Strange Man

A blazing orange flame erupted within the bushes in the middle of the trees. The large coconut trees swayed slightly in the wind as did the thick overgrowth down below. The fire cast a reddish orange hue on the vegetation, yet did nothing to burn them. Not a second later, the fire began to subside and Winston walked out, his figure completely devoid of any burn marks.

As he emerged from the fire, he looked around himself. The surroundings were a collection of coconut trees swaying slightly in the wind with dense vegetation at their base. The sand beneath his shoes was slightly brown in colour and was not very hot. Slightly off in the distance, his enhanced vision caught sight of a large structure, dark coloured and built like a castle with two main bodies; each of which held a large ocean blue flag at the top.

The teams were given randomized colours when the test began. Their teams' colour was purple.

He felt someone land behind him and turned around with a smile.

Zarhan clicked his tongue as he saw Winston already standing in front of him.

"I still don't get how you pull off that stunt with the fire."

"There's nothing to understand here. I'm just built like that."

With that, they both began to walk forward. While doing so, Winston summoned his pocket and began to commune with the other group.

"What's your position?" Winston chimed.

From the pocket, Amon's voice sounded.

"We're to your left. I have 3 observers moving forward, there doesn't seem to be any sentinels probing around within 200 meters." He said.

Winston nodded in response.

"I'll move in first." Winston said without hesitation. He took a step forward and opened the buttons to his coat, letting it hang freely. Inside, there was a bright golden flash, a golden bell keeping still in the underside of the tailcoat.

Despite Winston's movements, the bell stayed completely still without sound, as were his footsteps; a testament to a Magician's control over their body.

Taking a short breath, Winston and Zarhan both dashed into the greenery, whizzing past the plant life and over towards the structure ahead with a gust of wind following behind.

Winston's disposition was relaxed as he ran ahead.

Just then, a soft chime of his bells, which had stayed quiet despite his movement rang in his ears.

Then, he stopped abruptly in his tracks as he looked on towards figures moving around in the distance. They were roughly humanoid in shape, predominantly dark blue in colour with lighter shades on their bodies. In their hands, they held various firearm like weaponry and patrolled around rigidly. Their faces held no eyes or any visible features, appearing completely robotic.

"12 sentinels in the distance. 5 to the right, 3 to the left and the rest straight ahead." Winston said to Zarhan, speaking along to the pocket that floated beside him.

"Copy that." Came Amon's quick reply.

Behind him, Zarhan twirled his spear with frightening proficiency, laughing along as he did so.

"Zehahaha! My hands have been itching for a fight! The test on the previous floor was boring!" He exclaimed.

For someone that liked battle and didn't like using his brain, Zarhan preferred fighting for a test rather than an intellectual one. He was plenty capable of passing a test that required some degree of intelligence, but he was not as naturally adept at them.

Without another word, both of them dashed out, the wind breaking behind them.

Winston's tailcoat fluttered in the wind as they approached the sentinels. His bells chimed with more aggressiveness but quieted down with a mental command.

Then, a beam dashed out from the side.

Shaaaa!

Winston ducked under it, dodging a bright blue ray of light that was headed for his head and supported his half top hat with his hand. Then, he threw a glance at Zarhan who nodded.

Whooosh!

They both ran in opposite direction, going towards the two seperate groups of sentinels. As they held ranged weaponry stronger than any conventional spear, getting up close might seem to be the most logical choice. However...

Boom!

Winston jumped out of a large explosion that followed along with a momentary clash with the group of 5 sentinels. His eyes pierced through the dust clouds to see the changed figure of the mechanical marvels. Their guns which seemed to be a part of their body had now merged with their hands, transforming into large gauntlets. Not to mention the rest of their body had underwent a rapid mutation, turning bulkier.

"Right."

Winston dashed at them without another word.

A rough sound of breaking the sound barrier sounded as his speed exceeded the limits of what any regular below the 30th floor could achieve!

Boom! Bang!

Almost instantaneously, two of the five sentinels crumbled down into scraps as Winston appeared behind them, his arms stretched out still in a punching motion and small pieces of metal falling off of them.

