Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage Vol. 1- Novus Magus

[Revised/Edited] Episode 25: Giving it your all!

"Time's up," Yuzuki's voice echoed. A brilliant light surrounded both teams.

***

"We're back?" Nyima said as she stepped out of the same seal which had taken us to the tiny island. Her wound was fully healed as if it had all just been a dream. Had it been Adela's doing? Or that of the seal?

"I didn't do anything," Orion sulked as he stepped out of the neighboring portal with his teammates.

"Yeah. You're probably done for," Ayawamat said, crossing his arms as he walked past me and my team. "One of these days I'll settle the score with the four of you. One on one that is. Or perhaps all at once."

"What a huge ego," Nyima said, frowning in disgust.

He scoffed. "Think what you will. None of you could finish me off."

"Yes. You're like a cockroach," Iah murmured. "Stomp on you and you'll just keep on coming."

The black-haired youth narrowed his blue eyes at the prince. "I'm almost starting to dislike all of you as much as Lei."

"I'm sure the feeling is mutual," I said, pushing past him, and sat down on the bleachers.

"Yup," Adela said.

"Sure is," Nyima agreed.

Iah nodded.

"So, it's settled," Ayawamat said with a grin. "All four of you are now my rivals!"

"Picking fights? You're as bad as Lei himself," a voice called out.

I spun around and saw Nuk making his way toward them. "Hey. How do you seem to know so much about me? Just who are you?" I asked.

"Is your memory that bad? You barely seemed to recall Adela, and you can't seem to recall another. How can I expect you to remember me?" he asked as he made his way to the bleachers.

"I remembered Ada! I just didn't recognize her right away!" I snapped. 'As for the other, who else did I forget about?'

He smirked and walked away.

That guy was just as infuriating as Ayawamat, in his own way!

"Don't know who that mask weirdo is, but you gotta focus on the test," Nyima said, tapping my shoulder. "Don't you have a dream to fulfill? Dad said you claimed you would be Magus Maximus when he handed me my I.D. back and told me who had returned it. Or have you given up on that after a few setbacks?"

I gave her a toothy smile. "Like I would give up!"

Nyima's face flushed a little. She coughed and turned away.

I blinked. Was she blushing? Thought she said I wasn't her type.

"I'm so tired," Yen said as she walked over to us with Hika and Wani.

"You look as if you just ran a marathon," I said, furrowing my brow. "What happened? How did it go? Did you lose?"

"I would say so, even though no winner was called. It was harder than I had expected," Yen said as she sat down next to me.

"Our opponents were monsters," Hikaru said, sitting down. "One of them managed to catch on that I was going to use time magic to help Zelde out. She ended up knocking me out!"

"And here I expected to be the first one out," Wanikiya said as he glanced at his hands. He curled them into fists and sighed.

Yen snickered, turning away from Hikaru. "It's not that surprising that you got knocked out so quickly." Her eyes shifted toward the gym floor. "What was surprising was the speed of the psychic boy. He actually managed to keep up with me."

"Really?" I said. Very few people our age had accomplished that. "Who was it?"

"A guy called An," Yen said.

"Oh, him," Adela said. "I met him on the way here. He did strike me as strong, even if he might not look like it. He appears to have a lot of Prana."

Yen nodded. "Yeah, he does. And also a strange power. He could spike his magical output with his sword."

"It has to be a magic wand then," Nyima said.

"True, but it wasn't like any wand I'd seen before. Usually, a wand boosts one's magic, not one's own physical strength and speed on top of said magic boost."

"Hey, where is Zelde?" Yuzuki asked, scanning the area.

"She fainted as soon as we returned," Wanikiya responded. "It appears that she ran out of prana. Not even the seal could restore enough to keep her from collapsing."

"Hope that she's fine before the test begins," Yen said, furrowing her brow.

"The paper test will start in ten minutes. We'll be moving to different rooms for it. Follow your closest assistant proctor," Koukyuu announced.

Yuzuki stood up. "Come, I'll show you to the room. Hopefully Zelde can wake up before the ten minutes are up."

"They're giving the girl one of our strongest prana potions available," the dragon cloaked boy from before said. The guy really looked just like Ayawamat. They even had similar builds. The biggest difference was their height and eye color. This guy had red eyes, opposed to blue ones.

I glanced at my rude middle school acquaintance who was sitting behind Yuzuki. His three teammates were nowhere to be seen. "Hey. Are you two related? I mean, I thought that you only had one older brother."

"I do," Ayawamat responded.

"I'm Tahoma," the guy said. "I'm this guy's cousin. Now, enough buying time. We won't be extending the time until the final part of the exam."

"Darn," I whispered as he followed Yuzuki and Tahoma out of the gymnasium. Whoever Zelde fought had to have been scary. This An guy also sounded strong. I mean, he did manage to keep up with my sis, something even I struggled with.

I swung my hands over my head and smiled a little. Coming here was the right choice. Even if I didn't end up passing, I got a glimpse into the power of mages outside of Wahkan. But even beyond this place, there were people with various kinds of magic which I'd yet to see. Many of them far stronger than me, despite being the same age.

**Solar Question- What do you think Nuk meant by 'another', and just what is his own connection to Lei?**