Their battle with the dragon was an eye-opener for the students as most of them couldn't help but contemplate their future, especially those who had immediately run at the first opportunity, some of which were boasters at their Academies and now couldn't speak anymore. The video of the fight was uploaded on the Internet, and all the students who took part were named and highlighted for viewers to know. As for the runners, nothing was done to them; the board felt their shame and guilt would be enough punishment for them.
At Blue River Academy, the chatter didn't seem to die down; they had brought home every gold medal in the Track events, with two of those medals belonging to one person who was now on par with the nobles in terms of power reputation.
They were given a few days of rest before the re-evaluation test came up; unlike the tournament, this test was just to compute their progress and growth as students since the beginning of the year, but the lack of prizes didn't discourage the students from being excited.
The test was based on ranks, and to finalize it all, the students who took part in the mythic evolution went up against each other, Bruce Vs Elena and Dominick Vs Brutus.
Most were worried for Dom as the news of him being bullied by Brutus was like a public secret; they presumed that Dom would have stood a better chance had Brutus not been selected for the process as well.
Bruce and Elena stepped onto the platform in their sparring suits, ready to go.
"You know it's a bit unfair that Bruce is only using his affinity while Elena can use both," Natalie said.
"It doesn't matter, Bruce is still going to beat her," Isabella said with confidence.
"Looks like all those trips to the supply shop with him have made you a fan with unwavering loyalty" Natalie teased with a wink.
"You know, we should find you a boy as well,", Isabella said, changing the topic.
"Naa, I don't think there's anyone for me at the moment; look, they are about to start" Natalie replied before Isabella could say anything else.
"No hard feelings, alright?" Elena said.
"Of course" Bruce replied.
Elena initiated the fight by launching fireballs at Bruce who skillfully dodged them while trying to get closer. Once within striking distance, Elena launched a flaming fist at his face, which Bruce deflected by shifting her hand with the back of his.
From the observer's view, it looked like Bruce was about to kiss Elena; he had one hand pinning her hand behind her and the other blocking her hand above her head.
"Woah, I don't think this is what he had in mind when he said he wanted to practice", Brandon chuckled.
Alec was struggling desperately to hold down his laughter especially when he saw the expression on his sister's face.
Bruce, noticing the awkward position, quickly cleared his throat and stepped back.
"Well, that escalated quickly,", Elena coughed.
"Let's just move on with the fight," Bruce said starting it off.
As the fight progressed, Bruce kept on playing defensive making Elena wonder if he was injured somehow.
"Is something wrong?" Elena asked.
"No, why do you ask?" Bruce asked back.
"You have been fighting defensive, it's making this boring", Elena replied.
"Oh, you want some fun?" Bruce asked.
"Yes, some action" Elena replied.
The next time Bruce dodged her attack, he shot simultaneous bolts of lightning on her preventing her from attacking back.
"Is that fun enough for you?" Bruce asked with a smile.
"That was annoying", Elena replied as she slammed her feet on the ground, sending an array of flames crawling at Bruce.
"This has dragged out long enough", Bruce said, creating a lightning arc to block the incoming attack before bolting towards her, shooting streaks of lightning to keep her off balance; using a lightning whip, he flung her off the platform, ending the fight.
"Well, that was not the ending I expected,", Natalia said.
"I don't think the fight was what anyone expected", Isabella said, still thinking of their awkward posture earlier.
The next fight between Dom and Brutus was to take place immediately after putting everyone on edge.
The two said contestants climbed the platform.
Brutus had been looking forward to a day like this for weeks. His reputation had dropped significantly since Dom started hanging out with Brandon, and he tried taking Dom back but just ignored him. Brutus felt like he had lost his loyal pet.
"I hope you are ready for what comes next," Brutus said cracking his knuckles.
"Let's just get this over with," Dom replied dryly causing a vein to bulge on Brutus' head.
"Hammer time", Brutus said with a mischievous grin.
The signal was given, and the fight began; Brutus wasted no time in shooting an endless amount of rocks at Dom, who quickly dashed to the side, avoiding the barrage of rocks coming at him.
This display of power and fury further proved people's suspicion, Brutus was going to use this opportunity to cripple Dom.
Dom, on the other hand, kept avoiding the attacks as he slowly inched closer; Brutus laughed like a maniac as Dom swiftly avoided his attacks but suddenly stopped when he was nowhere to be found.
