<h4>Chapter 193: The Assessments</h4>


    <strong>*****************</strong>


    <strong>Chapter 193</strong>


    <strong>~Valerie’s POV~</strong>


    The sun was already high when we gathered at the academy’srgest training field. The air buzzed with tension,petition, and the weight of what was ahead—Assessment Test One.


    Students from every senior-year guild were spread across the field like a shifting sea of uniforms and nerves. The instructors paced at the front of the line, their clipboards out, expressions unreadable.


    Today wasn’t just a regr test.


    It was our first formal assessment in preparation for the Alpha Games. A test of strength, control, tactics, and teamwork.


    And even though the announcement said "team-based," everyone knew only individual excellence mattered in the end. Four students would be awarded top cement—two from each side during team matches.


    "All students to the great hall for theory testing. You have one hour," Professor Lyndal announced, her voice amplified across the grounds.


    Chairs scraped. Feet shuffled, and we moved.


    Theory was... brutal. Questions on runicbat, magical suppression tactics, wolf-hybrid shifts, Faebat forms, energy regeneration under duress—if you could name it, it was in the packet.


    I flew through most of it, but my mind kept drifting.


    Because something felt off, my body had been acting strangelytely. Not in the usual ’I just had six guys im me’ way, but something internal.


    My chest was warm, my fingertips tingled, and every now and then, the edges of my vision blurred just enough to make me blink twice.


    Still, I pushed through.


    After exactly sixty minutes, we were called outside again.


    Guild banners pped along the sides of the field, and faculty members lined the perimeter with solemn expressions.


    Thebat arena had been expanded, clearly customised for this specific event. Stone markers, elemental barriers, and even a few summoned terrain obstacles dotted the field.


    "Today’s assessment is based on capture-and-hold stylebat," Professor Lyndal announced. "You will be ced in mixed-guild squads of four. Your objective: capture your opponent’s g and maintain possession. Coordination and individual prowess will both be evaluated. This is not a simtion."


    Thatst partnded hard. Real terrain. Real hits. Real consequences.


    Our names were called.


    My team: Me from Guild 1, Brielle from Guild 3, Titania Sage from Guild 4, and Emerald Drake from Guild 2.


    I groaned internally. Of course.


    Opposing us were I from Guild 1, Sirius Jade from Guild 2, Astraea from Guild 3, and Marcus from Guild 4.


    Great.


    I moved to stand with my team, mentally preparing for the worst. Brielle gave me a fake smile. Titania didn’t even bother. Emerald nodded at me, at least.


    "I assume I’m not the only one interested in actually passing this," I said, adjusting the straps of mybat gear. "Let’s try not to fail."


    "No one made you team leader," Brielle snapped.


    "We’re literally assigned teams. Someone has to coordinate. Unless you prefer losing?"


    Titania scoffed. "Oh, I’m sorry. Are we supposed to work together so you can shine and win? What’s next? You’ll ask for apuse after taking the g?"


    I sighed. "Look. You don’t have to like me. But if you mess this up, we all lose."


    "I’d rather lose than hand you another spotlight," Brielle muttered.


    "Good," I bit out. "Then try not to get hit in the face, because I won’t be catching you."


    "Can you guys just put aside your differences for thirty minutes and let’s win. No rule says if the other team do poorly, we all four won’t be selected," Emerald cautioned them.


    "Tsk, you’re just like her, trying to boss us," Brielle snickered.


    We barely had time for more snackyments when the whistle blew.


    Game on.


    Our g was ced behind ayered stone wall. Their g, across the opposite end, behind a summoned barrier of shifting wind. We’d have to fight to reach it—and fight to keep ours.


    We moved forward in formation—or tried to.


    Titania broke off to the left immediately. Briellegged behind, pretending to adjust her de. Emerald groaned and kept by my side.


    "Idiots," she muttered under her breath.


    "Don’t waste your breath. Just watch the nk."


    We didn’t even make it halfway across the field before the enemyunched.


    Sirius came at us first, charging ahead with the speed and confidence of someone who thought he’d already won.


    His fists clenched, knuckles white, and I swore for a second I saw a spark an illusion, maybe—just muscle memory from years of training with energy.


    However, no one was using their powers today. That was the rule. That was the test—strength, reflex, strategy. Nothing supernatural allowed.


    Still, he moved like lightning, and I was the wall he crashed into.


    I met him mid-run, intercepting with a high block that jarred all the way to my shoulder. We locked briefly, body to body, breath to breath, before I twisted and shoved him off to the side with my full weight.


