the beginning after the end perfect duo

Examination

As I entered the hall of examination, dozens of people already sitting there were the first thing I saw. Then it all came into view: the grand pitch they're fighting at right now, the huge stairs leading to the bottom of the arena, and the long chairs too. This place was massive.

"Woo, this place is massive," Lilia said.

Well, that settles it.

"And what's more impressive is the pitch down there. Imagine the amount of battles that happened here, yet it's still standing," Arthur added.

"Take your seats and wait for your name to be called," Jasmine said.

And that's what we did. We found a place near the bottom to allow us to watch the battles that were happening.

"Let's observe the examiners. We might get a clue on how to fight them more appropriately," Arthur said.

"Yeah, sure," I said calmly.

My sole purpose now was to detect the two most influential characters in this period.

And here we go.

I scanned the whole arena for them.

And there is Elijah, and there is Lucas.

Now, what should we do in this exam? How should I pass?

I have got an idea.

"The first fight is starting now, Tom. Let's have a look at it," Arthur said.

"Yeah, sure," I said.

The earth attribute mage, the one in the novel, was fighting against the water attribute one, and she, as in the novel, still lost in her battle after not protecting herself.

"She could have done better than that. She's probably stressed. Her mana control is still impressive, so she would get a good rank, probably a C," Arthur said.

Then the examiner announced her ranking, which was in fact a C.

"Good judgement, brother," I said.

"Thanks, brother."

"You said she's stressing out, right, Arthur?" Lilia asked hesitantly.

"Yes, she was in fact stressing out, but I don't think you will, Lilia, not after that training you've been through," Arthur said.

"Yeah, I probably won't," she said again, even more hesitantly, while looking away nervously.

"You'll do well, Lilia. Cheer up," I said, holding her hand up, then quickly retracting it back.

Anyway, it's that bastard's turn. I gotta watch this.

And Lucas's match also went the same, with him getting his ass beaten up and not accepting it.

And Elijah got his rank without fighting as well.

Then the examiner pulled up a scroll and read loudly, "Examinee Tone, please get in the arena."

I guess the action is about to start.

"You'll do well, Tom," Lilia said with a smile on her face.

Surely.

"Remember, Tom, this is just an exam," Arthur said.

Jasmine simply nodded.

As I stepped down the stairs, the eyes of many accompanied my steps, most of whom were other examinees like myself, and most importantly Lucas's eyes.

When my steps finally reached the pitch, the examiner took his battling stand and prepared to start. I did the same in return, but the doors flew open just before the beginning, revealing a sword-holding Kaspian.

"I will examine this one, please," he said.

"As you wish, Kaspian," the examiner said, disappointed.

Kaspian readied his sword and stood fiercely. I conjured a sword of my own, made from steel mixed with some of my own mana, just the way Arthur used his aether sword.

"That's a nice weapon you have got there," Kaspian said.

"Start!"

Kaspian rushed immediately to attack me directly, and in response, I raised my sword to block his own that was heading straight to my head. With a quick move, I put it aside to leave him wide open.

As I tried to hit him, he got back, enlarging the distance between us.

This time, I was the one to start. Enhancing my physical prowess with the help of mana, I aimed my sword at his unprotected hand, and he moved aside, trying to catch me off guard and unbalanced.

He aimed his sword at my shoulder, but I ducked down and swept his foot.

As he fell to the ground, I directed my sword at his head, and he avoided it by rolling around and kicking me out of the way.

I got tossed back a few meters.

He regained his posture calmly, and we both met each other in the middle, exchanging quick blows, each of us blocking and counterattacking.

We were on par in terms of technique.

"How about we raise the level a little bit?" he shouted.

"Let's do it," I shouted back.

He jumped back and quickly started using his wind elemental attribute, sending quick air shots from his sword.

I used Thunderclap Impulse to heighten my reaction speed and started avoiding each attack of his.

"Running away now, aren't you?"

Oh, you want a serious fight now, don't you?

I stopped dodging his shots and surrounded myself with my own wind mana. It blocked each one of his attacks and sent another in response.

"How about that?" I shouted.

"You think you've got me?" he asked.

He closed the distance between us by dodging my wind bullets while at the same time sending his own.

We clashed swords again.

It was hard keeping up with him while at the same time keeping the shield active.

That's your plan, isn't it?

I jumped back, regaining a firm distance.

And as those bullets were no longer enough, I needed a long-range attack that could damage a big area.

That's it, a tornado.

I sent one tornado towards him, so even if he tried dodging it, it would pull him inside.

It was working out until he canceled it with a reverse one.

Alright, time to use another element.

I ignited fire in our surrounding area, limiting his options when jumping around.

"Bi-elemental? What a surprise," Kaspian said.

"You haven't seen anything yet," I shouted.

This fight is getting really tense now.

I reused the wind bullets, mixed them with some fire, so they were fire bullets, and not any kind of fire—it was blue fire we were speaking about.

It was harder now to avoid all my shots with our limited range, but it would still be harder for me as well.

His sword almost reached my head when I dodged it to the right and hit him with my fire fist.

"Nice hit, but it's not over yet," he shouted.

His leg was raised towards my stomach, and it landed perfectly.

I got sent back, my stomach in pain.

Time to try something new.