The first three days of the Final Exams were uneventful and devoid of unexpected tragedies.
Except for revising, Zeke busied himself with the mundane Daily Tasks of the System. In his free time, he would just stay in his room buried in books.
At last, the tired students glimpsed a glimmer of peace as the Theoretical Exams, which were infamous for being soul-draining, were over at least.
Beginning from the fourth day of the week, Thursday, and ending on Saturday, the First Year students will be undergoing the Practical Exams.
Just like last time, it was a long chain of one on one fights while abiding to several conditions and restrictions.
Zeke would have been excited for it were it not for Samuel’s death and the subsequent disappearance of his father, Vans Valort.
When Zeke went to talk with the detective at the police station, he was told that Vans quit his job right after his son’s death and hasn’t been seen since.
There was also the noticeable absence of Katrina, but Zeke didn’t care much about that. He focused the remaining time to strengthen himself and master the paths he had already unlocked.
He wasn’t the only one who showed impressive improvements in terms of Aether Manipulation and Magic. Julia Lopmore had stolen the first stop and was dubbed as the strongest amongst all First Years.
Fylard too, was amongst the rising black horses, managing to climb to the top 10. His tomfoolery, which almost caused him to get expelled, seemed to have greatly humbled him. He transformed into someone who trains from dawn to dusk.
One of Zeke’s minor goals was to display his prowess during the Practical Exams and try to score in the top 3. However, he didn’t want to show all his trump cards, like [The Reaper].
“We’re going to keep her, right?” Questioned Sulong as he glanced at the young girl sitting on the new sofa while dangling her legs and watching a cartoon show on the TV.
She had grown accustomed to Sulong’s apartment and was no longer afraid or startled by visitors.
Zeke, especially, seemed to be her favourite as she would run up to him every time he appeared. She was like an eager puppy awaiting its master.
“Yes, we are.”
“Okay…”
Sulong’s shoulders dropped as a sigh escaped his lips. Even though he didn’t say it, it was clear that he was reminiscing about his time with Arbert.
His apparent hesitation and slight unwillingness to interact with the girl stemmed from fear rather than indifference.
“I-...no, we will not let the same thing happen.” Zeke extended his arm and lightly slapped the big man’s back.
“We got this, Sulong.”
The burly and bald man meekly nodded and walked back to the office.
Meanwhile, Zeke went and sat next to the girl.
“How are you today? Any pain?”
“...” She shook her head, though her eyes were glued to the screen.
Not wanting to disturb her, Zeke sat there and ended up dozing off. He only woke up when he felt someone poking his cheek.
As he sat up in surprise, the girl gasped before giggling playfully.
Zeke feigned anger as he wiggled his fingers,
“I wonder who it was?”
He looked around before focusing her gaze on her, “It’s you, right?”
He proceeded to tickle her for a bit, enjoying seeing her being so carefree and relaxed.
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“Do you have a name?”
Later on, when she calmed down, he caressed her head and softly asked, but, yet again, she shook her head.
“I can choose a name for you if you want, but I’m not good at-”
Before he could even finish, she grabbed his hand excitedly. She tried to say something, however, only silence came out of her half-open mouth.
“Alright.”
With a serious face, Zeke pondered for close to a minute before saying, “I’ve got three names. First is Sarah.”
He glanced at her to see her reaction before continuing,
“Angel.”
“...”
“Mey.”
“...”
When he muttered the second name, her body twitched ever-so-slightly.
“You seem to like Angel.”
She lowered her head and nodded once as she fidgeted with the new dress Sulong had bought for her.
“Angel it is, then.”
Zeke then clapped and chuckled, “Your birthday will be today! How about it? Want to celebrate?”
He lowered his voice and added, “There will be a cake and lots of sweets.”
With clenched fists, Angel giggled joyfully and leaned closer to Zeke, giving him a small hug.
…
“We would’ve deeply appreciated a prior notice!”
“Shut up and finish that!” Shouted back Zeke as he busied himself with decorating the office.
“I-is this good?” Hesitantly asked the newest member of the Lightning Flame Merc Group, a relatively young man named Jeremy.
He used to be Stephan Dontoryian’s secretary, but after his boss’ untimely death, he decided to join his former ‘enemy’ rather than run away.
