17 Chapter 16 - The Obstacle Course...

"Go!"

On Ken's command, everyone fled down the path. The only person left was me. Ken stared at me when he saw me.

"Aren't you going to go?"

"Sorry, I prefer to stretch before starting to run."

"Oh..."

I begin my stretches, which I have done for a whole year. Running a 100k took a lot of training and preparation, even in this new form. Now with all my practice, I can run 200 kph.

I continued to stretch for five minutes. Then, I prepare myself.

"Okay, I'll be going now!"

With that, I sprinted off onto the path. When I did, winds form behind me at great force. It was so strong that it pushed Ken a couple of meters back, but I ignored it.

The other students were around the 1-kilometer mark, with Tomo being near the 2k mark. It took me 20 seconds to make it to the other students and another 20 to make it to Tomo. I smile at her as we pass each other. Since the path was mostly straight, I was able to zoom across it at maximum efficiency.

In total, it took me around four (3.9) minutes to reach the finish line. As I reach it, I come across the principle which is waiting there.

"Ohoho! Hello Akuma. I thought you might be the first to arrive but this soon! Ah, we mustn't waste any more time, you're still on the clock. Next up is an obstacle course."

She goes on and explains how the course will work with basically no details. It's pretty much a standard military obstacle course. There are traps and places where one might struggle, but that all she gave me. I took it and started to transverse it.

The first obstacle is a massive wall. The wall has spots that poke out of it, meaning that you're supposed to climb it. Eh, climbing is boring. Thankfully, my jumping ability has increased dramatically. Never thought I would need to jump 10 meters, but glad I have it...

The wall is 9 meters high, so I should be able to jump it. I readied myself and launched up off of the ground. I jump precisely 10 meters in the air, which allowed me to jump over the wall. I landed the jump, seemingly untouched. Afterward, I run toward the next obstacle.

The next one was a hole in the ground... Yep, that was it. It was a hole that I couldn't see the bottom too. Plus, the shaft has a radius of 10 meters. I might be able to jump it, but it would be risky. Instead, how about I just fly over it? No, better! I could teleport to the other side. No, I can't do that. I rather not show anyone that I can fly or teleport...

Hmm... Well, it's option D then. I'll use barrier magic that creates an invisible wall on the floor. I cast the extra-type magic and placed it in front of me. After confirming that it was solid, I ran across it. After making it to the other side, I dispel the magic and continue down the course.

The next obstacle is a standard muddy terrain area. Well, maybe not muddy. It looks more like quicksand. I tested one foot on the terrain to find that it sucks my foot a bit. So, it is quicksand just a safer type...

Well, I can just place another barrier to run across it. I do and make it across rather safely. I move on to the final obstacle, which is a taller wall. The size of this wall is 20 meters. It has sections every 5 meters with mages station in them. I guess as one climbs, the mages would attack you, causing you to get knocked off the wall.

Barriers aren't going to do a thing to help me jump over the wall. I can block the mages magic, but I'm not too worry about that. I stepped back and started to run. I plan to jump over it, but I'm unable to leap over it in one go. So I plan to make another jump after landing on one of the pieces that are sticking out of the wall. This should allow me to make it over the wall with two or three jumps.

After getting closer to the wall, I leap off the ground. The mages were unprepared since they thought it would take more time before someone would be here. However, the most surprising face that had was when I jump 10 meters in the air. I search for a sticking out piece and jump off of it another 10 meters. It took me 30 seconds to get over the wall.

Once I made it over the wall, I continued to run a kilometer until I made it to the finish line. I cross the line where Ken stood. How did he get over here?

"Huff... Huff... The principle wasn't wrong... You did run a 13k in four minutes... How..."

He looks really out of breath. Then he regains himself after a bit.

"Ahem... Let's see. Your time is... 20 minutes?! H-how! I mean... Good job, Akuma!"

I smile when he said that and then sat down in the nearest seat. I cast [search] to see where Tomo is. Oh, she on the 8k mark. I sense the others at the 4k mark. Man, they have a huge leap. I waited for Tomo to make it to the finish line, which took about 50 minutes. The other students made it here around the hour and a half mark.

"Amazing..."

Tomo said this to me as she breaths heavily. I smile back at her.

"You are amazing yourself. You were double the speed of the other students!"

"Yeah... But you were... 500% faster... than the... other students!"

Well, I guess that true. I just chuckle at her response. Ken suddenly shouts to everyone.

"Attention! You all did well! Therefore, you all have the rest of the time off. See you tomorrow!"

At this, everyone departed, leaving only Tomo and myself. I face her and ask her a question.

"Do you want to hang out on the roof? We could chat a bit."

"Sure..."

We made our way to the roof. Once there, we quietly stare at each other for some minutes. Then, Tomo broke the silence.

"How... did you... do that?"

"Huh? You mean my time?"

"Mhmm..."

Well, it's not a secret. Well, the fact that I'm the Blue Devil is but not my training.

"I trained for a year. I have been doing 100ks each day for a year. Now, I can run 200 kph. So this test wasn't anything hard."

Tomo's eyes widened after hearing this fact.

"Amazing..."

Then she trembles a bit.

"Hey... Akuma."

"Yeah?"

"Can you... fly?"

"That came out of nowhere. Yeah, I can fly. Why do you ask?"

"I... have a... dream."

She doesn't say anymore. That is interesting, though. I kind of want to know what this dream is...

"So, what's your dream."

A slight blush appears on Tomo's cheeks. She looks towards the ground.

"My dream... is to..."