"You got the highest score...wow, I'm astonished, but at the same time, not entirely shocked, as you basically carried me and Haruka," I said. Kage seemed surprised as well.

"To be honest, I'm shocked too. All I did was fly straight to the top, dodging projectiles as they came our way. I think the reason we both broke the top 100 was that you were circumventing the missiles and you both were directing my flight path."

"Though I wonder how everyone else did for me to score first, and you to score ninety-third. I wonder if Haruka even broke the top 100," he said, deep in thought.

"I haven't seen Haruka since the exam, I wonder where she is. My friend Akisada is coming over to join us soon, so we should wait here by the fountain until he arrives. All three of us made it, so how does training together sound?" I asked.

"It sounds great! I'd love to warm up with you guys. Is Akisada a mage?"

"Unfortunately not, to be honest I'm not entirely sure what he is. Neither of us confided in each other about our abilities until we stumbled upon each other at the exam the other day." I said.

"Oh, I see. Well, regardless of what his powers are, I'm sure we can get some effective training before the final examination takes place. It's currently 9:30, the exam is at 2:00 I believe."

Kage and I continued to get to know each other, as well as speculate on the results as we watched others walk past us. Some were holding green envelopes, some red, and even some blue. We paid close attention to who was holding the blue envelopes, as they were our primary competition. We saw no other golden envelopes though.

As time continued to pass, I began to wonder where Akisada was. I had texted him nearly 20 minutes ago. I checked my phone to see if he had messaged me back, and it displayed that he was typing. Shortly thereafter, his message was sent.

"Sorry Hachiro, I got caught up with some other people in my dorm, I'm on my way now. Also, have you seen these wild blue envelopes floating around? Supposedly they're for people who broke the top 100, isn't that crazy?"

I showed Kage the text, to which he and I both laughed. We couldn't wait to see the look on Akisada's face when we showed him our blue and gold envelopes.

No more than five minutes later, Akisada arrived at the fountain. I introduced him to Kage, and then the two of us pulled our envelopes out to show to him. He was surprised, to say the least.

"You both broke the top 100? That's insane, how did you guys do it!? Your letter is even golden!"

"Well, let's just say the three of us, that is, me, Hachiro, and another girl in our group, worked together like clockwork to scale a giant tower and retrieve an orb from the roof before everyone else could."

"Wait, you guys had to scale a tower as well? That's what my room had to do. Our tower reached the sky! It was totally unfair for the ground-dwellers like me because the mages just flew up there like it was nothing! Though there was one guy who was super agile and climbed the tower like a spider, he was incredible too."

"I just tagged along with a wizard and some guy with guns, shot down a few cannons, I KO'ed a few enemies, and we made it to the top, but other groups made it there before us, so we didn't get the orb, but we made it up," said Akisada.

"I see, that sounds similar to what we had to do. Hachiro used his sword to knock away the missiles. It's cool that your group eliminated the cannons entirely though, good job," said Kage.

The three of us laughed and continued to discuss the exam with each other. We talked about the written portion as well, and how some of the questions were super easy, while others were very very difficult. After some 20 minutes of talking, Akisada asked if we would like to train with him, to which Kage and I accepted.

"Hey, I know of this really cool spot where we can warm up before the exam if you'd like to go with me there."

"Sure, lead the way!" I said, standing up from the fountain. Kage followed, and the three of us went on a small expedition to an open grass field nearby where a few other students were warming up. They were practicing their form and technique. It seemed as if everybody here knew what was to come in the final examination.

"So I heard from a few people that we would have to fight actual unusuals in the final examination, which is why I think this open field is the perfect place for us to practice duel with each other. I brought us some wooden swords Hachiro, just make sure not to hit me too hard with them. Kage, I guess you can just cast non-harmful spells?"

"I know what to do, I've dueled people before!" said Kage, readying his wand. I grabbed one of the wooden swords from Akisada. They were made of softwood with extra padding around the blade to prevent injury.

"How do you think this will help us when the time comes to fight an unusual? They're many more times powerful than people." I asked.

"Well, most unusuals tend to be humanoid, and besides, I heard we're only fighting anomalies, so I think if we just dueled each other, perhaps we could simulate what it might be like."

