"End of the year tests, did you prepare anything you need?" Agatha asked to the classroom, no one answered of course.
At least not one of the normal students, since one of the not normal did answer.
"Of course, I have been ready for third year for almost half a year but the school didn't finish the transfer in time." Akira answered while grumbling.
He seemed angry because he hadn't been moved a year ahead as promised, Elizabeth was also angry about that, she wouldn't had to deal with him if he had been moved forward after all.
"For this end of the year we will have an exhibition match." Agatha said without paying attention to Akira, it seemed the best option indeed.
"Again?" Asked Michael from his seat, "We did the same last year too, wasn't the second year final test a Thesis and the Third Year a tournament?"
Interesting, so the midterms would culminate in an exhibition fight? That seemed like...no wait, that made sense, they sent them to get experience in the broad world, and then at return, they would show their efforts to everyone else.
"Indeed Mister Shepherd, the difference is that last year one was focused mostly on the applications of what you learned in the midterms. This one will be to showcase how much you have progressed under the new [System]." Agatha said while writing on the whiteboard some things, "In this case, we will take the exhibition match settings, the more wins you earn the better final grade you will have."
"Does it matter who we fight or how many fights we face?" Asked Rena afterward, she eyed everyone around as possible enemies, not many kept their eyes looking up when she moved to them.
Of course, neither Elizabeth nor Rossie had a problem staring back at Rena, not that the red-haired girl had a trouble with Elizabeth staring at her.
"Do we get to choose who we fight with against?" Asked Elizabeth trying to break the awkward staring contest between Rossie and Rena.
"Not if you are on the top 5," Agatha answered, writing their names on the whiteboard.
Elizabeth Starbright
Rossalina Singh
Watanabe Rena
Suzuki Akira
Michael Shepherd
That mostly referred to overall scores, it seemed that her test had done quite well, or was it their evaluation of her, she had spent less than a week here and so far she only really fought Michael who was at the bottom of the ladder.
Why was she at the top?
"So what? We can only fight those at the top if we are there?" Asked Akira as he read his name, then frowned when Rosie’s and hers showed above his. "While is Elizabeth above mine? I know she topped the score I left a year ago, but was that enough to get her above me?"
Interesting, he didn't complain about Rossie?
"She is there because she got full marks on all the tests, and the exam she got given was harsher than the ones you had, so she qualifies for third grade like you five," Agatha answered back, so they would really admit to that huh.
"So if I defeat Elizabeth I get the first place?" Asked Akira, a predatory glint in his eyes.
"So long Miss Rossalina doesn't challenge you first, the way this will work for the other students is that they require at least one fight against someone above them. Higher ranks can't refuse the challenges, but if for example: Mister Shepherd decides to challenge Miss Rena, you Mister Akira could intercept the challenge and defend Miss Rena's Honor." Agatha said as she wrote that as rules number 1 to 3.
| Ruling: |
| Rule Number 1: If you are above the top 10 in rankings. You can only challenge someone above you in the internal school ranking. Rule Number 2: You can refuse up to 3 challenges so long they are from people above you in ranking. Rule Number 3: If anyone challenges someone above you in the ranking, you may intercept that challenge. Rule Number 4: Killing is forbidden. Rule Number 5: Maiming is forbidden. Rule Number 6: You only require one combat to acquire your end-of-the-year results, taking the results gets you out of the matches. Rule Number 7: If you don't get a good result you will not be able to move towards third year. Rule Number 8: If someone is incapacitated by their own attack, skill, or magic, by an inherent flaw, or through self-destruction they lose the fight. It matters not if the other contestant was defeated by said attack or not. Rule Number 9: You may accept level-up notifications and allot stat points while in the fights if you wish. The same is true for the movement of skills or change of [Jobs]. Rule Number 10: You may have fun. |
It was quite normal and simple, Elizabeth wondered why some of those rules were so specific though, wasn't it obvious that one shouldn't maim or kill their cohort members?
Who would even try to....?
"Finally they added that rule-" Someone on the far end of the classroom said.
"We can have an easier time this time, maybe I will even challenge-" Elizabeth turned back to see if she could infer who they spoke of.
