Monstrous growth

Holding my new ID in hand, I walked out of the training hall towards where the others waited for me. They all seemed to have decided to hang around at the entrance and wait for each of us individually.

They immediately noticed my overly happy mood and questioned me how it went. I told them the results; Emilia jumped at me to give me a big bear hug.

The rest of them congratulated me normally, once Emilia finally let go of me again. After having had a small chat with them all, we were back in the dilemma of who will go up next. Iris came up with the idea to draw straws but of course, nobody had such a thing on hand. So they gave me the right to chose the next person to go for the exam.

And I decided on Iris. I hadn't seen her do her first exam, so I was quite stocked to find out how well she would do against a teacher.

The both of us entered the training hall and found out Mr. Black would also do her practical exam. He seemed to be the most capable teacher anyway, so having him examine us should be better. The rest stayed out of the hall and waited for the result, just like last time.

Against Iris, Mr. Black took his celestial sword right away without even giving it a second thought. Iris, of course, also prepared her celestial claymore which she was handling on a pretty high level by now. Even so, Mr. Black gave the initiative of the fight to Iris without a doubt on his mind. He behaved as cocky as ever when it came to fighting. I hoped Iris would prove him wrong but knowing Mr. Black, he still had another three aces up his sleeve.

However, instead of charging right at him, Iris decided to infuse her claymore with more celestial energy. I could see it flowing around her sword and the air in the room was getting heavier by the second. Other students started watching their fight as well. Mr. Black remained at his position and waited for Iris patiently. After having charged her claymore for a solid minute, Iris finally started the fight.

She propelled herself of the floor to send her body flying forward. Even so, Mr. Black did still not move. I had a hard time even picking up Iris flying body. With a smack, she passed right through him. Both of them stood opposite each other, back to back. The fight however, was already over. Mr. Black put his sword back into the sheath while Iris collapsed to the ground. A drop of blood ran out of her mouth despite no obvious outside injury.

"Not bad, not bad. If you hadn't chosen me as an opponent, you would have had a chance at winning. A first year being able to beat a teacher is something unheard of, your training surely paid off. You are strong, very strong. But keep one thing in mind… Out there, in the outside world, you are still weak."

However, on his face I could tell how proud he felt. Mr. Black couldn't hide his smile, no matter how hard you tried. Then he turned to me all of a sudden and said: "Don't worry. Work hard and one day you will stand on equal footing with her. I promise. Just don't give up or feel depressed."

This were certainly the motivational words I yearned for. I even thought he had forgotten about me.

I gulped my saliva down, put my hand to my heart and answered: "Yes, sir, I will give it my all. But shouldn't we worry about her. There is blood dropping from her mouth after all."

"It's nothing serious. She just lost her conscious and has gotten some minor inner body injuries, nothing a hybrid can't handle. Help her recover and then come to me, I will grade her then."

I did as he said and carried the knocked-out Iris towards a bench at the side of the training hall. She wasn't too light weighted but thanks to all the training, it didn't even make me sweat a bit.

It took around five more minutes for her to wake up and ask: "Wh—what happened? Why am I lying on this bench?"

"You lost your consciousness in the fight against Mr. Black, don't you remember? He beat you quite badly", I answered her in the best way I could think of.

"Oh, … yeah. I do remember, now that you say it. This guy. He is fearsome. No human should have this much strength. Just what have the demons put him through as a child? I could barely see him moving, but right before I got to him, he pulled his sword out and cut right through me. Not in the actual sense though, he cut me with pure celestial energy. And, and it was so fast. I still have so much to learn. So much to grow. I am still a weakling in the end, just like he said", Iris said doubting her own ability.

She seemed to have lost her consciousness right after Mr. Black told her his honest opinion. Certainly wasn't the most motivational speech. Her doubting herself also made me feel better in a way it shouldn't, I tried my hardest to let the emotion show up on my face.

I let Iris recover for another while to then go towards Mr. Black and find out her grading.

"So as for your strength, you have grown from a D grade to a C grade. As for your technique it has also grown from D to C. Congrats, this makes you officially the strongest first year student to have ever visited this school. I hope you will continue to train like this in the future", Mr. Black announced in an almost robotically voice.

Iris had a small smile on her face, but she didn't appear to be too surprised. She had a good estimation of her strength after all.

We continued towards the celestial artefact, where Lisa was already waiting for us. Iris put her hands on the artefact and to my surprise, three stones lit up making her celestial power of D grade. With that she was on equal level to Emilia, at least the Emilia of six months ago.

"Congrats, your celestial energy grew from an E grade to D grade. Your body took all the cultivation quite well in the end. I feared you would get yourself overworked, but it appears to be fine", Lisa announced.

She also took Iris ID card right away to update it and after she handed it back, the following stood on it:

Name: Iris

Age: 14

Race: demon hybrid

Subtype: magical swordswoman

Fighting strength: D --> C

Celestial energy: E --> D

Fighting technique: D--> C

Overall rating: C-