The moment the match began, Valin made the first move.
She immediately backed up to the wall to increase the distance between us and aimed her Jinki, a staff, at me.
"Aqua Bullet!"
The moment she chanted, a large mass of water was fired from her staff toward me.
I instinctively did the same thing as in the previous match. I plunged my greatsword into the floor and got into a defensive stance.
But the water mass had more power than I thought. The impact pushed me back.
I guessed Valin had backed up to the wall because she was a long-range magic user and was good at fighting from a distance.
But her attack was much more powerful than Zaco's, and if this continued, I would lose.
I had to find a way out of this situation.
Based on the power hitting my sword, I knew I would be seriously hurt if I was hit by this water mass.
But I had one way to beat Valin.
I hadn't used it in the previous match against Zaco, and I hadn't shown it to the other examinees.
That was because I had a feeling I would have to fight again.
I concentrated all the magical power I had and released it.
"M-magical power?! But you can't use magic!"
The moment I released my magical power, Valin was surprised and stopped her attack.
She was probably shocked that I could release magical power.
The other examinees, who had seen my Jinki and my match against Zaco, assumed I couldn't use magic.
And they were right. I couldn't use magic, but I could use magical power.
Magic is the act of circulating magical power in the body and using a unique spell, but I still couldn't use magic.
However, I could wrap myself in magical power.
As Valin was surprised and her attack stopped, I prepared my attack on her.
I concentrated the magical power that was flowing from my body into my feet and got into a crouching start position, like in a track race.
Then, I kicked the floor with all my might and started running.
My speed was incomparable to my speed in the match against Zaco.
"What?! You're... fast!"
She regained her composure and fired the water mass at me again.
The water mass was approaching me and was about to hit me.
In that split second, I remembered my training with Dion.
"You know, Yuto, you're better at controlling magical power than other people."
Dion said to me as I sat down, out of breath, during a break in our training.
"Even though I can't use magic, I'm good at controlling magical power?"
I was still out of breath and asked him in a broken voice.
I thought it was strange that I was good at controlling magical power but couldn't use magic.
"Yeah. Just because you're good at controlling it, doesn't mean you can use magic. Anyway, let's talk about why you're good at controlling magical power."
He answered my question briefly and then began to explain.
Still, I couldn't accept that I was good at controlling magical power but couldn't use magic, but since I couldn't use it, I had no choice but to accept it.
"Being good at controlling magical power means you can concentrate it on any part of your body.
If you use that well, you can do more powerful attacks than a bad magic user, or you can increase your defense by concentrating magical power on the part of your body that's about to be hit.
So, what you have to do from now on is to improve your magical power control even more."
Dion told me the advantages of controlling magical power and my future goals.
It was a shame that I couldn't use magic, but hearing the advantages of controlling magical power made me realize that my magical talent wasn't a lost cause.
"Come on, let's continue the training. Get up."
Then Dion made me get up, and we continued the training.
In the end, he beat me up again.
I'm good at controlling magical power.
I focused on Dion's words from that time.
I immediately concentrated the magical power that was in my legs to my left hand.
And I deflected the water mass with my left hand, which was now filled with magical power.
The magical power I had in my left hand was stronger than the water magic, so I was able to deal with the magic without taking any damage.
After dealing with the magic, I immediately concentrated the magical power from my left hand to my feet and ran toward Valin. When she fired another spell at me, I concentrated my magical power on my hand again and blocked it.
I finally reached Valin.
I aimed for the staff she held in her right hand, as she was too slow to react to my speed.
I made a light fist with my left hand and put a small amount of magical power into it. Then I hit her right hand with the back of my hand.
It didn't have much power, but Valin was surprised by my speed and the sudden attack and dropped her staff.
"No... this can't be!"
Valin was shocked when she realized her staff was no longer in her hand. She quickly regained her composure and jumped back to get some distance from me.
But!
THUMP!
Valin had forgotten that she was a long-range magic user and had backed up to the wall to get some distance from me.
Valin was so focused on me that she didn't check behind her and ran into the wall, leaving her with no way to escape.
This is my chance!
I thought and took another step, closing the distance between us.