The rest of the sentinels turned around and created a strange beeping noise that rang out in the air.

Winston smiled and rushed at them again. This time, the sentinels dodged to the side, saving them from getting destroyed in a single strike, instead only one of them did.

One of them redirected it's speed, rushing at the spot Winston had stopped at.

He tilted his head as the sentinel punched past it, and then, pulling back his fist, he embedded it right into the stomach of the robot.

Zzzzz*

Electrical sparks flew out of his fist as the robot flew back and crumbled into a mess.

The spells of the trickmaster had also been significantly enhanced, though not to the level that they would be usable in a battle of firepower. However, such a limitation could easily be remedied through shinsu.

Looking towards the last sentinel, Winston snapped his finger, and with that the shinsu around him rippled.

Snap!

Boom!

A gigantic hole blew right threw the robot's head, making it collapse. Naturally, the air bullet could also be augmented through shinsu.

This was the experimentation Winston had been holed up in for the past months. The assimilation of beyonder powers with shinsu; and the results so far had been particularly great.

After taking care of the robots, Winston pinched his top hat and readjusted it to sit better.

Then, with a smile he looked over towards the way Zarhan had gone, finding him also having taken care of his share of robots.

Winston nodded and both of them dashed towards the large structure.

As they ran, Winston dialed in the current situation to the other team, who, at this point, were also heading towards the castle like structure.

As they approached, the bells beneath his coat chimed, and a vision overlapped his senses.

It was the vision of a large castle like structure and in front of it stood a large door with many sentinels guarding it. And further down into the castle stood a team of 7, their faces blurred out still.

Winston smirked.

The opposing team had stationed all of their sentinels on the main gate to take care of them, somehow knowing that they were heading for the main gate.

