Chapter 20 - Test Of Reflexes

*Kaler's POV*

I walked to the starting line as instructed and readied myself. I glanced at the bench where Aurora and another girl had sat down. I laughed internally when I saw Aurora freeze the girls mouth. She truly was ruthless.

I closed my eyes to communicate with Volt. "Do you think I should end this quickly? Full speed?" I asked.

"I do not think so, they might think that you are cheating master. Teleportation to forbidden correct?" He answered in my head.

"I suppose so, 2 seconds then." I figured.

"Sounds good." Volt replied

The blank fired and the world around me slowed. I gathered the strength in my body and pushed off, I could see the bolts of lightning hitting my surroundings and the other students and Teachers covering their eyes and taking cover. I passed the finish line and pressed the button to stop the timer. When everyone finally looked up, their eyes were opened to their limit and their jaws were on the ground. I smirked internally and walked back to them. As I did, I glanced at Aurora who was smiling widely and clapping like a child. The girl beside her basically had the same reaction as everyone else.

All eyes were on me as I went back to the crowd of people. Only Alistair was not as surprised, probably because he saw it before. I smiled at him and he smiled back. I felt malice being directed at me and glanced at the guy who tortured me in the storeroom. I did not realise he was here until he took his turn. His teeth and fists were clenched tightly and I can sense that he was seething with anger.

After a few seconds of astonished silence, Ms Black finally broke it. "Ahem! Um that was…impressive Mr Dakrun…" She said, I could tell she was still in a daze. I bowed my head respectfully. "Let us continue with the test…"

We walked over to a set of weights from the gym. This was the test of strength. I knew my strength was enhanced by the gauntlets, but I could not use my full strength as I could not show the gauntlets and my electrical mastery does not extend to enhance my physical strength at least not by much.

Alistair took first, Thalia, that girl that tried to kill me by looking at me, took second as she used the wind to lift and assist her, I took third from pure strength. I heard Laurence took 4th and I looked over again to see him looking murderously at me. I paid him no mind for now.

The final test for physicality, reflexes and dexterity. We gathered in the soccer field once more. "For this segment, I will be throwing non-lethal attacks at you. Dodge as many as you can. The moment you faint or collapse the test is over. If you can last a whole 5 minutes as well, you also pass. If you get hit, you mat continue so long as you can stand." Ms Black issued the instructions. At this point, thought still early, many of the less advanced magic user had dropped out from overexertion and exhaustion.

The first contestant stepped up. Ms Black held up her hand and the sky began to darken. A blue ball of electrical energy coalesced in her palm. I smiled. Unless Ms Black was a dual elementalist, which is extremely rare and hard to master, she will not be able to touch me. I smiled at the thought. The first contestant started sweating profusely, I could see the sweat condensing on his face.

A blank was fired and Ms Black shot bolts of lightning straight at him from her hand. The bolts were indeed fierce. However, I felt that they would do no more than shock someone. For me, It will feel like nothing. She started slow at first, shooting one at a time, one every few seconds. Despite the slow pace, the student could only barely avoid it and was on his toes the whole time. It was like he was standing on hot rocks, constantly moving. He was only tiring himself.

After a minute, Ms Black started firing at a doubly faster rate. The student only lasted so long. At 1 minute and 30 seconds, he was hit once and fell to the ground. Students capable of using healing magic took him away. This continued for a long time. No student made it past 1 minute and 30 seconds. When Laurence stepped up, he made it to two minutes. By that mark, Ms Black started firing small bolts like a machine gun. Laurence was hit several times in the chest and collapsed after 2 minutes and 17 seconds.

Thalia stepped up. Before she did, she tossed me a glance of disdain. I did not know what her problem was, but I did not really care either. Her performance was extremely skillful, she's used the wind to thrust herself swiftly in any direction. However, once the 2 minute mark had passed, she could not avoid the lightning by moving horizontally anymore, instead, she thrusted herself upward. Everyone who saw it gasped and was in awe. I was also impressed, if she trained hard enough, she would be capable of flight. However, now she was just using enhanced jumps. She also used thrusts downwards to make herself unpredictable.

She seemed like she would be a capable fighter. At 3 minutes, Ms Black raised her hand above her head. The sky lit up in a bright flash. A small flash of lightning was brought down on Thalia. She was too shocked to react and was electrocuted, falling to the ground. Luckily, she was caught before impact. I was impressed, Ms Black was capable at calling lightning form the sky. Unfortunately for her, I am lightning.

