Academy Entrance Exams (Part 2)

This time when Caxon opened eyes he was in another plain white room, however many magic symbols soon flashed and glowed as a mana formation activated. Before he could question what was happening the room started turning into a rocky plain that seemed to be at the top of a mountain.

The view was incredibly realistic and if it wasn't for the fact that he had just seen the room he was really in he would think that he was at the top of a mountain. Instead of walls the space had an incredibly step edge that he did not want to go near even though he knew this was just an illusion.

Every direction was a drop off and Caxon did not know what his goal was, as he looked around, he then saw a sword imbedded in a stone in the middle of the room. As soon as he took a step towards the sword he saw a hand appear on the other side of the arena. The hand soon turned into a person as someone pulled themselves up to the summit of the mountain where Caxon stood.

As the full body of a man appeared Caxon was shocked at what he saw. The man who had just appeared was an exact copy of him, staring at him with dead eyes and a sword in hand. As he thought this was a true copy of him he felt extreme fear, but when he focused on his doppelganger, he noticed that it was only a rank 5 hollow core so it wouldn't reveal anything to whoever was watching.

Just as he thought this was going to be an extremely easy fight he suddenly felt that his body got extremely heavy.

It was as though the gravity around him had just increased but the puppet was clearly unaffected. Before he could even get used to the strange phenomenon the man that looked like him suddenly rushed at him.

Before he had entered the trials at all he made sure to have his sword outside of his storage ring since going without a sword would be strange but having a storage ring was not something someone like him should really have. So as long as he didn't take anything out of it he would be able to wear it and pass it off as a normal ring.

But now he noticed that the sword and its scabbard was not on him at all. He assumed that it had been taken away somehow when he went through the transportation magic but he just hadn't noticed until now.

As Caxon was coming to the realization that he didn't have a weapon and he was being dramatically slowed down by the strange gravity his clone had closed the difference between them.

Without hesitation the clone started swinging its sword at him. He was barely able to dodge the sword but it took much more effort than it should. Luckily the clone was on the weakest end of a rank 5 and it had no real experience with the sword as it simply waved it around.

If the clone had the strength Caxon usually revealed or even a portion of the sword skills he had then there would be no way for him to dodge it under the effects of the gravity. He was surprised at the tenacity of the puppet as it constantly came at him with endless swings of his sword. Even if the puppet was unskilled if he landed a hit with the strength of a rank 5 it would still slice a human body in half easily.

As Caxon tried his hardest to dodge the clone he soon saw an opening and kicked it in the chest as hard as he could, the puppet was knocked back as it slowly recovered and once again started its attack.

He used this opening to run to the sword that was embedded in the ground. Caxon pulled with all his might but the sword did not move, he could tell even if he pulled with his true strength this sword would not budge.

he even tried to infuse his mana into the sword assuming that was the test for this round. However, he was shocked when the sword still didn't move even a single inch from the stone.

Caxon's only logical conclusion was the sword was there as a trap to get the students to lose focus from the attacker when they grew frustrated at the sword.

Thinking this he acted as though he was fully committed in taking out the sword as he even turned his back to the attacking clone and used his full body to try and pull out the sword.

When the clone approached got near him it took a large swing at him with all its might. Caxon had never taken his true focus off of the clone as he dodged the attack and took one step to instantly closed the remaining distance between them.

Now that he was too close the clone could not use the sword properly and seemed too stupid to let it go and attack Caxon with anything but the blade. He sent an elbow strike at the clone's jaw that landed and seemed to disorient the poor puppet as it stumbled backward and wobbled on its feet slightly. He did not let up the attack as he then kicked the side of the clone's leg completely shattering the leg at knee cap and causing the clone to fall on the ground.

Now that the clone was on its knees defenseless against him the battle was over, gathering all his strength Caxon kicked the clone in the face knocking it unconscious. After a second of waiting he figured the trial wasn't over yet so he took the clones own sword and drove it into the clone's heart while it lied on the floor.

Suddenly a voice rang out as the room returned to a normal room and the body and sword of the puppet disappeared.

"Well fought, take a few seconds to rest since the next and final test will be by far the hardest, however since you answered our questions last round you are free to back out of the tests now and maybe you can try again next year. Remember we are not responsible for your life and if you are to die, we will not be held accountable in any way. To advance take the gold door to leave now take the black one."

As he listened to the man a set of doors one golden and the other black appeared. Caxon didn't need to hesitate as he moved towards the golden door and opened it without a second though, however while he did so he smiled.

'What a low effort trick, if they really wanted to let everyone go, they would have offered to leave right after the questioning. This trial should have been very hard for most others even I would have struggled if I didn't know for a fact the sword was impossible to pull out thanks to my true strength. This is simply another test to see if the participants are willing to put their life on the line to advance.

Caxon had seen through the mini trial that was quite affective on most other want to be students but had struggled during the last test and didn't think the academy was worth their life.

As he went through the door he once again felt his stomach drop as he could not get used to the feeling of instantly traveling with magic.