The Final Evaluation (1)
The final evaluations!
The very event that struck terror into the heart of every student at the academy!
Though in truth, calling it an "event" was far too generous.
It was an ordeal.
"What's with the face, Anne? Couldn't sleep?"
"Yeah... got maybe two hours..."
"Hahaha! Want Quantus to crack your neck for you? That'll snap your eyes wide open!"
"I'm on edge right now, so back off. Go crawl in a corner."
The first-years gathered in the training hall. Unlike the practical field training, final evaluations were conducted individually within each class, bringing the total headcount to exactly forty. In other words, these were the students who had studied under Ziel from day one.
"Hey, Deleve. Have fun practicing with that stolen sword technique?"
"I'd say I've made it my own by now, wouldn't you?"
"Do you really... want to die?"
"Nope. I plan on outliving you."
Deleve and Celia bickered with far less venom than usual, both looking noticeably drained.
"Looks like everyone stayed up half the night training like crazy."
"You didn't, Karen?"
"The instructor told us rest is just as important, didn't he? So I got a full night's sleep. Besides, it's not like an extra day of cramming will suddenly make me a master."
Karen was a realist. Having grown up in poverty, she lacked the luxury of indulging in romantic ideals or lofty expectations, which led her to always make the most pragmatic choice.
"I couldn't sleep a wink..."
"You think you'll survive the exam like that?"
"I guess I'll just have to wing it."
Few students were as well-rested as Karen.
Some tried to shake off their grogginess with light drills—
"Should we warm up a bit before the exam?"
"Count me in."
While others chased away their jitters with gossip—
"Did you hear? Apparently, Professor Idel from the fourth-year department was screaming his lungs out."
"What? Where?"
"An upperclassman told me. Said the professor lost his temper and just started shrieking..."
"What got into him?"
"How should I know? Something about money, from what I heard..."
"By the way, does anyone actually know what this final evaluation is going to be?"
"No clue. It's our first time, and it's Instructor Ziel's first time too."
"So there's zero precedent."
"Wait, didn't we clean up the hall after coming back from practicum? What's that stuff piled up over there?"
"Looks like trap mechanisms..."
Amid the chatter, Ziel finally stepped into the training hall.
"I count twenty-six students who appear fatigued."
"Instructor, we didn't get a wink of sleep."
"Why didn't you sleep, Student Anne Peshua?"
"Because of the finals..."
"I have stated this five times previously. The most critical element of training is rest, Student Anne Peshua."
Regardless, the final evaluation had arrived, and sleep deprivation was an individual circumstance.
"We will begin the final evaluation."
The moment was finally upon them.
"The evaluation will proceed fairly and according to the standard method. You are expected to utilize everything you have learned up to this point."
Were they sparring against one another? Or had Instructor Ziel devised some unimaginable scheme true to his eccentric style?
Regardless, confidence ran high among the students. The Exchange Event and the field practicum—through those two trials, they had grown by leaps and bounds over the past semester. Their stamina and reflexes had reached levels that surprised even themselves. Some, like Deleve, had used that foundation to evolve their personal swordsmanship significantly.
Whatever it is, bring it on!
We're nothing like we were at the start of the semester!
"Everyone, take up a practice sword."
The students scrambled to retrieve their practice blades.
Then, a bolt from the blue dropped from Ziel's mouth.
"The final evaluation is simple. Starting now, all forty of you will spar with me."
"What?"
"Excuse me?!"
Gasps echoed through the hall.
They had faced Ziel all at once before—or more precisely, all forty of them had gathered together for reflex training. But back then, they had merely tried to dodge Ziel's attacks and sneak in a counter from their designated spots.
This time, the roles were completely reversed.
"Display everything you have learned. That is how you will earn a favorable score."
Tension settled heavily over the training hall.
Schwing.
Ziel drew his own weapon. It was an ordinary practice sword, yet in the eyes of his students, it appeared sharper than any honed steel. After all, they had witnessed with their own eyes his overwhelming might when he butchered the Ruinbark!
Is he... going to use a Magic Sword?
No way, right?
Amid their spiraling thoughts, Ziel gave the command.
"Begin."
Students tumbled across the floor.
"Gah!"
"Aaargh!"
"Urk!"
A chorus of colorful shrieks rang out.
Roughly thirty minutes had passed since the evaluation began, and Ziel had not allowed a single blow to land. Most attacks he casually dodged. When a strike drew close, he parried it effortlessly. And with every counter, another student went sprawling across the floorboards.
"Damn it! Regroup!"
The squad leaders from the field practicum stepped up to organize a new strategy. Charging individually only offered Ziel clear openings to exploit.
"Attack all at once! Remember how we fought the Stone Crooks!"
Deleve took the vanguard. He was one of the few who had barely managed to evade Ziel's attacks and launch counters of his own.
