Rise of the Crusader

75 Midterm Assessment II Finale

Apart from the unreasonable number of questions on the paper and the time given, the questions which were on it were very difficult.

Nora had said that the questions comprised of everything they had been taught in class, but that was a lie, there was not a single question that related to what they did in the classroom.

“Is there any problem?” Paul asked, and he began to walk toward Devon.

Devon had been searching for where his paper was when he heard Paul. He scratched his head, before saying, “I...I can’t find my paper.” Devon said.

A deep frown appeared on Paul’s face when he heard Devon. Paul raised his head, he was about to begin to inspect the class, when Mackenzie’s voice rang out.

“Paul, look,” Mackenzie pointed her hand at Devon’s table, and as Paul shifted his gaze back to the table, his mouth opened slightly.

The paper that had disappeared a moment ago was now on the table. And seeing the paper, Paul’s eyes bulged. The frown on his face deepened, and likewise did the expression on Mackenzie.

As for Devon, he turned towards Sylvia who was now covering her eye with bandages, and he drew a deep breath.

“I can promise that whoever did that won’t be so lucky next time, and when I find out who it was, I won’t be lenient in any way,” Paul exclaimed in a displeased tone.

.....

It was only a couple of the students who stared at Paul, the others were completely focused on the paper in front of them as the clock was ticking.

Suddenly, Aiden’s eyebrows furrowed, and a horizontal wrinkle appeared on his forehead. Aiden stared at the insects that were walking around his table, carrying a piece of paper on their back, and after a few seconds, they dropped the paper on the table and began circling his test paper.

The insects gathered around and then turned his test paper to the first page. And once that was accomplished, they moved around the piece of paper which they brought with them and began to secrete on it.

Aiden wasn’t in the slightest disgusted by the sight of the insects secreting on the paper, and instead, his lips curved into a smile. He turned towards Bane who was on his right and gave him a thumbs up.

“That’s really impressive.” Aiden mumbled in a low voice.

The numbers of the insects made it very easy for them and after a short while, they had opened through all the pages which Aiden had written in, and then carried the paper on their back, and headed back to Bane.

Bane had a very stern expression on his face, as he read the question on the paper. He had his pen on the paper making it seem as though he was writing on it whereas he wasn’t.

A few seconds after the insects left Aiden’s table, they arrived at Bane. And when Bane laid eyes on the paper, his eyes squinted. “Why didn’t you write it a little bigger, now what is this you wrote here,” Bane muttered as he stared at the paper.

While Bane was complaining about the paper brought to him by the insects, his hand was ticking the answers on his test paper. And the ones he couldn’t see well enough, he asked the insects to go check it out again.

Bane could have asked Aiden to pass him the answers sneakily, but that would only be slowly Aiden’s pace down. Aiden himself was moving papers through the portals he created under lockers to get answers to the question.

“What about the rest?” Bane asked after ticking the answers he got on his paper.

“I haven’t received it yet,” Aiden responded. “The girls haven’t done it yet, and I can’t get to Devon because of those two at the front.” Aiden glanced at Paul and Mackenzie with a not-so-friendly smile on his face.

“And we don’t have much time left,” Aiden clenched his hands into a tight fist as he spoke.

Bane stared at the insects that were on his table, “Go to Devon and write all the answers on this paper. This time around, make it more visible.” Bane said.

As the insects heard Bane, they gathered around and then headed to Devon’s table. The insects moved at a frantic pace, and they were able to evade the two invigilators in front of the classroom.

“You, get up!!” Suddenly, Paul’s loud voice rang out.

Paul took a step forward, and he immediately appeared in front of the person he was referring to. “You think I didn’t see you stretching your neck to get a look at his paper.” Paul had a smirk on his face as he spoke.

“Xavier,” Paul turned over Xavier’s paper and said the name that was written on the heading.

A frown had already appeared on Xavier’s face when Paul appeared in front of him, and when Paul took hold of his paper, he couldn’t help but clench his hand into tight fists

“This is your first strike,” Paul brought a red pen from his pocket and wrote the word thirty on Xavier’s paper with the minus sign before the number.

As Paul placed the pen back into his pocket, his mouth opened slightly and his eyes twitched. The paper on the table was suddenly engulfed in golden flames, and in the blink of an eye, there was nothing left of the paper.

“Oops!” With a sneer on his face and his hands folded across his chest, Xavier said.

Paul’s lips curl inward, as he stared at Xavier. And if looks could kill, Xavier would have died thousands of times from the way Paul was glaring at him.

“Mackenzie, bring another paper for him,” Paul said and then walked away from Xavier. “If I catch you again, there won’t be a first or second strike instead, it will be the third.” There was a tinge of killing intent present in Paul’s voice as he spoke.

