Prota watched nervously as Ryan faced off against John. Of the two, the latter was definitely a lot more relaxed. He was yawning, taking a nice big stretch before shaking himself off, trying to stay alert.

"I'm sorry about Ryan. He's normally very calm, but he gets upset when it comes to matters regarding me," Lilith whispered. "Will your brother be ok?"

Prota remained silent.

"Ah, is that something I shouldn't be asking? I'm sorry."

Once again, Prota found it hard to reply.

"...are you the shy sort?" Lilith smiled. "Sorry. I understand."

They turned their attention to the battlefield, where Ryan was still antagonizing John.

"You don't need a weapon?" Ryan frowned.

John just shrugged. "Well, I'm not trying to kill you."

"Do you think I'm that weak?"

John sighed, holding his face in his hands. How many times did he have to go through this?

"A weapon would kill you. Trust me."

Ryan wasn't buying it. "Come on. There are training tools everywhere. Swords. Spears. Shields. Surely you can use something."

"I'd rather not. I'm fine with my hands, ok?"

"Then it's your funeral."

Ryan held his hands up, scowling.

"By the power of light and fire, let shadows scatter, feel the ire. With fiery might and strength untamed, unleash its fury: Blazing Sun!"

John raised his eyes. It was his first time haring a chant. Unlike Prota, John didn't try to interrupt the spell, watching with interest as Ryan completed it. He didn't hesitate as soon as the attack began to move, though. He threw himself out of the way as the flame splashed like water, forcing him to twist his body to avoid deadly burns.

"Let's see you try this!"

Fireball after fireball was thrown, but John was sidestepping them with ease. Just like Lilith before, the majority of the attacks weren't aimed properly. The sparring John had done with Prota was infinitely more dangerous, just because of the sheer speed at which Prota was capable of firing off spells.

In fact, he was relaxed enough to give advice while fighting.

"You want some help? What to fix… Your aim. You have a considerable amount of power. I don't know how much effort that takes. I'm not well-versed in magic." John was slowly inching forward, closing the space between him and his opponent. "But, like. You might be a hydrogen bomb, but have you considered what's gonna happen when your opponent isn't a crippled coughing baby?"

John's advice was only infuriating his opponent.

"Don't underestimate me!" Ryan yelled.

Another fireball was raised, but John didn't wait this time. Taking off into a sprint, he approached Ryan before the spell could finish, forcing the mage to cancel the spell and fall back.

"Issue two," John continued. "You're probably used to making space as a mage. Good. Probably, I don't know, actually. But you're also prone to getting interrupted. Find a way to guarantee that you can cast a spell."

"You- stop that!"

Ryan began to chant, orbs of flame swirling around him, similar to the spell his sister had cast just a few minutes ago.

"...the same spell exists for fire and water? Actually, I suppose that makes sense," John muttered.

Ryan didn't notice John's mutterings. He finished his spell, yelling as he threw it toward the enemy.

"Vortex of flame!"

Just like with Prota, the tornado began to chase John. However, unlike Prota, it wouldn't need to touch him to do some severe damage. If it got even close to him, he would start to burn up, and that was something he'd rather not do.

It didn't help that the vortex was faster than him.

"How's that?! Not so loud now, are you?"

John wanted to sigh, but he was running out of breath. Despite this, he called out one last bit of advice.

"Issue three. Don't yell out the name of your spell before casting it. Issue four. Why the hell are you just standing there? What, is this a JRPG? Do you think we're engaging in turn-based combat?

John dove to the ground, rolling, gaining significant space between himself and the vortex. With this, he was able to sprint straight toward the caster, who, like his sister, was defensless. Ryan saw John coming and tried to defend, but it was too late. His chanting speed was too slow. John tackled him to the ground, out of breath, but still had enough energy to offer one last piece of advice.

"Huff… I don't… haah… know if your teachers were good or bad at magic, but I don't think they taught you much about… real combat."

Ryan just looked away. "...tch."

The boy was clearly disappointed in himself.