But most turned mute as soon as she finished turning her head, if anything it annoyed her that Akira winked at her from the back.
"Ignore the rabble, they will not dare to challenge any of us Main Characters." Akira said while dismissing most of the class, this of course earned him a few glares, not that he seemed to mind them.
Rena, however, did mind those and glared back at them, this calmed some of those glares of course, no one could tolerate the glare of the red-haired girl paired with the ominous metallic glint on her hand.
So she could still summon her sword huh?
"They may challenge Michael or one of the lower ranks, but even if they do challenge us. It will be to give us EXP and some easy levels." Akira added while pointing at Michael.
"Humph." Who only grunted at Akira, but when he noticed Elizabeth's stare he added, "Yes, they will not challenge you Elizabeth unless someone is fighting Rossalina. They will not challenge Rena since they have common sense, which means they will either challenge me or Akira."
"Not me, Rena will block em. Right, Rena?" Akira said turning his attention toward the red-haired girl.
She bloomed a smile at the mention of her name, only for a downcast look to cloud her face. Right, she was above Akira in the ranking, wasn't she? She couldn't intercept challenges...
"I'm sorry Akira... I tried to tank the results as best as I could, but-" Rena started making excuses, only to be interrupted.
"But we gave her a close enough result to what she was willing to show, she does have talent. Keeping herself at that level but still managing to fake it so she could stay in your shadow, Mister Akira..." Agatha started speaking, "But no, she wanted to stay around that level, so we allowed it...Above you, if you get some effort you may get yourself above her in time..."
She could almost hear the rage and outrage coursing in Akira's head, she however had no doubt about who was laughing.
"Hahahahahahahah" That melodic voice could only be of her lovely girlfriend.
It was such an infectious laugh that she herself couldn't help but laugh too at that, soon enough most of the classroom was laughing with them too, mostly from peer pressure, she was sure of that.
Not that Agatha seemed to mind, as her shoulders were trembling, probably trying to hold her own laugh.
"...That is quite alright NPC, I will chall-" Akira started saying, he was probably going to challenge Rena and make her surrender or something.
"Anyone that isn't Miss Rena, for any fight against her will not be counted towards your progress." Agatha however said as much, "Just like how Miss Starbright can challenge or fight with anyone but any matches against Miss Singh will be void."
Oh, so they couldn't abuse the system?
Not like Rossie would tank a fight against her, right?
...She probably would.
"So you are free to challenge Mister Shepherd or Miss Starbright for extra points, or any of the other students around, really. Only Miss Starbright and Miss Singh can't refuse your challenge." Agatha finished saying.
Oh right, he was top 4 or so right?
So if Rena was out, then only 2 of the 3 above him couldn't refuse.
"Hard pass, not gonna fight him." Michael said on the side, right. A mage wouldn't probably be a good match against someone like Akira. Also, his skill made him something closer to a berserker right?
Not a good matchup indeed against a [Mage].
"...Fine," Akira said while pulling out the hood that he had under his uniform to hide part of his eyes.
...so dramatic.
"It will be okay Akira, you can do it..." And Rena of course started fussing over the grumbling man-child trying to get him to cheer up.
Akira of course ignored her, and she couldn't help but feel like he was staring at her, but decided to ignore it, not like she could do anything about that, there were more important things to deal with after all.
"So, does it matter if we have remaining free stat points around when the fighting starts?" Elizabeth asked, trying to get the conversation back on topic.
"Ideally we would like for you to have all remaining free points used," Agatha answered, "Also any job change should be done by that point."
"Fair." Elizabeth answered, after the revelations of the cathedral she had earned herself a few extra levels. So she was now level 17, she of course ignored the new skills offered, and even now they were hovering at the side waiting for her input.
| Notice: |
| Proficiency achieved, skills available for pick up: -Oracle -Divine Advent -Divine Spirit Summon -Divine Channeling -Divine Descent -Divine Spirit Impartment -Divine Familiar -Divine.... |
It was quite the long list, most of those skills were variations of things she could do to allow her Mother to either descend upon her body, talk to her, see through her, or commune with her.
