My parents may be idiots sometimes, but they were tantalizingly amazing with their respective fields.

  Vance was in the top swordsman's of the empire, and Kestria was similar in respect but for her magic ability.

  Fighting the two of them would be the biggest challenge of my life so far. I could defy the empire, bicker with Veran, converse with Cecilia all day long. Even exchange a blow with Torian.

  But this?

  I could maybe match them briefly, but they were going all out. That meant I had to as well.

  The weeks that had passed I spent every day without failure training my body, mind and soul.

  From weight lifting, to meditation, to spending time with Jerek and Mariel. I was as prepared as I possibly could be.

  Both of them were dependent on me, and I was dependent on them.

  My exam was last, Torian ensured that so no more bullshit would happen like my previous major exam. He wanted to watch this one but there was a riot on the other side of the continent and the emperor specifically requested he snuff it out.

  Cecilia was going to watch though, which was nice considering I wasn’t able to give her anything since the booklet still hadn’t revealed itself in five years.

  Was Nythris abandoning me?

  No, I just merely hadn’t unlocked this last chapter.

  Nevertheless, my thoughts dwelled on my best friend and girlfriend.

  From the best buddy to the greatest woman a man could ask for, I had everything I needed.

  I still felt incomplete though.

  My eyes were drifting in and out of watching the event, nothing interesting had happened yet.

  Then it was Jerek’s event.

  I apparently didn’t take notice enough over the years but Jerek was a force of nature when it came to shielding.

  He had developed a trait of the shield which was rare, but all of his magic ability was of the highest level. He was absorbing, blocking, redirecting spells like it was nothing.

  The best I could do was I could dispel, or block low level magic, even then it would hurt like crazy.

  His exam was showcasing he could defend anyone or anything, and he passed with flying colors.

  As for Mariel, she was similar to Book N’ Blade, but she just had healing magic, so she was technically a battle healer.

  Book N’ Blade required full mastery of at least lucen or morvain as well as one fighting style for one weapon.

  She was excellent with Healing magic, and with her fighting style with the blade, but there was more to lucen magic than just healing thus she wasn’t the same as a Book N’ Blade student.

  However her exam was just as interesting as Jerek’s, she danced around the event floor dodging and deflecting blades, while also being tasked to heal a wounded classmate while fighting.

  She also passed with flying colors.

  There were a few more that were interesting to watch, but most of them were a whole lot of nothing.

  It felt like they were just going through the motions because they were forced to have an exam, not because they actually wanted to be here.

  Then it was time for my exam.

  My event was about to begin.

  I saw my parents standing next to each other staring me down. No smiles, just the stare an enemy would give.

  There was no emotion radiating off of them. They were solely interested in their duties as an officer at this moment.

  That both made me filled with joy, and fear.

  They weren’t going to hold back.

  Veran counted us down, just like my scene with Torian.

  “Begin.”

  The word echoed in my head, but I didn’t hesitate. I had trained for months to get to this moment.

  Nothing could waver my ambition.

  The fight was going to be similar to the fight between Jerek and Mariel.

  The biggest difference being that Jerek was tanking all my hits so Mariel could open up an attack. My father would be attacking and opening up attacks for my mother to toss spells at me.

  They weren’t going to try to kill me, but they were allowed to injure me.

  As I went through all the calculations of what would happen my blade collided with my fathers. Immediately sparks shot out. We both fought with the same sword stance, which was momentum based.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  We collected the same amount of momentum, and we were similar in raw strength, and although my blade was a better metal, he was a high ranking officer so his blade was by no means cheap.

  My mother began with low level magic, her goal was to debilitate me, as my father was attacking, that way both could be on the offensive right away.

  I wielded Gravewake in my right hand, and I flew my left arm up to dispel magic from my mother.

  So far I was holding my own, things seemed normal.

  I knew this wouldn’t last, I needed a way to give myself the upper hand.

  My lips chanted spells and I threw them at my mother, to keep her on her toes.

  This prolonged too long. I felt the exhaustion kicking in, and it looked like they hadn’t broken a sweat.

  I needed a new tactic.

  It dawned on me.

  Why am I fighting to their strengths?

  In the blink of an eye I redirected my spell from my mother directly at my father, causing him to attempt to cut it. In his own confusion he left his guard open which I used to attempt to strike him.

  He flailed his blade up barely parrying my attack, but this opening allowed me to lunge off him and fly towards my mother.

  She summoned a lightning bolt that collided into my back.

  Pain shot through my spine.

  I could feel my very lifeforce fade with this attack.

  The lightning bolt flew through my spine.

  Then through my stomach.

  Then out of my body into the ground.

  She then bounced the bolt off the ground and through my gut.

  Back through my intestine.

  And out through my spine.

  I collapsed to the ground instantly.

  I screamed in pain.

  Did I miscalculate?

  Drums were blaring from my heart.

  Without chanting I let out a war cry.

  My body reconstructed itself, but it wasn’t pretty.

  Singed clothes showing holes with my freshly healed flesh underneath.

  When I stood I was barely a meter away from my mother.

