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*Adam*

I drew a deep breath as I focused on Emma, who seemed to be perfectly composed despite the crowd attention. 

As she walked to the front, she gave a slight wave to the platform my parents were in as they smiled back and directed a wave towards me as well. 

I gave a light chuckle, I was worried about her for nothing, she seemed perfectly fine, but I was also eager to see her placement among the new students. 

Some heavy hitters were present among the crowd, Markus Reinhold was our primary concern.

The Reinhold family had influence that rivalled ours, so naturally there was a rivalry between the two. 

No bad blood with the kid though, he was a loveable smartass, it's his father who I had a problem with. 

"In third place with a practical score of 88 and a theoretical score of 98, Marcus Reinhold!" 

The boy with orange hair and hazel eyes and a tanned skin tone stepped up, slight disappointment evident on his face as he smiled at the crowd. 

"What's he looking so down for?" 

I asked to nobody in particular as the boy with scores far above mine stood in third. 

It was a bit humbling, but I also want to point out that the exam was ridiculously hard, especially the practical, the average score was 30. 

"In second place with a practical score of 93 and a theoretical score of 86... Emma Kane!" 

The crowd cheered but many broke into confused murmurings, these were both incredible scores, who could have possibly outperformed them? 

Emma looked a bit surprised as well but recovered quickly, accepting her position with grace. 

I was pretty proud, not only of the score despite what I'd put her through but also of how she carried herself. 

Of course, I'd never tell her that, but it still stands. 

"And in first place with a practical score of 100! and a theoretical score of 72... Lucian Gray!" 

"What the fuck?" I couldn't help but say out loud.

The boy with icy blue eyes walked up to the top of the podium with a slightly bored look on his face as the crowd went silent. 

A perfect score? Impossible. 

I looked up at the holographic screens but there along with a picture of the boy was his score. 

How? Who is this? What kind of monster is he? 

The scores weren't 100% accurate but that didn't matter if it was perfect. To get such a score the talent required would be unlike anything we'd ever seen before. 

The crowd erupted again; I could see the nobility in the stands begin to discuss amongst themselves about the unknow prodigy. 

I remembered Ajax had been looking at the boy previously and tried to gauge a reaction from him. 

Nothing... his eyes conveyed no shock as he looked down with a cold analytic gaze. 

"Do you know him?" I asked. 

"We met a few days ago." 

A vague reply that didn't clear anything up, only adding to my confusion. 

Revealing such talent casually, it wasn't something that I'd encourage in today's world. \

I wondered what the kid could do, how he would match up against the other standing on the podium or even the one sitting beside me. 

However, that's for later discussion for now the academy most do their best to protect him at all costs. 

This would get to the corrupted and would most definitely put a target on his back. 

The three podium finishers were given medals and a pat on the back by the headmaster before they were sent to stand in front of the crowd of new students and sent off. 

I was pretty engrossed in my own thinking to notice any of what the commentator said next, but a mana wave broke me out of my stupor. 

"Oh? They're doing show matches already?" 

Four pillars had enclosed a large rectangular area below, each emitting a large amount of mana with various runic enchantments written on them. 

A team of mages stood on all four sides as the mana in the enclosed area began to distort, being tinged grey. 

A fighting cage, the pillars gave control of the area inside to shield operators, who used it to prevent injury. 

There were also a group of healers on standby, in case something was to go wrong.

The first two fighter emerged, their choices of weaponry largely different, a katana for the first and gauntlets for the other. 

"Ready?" The instructor asked as the two nodded. 

"GO!" 

A shout broke the tense atmosphere as the two dashed towards each other, their movements being played in slow motion on the screens above. 

Unsheathing his katana the fighter dashed ahead his blade held to the side giving an ominous glint. 

The bare-handed fighter simply waited in place, preparing to meet his opponents deadly charge. 

In a swift motion the katana moved from the ground to the opponent's neck as the fighter reacted by ducking underneath reaching for the hands wielding the sword. 

*SWISH* 

The katana suddenly set ablaze as it propelled downward, the weapon wielding warrior stepping back to maintain range. 

The fighter's gauntlets suddenly rose up to meet the blade, rock encrusting its surface. 

The blade curved once more aiming for the exposed hand of the fighter but neglected the fact that the fighter was now in range. 

Abandoning the attempt to block the sword, rocks jutted out from the Earth and propelled the crouched bare-handed fighter forward as he tackled his opponent. 

Having clearly neglected his unarmed ability his opponent gave a clumsy attempt at a downward slash which the other easily avoided and punished by bringing him to the ground. 

The katana fell to the ground, its flames dying out as its wielder was pinned to the ground with an opponent above him. 

The rock encrusted gauntlets of the fighter struck down viciously punching down at the opponent's face. 

*BANG* *BANG* 

The attacks were blocked by yellow shield as the fighter clasped his hands together and raised them high in a hammer fist attack. 

*CRRK*

The attack was blocked by a red shield this time as a bell rang out and the opponents got up and shook hands. 

"Winner... Jon Bristoll!"