"Hey, I- ah, I didn't mean anything in a negative way," John said, backpedalling as he got up. "These are just things you can easily fix, you know? It's not that big of an issue. Well, it's an issue, but… ah, you get the idea."

Ryan briefly looked at John to see that he had no sarcasm on his face.

"...you're not being sarcastic? You mean it?"

"Well, I mean, you don't seem particularly weak or anything. Just a little, uh, new. To fighting, that is."

They were interrupted as Lilith came running up, her eyes practically shining. In fact, if John looked carefully, he could almost see literal stars in her eyes. She was moving too fast to tell, though.

"W-whoah!" Lilith exclaimed. "Were you the one who taught your sister how to fight?"

"Wh- why would you ask that?"

"Well, your fighting styles were super similar! The way you move, the way you fight and dodge… it was incredible!" Lilith said, moving in close.

John backed up, a little uncomfortable at how enthusiastic this girl was. "Well, it might be more that you just haven't learned to fight-"

"How do you do that?"

"Just- hold on, why're you asking me all of this?"

"He's right, Lilith," Ryan said. There was a scowl on his face, but John got the feeling it wasn't directed toward him. "We should get going, anyway."

"But-"

"Lilith."

The girl closed her mouth, nodding. It seemed she knew not to push too far, although her cheerful attitude was already quite overbearing.

"Hey. One last thing," John called out.

Ryan turned back.

"That magic was pretty impressive. Seriously. I'm not really good with mana or anything, so don't go beating yourself up over this, ok? It's just that your opponent happened to be a little… unusual. You were strong, dude."

His expression softened just a little. Lilith grinned, seemingly happy that everything had been resolved.

"Thank you for the spar!" she said, turning to Prota.

She opened her arms, coming in for a hug, but Prota just awkwardly backed off.

"She's, um… a little shy," John explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I understand. Well, thank you anyway!"

"...yeah. Thank you," Ryan said, nodding to John before dragging his sister off.

They watched as the pair went down the path, their sounds of arguing slowly getting quieter until they were out of sight.

John sighed, sitting down. "Man, that was tough. Seriously, what the hell was up with those two?"

Prota sat down next to him, watching the path the siblings had taken, looking even after they were no longer visible. There was a fond expression in her eyes.

"Did you have fun?" John said, casting a glance at his sister.

"...nn."

John smiled, looking off into the distance. "Well, that's good."

Prota nodded again.

"They seem like good people. They'll probably get into Scholaris."

Prota nodded again.

"Do you think they knew I was manaless?"

He looked down at Prota, the faint light in his left eye vanishing. She recoiled, shocked. John had used [Infinity] during that fight? That would explain why he'd been able to move around so freely. She knew he was a natural fighter, but his skills weren't exactly to the point that he could dodge the fireballs and spells so easily.

John nodded. "Probably not, right? That's good."

"...John is ok?"

"Ah, the [Author] gave me a little pass. I can use a little power without any complications," John shrugged. "It's not all good. Don't get it wrong, I'm enjoying the ability to fight, but this also means I'm going to be put into some… well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. You win some, you lose some."

Stolen novel; please report.

"So John is ok?"

"Um…"

He looked down at his hands, noticing some burns. Now that he thought about it, he smelled awfully burnt. Looking down at his clothes, he noticed several holes, none of which were too severe. However, as he rolled up his sleeves, he found even more burns along his arms.

He hadn't noticed the pain due to the [Determination] increase, but his body was still human, no matter how much [Infinity] was used. It would only ever defend against damage inflicted by his own ability, not damage done by others.

"Do you mind icing my arms up?" he said hesitantly.

