Prediction and Rest

As Leon stepped through the portal, he was immediately greeted with the familiar sight of his school grounds, and this time it was actually the normal ones.

The sky was now back to its bluish color, the school buildings weren't abandoned, and the breeze carried a chill in the air.

"4," Toji loudly informed as he wrote Leon's name on a piece of paper, "Alright, one more and my prediction will be right."

Noah and the [Star Archer] were standing in a line, one right next to the other, while Dan was currently heading there since he entered the portal around thirty seconds before Leon did.

"Huh, sir?" Dan raised his hand as he placed himself next to Noah.

"Yes?"

"These are the only survivors."

"…" Toji didn't seem to register what he just told him, "Alright, so only four- what?"

"Only the four of us managed to survive, that is all," Noah answered, "I know, must be shocking after you said that there is a 10% survival rate…"

But Toji didn't actually seem affected by that.

"This isn't that, kid," he showed the paper in his hands to the four survivors, "This is a list of the people I predicted would survive this."

And on the piece of paper were only five names: Leon Devour, Dan Goldenberg, Noah Hollow, Alice Starlight and… Akira Sunshine.

"This isn't normal, my predictions are ALWAYS right," Toji pointed at the piece of paper, "How could Akira, the one with the highest potential, die?"

"…"

"These monsters wouldn't be able to hurt him, so the only solution is… another… human?" Toji's voice became low and slow as his gaze switched from person to person, finally landing on Leon.

"…?" Leon titled his head.

"Haha… I see, amazing," Toji clapped his hands, "Well, then, if only the four of you are left, then this trial is over," he snapped his fingers, and one of the men switched a lever right beside the portal, shutting it down.

"But wait a minute…" Dan stopped Toji as he was beginning to walk away, "If you knew only five people would survive, then it meant you lied about that 10% survival rate!"

"I didn't lie, I just predicted who would survive, sometimes its higher, but in this school I guessed that the 5 of you would be the ones strong enough to get out, it is only but a beginning-level dimension after all, it isn't even hard," Toji shrugged, "Anyway, you four rest, the bus that will transport you to the 'Crimson Union' capital will be here tomorrow."

"What about the 'ascension' trial?" Alice, the [Star Archer], spoke for the first time.

"It's in a week, and all people across the 1000 schools of this program that survived the trial will be allowed to participate, meaning roughly around… 20000 participants?"

This was an insane number, and all these people would participate in the 'ascension' challenge that the 'Crimson Earth' nation has set up for people to be able to join the first city of the nation (where all awakeners start), and thus possibly even the academy after a while.

[Finally, I can see the real world!] EGO was busy looking around, enjoying the trees and sky, [Feels good!]

"What is that?" Toji asked as he pointed at the small ball of fire with a mouth and eyes.

"It's EGO, don't mind him," Leon smiled.

"…" Toji didn't say anything, but he had a bad feeling about that thing as it somewhat felt… weird, "See ya, brats, I hope to see you alive when we meet again."

Toji walked out of the gate alongside half of his crew, riding a dozen cars that were parked right at the outside of the school grounds.

"Oh, wow," Dan and the others just stood there, watching the cars ride in the distance, "I wonder where the people who failed went though."

"Probably got taken by some buses toward the 'resources' region, or to one of the cities," Noah shrugged as he yawned and began to walk toward his dorm, "Well, see you folks, I want to rest."

"Bye," Alice also walked toward the second year students girl's dorm, which was now completely empty as she was the only girl left.

~DING~

"Let's go, Foxxy!" Dan summoned the golden fox, and he carried it in his hands while heading toward his room.

And so, Leon was the only one left standing in the middle of the school grounds.

The first year students were actually not present inside the school since the nation actually drove them out of the property under the excuse of a 'school trip' to learn more, something they had actually done to the second years as well when the previous people needed to graduate.

Was this what they had gone through as well? Probably.

"…" Leon sighed, he had survived, and this was all that mattered.

[Hm… I wonder what the 'Ascension' challenge is going to be…] EGO stopped smiling as a deep aura appeared on his eyes.

"We don't know, but let's hope it's not some hellish bullshit again," Leon began to walk toward the building where his dorm was.

[Doesn't really matter, I'm just going to devour them all, anyway.]

"Sure thing, bud."

Leon felt like he was the last person standing in the world.

But then again, it was only the first day of the 'Crimson Earth' program to gather strong awakeners, and things were just getting started.

With EGO on his head, resting as he finally closed his eyes, Leon reached his dorm and jumped on the bed, immediately closing his eyes as exhausting too over him.

***

[WAKE UP! WAKE UP!]

An alarm resounded in Leon's head, and he opened his eyes just to see the small flame known as EGO in front of him, angrily and repeatedly bumping into his face as it tried to wake him up.

[Finally!]

"Come on, EGO… let me sleep…" Leon rubbed his eyes as he got up, "We still have lots of time ahead of us…"

[The people that are supposed to bring us to the capital are already there, and everyone is already awake.]

"…" Leon looked at EGO for a few seconds, "How long did I sleep-"

[19 hours.]

"Oh," Leon was still wearing his academy uniform, and thankfully he didn't have anything to prepare as well since, you know, he was poor, so clothes weren't a privilege he was granted, only doing the laundry of his three uniforms once in a while, "Well, then let's go."

Leon rushed down the stairs as he was on the third floor, and from there he could already see his three classmates standing in line in front of a different 'elite' leader than before.

They seemed to be waiting for him, but the leader was getting impatient as he tapped his feet on the grass.

"I'm here," Leon shouted as he waved his arm, then placed himself conveniently right next to Dan.

"Finally," the new 'Elite' leader, who was dressed in military clothes, spoke, "Well, then, let's begin."

"Begin what?" Leon asked, since he wasn't here when they explained.

"I just need you four to show me a basic use of your abilities, it is needed and everyone does it," the man had short brown hair, although hidden by his soldier hat, and a beard of the same color, his aura was also menacing.

[Nuh uh, don't show them, Host!]