and me after they were done. Piercil took this opportunity to wave and stage whisper

“It’s so they can set a range from strong to weak.”

Thanks man. Really warms my heart.

Kel went first and blasted the ball on top of a column of air. It rocketed to the ceiling and stayed there for a moment before Kel let it drop. The force sensor beeped and displayed the number 114. Grey went next and made an embarrassingly weak wind that lifted the ball a few centimeters before dropping it back down. The principal then called Grey over and told him something while the other teachers around him nodded. Grey made an expression of enlightenment then again summoned a wind. This one was tinged slightly golden and slammed the ball into the ceiling nearly as hard as Kel’s had. The sensor on the ceiling beeped out an 84 when he let it drop. Next was my turn. I stood in front of the ball and looked at prof Piercil. An idea as dumb as putting the sensor on the ceiling must have been his just ‘cause it looks cool. I took a deep breath then made as strong a wind as I could. The ball lifted about one foot off the ground then immediately fell back down. With a shaky gasp I looked over to the teachers to see Piercil smiling, Limbmighty giving me another spicy thumbs up, and Horsig on her hands and knees gasping for air while she laughed. She-devil.

The rest of the students followed suit and sure enough, they were all somewhere between Grey and I, with most of them hitting the sensor on the ceiling. It was depressing frankly, but Piercil spoke up to the crowded students.

“Alright everyone! The control test is next. It’s typically speed after power but we’ll get to it.” At that, Piercil lifted the metal ball and positioned it in front of him. Under the ball, a red circle about three times the size of the ball appeared. “This test is simple! Keep the ball in the ring while dealing with my attacks. As a caveat to that, you must stay in the box. We’ll go in the same order so that everyone is feeling refreshed and everyone will get two chances.” Piercil then waved Kel forward. Kel took her stance in the box. “Let’s begin.”