After this, Cyril met a few other groups as well.
Like Cyril promised before, Morpho was going to participate as well.
While he was keeping the disc safe, she was flying from student to student, striking everyone with her wings.
With Heavenly Dragon's Judgement, Morpho was able to become quite powerful, at least against these students.
A single hit was enough to take down most of them, and with her quickness no one was even able to graze her as she gracefully defeated anyone she saw.
Some of the students complained that Cyril was fighting cowardly by relying on others.
They were clearly referring to Morpho, but Cyril ignored their complaints.
...
Later Cyril even met some of the students he took down already; it seems the defeated were not outright disqualified but reintroduced into the forest after a forceful rest.
As a result, word about Cyril and his hunting spread to most of the test participants.
These students all tried to run away the moment they saw Cyril.
However, they couldn't outrun the butterfly.
Cyril had quite a good harvest during this time, and he even no longer bothered to check the score.
I miss using the spear a little. Thought Cyril while searching for his next victim.
Selene's technique required physical contact, or at least at the level he was at currently it required so.
So Cyril has been fighting barehanded for a while now.
It was somewhat interesting at the beginning, but lately he realized it wasn't really for him.
I wonder if there is a way to use the technique with a spear...
"We can ask Selene. And if she doesn't have a way, we can just develop one ourselves. We are mages, after all."
That's true.
Soon Cyril encountered an unusual situation.
He just found another person to duel, and upon noticing him, that student immediately cast a spell straight above him.
In the clear sky there was now a conspicuous bright fireball.
Is that a signal of some kind? Cyril was interested.
"What did you just do?" asked Cyril, staring at the scared student.
"We won't let you beat us however you want! Now everyone will move as far away as possible—this will limit your reign of terror!" the student replied passionately.
Cyril's face became blank for a second. Reign of terror...?
"You really just want to run away? Your test is about trying to defeat me," replied Cyril with a raised brow.
To be honest, all the duels so far could have been way more interesting for Cyril if the students actually worked together.
The students never properly utilized their numbers advantage.
And now they were even trying to run away. Which disappointed Cyril even further.
Perhaps he let it show, as a student's face in front of him suddenly showed shame and anger.
"It's easy for you! You are strong; of course you don't understand how we feel!" He yelled with emotion.
His fists clenched at his sides, trembling with barely contained rage.
"Fuck you, Cyril! You were just lucky to be born with talent!" The student's eyes were almost bloodshot.
Huh?
"Where did that come from?"
Cyril stared at the passionate young man for a few seconds in wonder.
"I can't deny that my strength comes mainly from my inherent gift, but that doesn't excuse your own weakness," Cyril calmly replied.
"It's not my fault you refuse to even try to be strong, giving up almost immediately upon noticing me." He spread his hands and shook his head.
"Well, it's not like you are actually listening to me right now..." Cyril said, staring at the almost completely red face of the student.
Suddenly the student couldn't keep it in any longer and pulled out the two-handed sword behind him.
With a shout he swung desperately at Cyril, who effortlessly dodged the slow-moving attack.
Missing with his hefty weapon, the student was left completely open.
Cyril, in a single move, hit him on the chin, which immediately knocked the young man out.
"Even though it was mostly in anger, at least you tried to attack me; not that bad," Cyril lightly said to the disappearing body.
Have I interacted with him before?
Cyril got a familiar feeling when looking at the student's sword.
"You fought him back at the class competition. He was pathetic back then too," Rhamn quickly reminded.
I see.
Cyril sighed and was about to move on when suddenly a lightning bolt was thrown at him.
The speed of lightning was faster than Cyril's dodge; he braced himself and threw the crystal disc in the air.
Morpho caught the disc and flew into the woods to hide.
Cyril, in the meantime, withstood the spell without dropping on the ground.
However, the barrier around him was dangerously close to breaking.
The power of this spell was quite high.
Cyril recovered from the shock and quickly hid behind a tree to take a breather.
"I was hoping to end in a single spell..." A familiar voice said in helplessness.
It was Rose. It looks like upon noticing the signal, she approached, eager to get a high grade.
"This is revenge for the competition, Cyril!" She yelled excitedly.
"You can try," Cyril yelled back with a strained smile.
At this moment Morpho flew close and tossed him the disc, her meaning clear.
"You'll go? Alright, good luck." He whispered with a nod.
Cyril needed some time to recover anyways.
With his approval, Morpho energetically shot forward.
Prepared to cast a shield at any moment, Cyril cautiously exited his cover, curious to see their fight.
Morpho flew straight with great speed, as per her usual strategy. However, her opponent this time had a functioning frontal lobe.
"Sorry about that, Morpho," Rose yelled with a smirk and activated a spell she had prepared earlier.
Just as the butterfly got close, a field of raging electricity formed around Rose.
There was no way to dodge such an attack, and Morpho was stunned by lightning, becoming stationary.
Using this perfect opportunity, Rose quickly cast another spell.
A whip made of lightning appeared in her hand, and she swung it at the helpless butterfly.
But before the attack could connect, a shield was formed around Morpho, deflecting Rose's spell.
When Cyril saw Morpho about to be harmed, he reflexively cast the shield originally meant for himself.
Rose immediately changed her target and moved her free arm.
She folded her fingers, leaving only her index finger pointing straight at Cyril.
The lightning that formed the whip quickly went into Rose's body, transferring to the index finger.
In such a manner the spell transformed into something entirely new; a potent bolt of lightning shot out of her hand, aiming right at Cyril.
Alarm bells rang out in Cyril's head.
He desperately avoided the attack with all his being, fully utilizing the Heavenly Dragon's Judgement technique.
Leaving bluish afterimages, Cyril ducked, the bolt barely missing his hair.
The spell went into the tree behind him, utterly destroying its trunk.
From his crouched position, Cyril immediately burst into a sprint, racing toward Rose.
Morpho, too, recovered from her confusion and resumed her attack.
Now facing two simultaneous attacks, Rose panicked and conjured a shield.
Cyril reached her first, shattering the shield with a palm strike.
Morpho followed, piercing the dissipating magic and striking Rose directly.
Rose dropped to the ground and rolled a few times before coming to a stop.
Surprisingly, the barrier around her was still intact. She managed to negate Morpho's attack in time.
There was little Rose could do next, however, as Cyril was already by her side when she tried to get up.
"That was close; it was a fun duel," Cyril said with a slight smile.
This fight was just what he wanted to see from this test.
Rose returned the smile, although hers looked slightly more malicious. "I wonder if you'll think what comes next is fun too."
She raised her hand and cast a spell; she didn't aim at Cyril, rather at the sky.
A bright, fiery spell shot into the air, similar to the signal earlier, but of a different color.
Cyril stared at the event with an intrigued face.
"That means you are here and are currently weakened. Soon, grade-hungry students will swarm this place." Rose explained with a wink, then destroyed her own barrier.
That might be a problem...
"See you later, have fun!" She waved her hand and disappeared.
Cyril could only stare in surprise at the spot where she had been.