Jeremy was quite the hard-working secretary and his arrival facilitated Sulong and Jack’s work as well as quickened the required paperwork to officially declare their new organisation.
However, Jeremy was instinctively afraid of Zeke, especially after witnessing what Sulong was capable of.
“Yeah yeah! Now go blow the balloons. I need to bring the cake!” Ordered the exhausted Jack as he picked his favourite van’s keys and dashed outside.
Finally, when the clock hit 7, all the preparations were complete. Angel, who had been inside Sulong’s apartment, finally left and was welcomed by celebratory music, happy shoes from the four men, and lots of food.
Although she was slightly overwhelmed at first, she quickly wiped her tearful eyes and ran to the cake.
Even though the whole ‘birthday party’ was out of the blue, they all had a lot of fun. They were people of different backgrounds yet, on that night, all their worries and troubles were temporarily forgotten.
Angel slowly opened up to them and they played a lot of games, including karaoke.
Zeke, who had been stricken by grief and sorrow, felt happy and relaxed for the first time in a while.
At midnight, after Jeremy dragged the drunk Jack to the apartment, Sulong sat next to Zeke.
Angel was soundlessly sleeping on the sofa while hugging a large teddy bear she received from Jack.
“How are you feeling?”
“Hm? What do you mean?” Confused by the man’s question, Zeke half-turned his head.
“Your friend just died, did he not? We recently lost Jimmy too, whom I considered a brother of mine… like Jack. I know how it feels. The powerlessness, regret, and sadness.”
“I’m fine, Sulong. I’ve had time to grief and think about everything. I can’t wallow in self-hate and misery forever.”
“Hahahaha! As if I’ll let you fall behind, kiddo! Maybe not tomorrow or next month, but I’m certain we will achieve unimaginable feats. We must not ourselves be shackled by tragedies.”
Zeke sneered at Sulong, who tried to sound deep and wise.
“I’m cringing from this pep talk.”
“Tch! You’re a real prick.”
“Says the man who tried to con me.”
Sulong grunted and downed what remained of his beer while getting to his feet.
“Good luck on the exams. Show ‘em hell.”
“You bet.”
…
After the eventful and fun night, Zeke had a good night’s sleep at the dorm room.
The inability to dream notwithstanding, he woke up refreshed and energetic. There will shortly be an announcement about the upcoming fights, so the three students prepared themselves.
“Good luck, you two!”
Alan, the Defect among them, beamed and cheered them on as he changed his clothes and left first.
Azmer and Zeke momentarily looked at each other but no words we spoken, at least not at first. Before he left the room, the blond-haired youth faced Zeke and, with a low voice, said,
“Veronica and the rest would like to talk to you. Sunday, at the latest… if possible.”
“Sure.”
Azmer then hesitated for a moment then stated,
“I know you probably don’t care because they’re from the Ivory Oak Order, but they’re not bad people.”
Zeke shrugged in disinterest as he wore the standard uniform and followed after his roommate.
Soon, all First Year students were orderly standing inside a spacious room. At the front was a small podim, behind which stood Professor Nayro.
“We will be beginning the Final Practical Exam. I’m sure you know the rules already, but I will be reciting them nonetheless. The exam, which is also an evaluation of your training and hard work so far, will be in the form of one versus one battles. It’s like a mini-tournament. You only need three victories to pass, but you have the choice to continue fighting to earn this year’s prize.”
Nayro’s slimy and long hands wiggled like tentacles, letting out a strange miasma which pulled a large black box from thin air.
“Lo and behold! This is a 3rd-grade Artifact: Zorand’s Sword. There are prizes for the 2nd and 3rd place, but in my honest and humble opinion, they’re not that good. So, I advise you to aim for this beauty!”
The black box opened for ten seconds, revealing a slightly curved sword with black handle and glistening silver lower part. It was resting on a big red cushion and had a thin and golden snake wrapping around its pommel.
“For your three individual fights, you will be against those of rankings close to you. If you choose to continue, however, you will have to battle against the so-called geniuses.”
The Zyth professor paused and watched the excited reaction of the crowd, his beady black eyeballs squirming around disgustingly.
“Ahem! The rules are the following; A student will win if his opponent forfeits, is knocked unconscious, or the overseer interferes. Still, feel free to go all-out as all the fights will be closely monitored by yours truly… me!”