One More Time: Rebirth

Chapter 14: Shocking the examiners

Everyone from my age group seems to be finished. Aside from Gerard, Eri, that kid Roland, and that one child from the demon clan almost everyone received the Rank of E class.

It was then my turn to be examined finally came. When I entered the testing room it was unlike the others. As there seem to be eight examiners for my test.

As I was observing my surroundings, the judge told me to use my strongest fire magic first. I did as I was told without chanting with words out loud. I starting chanting in my mind [Explosion.] A huge explosion happened above my head.

The people who were watching as well as the examiners were in a state of shock. One of the examiners then asked me, "was that a voiceless chant?" I nodded my head in response. The examiners then started talking to each other and after a short while, the judge finally spoke.

"Edge Regius fire magic C class."

"Um excuse me aren't I suppose to do another one?" The judge looked at me, I saw that he looked a little confused then snapped his fingers upon realizing something.

"No, you just have to do it once. The judging for the ranking tests has changed five years ago. Your parents' information must be outdated. They haven't taken the test for ten years now."

"I see thank you for the information." The next one was water so I did another voiceless chant [Icicle daggers.] Numerous icicle spears appeared around me. I didn't even have the chance to shoot them when the judge then made his decision. "Edge Regius water magic C class."

Next was earth magic same as the first two I used the strongest spell I knew within this system which was [stone wall.] The judge once again announced my rank "Edge Regius earth magic D class."

Next was wind magic this one magic I was practicing last week actually needed to be chanted properly. "GATHER UPON MY HAND THE EVER FLOWING AND PROSPEROUS WINDS. FORM A BLADE OF WIND [SICKLE OF WIND]." A blade of wind cut through the floor and made a dent on it.

The judge was a little shocked before he made his announcement. "Edge Regius wind magic D class." He must have been shocked cause, unlike my other spells this was below C class and also because I actually chanted out loudly for once. Next was healing magic and like I thought it was barely passable as an E class.

So after the magic ranking next was for my swordsmanship. I was given a blunt sword and one of the examiners was to face me. I was asked by the judge what style I would like to show first. I answered the water style.

The match began both me and the examiner took our stances and waited for the other to make a move. This match might take a while. The water style focuses on analyzing the opponent's movement and then countering. This style was created to counter the fire style but over the years the fire style improved itself so that it cannot be countered so easily.

So as a counter centric style swordsmanship making the first move was bad. Yet if neither us doesn't make a move nothing will happen. It was at that moment I remembered what my father taught me to in a situation like this.

Provocation, you must provoke your enemy into attacking you. I'll give him an opening to exploit but I need to wait for the perfect moment to show an opening. I must act as if I'm getting impatient.

I waited for a minute then I lowered my guard thus showing an opening. The examiner will never expect a seven-year-old to use feints. Seeing the previous children doing their ranking exam, I noticed none of them have used feints. This was due to their inexperience in battle, unlike me who has an abundance of that.

The examiner seeing the opening charged at me. He used [Silent pierce] one of the few techniques in the water style that was made for an opening attack. Accurate and deadly, fast and silent if you don't know where it will hit it will be difficult to avoid. Fortunately, I know where it will hit, which was obviously the place where I made an opening.

I evaded the move and did my counted with my own move [Snake bite]. Slashing with a feint either to the left or right and attacking the opposite side. The examiner wasn't fooled and deflected the move using the skill [Flowing water].

The fight continued but neither of us could get a hit in. The judge finally stopped the fight and announced "Edge Regius C class water style swordsmanship." The examiner gave me a five-minute break to rest for the next test.

The next test would be for my fire style swordsmanship. The five minutes rest time were up so I readied myself again. The battle between my examiner and I started without hesitation as we both charged forward.

The Fire Style had no defensive moves, everything from evasion to blocking was made into an offensive strike. The same as Gerard's test, the examiner and I kept on attacking and deflecting the other's blow with another.

After fighting for a few more minutes, the judge ended the fight and announced my rank. "Edge Regius C class fire style swordsmanship."

The two other tests pass by without me doing much and I was then ranked D class for both wind and void. I thought the tests were over so I was about to leave but the examiner stopped me and said. "The test is not over yet, Edge Regius, once you achieve a rank in all styles of swordsmanship. You must then take a test for an overall rank in swordsmanship. The test will be with three examiners, you must fight them with your combined knowledge of all the styles."

"Is that so... Alright, then I'm ready." I took a stance but it was not one of the stances in this world but my own unique stance in my previous world. I created this stance for the sake of revenge and survival. This was the stance born from my experiences.

I inhaled and exhaled controlling my breathing. I then enhanced my body using magic. They did say I must use everything, and this magic is part of my swordsmanship. Seeing that the judge the examiners made no comment about it, I assume it was alright.

The judge then signaled the start of the test and I immediately used [wind step]. This technique coupled with my enhancement magic neared the same speed as the movement technique [lightning step] that Eri used. Unfortunately, it wasn't really there yet.

I then used [blazing sweep] from the fire style to attack my three opponents with one strike of my blade but even with my increased speed, they were still able to evade the strike. One of them even used [flowing water] to deflect my move.

I followed up with [ground break] from the void style which makes the ground shake. This move was meant to disrupt their stances. Seeing that the move was successful, I was going to finish them off but then one of the examiners used [mountain peak].

I deflected it and countered. [Flowing water] to deflect and [surging waves] to counter. The move surging waves was used against opponents with great attacking power. Using their strength you reflect it back to them. The counter was successful, one of the examiners fainted. The two that were left got their momentum back and started attacking me.

I was going to counter but my body couldn't move properly, due to the strain of using multiple moves at once. So I simply evaded the upcoming attacks. Sh*t, using continuous techniques and magic in one day was worse than I expected as my childish body can't keep up.

I overexerted myself and now I'm in quite a predicament. I continued to evade and evade for the time being. Since I can only do one more attack and no more than that. I got to make this one move count. I waited for one perfect opportunity to strike. The odds were against me, and the fight was getting difficult. But even in this situation I somehow felt excited and couldn't help but smile a very vicious smile.

I kept on evading until I saw the opening I needed and used the move [Blazing sweep.] I used the fastest and most powerful attack I can perform at the moment. I thought I grasped the perfect moment to attack, but it seems like it was anticipated. Sh*t! So that was a deliberate opening, I was fooled. Still, even when it seems like I was about to lose I felt my body moving and was about ready to counter whatever they had in store for me. "Bring it!" I shouted as my vicious grin grew wider. But Before I was able to do anything and before the examiner's attack was to strike me the judge ended the battle.

I knelt on the ground in exhaustion. That feeling I had when things were getting difficult was exhilarating. It was a bit irritating that we couldn't finish the fight but still, it was a satisfying fight. If only my body was able to keep up it would've been more fun.

While I was trying to catch my breath, the examiners started deliberating amongst themselves. It took about fifteen minutes before they made a decision. The judge then finally announced my rank. "Edge Regius overall sword-rank B class."