The examiner announced that it was time to move onto the practical exam. Then he pulled out his wand and waved it by saying, “Teleport.”

In an instant, a large magic circle formed beneath all them before they felt themselves vanish on the spot. Moments later, they found themselves standing in a large arena with seats lined all around them in what appeared to be a large circle.

“Is this the Astral Academy Arena where the class battles are usually held?” Edna asked curiously.

“That’s right, young miss,” the examiner said. “Right now, the arena is booked completely for our use.”

“Hey. I don’t see the other students. What about them?” Rizer asked quizzically. “Aren’t they doing the exam with us?”

The examiner shook his head and replied, “No, your highness. You seventeen have special backgrounds, and so we decided that the rest of the students should be tested separately from you.”

The Prince of North Nation snorted and remarked, “I guess that only makes sense considering my strength, and I might just destroy their spirits with my overwhelming power.”

“Your arrogance certainly knows no bounds,” remarked Floreta curtly.

“My dear,” he began smoothly as he turned to face her, “my arrogance is built on the confidence of what I’m capable of. Of course, anyone is free to challenge me, but I assure you that I will come out on top.”

She snorted disdainfully and shook her head in disagreement.

Theodore watched the prince laugh coldly and muttered, “Man, he’s so full of himself. I really want to put him in his place.”

“Please don’t do that,” pleased Edna worriedly. “He’s a prince. If you, a nobody beats him, it’ll become problematic.”

Her choice of using the word “nobody” made him almost lose his balance from shock.

“H-Huh? I=I’m a n-n-nobody?” He asked her, looking stunned.

“N-No! Of course not!” She insisted, realising her mistake and waving her hand frantically. “It’s just that it’ll look really bad in the eyes of the political people if you somehow defeat him when you’re just an adventurer.”

“Oh. Yeah, that is reasonable to assume,” he agreed in understanding, “but that won’t stop me.”

“Please…! Just think of the mission first…!”

“I’m just joking,” he replied with a smile and pinched her cheeks. “You need to cheer up.”

She looked at him in bemusement before hearing Floreta ask, “You two certainly seem to have a good relationship.”

“I’ve always depended on her to help me out in choosing quests and handle the difficult work for me,” replied Theodore with a grin.

“Yes. It’s what Theo said,” agreed Edna with his words with a smile.

“You two make a great couple,” said Lustre with a huge grin.

Both Theodore and Edna stared at him in alarm, before exclaiming, “H-Huh?!”

“Uh?” The Magic Titan’s pupil asked, looking confused. “Was I mistaken?”

“Y-Yes! C-Clearly!” Stuttered Edna, flushing red from embarrassment.

 “Y-Yeah,” agreed Theodore hesitantly, looing as equally embarrassed as her.

“Now then,” boomed the examiner’s voice, getting all of their attention, “I think we should sort out which group will fight which group.”

“Wait,” raised a student by raising their hand into the air. “Aren’t we fighting each other individually?”

The examiner shook his head and explained that it would be much faster to perform the examination if they fought together in groups. Of course, the anti-cheat candles are still present and would ensure no cheating happens during the exam, so the same rules from before do apply.

“I now cast a magic ball to the four groups and they will change into either red or blue. Those with matching orbs will be fighting each other.”

With that, he waved his wand into the air and said, “Selection Orbs.”

In an instant, a small orb of light appeared out of the wand and flew into the air. Then it split into four smaller orbs and flew to each group’s leader. Rizer, Floreta, Evangel and another student grabbed hold of it and held it firmly as the orb changed colours right before their eyes.

“Our’s is red,” said Rizer with a smirk, and showed it to everyone.

“Blue,” said Evangel coldly while holding up her orb for them to see.

Seeing them, Floreta exclaimed, “No!”

“Oh, my dear. Why are you so alarmed?” Rizer asked curiously. Then he noticed the colour of her orb and chuckled as he said, “Ah. So, it seems it’s our destiny to face each other.”

