Early Afternoon - Mid Winter : Atlas Academy | Atlas, Bahamut

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"Alright, Miss Krystallo, I hope you aren't expecting me to go easy on you."

She quickly gave me a competitive smile. "Of course not!"

Her eagerness to start was a truly refreshing sight. "For this test, I will spread gold coins like this one through the air." I held up a plain gold coin with my aura as I spoke. "I will keep them stationary at the start and then start moving them if you do well. Your goal is to react to and hit them as fast as possible. You can use anything you want, but the more accurate you are, the better."

The worried looks among the younger students quickly turned curious as Krystallo pulled out a steel bead and held it over her head.

However, I already had a dozen coins in the air. -I think she expects me to start slow...- "Are you ready?" Previously, she had issues with the calculations required to do this magic exercise with much pace; however, 3 years had passed.

She immediately nodded with confidence.

"Alright, 3.. 2.. 1..."

*vwoom* The instant I revealed the first coin, Krystallo locked on it like a hawk and let the bead rip. *Crack-Ding* It was a perfect bullseye.

-Wow.. did I really underestimate her that much?- Deciding to increase the difficulty a bit, I immediately started revealing more coins, even as she scrambled to ready another bead.

But she didn't falter even as she fell behind.

Instead of simply readying a single bead, she readied a dozen, firing them off as soon as they were ready before pulling more out of her pouch. *Crrrrack-D-D-D-Ding*

Before I knew it, she was caught up to speed, and I could go even faster.

And while I quickly found her limit, it was still completely beyond expectations.

Not only had her proficiency with railgun magic progressed by leaps and bounds, but her reaction time and ability to multitask were simply incomparable to 3 years ago. -To think she'd be so talented...-

Expanding the area the coins could appear by almost 100 meters in every direction and adding more variance in their distance from her, they started becoming less predictable, and she started slowing down.

However, her accuracy was still impeccable, with her worst shots only being a few millimeters off the coin's center.

-I'd say it's time to start moving them...- Starting simple, I moved them slowly and in a straight line.

*Di-Di-Ding-Ding* Once again, her pace took a hit, and her accuracy started becoming a bit more varied, but she was still leagues beyond what I expected. -She's putting more power into these too... Is she trying to minimize how much she has to lead things?-

To see if that was the case, I sped the coins up substantially, making coins disappear if she didn't react to them fast enough.

*Cr-Ding-Crack-Crack-Cr-Ding* Her accuracy plummeted instantly, and her expression started showing a bit of strain.

-I see...- Pausing for a moment, I hid all the coins. "When you shoot a bead, pay attention to how fast it leaves your aura, and use it to calculate how much you need to lead the coin. Once you do it a few times, you'll start visualizing the path of the bead."

After giving her a moment to think it through, she looked back at me and nodded, signaling me to start the exercise again.

-I wonder how many shots it'll take her...- *vwoom* Slowing things down to the pace I originally started moving them at, her accuracy was all over the place, but after just a few shots, they started to get more and more precise. -Hoh?-

After a dozen shots, her precision was nearly perfect again, and her pace started to increase.

But unfortunately, before I could get back up to speed to test her new limit, her pouch ran empty.

*Ding* The ring of the final coin echoed through the silence in the arena like a church bell before focusing everyone's attention, especially those in the stands, on Krystallo.

She looked a little mentally drained but generally seemed to have more than enough energy to continue. However, I didn't have the chance to do anything other than give her back the beads.

"Oh my goodness! How did you do that?!"

"That was so cool!"

"I couldn't even follow what you were doing! Aren't you better than our teacher?!"

Several students ran out to congratulate her right after we stopped.

Thankfully, it brought me back to my senses before I got carried away. -Right.. we aren't at home...-

Quickly scanning through the stands, I noticed most of the people wore looks of amazement or shock as they talked to each other, but there were still 3 people spread about who wore troubled expressions aimed at me rather than Krystallo. -So they're the only ones left... To be confident enough to stick around, they must be professors...-

Tapping Evodiá's shoulder with the edge of my aura, I got her attention and used wind magic to whisper to her. "Evodiá, do you know who those three staring at me in the stands are?"

She tensed up for a moment before looking out at me with an odd expression.

-Ah...- Being nearly half a kilometer away, I was way outside the range of her magic. "Just whisper. I'll be able to hear you."

"Alright..." Finally looking in the stands, she glanced around before quickly finding the people I was talking about. "The older woman is the history professor you mentioned earlier, and the younger girl is Professor Giasemí, one of the upperclassman Calculations professors. She is fairly new as well."

-Is that so...- "And what about the guy? By the eastern entrance."

She hesitated for a moment when she looked. "He is the deputy master. The one who takes the headmaster's position when he is absent."