A strange glint carried onto his eyes as they curved in a strange anticipation and mischief.

~~~

Inside the castle, a group of 7 people stood around in vigilance as they looked over towards the gate. 4 of the 7 were male, 2 were female and one had... a strange body type, appearing more like an amorphous blob of jelly than a human.

One of them men turned towards another, a hulking figure that stood a staggering 7 feet tall, although not too rare in the tower, with a white head and striking red eyes. The hulking man wore a simple trenchcoat and carried a strange suitcase beside him. His face held a small smile.

"Are you sure they would all come through the main gate?" The man asked the giant.

The giant's smile widened just a tiny bit, a change imperceptible to the regulars.

"Of course. After all, your observers too confirmed the fact right? What good would it do for me to lie?" He chuckled.

The man clicked his tongue in response, "I haven't had the best experience with following silver dwarfs. I'm rather doubtful." He shook his head.

One of the women spoke out. "Oh please! What does it matter where they come from anyway! The sentinels will be able to arrive in a small time frame anyway!"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." The other woman shook her head, a floating cube behind her. "As per the information I've gathered, the team we're facing at the moment if the team of super rookies that passed from the floor of tests some months ago. They have 2 princesses of Jahad and a man with incredible powers on their team. I think Winston Heath was his name?"

A man that was seated at the far corner of the large hall scoffed.

"So what? There's only one princess on the island right? As for the Winston guy, I'll take care of him!" He exclaimed, twirling around a needle in his hand.

The hulking man, Samuel Helmons furrowed his brows a bit in contemplation, seemingly wanting to say something. But eventually, no words came out of his mouth.

Suddenly, a series of explosive sounds rang out on the outside.

The lightbearer woman immediately straightened her back and the lighthouse behind her expanded in size to turn into a large screen.

Before long, it displayed a large view of the outside through a lens, appearing like a movie. The screen depicted Winston and Zarhan fighting off the sentinels, though they weren't able to damage any of them and were only able to dodge the relentless attacks of the robots.

The robots were too many for them to retaliate with an attack. The melee robots were troublesome to begin with, but when coupled with the ranged ones, they seemed to be more than a match for the two regulars.

"Heh! They don't seem too troublesome. I feel like the sentinels will be done in a little more than 3 minutes." The man with the needle shook his head in disdain.

Just then, a reply cane from behind him.

"Right? That guy is so uncool. He doesn't seem like the rumors at all." Chimed the voice. The man nodded in response. Just then, he froze, realizing the foreign voice and the fact that all of his team stood in front of him.

Slowly, he turned his head. And then...

Bam!

A fist planted right into his face, throwing him back into the ground and knocking him out cold.

Zarhan stood there with his fist stretched out, a scowl on his face.

Behind him stood Winston who was quietly pinching his top hat and three other people, of which included a green skinned woman, a dark haired man wearing a tight robe and another dark haired man wearing a white t shirt and wrapped around him a blanket that floated silently.

"Boo." Said Winston with a smile.

And then chaos descended.

The regulars clammored about, rushing away from them to take up some distance. The lightbearer glanced at the lighthouse, only to still find the sentinels engaged in a battle with Winston and Zarhan! However, before she could process what was happening, the two figures that fought on the screen disappeared into a mystical illusion!

The woman's eyes shrank into needles as she felt her hair stand on end.

She turned her head rapidly, only to see baangs of shinsu littered in the air, the combined effort of the opposite team.

And then...

Boom!

In a single strike, all of their team was eliminated!

And with that, Laure, with a wave of his hand, went ahead and hoisted up their flags instead of the other team's, claiming the outpost for themselves.

"That was quick." Amon commented, sitting down onto a small flight of stairs with a leisure smile on his face.

Anaak sat beside him, propping up a green hook on her shoulder. "It was disappointing." She said.

Winston stretched his hands into the air and groaned.

"I agree. That was indeed a bit disappointing." He droned.

However...

Whooosh!

Tring!

The bell under his tail coat chimed, and with it, a vision overlapped his senses.

He saw himself getting besieged with 6 baangs, all from roughly the same direction. The baangs impacted his body, although not dealing too much damage to his body, shredding his new clothes into pieces!

Immediately, his focus shifted and 5 baangs appeared in the air to his right. And then, they fired off!

Shaaa!

Boom!

The baangs met in the air, triggering a large explosion. However, one of them was too fast for him to avoid, which led to the baangs crashing right into him!

However, just as the baang impacted through his body, the entire figure crumbled right into paper, fluttering along in the wind!

Winston's teammates were alarmed, their eyes shrinking in surprise and bewilderment at not having sensed anyone close by.

"What the hell?" Anaak yelled, getting back to her feet.

Some distance away, a mystical figure appeared on the ground. Winston had reappeared with the paper figurine substitution, successfully saving his new clothes from being damaged!

Safe! He yelled in his mind. Then, his eyes turned to the perpetrator of the act.

There he stood, a strange man with a height of 7 feet and hair white as snow and eyes that shone with a baleful red glint; donning a dark trenchcoat and holding a suitcase at hand.

There was a smile stretched across his face as he held his hand onto his chest and bower a little.

"Greetings! Myself Samuel Helmons!" He broke out with a toothy grin.

Winston narrowed his eyes at him, and immediately, his spirituality straightened out and converged. And so, baangs of shinsu materialized in the air behind him. Without any delay, 5 baangs, with the 6th still forming floated in the air behind him.

The strange man only smiled further.

Anaak, Amon and Zarhan came forward, their weapons drawn and ready to engage at a moment's notice.

Behind them, Laure floated in the air with 3 baangs in the air around him.

"This is quite a predicament it seems." Samuel chortled.

And, the suitcase he held at his side trembled.

Winston's hair stood on edge as he fired off the the baangs he had made, simultaneously casting various spells. Anaak, Amon and Zarhan all collectively rushed at the man, aiming to finish him before he finished what he had started!

Boooooom!

Crash!

Shaaa!

The large dust cloud appeared in place, covering all of their vision, save for Winston's. Casting a wind spell, the dust cleared out, and what appeared was only empty space with no trace of the man.

~~~

A/N: Nice.

Throw some stones. Also, share what you think. It helps to keep me motivated and engaged.

Cheers~~~