Tkos, Hope, and Xander lunged in unison. They blurred through the battlefield, weaving between the boulders that rained down like meteors. Hope, the most agile of the three, reached the beast first.
"First Form: Falling Petals!" she hissed. Her blade became a shimmering mist of steel, striking the bear in a dozen places in a single breath. But the beast didn't even flinch; her blade failed to leave so much as a scratch on its tectonic hide. The bear swiped downward in a contemptuous arc. Hope spun away, narrowingly evading the claws, but the bear slammed its paw into the earth.
Jagged stone spikes erupted from the ground. Hope gasped as the bear's mana surged—her own ability backfired as she tried to influence the beast's mind, and the mental feedback hit her like a physical blow. Pain exploded behind her eyes. Blood began to pour from her nose, eyes, and ears as she collapsed, clutching her head. The bear roared, shaking its body until the earthen spikes it had conjured shattered into dust, its own skin now slicked with crimson it was not happy with being on the receiving end of its own attack.
Xander's hand clamped onto Hope's shoulder. With a grunt of effort, he threw her back, sending her sliding dozens of meters away from the kill zone. He charged forward, slamming his foot into the dirt.
"Gravity: Down!"
The bear's massive frame shuddered as the invisible weight of a mountain slammed onto its spine. Its movements slowed, but it didn't stop. When Xander's staff met the bear's claw, the impact sent a vibration through his skeleton that threatened to shatter his arms. His bones groaned under the pressure. As the bear raised its other claw for a finishing blow, Tkos appeared.
Moving sluggishly through Xander's gravity field, Tkos thrust his spear with desperate precision, driving the tip into one of the bleeding wounds Hope had managed to open. The bear let out a harrowing roar of agony. Tkos leaped back just as a forest of spikes impaled the air where he had been standing. Xander unleashed a Repel, shoving the bear back a few steps, but the effort forced him to deactivate the gravity field.
The bear, sensing an opening, lunged with jaws wide, aiming for Xander's shoulder. But before the teeth could snap shut, a massive shield slammed into the side of its head.
The impact triggered a thunderous shockwave, blasting rocks and dust into the air. The force of the parry sent Xander tumbling across the ground and forced Tkos to brace himself. For the first time, the bear actually tumbled. When it rose, it was spitting broken teeth and gore; its jaw was visibly cracked, hanging at an unnatural angle.
"Damn," Xander coughed, pushing himself up.
A newcomer stood before them. Damien stood with a dark frown, looking at the hairline fractures spreading across his shield. His arm was completely numb from the force of the collision.
"And who might you be?" Xander asked, leaning on his staff as his body grew heavy with fatigue.
"Call me Damien," he replied, glancing at Tkos, whose skin was fading from metallic brass back to its normal hue.
The bear let out a low, guttural vibration. A suffocating, predatory pressure settled over the clearing. It was done playing. The beast stood tall, radiating a lethal intent that told them one thing: they were now facing its full, unrestrained power.
__
In the high-tech command center, the academy instructors watched the struggle on a massive holoscreen.
"How many students are left in the fray?" asked Leo, the man who had briefed the examinees on the rules.
"Less than twenty students remain, sir," a staff member replied.
"That few?" Leo barked, his face darkening. "What the hell is wrong with this year's batch? Are they really that pathetic?"
The woman adjusted her glasses, unfazed. "Well, sir, the stunt Lucien pulled at the start eliminated the majority of the Rank 1s and 2s. It forced the Rank 3s to burn through their mana reserves prematurely. They weren't prepared for the stampede that followed. To make matters worse, Lucien and Amil have no regard for collateral damage. Their attacks are wiping out beasts and students alike."
She pulled up a secondary data stream. "With their unique physiques, their mana pools are massive and their regeneration is off the charts. Amil is an elf—mana practically worships him—and we both know Lucien's lineage. This batch has the highest concentration of Monarch children in a single generation."
"What a mess," Leo muttered, massaging the bridge of his nose. "I wouldn't be dealing with this if the Headmistress wasn't so damn lazy. Fine. Continue the evaluation based on performance. We'll tally the points after the exam and fold them into their final scores."
He leaned in, his eyes tracking the fight with the bear. "At least these kids know how to provide a show. I bet the donors are on the edge of their seats. Give me the files on the ones fighting that Rank 7."
"Yes, sir," she said, reading from the terminal.
Tkos Van Gold: Ability: Mana Nullification. He can negate external mana in his immediate vicinity, though he can't touch the mana inside a living body yet. He can halt elemental spells, but he struggles with mana that has already been infused into physical matter—like that bear's earth manipulation. Secondary: B-Rank Physical Hardening.
Xander Mygave: Ability: Gravity Manipulation. Current range is five meters. The exact limit of his pressure output is still unknown.
Damien Hunt: Ability:—
"Enough, I know about the commoner," Leo interrupted, waving her off. "Just keep watching. Call me if there's a real emergency."
Leo turned and left for the Headmistress's office to report on the chaos, leaving the glowing leaderboard flickering behind him:
Current Exam Rankings:
Lucien Moonstar: 12,700 pts
Amil Cover: 10,200 pts
Tamari Crimson: 10,000 pts
Damien Hunt: 8,400 pts
Xander Mygave: 8,200 pts
Hope Sierra: 8,000 pts
Tkos Van Gold: 7,900 pts
Scarlet Ivy: 6,500 pts
Adam Wilson: 6,300 pts
Emma Roswel: 5,800 pts