  I held Gravewake in my right hand.

  “That hurt.” I said as my blade carried its weight around my back and the flat side of my sword collided with my mothers head, sending her flying.

  “Kestria!” My father exclaimed.

  A soft glow rose from her body, she began healing herself.

  Shit, I didn’t think that’d be that hard of a blow.

  My father was flying towards me, so I conjured a stone pillar from the ground that he impaled himself on.

  His body fell to the ground.

  I thought I won so I dropped Gravewake. I then removed my coat from my body and threw it to the ground.

  When I turned back to my parents I was on fire. My mother was healed already and had chanted a spell.

  This was going to take longer than I thought.

  The fight persisted for nearly an hour.

  Exhaustion was filling my lungs, heart, muscles, and bones.

  And I felt Veran’s eyes pierce through me the entire time.

  The fight pressed on so long I began to feel sluggish.

  I could tell my father was just as slow as I was, same with my mother.

  The fight was eventually cut off.

  Someone jumped into the field and approached me. I couldn’t tell who it was, I was in a haze.

  The person approached my depleted body.

  They began speaking but I was so out of it I had no idea what they were saying.

  Although I was standing, my posture was slouched.

  I couldn’t even look up, I was too busy collecting my breath.

  But that poisonous aura radiating off of this person only matched one person.

  It was Veran.

  He was holding a weapon, which only could be Witherband.

  Just then I felt the air around me shift.

  Every time Veran was an asshole to me in the past I could feel I still had something to protect me.

  I felt there was no such thing here.

  My hand was gripped firmly on Gravewake.

  By the time I tried to defend myself his blade already crossed my countenance.

  Without even meaning to, I collapsed forward.

  Gravewake — connected to my body, mind and soul felt this disturbance and ignited on its own.

  The blades runes glowed as the sword pressed through Veran’s heart with ease as he collapsed backwards, with my momentum collapsing forwards.

  By the time he hit the ground I was in agonizing pain.

  That sword causes irreversible damage.

  I tried casting a healing spell on my eyes, but it was of no use.

  Blood streaked down my face, I heard yelling and chanting.

  Then I felt pressure bellowing in my direction. It was promptly stopped before it could get too close, but at the cost of someone else.

  I heard a body collapse beside me.

  My arm drifted upward and I reached out begging.

  If she was going to help me — she would right now.

  Nythris.

  I needed her.

  “Please… help…”

  That was all I could muster.

  In the madness and despair filling the air it was displaced in a matter of moments.

  The world around me felt like it had changed, but not positively, or negatively.

  Primitively.

  The people in the crowd, and nearby me, held their breath.

  I was on just one knee.

  The pain eased slightly with this new presence.

  I felt the ground shift, and this person was kneeling next to me.

  The world was watching their next move.

  In my fear I allowed myself to be vulnerable to this individual. I knew they meant no harm… not to me anyway.

  A soft, and impossibly warm palm landed on my cheek.

  In that moment the entire world flooded my head crashing into it like a hammer and a nail.

  Suddenly I could feel everything. Every heartbeat in the audience. Every breath of air taken from them. Even the grass twitching beneath their shoes.

  It was violently overwhelming, and agonizing.

  It was too much.

  I can’t take it.

  In this chaos of my own tattered mind, one voice calmed me instantly.

  “My child…” Beckoned from the voice of the being holding my face.

  Her voice was low, but the whole world would hear this.

  Her thumbs brushed the streaking blood from my face.

  An aura of what felt like lucen magic poured into itself and constructed something I had never felt before. And it was all wrapped into an object this person was fidgeting with.

  But the darkness persisted.

  They weren’t attempting to improve my vision.

  Replace was a more accurate word.

  The person let out a tender breath.

  “The rot has taken what I cannot give back,” she whispered. “But you will not be left broken.”

  She stopped fidgeting with the item and wrapped it around my head. Covering my eyes.

  It felt both warm and cool simultaneously.

  The cloth wasn’t healing my vision, but it was healing my eyes.

  The bleeding was stopping, extremely slowly.

  But it was a start.

  I’d simply hold myself to a trial, and then inevitably find a way to use this gift for the betterment of the empire.

  Then I felt who was lifeless next to me.

  It was Mariel.

  She had been hit with some form of magic and was bleeding internally.

  I wanted more than anything to heal her but she was fading quickly, and I wasn’t going to be fast enough to catch her before she died.

  I could feel my mother already sprinting towards her to attempt to save her life.

  My mind was already made up.

  There lived no world where I could return to a normal life now.

  This internal declaration is a vow.

  I’m ending this shit.

  My face returned to determination as I rose from the ashes of my former life.

  “You walk a painful road,” Nythris’s voice murmured, fading like a receding tide. “But you were made to stand.”

  A final whisper brushed against my ear from her.

  “Your first hunt begins now,” Her body began to fade to light as she walked through me. “Do not disappoint with such a crowd.”

  And she was gone.

  The world roared back to life—shouts, chaos, pain—but I felt it differently now.

  My sight was gone.

  My senses were reborn.

  Everything that mattered had only just begun.