It was finally the day of the big event. A month had passed, and by now, all of the students should have learned the skill to its fullest capability in this amount of time. It was the first assessment that would be given to first-year students.

The first event was for them all to showcase the new skills they had learned in a friendly bout. In a way, it was also designed to show that the Blue headband students still had a gap to close, and for the Yellow and Red headband students to know someone was always on their back ready to replace them.

However, this time the event had more weight than it ever did, and the students had no idea of what was to come.

A large stage had been built out of solid reinforced concrete. It was placed outside of the main courtyard that separated all of the buildings. It was also placed right in front of the main building of the academy where the teachers resided.

The stage was slightly elevated off the floor and around forty meters by forty meters in size, giving them all enough room to use a number of foot techniques and show everything they had. The reinforced concrete was able to withstand hits from at least a stage 3 Pagna warrior.

At the sides of the stage, there were stands built with a few seats in between. This covered three sides of the area and were colored Dark Blue, Yellow, and Red. On the final side, which was closest to the academy building, there were several seats out and about, possibly around thirty or so. Many had large umbrellas that would be used to block the sun, giving them a sense of shade. Two men stood away from the seats, and that was Gunther and Pincer.

'I can't believe it's been an entire month, and I've still received no news about anything to do with the Dark Magus. The other teachers know nothing!' Gunther complained. 'At least the reward still hasn't been taken down. It should mean no one knows anything about him yet. Oh well, at least today shouldn't be boring. I wonder how he's doing and if I'll get to see him perform today.'

Pincer grabbed onto a large gray horn. It had short fur on the outside, and the white color gave it the impression that it was made of some type of bone. Placing both lips on the end, he puffed his cheeks and blew hard, letting off the signal that it was time to begin the event.

A few moments later, the sound of marching filled the entire place. One foot was placed after the other, as Lee, Tod, and the other Blue headband teachers walked in, their students in rows behind them, following them neatly. At the same time, the Yellow headband students, around seventy or so in number, had come out, doing the same, being led by their teachers to their stand, and finally, there were the Red headband students.

When reaching the stands, everyone carefully lined up, turned, and took their seats. In front of the stands for the Blue headbands and the Yellow headbands, there were separate seats placed out in front closer to the stage. As for the Red headbands, since there were only twenty students in the first place, there was no such thing.

"Oh, it looks like the white-haired kid didn't make the cut. What a shame. I would have loved to have seen you teach him a lesson, Mada," Ricktor commented.

"Yeah," Mada replied, and noticed that his heart was at ease. Was he afraid to go up against Raze? Was he thankful that he didn't need to do such a thing? It wasn't just him, though. Sherry also noticed that the tall student wasn't taking part either, the one that had stopped her with the plate.

"Will all students please welcome the Principal Murkal Dockthron, the Vice Principal Amir Huthell, and the headmasters of the five major clans belonging to the Dark Faction!"

Walking out through the academy doors were the principal and the vice principal, and following not too far behind them were the five leaders. Just their appearance alone as they walked together gave a large, intimidating feeling. Even though the area was large and vast, they felt like they were being pinned down by giant wild beasts. Just looking at them was giving everyone the shivers.

"What is going on right now? Why are the five Clan heads here?"

"This isn't a big event; they don't usually come, right? So why have they come this time?"

It wasn't just them, though. Soon, even more figures had come out from the academy, dressed in extravagant clothes. They were surrounded by powerful guards by their side as well.

Teacher Lee had recognized them instantly. 'These are all prominent figures across the entire Dark Faction continent. Merchant heads, mercenary group leaders, and there are even some government officials among them as well.'

Teacher Lee had made eye contact with Principal Amir. It was clear his request had been granted. If he was able to show results in front of all of these, then it would provide great results.

"It's a good thing I wasn't fighting after all," Dame commented. n..O1n

"What do you mean?" Raze asked.

"Some of those Clan heads, I've fought them before, and they know exactly what I look like. They would have been able to sniff me out from the beginning," Dame explained. "Who would have thought that they would be bringing such important people."

Raze was looking at each of the clan heads individually. This party was his target, those that he had to overcome in this world if he wanted to become someone of significance.

For those taking part in the event, the presence of all of these onlookers was making them more nervous.

"They're all going to be watching" Simyon said. "All of these people are going to be watching my embarrassing talent!"

Simyon placed his head nearly on his knees; he was so embarrassed imagining the fighting already, and he thought maybe it would have been better if someone else were selected instead.

"I just hope those Clan heads don't hold a grudge when I kick their precious sons and daughters to the ground right in front of them," Liam said confidently.

It wasn't just the Blue headbands that were nervous, though; the five main disciples were as well. They didn't even dare look in the way of their clan heads because, in a lot of their cases, they weren't just the clan heads, but these were their relatives, their grandparents, direct parents, aunts, or uncles.

"It's been a long time since the five of us were together like this. It's a shame we don't get to meet up more often!" An older man with a scruffy beard and a large belly said.

The man was Gavin Rocksbored, and he was head of the Moon Shield Clan. Their clan was well known for being placed on the border between them and the Light Faction and had never once failed in defending an attack.

"Please, I would much rather keep our meeting to a minimum; I am very busy." A woman with dark purple hair and next to no wrinkles on her face, looking the youngest of the group said.

She was Feebie Dines, the head of the Lethal Bite Clan.

"I should thank you all for coming," Amir said with a polite bow. "I know all of you have extremely busy schedules, but don't you think it's good to keep an eye on the future generation of our clans, especially with the troubles that have been occurring."

"He is right," Crine said, the leader of the Flowing Force Clan. He was the only one there that had relatively short hair on his head. Not only that, he wore the least amount of clothing, showing off his muscular shoulders to the others.

"I heard that the Light Faction had a scuffle with the Demonic Faction lately, and it didn't end well," Crine continued.

"Ah yes, I heard that as well," Samantha Whishheart said. Leader of the Tulip Falls clan. She had an incredible amount of fur clothing on her body, making her appear several times larger than she actually was. Even sitting in her chair, she looked somewhat like a giant polar bear sitting down.

"It's come as quite a surprise since I also heard that Beatrix was sent."

"No way!" Gavin nearly jumped out of his seat. "Beatrix was defeated. Does this mean that the Demonic Faction has been gathering their strength? If they have talents that are capable of beating her."

Quite quickly, Murkel cleared his throat, interrupting the talking of the other leaders.

"We are not here to talk about these matters; today we are here for the students, so please keep your attention on them."

The others listened to Murkel and sat back in their seats, ready for the event to begin. Peeking over, though, Crine had noticed something. All of the seats were filled with guests. Amir had done well to get the correct number; after all, he had been in charge of inviting them all, yet there were two seats that were empty.

Just as he thought this, he could hear the sound of footsteps from behind.

"Sorry I'm a bit late; the young one had to take a big log in the toilet," a male's voice said.

When turning around, they could see a large man with a brown trench coat walking, and by his side, a short, orange-haired girl with a beret hat.

From the stands, Raze had instantly spotted the two.

"What are they doing here?"