There was nothing I could say to that; she already knew everything I would have.
I'm right here if you need me, I said, giving her as warm a smile as the moment called for. I've never once doubted that, silly, she said, forcing her best smile.
"The fundamentals you will be tested on are your speed, hiding your presence, hiding your intent, and mana control. Your goal will be to strike each of the targets, but you may only use a spell of your choosing for your finishing blow," Kanarin explained, turning to face us once she was finished.
"Time is short, but I pray that these past few years will prove to be instrumental in your future battles. Do your best, my dearest pupils," she said, stepping away as she gestured for Mom to go first.
"Good luck, Mom," Bernar said with a balled fist held at chest level. Mom gave us a grin over her shoulder that she proceeded to roll before cracking her neck.
Mom moved to the edge of the first detection circle to her left, but as she got closer to it, I could sense everything about her beginning to fade. In mere moments, the only way any of us could have known she was there was because we'd seen her with our own eyes, and even then it was still challenging not to confuse her for an inanimate object.
"Begin," Kanarin called out after a nod from Vauv, who stood at the other end of the arc of training dummies. In an explosive burst of movement, Mom dashed from one dummy to the next, striking vital points as marked by small, glowing circles on their chests, necks, and heads.
One by one, punch by punch, she disabled the first three in less time than it took to blink, but when it came to the fourth dummy, she slowly strode into its detection circle.
It still hasn't changed color, I noticed, already seeing the spell beginning to form in the palm of her hand.
It reminded me a lot of a Kyr spell, with violent bolts of scarlet mana tracing up her forearm. Even with all that power being held right in front of it, the dummy still maintained its white and golden colors.
She raised her spell to the height of the dummy's face and unleashed the spell as if she were simply blowing dust off an old book cover. In a flash of scarlet, the dummy's head disintegrated into little more than a rippling cloud of mana.
To say that I was impressed would be one fuck of an understatement.
"Well done, Siraye. Your test has been concluded, and by the power vested in me, I now consider you a graduate of Polarion Academy," Kanarin said over our applause and cheers. Mom took a bow and gave the rest of us a smirk. "Thank you, Director Kanarin. It has been an honor to be your pupil," she said as she rose from her bow.
Next up was Bernar, and while his, uh, methodology was a little different from Mom's, it was still effective nonetheless. Each dummy fell quickly, though he used a mixture of different techniques to strike all the vital points available on each dummy. Finally, when he approached the last one, he used the odoruki technique to get in behind it and push a spell through its back, creating a massive beam of pure mana.
"You've done splendidly, as well, Bernar, but remember that the longer you take to defeat your opponent, the higher the risk of revealing your intent," Kanarin said with a slight scoff, getting a bashful chuckle in response.
"Nevertheless, I now consider you a graduate of Polarion Academy as well. Remember what you have learned here, and let it serve you well," she continued with a proud look in her eyes.
"Now, which one of you would like to go next?" she asked Ysevel and I. "I'll go," Ysevel said with a nod, earning one in return from Kanarin. Good luck, my love, I sent her quickly. I'll do my best. This reminds me a little of your third stage examination, after all, she sent with a weak grin over her shoulder.
Heh, good times, I sent back with a half-chuckle and shook my head.
She approached the edge of the circle to her right, and with a decisive swipe of Kanarin's arm, she began. Her presence, like with the others, seemingly vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of her at all. I avoided looking into her core to see how she was feeling out of fear of accidentally distracting her, but it seemed I worried over nothing.
Like the others before her, she executed the dummies with nothing short of godlike precision. Even without looking into her core, I could tell her focus was sharpened to its highest degree.
Hooooly shit, she's moving even faster than during training, I realized, feeling a sense of excitement and pride wash over me.
Each one of the first three dummies was dispatched almost simultaneously, but her handling of the fourth came as a surprise. Instead of walking up to it, she leaped into the air, crossing the circle's threshold with her arms tucked in at her side, and a growing orb of mana just in front of her mouth.
The pressure inside the dome grew exponentially, as if all the mana that had been supporting it was being drawn into the orb, and the sound emanating from it could only be compared to the side of a mountain collapsing.
