Students were slowly gathering in the Academy grounds.
It was noticeably less crowded than the day of the entrance exam. Many of the participants had failed to damage the training dummy at all during the practical exam. The likelihood of them being admitted was low. They already knew it. Most of them hadn’t co back.
The ones who had returned carried different things on their faces.
Confidence. Anxiety. Carefully controlled blankness.
"I don’t know how I did. I’m really scared right now."
"Sa. I keep thinking about the theoretical exam and I can’t tell if what I wrote made any sense."
As ti passed, more students filtered in. The children of great families arrived steadily, each one attended by escorts who stopped at the Academy entrance and went no further. Inside the Academy grounds, titles ant less. Escorts were not permitted.
Carlos arrived alone. He stood apart from the other students with his arms crossed, eyes forward.
Elizabeth found a spot near the edge of the gathering and stayed there, not speaking to anyone.
Lyra stood quietly near the middle of the crowd, close enough to blend in, far enough from everyone that nobody tried to speak to her.
All three had arrived. All three were waiting.
But more than the results, most of the students were watching the entrance.
"Do you think Lord Necrotize will actually co?"
"Honestly? Probably not. Think about it — what would a god actually do at an Academy? Maybe he just showed up that day for sothing to do and then changed his mind."
"That’s what I think too."
But as they were talking, a small portal opened quietly near the Academy entrance.
Nothing like the last ti. No sky splitting open. No darkened sun. Just a simple, calm opening in the air, barely large enough for two people to step through.
A woman in a maid’s uniform ca through first. Then a man with an elegant, unhurried face and unusual purple eyes.
The crowd noticed imdiately.
’He actually ca.’
The thought passed through almost every student at the sa ti.
But this ti was different from before. Nobody dropped to the ground. A few felt the urge — the instinct was still there, buried sowhere deep — but they pushed it down and stayed standing. His instructions from the entrance exam had not been forgotten.
Necrotize walked into the Academy grounds with Catherine beside him.
His expression was difficult to read. There was sothing good in it and sothing not good in it at the sa ti.
The good part — he was here. He had co back. He was genuinely excited about whatever today would bring.
The not good part — the theoretical exam.
He had written what he could. He had tried his best with what he had. And what he had was apparently very different from what the exam was asking for. He had no idea if that was enough. He didn’t know the standards of this place. He didn’t know if trying counted for anything here.
But he had decided sothing about that.
Even if he was not admitted today, he would not consider it a failure. He had shown up. He had taken the exam. He had tried. And trying, regardless of outco, was never truly a failure.
He believed that.
He still hoped he had passed though.
The professors were gathering at the front of the grounds. Most of them looked like they had not slept properly in several days. A few had visibly aged. Helen was standing at the far end of the professor line with the expression of soone attending a funeral.
Then Eric stepped through a portal and took his place at the front.
He stood straight. Professional. Composed.
He looked out at the gathered students. He saw familiar faces imdiately. Carlos. Elizabeth. Lyra. Many others he recognised from the entrance exam.
Then his eyes moved to the back of the crowd.
Necrotize. Standing quietly with Catherine beside him, hands in his pockets, looking around at the Academy grounds with what appeared to be quiet curiosity.
Eric held his gaze there for exactly one second longer than he intended.
Then he let out a slow breath through his nose, straightened his posture, and began.
"Good morning to all of you. Thank you for returning. I will keep this brief."
He clasped his hands behind his back.
"The entrance exam has concluded. Both the practical and theoretical portions have been reviewed and scored. The practical exam determined your departntal placent. The theoretical exam determined your ranking within that departnt. Both results have been finalised."
He paused.
"Your results will be posted on the notice board at the eastern wall of the Academy grounds. Your na, your departnt placent, and your ranking will all be listed there. If your na is on the board, you have been admitted. If it is not, you will receive a separate letter explaining your result."
A murmur moved through the crowd.
"That is all. You are dismissed to check the board."
For a mont nobody moved.
Then everyone moved at once.
The crowd shifted toward the eastern wall in a wave. Students pushed forward, craning their necks, searching for their own nas. So found them quickly. So took longer. So stepped back from the board with relief on their faces. Others stepped back with nothing.
Carlos reached the board without pushing. The crowd parted around him naturally, whether they ant to or not.
He found his na quickly.
Carlos Hilbert — Magic Departnt — Rank 2.
He stared at it for a mont.
Rank 2. Second in the entire cohort on the theoretical exam. He had worked for years. He had studied everything he could find. Second place was not a disappointnt by any reasonable asure.
His eyes moved up the list to Rank 1.
He read the na.
Then he read it again.
His jaw tightened.
Elizabeth found her na without difficulty.
Elizabeth Ashendra — Combat Departnt — Rank 2.
She looked at it for exactly as long as necessary. Then she stepped back from the board and looked at the sky instead.
She was in. The Academy had accepted her. Which ant the next Chapter of a life she had never chosen for herself was now officially beginning.
She was not sure how she felt about that.
Lyra waited until the initial rush had thinned before approaching the board. She moved quietly through the remaining students and scanned the list carefully.
She almost missed her own na.
Lyra Leonheart — Magic Departnt — Rank 7.
She looked at it for a long mont.
Rank 7. Out of ten thousand participants.
Her father’s voice surfaced in her mind without invitation. ’A silver-haired bastard who can barely produce a lightning strike.’
She looked at Rank 7 on the board.
Then she turned and walked away without expression.
But her hands, folded neatly in front of her, had tightened just slightly.
At the back of the crowd, Necrotize had not moved toward the board.
He was standing exactly where he had been, watching the students with quiet interest. Catherine stood beside him.
"My Lord," Catherine said. "Would you like to check the board?"
Necrotize was quiet for a mont.
"...Yes."
He walked toward the board slowly. The crowd around it had thinned considerably by now. He stopped in front of it and looked at the list.
He found his na.
Necrotize — All Departnts — Rank 1. Theoretical Score — Highest in Academy History.
He stared at it.
For several seconds, Necrotize simply stood there staring at the board. The result should have made him happy.
Instead, a quiet disappointnt settled over him.
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