Blade of the Goddess-Chapter 12 - Entrance Exam 2

"Good luck." Zion smiled

"Don't need it." She winked at him.

Lidia entered the arena and readied herself. She had trained with Zion and his family for years so she isn't any slouch when it comes to combat. Her own father and brother were also very powerful and they too helped with her training. Lidia was confident she would excel in this test like she did the others.

"Begin!"

Flames wrapped around her like a violent tornado threatening to burn anything in its path. This was a spell she and Zion had created called Firestorm, the ultimate offense and defense.

"Impressive!" The teacher praised. "Based on that alone, I'd want to pass you, however, we need to see it in action." Lidia's teacher was a mage so this was a battle between two magic users.

"Icicles!" Shards of ice formed in the air flying toward Lidia, but the ice instantly melted from the intense heat.

"I understand it now," Lidia said, taking a deep breath. The fire shrank and grew every time she inhaled and exhaled, until finally, the flames suddenly vanished.

"Huh? Are you giving up?" The teacher asked. But suddenly, she felt a searing heat next to her head, and in the nick of time, she dodged, managing to avoid a massive spout of flames that appeared in the air right next to her.

The teacher made a shield of ice to block the flames from burning her, but when she brought her attention back to Lidia, arrows made out of fire rained down on her.

"Not bad. You're already this skilled at your age." The teacher said with admiration, replacing her ice shield with one made of pure mana.

"But when you attack, you always need to be ready to defend." Just then, multiple icicles formed behind Lidia's back.

Thinking this stunt would mess up her focus, the teacher prepared to be on the offensive. However, instead of dodging, Lidia, with flames in each hand, clasped them together, and ten large fireballs bombarded the teacher as the icicles melted from the intense heat surrounding Lidia.

After a few moments, Lidia waited to see what would happen next, and what she saw was unexpected. Mages like to keep their distance in a fight, so watching as the teacher rushed at her at top speed with an ice shard in her hand threw her off for a moment.

But that's all it did. Lidia smiled and simply watched as the teacher drew closer. When she was ten steps away from her, a magic circle appeared on the ground, shocking the teacher, and blue flames shot up like a geyser engulfing her.

"Wow! I'm impressed. I didn't expect to see a student so skilled in the entrance exam. You pass with flying colors." With the wave of her hand, the instructor froze all the fire, appearing unharmed. Of course, she was going easy on Lidia as this wasn't a real battle.

"Good job." Zion congratulated her. "You even mastered the ember flame." The ember flame was the second level to Firestorm, where the flames are so small they look invisible.

"Thanks! It's your turn now, right?"

"Yup."

Before his name was even called, Zion walked up to the stage. He looked at the teacher he was fighting against, a swordsman, and the instructor locked eyes on him as well.

"Begin!"

Zion stood still doing nothing. The instructor did the same. For the next five minutes, neither of them moved a muscle and just stared at each other.

Unbeknownst to everyone besides the instructors, Zion and his opponent were engaging in a mana battle. It was subtle but effective. Their mana clashed, neither backing down from the other, so Zion took it up a notch.

He increased his power, which shocked the instructor, but he too ended up pushing back. Eventually, the teacher noticed Zion's true strength and laughed as hard as he could.

"Amazing! You truly are amazing! I expected nothing less than the son of one of the warlords. You pass!" The teacher slapped him on the back and walked off to tell his colleagues.

"What the fuck just happened?" All the onlookers wondered

Once the entrance exams were over, the results were released. Everyone headed towards the auditorium where the results would be shown on a magic screen. Out of the thousands of students who took the entrance exam, only a handful managed to pass.

"I kind of feel bad for all of those who weren't able to pass."

"Why? It just means they didn't have the skill or knowledge to be accepted. Nothing to feel bad about." Zion then thought about it and could see her reasoning. They, after all, had resources to make sure they passed while most here didn't. Most are commoners.

"Sigh, I know. Let's look at the leaderboard." Lidia grabbed his arm and dragged him to the leaderboard.

Academics First Place - Zion Zagan

Academics Second Place - Crystal Von Astir

Academics Third Place - Lidia Brightburn

Academics Fourth Place - Alice

Academics Fifth Place - Zia Hamlet

"Oh, the princess is here as well?" Not every student took the exams together and was split up into different groups. Although it wasn't shocking that the princess, who wasn't in their group, was on the leaderboard, it was a moment of forgetfulness.

"Duh, Zion. It's every student, not just our group, dummy."

"Okay, Miss Third Place."

Lidia punched his arm.

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Mana Beast hunting First Place - Zion Zagan

Mana Beast hunting Second Place - Curtis Larson

Mana Beast hunting Third Place - Lidia Brightburn

Mana Beast hunting Fourth Place - Crystal Von Astir

Mana Beast hunting Fifth Place - Alice

"I'm fine being in third place, but being below Curtis doesn't sit well with me," Lidia complained

Curtis was someone they knew from their childhood. Zion and Curtis never got along, so much so that Curtis would always challenge him to a duel each time they saw each other.

"Well, don't hide your strength next time."

"Says you!"

"I showed enough skill to get first place while holding back. I don't wanna hear it."

"Bastard."

"Come here." He pulled her into his arms, kissing her forehead, which made her smile.

Combat Trial First Place - Zion Zagan

Combat Trial Second Place - Lidia Brightburn

Combat Trial Third Place - Alice

Combat Trial Fourth Place - Crystal Von Astir

Combat Trial Fifth Place - Curtis Larson

"Look at that, you're in second place this time." Zion cheered

"And Alice is in third." Lidia nodded with a slight shock

"It's not totally unexpected, she's really skilled with a sword. It's only her mana that's lacking." Zion turned around and located Alice who wasn't that far away.

Walking up to her, everyone paused and looked at him. Conversations stopped, commoners looked nervous, and no one paid attention to the scores anymore.

"Does he not like that a commoner made it in the top three?"

"A commoner should know their place!"

"How can a commoner be in the top three but not the princess?!"

"Show her her place!"

Many nobles hated the fact that a commoner managed to outshine them. It only showed that with as many resources as they had, they still couldn't beat a commoner, which only crushed their egos.

Alice, who was shocked that Zion was coming her way, didn't react with any fear or even malice, only indifference. She stood her ground and looked right into Zion's eyes when he was face to face with her.

"Nice job." He held out his hand. "I saw your fight and your skills are very impressive. I can tell you worked hard over the year. Would you like me to sponsor you? I could use someone with your level of skill." Zion wasn't lying when he said this. One of the main reasons for coming to the academy was to find young talents and nurture them for his plans.

Alice could only give him a disgusted look. While she did expect Zion to be respectful, she didn't expect him to want to sponsor her. However, the word "use" ticked her off. She was already wary of nobles and she knew that they would only want to use her for their own gain.

"Go shove that sponsor up your ass. And do me a favor and not talk to me again." She smacked his hand away and walked out of the room.

"Well, that's awkward. Lidia, remind me to wash my hands with extra soap next time. I can't have beautiful ladies running away from me now, can I?" Zion laughed, making light of the situation.

"How dare that bitch slap your hand away after you gave her a life changing opportunity!" Lidia's anger swelled to the point where she wouldn't mind drawing a bit of blood.

Seeing flames start to engulf her body, Zion rushed to Lidia, trying his best to calm her down. "Woah, woah, woah, calm down! You'll burn the place down!"

"As long as she dies in the process!"

Holding her back, he yelled, "But you'll die too!"

"At least I'd have taken her out with me!"

"Are you insane?"

"Yes!" Lidia responded without a moment's pause.

"Ahh, understandable. Have a great day."