And now the examiners decided to announce the results of the second examination. Aronian produced the magic paper, and Cain asked him what rank he had received.
The students started laughing, saying that ordinary people were not even on the list — but the list only went as far as sixth place.
"No name?" Cain asked again. "How could that be?"
This time all five of the leading contenders had broken the previous record, and the director would announce the top five.
Fifth place went to Milana Royce. Fourth place remained with Cain. Third place was Fay.
"His name isn't on the list?" Cain said. "Was he really disqualified for that attack on those idiots?"
Second place was Louis Kiril, who had received 887 points.
Louis watched all this in surprise, and everyone was discussing it. Who was this? How could he have scored so much?
Louis replied that it was a secret, and Cain replied that if he did not want to talk, there was no need. In any case, he had won. What did he want him to do for him?
Louis waved his hand and replied that they would talk about it after the exam.
And now the honourable first place went to Neil, with an unprecedented result of 888 points.
He grinned and said that there was something interesting here after all. Let them not disappoint him.
The students shouted about the big man. The top two places had gone to commoners, ranked even above Fay of the Duracan family. He was too strong.
Milana turned to the trembling Fay, and Fay said that she would gladly fight him.
Some time later the students were still discussing how they had lost to some commoner and how shameful it was for the nobility. They should listen to the director. For commoners to take first and second place had never happened since the academy's founding. And they were both from an orphanage.
Aronian asked them whether they knew why the Arcanist Association ran orphanages. It was all because true strength had nothing to do with social status. Those who had passed the second exam would now move on to the next arena.
Cain said that he had come close to first place, and that he wondered which of those two was stronger. Louis, relaxed, replied that he had no idea.
At the academy, the third examination had begun, in the third arena. More precisely, it was the final examination: a survival test, a battle royale for tokens.
Aronian stood before them and announced that they would each be given a token like this one, and that the upperclassmen would use magic to teleport them to different points in the forest. Their goal was to collect as many tokens as possible, and any method was allowed.
Any candidate who lost their own token would be immediately disqualified, and only the ten people with the most tokens would be admitted to their academy.
Cain mentioned that it looked as though they would have to split up, and that the ranked candidates would become the number one target, so he should be careful.
"Yes," Louis replied. He would try to survive. They had announced the results of the second exam in order to create exactly this situation, hadn't they?
Aronian asked them to demonstrate their abilities and to try to survive.
Louis walked deeper into the forest, thinking that he was just one step away from enrolment. He would win, no matter the cost.
Suddenly a boy appeared in front of him, shouting to someone behind him. Just a commoner. He had found him. He had really humiliated them, the nobles, hadn't he?
Louis turned around sharply, and they were shouting that that bastard Cain was not here, and no one would protect him now.
Louis swung his head around and saw a boy with an arrow aimed at him from above. He said that it was obvious the one responsible for the teleportation had given away his location.
The student loosed his arrow and started shouting that there had been enough talk. Let him die right now. He struck the spot where Louis had been standing, but Louis dodged it easily, and the others shouted that he would not get away from them.
Louis jumped to avoid the injury, and then saw someone else aiming at him from the side. He did not understand what it was, and as he landed he began to think.
The student screamed that he would die right there and that he should surrender.
Louis went on fighting, and wriggled quickly out of the situation with his sword — and then he felt that strange magic again and realised it was the same thing.
The student swung his spear at him and shouted at him to take it, but missed again, and demanded to know what was going on. Wind arrows were flying at him, and people who could not even use magic were dodging them.
Louis thought that he could not calculate the trajectory of the magic. In that case he would counterattack before the strike came. He must use the enemy's strength against them.
The students shouted at him not to get distracted, and to the others to attack all together. They rallied and again aimed at Louis alone, and he grinned and replied that this was just perfect.
He began abruptly to run, and the students screamed that they had caught him — and then one of them realised he had missed again, and Louis appeared on the other side of him and began attacking.
He used attack and defence in a single movement, and they went flying as they came at him. He hit one of them right in the face with a spear, and they screamed with their eyes wide. The student in the tree also began firing his magical power, and Louis noticed in time and covered himself with the body of his own enemy.
A moment later, when they had all flown in different directions, Louis did not relax and went on dodging the various attacks. Then all of them were struck down by his strength, and Louis took all of their tokens.
He mockingly said that he was taking them, and they shouted at him not to get cocky — after which Cain came up behind them and asked whether they happened to be talking to him.
He took the sword easily and struck the student down, telling him he should be sorry that he could no longer use magic.
The student screamed in a trembling voice. Why was he here? Their people were supposed to be holding him.
Cain replied that they had wanted to buy time, and that he had forced them to tell him their plan. They had simply underestimated the Oranka family.
The boy yelled at him to get lost, saying he would destroy them both. But a moment later Cain struck him with his weapon and said, "God, it's so noisy in here."
Louis smiled when he saw him and said that he was fine.
Cain waved his hand and said that these were just low-ranking nobles who had only recently mastered magic, and that it was nothing serious. Here were the trophies. But if this happened again it would be a problem. He wanted him to let him help.
Louis answered confidently that he did not. He could handle his own problems.
Fay, who was standing nearby, clapped her hands and said that this was well said, and that this was exactly why she had taken notice of him. Then Fay ordered him to fight her.
"Fay Duracan," Cain said. "She's the daughter of the grandmaster."