Clang!
While Deleve deflected Ziel's blade, the surrounding students closed the perimeter. The teamwork forged during their practicum kicked in seamlessly.
"Haaah!"
"Strike!"
Five blades converged on Ziel simultaneously.
Yet Ziel simply dipped his torso.
Whoosh.
Ducking under the flurry of strikes, he swept his blade low across their shins.
"Guh!"
"Aaaah!"
Though the sword had no edge, the impact packed serious concussive force. Five students collapsed in unison, crying out in pain.
It was a mind-boggling spectacle.
They didn't even thrust at the same height, and he ducked all of them?
He had bent his body at an exquisitely measured angle to evade every tip by millimeters. That was Instructor Ziel for you. The sheer absurdity of it only fueled their surging awe. But they had no time to gawk.
Clack!
The tip of Ziel's sword snapped toward Deleve.
"Maintain your tension, Student Deleve Kundel."
"I was keeping it—urk!"
A strike took Deleve squarely in the chest, sending him skidding across the floor.
"Urrgh..."
He was strong. Unfathomably strong. Deleve had deluded himself into thinking he had closed the gap during reflex training, but he had been dead wrong.
"Leave it to us."
Celia's squad charged in next. By now, the other students had naturally formed into tactical units. Even so, landing a blow on Ziel remained a distant dream.
"Ah!"
Celia was tossed backward as well, struck firmly on the shoulder by Ziel's unyielding riposte. A sharp pang shot down her arm, though it wasn't enough to keep her down.
A sudden realization struck her.
Personal knight? What was I thinking? He belongs at the head of an entire knight order!
How absurd had she been, planning to offer him a mere escort post?
Well, that changes things.
A whole new proposition took shape in her mind.
"Phew, looks like it's our turn."
Yurio stepped forward next, leading a squad of six that included Karen. But Yurio took a different approach.
He told us to display everything we've learned.
Did that mean by any means necessary?
A frontal assault won't cut it.
Among the skills Instructor Ziel had taught them, plenty were far from orthodox. In that case...
Yurio's gaze swept rapidly across the training hall before locking onto a specific corner.
"Listen up, everyone. Karen, Yon—you two draw his attention. Keep his eyes on you for as long as possible."
"Huh? What about the rest of us?"
"We have work to do. Calik, come with me. The second I give the signal, move!"
"Got it."
Unlike the beginning of the semester, Yurio now commanded respect from his peers after his stellar showing in the Exchange Event.
"The other two, stand by behind Karen and Yon. If they start getting pushed back, step in. Keep Instructor Ziel's eyes locked on you at all costs."
The instructions were clear, and everyone nodded without hesitation.
"Now!"
At Yurio's signal, the squad sprang into motion.
Ziel watched them with a glimmer of intrigue.
They're attempting something.
For thirty minutes, the students had done nothing but charge head-on. While they had organized into squads, that was a natural adaptation. Yurio was the first to think outside the box.
"What? Where are Yurio and Calik running off to?"
"Looks like they're cooking up a plan."
The truth was, Ziel had stopped by the training hall the previous night to stash traps and various devices around the perimeter. The sole objective he had set for today's evaluation wasn't to defeat him, nor was it to demonstrate some flashy sword technique. It was to utilize everything they had learned.
It was the goal truest to the purpose of a final evaluation.
The students had certainly been applying what they learned, but not everything. Yurio was the first student to break the mold.
"Calik! Grab these!"
"On it!"
Yurio and Calik snatched up trap components and set them up behind Ziel with practiced haste. Then, darting back around to the front—
"Drive him back!"
They attempted to herd Ziel straight into the traps.
A solid approach.
A training hall was not a forest. The floor wasn't earth, and there was nowhere to conceal a snare. So Yurio had brazenly deployed the trap right behind Ziel and tried to force him into it.
Of course, there was no way Ziel wouldn't notice, nor would he meekly walk into it. More specifically, while using the trap was clever, their coordination fell short.
"Ugh!"
"Gah!"
Lacking smooth synergy, their assault fell apart, and Yurio was sent tumbling across the ground.
It had been a commendable attempt, but the offensive collapsed before the trap could even be triggered.
By this point, panic began to creep in among the students.
Only twenty minutes left...
Twenty minutes! So far, Ziel hadn't conceded a single hit, nor had he fallen for any trick.
Desperate, Deleve reached into his pocket and pulled out an unused Praise Card he had received previously.
If only I had another one of those cards we used against the Stone Crooks...
A blinding flash and a powerful spark might have created an opening. But he didn't have one now. He had to trust what he held in his hand.
He said this one contains sleeping gas, right?
"Celia, lend me a hand."
Deleve went so far as to swallow his pride and ask Celia for help.
"And why is the illustrious third son of the Kundel family calling on me?"
