The trio now stood in a large room halfway between the middle hall and the Head’s office. The outside edge of the room had wood flooring while the inside was covered in a soft, black, spongy material. It was on this black flooring that Ty and the Head faced each other. It seemed as if Ty was about to fight the Head. Ty looked at the bowman, Jean, in confusion, but after getting no visible response he returned his gaze back to the Head.

With a smile, the Head unsheathed both of his daggers and tossed one of them towards Ty. The boy jumped to the side in shock as the sharp, rotating object soared past him and landed with a bounce ten feet behind him. “My, my,” said the Head, “you’ll have to get better at handling a dagger if you wish to be admitted into this school.” Bewildered, Ty picked up the finely crafted dagger. “Now, I’m going to assess your skills through a little match of daggers. There’s no need to worry, you won’t be able to touch me with yours and I’m not going to stab you with mine.” Ty nodded to this as the Head let his muscles released all tension and stood loosely. Yet again, the Head confused Ty; he hardly looked like he was interested in Ty. “Based on Jean’s report, I’m assuming you’re most suited for a dagger or other shorter weapon. Swords are much harder to move swiftly enough to keep up with your own speed if you’re as fast as Jean says. So please, come at me with that dagger.” Ty could clearly see that he was being underestimated. The Head did not even feel it was necessary to put up a guard. His pride was being insulted and he would not tolerate it.

Ty tensed, roughly fifteen feet from the Head, and, in a flash, sprung towards him. Within a moment, he had reached the head. The man’s eyes showed a surprised amusement. As Ty swung his dagger with all his might, the Head’s arm moved in a blur to block. Without moving any other limb, the man forced the boy flying back onto the floor a ways back. Ty slid along the mat-like floor for several seconds before rolling backwards and onto his feet. He dashed forward and picked up his dagger which he had lost during his fall as he charged towards the Head. He came within ten feet of the Head, and lowered towards the ground, now on all four. He made the characteristic tense, and shot forward and between the Head’s legs. His free hand slammed against the floor, stopping his movement, and he swung around while making a vicious slice towards the Head’s back. A sharp clash of metal echoed throughout the room as the two daggers met. The Head now stood halfway facing Ty, his left knee on the ground. The Head laughed and effortlessly disarmed Ty before standing up.

“That’s more than enough. No one has ever made me change the direction I was facing in an entrance exam, but your attack was both too quick and nicely placed for me to do anything but turn around,” said the Head as he retrieved the dagger Ty had been using. Ty, feeling that his pride had been restored, looked on smugly at Jean whose face betrayed his disbelief. “Now then,” said Head Locke as he made for the door, “we need to return to my office where I’ll make my formal evaluation.”

The three made their way back to the office they had just been in and took the same seats in the room. As Ty wiped sweat from his brow, the Head both wrote in silence. A few minutes later, the Head restored his pen to its holder and looked up, “Well then, Jean, please file this paperwork and lead Ty here to his indicated room.” With a nod, Jean took the pieces of paper from the Head and led Ty down the hall. As he walked, he read the official report. Among other things, the “Extra Comments” section stood out:

Student #523 possesses an incredible initial burst beyond what most rogues can manage after a decade of service. Potential, besides overall, is very great in this area. This is one to keep an eye on.

Jean stopped mid-stride as another thing caught his eye. He quickly made his way back to the Head’s office and opened the door without knocking, “Division R1!?”

But, but, what’s so special about R1? I don’t know, maybe you should wait and find out. Besides that, I wanted to mention two other things. You might have already noticed, but I’m not releasing any chapters on weekends and probably breaks as well. Why? I’m not in the mood to write and I’m frequently on the go. Also, my brother pointed out that Head Lock is headlock and that’s not what I intended that guy to be associated with. As a result, I have changed his name to Head Locke. Anyways, hope you enjoyed. Please click the button and comment.