16 Glistening Water

It's now the day of the test. Yesterday, Day 3 went in a blur. Jin was expelled by the council's court Judge, the second seat, or whom they call "Ayako-san". Another thing is me getting complimented by some members of the council, especially Ryujin who even voluntarily treated me to a nearby restaurant down the streets.

Anyway, it's now 7 am, all 1st-year students are gathered in front of a gate in the test venue. We lined up based on our section with our respective teacher, holding a sign that indicates this line is our section indeed.

They also gave us badges, a red, triangular badge with the logo of this school, a black screen and we attached it to the left side of our chest.

"Kohinshitsu Academy, Student #098."

Not long after, a teacher, specifically the teacher of our class, Asahi-sensei, stood in front of all the students. He clears his throat before he says in a straight face.

"Uhm... First of all... I would like to greet you all with a good morning. The test is finally here, I hope you lads have rested enough. As per your teacher's words, we will have this test until 12 am. It doesn't matter how many survived, even if it is none, we don't care. Here, we look for prodigies, geniuses, talented lads, and maybe even the lucky ones. Remember, you can do any tactics to survive, either you fight back, or run away, it's entirely up to you, of course, except using cheating tolls such as exousia stones. And another thing... If you're wondering why the entrance exam was easy, it was because that was not the real entrance exam."

He flashes the entire crowd of students an intimidating and sinister smile as if to mock us and tell us we wouldn't survive for an hour.

"That's all! I wish you all good luck! We'll give you a 15-minute preparation before the test starts, now, disperse!"

The massive gate opened before our eyes, revealing a forest inside. We all entered inside and from then on, we go to our separate ways. I walked alongside Haruto, Airi, Kyouko, Arata, and Hina.

We walked a path leading to a huge rock dead end. We sat there for a minute while Arata sat on a tree just for a lookout.

"What should we do?" I asked,

"For now, let's stick together and work as one, this will increase our chances of winning," Haruto suggested,

"I think you don't understand the fourth's ability. Let me entertain you. He specialized in crowded units, his abilities are wide-ranged and his accuracy is beyond your imagination, he could easily wipe you all out in one single slash. His speed is also something to look out for. In comparison to my speed, he's at least three times faster, like a lightning, not to mention his annoying weapons." Kyouko said,

The others were utterly surprised and at the same time, astounded.

"What's with that look? Is it really that amazing?" Kyouko asked with a narrowed and straight eyes.

"I-It's just... How do you know all that stuff?" Hina asked.

"Well... I'm part of the council after all."

"EH!?"

They shrieked in surprise, whilst Arata carelessly fell from the tree in surprise.

"What's with that reaction? It's like you guys saw a ghost." She said in disbelief.

"W-Well... It's just kind of... surprising." Arata replied awkwardly.

"I guess I could understand why one would be completely surprised. Put that aside for now. What do you guys plan to do?"

"Well, maybe split up but still look out for each other."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

Just then, Arata steps in and puts his closed hand on his waist.

"Leave it to me! I can use telepathy!" He spoke with exaggeration and excessive pride.

Telepathy. A rare magic used to communicate without using any known human sensory channels. It was discovered by another scientist in America, right after Ice amplitude was discovered. Because of its complex characteristics, only a few people of certain abilities are able to wield it efficiently.

Just like teleportation magic, it also has its own requirements. One is that you must only be 100 meters away from each other, otherwise, it won't work. Another one is the same as the teleportation magic, you must have high energy capacity, as it would drain the wielder's energy over time as you use it.

Lastly, is that you must know the person you are sharing your telepathy with. You need to be able to imagine how they look, their voice, and many more features.

Honestly, I never knew that Arata can use such complicated magic, I myself can't even use it.

"I don't know how you guys plan to win with a single user of telepathy. Unless he can make it last for 5 hours, your chances are getting lower and lower each second. Unless each of you can defend yourselves while all that, you can still look after each other."

"We can look after each other! We're in advantage in terms of numbers!" Hina said in an earnest determination.

"It's up to you how will you set your mind but heed my words, underestimating your opponent is the enemy that will kill you."

Just then, a female voice, which seems to be coming from a speaker, echoed throughout the forest.

"Attention. The test is starting... please check your badges. We provided you a mini-map of the whole venue by a hologram. There, you will see yourself and the hunter, giving you some advantage. Of course, the hunter doesn't know of your locations, unless you reveal yourselves. We wish you the best of luck."

A timer also appeared on the top of the badge screen.

"4:59:58"

"Good luck to us all!" Haruto exclaimed while clenching his fist.

It seems like this group thingy is all for naught, I now regret joining in. And so, we dispersed. Arata used his telepathy on us, so we can now communicate with each other. Then, a bell rings, then appearing at my badge is a red dot across my position.

So he is deployed at a random location? Then, the red dot ever-so swiftly dashed from side to side in the middle of this massive map. Currently, I'm on the southwest part of the map, while e is is on the north-east, so I should be fine for now.

Then, the voice on the speaker earlier spoke once more.

"Student number: 9485;4937;4934;4038, are out."

So they also announce who is out. I see. Student 9485... 10,000 students, and at least from what I know, there are 4 sections... How the hell can they fit all the students? Now is the wrong time to think about that. I jumped over trees over trees to maintain some distance between us.

...

It has been atleast 4 hours, I'm quite tired. I sat on a tree with Kyouko, whom I came upon earlier. The speaker continued to announce the once who have been disqualified. From what I've heard, there are only three thousand students remaining.

"How the hell is Ryujin still roaming?" I said in between hard breathing.

"That guy is a monster, I don't know where he got that energy."

"Darn, looks like we have a long road ahead of us. Another thing... how the hell are there thousands of students when there are only 4 classrooms?"

"There is what you call the lower classroom, ranging up to E-J class. They are the ones who performed quite poorly on the first test but passed."

"I see. *pant*"

I looked at my map once more. I noticed that the red dot is slowly making its way towards us.

"Let's get going." I said as I stood up and extend a hand towards her. She hesitated for some time before she held my hands and I pulled her up. Just then, I felt something wrong... Like a presence, a menacing one at that... I turned my eyes towards the map and surprisingly the dot which was formerly far away from us is now just a few feet away from us.

I looked around as the presence got closer, I could hear twigs snapping and footsteps hurriedly coming towards us. I'm sure Kyouko could sense it too as she unsheathes her weapon.

I heightened my senses...

Think....

Where is he...?

I connect the threads and finally, I got the strings leading to his presence. Behind us. Looks like Kyouko didn't notice it.

I hurriedly put my hand under her leg and carried her before I jumped out of there. She was confused and surprised at the same time. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widen as her face slightly blushed.

"I know you'll be angry later on but... just bear it for now."

I can hear trees falling down from behind me. Darn it, he's getting closer. I can't keep up while carrying her.

"P-Put me down, you idiot!" She shouted embarassingly.

"Land on your own for a while,"

"Huh!?!!?!"

I jumped at the highest point of a tree and from there, I released her from my hands, giving her enough time to set her stance and land properly. She twisted around and using her lightning, she landed safely.

Now then, I turned around and came face to face with Ryujin, who's also standing on the top of a huge tree.

"Finally found you..." He said as a unpleasant smile slowly emerged from his face.

"Come at me..." I summoned my sword and pointed it towards him.

"Let me show you who's much superior..." I don't know what I look like right now... perhaps I look like a demon, something devilish. I don't know... But one thing is for sure... I can feel the magic I've lost before, running through my veins, the ones I've forgotten... It's finally returning.

...