“Were his eyes glowing blue just now?” Lupe whispers to Amber.
“Yes, they were,” Lucas answers.
“Does that not bother you?” Jon asks Lucas. Lucas shakes his head.
Madame Jeanette turns to Victor’s friends and places her index finger against her lips.
Wren keeps giving out commands. She has now added Earth and Fire into the mix. As she keeps giving Victor commands, she looks over at Eddie. Eddie nods, confirming he understands the silent request. He begins making the targets move around in the air. Eddie begins chucking the targets at Victor. He goes slow at first but then starts to pick up speed.
Wren takes a few steps back to avoid getting hit but doesn’t stop giving commands. Eddie gets a little too excited, and a large chunk of earth flies past Victor, heading toward the audience.
The first row doesn’t flinch. But the back row starts to get nervous as they witness a large piece of earth flying toward them.
Victor twists and flings his arm out as if holding a whip. He wraps the boulder using Air Magic, stopping it inches away before hitting Superiors Charles and Jackie. A breeze comes offthe large rock and brushes against their faces. As Victor retracts the target, he flings it against another moving target.
Superiors Charles and Jackie turn their attention to Eddie, narrowing their eyes at him.Eddie blushes a little but doesn’t make eye contact as he does some light whistling.
“We’re going to talk about this later,” Superior Charles says in a low voice.
After a few more minutes, Wren gives one last command. “Red Flamethrower. All Targets.”
Victor sees six moving targets in the air and three walking towards him. He looks at his targets, takes a deep breath, and turns his eyes bright red. He slowly raises his arms as though lifting a heavy object, causing the ground to shake. Everyone starts darting their eyes around, unsure as to what is going on. Victor pushes his arms into the sky, creating his own miniature volcano. Everyone looks on, feeling the heat radiating from it.
Wren raises her eyebrows. “I did ask for a flamethrower, but I guess I’ll count this.”
Victor turns his head to Wren. She doesn’t notice him giving her an annoyed look, but she can sense it. He drops his hands, causing the lava to return to the ground. As one of the targets starts to fall, He raises his palm and throws a red flame, causing it to incinerate. He doesn’t stop looking at Wren when he finishes and drops his hand.
Wren turns to Victor and gives him a neutral expression. “Show off.”
Victor chuckles as his eyes return to normal. When he turns around, everyone starts tocheer.
Wren spins around to the audience, hands clasped in front of her. “Now, it’s time for thebattle portion of the exam,” Wren expresses loudly over the excitement. “Is Victor’s opponent ready?”
Superior Charles stands up and fixes his blazer. “The real question is, is the young empath ready?”
Victor’s mouth drops. “I have to battle against you?”
Superior Charles fixes the cuff of his jacket while giving a sly grin as he walks over. “Don’t worry, I won’t go easy on you.”
“This battle will be simple. It is based on a point system,” Wren explains. “The stronger the attack or defense, the higher the points. If you can make it to 100 points in five minutes, you pass.” Wren gestures to the empty field. “Warlocks, take your positions.”
Victor and Superior Charles walk to their spots across from each other. “Was this your idea to be my opponent?” Victor asks Superior Charles.
Superior Charles grins. “I’ve been hearing how well you fight. I wanted to see it for myself.”
Wren creates an air dome in the field. Once completed, she proceeds with the second part of the exam. “Warlocks, ready?” Victor and Superior Charles nod. “Begin!”
Superior Charles effortlessly sends a volley of fireballs. Victor sees them coming and tries to focus. Without knowing, he creates a large water barrier that engulfs all the projectiles. Victor then pushes his hands forward, thrusting the barrier at Superior Charles. Superior Charles blocks the attack with his own barrier using lava. Superior Charles doesn’t let up on his attacks. Victor does his best to keep up but can’t dodge all of them. Victor sends his counterattacks, but that barely fazes the superior.
Victor becomes exhausted. He doesn’t know how many points the attacks are because Wren never mentioned the point matrix. Victor starts thinking to himself,Is it a point per attack I send? Do I get more for larger-sized attacks? What if they don’t hit Superior Charles? Does that even count?
“TIME!” Wren shouts. She makes circular motions in the air to lower the dome. Superior Charles brushes his sleeves while Victor tries to regain his breath.
Wren walks over to Victor with a towel. “Good job,” she remarks.
Victor takes the towel and starts drying off his forehead. “So, did I get 100 points?”
“247, to be exact,” Wren replies proudly.
