Death Reaper's Scythe

The seventh day concluded...

Andrew sat on a boulder while looking at the burnt-down jungle. The massive trees that once covered the horizon were no more.

'Those trees are good burning material' a random thought popped up in his mind as he looked around.

Those trees were truly the best conductor of fire. Moreover, the amount of oxygen was higher on Aria than that on Earth, so it's way easier for flames to combust and spread.

A previously lustrous jungle biome now had turned into nothing but a burnt desert. There were no hiding spots left since there wasn't anything to hide behind.

But Andrew didn't let his guard down. Even though it was already the morning of the eighth day, there was still no declaration of the exam's end, so he stayed alert.

Suddenly, Andrew's senses picked up some movements underwater. He took out his hand-made dagger as he readied himself for the attack, yet the next moment something he didn't expect happened...

"Andrew help!" a pained and exhausted voice resounded from the nearby rock. 

The next moment, a feminine hand protruded from behind the rock. Andrew didn't approach it as he cautiously eyed it.

A series of coughs resounded as the hand kept weakly waving at him. 

Andrew slowly approached the rock as he readied a crystal to throw in case that person jumps on him.

He sensed no hostile intentions from her. Moreover, it's pointless to kill anyone since the seven-day mark has come to an end.

Andrew peeked behind the rock as he saw a wounded woman with bloodied robes lean on the rock. Her eyelids quivered as her breathing was shallow and chaotic.

This woman was none other than Eve!

Naturally, Andrew didn't approach her. He looked around his surrounding, checking out for any traps or ambushes.

Ten painful minutes had to pass for Eve before Andrew slowly approached her sorry figure.

He didn't sheathe his dagger as he was all time ready to plunge it right into her skull.

"What do you want?" Andrew asked coldly as he stopped when only a couple of meters separated them. In case she tried anything funny he would be able to quickly send her to the afterlife.

"You are a stubborn one, aren't you?" Eve weakly said as it became harder to breathe with each minute.

Andrew simply ignored her remark as he coldly stared right into her eyes.

Eve suddenly flinched as waves of pain spread throughout her body. She clenched her teeth as she tried to suppress the agonized screams.

After a while, the pain subsided enough for her to have the strength to look at Andrew's handsome face.

"Help me" she said those simple words.

"Why should I?" Andrew coldly asked.

Eve expected this kind of response since she had come to know his cold and indifferent personality during those past ten years. 

He ignored everyone, no matter who they were to him, he just ignored them, unless he had a business that requires their assistance he wouldn't even remember that they existed.

"I just need your help, I hope you will grace me with your assistance since the examination is over" she said as a series of blood filled coughs soon followed after.

"I have no reason to do so" as soon as Andrew said those words he just turned around and left, not interested even a bit.

Eve followed Andrew's disappearing figure with half-closed eyes as she couldn't move even a finger anymore.

She was literally in a state of a ragdoll.

Andrew felt no pity nor remorse for Eve as her current predicament was a result of her own actions. He held no responsibility for what comes out of it since she wasn't anyone important to him to begin with.

___

In the dimly lit room, ten men sat around the round table. They all possessed contemplative expressions.

"Judge 1, you said that only two participants are left alive?" a demon with common traits asked yet there was a savage air around him.

"Yes, Judge 7. I'll repeat once again for those who skipped surveying the examination for trivial reasons" as soon as Judge 1 said those words, several men grunted with displeasure.

"A quick-witted fella decided to put on fire to the whole jungle biome. That person smartly lit fires in key directions that would make the spread of fire easier. Although, burning the entire biome isn't uncommon since it had been done by some participants in the past, this one was far more catastrophic.

An alliance had formed with almost two-thirds of the survivors joining in. Due to extreme panic, they experienced because of the ticking clock, they started slaughtering each other to get more points and decrease the number of competitors. A smart fella saw an opportunity and exploited it. Chaos spread throughout the biome as people started killing each other left and right.

Even those who decided to hide in a river were killed by a particular participant. This case of burning down entire biome is much more severe than previous ones since only two participants managed to survive" Judge 1 explained.

A complete silence engulfed the room.

"What do we do?" Judge 5 asked.

"Revive them like the previous time?" Judge 6 suggested. 

"If they didn't manage to survive then they are just worthless trash" Judge 8 added with disdain evident in his tone.

The men kept arguing until...

"Let's vote" Judge 1 suggested.

Everyone agreed as they nodded their heads.

"Those who want the participants eligible to be ranked in the top ten to be revived raise your right hand. Those who want only those two survivors to pass raise your left hand" Judge 1 said.

The judges raised their hands as numbers were:

6 right hands and 4 left hands.

"Then, it's decided!" Judge 1 said as he clapped his hands and the jungle biome was...

___

5 minutes ago, Andrew sat on the river shore as he still keenly observed his surroundings.

He couldn't find the exact reason why the exam wasn't finished and the judges haven't come out. 

He hypothesized that there were still over 10 people left alive. This seemed the only plausible explanation.

Suddenly...

The scenery in front of Andrew's eyes started to transform.

Mountain-sized piles of ashes were absorbed into the ground. The cracked and dry ground was healed as patches of grass started to regrow on it.

The previously dried-up rivers were restored back to their original state. The deserted biome was slowly being restored to its previous self.

Andrew watched all this unfold with an agape mouth. He saw how seeds slowly sprouted and grew into saplings and eventually matured and became full-grown trees.

The hundred-meter-tall trees grew in a matter of minutes...

The vegetation blossomed once again as life returned into the jungle biome.

Andrew watched all of this unfold with a shocked expression. Even the charred rock that he sat on was restored to its original state.

'Everything is reverting!' Andrew exclaimed in his mind.

Even the exhaustion from the examination was washed away.

Andrew wasn't sure whether this was the work of a powerful mage or an array since he had read some information regarding such situations in the books.

'It certainly isn't a time manipulation. It should be a healing ability of an array or a spell performed by a mage' Andrew concluded.

Eventually, the jungle biome recovered to its mesmerizing beauty.

Andrew keenly observed every detail as he compared it with the past image of the biome. Unsurprisingly, he spotted none!

When he finally calmed down from excitement he managed to notice the abnormality in his body...

He was rejuvenated! He didn't feel tired or sloppy!

'This certainly should be a mass healing!' Andrew exclaimed in his mind.

Mass healing as its name suggests is a process of many entities or objects recovering to their original health or state.

Suddenly, the scenery in front of Andrew's eyes shifted...

He was now in a dimly lit hall among other 10 best participants. As expected, Eve was among them. They all looked at each other with complicated and varied emotions since some of them fell victim to their weakness and were killed by some of those top 10 demons.

The majority of heated gazes landed on Andrew since many of them were killed by him. Their hostile intentions were clear as water. They were ready to kill each other once again!

"Attention!" a deep voice resounded as survivors' attention was redirected to the particular man.

He wore a bloody-red hood which gave him a devilish and sinister vibe.

The man looked at each participant. His gaze was soul-piercing as survivors felt extreme danger from him.

They understood that this man wasn't someone they could mess with...

"Except the two survivors: Andrew and Eve, all of you are trash!" the man said with overflowing disdain.

"Except those two, none of you managed to survive and due to the fact that the 10 judges had to vote whether to resurrect you or let you rot in the afterlife you will be considered as half-baked members of Blood Devil Corps at best! As compensation, Andrew and Eve, the only two winners will be granted limited access to special facilities!" the man announced.

Those 8 losers trembled intensely as they couldn't believe what they heard. All of them believed that they were just knocked out and not actually killed, but to think something like this really happened, their baseless and idiotic hope was shattered...

The death reaper's scythe had really come close!