All had the same problem though, she wouldn't be able to turn them off, funnily enough, Papa hadn't given her any skill like Mother, so he was still getting a gift for Father's Day.
So she would need to spend her stat points huh. Not that she would accept one of those iffy skills, since she dismissed them as soon as they came along.
But for now, she would shove more points as she had done before.
Int > +20
Wis > +20
And the remaining 2 points would go to shore up more uneven stats, she would let them hang like that for now. Soon enough she would need to dedicate more points to more specific things, but she would leave that for level 20 or so.
At that point she would probably have Int at 150 and could focus on other things, she had seen Akira's and Rena's status, and she wouldn't be able to afford a direct fight against either as a generalist. So she needed to be a specialist.
Maybe she could follow the example of what [Ethan] had done while controlling her? She had vague memory imprints of him using her body as a puppet, and that had been a good way to use her powers. Even if the idea was from someone like [Ethan].
"And done, anything else we need to know?" Elizabeth asked as she confirmed all her points had been spent.
"Not really, most of the stuff to check out is common sense." Agatha started joking about only to stop at seeing Michael, Rena, Rossie, and Akira staring at her.
And after seeing the top five students Agatha decided to add some stuff to the ruling, obvious stuff, don't kill anyone outside combat, don't camp them to prevent a fellow student from going to the exhibition match.
Why did one need to point these out?
"And so, you all have a month and two weeks to finish preparations." Agatha said while writing the date for the fights.
It seemed that she wouldn't have much time to prepare, three months ago she had woken up and needed to train for the test, now when she finished that, now it seemed that she would need to prepare for another one?
In the worst-case scenario, she would need to fight Rena, she didn't want to fight Rena, not because it would be hard, but because somehow the girl had turned to level faster than Akira. And her status was more balanced...Kinda.
Akira didn't have that much of an advantage over her, but his skill made it problematic, if the thing worked as it had at the last year, then it would be dangerous to face. At least it seemed that this time she wouldn't get ignored, so maybe she wouldn't need to burn one of her Aces?
Actually, could she even still use those spells? She had built them from memory and stuck them into her [Shadow Haven], but still...She may need to check on that.
"So with that out of the way, have you decided who you will fight?" Agatha asked to the top five students.
Michael was the first to answer of course, since he seemed quite eager to excuse himself, "I will test my mettle against other top 10 rankers, mostly rank 7 and rank 9, as those have similarities with my own magic."
So number seven and 9 were edgelords?
"I will fight Elizabeth for the top spot, not at the start of course, I will go after the mood is right." Akira answered, Elizabeth would need to check on that mood thing Akira seemed to want.
"Rossalina Singh." Rena said, only that. Why did she want to fight her lovely Rossie?
"Watanabe Rena." Aaand her Rossie also wanted to fight Rena?
What?
"And you Miss top scorer?" Agatha asked turning the attention towards Elizabeth.
"I will probably fight whoever wants to?" So answered the blonde, "Not like they need to accept my challenge. But I guess at the very least I will fight Akira...?"
She wasn't sure if she would enjoy such an encounter, a few weeks ago she would relish the idea, but now that she knew his status? Yeah, she would need to level up.
At least another three levels, to jump towards level 20 and that should give her enough stat points to match him, then it would be time to see if she would get a nice surprise for that number.
Last time that had been one of the thresholds right? That or level 25, she wasn't quite sure.
For now, she would hope for it to be level 20, and maybe get a nice evolution for her job?
But to what?
Magical...Heroine?
No, that would make her the [Heroine] and those usually got tied to a [Hero] or a [Villain], she only needed to be tied to Rossie, so... [Magical...something?]
"You may still get challenges from the people at the bottom of the ladder, so don't worry too much, at the very least you will fight another two to three people besides Mister Akira." Agatha said as if that was something to look forward to.
"Those don't include Rossie right?" Elizabeth asked with some hope. Not that Rossie would be easier to fight, but that would allow her to have at least one fight without too much stress.
"Your fight with Mister Shepherd counts towards the evaluation, so unless he wants a rematch that one will not happen again. Miss Rena may challenge you..." Agatha said turning her attention to Rena.
