Date: Final Exam – Day 3
Location: Arena Grounds – West Wing
POV: Journal of Nitsuo
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I thought the last day would be quiet. A simple, respectful conclusion to a long year of blood, sweat, and emotional trauma.
I was wrong.
The duel arena? Full. Professors whispering, students on edge, betting coins flying through the crowd like shuriken. Some were already praying.
The battle dolls stood at the edge, silent and menacing — enchanted metal constructs designed to analyze and counter your magic.
This wasn't an exam.
This was a slaughterhouse with a grading curve.
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Gideon stepped in first.
No hesitation. Just shield and stone-faced pride.
The doll charged. He met it like a mountain. Didn't dodge. Didn't block.
He caught the damn sword with his bare gauntlet, snapped it, and calmly activated his final spell: Mana Rain Arrows.
It looked like the sky bled.
He walked off the field with ash on his shoulders and a cracked shield.
---
Then came Anna.
Oh no.
The crowd whispered:
> "She's the illusionist, right?"
"Didn't she once make a professor hallucinate for 12 hours?"
"Wait, she's waving at the judge—why is she laughing?"
Anna summoned seven clones. All of them wore tiny fake moustaches. One of them danced. Another sang opera.
The doll?
Utterly bamboozled.
It lunged at the real one — or so it thought. Instead, it punched a cake illusion. A literal exploding illusion cake.
Then Anna appeared upside-down on a summoned trampoline, kicked the doll midair, and yelled:
> "You failed basic etiquette, metalhead!"
It exploded in sparkles. One judge choked on his tea.
---
Elric's duel was… oddly wholesome.
He didn't fight.
He evaded. Dodged. Deflected with calm grace. Then started healing the doll.
Yes. Healing it.
Eventually, the doll just… sat down.
Then Elric patted it and whispered,
> "You're doing your best. That's all that matters."
Half the audience cried.
One judge fainted.
---
Then the sky screamed as Riya took the field.
She was silent — but her magic roared.
She didn't chant.
She just raised her hand, and the arena turned into a hurricane ballet. Fire danced with wind, ice cracked the stone, and lightning sparked from her fingers.
The doll flew. It cried (probably). It begged (visually).
She ended the fight with a wave of her hand — and a small smile.
---
Then came Leander.
Oh, Leander.
He walked in whistling. Tossed a coin. Wore a fake cape.
> "Let it be known," he shouted, "I, the Blazing Phoenix of Romance, shall duel with honor!"
Everyone groaned. Anna facepalmed. Alice covered her ears.
The doll activated.
It sprinted at him.
Leander backflipped over it and slapped its helmet with a rose.
> "Your move, buckethead."
The doll short-circuited. He dodged every strike like he was dancing in a tavern.
At one point, he threw his shirt into the crowd.
> "For luck!"
Half the girls screamed. The doll missed.
He summoned a flaming heart-shaped slash, winked, and ended the match.
Leander bowed deeply. "This victory… is dedicated to love."
The audience went wild.
The teachers stared in exhausted silence.
---
Alice walked in next.
The mood?
Changed immediately.
No theatrics. Just silence.
The doll didn't even last a minute.
Alice whispered a word in an ancient tongue. Blood threads slithered up from her palm. She stopped the doll mid-charge, controlled its body, forced it to bow to her, then shattered it with a single snap of her fingers.
She walked off. Not a hair out of place.
Anna whispered,
> "...Remind me never to borrow her books without permission."
---
Lily followed.
She stood tall. The moonlight shimmered around her like a calm tide.
The doll came in fast.
Too fast.
But she didn't move.
She waited, staff glowing — then with a flick of her wrist, the spell hit. A blooming lotus of frost exploded at her feet, and the doll froze mid-strike.
The crowd didn't even cheer.
They just watched.
The Moon Flower of the Academy… bloomed once more.
---
Then…
It was my turn.
I walked into that arena, and the arena held its breath.
The doll adapted. Fast. It mirrored my spells, my steps, my silence.
But what it couldn't mimic was this:
I didn't cast like others.
I moved with mana.
I let it breathe through me.
One flame. One slash. One illusion. One freezing mist.
I didn't overpower it. I out-thought it.
And when I ended it — it was kneeling, frozen, and sealed in a glass crystal.
> "This will make a nice paperweight," I told the judge.
---
The crowd erupted.
Not just for me. For all of us.
But the loudest cheers?
They were for Anna throwing confetti after her match.
And Leander posing on the rubble like a tragic hero.
Riya chuckled once. Elric hugged his doll goodbye. Gideon nodded, serious as always.
Alice?
She leaned beside me and said,
> "You're still bleeding. Fix that before I do."
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This wasn't just the end of an exam.
It was the start of a legend.
And we were the names they'd remember.
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