I clenched my right hand, gathered magical power, and went to punch her in the face, intending to stop right before I hit her.
My fist was getting closer to Valin.
At that moment, I remembered the outcome of my last match.
I remembered that I had tried to hold back against Zaco but failed to control my strength.
You idiot!
I had forgotten my last mistake and was about to make the same one again.
I would probably fail to stop my punch this time, too.
So, what I had to do was not to stop my hand but to change its trajectory.
I moved my hand toward Valin's face and slowly moved it to the right.
I was getting desperate and closed my eyes.
BOOM!
My hand hit something.
Based on the sound, it didn't sound like I hit a person.
Since my hand was covered in magical power, it didn't hurt even when I hit the wall.
I slowly opened my eyes.
The first thing I saw was Valin's face, right in front of mine.
I was so close to Valin that I could almost touch her.
Valin looked confused and her face was red.
A moment of silence passed, and then Valin's eyes started to water.
"Huh? I... I... lost...? No... no... no...!"
I opened my eyes and saw Valin's face was bright red, and tears were flowing from her eyes as she cried.
Her words were so different from her arrogant tone at the beginning. She sounded like a normal girl.
Wait, this isn't the time to be thinking about that!
I thought, but I didn't know what to say, so I just stood there flustered.
"Mistress!!"
Suddenly, I heard a loud voice from behind me and was about to turn around.
I felt a strong impact on my side and was sent flying. I slammed into the wall and fell to the floor.
I felt pain all over my body from hitting the wall, but I slowly stood up and looked at the person who sent me flying.
It was Valin's butler approaching the crying Valin.
"Sebass. I... I lost..."
Valin said to Sebass while crying.
"It's alright, Mistress. You were just not feeling well today. Let's go home now. Please get on my back."
The butler said, carried the crying Valin on his back, and left the room at an incredible speed.
He was about to leave the exam hall when...
"Wait! Sebass!"
Valin, who was on his back, suddenly ordered Sebass to stop.
Sebass stopped and turned to face Valin.
"Sebass, can you please put me down?"
Valin's tone was back to her strange noble lady's tone.
Sebass was confused but slowly put Valin down.
Valin was put down from his back. She rubbed her eyes with her sleeve to wipe away her tears and walked straight toward Reina.
Reina must have remembered what happened earlier and was about to take a step back.
But Valin quickly closed the distance and made it so Reina couldn't escape.
Then Valin opened her mouth.
"I would like to apologize for my rude words toward you earlier.
I am truly sorry for what I said."
Valin bowed her head.
Reina and the people around us were shocked by Valin's sudden apology.
Everyone was surprised by her respectful attitude, which was a complete change from her arrogant attitude before.
"N-no, you don't have to bow your head to me."
Reina was confused and told her to lift her head, as Valin was a noble of higher status.
But Valin ignored Reina's words and kept her head bowed.
After a while, Valin lifted her head and pointed her finger at Reina.
"Don't misunderstand.
I just promised to keep my word.
This is just me keeping my promise to him."
It seemed Valin hadn't forgotten our promise and had apologized to Reina after admitting she had lost.
After the apology was over, Valin's finger was no longer on Reina but was now pointing at me through the window.
"Yuto, was it?
I may have lost today, but when we meet again at the academy, remember this!
Now, let's go, Sebass."
Valin said and left the exam hall with her butler, a look of confidence on her face.
Everyone was so shocked that they didn't know what had just happened.
In the midst of all this, I stepped out of the room.
Reina saw me and came closer.
"Um, Yuto. I'm sorry?"
Reina, who came closer, suddenly apologized.
It was probably because of Valin.
She must have thought it was her fault that all this happened.
But this was something I did because I didn't like Valin's attitude. It wasn't Reina's fault.
"No, it's okay. I just did it because I wanted to."
I said to reassure Reina.
Reina looked like she wanted to say something but quickly changed her expression and stopped.
I didn't ask her what she wanted to say, as I thought it would be rude to her.
Anyway, what was that about "when we meet again at the academy," Valin? She's getting ahead of herself when she doesn't even know if she passed.
I thought and looked at where Valin and her butler had left.
A lot happened, but the exam was finally over.
All that was left was to wait for the results.