"Good luck." I encouraged Alistair who looked a bit on edge. He cheered up a little, flashing a little bit of his charming smile. He stepped onto the field. For the first two minutes, he was dodging without difficulty. It actually looked like he was dancing. Once Ms Black engaged her rapid fire, Alistair's feet were set ablaze, the grass around him started to burn, those out of range of his flames started to wither. Seeing this, I smiled, there was still a lot about Alistair that I did not know of. With new found vigour and speed, he dashed about the battle field, like he was drawing with fire.

The real problem started when Ms Black started summoning thunder from the sky. Althought not very powerful, in order to manipulate the whether, one would have to be impeccably strong. thunder struck an mere centimetre away from Alistair, he was able to avoid it for the time being, barely side stepping it.

The bright blue bolts and thunderous roars filled the air as it felt like a thunderstorm was apparaoching, when it was really the work of a high class mage. At 4 minutes, Ms Black raised another hand, blue energy surged in the palm of that one too. The lightning strikes became more frequent. I could see Alistair struggling to keep up. He was blazing lines along the field and continued dodging as best he could. The clock was quickly ticking down. 5 more seconds to go. The sky flashed brightly once more, brighter than every other instance. Two bolts descended upon the world. Ms Black was in complete concentration for this one, her eyes sealed shut. I could see all the students watching on in amazement as well.

However, it was not meant to be, Alistair was a tad too slow, the very tip of the lightning bolt grazed his ankle, causing him to fall over form the intense shock.At 4 minutes and 58 seconds, he collapsed and failed the test. Ms Black panted from the effort and looked at Alistair who was twitching on the ground. "I deeply apologise for not being able to reach the 5 minute mark. However, since no one had made it this far, I would consider you a solid pass. You had to make me work for it too." She comforted him.

Alistair rolled over, straining a little bit and chuckled. "Heheh. Don't be too sure…" He said pointing to me. "You still got him to take care off." Ms Black looked at me, sizing me up. She seems to be a little hesitant , despite having already seen my speed. I decided I should piss her off a little bit more, seeing if she has something against me.

"Ms Black, with all due respect, you will not be able to make me drop. Use everything you ahve against me. Prepare to request for the help of the other students." I said, a slight air of defiance. She snickered and looked at me once again.

"You are rather confident aren't you? Fine I will oblige by your wish, just to prove you wrong. Don't cry to me when you can't last a few seconds." She said. I only smiled and bowed, walking to the field.

I readied myself. To piss her off even more, I sat down on the scorched grass. I could see her snicker. The umpire fired the blank and she immediately unleashed a torrent of blue lightning form her palms. The force and the light of it made everyone gasp. Some laughed at my insolence in challenging a teacher, some were concerned. Ms Black was smiling widely as well.

After a few seconds, she finally relented and the torrent ended. I was watching everything through Volt's eyes, who I secretly deployed in the sky. Their reactions, I can't wait for them to see me. "Well, I gave you what you asked for Dakrun, you arrogant child…now we should-" The smoke parted, revealing me sitting still, like i was meditating. I was unscathed, unharmed. From Volt's aerial view, I could see Aurora smiling brightly and her friend was just watching, speechless. "Impossible…" Ms Black uttered in disbelief, backing away slowly.

"Let's give them a good show." I told Volt.

"As you wish." He replied.

I dramatically opened my eyes, revealing that they are completely golden in colour, shining brilliantly. Everyone gasped and backed away like I was some sort of demon. "What's the matter, Ms Black?" I asked sarcastically. "There are still 4 minutes left."

She gritted her teeth and summoned two enormous bolts of lightning from the sky. I smirked, raising my hand and catching them both. The blue lightning swirled in my hand. Everyone was too shocked to react. Seeing their expressions, I redirected the bolts somewhere else. She struck me again and I deflected them to a nearby soccer goal. She tried one last time, this time, I felt her putting all her effort into it. I still effortlessly caught it and threw it back at her.

Her eyes widened seeing this and she braced for impact. She slowly got up from the ground and stared at me with fear. "Ms Black. If we are done playing now, allow them to attack me." She defeatedly nodded and commanded all students present to try and hit me.

A storm of attacks of many different elements and varying intensity started to rain down upon me. There were really only 3 attacks I should watch out for, Laurence's flaming punch, Thalia's air slash and Alistair's hellfire. The last one would be the most devastating if hit. I had two minutes left.. A smile found its way onto my face, this was gonna be fun.