"If Elizabeth knows how to fight using swords I may take the offer and present a challenge." Rena said ominously.
Yikes...
No wait, she no longer held animosity towards her? Only a weird sense of wanting to...measure herself? Did that girl really think she was weaker than her?
"I do have blade weapons..." Elizabeth said while summoning Stabby from her shadow, the shadow spear materializing from the floor and being levitated off the floor. "And this one can turn into another form..."
Elizabeth quickly rotated Stabby from spear form to halberd, then to Axe, Battle-Axe, Mace, Claymore, and finally a Katana to match Rena's favorite weapon.
"But I'm not a swordswoman, nor do I have any [Skill] in that front, so my knowledge is mostly pointy end goes into enemy." Elizabeth then changed the size of her always loyal Stabby (Spear version again) into a small figure, then summoning a blob of shadows she molded it into a humanoid form, and using her smoll stabby she...well stabbed the weapon into the shadow dummy. "That is about it, if you don't mind that we can fight then."
Rena seemed to think that for a few seconds, but in the end nodded nonetheless, "Yeah, I can work with that. My school of weapons evaluates an opponent while crossing blades, so long we cross blades once I can determine if you are honorable or not."
...Had she crossed blades with Akira?
"So do you train with Akira then?" Elizabeth couldn't help herself but ask, this in turn made Rena look towards the floor.
"...I'm not strong enough to exchange-" And started saying the red-haired girl, but she was interrupted by Akira, "She isn't strong enough to spar with me."
...Was he serious?
"You also shouldn't waste your time with filler characters Elizabeth. But we shall see if you are also a [Filler Character] or a [Heroine], smell yah later." And in that tone, Akira left the classroom.
Had the class ended already? Elizabeth looked at her watch and they still had almost half an hour of time left...
"..." Agatha seemed to want to say something but decided not to, instead she turned her attention towards Rena who started picking up what Akira had left in his seat and putting it in his bag...and her own bag what didn't seem to fit in Akira's bag. "I will send you today's homework Miss Rena. Please tell Mister Akira that even if he has exempted this class and is guaranteed to move to third grade he still needs to respect the time allotment."
"Thank you Teacher Agatha." Rena said while bowing to Agatha, "I will see you around Elizabeth, Rossalina, Michael."
And like that the girl left, she looked so...small.
For someone with so much strength and power, she was quite pitiful, almost like a lost puppy searching for its owner.
Oh...Oh god no...
She was pitying the girl...
"Rossie...." Elizabeth turned to her pink-haired girlfriend.
"Yes Eli-Eli?" Her always lovely girlfriend answered back.
"What do you think about Rena?" Rossie seemed to stop thinking for a few seconds at the question from the blonde.
"If it's only her I can deal with. I will respect your decision if you decide to help her, but I will not tolerate Akira's presence around you. He isn't worthy of your time." Said her ultimatum the pink-haired girl.
So she didn't hate her?
But she had glared at Rena...And Rena had glared back at her too...What?
"I will keep the spot of [First Wife], Rena can be either a concubine or a consort. That will be non-negotiable." And her girlfriend dropped that bombshell as if nothing.
The whole classroom turned silent at that, oh right, they were still in the classroom...
"Let's speak about this later," Elizabeth said, not quite sure how to deal with that.
"Yes, speak about that later, away from prying ears and eyes." Agatha said from her desktop as she pushed a button and the whiteboard turned into a video about mana circuits. "Let's move towards another class review-"
At least Rossie wouldn't mind if she got stuck with Rena, that was...good?
She wasn't sure what to think about the pink-haired girl, she had got the idea that Rossie wouldn't share her with anyone else, but now here she was allowing Rena to join as a consort or concubine?
Was Rossie...Trying to bribe her? Was it because of their fight in the Cathedral?
She would need to speak with the pink-haired girl.
But later, she needed to focus in the class, at least that way she would stop letting her imagination run wild with scenarios of Rossie in a wedding dress.
Curse you Rossie!
Curse the mental image of you using a pastel pink dress!