"I see you are using your little trick again", Brutus said.
An uppercut from nowhere sent him stumbling backwards, a knee to the side of the face sent him stumbling further.
"Coward, show yourself if you know you have got what it takes to fight me", Brutus said coldly.
"If you say so" Dom replied.
He appeared right in front of Brutus who quickly threw a rock fist at him, Dom casually deflected the punch and retaliated with a punch of his own before stepping back.
"Alright, let's do this" Dom said.
"Oh, you shouldn't have let me go, boy", Brutus replied with an evil laugh.
A trail of spikes immediately shot towards Dom, almost sending him off the platform; as he found his footing, flying rock spikes came his way; he did a quick side jump to avoid them before dashing towards Brutus, who kept on shooting spikes, creating cracks, trying to stop Dom in place.
In a fit of rage, he created a giant boulder, taking a chuck of the area behind the platform and bringing it down on Dom; it was too large and too wide to dodge, forcing Dom to think of an alternative.
The crowd was put on edge as they saw the giant boulder descend on Dom but the next instant, a beam of light pierced through the rock breaking to pieces and out of the rubble dashed Dom, Brutus was frustrated as Dom's resilience, and he threw as many attacks as he could but Dom retaliated with plasma blasts and flash steps till he was right in front of Brutus.
Dom's eyes shone with a fierce light as he punched Brutus hard in the stomach, sending Brutus flying into the sky; his figure blurred out and appeared above Brutus with a kick coming down on his back, sending him crashing into the platform.
The crowd was in awe at the sheer display of power between the two of them, especially Dom. Most people still saw him as weak even after the evolution process, but this match completely changed their perspective about him.
Struggling to his feet from inside the crater his crash had created, Brutus coughed out blood as his insides were all messed up, he looked up at Dom, his eyes no longer shone with light but it still resonated the power he had just displayed.
"I don't hold grudges, not even against you, despite all you have done to me; I would advise you not to hold a grudge against me or my friends; I would advise you to put your passion into something more productive than bullying", Dom said before walking away.
Brutus was angry, humiliated and wounded. He wanted to attack Dom's receding figure, but another round of coughed-up blood showed him that he was in no condition to do so.
After that, the students were allowed to go about the remainder of their day as they liked.
The next couple of days, the students prepared for their exams; from what they had been told, it would be twice as hard as their test, which most had already failed.
Bruce and Isabella were currently making their way to the library to get some books for the group.
"You know, I don't see why they still make us use textbooks when they could just give us the digital copies," Isabella said 
"I think it's because if everything was ultimately digitalized, things would lose value for example, if we could access the books on our smartwatches, no one would come to the library anymore if lessons were digitalized, no one would attend classes anymore, it might even mean no one comes to school anymore besides, it's good we kept some things analogue" Bruce replied.
"Fair point, though digital would be easier to retrieve," Isabella said.
"Also easy to lose and corrupt", Bruce replied, and they both chuckled.
"We have come a long way, you and I, Isabella said.
"Yeah, we have; it seems like forever ago when you gave us that cold glance in front of the school," Bruce said in agreement.
"Yeah, sorry about that by the way", Isabella said.
"You don't have to apologize; the last person that got close to you hurt you; it's natural to lock up to protect oneself", Brice replied.
"Well, that's all in the past now. I'm looking forward to what the future has for you and Ime, Isabella said.
Bruce felt his cheeks heat up. Luckily, Isabella was walking a bit ahead of him, so she didn't notice even though she was blushing as well.
"Did she just" Bruce mumbled.
"You have slowed down; the others are waiting for us,", Isabella said, snapping Bruce out of his daze.
They hurried into the library and back to their friends to continue their preparations for the exams.
The week passed by, and now they were face to face with their first exam.
"Before you start, I would like to say that I'm very proud of the soldiers you are becoming, at the beginning of the year, there were a few bumps and rough edges amongst you but now that you have passed through the flame, you are now coming out as rare beautiful jewels, I hope you all continue to make me proud in the years to come, I may not be your homeroom teacher anymore but you can still consult me when you need help. You may now start your exams" Miss Silver said with a warm smile.
The students got to work on their exam computers with faces of determination and vigour. Even those who were ill-prepared were touched by Miss Silver's heartwarming speech.
At the end of it all, the students were both relieved and nervous, relieved that they were done, nervous about their performance, but, now, they had all the free time they wanted till it would be time for them to pack up for the holidays.
