Chapter 849: The Scores Of Doom
Chapter 849: The Scores Of Doom
After the hall had fully settled, Assistant Headmistress Lucia Greydon walked toward the pulpit.The movement was enough to sharpen the silence. Every second-year sat facing the elevated stage, watching as she approached with her magic clipboard held neatly in one hand. The academy board and instructors had taken their places behind and beside the pulpit, their presence making the hall feel less like a simple announcement and more like a judgment chamber dressed in polished wood and banners.
Lucia placed her clipboard against the pulpit’s surface, lifted her gaze toward the students, and offered a composed smile that did absolutely nothing to ease the pressure sitting in the room.
"Good morning, second-years," she said.
"Good morning, Assistant Headmistress," the students answered, some more confidently than others.
"It is good to see all of you again," Lucia continued. "As I told you last week, your Theory scores would be ready before your deployment. That day happens to be today."
The reaction was immediate, even if most students tried to keep it contained. A few shoulders stiffened. Someone near the back inhaled too sharply. One student looked down as if mentally preparing a funeral for his academic dignity. Another sat straighter, trying to look brave in the same way a person might stand tall before execution.
Lucia’s expression remained calm. "In addition to receiving your scores, you will also receive your final and more detailed briefing on the Bastion Assessment. That briefing will be delivered by Headmaster Thion himself."
That created another wave of attention.
Scores were terrifying, but the final briefing mattered in a different way. Theory results would bruise pride and rankings. The Bastion briefing would shape how they walked into Eldervale. Students shifted subtly, tension dividing itself between dread over numbers and anticipation over survival.
Lucia gave them a few seconds, then tapped her clipboard with two fingers.
"With that said," she continued, "it is time for you to see your Theory scores."
The hall entered a state of barely restrained emotional collapse.
Some students sat rigidly, faces blank with the sheer effort of not reacting too early. Others leaned forward despite themselves. A few looked away from the stage as if refusing to see the scores might delay their existence. Dylan placed a hand over his heart with theatrical reverence. Maxwell quietly muttered something that sounded like a prayer and an insult tangled together. Asher’s expression hardened into combat readiness, as though the scores themselves might step off the screen and challenge him.
Lucia tapped the clipboard again, then swiped upward.
A large magical screen appeared above the stage in a clean burst of blue light.