'This is going to a dangerous place,' a thought ran through Roy's mind before he lit his two arms on fire and jumped back at Darius to continue fighting.
Darius and Roy exchanged punches in the air. Roy's eyes becoming even darker.
"So that's why you insisted on putting him in the class." Anton's blue eyes glowed. He had the same eyes as the examiner in the entire exam, the eyes that let him see mana.
Valeria gave Anton a quick side eye, then went back to watching the fight. 'What else can you do, Roy?'
'There are only a few arrows left. This needs to end fast.' Darius kicked Roy into the energy barrier.
Roy landed on his feet. Fire gathered and compressed in front of his eyes, turning it into a laser.
Roy shot the laser at Darius, who kept teleporting to dodge it.
While teleporting, Darius put an arrow on the bow and began charging it with lightning. After a minute, Roy stopped for a second.
Darius aimed at Roy and shot the lightning dragon at Roy.
'I need more mana,' a thought came to Roy.
"No," which he resisted.
'If I opened the gate for a second—'
"No."
'It will give me enough to finish this fight.'
"I said no!"
Roy jumped at the dragon.
Roy's hands set on fire and blurred in counter-rotations, one spiraling up as the other swept down. Gathering the last amount of mana he had, a snake made of fire appeared behind him.
As both of his hands made a half rotation, the fire snake collided with the lightning dragon, making the inside of the barrier a mix of fire and lightning before they both disappeared.
The dragon didn't stop Roy's momentum. Roy reached Darius, who didn't have enough time to dodge or teleport when he saw Roy.
'Just one gate.'
"No." Roy moved his hand to punch Darius before his mana ended, but he was too late.
The moment Roy's hand touched Darius's stomach, the fire already disappeared and his eyes went back to normal, but the momentum was enough to do good damage to Darius, making him cough blood.
"What just happened?" Jax's confusion and shock didn't let him move.
"I don't know. There was a dragon, a snake? "Then I don't know." Ren was in the same situation as Jax.
Roy's momentum ending with his last punch and his mana finishing made him start falling down.
Valeria and Omar stood from their seats, followed by everyone except for Anton.
"Interesting, H?chst interessant." Anton had a small smile on his face.
Before Roy hit the ground, Darius teleported under him and caught him in his arms, but instead of putting him down, he opened his hands and let him fall, face on the ground.
"Is he okay?" Omar asked.
Valeria sat back down. "Miss, Darius is with him."
"That's what is making me worried."
"Sorry, my hand slipped," Darius said.
"You did that intentionally." Roy's voice came from the ground as he was too tired to turn around.
"How could I let one of my students fall on the ground? That isn't who I am," Darius said sarcastically.
"Fuck you." Everyone heard Roy.
"You little shit." Darius tried to step on Roy, but he rolled away. He tried again, and again Roy rolled away.
"Stop right now," Darius ordered.
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"In your dreams." Roy kept rolling in a circle, keeping a distance between him and Darius.
Everything in the small fight was heard by everyone.
"What is happening?" Valeria asked in confusion.
Omar just facepalmed himself.
"They are getting along well," Anton answered.
"I don't think that's what's happening," Marcus said.
"Mister Anton, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to Roy? He was attacking then just fell down. Why?" Vivienne ignored what was happening right now and asked the thing that most wanted to ask but were afraid.
Anton let out a small laugh. "It is simple. His mana ran out, and mana running out is also why our Valeria here got unconscious after the sword attack. Let that be a lesson for you: never go overboard if you don't have enough mana to support it."
They all nodded, then Valeria raised an eyebrow. "How did you know I was unconscious and that it was because my mana ran out?"
"Let that be another lesson for all of you: there is nothing that happens inside this island that I don't know about." Anton's blue eyes glowed for a second.
"Wait, you know everything?" Jax asked, worried.
Anton rested his head on his hand. "Skipping class to play your shooter game when you were in the B class isn't really a secret."
While that conversation was happening, Darius stopped trying to kick Roy, and they sat on the ground facing each other.
"You need to focus more on your mana consumption."
"I know, but huge attacks are cooler than small calculated attacks."
"Can't argue against that."
Darius snapped his fingers, and the barrier started going down.
Darius stood up. "Okay, that's it."
Everyone looked at Darius, waiting for the announcement.
"Roy Nasser: passed."
"I still can't stand," Roy said to Darius.
"I have an easy fix." A smile appeared on Darius's face.
"What is it?"
Roy got thrown into his seat next to Omar so hard that the seat broke.
Omar was about to talk, but Roy stopped him. "Not a single word."
"Everyone, focus here," Darius yelled.
"The test has ended. Your scores and the ranks will be announced tomorrow with detailed training plans for everyone. Class dismissed."
Even though the class had ended, no one stood to leave. They all just sat to take a minute before leaving.
Anton, on the other hand, stood up and went to Darius. They talked for a moment with no one being able to hear them, but Darius appeared annoyed. Then Anton held Darius's hand, and they both teleported out.
Omar looked at Roy. "Let's go and find something to eat. How does that—"
Roy didn't pay attention to Omar. He stood up.
"Your mana is restored?" Omar asked.
"Long time ago," Roy said before he got absorbed by shadows and disappeared.
"Where is he going? Is he okay?" Marie asked.
Omar facepalmed again. "I don't know. Can he act normal for once?"
In the middle tower, Darius and Anton appeared, and Mila Torrence was there to welcome them.
"You should have watched the test, Mila. You would be surprised by what the student you didn't want in Class A did," Anton said.
Mila fixed her eyeglasses. "The reason I didn't want him in Class A had nothing to do with his strength or power."
"Shut it, you two. What is it that you wanted me for?" Darius was annoyed enough that he had to be there. He couldn't handle any more annoying things.
In the shadows, away, close enough to hear everything but away enough to not be seen, Roy was in the shadows listening.
"Didn't Anton tell you?"
"What I want to know is, what do those old heads want me for?" Darius was very close to his limit.
"We don't know, and it isn't like they only want you." Mila fixed her eyeglasses again.
"You fix your glasses a lot." Anton's comment went in one ear and out the other.
"What do you mean?" Darius asked.
"They want the three of us and the principal, and you should be ready to leave the day after tomorrow and be ready to stay away for a week."
"A week." Purple lightning came out of Darius's eyes and was inches away from Mila's face. "Just right when the team is made. They really have great timing."
Mila fixed her eyeglasses. "I don't care about your team or their training, and neither does the government. You have this day and tomorrow to get everything ready for a week."
Mila looked straight into Darius's eyes, a thing most wouldn't dare to think of doing. "And I don't have to tell you what will happen if you fail to show up."
"I know."
Mila walked to leave but stopped next to Darius. "Good. I don't understand why she chose you as the teacher for our most important class. You look more like an executioner than a teacher."
Darius stayed silent.
Anton whistled and patted Darius on his shoulder. "See you, buddy," then left.
Darius sighed and teleported away.
After everyone left, Roy went completely into the shadows again.
At night, Darius was sitting in his office, finishing some paperwork and writing the training plans. The sound of the pen writing on the paper could be heard from how silent the office was.
Then a sound came. The door opened.
"What made you come here?" Darius asked without looking up or stopping what he was doing.
"I came to make a deal that can benefit both of us."
Darius let the pen fall and looked up. "Really? What kind of deal between you and me can benefit both of us, Roy Nasser?"