"Come on, just cooperate! Are you going to let time run out like this? This is our final evaluation!"
Though she acted aloof, Celia eventually nodded. "...Fine. Do you have a plan?"
"I need your Fast Swordsmanship."
"My Fast Swordsmanship?"
"Out of everyone here, your blade is the only one fast enough to keep Instructor Ziel occupied for even a few seconds."
Thump!
Celia's heart gave an involuntary leap at the sudden compliment, and she jerked her head away.
"Hmph. It's not that fast. Though, of course, my sword style is..."
"I know. But it's the fastest we've got among us."
"...Tch, whatever."
Was that praise or an insult?
"Anyway, I'll look for an opening from behind, so help me mount a joint attack. Anne, Maris, what about you guys?"
"Count me in."
Excluding Lydia, four squad leaders from the practicum stepped forward.
"Hmph! I shall lend my strength as well!"
Quantus stepped up uninvited. Deleve almost snapped at him, but reconsidered after eyeing Quantus's massive bulk.
"Anne, handle him, please."
"Leave it to me. Hey, Leader!"
"Ha! Do you call upon me, Anne?!"
"Get in front and overpower Instructor Ziel with brute force. You get what I mean, right?"
"Understood completely!"
Frankly, any instruction more complicated than that would have flown right over his head.
And so, the squad of five—the leaders plus Quantus—charged all at once.
"Hwaaaaah!"
Quantus bellowed as he lunged forward, Anne right behind him.
Fast Swordsmanship.
Positioned behind them, Celia watched for an opening while gauging the distance. Instructor Ziel was strong. No matter how fast her blade moved, he was more than capable of dismantling her technique with a single flick of his wrist.
Timing. That was everything.
"Guh!"
Quantus crashed to the ground with a noise as colossal as his frame, and Anne was knocked back right after.
Now!
Celia kicked off the floorboards and surged forward, unleashing the Rihardt Fast Swordsmanship.
From the First Form to the Fifth Form.
A continuous sequence of fifty movements.
Every member of House Rihardt, upon mastering the first five forms, embarked on training to chain all fifty movements together seamlessly.
In essence—a secret art that unleashed fifty attacks in the blink of an eye.
True to her reputation as the greatest prodigy of the Rihardt family, Celia had mastered this secret technique almost to perfection.
Almost.
Which meant it wasn't flawless.
Even so, she had to do it now.
Here I come, Instructor.
Celia unleashed the secret art without hesitation.
A breathtaking tempest of swift swordsmanship erupted from her hands!
"Whoa!"
"I can't even track her sword!"
Her mana-enhanced body rapidly coiled and released in extreme rhythm, raining a silver flurry of strikes upon Ziel without mercy.
This is different from before.
Even Ziel was seeing this sequence from Celia for the first time. Naturally so, as she had never unveiled it before her peers or instructor.
Twentieth strike, twenty-fifth!
In the span of a single breath, Celia blew past the twentieth motion and entered the twenty-fifth.
The hurdle lay at the thirty-seventh.
Fifty movements in total. Chaining them was possible, but at the thirty-seventh strike, there was an infinitesimal hitch in her rhythm.
And at that fated thirty-seventh—
Ah.
Clang!
Ziel's sword slipped precisely into the momentary lapse, disarming Celia in an instant. Her practice sword clattered away.
Had he struck by sheer coincidence, or had the instructor perceived the flaw?
Yet Celia felt none of her usual frustration.
Fwiiiish!
Because behind Ziel, she spotted a Praise Card slicing through the air.
It worked!
Deleve silently cheered.
Sleeping gas! If that hit him, even Instructor Ziel would—
Pop!
Yet the Praise Card burst uselessly in midair.
Psssshh...
A faint wisp of sleeping gas leaked out before dissipating into nothingness.
"...Ah."
They were doomed.
"Student Deleve Kundel. You gripped it too tightly when throwing."
"You never gave us a warning like that!"
"I told you before. It detonates upon receiving slight impact."
Wait, did he mention that? Deleve thought, his memory fuzzy.
"Even so—"
"Of course, that was not why it burst."
Ziel held up a tiny throwing needle between his fingers.
"It was because of this."
"..."
He had thrown a needle and pinpointed a flying card in midair?
"That's just cheating..." Deleve muttered in utter disbelief.
Ziel shifted his gaze from Celia—whose thirty-seventh movement had been broken—to the students scattered across the ground, and finally to Deleve, who stood frozen in an awkward crouch mid-charge.
"Are you finished?"
Swish.
Ziel gave his sword a clean flick through the air.
It was pure terror.
We totally failed the final exam.
Despair washed over the students.
Yet inwardly, Ziel was genuinely pleased.
All things considered, not bad at all.
A thought that, had the students heard it, would have left them scratching their heads in utter bewilderment.