“Eh?”

“Eh?”

“Weeeell.. That happened.” Sylvester said as he looked on to the plume of dust rising from the destruction caused by his partner’s spell.

Rossa’s blank expression didn’t change one bit after she abruptly let loose a spell onto the test golem that was yet to reveal itself fully.

“Huh, talk about a pre-emptive strike.” Sylvester silently applauded his partner’s decisive strike, but at the same time he thought it was a bit too hasty to just attack it on sight.

“Such a trivial matter.” She thought to herself as she looked disapprovingly at the headmaster’s figure who floated above.

“Quite enthusiastic are we now, young mistress.” The headmaster suddenly interjected, his projection smiling as he looked at the pair down below.

“But sometimes one should wait for the other to finish talking.” He added as the dust started to settle and slowly reveal a figure slowly rising from the crater. With low but loud hum, the obscuring dust was blown away and cleared revealing three symmetrical shapes floating in the air.

The largest one was a transparent diamond shaped object that looked like it was made from high quality glass that housed an incredibly dark colored sphere inside of it. Floating around the diamond were two pyramids that were about a third of its size slowly orbiting the larger object.

One of the pyramids was floating upside down and was made from the same transparent material as the diamond but this smaller pyramid did not house anything inside of it.

The other pyramid however was glowing bright red, pulsating with energy and unlike the previous one it was floating upright.

All of a sudden the dark core of the diamond expanded and contracted, releasing a pulse of mana that pushed Rossa and Sylvster back a few feet from where they were.

“HAHAHA! Isn’t it beautiful!” The headmaster’s voice was heard once more, glee coating his every word.

“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, this is a series 4 training golem developed for combat related lessons or exercises.” He explained as Rossa and Sylvester’s attention were shifted to his projection once more.

“Since this fella right here is a training golem it has a built in weakness.” He added seemingly implying that the dark core at the center was its weakness.

“However.” The tone shifting to a slightly more serious one, “There is more to that weakness than you might be thinking. I’ll leave it to you young ones to figure it out on your own.”

The golem then let out another low hum as the pyramids started moving faster and faster in its orbit. The dark core began to expand and contract mimicking the motion of a beating heart. Sylvester and Rossa then felt something was staring at them all the while a large surge of mana can be felt coming off the ominous beating core.

Smiling mischievously the headmaster declared “Let the first S-rank trial begin!” in a loud thunderous voice. HIs figure crumbled back into particles of light that dispersed and disappeared, not even leaving a trace.

Sylvester measured up the adversary that is the geometric shape floating menacingly a few meters away from his position. He stretched his hands and did little hops to pump himself up for the upcoming battle.

“So it looks like you and I need to work together for this little show. For now let’s try to poke it wi-”

He was about to take off his baseball cap and transform it back into a tophat when all of sudden Rossa shot forward using a spell to propel herself forward interrupting Sylvester who was in the middle of talking.

“So much for that I guess.” He sighed as he observed his Rossa was casting another powerful spell, aiming it at the training golem.

After deliberating on what he should do next he decided to sit down for now and watch the battle unfold.

“If the young mistress here defeats the golem on her own then it’s all good! Since I won’t be lifting a muscle and I get to enjoy a little show.” He thought as he sat down cross legged and slouching on his arm.

“And if she fails, I will at least have a clue on what this thing is capable of and plan my actions accordingly.” His train of thought continued as Rossa released the spell she started casting earlier.

He then let out a sigh under his breath. “Oh man. Suddenly getting demoted to being an audience feels kinda bad.”

---

“Righteous light of retribution.”

“Shatter the dark with unhindered resolve!”

A circle with intricate patterns then formed above and underneath the training golem’s body. Rossa then stretched out her left arm with the palms of her hands slightly open but curled up just a little bit.

“Radiant pillar!” As she shouted these words she clasped her hand into a fist and bright light erupted from the magic circle underneath the golem while the one above received it engulfing the object and its satellites in what is quite literally, a pillar of light.

However, just like Rossa’s previous attack, it was completely ineffective as the objects didn’t seem to have a single scratch on them. However, Rossa’s attack caused a change in one of the bodies circling the diamond that held the core.

The previously transparent pyramid was now radiating a bright red color and was also standing upright mirroring its neighbor as they continued to rotate around what is now evidently the main body.

“Tch.” Rossa clicked her tongue in frustration upon seeing her attack failing to damage the object once again.

Suddenly the two pyramids stopped their orbiting motion and positioned themselves on the sides of the diamond. They then tilted themselves sideways pointing at Rossa’s direction.

