Chapter 37 - Combat Test

"Scratch that, school is fun!"

Arthur shouted excitedly while waving the sword in his hand around. Looking at the scene of the intermediate-stage grandmaster instructor lying on the floor like a worn out rag, Layla regretted not telling Arthur to hold himself back.

◇　◇　◇

After the announcement for the practical exams came, the examinees dispersed to the various centers for the practical exams. They were all sent messages that contained the hall they were randomly assigned on their phones.

Arthur and Layla also did the same, coincidentally, they were assigned the same hall. They quickly collected their name tags and made their way over, getting there right before the doors were closed and the tests commenced.

The magical ability test was watched by various professors and instructors of the academy, some nobles royals and other dignitaries were also present to watch. Because of this, some examinees strived to create a good impression in the minds of these dignitaries.

This year's exam was one of the most anticipated in a while, it was the first time that a member of the Devildom's royal family was participating in millennia.

Due to this, all members of the royal family of the Devildom were present, some nobles and lesser royals took this as an opportunity to get on their good graces.

When the magical tests began, the students were called in groups and were asked to display their best magic spells and they were graded accordingly.

The test was flashy with many students displaying magic attacks focusing more on appearance than power, naturally they were graded lowly.

Many even lengthened their chants as if the exam was not grading their magical but chanting ability. Some overexerted themselves to cast spells they normally would not be able to, a few of them even collapsed from the magic exhaustion.

When it came to Layla's turn she gracefully walked over to the testing grounds, caring not for the thousands of eyes upon her and proceeded to cast her spell. Although Layla liked using magi-tech guns to fight, she did not neglect her actual magic training.

She decided to perform splendidly, seeing her many thought that she was one of those who were attempting to leave an impression on the dignitaries watching, however her motivations were different from what everyone thought.

'I don't want Arthur to be the freshman representative, if he becomes the representative, it'd be a disaster, for that to happen, I have to use his inability to use magic to my advantage. This would be the best way for me to close the gap from the written exams, those last questions were quite difficult and I'm sure I didn't get them right, but Arthur, that genius definitely did.'

She stared at the training dummy in front of her that was made with magic resistant materials.

'A dummy without both arms and legs. Since it can withstand the previous magic until now, it seems to have reasonable strength, they also change the target to a new one each time in order to prevent unfairness. With the budget the school gets, it would be impossible for them to be made of materials that average 12 years olds can not destroy. If that's the case… it's safe to use 'that' spell.'

She produced one pale blue flame, it's size was not more than that of the average fireball. The surroundings started to get noisy after seeing that phenomenon done without a word.

Due to her fixation with guns, she unconsciously compressed it, then shaped it long and narrow, and launched it as a bullet.

As the pale blue flame launched at super speed, it drew a blue-white line in the air and swallowed the target up.

**BAAAaaaaNG!!!

With a loud sound, the target exploded. But the momentum of the flame bullet that shattered the target did not wane out, it pierced through both layers of the dummy and went towards the wall behind it

**KABBOOooOOOM!!!!

The bullet slammed on the magical barrier that was casted on the wall, causing it to shake violently. When everything had subsided, the reaction of everyone around can only be described as dumbfounded.

'Huh? Why's everyone looking at me funny?, is it that weird to be able to destroy a weak practice dummy?'

Layla's thoughts could not be more wrong, she had calculated the budget from the previous years and had come to the conclusion that the dummy provided was not going to be strong enough to withstand her spell, this was why she felt it was normal for it to be destroyed.

However, this year the academy had received twice the usual budget as such the equipment provided were also twice their original strength, this included the dummy. It had various layers and although the outer layers were pierced by other examinees, the inner layers were still in tact as they were made of materials that even an inferior-stage grandmaster would have a hard time with.

The fact that she, a superior-stage master realm, destroyed this completely meant her strength was totally out of the norm.

As she went back to her seat she asked Arthur if he knew the reason for everyone's weird gazes. After hearing the reason she was nonplussed, however after seeing the message from her father saying 'good work', she smiled and decided not to care anymore.

When it was Arthur's turn for the test, his name was called out, he ignored this call until a nearby instructor who saw his name tag came over to tell him to go to the testing grounds. He looked at the instructor and sighed before speaking,

"Do you really live in this universe? I don't think you do cus if you did you should know i can't use magic. What's the point of me being called during a magic test?"

His voice was loud enough for the microphone in the hands of the instructor to pick up his voice, which then caused everyone to hear him. Many looked over to the direction of the one who spoke hoping to catch the appearance of the famous prince of the Devildom who was unable to use magic.

Many had various reactions to his statement but they had no time to dwell on it because the tests continued without a hitch.

The next day, after all the examinees have had a proper rest, the combat test took place. They were to fight against an intermediate-stage grandmaster realm instructor, of which there were hundreds prepared.

Most of the participants were not even in the master realm, and even those in the master realm were at most intermediate stages. Very few were like Layla and Arthur who were superior stages and among those participating this year, there was no grandmaster.

Due to this, the examinees were not expected to win, just to hold out for a certain amount of time.

The combat tests were also as flashy as the magic tests, with many examinees using magic and auras of various colors and attributes. Those with innate abilities and skills also displayed their skills.

