25 The Exam Begins (1/2)
Right after the Headmaster made his announcement, exams went underway. Names were randomly called out in groups or pairs, seeing how the stage was massive enough to hold multiple one-on-one matches.
Once a student descended the stage, a magic spell would activate itself, summoning forth a caged magical beast; once released, the battle began. Throughout the process, there were those who were struggling and others who easily took out their assigned magical beast.
There were a few matches that caught Maria's attention, such as the 4S Beauties of Diamond Academy. Despite their primadonna attitude, it was clear that they had talent, such as Natsumi who excelled in fire magic, ending her match with a large powerful fireball attack, earning herself a few compliments from the teachers.
”Mou, that didn't put up much of a fight.” Lily pouted adorably, earning praise from her fans, though Maria and a few others with common sense couldn't help but become wary of the Beauty of Spring.
The said girl happily skipped back to her seat. Belle, of course, performed superbly with her lightning magic, instantly KO-ing the beast with one hit.
The last of the 4S Beauties to appear on stage was Eira Snow. Instead of relying on her Bloodline Magic, the girl won her match by using a noteworthy water-spell, not even breaking a sweat as the effortlessly summoned the attack and won her match. Seeing this, Maria thought of how talent just naturally came to this girl.
”They may be stuck up princesses, but they got skill,” reluctantly admitted Mai which Maria silently agreed with. The next couple of matches were more on the boring side until Maria caught sight of a girl that caused a lot of gossip from both the students and teachers.
The girl that caught Maria's attention had this ethereal that radiate from every fiber of her body, letting everyone know that without a doubt she was going to grow into a stunning beauty in the future with her lustrous moonlight silver hair that was strung up in a high elegant ponytail and amethyst eyes that glittered like gems.
The size of the creature was three times that of the girl, a menacing glint in its eyes as it glared down at the impassive girl standing before it. Maria had a hard time believing that this beast was ranked in the pawn class. Asking herself, how could this girl remain so calm and not show any reaction?
When the beast tried to attack, the girl used some fancy footwork to dodge its attacks, and once she was quite a distance away, she held her bow and aimed it straight at the beast. Fingers pulling back on the silver string, an arrow made of light magic appeared. In quick succession, she released it and the arrow flew out and struck the beast right in its forehead.
”Wow, I expected nothing less from Astral's only princess, Princess Luna,” Julian spoke in awe. Only when Maria heard this name did she briefly recall the novel mention something about a Princess Luna.
'Wait a sec... Didn't the story say that she died a young age in a horrific accident?' Maria recalled how the novel once stated that the crown prince had an older sister, but she was never introduced in the main storyline due to having died from a horrific accident when she was young.
No specific details were given, just one saying that the incident was horrific, and how it caused her mother to commit suicide. Now that this topic was once again brought back up, Maria had suspicions that the Empress was no doubt involved in the death of the original Princess Luna. When it came to royal families, there was always a history of brutal wars that went on behind the scenes in order to seize the power of the throne.