"End of the year tests, did you prepare anything you need?" Agatha asked to the classroom, no one answered of course.
At least not one of the normal students, since one of the not normal did answer.
"Of course, I have been ready for third year for almost half a year but the school didn't finish the transfer in time." Akira answered while grumbling.
He seemed angry because he hadn't been moved a year ahead as promised, Elizabeth was also angry about that, she wouldn't had to deal with him if he had been moved forward after all.
"For this end of the year we will have an exhibition match." Agatha said without paying attention to Akira, it seemed the best option indeed.
"Again?" Asked Michael from his seat, "We did the same last year too, wasn't the second year final test a Thesis and the Third Year a tournament?"
Interesting, so the midterms would culminate in an exhibition fight? That seemed like...no wait, that made sense, they sent them to get experience in the broad world, and then at return, they would show their efforts to everyone else.
"Indeed Mister Shepherd, the difference is that last year one was focused mostly on the applications of what you learned in the midterms. This one will be to showcase how much you have progressed under the new [System]." Agatha said while writing on the whiteboard some things, "In this case, we will take the exhibition match settings, the more wins you earn the better final grade you will have."
"Does it matter who we fight or how many fights we face?" Asked Rena afterward, she eyed everyone around as possible enemies, not many kept their eyes looking up when she moved to them.
Of course, neither Elizabeth nor Rossie had a problem staring back at Rena, not that the red-haired girl had a trouble with Elizabeth staring at her.
"Do we get to choose who we fight with against?" Asked Elizabeth trying to break the awkward staring contest between Rossie and Rena.
"Not if you are on the top 5," Agatha answered, writing their names on the whiteboard.
Elizabeth Starbright
Rossalina Singh
Watanabe Rena
Suzuki Akira
Michael Shepherd
That mostly referred to overall scores, it seemed that her test had done quite well, or was it their evaluation of her, she had spent less than a week here and so far she only really fought Michael who was at the bottom of the ladder.
Why was she at the top?
"So what? We can only fight those at the top if we are there?" Asked Akira as he read his name, then frowned when Rosie’s and hers showed above his. "While is Elizabeth above mine? I know she topped the score I left a year ago, but was that enough to get her above me?"
Interesting, he didn't complain about Rossie?
"She is there because she got full marks on all the tests, and the exam she got given was harsher than the ones you had, so she qualifies for third grade like you five," Agatha answered back, so they would really admit to that huh.
"So if I defeat Elizabeth I get the first place?" Asked Akira, a predatory glint in his eyes.
"So long Miss Rossalina doesn't challenge you first, the way this will work for the other students is that they require at least one fight against someone above them. Higher ranks can't refuse the challenges, but if for example: Mister Shepherd decides to challenge Miss Rena, you Mister Akira could intercept the challenge and defend Miss Rena's Honor." Agatha said as she wrote that as rules number 1 to 3.
| Ruling: |
| Rule Number 1: If you are above the top 10 in rankings. You can only challenge someone above you in the internal school ranking. Rule Number 2: You can refuse up to 3 challenges so long they are from people above you in ranking. Rule Number 3: If anyone challenges someone above you in the ranking, you may intercept that challenge. Rule Number 4: Killing is forbidden. Rule Number 5: Maiming is forbidden. Rule Number 6: You only require one combat to acquire your end-of-the-year results, taking the results gets you out of the matches. Rule Number 7: If you don't get a good result you will not be able to move towards third year. Rule Number 8: If someone is incapacitated by their own attack, skill, or magic, by an inherent flaw, or through self-destruction they lose the fight. It matters not if the other contestant was defeated by said attack or not. Rule Number 9: You may accept level-up notifications and allot stat points while in the fights if you wish. The same is true for the movement of skills or change of [Jobs]. Rule Number 10: You may have fun. |
It was quite normal and simple, Elizabeth wondered why some of those rules were so specific though, wasn't it obvious that one shouldn't maim or kill their cohort members?
Who would even try to....?
"Finally they added that rule-" Someone on the far end of the classroom said.
"We can have an easier time this time, maybe I will even challenge-" Elizabeth turned back to see if she could infer who they spoke of.
