The quill pressed as ink flowed, a white canvas absorbing all strokes of black. The world's equivalent of strikes and checkmarks riddled the exam's questions, before a total of obtained marks was written at the top-right corner of the exam paper.
All of this in the span of seconds.
Astus Viner found it very satisfying, having spent a few minutes watching this process over and over. Each graded exam flew onto one of two piles: one for those who passed on the right, and one for those who failed on the left.
In-between these two was the ungraded pile of exams, its height decreasing by 1 every 5 seconds. An outstanding speed! Yet that wasn't as incredible as the fact it was fully automatic, requiring no one to operate it!
Beside him was Imperio Aero, a member of the Aero Clan, the first and most prominent clan in all of Niem. Knowing that, Astus Viner still kidnapped the seventeen-year-old.
It was that or a non-stop 20-hour grading session, a far less appealing option at the time, though not sure how offending the continent's number one clan was any better.
He looked at the teenager seated beside him, "Fly at higher altitudes, there is less risk."
Naturally, Imperio knew that.
In fact, he had been flying at an already high altitude to admire the academy from an eagle's view. He simply didn't account for his surroundings.
After all, if not for the academy walls, Astus wouldn't have reached Imperio at all.
That's if reaching meant catching him physically. Even if he wasn't within reach, Imperio Aero was well within his Open World's radius.
Imperio's only chance of escape back then was in the first three seconds of hearing the window glass shatter. After that, he was as good as captured.
It only took longer so as to ensure Imperio wasn't harmed in the process.
"Look, Aero." Astus gestured at the quill as it moved by itself. "Can you see how versatile your clan's signature technique is? You should be proud of your heritage."
While the researcher praised and talked about the potential of the Aero Clan's technique, an old man was stomping his way to the office, veins popping out all over his head.
Slam!
The office door was smacked open, revealing a fuming old man in flowy blue robes, a brimless cylindrical hat, and a long, waist-length silver beard.
The headmaster, Valferdo himself, had arrived!
"Astus, have you gone mad?! Kidnapping a noble, and an Aero at that! Are you tired of living?" the old man scolded severely, his eyes looking like they're about to spew fire at the researcher.
However, at that moment, his eyes seemed to have caught something at the periphery of his vision. He turned to his right and saw a man in green correcting the exams in an unimaginable speed!
Shock, bafflement and disbelief, all these emotions ran through the headmaster as he watched the man's hand move quick and precise, grading every exam in mere seconds before the paper sorted itself to one of two piles.
Of course, this was nothing but an illusion. Raizen was just holding onto the quill while it moved by itself.
Why was he doing this?
Because his master had told him to. If the headmaster saw the capabilities of Astus's invention, he would dump more work on him and insist on it. On the other hand, if he saw an unknown person display these capabilities, won't it be humiliating to ask an outsider for help?
Despite being meters away from the desk, the old man's sense of sight was extremely sharp seeing the correction process in great detail. Not only was it fast and precise, there were also no mistakes at all!
He was speechless.
To correct an exam, one needed to read the answers, recall the correct ones, compare the two and grade. Doing all of that in 5 seconds was simply unimaginable! 'How can this be!'
Not just the headmaster, Imperio was also captivated by such sight, though he knew Raizen was only faking and was impressed by the quill instead.
A dozen minutes pass in silence until the exams are all graded.
Raizen sighed as he set down the quill in its inkwell. Man, my hand hurts from holding this stupid feather, he thought, massaging the muscle between his index knuckle and thumb finger of his right hand.
Raizen stood up from the high-back chair.
Green cuffed breeches—a puffed upper leg allowing for freedom of movement while the lower leg tapered into a narrow fit, in addition to featuring a waist drawstring for flexibility. Meanwhile, his upper body was also covered in green, a long-sleeved spiral-folded shirt.
Such sartorial dressing went well with his emerald eyes, giving his appearance an eye-appealing harmony, let alone mentioning his unparalleled looks.
Now, what do I do? Astus didn't tell me anything else other than to fake writing. Raizen looked at the three briefly. The headmaster seemed to have seated himself in Raizen's spot as the couch only had three spots, the other ones occupied by Imperio and Astus. Why is he not doing anything?
"Astus, what do I do now?" he bluntly asked.
The researcher's eyebrow twitched nervously before turning toward the slave in ignorance. "What are you talking about?"
Raizen immediately pointed at the quill and looked at the old man in his spot. "I wasn't actually doing any writing. The quill Astus made—"
Astus jumped out of his place, shouting, "Ah! Shut up, shut up! The quill does nothing!" Astus Viner turned to the headmaster but found him to have already figured it out, his eyes locked onto the quill. "Tsk."
Raizen felt the change in atmosphere immediately; his course of action had already been decided out of instinct. His eyes instantly relocated to looking at the office door, completely open and showing a long hallway of stone walls.
But in that miniscule moment of eye movement, Astus had already grabbed Imperio and thrown him at the Raizen. The former hit the latter with so much force that it carried them out through the demolished wall.
In the following second, everything near the desk he had been sitting at was obliterated to splinters.
One moment, they were inside the office. And now, they are mid-air. Forget the clash between Astus and the headmaster, he needed to focus on how to get out of here alive!
He looked at Aero that was still clinging to him from the amount of force that brought them out.
Aero. Flight. Survival! He didn't have the time to form coherent thoughts. Every second they're falling, they are getting closer to the ground. But the meaning was evident. He needed Imperio to fly!
He looked at Imperio who was still dazed and slapped him awake. Another second passed, and eight more until crash. "Fly, Imperio! Fly!" Raizen hugged his hope of survival tightly.
Seven seconds left.
Imperio finally came out of his daze, looking at the blue, clear sky above before noticing the air resistance hitting him and seeing the outside of the ten-floor academy building.
Five seconds left.
A terrified shriek came out of his lungs. Meanwhile, Raizen shouted again: "Fly! Fly!!"
Astus heard him this time and directed all his attention to his clan's signature technique.
Thus, with less than three seconds to collision, the speed in which they were falling began drastically decreasing until they stopped exactly a few inches above grass.
Raizen immediately let go, his back falling with a thud while watching Imperio levitate down, slowly.
However, it wasn't over yet. "Let's put some distance. Their fight might cause rubble to fall down." Raizen got up and started sprinting away from where they've landed.
Only after travelling a certain distance did he feel safe enough to rest.
He plopped on the ground, his breathing ragged and rough.
After a while, he started laughing.
"This is insane, they're insane. I'm insane! I should've died. How did I manage to think through that sh*t!" But before he could contemplate it, his mind was starting to shut down.
He fainted.
30 seconds after, Imperio caught up, his hands resting on his knees as he took deep, difficult breaths. "How...can you...run so fast...?"
He also fell to the ground, looking at the blue and clear sky before checking on Raizen. "Hey, are you okay? Hey!"
The adrenaline rush ended.