The number of students had thinned considerably.
By the end of the second test, what had begun as a gathering of over fifty thousand was now reduced to a mere fraction—perhaps fifteen, maybe twenty thousand at most.
The vast courtyard that once teemed with bodies now felt empty, the tension heavier, more personal.
Each student who remained had passed both the resonance scan and their first practical test—some barely scraping by, others with silent confidence.
Kael stood among them, his breath slow, his expression distant. The Proving Grounds still hummed behind him with the last few simulated duels, bursts of magic and roars of conjured beasts echoing faintly across the wind.
His own trial was done, yet the adrenaline still lingered in his limbs. Not from danger—but from control. He'd held back. And now, he watched the others, gauging strength, form, hesitation.
The sun was beginning its descent, casting long shadows across the marble plaza. Vice Headmistress Riliane returned to the central platform, her robes fluttering as she raised her hand to still the murmurs. "That concludes the first day," she announced, her voice amplified by a subtle magical pulse. "If you are still standing here, then congratulations. You've earned your place in the second phase."
A soft murmur rolled through the crowd—relief, pride, exhaustion. "As of this moment, the total number of candidates stands at seventeen thousand two hundred and forty-one," she continued, precise as ever. "That number will be halved by the end of tomorrow." A few sharp intakes of breath followed.
Some stared at the ground. Others clenched fists. "You will now return to your dormitories," she said. "Rest well. Tomorrow, the second phase begins at dawn. You will receive further instructions at your respective towers. Be punctual. That will be your first test."
With a final nod, she turned and descended the steps. Arcane markers lit the pathways, pulsing softly as they guided students in different directions—knights one way, mages the other. Kael followed the flow of black-clad figures toward the dormitory towers.
The silence among them spoke volumes. No chatter. No bravado. Just quiet footsteps and unreadable faces.
Some students had their heads held high. Others walked like ghosts, barely recovered from the day's toll.
Back in his dormitory, Kael peeled off his jacket and dropped onto the edge of the bed.
He stared out the high, rune-etched window, watching distant lights drift across the night sky—levitating platforms, floating carriages, arcane beacons flickering between towers.
Today had been somewhat…. Boring.
And he was dead tired.
Yawn.
He found Theo already inside, sitting at his desk, meticulously cleaning his spectacles with a soft cloth. The mage's usual air of quiet concentration was even more pronounced.
Kael broke the silence. "Rough day."
Theo paused his cleaning, his gaze flicking up to meet Kael's briefly before returning to his task. "No. It was very predictable for the most part."
"Ohh, that means you aced it then?" he asked, glancing sideways at Theo.
Theo finished polishing his glasses before sliding them on. "Acing implies effort. Today was mostly... observation."
Kael snorted. "You talk like a professor."
"And you talk like you're braindead."
Kael chuckled. "Fair enough."
Another silence stretched.
Kael rolled onto his side, facing Theo more directly. "You figure out how the Archive measured us? Felt like more than just physical strength."
Theo hesitated for a beat, then replied, "It wasn't measuring strength. It was evaluating potential—emotional, magical, intellectual. The resonance scan reads beneath the surface."
Kael hummed softly. "Right. So basically, if you've got issues, it sees all of them."
Theo nodded. "And if you don't know yourself, it'll decide for you."
Kael sat with that a moment, then shifted back to stare at the ceiling.
"You think we'll make it to the end?" he asked.
Theo didn't answer immediately.
"I think," he said slowly, "that most people won't. And the ones who do... would probably regret it later on."
"..."
Kael's eyes drifted back to the bright moon outside. "Yeah," he murmured, "I kinda figured."
A pause.
Then Theo added, almost as an afterthought, "Don't snore."
Kael blinked. "What?"
"I'm not fond of noise."
Kael smirked. "No promises."
********************
The morning came fast. Before the sun had fully cleared the mountains, students were already gathered again. This time, not in the central courtyard, but before one of the massive training fields carved into the cliffs behind the academy.
It was less ornate, more brutal—a raw scar of earth and stone, with stands above and wide staging areas below. Today, there were no speeches. No dramatics.
We where divided into small groups of a hundred filled completely with black and assigned to a single instructor.
Our instructor—a lean man with weathered armor and a sword slung across his back—stepped forward and began reading names. Each name called was paired with another.
"Trial Two: Duels," the schedule had said.
Kael listened. The names blurred together. Students stepped forward, took their places in the ring, fought. Some matches were over in seconds. Others dragged into grueling tests of endurance.
Some students lost cleanly. Others refused to yield until they were dragged off the field. He kept watching. He memorized patterns. He tracked footwork, stances, weaknesses.
And then, his name was called. He stepped forward without a word.
His opponent was taller, broader—an older boy, he was at least twice my size.
But Kael didn't blink. He wasn't scared.
He had faced worst.
"Begin," the instructor's voice cut through the air, and Kael moved.
He stayed light on his feet, a predator circling its prey, his eyes sharp and assessing, dissecting his opponent's stance, the slight tension in his shoulders, the almost imperceptible shift of weight.
The other boy lunged, a powerful, telegraphed punch aimed at Kael's head. It grazed his cheek, a glancing blow that barely registered. A second punch followed, slower, more predictable, missing entirely as Kael effortlessly shifted his weight.
Clumsy
Kael thought, a flicker of something akin to disdain touching his awareness. He ducked low, moving inside the other boy's reach, the rough fabric of his tunic brushing against the older student's.
With a sudden surge of controlled power, Kael slammed his shoulder into the boy's ribs, the impact a solid thud that stole the air from his opponent's lungs.
Using the momentum, Kael twisted, unbalancing the larger boy, and with a swift, almost dismissive move, drove him down to the hard-packed earth. The thud of his opponent hitting the ground echoed in the sudden silence.
It was over in less than thirty seconds, the swiftness of the takedown leaving a stunned silence in its wake.