But most turned mute as soon as she finished turning her head, if anything it annoyed her that Akira winked at her from the back.
"Ignore the rabble, they will not dare to challenge any of us Main Characters." Akira said while dismissing most of the class, this of course earned him a few glares, not that he seemed to mind them.
Rena, however, did mind those and glared back at them, this calmed some of those glares of course, no one could tolerate the glare of the red-haired girl paired with the ominous metallic glint on her hand.
So she could still summon her sword huh?
"They may challenge Michael or one of the lower ranks, but even if they do challenge us. It will be to give us EXP and some easy levels." Akira added while pointing at Michael.
"Humph." Who only grunted at Akira, but when he noticed Elizabeth's stare he added, "Yes, they will not challenge you Elizabeth unless someone is fighting Rossalina. They will not challenge Rena since they have common sense, which means they will either challenge me or Akira."
"Not me, Rena will block em. Right, Rena?" Akira said turning his attention toward the red-haired girl.
She bloomed a smile at the mention of her name, only for a downcast look to cloud her face. Right, she was above Akira in the ranking, wasn't she? She couldn't intercept challenges...
"I'm sorry Akira... I tried to tank the results as best as I could, but-" Rena started making excuses, only to be interrupted.
"But we gave her a close enough result to what she was willing to show, she does have talent. Keeping herself at that level but still managing to fake it so she could stay in your shadow, Mister Akira..." Agatha started speaking, "But no, she wanted to stay around that level, so we allowed it...Above you, if you get some effort you may get yourself above her in time..."
She could almost hear the rage and outrage coursing in Akira's head, she however had no doubt about who was laughing.
"Hahahahahahahah" That melodic voice could only be of her lovely girlfriend.
It was such an infectious laugh that she herself couldn't help but laugh too at that, soon enough most of the classroom was laughing with them too, mostly from peer pressure, she was sure of that.
Not that Agatha seemed to mind, as her shoulders were trembling, probably trying to hold her own laugh.
"...That is quite alright NPC, I will chall-" Akira started saying, he was probably going to challenge Rena and make her surrender or something.
"Anyone that isn't Miss Rena, for any fight against her will not be counted towards your progress." Agatha however said as much, "Just like how Miss Starbright can challenge or fight with anyone but any matches against Miss Singh will be void."
Oh, so they couldn't abuse the system?
Not like Rossie would tank a fight against her, right?
...She probably would.
"So you are free to challenge Mister Shepherd or Miss Starbright for extra points, or any of the other students around, really. Only Miss Starbright and Miss Singh can't refuse your challenge." Agatha finished saying.
Oh right, he was top 4 or so right?
So if Rena was out, then only 2 of the 3 above him couldn't refuse.
"Hard pass, not gonna fight him." Michael said on the side, right. A mage wouldn't probably be a good match against someone like Akira. Also, his skill made him something closer to a berserker right?
Not a good matchup indeed against a [Mage].
"...Fine," Akira said while pulling out the hood that he had under his uniform to hide part of his eyes.
...so dramatic.
"It will be okay Akira, you can do it..." And Rena of course started fussing over the grumbling man-child trying to get him to cheer up.
Akira of course ignored her, and she couldn't help but feel like he was staring at her, but decided to ignore it, not like she could do anything about that, there were more important things to deal with after all.
"So, does it matter if we have remaining free stat points around when the fighting starts?" Elizabeth asked, trying to get the conversation back on topic.
"Ideally we would like for you to have all remaining free points used," Agatha answered, "Also any job change should be done by that point."
"Fair." Elizabeth answered, after the revelations of the cathedral she had earned herself a few extra levels. So she was now level 17, she of course ignored the new skills offered, and even now they were hovering at the side waiting for her input.
| Notice: |
| Proficiency achieved, skills available for pick up: -Oracle -Divine Advent -Divine Spirit Summon -Divine Channeling -Divine Descent -Divine Spirit Impartment -Divine Familiar -Divine.... |
It was quite the long list, most of those skills were variations of things she could do to allow her Mother to either descend upon her body, talk to her, see through her, or commune with her.