John got a smack on the head as a reply.

~~~

The week came to a close as the exam season finished. Students milled around outside as they were summoned to the building where they'd gathered before at the start of the whole ordeal. The scene was quite familiar, although it seemed quite a few people had made friends. Suddenly, there was a rumbling as the doors slowly began to open again, and everyone went quiet.

"Hello, everybody. Thank you for gathering."

Sofya Orrein stood before everyone again, her small figure contrasting with her overwhelming aura.

"First, I give you my thanks for coming here. Everyone who participated performed well beyond the average mage. That goes without fail. Unfortunately, it will be impossible to accommodate everyone in this crowd. As you know, Scholaris is a school that takes only the top of the top. And you would be a fool to not know that some of you will not be making the cut."

There was a collective mutter that swept through the crowd, which was soon silenced as the headmaster began to speak again.

"Now, it is possible to reapply. So please, do not be disheartened. That being said, once you return to your rooms, you will be greeted by a piece of paper indicating your acceptance status. After that, the portals and ships will open once more, and you will be allowed to return home. To those who made it, we welcome you wholeheartedly and look forward to seeing you here in the fall. I wish you all the brightest of futures. That is all."

The little girl disappeared, and the crowd immediately burst into conversation. Failure? Passing? There was no indication of how many people had made it, how well everyone had done, or anything of the sort. All they knew was that some people were now students, and some were not.

"John…" Prota said nervously, clinging to his scarf.

She was huddled up, rocking back and forth.

With a sigh, he reached over and pulled her in with one arm, calming her down. Looking around, he could see Danjo in a similar state, and even Destiny seemed on edge. The only one who shouldn't have been affected was Celeste, but even she seemed nervous. Well, that made sense. She wanted Destiny to be her bodyguard, right? She was probably nervous for him.

"Relax," John said. "You all made it."

"What? How can you be sure?" Danjo lashed out.

He was a bundle of nerves, jumping all over the place. Despite his impressive performance during the exam, it still seemed that he was doubtful of his success.

"Trust me. You made it. It wouldn't make sense if you didn't," John sighed.

"Make sense? What do you mean, make sense-"

Destiny turned to John, cutting Danjo off. He turned to John with a serious look on his face.

"Do you mean that?"

John flinched. "Wh- huh? No, I wouldn't bait you like that."

"John. Do you mean that?"

"Well, yeah. There's no way any of you don't make it. It just wouldn't make sense."

Destiny sighed, the tension in his body melting away.

"All right. I'll trust you. Thanks, John."

The group dispersed, eager to get to their rooms and check their results. John lifted Prota onto his shoulders as they headed out, and they began to talk on their own.

"How does John know?" she said quietly.

"Well, I mean, normally something like this is super tense, right? Even for the [Readers], this is a moment of suspense and everything. But just think about it. Everything up to this point has pointed to Destiny going to school, right?"

"Nn."

"Then it follows that Destiny makes it in. Why hype Scholaris up and everything if Destiny wouldn't make it in? In the end, no matter how tense it may be, logically speaking, Destiny has to get in. The [Plot] can't continue without that event occurring."

Prota nodded. Something like that made sense. Her general knowledge of such things was slowly improving.

"You're confused about how I know about Danjo, right?"

"Nn."

"Danjo is a [Supporting Character]. Someone who isn't the focus of the [Story], but someone who supports the [Protagonist]. In a way, they can be almost as important as the [Protagonist] in some ways. The [Plot] often wouldn't survive without them."

"So Danjo is… important?" Prota said slowly, trying to keep up.

"Exactly. I don't know what, but he'll definitely do something to help Destiny in his quest to kill the Demon King."

"So when John said Danjo will be great…"

John was surprised. She still remembered that? Well, it didn't matter. He might as well explain.

"Yeah, I didn't mean it as encouragement. Well, it was encouragement, but I'm not just saying random things. Danjo is definitely someone special."

Prota thought about that in silence. It felt so strange. John was speaking of Danjo in quite a friendly manner, but it was still odd to objectify someone so easily. Seeing the dwarf, one couldn't help but think of Danjo as a shy, budding inventor, but the way John was speaking of him felt more like Danjo was truly just someone who existed to support Destiny.