Rossa upon seeing the change in the orientation of the red pyramids became more apprehensive and alert.

She raised her left hand into the air and gathered mana towards that point and prepared another spell.

“Luminous barrier!” She exclaimed as sparkling particles of light appeared from above her palm and positioned themselves around Rossa in what looks like a large half sphere.

Suddenly the red pyramids began spinning on their axis. The one on the left abruptly stopped and divided itself into smaller pieces. These pieces formed themselves into smaller red spear-like objects and hurled themselves towards Rossa’s position.

With great force the spears collided with Rossa’s barrier piercing into it but was nonetheless stopped a quarter of the way in. Cracks formed all around the gaps between the particles of light as if something invisible between them was about to give way.

Rossa herself now had a very serious expression on her face. A drop of sweat ran down from her forehead and made its way all the way to her chin and fell to the floor beneath. The Golem’s attack was more powerful than what she expected.

“I will not be beaten by something like you!” She muttered underneath her breath, then she realized that the retaliation just wasn’t over yet.

The other red pyramid was now spinning much faster than before and without warning a ball of white energy formed in front its pointed end. The ball of energy then collapsed into a powerful beam of energy that was aimed at Rossa’s already heavily damaged barrier.

“Brilliant wings!” Rossa exclaimed.

A pair of pure white wings formed behind her back. The magical wings didn’t touch her back directly but instead hovered a few centimeters away from her.

With great speed, Rossa then flew upwards easily dodging the powerful counter attack that easily shattered the damaged barrier she left behind. But then the red spears that were formerly embedded on the barrier followed her upwards.

“Tch!” Rossa once again clicked her tongue in frustration.

The red spears then made pursuit as Rossa was forced to dodge the incoming attacks as best as she could.

Yet despite her best efforts two of the spears managed to clip her right wing and embedded themselves in it, greatly reducing her mobility. Then all of a sudden the spears seem to clear away from her when she felt a sudden surge of mana from underneath.

“Calm down, calm down! This is just a test, a trial. You can't lose here!” Rossa thought as she tried to keep her focus on her current predicament.

The other red pyramid then unleashed another powerful beam of energy towards her.

With her mobility impared she managed to barely evade the attack but in the process it hit and destroyed her left wing leaving her plummeting to the ground.

The red spears followed her with seemingly deadly intent as they descended.

Reacting as quickly as she can she once again casted Luminous barrier to intercept the spears and without missing a beat she then turned her body to face the spinning red pyramid.

Gathering mana into her left hand she then pointed it towards the object that was now once again gathering mana into a bright ball to attack her with.

“Binding chains of light!” She shouted and a magic circle appeared underneath the pyramid. Chains then materialized from the circle and wrapped themselves around it.

Forming her hand into a fist she then tugged it as if pulling on something in the air. The chains jerked downward causing the pyramid to lower its angle and completely miss its mark.

With the spears still embedded on the barrier and the pyramid now restrained, she casted “brilliant wings” again allowing her great mobility and speed in the air once more.

“Here’s my chance, I can finish this now!” She thought as she started on her next plan of attack.

Closing the gap as fast as she could, she approached the main body of the golem as she casted the first spell she used, “ Piercing spear of light”.

She was planning to pierce through the transparent housing by throwing the spear as close as possible without her getting into the blast radius. The small window afforded by temporarily disabling the golem’s offensive measures gave her this opportunity to strike a decisive blow.

Upon reaching the desired distance she then poised herself, ready to throw the spear through the diamond housing and pierce the black core nesting inside.

“This is the end!” She screamed as she threw the spear of light squarely aimed at the core. But to her horror something went terribly wrong!

The spear of light was absorbed by an unseen force completely negating it.

Distracted with her failed attempt she wasn’t able to avoid the red spears that were able to completely destroy her wings during her brief lapse of concentration.

“Aggh!” She screamed in agitation as she barely managed to dodge the rest of the spears by tilting her body. But then she sensed a surge of mana from her side.

The pyramid was now free from the chains that bound it, ready to release a retaliatory attack.

“DAMN IT!” Rossa screamed in frustration as she covered herself with her arms in a vain attempt to block the oncoming attack.

But then she felt a sudden tug on the cloak just behind her nape, her body was dragged away for a few feet before being thrown down into the ground.

Without missing a beat Rossa picked herself back up and prepared to strike.

“I need to end this now! First I need to try and disable thos-” Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she felt a tug on her hand.

Looking back she saw her partner, Sylvester Clearsight holding onto her hand with a tight grip.

“How dare you! Let go of me!” She screamed and then all of a sudden, all she could feel was the cooling sensation of water being splashed at her face.