“Hmm...” Xavier took the paper that Mackenzie brought forward and buried his head in it.

Paul turned towards Mackenzie, “You have to pay more attention to them, Mackenzie, you know what is at stake here.” Paul muttered and left Xavier’s side.

This time around, Mackenzie didn’t head to the front of the classroom and instead, she stood in their middle staring at them one after the other.

“Excuse me, I want to ease myself.” Jackson stood abruptly from his seat. He didn’t bother getting Paul or Mackenzie’s approval, and he left the room quickly.

Paul and Mackenzie glanced at one another before Paul walked to Jackson’s seat. Paul opened the pages of the paper, and it didn’t come as much of a surprise to him when he saw that none of the questions had been answered.

“You have ten minutes left!” Paul exclaimed with a smile on his face.

The expression on most of the student’s faces changed when they heard Paul. They stared at the clock and a bit of worry could be seen on their faces.

Suddenly, Raphael stretched his arms out and let out a yawn. “I should be done in five minutes,” Raphael muttered. He was about to continue answering the question on the paper when a scene caught his attention.

Turning towards the person on his right, Raphael’s lips curved into a smile. He, however, only stared at the girl for a few seconds before shifting his attention back to the work in front of him.

The girl beside him was Naomi. Naomi would stare at her wristwatch for a few seconds before turning toward her paper.

Naomi used her hacking skill to hack into Devon and Elisa’s wristwatch, as both were said to be the most intelligent in the class. She was then able to access their papers through the tiny camera which was on the wristwatch and gave her answers to the questions through them.

“No, Gus, I’m not interested in knowing what their answers are,” Raphael mumbled as Gus kept tapping its leg on his shoulder gently.

Despite Raphael’s words, Gus didn’t listen and continued to tap Raphael’s shoulder.

“Raphael, can you move your paper to the side a little, so I can see the answers.” Raphael had just heaved a deep breath when he heard a voice from his back.

Raphael slowly moved his paper to the other side, and as he did, the person spoke again.

“Thanks.”

Raphael nodded his head, he then removed Gus’s from his shoulder and placed it on the table. “Seriously, I have realized what the tests really entail, I’m just not interested in using that means. I’m going to answer what I can, and leave, it’s that simple.” Raphael said.

Gus shook its head when it heard Raphael, seemingly disappointed with Raphael.

The true objective of the test was to force the students to apply critical thinking. And since the question was too difficult for a first-year to know, the next goal was to cheat.

To cheat without getting caught. It was why the strike was implemented, especially the first strike, to give them a chance to try again and this time around without getting caught.

“I also found it weird when she said ‘If any of you are caught cheating’ haha! She might as well just say the words directly. You can cheat, but don’t get caught.” Raphael mumbled and then shook his head.

“Not so fast!!” As Jackson appeared back in the classroom, he was about to head back to his seat when he was intercepted by Paul.

“I can’t let you go to your seat without searching you,” Paul said, and without wasting any more time, he began to search Jackson’s body.

Jackson stood still, as Paul searched through his body. And after a short while, he was able to go back to his room.

BANG!

Suddenly, the door of the room was slammed open, and a figure walked into the room. It was a woman with black long glittering hair that stopped at her waist and a face that could put the sun and moon to shame.

“Serena?”

Seeing, the woman who had just walked in, Melinda mumbled. She turned towards Raphael who had just raised his head and appeared just as perplexed as everyone is and then shifted her gaze back to Serena.

“Lady Serena, how may I help you?” Paul moved towards Serena very quickly when he saw her inside the room with a face simply full of smiles.

Serena, however, didn’t even glance at Paul, she stared at the students in the room and after a few seconds her face lit up. “I’m going to need him to come with me.” Serena pointed her hand towards Raphael as she spoke.

“What is it?” Raphael asked.

Raphael had just spoken when Paul waved a hand at him. “I’m afraid, I can’t let that happen, lady Serena. He is in the middle of a test, and can only leave when he is done.” Paul said.

A displeased look immediately appeared on Serena’s face when she heard Paul. As she glared at Paul with killing intent present in her eyes, Paul was forced to move several steps backward.

“Raphael, we have to leave now. It’s about your mother.” Serena exclaimed.

Raphael’s eyes bulged, he abruptly stood from his seat and rushed toward Serena. “What about her?” Raphael’s asked with fear evident in his eyes and voice.

While he was able to stay composed in the most arduous situations, this wasn’t one of them.

“She...” Serena’s mouth opened slightly, she wanted to speak, but it was more difficult than she imagined.