"Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get."

-W.P. Kinsella

Celeste~

....A chuckle formed behind me, before getting a chance to see who it was I heard "Right? how pathetic, given the world and still unhappy, she doesn't even have run a country or anything, just be pretty and shut up but she couldn't even do that." The brown-skinned lady spoke as she laughed, grasping her stomach as she did.

"I'm Rain, by the way, nice to meet you guys."

She stood behind us, short and curvy in a dress that flowed just below the large curves of her hips.

"Hey girl! I'm Chloe and this is Celeste, so happy to meet you."

"Hey Rain, nice to meet you too, come here by yourself?"

"Yeah, I don't have siblings, just me, what about you guys?"

"I came here with my brother, me and Celeste aren't related but we live together so she came with us too."

"Ah, I see"

"So, don't like the pretentious princess either then?" I said

"Hell nah, those prestige pricks are terrible people, they just shit on everyone they see as below them, especially her." Rain said with disgust as she spoke.

"That is very true, they are assholes"

"The only way to really escape is to go into a lower academy, where only the runts and normal people remain. What academy do you think you're getting into?" Partly wanted to give her hope, but mostly just wanted to know her strength.

She couldn't be powerful by blood, she wouldn't have degraded the elites otherwise.

"Hm, well before I came here I was sure I would at least place in the mid to high ranks but after that first trial, lord have mercy on my soul. It was bullshit."

Agreeing Chloe said "Yeah for sure, I wasn't expecting it to be easy by any means but it was really intense. It was a mental battle to keep going as well as a physical one."

"I mean, the only thing that's comforting me right now is the fact that everyone else probably struggled as much as we did." Well, I'd hoped so anyway.

"I guess you could say that. But by no means was this a fair challenge, those rich bastards had all the means in the world to train their children to be absolute weapons." That was very true as well.

Chloe sighed "All we can do is pray and hope for the best, they'll never care about true fairness, just hierarchies and agendas."

"So do you guys wanna be anything important? or do you not care about how you place?" Rain asked.

"I mean, I wanna help my parents out you know, they've done a lot for me." Couldn't agree more, I would be in debt to those people for life. "But I couldn't care about titles or status or anything like that so I guess I just wanna place high mid to high."

"Same over here, her parents have done a lot for me and I wanna repay them." By the expression on her face, I could tell she wanted to ask about my parents or was at least curious, but it seemed she chose not to.

Rain spoke and said, "Fair enough not too bad, Same here too, I just wanna do good and make something of myself you know, help people." A lot of people wanted to help people as well, mainly through being involved in the department that facilitated the league against the Angels. As demons we naturally detested them. Many have been harmed by them and if not, someone they love.

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"Well hopefully we all get into the same Academy, I would love to have you with us."

"Yeah! we're totally friends now. And stop saying hopefully. We will get into the same Academy by force." Rain chuckled at Chloe's devotion to having her way. I had a good feeling about Rain, the usual apprehension I had towards the unknown was long gone and I had a weird knowing that I had found a good friend.

"I hope we end up at the same academy too, I like you guys already, definitely my kinda people. Anyways I was gonna head to the sauna, you guys coming?"

After a long sauna session with Rain and Chloe, it was around 3:00pm, the Trials were due to start in about an hour and I wanted to be early so as to not miss anything. The academy sent us an alert to prepare as well, shown by the emptying hallways.

Rain's accommodation was on the opposite side of the building to ours so she went the other way after we said our goodbyes.

Me and Chloe returned to our rooms before texting Markan and checking up on him, He was with his friends in the gym and would meet us before 4pm.

As my hair was already done I didn't need to do much while getting ready. From my selection, I picked out black cargos and a plain tight-fitting shirt. Making sure I could move freely in the material I stretched, it was perfectly fine for combat and was lightweight enough for me to move around as I pleased.

I walked over to the fridge and eyed all of the drinks they had stocked for us and sadly decided on water. While there were energy drinks that I was sure would give me the boost I needed, I was nowhere near tired enough for the energetic come down to be worth it and considering how long the last challenge was, the silly energy the drink would give me just wouldn't be worth it.

I took a swig of the branded water. "Damn is this shit made of gold," I said to myself after I downed the drink. Best water I have ever tasted.

*Buzz

Ah, well I guess it was time.

*Students, please make your way to the same hall the first trial was in and meet your guide for this challenge. Further information will be given downstairs.*

I met with Chloe and Markan when I left my accommodation, then Rain when we arrived downstairs. She was there before us and I could tell she was just as eager as me to get this whole thing over with. Markan looked pumped up and energised for the challenge, no doubt due to the gym session he had just before.

From the speaker, the sound of the voice of the guide rang out.

*Students, please listen closely. This Trial as you all know is the non-magic assessment, which means that no magic use will be prohibited during combat. As said previously, those with uncontrolled magic are mostly known to us, if you have any concerns about accidental magic usage during the trial, please speak to the guide before attempting to participate, failure to do so will result in an automatic failure. Thank you for your time, for any further questions please go to the guide at the front. Good luck.*

Good luck indeed.

Thankfully I didn't have any uncontrollable powers yet, as was the case for most of us. The academy was positioned on the exact date when most people's powers were about to reach a very intense upturn. This obviously meant that everyone's 'true' strength wasn't revealed yet but the academy must be doing something right because they are right about the outcome. Those placed in their academy, although more than welcome to attempt to move a rank up to a different school, were almost always unable to as they were in the exact league they were meant to be in.

These trials did a great job of assessing our strengths.

I wished my friend Good luck before We all went to the same positions that we were in last time. The walls began to close once again and I braced myself for attack, not wanting to be caught off guard.

I wasn't as nervous this time around but still felt that anticipation boiling.

*Students, to your right you will see an array of weapons that you are able to use during this trial, you may only pick one. You have five minutes to choose your weapon before the trials begin*

Not missing a beat the weapons rose from the floor beneath that was so inconspicuous you could hide a body in there. On the white wall many weapons hung and laid on the cabinet, from nunchucks to machetes to brass knuckles there was everything a bloodthirsty serial killer would get hard over.

I mean I'd be lying If I said that such an array didn't get me excited either, Saul and Amy were well-versed in weaponry and taught it to me and Chloe as well. I knew exactly what weapon I wanted.

Before I ran out of time, I grabbed the medium-sized dagger from the shelf, eyeing it and weighing it in my hand to assess it. It was relatively heavy and seemed to be made out of some sort of polished black stone, it was almost translucent and had edges as sharp as razors. I knew what I was looking for so I no doubt knew that I had chosen a good option.

I took a step back as the array began to sink back into the ground again, fitting seamlessly back into the hole it came out of.

Without a second to spare the animatronic charged from the dispenser they came from with two short daggers in either hand.