Kage and I both looked at Akisada. He seemed confused.

"Where did you hear that we were fighting anomalies? Did someone tell you about the exam?" Kage asked.

"Yeah, the boy at my dorm's front desk gave me some pointers. He's a second-year student. He said that the exam isn't too challenging if you know how to properly destroy an unusual's core. I'll show you how it's done!"

"Hachiro, you pretend to be an unusual, and I'll try to attack you. Let's pretend your core is in your neck, so when I hit your neck, I win," said Akisada, readying his sword.

"Okay, I'll try to defend myself I guess..." I replied, holding my sword in the air. Then, in a couple of swift motions, Akisada approached me. He was preparing to strike my neck, but I could easily see his trajectory.

I held my sword up at a diagonal angle and blocked his strike. He tried to strike once more from the other direction, and I blocked it as well. After a few more hits, Akisada's attack pattern became quite clear to me.

"Whoa, very good Hachiro! Here, my core is in my neck too, try and cut me down!" yelled Akisada, smiling. We were now unofficially dueling. Kage sat back and watched attentively, taking mental notes as we fought.

I lowered my sword to an offensive position, but Akisada immediately took advantage of this and lunged at me in an attempt to stab my neck. I quickly dodged out of the way and counter-attacked, hitting Akisada's back.

"Oh, good hit! But you'll need to hit my neck to kill me Hachiro!"

Akisada turned around and did a low-sweep kick, sending me to the grass. When I hit the ground, he ran towards me and swung at my neck, to which I quickly parried his strike. Call it a lucky block from me, but this parry was enough to send his sword flying across the field.

"WHOA, NICE ONE HACHIRO!" yelled Kage from the sidelines. He seemed impressed at my parry. I came to my feet and chased Akisada as he ran to grab his sword. He picked it up from the ground and did a full spin, hitting me in the side.

"Tch! That was a good hit..." I said in slight discomfort. If these swords were real, I would have been sliced in half. I retaliated, waiting for an opening before striking Akisada. He blocked my strike, and then the next one. It was like an advanced fencing match between the two of us.

It wasn't until I noticed his breathing increase that I could tell he was losing energy. I took advantage of this. His attacks were becoming slightly weaker, and I took this opportunity to go full force with my own.

I struck his sword with incredible force a couple of times, each time causing him to step back more and more until he finally tripped and fell to the ground. When he did, I looked for an opening and struck the side of his neck.

*Ding!*

I had done it. After nearly ten minutes of battle, I had cut down Akisada. I helped him to his feet, and he gave me a high five and a pat on the back.

"That was really impressive Hachiro, you're a lot better than I thought, it's no wonder you broke the top 100," he said, smiling.

Kage walked over to us, also smiling. He was still holding his wand in his hand. It seemed like he was ready to battle as well. He arrived, before giving me a small round of applause.

"You looked excellent out there Hachiro, your technique is quite refined! Though, I suppose it's my turn now to take on the champion, right?" he asked.

"Well, I suppose it is! Bring it on Shadowmancer!" I yelled, to which Kage laughed.

"Shadowmancer, I like that name. Get ready Hachiro, because I won't be going easy on you!" said Kage, as he prepared a spell at the tip of his wand. Akisada gave us the countdown to begin the battle.

"3...2...1...GO!" he yelled. Kage immediately cast a spell towards me that I attempted to deflect with my blade, but as soon as it reached me, I realized just how strong it was...

I hate to admit it, but within the first ten seconds of the battle, Kage had completely overwhelmed me and was taking aim at my neck...he swiftly won the duel.

"Well well, Hachiro, it seems you still have a lot to learn. Don't worry though, after the final examination we can all work together on getting you into shape!" said Kage, chuckling. My face turned red.

"Oh shut it, you had an unfair advantage!"

"Perhaps I did. Mages are naturally more gifted than melees, it's always been that way. But don't fret, here, try again, I'll go easier this time." he said.

I came to my feet and readied my sword once more. For the next couple of hours, Kage and I dueled. After losing another 10 times, I asked Akisada to help me, turning this into a 2v1. We dueled until near 12:00 before we all were too hungry to continue.

The final result, Kage 37, Hachiro and Akisada 0