"To be honest, Prota, this is why I was initially fine with Olivia dying. [Characters] need motivation for their actions. In Danjo's case, it was most likely going to be Olivia's death. Tragedy is often what's used in these kinds of cases."

Prota nodded. "But John saved her."

"Well… yeah. No point thinking about that anymore. If it fucks things up, it's too late to change it now anyway. And besides, it seems like he's motivated enough, right?"

"Nn."

Prota thought back to the fight with Doctor. John had initially been adamant about letting Olivia die. Was this why? She couldn't remember if he'd ever explained this. Would she have listened if he had?

No, John seemed content with his decision. At the time, it'd been hard, but if he regretted what he did, he was the kind of person to let Prota know.

"Then how about us?"

"Us? I don't know if we got in or not."

Prota glared at him.

"What? Really. We're not [Characters] in the normal sense, Prota. We don't necessarily belong. But what's the [Author] going to do? Just get rid of us? Well, I suppose the [Story] could just progress without us, but… nah, surely not. They're not just gonna do that, right?"

"So we got in?"

"Probably, yeah. I'd bet on it."

Prota sighed. John had gotten her worried for nothing. Sure, he was saying there wasn't a one hundred percent chance, but he also didn't say things like this for no reason, especially to her. He wouldn't have told her they were getting in if he thought they weren't. John was often quite blunt with his words, which also meant he wouldn't sugarcoat things in times like this.

They arrived at their room soon enough, pausing just before entering.

"Well, here we go."

Despite everything, John was still a little nervous. Even if he knew what the paper would say, there was still a feeling one got when receiving results, especially for something as important as this.

[Pass. Welcome to Scholaris.]

Prota's eyes shone, her paper rustling lightly as her hands shook. She'd passed. She'd gotten in. Even though she knew that she'd likely passed, the sensation of receiving the news yourself was extraordinary. Mystics themselves had judged her skills, and they'd deemed her to be talented enough that she could be regarded as the best of the best.

To think she'd gone from the deepest of pits to the top of the world. The world that had once hated her was the world she was now standing on top of.

"You did it, right? Good for you."

John, too, felt a little relieved. He wasn't sure he wanted to get in, but he had to be here for Prota. And besides, it felt a little good to have made it even without mana. Fighting involves some kind of skill. Some sort of effort. So far, he'd either completely overwhelmed his opponent with brute force or had been either sitting in the backlines, formulating strategies, or serving as something like a mosquito, merely annoying the opponent.

But he'd done it. He wasn't sure if it was because of his skill, but he didn't care. All he cared about was the end result.

There was a knock at the door, one filled with impatience. John had an idea of who it was.

"You were right," Destiny said, panting. Celeste was right behind him, a cheery smile on her face. "We got in. We all got in."

"Well, yeah," John nodded.

"You're insufferable, you know that?" Despite his words, Destiny was smiling. "I assume you guys also have good news?"

John nodded again.

"That's it? No celebration? You don't seem that happy."

"We got in. What'd you expect? That we fail?"

"Prota?" Destiny laughed. "Of course not. You?"

"...damn. I'm hurt."

"I didn't know you could be hurt. Still, isn't it great? We all got in."

John nodded, but the victory didn't feel that good. Of course they all got in. The [Author] wouldn't have allowed anything else to happen.

"Big difference from fighting chimeras and gods, right?" John said, lying on his bed.

"Gods?"

"Wouldn't you say Doctor was that strong? The point is, it's a hell of a lot different from that. It feels like the order is all mixed up."

"I know what you mean," Destiny sighed, falling onto a chair. "It feels like we should've gone to school first. Learned new skills. Developed a feel for things. But instead, we were thrown right into the thick of it."

"Yeah? Well, it's just how it goes."

Suddenly, Danjo burst into the room, panting.

"I- I did it! John, you were right!"

John grinned, sitting up. "What, did you doubt me?"

"Well… that's-"

"He's teasing, Danjo," Destiny sighed. "Come on, loosen up a little."

"We- we did it! We got into Scholaris! The Scholaris! Do you guys know how big of a deal this is? This is huge, this is amazing, it's-"

John laughed. "Calm down, Danjo. You're gonna knock yourself out."

"You- you're right. Thanks."

Danjo took a few deep breaths, still clenching the acceptance paper in his hands. There were smiles on everyone's faces, even Prota, and even though her lips were barely curved upwards, that was still huge.