I tensed up instantly. -You have to be kidding...- Although I couldn't wholly base such a heavy assumption on an expression, considering everything I knew about the headmaster's recent absence and the more egregious teachings from the history professor that he was only now becoming aware of, there were certainly some arrows pointed in that direction.

-For now, I just need to take it as a sign to be careful...- Turning back to Krystallo, I saw her proudly talking with several students and started wrapping up. "I don't believe there is anyone who will object to Krystallo passing, correct?" Seeing the history and calculations professors get up and gather their things to leave, I continued. "In that case, everyone, please give your congratulations to Krystallo. She earned it."

Almost immediately, Krystallo's eyes locked on me with a look of expectation.

"Haah..." -She truly is hopeless...- Unable to resist her glare, I spoke to her through my aura. "You grew more than I could have imagined; it seems I'll have to adjust the difficulty of your lessons at home." She gave a playful pout before smiling again. "Haha, congratulations on passing, Krystallo."

"Hehe~" Her childish smile, which I would destroy the world to protect, immediately washed over her face.

-It seems I need to start getting a plan together... Something aggressive but cautious...- I slowly fell into thought as I walked back toward the sidelines before Evodiá swiftly pulled me out of it.

"Now, where do you think you're going, mister professor?" She wore an expression that seemed a little out of place.

-Hm?- Glancing behind myself, I saw all the students around Krystallo wearing looks of curiosity and expectation.

"It seems some of the students have changed their minds about having you test them."

Needing to focus on coming up with a plan, having to give a bunch of students their assessments was far from ideal. -But it might not be a bad idea to try and throw them off my trail...-

Even though I couldn't dismiss the possibility that those siding with the Holy Kingdom already knew about me, being a good teacher and garnering the support of other professors and students could weave some doubt into their minds.

And so, I asked the question once more. "Is there anyone who wants me to test them?"

Several wings shot into the air instantly.

"Haah..." I could only sigh. -Well, I guess I might as well try to brainstorm while I do this...- "So, who is up first?"

Evodiá quickly motioned to the young girl who warned me about Sídero's reputation.

She looked surprisingly eager but still understandably worried. "Alright, and what is your name?"

She hesitated and glanced back at Krystallo before finally working up the courage to speak. "My name is Fterá, Professor Whyte."

-Oh, so that's her...- She was Krystallo's friend who came to our estate over the past few days for tutoring. -I wonder how she compares to Krystallo...- "Would you prefer using magic, or-"

She nodded before I could finish.

-Hmm... So, how should I test her...- I was a bit unsure at first, but I eventually settled on a method similar to what I did with Krystallo, except much closer range and permanently keeping the coins hidden so she had to rely on her aura.

And it went shockingly well.

As things progressed, I gave her some pointers, and, while incomparable to Krystallo, she was still leaps and bounds beyond my expectations for the age group.

However, without regard for her talent, her progress quickly grabbed the attention of other students and, before long, made it so I was the professor testing everyone, even if many of them were bound to not understand my tips.

Thankfully though, after about 6 assessments, the headmaster returned and called me to the side.

"Professor Whyte.. could I borrow you for a moment?"

"Of course." Quickly wrapping up the assessment I was giving, I headed over to the southern entrance of the arena and was signaled into a human-sized room on the side where the headmaster was.

As I changed to my humanoid form and walked inside, I noticed his expression was quite sour and prepared for the worst. "So, what's the news?" -Do they really already know about the plan?-

As if seeing my anxiousness, he quickly pulled a drink off a nearby shelf and poured us both cups. "I can't be certain, but at the very least, it seems that him calling you a fake professor was just an untimely insult since he believed you were a half-breed."

A wave of relief washed over me instantly. "Hooh, I see..." -However, I can't relax just yet...-

While I was giving the assessments to the other students, I had come to a general consensus that I needed to go from the top down if I wanted any chance of cleaning out the academy, and while that may have sounded like common sense, with there being a chance that the deputy master was siding with the Holy Kingdom, I was in a tough spot. -Mother warned me to not offend the headmaster.. but I don't think now is the time to worry about connections...-

As silence filled the room, I took a sip of the headmaster's bitter alcohol before setting down the glass. *tap* "I believe there is a chance that the deputy master is siding with the Holy Kingdom."

The headmaster's aura instantly turned into a wall of blades where it met mine. "That is quite an assumption to make... Do you have any evidence?"

"There are just a few things that don't add up, so I want to look into it."

He immediately started pushing his aura into mine. "That won't be necessary..."

-He's high on his pride...- "Any possibility could exist. It would be smarter to start from the top and work our way down, regardless of whether he is innocent or not..." *VWOOM* I instantly overpowered his aura as I pushed it back. "This place is full of rats, and if you kill one of them, the rest will scatter… If you want to delude yourself into thinking there aren't rats everywhere in this place, be my guest.. but don't expect me to wait for you to realize what reality is."

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