Waaait, what is she doing? I thought privately, but when I noticed a look of the purest pride on Kanarin's face, I knew she was about to pass her test.
The air came to a sudden and abrupt halt before a bright beam of scarlet mana crossed the distance from her to the dummy instantly. She held the beam for a few seconds, as if even one second wouldn't have been enough, causing the floor beneath my feet to shake violently.
"Holy fuck!" Bernar whispered with his mouth wide open in surprise. Mom, however, looked on with an excited grin.
The beam came to a quick halt as Ysevel remained suspended in the air. I couldn't see her face, but I could tell that was how she was handling her emotions based on how well I knew her.
Well done, my love. You needed that, I thought, feeling an empathetic smile growing on my face as I applauded.
"Ysevel Phrys, or should I say Phrys-Ansuz? That was exceptional. You have passed your test with flying colors, and I welcome you as a graduate of Polarion Academy," Kanarin said with her arms spread, prompting Ysevel to rush into her arms and give her a tight hug.
"Thank you, Director Kanarin," she replied, prompting a single tear of both joy and sadness to fall from her exposed eye. "You have nothing to thank me for. Just be careful out there, my dear," Kanarin said in a motherly tone as Ysevel pulled away. "I will. I promise I will not let your training go to waste. Neither of yours," she replied, giving Vauv a nod of acknowledgment.
Vauv, of course, was an absolute mess with tears, but smiled through them with Ysevel's acknowledgment.
Next was my turn.
Ysevel made her way back, and I ran out to greet her halfway with the others, wrapping her in a tight embrace and kissing her forehead. "You were incredible, my love," I said with a warm smile. "You were right, you know?" she said with a half-chuckle. "What do you mean?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "I did need that," she said, subtly letting me know that she'd heard me even without me sharing that through our connection.
"Ah, well. Shit. I-I was really trying not to distract you," I said bashfully as I rubbed the back of my neck. "No, no! It wasn't distracting me at all. If anything, it helped to keep me focused on what I needed to do," she said with a brighter, more honest smile than before.
"Well. I'm glad I could help," I said, feeling a bit of relief leaving through my core. "Thoma, it's time," Kanarin said, gesturing for me to take my place. "Good luck, little brother," Bernar said, careful not to use his usual term for me.
I smiled and turned away, raising a balled fist up to the height of my head. After a few steps, I moved to the center of the arc, neither moving left nor right as I began to suppress my presence.
"Begin," Kanarin said with another swipe of her arm.
I followed the command and immediately moved to the dummy on my right, striking at its neck, torso, and beneath its chin, effectively disintegrating its head. I moved to the next on the opposite side of the arc, punching a hole straight through the vital point on its chest.
Next, I moved to the one immediately to my right and, in a single bound, I swiped at what would have been its trachea, then using my rotational momentum to launch a backside kick to the vital point on its torso.
Then came the real challenge of the fight. As Synners, we were always taught that we had to decide on the spell before we released it. However, in order to truly negate my presence and intent, the entire process had to be as natural as breathing.
Once again, easier said than done. Although I will admit that reaching the level of experience that I had over the last few years of training made that possible.
As I lowered my leg from the kick, I could sense the dummy's mana before I even laid eyes on it. It was so faint that I nearly mistook it for one of the pillars behind Vauv, but the fact remained that it wasthere.
However, since this was a test, I couldn't afford to let my mind wander with options. Instead, I moved toward it and allowed my spell to form on instinct rather than intent before moving into the dummy's range with a dash.
As I got closer, scarlet mana coalesced around my right hand and arm. From the outside, it might have looked like it became mana itself, but in reality, it was the same concept as a Pyrus spell, only infinitely more condensed and embedded into my body.
I launched an uppercut without actually striking the dummy, taking a page from Ysevel's display and releasing a beam of mana straight through the base of its chin and straight into the dome's ceiling, where it nearly punched through like a needle to leather.
The sound of the explosion and the impact's shockwave rolled through the inside of the dome like thunder, causing the ground to rumble and the top of the dome to ripple in its entirety.