"So… what? We just go back home?"

"Ah…yeah. I've gotta get back and finish some projects," Danjo said. "That's right. School doesn't start until later."

"It's just a few more months," Destiny said, consoling his friend. "Come on, compared to what we've been through, it's nothing. I'll see you here in the fall, Danjo."

"You're right. It's just a few more months."

"I thought you missed your sister," John pointed out.

"Well- that's-"

"You're letting him rile you up again, Danjo."

The group continued to chat, saying whatever came to mind, but that was what happened when one was filled with nothing but joy. Regardless of whatever they'd accomplished before, Scholaris was an incredible opportunity. The chance to be tutored by Mystics, to grow in the best environment possible, to learn things not even royalty were privy to.

That was what they had.

"John Quarta?"

Everyone stopped as someone rapped on the door, peeking his head into the room.

"Is there a John Quarta here?" the strange man asked again.

John got up. "Uh, yeah. That's me. What's up?"

"You've been called to the principal's office. Someone wants to have a word with you."

John looked around to see everyone giving him a strange look.

"What? I don't think I've done anything," he frowned.

"You sure about that?" Destiny said cautiously.

"No, seriously. I haven't done anything. Really."

"...then what could this be about?" Danjo said, confused.

John turned to the messenger.

"You know what this is about?" he asked.

"No. I'm just the messenger."

John sighed. "Can I bring anyone along?"

"Just you. Sorry."

Prota looked up at him, worried. As John had said earlier, they weren't necessarily meant to be here. It was possible they wouldn't get in. So why had John, of all people, been called? Why not Prota?

"Alright. Let's go."

Everyone wished him luck as he followed the messenger, walking down the dorm halls out into the open, where they followed the cobbled paths to one of the older sections of the castle.

"So, you a student here or something?" John said, trying to make small talk.

"No, I'm just staff."

"You ever get to see anything cool?"

"Depends on your definition," the man smiled. "Some things you get used to. Others, though… yeah. I guess I do get to see a few cool things."

"Hey, so who are we going to meet? Do you know?"

"No, actually. I'd presume you're talking to the headmaster."

"What's she like?"

The messenger suddenly stopped, almost causing John to run into him. He turned around slowly, a serious expression on his face.

"I can't say much. If she wants you to know, she'll let you know, but let me give you this piece of advice, and I say this for your own good: watch your step around her."

"What, is it because she's a dragon?"

"You- look. All you need to know is that you need to be careful, alright? She might seem casual, but one wrong move and you could seriously mess up."

The two continued into the castle, walking up a set of spiral stairs. John was impressed. The man hadn't just let the cat out of the bag. He hadn't even admitted to the headmaster being a dragon. He'd simply given John the advice he needed to give and carried on.

Still, the man's expression was enough. Sofya Orrein was, in fact, a dragon. And just like the man suggested, he'd need to be careful.

"Here we are."

John stood in front of a large set of double doors. They looked thick and heavy, made of solid wood. There were a few seats outside, likely for people to sit on while waiting, but the lack of anything else made the area all the more intimidating.

"Good luck."

John walked up and knocked. There was no point in being afraid. He'd faced off against opponents far more terrifying than this. The only thing running through his mind was the question of what he could possibly be here for.

The doors opened soon after, pushing inwards slowly, revealing the headmaster's office. It was neat and tidy, with clean but full bookshelves lining the walls. Cabinets and drawers sat in strategic positions, likely filled with paperwork and essential items.

However, what didn't seem to fit was the Fighting instructor standing in front of the small childlike figure sitting at the headmaster's desk.

"Ah, you're here. This one wanted to speak with you."

John shook his head. He still didn't feel comfortable with a child as a headmaster, even if she was a thousand years old.

"...you called me here so I could speak with the fur- the Fighting professor?"

"Yes," Sofya nodded, returning to her paperwork. "You may go now."

"Thank you," Lupin said, bowing shortly to Sofya.

He turned to John, an unreadable look on his scowling face. He walked right past him, stopping shortly as he passed through the doors.

"Come. We have something to discuss."

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