In Floreta’s shaking hands, there was a red orb of light while the last group held a blue orb.

“This is very interesting,” said Rizer happily. “I can’t wait to show you my worth, my beloved.”

“I’m not your beloved!” Floreta thundered, but his smile widened instead.

“It’s only a matter of time until we are engaged,” he replied before letting out a laugh.

The examiner began to explain the rules of the practical exam. The groups of students were to fight each other in an elimination style and those that were eliminated would fight the other eliminated students in a one on one later on.

“So, it’s basically the last man standing wins kind of fighting,” summarised Theodore. “I like it.”

“This is the worst,” said the Princess of East Nation. “We just had to end up having to face off against Rizer.”

“Is something the matter?” Lustre asked curiously.

Floreta hesitated before Stella explained, “Well, actually, Rizer is powerful on his own, but with Regi being in his group as well is very problematic for us. He is very powerful.”

“You mean… Prince Rizer is… even stronger than Princess Floreta?”

“I may have been a reputation based on my magic capabilities,” began Floreta gloomily, “but I’m nothing compared to the Rizer. He’s fast, skilled, talented, and highly gifted. I even suspect he’s capable of using Voiceless Incantation.”

“What? He’s capable of using Voiceless Incantation?” Edna asked, widening her eyes in alarm. “How’s it possible, princess? You would only start learning about it in the academy.”

Floreta smiled bitterly while Stella replied to her with, “That’s why he’s so confident about himself. He’s been at the top of every difficulty he ever faced and never sustained any kind of serious injuries.” She leaned closed to them and whispered, “There’s even rumours going around that he might become the next Sword Titan.”

They reacted with amazement before Theodore burst into a loud laughter. This drew many people’s attention as it was so unexpected.

“Theodore? Why are you laughing?” The Princess of South Nation asked curiously.

“W-Well,” he began after controlling his laughter, “I just found that rumour to be very stupid. There’s no way that… guy can become the Sword Titan.”

“Uh…” began Stella hesitantly and looked uncertain. “Why do you think so?”

“If only you knew the requirement to become the Sword Titan, you’d know Prince Rizer is not qualified.” In fact, he’s so underqualified that it’s probably humiliate him if he ever found out.”

“How so…?”

To that, Theodore merely shook his head and said, “Sorry but that’s classified.”

“What?” The princess asked quizzically. “What do you—?”

Before she could question him any further, they were interrupted by the examiner when he said, “Alright everyone. I’d like the groups with the blue orbs to head to the seats and wait their turn. Prince Rizer and your group. Please come forward. The same to you, Princess Floreta and her group.”

Gulping nervously, Floreta said gloomily, “I never thought I’d be heading out to lose like this.”

“C-Cheer up, princess,” said Lustre with a troubled look. “We’ll win for sure. Right, Theodore?”

As he threw the question at the young man, Theodore nodded and said, “We will win, princess. Soi, brighten up.”

“Thank you, Lustre and Theodore, but it’s hopeless no matter how you look at it,” she said weakly. “He overpowers us all and with Regi on his side, our attacks would be rendered meaningless.”

“Floreta…”

“Princess…”

Both Stella and Edna spoke softly and looked sympathetically at her.

Becoming frustrated with the situation, the princess lamented, “I… I just want to teach that fool a lesson! That he doesn’t have the right to look down on others and use that boast himself to stand above them! It’s just wrong! Everyone is a living being just like me, so what’s the use of acting like we stand above them when all it does is show you of how arrogant and dark hearted you are?”

“I just wish…!” She left her sentence hanging with a frustrated look while clenching her fists tightly.

As her group members looked at her with concern, a smile appeared on Theodore’s face as he asked, “Are you worried about losing to him, princess?”

“Yes,” she replied simply.

“So, you want to win against him?”

“Well, yes if I have the chance.”

“If you are determined to win, then we shall win,” he said and extended his hand out to her. “I’ll help you win.”

