01.37 - Three Nil

Their opponents switched back to offense before Mirai, Gabe, and Luc could devise any cohesive battle plan.

All three of them were accelerated toward Zafiro’s position, along with the surrounding air and loose dirt of the battlefield.

Somehow, Esmeralda, Rubi, and Zafiro remained in place despite being far closer to ground zero.

Gabe tried to exchange his position with Esmeralda. He failed.

He then targeted Rubi, and finally Zafiro, to no avail.

Mirai conjured a fireball, and Luc shot a non-explosive projectile.

Zafiro switched his active spell in response, but it was too late to decelerate Luc and the others.

Both attacks clashed against an energy shield.

The three specters crashed into the barrier and fell to the ground shortly after.

With the three still dazed, their opponents began to zero in on Gabe, weapons ready.

Gabe successfully exchanged his position with Rubi, but Esmeralda’s staff connected with the back of his head as if she had anticipated his move. The impact was enough to knock him out cold.

Luc took the time to target Rubi. He aimed and accelerated another explosive projectile.

Its movement froze halfway between the two, exploding in midair and sending out a shockwave that knocked over Mirai, who was about to stand up again.

The next moment, Rubi had somehow closed the distance to Luc, who was now frozen in place.

Her gauntlet smashed into Luc’s torso.

The second hit connected too.

A rib or two broke as the last bit of air left his lungs, mixing with spit and blood.

Mirai tried her best to come to his aid, but her path was blocked by another barrier that she could only avoid by utilizing her future sight. Her subsequent offensive attempts against Zafiro were cut short by Esmeralda, whose future moves she was unable to read again.

Every further attempt at future sight ended with a blurry vision of overlapping possibilities.

Esmeralda aimed her staff at Mirai’s left side.

Mirai blocked it, then evaded two more swings aimed at her head.

After taking another four hits, the spell that held Luc’s body in place finally ended. The last image he saw before his vision faded to black was Mirai falling victim to the combined attacks of Esmeralda and Zafiro.

---

The audience back at the annex of the water park was in distress.

“Foo,” Cuddles complained. “Poor Luc. That was basically cheating.”

“Does…” Vega began. “…does that mean they failed the exam?”

“Not in the least,” said Aqua in a calm and steady voice. “I’d say they did pretty well. If I didn’t know better, I would have expected them to be knocked out in the first attack.”

Vega, Merope, Kass, and all of the Cuddle-Fish looked back at Aqua.

“It’s a point-based system, remember? They do filter out those who utterly fail the Aura capacity test and the first combat examination, but that’s because their scores are too low to make up for later. It's an evaluation of their overall skills, not just a black-and-white decision to pass or fail based on a single battle.”

“You mean they are fine?” asked Vega with audible relief in her voice.

“They are more than fine,” said Aqua. “Maybe Grant wanted to teach them a lesson after Luc almost killed the last examiner, or maybe the single evaluation results made him finally take Mary’s candidates seriously.”

“Who’s Grant?” asked Merope.

“The guildmaster of Arcana Maiora’s branch of the hunters’ guild,” said Aqua. “He is the one who had to agree to let the nine of them participate, even though they are not of age yet. He was the recipient of Terra’s letter of recommendation.”

“Does that mean those three examiners were a lot stronger than the ones before?” asked Merope.

“For sure,” said Aqua. “I’ve seen some of the evaluators of the first exam during patrol duties. They were mostly low-ranking newbies. Esmeralda, Rubi, and Zafiro, on the other hand, are at least regular hunters… maybe even on the stronger end. They can’t hold a candle to Mary, but they are pretty experienced.”

“Esmeralda is a Deviator,” Aqua continued. “Of both the Time and Matter Domain. Her Time-based spells can reverse her actions for about a second, at quite the Aura cost. That must have messed with Mirai’s future sight. Her other spell can eliminate matter a meter or so around her. No fuel, no fire.”

“As for Rubi,” Aqua said, “she can cut through space and anchor targets in place for a short time. And Zafiro… you have seen his energy shield spell and the gravitational pull effect. Both useful spells, but more conventional when compared to his teammates. I can see Grant selecting those three specifically to hard-counter Mirai, Gabe, and Luc’s spells. He can be a bit petty at times.”

“That’s mean,” complained Cuddles, while emitting a red glow.

“So unfair!” agreed Bubbles and Puddles in unison, mimicking Cuddles.

“Cheater!” exclaimed Snuggles and Wiggles, painted in a similar shade of crimson.

“Now, now,” said Aqua, trying to calm the enraged Cuddle-Fish. “You can’t pick your opponents in the field either. It is sink or swim. And sometimes your opponents come prepared. It goes the other way around too. When we select hunters for specific targets, we don’t exactly aim to give our targets a fair chance.”

---

The remaining matches among the top ten went similarly.

The only one earning a little victory after a hard day's battle was Electra, who was the last woman standing at the end of her match, after being teamed up with Imbrius, Sarpedon, and Glaucus.

They were set up against some of the stronger evaluators from the single combat tests.

The scoreboard did not exactly mirror the end results of their battles.

There were minor shifts in the placement of individual candidates, but the overall structure remained the same, with Electra gaining two spots and ending up in fifth, while her temporary teammates remained out of the top ten once more.