All had the same problem though, she wouldn't be able to turn them off, funnily enough, Papa hadn't given her any skill like Mother, so he was still getting a gift for Father's Day.
So she would need to spend her stat points huh. Not that she would accept one of those iffy skills, since she dismissed them as soon as they came along.
But for now, she would shove more points as she had done before.
Int > +20
Wis > +20
And the remaining 2 points would go to shore up more uneven stats, she would let them hang like that for now. Soon enough she would need to dedicate more points to more specific things, but she would leave that for level 20 or so.
At that point she would probably have Int at 150 and could focus on other things, she had seen Akira's and Rena's status, and she wouldn't be able to afford a direct fight against either as a generalist. So she needed to be a specialist.
Maybe she could follow the example of what [Ethan] had done while controlling her? She had vague memory imprints of him using her body as a puppet, and that had been a good way to use her powers. Even if the idea was from someone like [Ethan].
"And done, anything else we need to know?" Elizabeth asked as she confirmed all her points had been spent.
"Not really, most of the stuff to check out is common sense." Agatha started joking about only to stop at seeing Michael, Rena, Rossie, and Akira staring at her.
And after seeing the top five students Agatha decided to add some stuff to the ruling, obvious stuff, don't kill anyone outside combat, don't camp them to prevent a fellow student from going to the exhibition match.
Why did one need to point these out?
"And so, you all have a month and two weeks to finish preparations." Agatha said while writing the date for the fights.
It seemed that she wouldn't have much time to prepare, three months ago she had woken up and needed to train for the test, now when she finished that, now it seemed that she would need to prepare for another one?
In the worst-case scenario, she would need to fight Rena, she didn't want to fight Rena, not because it would be hard, but because somehow the girl had turned to level faster than Akira. And her status was more balanced...Kinda.
Akira didn't have that much of an advantage over her, but his skill made it problematic, if the thing worked as it had at the last year, then it would be dangerous to face. At least it seemed that this time she wouldn't get ignored, so maybe she wouldn't need to burn one of her Aces?
Actually, could she even still use those spells? She had built them from memory and stuck them into her [Shadow Haven], but still...She may need to check on that.
"So with that out of the way, have you decided who you will fight?" Agatha asked to the top five students.
Michael was the first to answer of course, since he seemed quite eager to excuse himself, "I will test my mettle against other top 10 rankers, mostly rank 7 and rank 9, as those have similarities with my own magic."
So number seven and 9 were edgelords?
"I will fight Elizabeth for the top spot, not at the start of course, I will go after the mood is right." Akira answered, Elizabeth would need to check on that mood thing Akira seemed to want.
"Rossalina Singh." Rena said, only that. Why did she want to fight her lovely Rossie?
"Watanabe Rena." Aaand her Rossie also wanted to fight Rena?
What?
"And you Miss top scorer?" Agatha asked turning the attention towards Elizabeth.
"I will probably fight whoever wants to?" So answered the blonde, "Not like they need to accept my challenge. But I guess at the very least I will fight Akira...?"
She wasn't sure if she would enjoy such an encounter, a few weeks ago she would relish the idea, but now that she knew his status? Yeah, she would need to level up.
At least another three levels, to jump towards level 20 and that should give her enough stat points to match him, then it would be time to see if she would get a nice surprise for that number.
Last time that had been one of the thresholds right? That or level 25, she wasn't quite sure.
For now, she would hope for it to be level 20, and maybe get a nice evolution for her job?
But to what?
Magical...Heroine?
No, that would make her the [Heroine] and those usually got tied to a [Hero] or a [Villain], she only needed to be tied to Rossie, so... [Magical...something?]
"You may still get challenges from the people at the bottom of the ladder, so don't worry too much, at the very least you will fight another two to three people besides Mister Akira." Agatha said as if that was something to look forward to.
"Those don't include Rossie right?" Elizabeth asked with some hope. Not that Rossie would be easier to fight, but that would allow her to have at least one fight without too much stress.
"Your fight with Mister Shepherd counts towards the evaluation, so unless he wants a rematch that one will not happen again. Miss Rena may challenge you..." Agatha said turning her attention to Rena.
