Survival III

[Four hours have passed since the start of the test. Candidate 493, Akira, has the most tags, with a total of 22, followed by candidate 383, Elisabeth, with a total of 20, and candidate 001, Nathan, with a total of 19. There are now 90 candidates left.] A woman over the P.A. system said.

Mitsuya, Naomi, and Jake all followed the aura let out by the broken aura sword and met up with Akira.

"I guess all of you have gathered the minimum amount of tags needed to pass this test?" Akira asked.

"I have" Mitsuya replied.

"Yeah, me too" Naomi replied.

"I have" Jake replied.

"I heard the announcement, well, I guess your not ranked 2nd for nothing" Mitsuya said.

Then suddenly, they all felt a burst of mana, accompanied by a loud crash.

"What was that?" Mitsuya asked.

"I've felt that mana before" Akira said.

"Come on, follow me"

The four of them ran through the forest, towards the direction of the crash. They reached the site of the crash and saw Lydia and Elisabeth fighting against a beast-type Sun-grade monster, STAR WOLF.

 "What's going on?" Jake asked.

"It seems like this is the Sun Grade monster the instructor was talking about" Mitsuya said.

Because of the sudden arrival of Akira and the others, Lydia got distracted by their presence and the STAR WOLF took this opportunity to land a blow on Lydia, wounding her and breaking her weapon.

Elisabeth rushes to Lydia the STAR WOLF took the opportunity to launch an attack at Elisabeth. As the attack was about to hit her, Akira stepped-up and blocked the attack.

"I'm gonna keep the monster busy, take Lydia somewhere safe" Akira said.

The STAR WOLF started howling and absorbing the mana in the air, it was trying to forcefully evolve its grade.

"Oh no!" Mitsuya said.

"Akira whatever you do, don't let the monster continue what he's doing. The STAR WOLF is trying to forcefully evolve its grade"

After hearing this, Akira activated his aura and entered a quick draw stance, A black energy surrounded his sword.

"DEATH STANCE: CUTTING EDGE" Akira swung his blade towards the STAR WOLF. A black sword energy flew towards the STAR WOLF.

Akira's attack hit the STAR WOLF, halting its forceful advance into the next grade and knocking it back. The monster shrieked in pain from the attack, then stood up and started gathering mana in its mouth. It shot the accumulated mana at Akira, but the attack was stopped by Elisabeth's ICE SPEAR.

Lydia has been taken away from the battle field by Mitsuya, Naomi and Jake were standing guard for Lydia.

"I'm fine, I can still fight" Lydia said.

"You're not fighting, just stay there" Elisabeth said.

"You should listen to her, you have been injured, and you're weapon has been destroyed" Akira said.

Lydia looks at her broken bow and decides to stay on the ground.

"You guys should protect Lydia from any stray attack" Akira said.

"You got it" Jake replied.

Due to all the battle experience of the the STAR WOLF it instinctively knew that Lydia had been weakened and wasn't able to continue the fight, and so it left Akira and Elisabeth and went towards Lydia.

"Where do you think you're going?" Akira said with a smile.

"You know that if you get hit with one more attack, you will get teleported and you will fail this test"

Lydia ignores Mitsuya's warning and keeps walking forward. Naomi and Jack hold's Lydia back, preventing her from moving forward.

"I won't let you pass, if you go there, you will only distract them" Jake said.

"I can hold my own, trust me" Lydia said.

Jake lets go of Lydia and he signal's his sister to do the same. Lydia walks to where Akira and Elisabeth are fighting the monster.

"Lydia, what are you doing here" Elisabeth said with a surprised tone.

"What are you guys doing? Why is she here?" Akira asked.

The monster took this moment that Akira and Elisabeth were distracted and attacked them. Akira was able to block the attack and Elisabeth narrowly dodged the attack.

"Elisabeth!" Lydia yelled.

"I'm going to release the seal"

"What! Don't do it" Elisabeth said.

"You know what happened last time when you're seal was broken"

Suddenly, a large burst of mana erupted form Lydia, along with a green pillar of pure mana. The pillar of mana suddenly condensed and formed a crown of mana above her head.

"Isn't this the same thing that happened to Akira?" Naomi asked.

"And he wasn't really himself" Jake said.

~This happened to Akira?~ Mitsuya thought to himself.

The instructors also felt a significant tremor and pressure throughout the forest.

~What's this? Why is my mana reacting to her?~ Akira thought.

"Don't worry, I only loosened the seal" Lydia said.

"You have control over you're actions" Elisabeth said.

"Let's end this now" Lydia said.

_ _ _ _ _ _

In a room where six people could be seen monitoring the progression of the test.

"What is happening to Lydia?" Instructor Merlin asked.

"Do you know why they call her the strongest elf of her generation?" Jack asked.

"Isn't it because of her talent?" Instructor Merlin replied.

"No, it's because she awakened a mysterious power. She can enter the zone whenever she wants" Jake said.

"What?" Instructor Merlin exclaimed.

"But how? That's impossible" Instructor Vivian said.

"Even the greatest warriors can't do that at will" Instructor Ben said.

 "Yes, but she was born with it. It seems the prophecy wasn't a lie after all" Jake said with a smile.

"But she couldn't control it so her parents sealed it. But it seems she only loosened the seal, so everything should be under control"

"The prophecy. So we have found one of them, he are one step closer to our goal" Instructor James said.

"We'll see how things play out" Instructor Collins said.

"The test is almost over so we just have to wait"

_ _ _ _ _ _

 Back to the forest,

"You know the plan, right" Lydia yelled.

Akira and Elisabeth nodded their head, signaling the start of the plan.

"CRITICAL SLASH" Akira said. He threw his scythe horizontally at the monster.

The monster dodged the attack.

"ICE SPIRIT: FREEZING CHAIN" Elisabeth said. Chains of ice formed and bound the monster.

"Now! Finish it"

"NATURE'S VINE" Lydia said. Suddenly, vines came out of the ground under the STAR WOLF, ensnaring it. She stretched out her hand and squeezed it.

The vines trapping the monster tightened, squeezing it to death.

The mana crown was still on Lydia's head, signifying that she was still in the zone.

"Everyone! keep your distance from Lydia!" Elisabeth yelled.

"It's ok, I'm in control" Lydia said. The mana crown vanished.

"What was that? The pillar of mana and the mana crown?" Akira asked.

"Well…..I-" Lydia said.

[Five hours have passed since the start of the test, and this announcement signals the end of the test. Candidate 493, and 383 Akira,

And Elisabeth has the most tags, and are tied with a total of 22, followed by candidate 001, Nathan, with a total of 20, and candidate 500, Abigal, with a total of 15. There are now 50 candidates left.] A woman over the P.A. system said, cutting Elisabeth off.

And with that the third and final test was over, and all the candidates where teleported back to the base.