"Damn, I am really happy we are done; any more reading and my head might have exploded,", Dom said.
"So what do we do now?" Alec asked.
"Have fun, of course, the other situation we can't do anything about, so let's do what we can with the free time we have; remember what Lieutenant General Freya said: we should live a little", Brandon said.
"Cool, see you guys later," Isabella said before disappearing.
"I wonder what she's up to," Alec said.
"I think you mean what they are up to", Natalie giggled; it was then they noticed Bruce had gone with Isabella.
"Well, I need to speak to one of the telepathic teachers about something; I will see you guys later", Angelo said before heading off.
"Well, I am trying something new with my abilities, and I might need help with it", Maya said.
"I could help," Dom said.
"Sure, Alec, you can come too," Maya said.
"See you guys around," Brandon said.
"You are not coming with us?" Alec asked.
"No, I have something to discuss with Miss Silver; I will catch you guys later", Brandon replied.
With that, the rest of the group split off; Brandon found Miss Silver at the register typing away on her system.
" Have a seat, Brandon. Do you need help with something?" She asked.
"Yeah, I was wondering how much progress we have made with Briam" Brandon replied.
"Oh, I see", Miss Silver said, activating the sound barrier.
"Unfortunately, we haven't made much progress, we can't order his arrest without irrefutable evidence which we can't get unless we get our hands on the corpse and the crystal after you guys snuck in, he seems to have moved the body when I went back there, it was gone, the compartment completely cleaned up, no traces of the smell or stain of blood" Miss Silver explained.
"What about the fridge, the blood and all that flesh?" Brandon asked.
"All gone; he must have hidden it all somewhere else; we would have to search the house thoroughly to find it", Miss Silver replied.
"That's going to be a problem; they know we are unto them; any leads on Luke?" Brandon asked.
"Turns out he's human, no obscure history, nothing shady or overly perfect; I even managed to get his blood sample tested; he's clean, but he's on the enemy side", Miss Silver said.
"This certainly complicates things for us" Brandon sighed.
"Yeah, it has had me and Raid up at night for the past few weeks," Miss Silver said.
"And we can't secretly take them out," Brandon said.
"That would just put the school on edge and possibly force the enemies to hasten their plans" Miss Silver explained.
"Leave this to Raid and me; we will handle it, I promise you," Miss Silver said.
"Okay, thank you," Brandon said.
"I'm glad everything that's been happening hasn't affected you and your friend's studies," Miss Silver said.
"Our results are ready?" Brandon asked.
"Not all of them, but from what I have seen, You are all doing well; Bruce and Angelo are at the top of the class, and the rest of you are amongst the top 15, doing well above average", Miss Silver said with a smile.
"Thanks once again," Brandon said before leaving.
He decided to join Maya and the others at the Oasis.
Meanwhile, at Sgt Raid's office, Levi and Nicholas were seated in front of the sergeant.
"Are you sure?" Sgt Raid asked.
"Yes, they left the elves and used me as bait to get Brandon," Levi said.
"Woah, I didn't get to ask Bruce the questions I wanted to; Brianna's little stunt made the mission take longer than expected", Nicholas replied.
"That's alright, he's not the enemy here, but if they want to get their hands on him so badly, we have to keep him out of their reach; he might just be more useful than we thought", Sgt Raid said.
"So what should we do?" Nicholas asked.
"Well, they will be heading home for the holidays soon, so just leave them be; they will be back next year,", Sgt Raid said.
"But I won't," Levi said.
"Well, you are always welcome to visit,", Sgt Raid said with a smile.
"Don't worry, Nicholas and I will be alright. Nicholas will watch the kids, and I will help Silver with Briam and Luke", Sgt Raid added.
"Tade would be proud of you," Nicholas said.
"I hope so" Levi replied.
The days flew by, and it was finally the day they would go back to their families; they all had their belongings packed and waiting in the teleportation room.
"Hey, I know we have the link and all, but I think we should still exchange home contacts", Maya said.
"That's not a bad idea," Isabella said.
"Of Course, it isn't; it would provide some much-craved privacy", Natalie teased.
"Well, we will miss you guys," Alec said.
"Don't be like that; we will be back next year; it's just a few months away?", Bruce said.
"I guess you are right, goodbye guys," Alec said.
They exchanged contacts and stepped through the teleporters to go home.