"If Elizabeth knows how to fight using swords I may take the offer and present a challenge." Rena said ominously.
Yikes...
No wait, she no longer held animosity towards her? Only a weird sense of wanting to...measure herself? Did that girl really think she was weaker than her?
"I do have blade weapons..." Elizabeth said while summoning Stabby from her shadow, the shadow spear materializing from the floor and being levitated off the floor. "And this one can turn into another form..."
Elizabeth quickly rotated Stabby from spear form to halberd, then to Axe, Battle-Axe, Mace, Claymore, and finally a Katana to match Rena's favorite weapon.
"But I'm not a swordswoman, nor do I have any [Skill] in that front, so my knowledge is mostly pointy end goes into enemy." Elizabeth then changed the size of her always loyal Stabby (Spear version again) into a small figure, then summoning a blob of shadows she molded it into a humanoid form, and using her smoll stabby she...well stabbed the weapon into the shadow dummy. "That is about it, if you don't mind that we can fight then."
Rena seemed to think that for a few seconds, but in the end nodded nonetheless, "Yeah, I can work with that. My school of weapons evaluates an opponent while crossing blades, so long we cross blades once I can determine if you are honorable or not."
...Had she crossed blades with Akira?
"So do you train with Akira then?" Elizabeth couldn't help herself but ask, this in turn made Rena look towards the floor.
"...I'm not strong enough to exchange-" And started saying the red-haired girl, but she was interrupted by Akira, "She isn't strong enough to spar with me."
...Was he serious?
"You also shouldn't waste your time with filler characters Elizabeth. But we shall see if you are also a [Filler Character] or a [Heroine], smell yah later." And in that tone, Akira left the classroom.
Had the class ended already? Elizabeth looked at her watch and they still had almost half an hour of time left...
"..." Agatha seemed to want to say something but decided not to, instead she turned her attention towards Rena who started picking up what Akira had left in his seat and putting it in his bag...and her own bag what didn't seem to fit in Akira's bag. "I will send you today's homework Miss Rena. Please tell Mister Akira that even if he has exempted this class and is guaranteed to move to third grade he still needs to respect the time allotment."
"Thank you Teacher Agatha." Rena said while bowing to Agatha, "I will see you around Elizabeth, Rossalina, Michael."
And like that the girl left, she looked so...small.
For someone with so much strength and power, she was quite pitiful, almost like a lost puppy searching for its owner.
Oh...Oh god no...
She was pitying the girl...
"Rossie...." Elizabeth turned to her pink-haired girlfriend.
"Yes Eli-Eli?" Her always lovely girlfriend answered back.
"What do you think about Rena?" Rossie seemed to stop thinking for a few seconds at the question from the blonde.
"If it's only her I can deal with. I will respect your decision if you decide to help her, but I will not tolerate Akira's presence around you. He isn't worthy of your time." Said her ultimatum the pink-haired girl.
So she didn't hate her?
But she had glared at Rena...And Rena had glared back at her too...What?
"I will keep the spot of [First Wife], Rena can be either a concubine or a consort. That will be non-negotiable." And her girlfriend dropped that bombshell as if nothing.
The whole classroom turned silent at that, oh right, they were still in the classroom...
"Let's speak about this later," Elizabeth said, not quite sure how to deal with that.
"Yes, speak about that later, away from prying ears and eyes." Agatha said from her desktop as she pushed a button and the whiteboard turned into a video about mana circuits. "Let's move towards another class review-"
At least Rossie wouldn't mind if she got stuck with Rena, that was...good?
She wasn't sure what to think about the pink-haired girl, she had got the idea that Rossie wouldn't share her with anyone else, but now here she was allowing Rena to join as a consort or concubine?
Was Rossie...Trying to bribe her? Was it because of their fight in the Cathedral?
She would need to speak with the pink-haired girl.
But later, she needed to focus in the class, at least that way she would stop letting her imagination run wild with scenarios of Rossie in a wedding dress.
Curse you Rossie!
Curse the mental image of you using a pastel pink dress!