There were those that had skills that let them multiply their physical strength or magic ability, others increased the amount of damage taken or reduced damage received. Some had debuff abilities that weakened the opponents, some had buff abilities that increased their agility or defenses.

When it came to Arthur's turn, many focused on him due to his actions the day before. He simply walked to the testing grounds and picked a random sword of his liking before facing off against the similarly armed grandmaster.

'This is boring, I should end this quick.'

The area battle area was surrounded with multiple transparent magic walls that doubled as barriers, they were strong enough to resist most attacks, this was to prevent them from disturbing other ongoing matches.

Looking at Arthur, the instructor thought that he would be like the other noble children and lesser princes who just used energy cores to improve their realm and had no real skills, he was part of those who believed Arthur being unable to use magic was a lie.

As he held his twin swords, he decided to beat Arthur the way he did the others, he nodded to the moderator to commence the match.

"Begin!"

The moment the moderator spoke, the instructor bent his body and kicked the ground. From his perspective, he had slowed down quite a bit to slip into Arthur's attacking range.

He would surprise Arthur by slashing just the tip of his nose, then using the chance to pin him down.

That was what the instructor planned, however…

The right hand that was meant to deliver the slash was caught instead.

And since Arthur was capable of such a feat, it could only mean he had seen through all of the instructor's movement.

"!?"

"Haa!"

Arthur took ahold of the instructor's arm, putting it over his shoulder without a moment's delay. Then, using his own body as the leverage, he flung him over!

With great momentum, the instructors body was thrown towards a wall. As it was, he would have collided with the wall, but of course, he wouldn't be an instructor if he couldn't recover from this much.

He adjusted his body midair, and as soon as his feet touched the wall, he launched himself towards Arthur.

"As I expected of an Instructor of the academy!"

Arthur said sarcastically as he turned his body and evaded the instructor's attack with a breadth of a hair. The instructor landed on the ground while raising a cloud of dust. Before long, he turned over and plunged back in.

His speed as she charged, his flexibility to instantly kill his momentum, his agility to change his trajectory.

All of those qualities were ones expected of the royal academy's instructors. And the cherry on top was that he hadn't shown his full potential.

'If so, I only needed to pull it out!'

Arthur's hidden battle junkie surfaced. Seeing the look on his face the instructor was confused.

"Why are you having so much fun…!"

His twin swords waved as though they danced, drawing near Arthur.

"I don't know when it started but I like it! Fighting against someone!"

Arthur finally unsheathed his own sword to receive those blows and warded them off.

"That's one hell of an annoying quirk!"

Every time the swords locked with one another, a rigid metal clank echoed in the silent hall, the thousands of spectators were all watching quietly.

Amidst the intense sword fight, the instructor shuddered. He realized Arthur's foothold mostly hadn't moved from its spot. Arthur had been repelling his swordplay without moving.

He had two swords while Arthur only had one. Just by the number, he should have the upper hand.

Even though he was only on the lowest level of instructors in the academy, the fact that he made his way to that position alone was proof that he was definitely skilled.

And yet Arthur warded his attacks with plenty of room to spare. What an exceptional sword handling, observation, and flow reading.

'Even so, I can't loose to some brat!'

So what if his skill was outstanding, skills didn't directly relate to one's own physical capabilities. A grandmaster and a master had a great gap in their physical ability. Plus he could use his magic and aura while Arthur could not.

In fact he had already been using his magic to enhance his strength for a while now. Yet he was being withheld by a twelve year old who, not only didn't use an artifact, but also unable to use any energies. There had to be something up Arthur's sleeve. However, he didn't know what that something was.

"Please, put in some serious effort!"

"I'm damn serious!"

At least, on the swordplay front.

However, soon after, a chance to win was given to him.

**CLAAANKK!!!

Arthur's sword blade was broken in half. This was due to the difference in the quality of their weapons.

The ability to pick a good weapon was also graded so there were bad weapons purposely mixed in.

Arthur just randomly picked a sword without checking, unfortunately, it was of horrible quality.

"!"

"HAAAaaa!"

The slight chance of victory blinded him of his initial aim as he went for the attack.

It was right after Arthur's sword shattered. Even for Arthur, he couldn't evade in time, as such one of the instructor's swords managed to embed itself into his arm, albeit shallow. Arthur had tried to jump backwards, but the instructor was closing into him.

Apparently, this strike of his was backed with a force more immense than the last one. He could even sense a bit of Aura on the blade.

This was exactly what was expected from an instructor of the royal academy.

Just by giving a slight opening due to an unexpected situation, he could deliver an injury at that very moment.

But, that was good. That was why it was worth the fight.

The wound on Arthur's arm was only bleeding slightly, a minor laceration at most. It would pose him no problem to leave it alone.

His sword broke but the fight was still on. Things were getting interesting.

"Ah… Y-, you okay?"

The instructor finally remembered that Arthur was a prince, not just any prince but the prince of the entire universe, he was worried might get executed for harming Arthur.

His body had only moved reflexively as he saw that small window of golden opportunity. He was glad he didn't let himself loose with that attack.

Still, receiving his attack in that circumstance and yet only suffering a slight injury, this prince was truly a force to be reckoned with.

That opening he gave away should've claimed his life in a battlefield. His worry however, pissed Arthur off,

"Are you perhaps looking down on me?"

"N-, it's not like that, but—"

"Then you better take me seriously, okay?"