The Demon Lord Is An Angel-Chapter 507: Entrance Exam

Arc parted ways with her Dad shortly after entering the Academy grounds. She was slightly familiar with the place, seeing as she’d visited more than once as a child, but one trip to the bathroom almost got her lost, since the Academy was in a perpetual state of renovation and had added some new rooms since her last visit.

Fortunately, she only needed to follow a column of students being led by a third-year to wind up in the general area of where they were conducting the tests. Once there, she was sorted into a room by her last name, Gale, where she gravitated her way towards the backmost seats. Well, the first to backmost, since the furthest back seat was a wide bench meant to sit multiple giants, of which there were none, so technically she was in the backmost.

She knew she was trying to avoid attention in case everything today went wrong. Her only chance was to ace every theoretical and written test, hoping it would carry her through her guaranteed-abysmal practical exam.

She didn’t have long to wait before the student checking everyone in was replaced by a surly-looking human with black hair and red eyes that Arc knew very well because he was the Blood Archon Bailey Black, the man who showed up once a month to duel her Father. Or rather, her Father called it "dueling" but the one time she snuck out to watch, it seemed more like Bailey was trying to murder her father while he steadily dodged and made light of the situation, unsealing himself layer by layer to "reward" Bailey’s hard work.

At first, she hoped he didn’t recognize her, but the way he glowered at her specifically as he reached her name on the attendance sheet told her to expect the worst. When he finally looked away, she noticed the wedding necklace nearly hidden by his robes.

He’s married, at least, so somebody loves him.

As soon as he was satisfied with the attendance, Professor Black placed his hands on the teacher’s podium.

"My name is Professor Black, and all of you are here to take the entrance exam for the prestigious Norneau Academy of Magic, Engineering, and Science."

They changed the name? Arc wondered, closing her mouth as she realized it was open. To her, it had always just been "The Academy," so she’d missed the point at which its name had changed.

"If you are not here for the exam, kindly leave. This place is for people who wish to make names for themselves."

Off in the forward corner by the window, a dark-haired girl groaned, and Arc couldn’t help but notice she wasn’t being chastised for her rudeness and... Did Professor Black just quirk a smile? The man never smiled, in her experience, even when her Father invited him in for pancakes after a particularly quick duel.

When no one left, except for a third-year who seemed eager to be somewhere else all of a sudden, Professor Black held up a sheaf of papers. "You have one hour to answer all the questions to the best of your knowledge. If you do not have a complete answer or any answer at all, leave a note and move on to the next question. After a small break, we will conduct the next portion of your test."

A fluttering sound announced the sudden flight of the papers as they were carried to each student’s desk by the blood soaking a single corner of the sheets.

Arc found it morbid, but she’d seen enough of the Blood Archon to know that his medium of magic wasn’t necessarily bad, it just was. If she romanticized blood by assigning unnecessary fear to it, she’d be no better than the "darklings" that took after her mother, Malzkael.

At least, that’s what she told herself as she started the test. After writing her name, she stared a little incredulously at the first question. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

What are the five modern ranks of magecraft? Describe them in your own words.

Was it supposed to be this easy?

Suspecting the test would be harder as she went along, she dutifully wrote:

Mageling, a student of magic or apprentice.

Mage, a practitioner of magic qualified to work. This was the broadest category, and while it had sub-classifications like druids, witches, and artificers, she doubted the test wanted more than a cursory acknowledgement of the distinctions, based on the small amount of space provided. Thanks to Norneau’s school system, most people in the city became mages. But the Academy was for people who wanted to go beyond that most common rank.

Archmage, a senior mage in their field, who has begun the process of reification. What was reification? Arc didn’t know, but she knew it involved getting the body ready to form a core, like her parents and sister had. While the use of magic tended to extend life, an archmage could perhaps triple or quadruple their lifespan once their reification was complete. Her grandparents were archmages, and she remembered Father being sad that they didn’t wish for more, since at most they might live only another two centuries. It was strange to think about, since that was more than ten times her current years, but at the same time, she admired Grandma Brigit and Grandma Darlae’s willingness to let their lives run their courses.

Archon, a mage who has formed a core based around their preferred magics. Archons were theoretically immortal, and would have been called "Millennium Mages" once they surpassed their third century, if there were anyone like that in Norneau. The last millennium mage, Lumin, had been assassinated by a cult, which left her successor Imogen in charge of the Academy as one of the de-facto heads of the city.

After writing that, Arc paused. She didn’t know what the fifth rank of magic was, but a memory came to mind, a conversation she’d had with her sister, Atikka...

"They want to control Father because he’s a godling... Of course, all our parents practically are, but he and Kordia are the ones they know for sure."

Not willing to spend more time on the question, she simply wrote, Godling, and moved on.

Nearby, some of the students who’d reached the same point asked themselves if it was a trick question, only to get shushed by Professor Black. After that, the questions got stranger.

Describe water.

She wrote down some of the basic relationships between hydrogen and oxygen.

What makes fire burn?

A reaction between oxygen and fuel that re-bonds atoms and releases a small amount of excess energy.

On and on the questions went, bouncing from mathematics to ethics to some basic knowledge of the city’s government structure. All suspiciously easy to the point that Arc felt she might be overexplaining things, given the small amounts of space provided for answers. Her hand was cramped a little from writing small, and then she reached the final question...

Why do you want to learn magic?

Arc paused. She wanted to become a Dragon Knight because, limited as she was to mostly enhancement magic, it was something she felt she could do and enjoy... but it wasn’t necessarily the same thing as wanting to learn magic.

Why then...

She thought about the role of a Dragon Knight. About being in the sky, and how flying, even when it had just been in the arms of her fathers, had given her a sense of freedom from the confines of the mansion, the city... hell, she even felt she could be free of the veil if only she could just fly...

Her thoughts turned to the outsider. The giant with his red-tan skin and white hair. His piercing green eyes. He was living proof that there was an outside to explore, and as far as she knew, the last outsiders had come in shortly after she was born. Maybe if he told the Council the right things, she could learn what it was like out there... An entire world to explore...

"Time’s up! Finish your current question and turn your tests in." Professor Black’s orders felt clipped as he started walking up the aisles, whisking tests out from under pencils as soon as each of the remaining students finished their sentences.

With a bit of panic, Arc hastily jotted down the first thing that came to mind, which were her father’s words, more or less. Much as she hated how absent he’d been from her life ever since Atikka... Much as she resented remembering when he hadn’t been as withdrawn as he was now... she still knew her Father well enough to trust his insights, even if he was so stars-damned serious all the damn time.

I want to fly.

She wanted to be free. To go some place where people didn’t want her to be Arcine Gale of the House of Stars, but just Arc. A place where she could just be herself and not the disappointment she felt she was becoming and-

With a sudden flap, her question sheet slipped out from under her pencil as Professor Black came around, his glower deepening.

He glanced at her answer and impassively added her sheet to the others before moving to the front.

"Your break begins... now."