Chapter 55: First Round [1]
"As you all know," Darius said, "the Final Examinations are one of the most important milestones of your time at Astral Academy."
The auditorium had gone from restless noise to something closer to held breath.
"For those who dream of becoming a Spire, these examinations will determine whether that dream remains within reach or ends here."
Nobody shifted in their seats.
"Every point you earn throughout your four years will be recorded toward your final score. To qualify for the Upper Academy, you must maintain an average of one thousand points per year. That gives you a required total of four thousand points by graduation."
Several students swallowed quietly.
"And don’t mistake four thousand points for a guarantee."
The last whispers stopped.
Darius let the silence sit for a moment before continuing.
"At the end of each year, only ten graduating students will earn the right to advance to the Upper Academy."
The word only did something to the air in the room.
Out of hundreds of students who had walked into Astral Academy with plans and dreams and four years of effort behind them, ten would continue.
The rest would stop here.
A student in the middle rows stared at the platform.
"Four thousand points and there are still only ten spots?"
Another had their fists clenched in their lap without appearing to notice.
Darius continued. "You may view the highest performers from the previous year on the screens above."
The screens behind him lit up.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
PREVIOUS YEAR’S TOP SCORES
Nicholas Ashford — [1,598 pts]
Augustus Solaris — [1,363 pts]
Seris Silverhart — [1,061 pts]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The auditorium erupted.
"1,598?! That’s insane!"
"He was a FIRST-YEAR!"
"First-years don’t even make the board, let alone take first place—"
"If Nicholas hadn’t done that, Senior Augustus would’ve been number one again!"
Darius raised one hand and waited.
A second screen appeared beside the first.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
HIGHEST TOTAL SCORES
Augustus Solaris — [3,683]
Seris Silverhart — [3,248]
Claire Thorne — [3,139]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The reaction was louder this time.
"Senior Augustus is at 3,683?!"
"He’s 317 points from four thousand... he’s practically already there!"
"Nicholas is only in his second year. If he scores like last year again—"
"Do you actually think he can repeat 1,598?"
"After what he did last year? I’m not betting against it."
Alden stood on the platform and looked at the numbers.
’I wonder how many points the original Alden managed before I ended up in this body.’
His expression suggested the answer wasn’t encouraging.
The crowd kept going, voices layering over each other, everyone recalculating their own position against the numbers on the screen. For some of them, it was motivation. For others, the gap between where they were and where they needed to be had just become a lot more visible.
Up on the platform, Augustus stretched his neck to one side.
"Now that you’ve said everything," he murmured, low enough that only Darius could hear it, "why don’t you just end it and start the examination? Why are you wasting my time and everybody’s by making everyone wait?"
Darius’s eye twitched. He looked at Augustus, trying very hard not to lose his cool.
Then he turned back to the auditorium.
"That concludes the announcements." He looked across the hall. "You may now proceed to your designated examination areas."
Chairs scraped. Voices picked back up. Several hundred students rose from their seats and the nervous energy in the room converted itself into movement.
"Before you leave—"
Everyone stopped again.
Darius looked at them. "The first round of the Final Examinations." A pause.
"Is one-on-one combat."
The auditorium lost its composure entirely.
"Wha—Already?!"
"We’re fighting right away?!"
"Please don’t let me get matched against anyone dangerous—"
"Each student’s opponent will be decided fairly," Darius said over the noise, "based on rank and accumulated points."
The hall began emptying in earnest.
The Student Council members filed off the platform together, moving through the side corridor toward the examination areas.
Nicholas slowed.
"President Augustus."
The others turned.
Augustus looked back with his usual expression.
"Yes?"
Nicholas’s hand had settled on the hilt of his sword. His smile was the kind that didn’t come from amusement.
"What do you think? Can you beat me this time?"
Augustus let out a quiet noise that might have been a laugh.
"Hey, hey. Don’t get too excited." His expression sharpened in a way that his lazy posture didn’t prepare you for. "I was holding back last year. There wasn’t anyone worth going all out against, so I didn’t bother." His eyes found Nicholas directly. "Now I know there’s someone who can actually push me."
The smile settled.
"I won’t be holding back this time. Prepare yourself."
He turned and walked.
Nicholas’s eyes gleamed. "I’ll be looking forward to it."
Seris glanced between the two of them with the mild interest of someone watching a predictable thing unfold.
"My, my." The faint smile settled on her lips. "What a rivalry. I’m genuinely curious which one of you manages to surpass the other."
Nathan crossed his arms. "I’m putting my money on Nicholas again."
Augustus’s expression immediately fell. "Nathan. You traitor."
"Nothing personal."
"It’s extremely personal."
Roselle smiled quietly. "I guess President needs support, so this time I’m with President."
Augustus’s face transformed completely. "Finally! Thank you, Roselle—"
Nicholas stared at her. "What? Come on, you’re supposed to back me."
She covered her mouth with one hand. "I care about you, Nico. But it’s a competition. I can’t let feelings decide who I think will win."
"That’s worse! You said you care about me AND you’re still not supporting me!"
She giggled softly. "Then give me a reason to change my mind."
Nicholas straightened immediately, something decisive settling in his expression. "Fine. Watch me."
The banter continued down the corridor.
Seris let it run. Her eyes had already drifted toward the corridor ahead.
Alden was gone.
He’d left without a word while the conversation was still starting. No comment about the rankings, no interest in the rivalry, no opinion on who would win what. He’d simply taken his hands out of his pockets, turned toward the examination area, and walked.
She hadn’t heard his footsteps leave. She’d just noticed, between one moment and the next, that he wasn’t there.
’He really doesn’t care about any of this, does he.’