Denial

"No, I coughed." Jace shot back, annoyed.

"I'm pretty sure that was a laugh" said Hannah stifling her own laughter.

"What? you can't admit it? Serious, Strong, Jace can't admit to mirth? are you even a man?" Hannah berated him.

"I said I coughed so I coughed, if you can't even tell the difference between a laugh and a cough I can't be bothered to convince you"

"Final answer?" Hannah pressed determinedly.

"That's what I said" Jace replied with a straight face.

"The only commitment you have in life is your commitment to that lie." Hannah sneered, flipping her hair she said:

"Come on Ra, let's go in"

Ra who had been watching them go back and forth perked up instantly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! lets go!" he said excitedly, resembling a balloon that had suddenly burst, it was a miracle he wasn't bouncing off the walls.

The trio inserted their Emblems into the formation, stepping through the door once again they threw themselves into the challenge.

Outside the Arena, a broadcast was being transmitted across the islands.

<Unknown Trio> Challenge level: 7 

New Record: 7:36:52 

The news spread quickly as Slayers from all years rushed to the Arena, the last record that had been set was a Challenge level 5 and it had been over half an hour long, this new record was only slightly over 7 minutes!

"Whoever they are we need to befriend them!"

"We should report this to the Instructors, they're clearly cheating!"

"No, we should go see who they are, perhaps its a group of fifth years trying to leave their mark behind on the academy before they graduate!"

"Are you joking? what fucking 5th years, everyone is here."

"Exactly, he must be stupid."

numerous different opinions and arguments arose as they made their way to the Arena.

Everyone was having heated discussions, even the Instructors and Dragon Tamers were arguing in harsh tones.

The entrance to the Arena was packed, there was a queue a mile long to enter and it wasn't moving quickly at all.

"This is ridiculous, how are we supposed to see the fucking battle video?"

Shouts of complaint began to draw out the ire of the crowd, people began demanding for the Arena to be expanded, but even if it were it wouldn't happen in a short period of time.

Suddenly those who had made it inside began relaying information to the outside crowd.

"It's three kids!"

"What? three kids? how can three kids take on a challenge level 7?"

"You can choose to believe it or not, moreover, they're fighting an Evolved Black Dragon and a Young Black Dragon at the same time!"

"Wow!"

Excitement quickly spread throughout the crowd

"Amazing! That boy defeated the Young Black Dragon in such a short period of time! Even defeating an Adult Blue dragon takes me at least 10 minutes!"

"Young Black Dragon? how fast?!"

"Less than 30 seconds!" came the prompt reply

"WHAT! Is he some kind of monster? how can this even be considered human?"

Suddenly fireworks exploded in the air accompanied by the message: [Victory] Time: 5:44:07 New Record!

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

The crowd was sent into upheaval.

"They've shaved nearly two minutes from their Challenge time? What kind of existence is this?"

The crowd inside the Arena lobby was densely packed, Ra, Hannah, and Jace were ejected from the formation into the waiting arms of the crowd, as soon as they appeared they were assailed with questions concerning their identities, soul weapons, Instructor, and Year, they were offered no reprieve from the continuous stream of questions, Ra soon had enough.

Stepping forward he beamed a dazzling white smile at the surrounding crowd.

"Those who wish to live...move."

The crowd stared at him, then at the hologram, at that moment the image was playing the recording of Ra falling from the sky with his sword angled downwards, stabbing into the neck of a Young Black Dragon with not even a trace of fear or panic in his eyes.

They weren't fools, they hastily scrambled to make a path for the trio.

"Thanks" Ra's smile was so wide it was frightening.

"Let's go you two, still need to pick up uniforms."

After they had departed from the Arena the noise quickly escalated again.

"Fuck! how did this happen?"

"You need to ask?" someone countered

"Everyone was clearly afraid of him, why act like this now?"

A commotion began to shake the Arena when a bright melodic voice sounded above the din.

"Arena is at maximum capacity, all occupants outside a challenge room shall be ejected, thank you."