An Ultimate Test

The very next day, fighting among students were cancelled. Something about "students taking it too far" was the reason, but most students already agreed it was a bad idea.

It was going to be another day of intense training with Wall magic, but the idiot Dwane had to try and fight Opal again. Let's just say it didn't go well for him.

Eric had been walking to the classroom, when he overheard a conversation in the medical room between two nurses and Dwane, who was in bed with a plaster cast over one of his arms.

"Can you hurry up? I need to get to lesson so I can finally learn what I've always wanted to learn." Dwane hadn't changed, acting like a whining child who wasn't allowed to play with his friends.

"You stupid kid, do you know how damaged your arm is after that beating you took in that last fight? If you had been bruised, only a few seconds of treatment would have been enough. Even a broken arm would have only taken five minutes or so…"

"Dwane interrupted, now sounding scared: "Well my arm doesn't hurt, so you must have fixed it… right?"

"Well, no actually. We had to give you a large does of pain-relief before we began since it's not just a broken bone, every bone in your arm and hand have been shattered. We aren't sure which fragment comes from which bone, so it will take much longer to-"

The medic cut off, as Dwane was no longer listening. He had fainted right there and then, and he wouldn't wake up until much later.

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The class was whispering when Eric entered. Mostly it was the nobles at the back, fearfully glancing at Opal, who was talking pleasantly with Serena before the class started. Hatch was already at his seat, notebook in hand, and Mat was also in his seat, but he was too busy eating a plastic tub of jelly. Mat seemed to have two phases, eating and hyper.

Eric sat down just in time, as the side door opened and Teach walked out, red faced and fuming over something. She stood at the front of the class and the song of her blade leaving the sheaf on her back was enough to shut everyone up.

"Alright Maggots, against my will I am being forced to get you to use your Ultimates today. Someone at the top has decided to advance your training faster than I expected. Meet me in fifteen minutes at the arena. I'll discuss the plan from there."

The class left in small groups. The first was Opal and Serena, not because they were the first to be ready to leave, but because the nobles didn't want to provoke the most powerful magik in the entire class.

Next was Hatch, who was followed swiftly by the male nobles, as they used him as a shield. The female nobles let Eric and Mat leave before them though, chattering at the back and stealing glances at the leaving boys. He wasn't sure, but Eric was sure he heard one of them say "Not many choices for partners huh."

Dwane had actually managed to recover and joined the group on the way. His arm was still in a sling and his face was pale, but at least he could join in. Teach was waiting, tapping her foot impatiently, then immediately launched into her lesson.

"Alright, I'll take you in in groups of three. I'll take from the bottom, alternating boys and girls. Therefor, Mat, Lily and Eric, you three are up first. Come on, we don't have all day."

Leading the weakest links, Teach took them into the arena where several boxes were laid on the sandy floor. Teach reached into one of them and took out a silver crystal, which she handed to Mat.

"Go to the centre of the arena and throw the crystal at your feet. Don't panic after that, the magic in the crystal will take it from there."

Mat reluctantly followed Teach's instructions. He stood at the centre of the arena, looked up at Eric, then back down at the crystal in his hand. He threw it full force at the ground in between his feet, and some weird light burst forth and surrounded him. His face twisted in surprise, Mat took a sturdy stance with one forearm turned at a right angle so that it faced outward and his hand pointed upwards. His other hand moved to cross it, then as he brought it slowly downwards until his other forearm was against the nook of his raised arm.

The rush of magic in the area was obvious, even for Eric, who had almost no sensitivity to the mana flow in the vicinity. The Earth below his feet shook as dust particles, loose stones a rocks and other earthen material began rising into the air, gathering into a giant mass above Mat.

Mat raised one hand, then quickly brought it down. The earthen mass slammed into the ground in front of him, before exploding into shrapnel. Teach had been note-taking this entire time and started clapping once the dust cleared.

"Wonderful. I knew you were holding back. I'm sure you'll move up the ranks after I report these results to the higher ups." Sh walked over and patted the boy on his back, before firmly guiding him to one of the three exit gates and getting him to leave after a few more exchanged words.

Lily, the youngest and smallest of the nobles, was next. It was quite similar start up to Mat, same glow, same movement of her body, same rush of earth and dust as the mana gathered around her.

However, once the mana reached its peak, she stomped on the ground, sending a tremor through the floor of the arena. Several feet in front of her, a large rock pillar suddenly shot out of the earth. Had anything been standing over it, they would have been launched high into the air, if they survived the initial impact. Then they would be high enough to break anyones bones once they landed.

She received the same treatment as Mat, led to the far exit to the arena and a few quiet words exchanged. With a pat on her back, Lily left and that meant Eric had to do his test in front of Teach without another person to see him fail. Good.

Teach handed him his crystal and pointed to the centre of the arena without a word. He walked over to the centre of the sandy arena, before looking down at the crystal in his hand.

'Well, here goes nothing'

He threw it at his feet, and waited. For a brief moment, time stood still. Then, like a black hole, energy from all sources and directions flooded towards him. Earth from the arena floor, water and air from the atmosphere around him and fire from the lanterns littered around the arena, all of which were smashed under the ginormous pressure. Even Teach had her energy stolen, fire, earth and water mana leaving her to join the gathering with Eric at its centre.

Then the weird stuff happened. The shadows around the arena and what seemed to be light itself bent towards Eric, who began the motions which Mat and Lily had previously done, forced to against his will.

Eric now stood ready, and the mana he had absorbed formed six circles in front of him, each a different colour. Red, blue, green, brown, white and black. He heard a chime at the back of his mind as the silent sphere finally spoke:

[Six Rings: Attack mode unlocked]

[Executing]

The rings lit up, before furring beams of searing energy. They slammed against the wall of the arena, destroying one of the three layers of concrete wall and badly cracking the second. Eric reconned that he could have broken through more, had the red and white rings not disappeared, causing the others to collapse in on themselves, ending the move early.

Eric began to head to the exit gate, and once he reached it he glanced over his shoulder. Teach was flabbergasted, her mouth slack in surprise. He shrugged at her, then left the arena.

It was two hours later. Opal was the only one who hadn't done her 'test'. Multiple people had talked about the hole in the wall, most asking if anyone knew who did it. Dwane tried to claim it was him who had done that, but nobody believed him, the damaged wall had been there before Dwane even stepped into the ring.

From the arena, there was a rush of energy, followed by the roar of flames and the crunch of what seemed to be bricks colliding. The students all looked to the arena, just for Opal to leave pst them with a smug grin on her face and a intimidating strut.

Teach wandered out with a phone in her hand, talking to someone on it. She looked angry, like someone was forcing her to accept something which she definitely didn't appreciate.

"Class dismissed. Come to the classroom for the follow up lesson tomorrow."

Teach walked off towards the main school building, still talking on her phone:

"Yes we need a work crew to extract a large piece of glass from the arena. Concrete over the sand, it's getting irritating at this point."