Chapter Text
Today was the day.
An entire month had passed since their first class and today Seteth was to sit in on a demonstration of their progress. If he liked what he saw, the students got to keep their relics. Byleth would also get a bonus from all the extra work but she decided to keep that little detail to herself.
The small class of students were excited to show off what they had learned, even Felix! They had gone through almost a dozen boxes of vulneraries after weeks of near constant explosions, tornados, and misfired magic but their results were spectacular. Of course Byleth had to, on occasion, use the whip function of her own relic to redirect clumsy attack attempts from a distance to prevent any serious injury. The pure destructive power of the relics had caused their meeting place to become more like a giant crater than a field. Byleth promised Cyril she'd help fill it back in when this was all over.
No time worry about that however, not with Seteth making his way down the path, dragging a distraught Hilda by the arm.
"I TOLD you I sprained my ankle!" She said, hopping on one foot to emphasize her point. "That is where you are wrong" he said stopping in front of the Professor "I've had Shamir monitor you for the past month in preparation for this very day". Hilda, wide eyed, began to blush at that. "You haven't even brushed past anyone in the hallway's, much less sprained your ankle". Seteth pulled a clipboard from out of nowhere. "In fact. I'm so confident in your good health that I'd like to evaluate you first".
A chorus of poorly hidden chuckles followed as Hilda smiled and walked towards the field, her blush only deepening. Even Linhardt and Lorenz couldn't help but laugh at her predicament. After gingerly taking her axe from the Professor, Hilda was given her task. It was simple, use her combat art, Apocalyptic Flame, to attack the red training dummies while leaving the blue dummies unharmed.
Over the course of the school year Byleth had gotten to know Hilda quite well, and she could tell the difference between a smile she put on to save face and a sincere one. "Hilda" she started, placing a hand on her shoulder, "regardless of how well you do, nobody here will be dissappointed in you. Everyone, including Seteth, has seen you do amazing things. You've got nothing to prove". Finally flashing her a sincere smile, Hilda gave her a wink in response.
She then proceeded to pass her exam with flying colors.
Running up to the closest enemy dummy, Hilda swung her axe with practiced might, striking the ground in front of it rather than the dummy itself. Half a second later, energy erupted from her axe as an explosive burst of crest energy consumed her and any enemy dummy foolish enough to exist within her radius. The explosion could've been much, much larger but Hilda, who had years of experience in regulating her ridiculous strength, had no problem controlling the explosion to avoid her allied dummies.
Seteth merely hummed in approval and jotted something down on his clipboard before yelling "Next?"
The rest of the exams went similarly well.
Sylvain, using Ruined Sky, managed to blow back an entire group of dummies while maintaining his footing. Seteth couldn't help but worry he may have made a mistake letting him perfect such a technique when so many female students wore skirts.
Ingrid planted her lance into the ground and used Burning Quake to stop an enemy advance while simultaneously making sure her allied soldiers didn't topple over.
As Byleth, Linhardt, and Sylvian, hurled fire spells at Felix, he managed to go three full minutes without taking a hit. Using his shield to reflect a few of the projectiles back rather than simply blocking them.
And finally, Lorenz was able to strike distant, moving targets with near perfect accuracy. Changing the spell used on a dime based on instructions yelled to him by the Professor.
Once all was said and done Seteth graced them with a rare smile. "Well done, all of you" he said glancing in the Professor's direction. "You've clearly worked very hard. Luckily you won't need to use such terrifying power anytime soo-"
He was cut off by the sound of the sound of a horse galloping. They all turned to find none other than Jeralt, atop his personal steed. "Hey kid, we need you and your brats. Demonic Beasts have been spotted on Monestary grounds". As Seteth and Catherine started issuing commands to the shocked students, Byleth mounted her father's horse and rode off towards the battlefield.
"Don't worry dad" she said "Those 'brats' are more than ready"