    Then Astraea came. Fast and quiet, her form precise—years of private instruction in every step. She veered right, toward Titania.


    And Titania, the goddess of arrogance herself, stood frozen like she didn’t expect to be targeted first.


    "Titania, move!" I shouted.


    But she didn’t. Her body was locked in that deer-in-headlights way that made me swear under my breath. So I moved instead.


    I pivoted sharply, ignoring the protesting burn in my thighs, and lunged to her side. Astraea’s twin batons came down in a sh of steel.


    I caught one with a cross block, let the other skim my arm, and used the opening to shove Titania backwards, just out of range.


    That was when Marcus entered the field like a battering ram.


    He moved with brutal force, no finesse—just raw momentum. His de gleamed under the sun, and it swung down toward me like a guillotine.


    I parried with my short staff, the impact sending a bone-deep tremor through my arms. He was strong. Stronger than I expected. But I held my ground, jaw tight, heels rooted.


    Then it happened again.


    That <i>warmth</i>.


    That odd hum in my chest, subtle at first. Then stronger. Buzzing. Expanding. Like something was building beneath my skin.


    My vision pulsed. Just for a second. Like the world blinked.


    I did not understand what was going on... but this wasn’t me doing anything. This was something happening to me.


    My feet shifted to the ground, and I struck again, but the earth didn’t feel stable. It felt... wrong.


    The whistle had barely finished echoing when chaos erupted.


    Sirius charged first—predictable. Fast, heavy-footed, and cocky. I lunged forward to meet him head-on, our des nging with a sharp ng that jolted my bones.


    He grunted as I spun and knocked his stance off-bnce, sweeping his leg and sending him crashing onto the dirt with a thud. That should’ve been enough to send a clear message to the rest of my team. <i>Focus up, or fall.</i>


    But when I nced back—Brielle was twirling her de like it was a runway prop, not a weapon. Titania was adjusting her gloves. Again.


    I turned, fuming. "Are you both <i>seriously</i> doing this right now?"


    Brielle huffed, not even looking at me. "I was <i>about</i> to engage."


    "Engage with what? A mirror?" I snapped. "Your job was to guard the damn g and cover Emerald. You’re too busy checking if your lip gloss survived the breeze!"


    Titania rolled her eyes with a slow, theatrical ir. "Oh, I forgot we were all here to worship the almighty Valerie today. You take one guy down and now you’re captain of the gods?"


    "Enough," I growled. "If you two had spent <i>half</i> the energy training that you do ying petty dress-up and sabotage, maybe we’d actually function like a team."


    Titania took a step forward, her voice low, venomous. "Remind me again, how many guys did you let mark you this semester? Six? Seven? Or do you not count after they stop answering your texts?"


    Emerald froze beside me. Even Brielle raised a brow.


    My jaw clenched so tight it hurt. "Say that again."


    Titania smirked, eyes glittering with cruel amusement. "Sluts don’t make good alphas, you know. No matter how loud they scream in bed."


    I took one threatening step toward her, fists shaking. "You want to see loud? Try me."


    "<i>Girls!</i>" Emerald cut in sharply, voice tense. "This isn’t the time!"


    But it was toote. I could feel it. The anger, the humiliation, the pressure inside me spiking like a needle. Every insult, every dismissive smirk—it all boiled inside me, waiting for release.


    And then—


    A shout from across the field snapped our heads around.


    Brielle, who had <i>finally</i> taken position near the g, had stopped mid-run and was tugging at her hair in frustration.


    "Oh my goddess," she whined. "This humidity is making my curls copse into my face! I can’t <i>see</i> like this—ugh!"


    "What the hell are you doing?!" Emerald yelled.


    But before Brielle could fix her hair—or shift, or lift her weapon—I appeared like a whisper on the wind. She tackled Brielle to the ground with terrifying grace, her de shing once, twice.


    Brielle didn’t stand a chance. She hit the dirt with a shriek and stayed down.


    "Brielle’s down!" Emerald barked, moving to reposition.


    I stood frozen for a heartbeat, watching I sprint off toward our side again.And that was it. Something inside me snapped.


    The rage, the anxiety and suffocating frustration. It surged through me like a wildfire.


    I turned back toward the field, and my knees nearly buckled.


    That pressure again, like my skin was on fire, like a force was pulling me down, deep under the soles of my boots.


    Like the earth itself was bracing for impact and then a sharp crackling sound rendered the air.


    A thin, jagged fissure split outward beneath me. The sound echoed like ss breaking underfoot.


    Heat rushed up furiously. The kind of heat that licked at your bones and reminded you you were alive.


    And then—fire.