“Theo?” Edna asked, suddenly becoming anxious. “D-Don’t create false hope like that.”

“I’m not,” he replied confidently. “I have a plan forming, but I need everyone to believe in me and assist me. Is that okay?”

Floreta, Stella and Lustre looked at each other before looking back at him.

“Do… Do you really believe we can… win against him…?” Floreta asked uncertainly.

“Definitely, princess,” he replied confidently. “I wouldn’t be this confident if we didn’t have a chance.”

She and the other two looked at him uncertainly before slowly nodding in understanding.

“It’s worth trying whatever we possibly could without cheating,” she finally relented. “What do you need? Do you have a plan in mind?”

He nodded and for a few seconds, they spoke to one another. They were surprised before nodding in understanding. Only Edna looked very worried but seemed unable to do interrupt them and simply went with the flow.

A few seconds later, they headed towards the centre of the arena where the examiner stood with Rizer and his group. Rizer was displaying an arrogant smile filled with confidence at them while Regi also smiled with confidence while the two girls stood behind them with equally confident smiles.

“Remember the rules I’ve explained earlier,” the examiner told them strictly. He looked towards each of them before nodding and saying with a smile, “May the best group win."

With that, he took his leave to head to the stands and give the signal to start the battle.

“My dear,” Rizer greeted Floreta, “I’ll do you a favour and not humiliate you in front of everyone here by allowing you to surrender to me right now.”

“Huh?” Floreta asked, her eyebrows narrowing coldly.

“Come now. You know the end result already. Why try and act brave?”

To his surprise, Floreta began to smile as she replied, “For your information, Rizer, the result isn’t set in stone until it actually happens. In the meantime, I suggest you prepare yourself.”

Her confidence and daring momentarily surprised him along with the confidence her group exuded. A moment later, he recovered his smile and shook his head with a wry sigh.

“Very well. I’ll happily assist you in your silly attempt to put up a feeble fight. Don’t disappoint me,” he said with a chuckle.

“We won’t,” said Theodore, which made Rizer glance at him momentarily before turning back to face Floreta.

For a few seconds, the examiner looked at them speaking and when he saw sure their conversation came to an end, he raised his hand into the air and paused for another seconds before bringing it down and shouting out the signal.

“Begin fighting!”

The moment the signal rung in the arena, both Rizer and Regi began to surge with incredible power. The still and calm wind suddenly became restless and began to blow wildly around them. The remainder of the students began to shout their praise for the Prince of the North Nation and the Prince of the West Nation for their prowess.

“Aren’t we overdoing it?” Regi asked when he saw his opponents not making any move.

“No. We’re simply fulfilling expectations,” replied Rizer with a smirk.

The wild blowing wind buffeted against Floreta, Stella, Lustre, and Edna as they struggled to hold their feet from collapsing from the sheer pressure the two warriors were unleashing. Theodore was the only one that seemed to be unfazed by all of this and merely looked at them with a smile on his face.

“As expected, intimidation the moment we got started,” he muttered to himself, “but too bad, prince. Two can play at that game.”

He took a deep breath and began to surge with power as he began to let out a very powerful roar.

“RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!”

In an instant, the wild blowing wind suddenly changed directions and began blowing back at Rizer, Regi and the two girls.

“Huh?” Regi asked, looking surprised.

“W-What?” Rizer asked, stunned that his tactic had failed and they were instead being pressured by the strong wind being sent their way from the almighty roar that Theodore was letting out. “W-What is he doing?”

No sooner had he questioned it, Theodore took a stance and lightning began to expel from his body. As it surrounded him, he kicked off the ground and seemed to vanish on the spot. However, he reappeared flying directly at Rizer with his fist pulled back.

As everyone watched in shock and Rizer looked on in alarm, Theodore shouted with a grin on his face, “Have a taste of your own intimidation!” and unleashed the fist directly at his prince’s face.