Exam IX

"We can rest here," Alan said as we entered a small wooden house, which spread its warmth throughout my body.

The house seemed to be made for two people as it contained two beds and a small space where there was a table covered by a low blanket.

I hung my bearskin sweater on a small wooden branch sticking out of one of the walls of the house.

Alan followed my example and hung up his sweater, soon Ansiel did the same, after that he turned to us.

I sat down on one of the beds and leaned against the wall.

"Alan and I are friends. - I said, looking at Alan and then at Ansiel. - We won't force you to do anything, but you have to ally with us, for now."

Ansiel fell silent in reflection and the meantime I met my gaze with Alan, who had a big smile on his face as he muttered "friends" slowly.

"I will cooperate with you."

Ansiel said as he looked at me.

"Well then, let's talk about the plan for tomorrow."

*** * ***

"Here it is," Alan said towards Ansiel, stopping in front of the pole we had used to enter the training ground earlier.

-Splash.

The three of us gave a nod and proceeded to jump towards the posthole, which to my good fortune didn't have a sheet of ice this time, but rather small chunks rolling through the water.

Alan and I had decided not to talk about my status as a child of mana to Ansiel, maybe after I survived the exam and if I was forced to use my mana as a wizard we would talk about it.

-Splash.

In no time we walked out of the water well to the training ground, just like last time it took us a while to warm up our bodies, but now it was much faster due to the sunlight coming through the slits.

Today was the last day of the exam and according to our calculations by this time there were a maximum of 40 people left alive, including us.

My thoughts stopped when I saw a boy cross the aisle in front of us with his hand on the sheath of his sword.

I stretched out my hand, stopping Alan and Ansiel from running after me.

Slowly we watched as the boy walked and when the opportunity arose Ansiel ran towards him. With a couple of quick steps that exuded no sound she reached the boy and aimed straight for his heart.

The blood-splattered and any trace of life disappeared from the boy who had started to burn slowly from his heart and spread throughout his body.

By the time he was done burning we were already several meters in front of him.

After yesterday it was not unusual for them to have people watching the surrounding area.

Before we could completely flee together with Ansel people had entered the training camp, so that they would not discover the number of people we were Alan had to conjure a large ball of light.

Due to his bad control with something other than his golden Aura he lost all the mana in his core and the end we spent the night talking.

As we ran I fixed my gaze on Ansiel, almost everything we had talked about had been about him.

Especially about his powers.

He told some things that I as a GOF (Garden Of Thrones) player already knew.

Like, for example, his status as the son of one of the greatest swordsman clans in existence.

The Graham clan.

A clan of swordsmen oriented to murder.

But it was that very characteristic that made him a villain and what I assumed was the reason that brought him to this examination.

The Graham clan was a clan that mastered two deviant elements, sound and darkness.

Those two characteristics alone were enough to be named as one of the strongest families that inhabited the realm of Aren, nay rather the continent of Axe, along with the DawnWinter family.

The number of babies that managed to grow up in the Graham Clan amounted to no more than 3 children every 10 years.

And every one of them was a genius and of course, Ansiel was no exception.

The whole Clan had their expectations on the second son of the Clan leaders.

And their wait was worth it, Ansiel's talent was beyond anyone's expectations. But just one thing dashed all expectations.

Ansiel was not a double deviant but instead was born with only one deviation. Sound.

That very characteristic of the clan was the one that only allowed 3 children to reach their teenage years.

Any baby born without a double affinity for darkness and sound was killed.

It was only thanks to his position as the son of the clan chief that he was saved.

But his life was not life.

He was a slave within the clan.

Those acts generated a deep hatred towards the clan inside Ansiel that grew more and more every day, until one day he found a way out.

Adad Hall.

He gave her hope and a way to vent that hatred for the clan.

"We arrived," Ansiel said as she stopped my thoughts and my running.

I followed Ansiel's gaze and slowly scanned the training field.

Yesterday I and Alan had entered from the east side and had fought the battle on the field we currently observed.

According to what Alan said there were a total of four fields, located at each cardinal point and prearranged for the four Swords, plus a small garden in the center.

To my surprise Bull was one of the Four Swords.

Then there was the test presenter Cotli.

And the last two:

Gabin and Elten.

It was a glance, but it was enough to understand the situation we were currently crossing.

There were a total of 2 people, who just like the boy from before were crossing the corridors in the form of invigilators.

"Everything is as you said. - Alan said as he leaned against the wall and dropped to the floor with a sigh. - This probably won't be so easy."

Listening to Alan brought back memories of our talk last night.

I had said that it was most likely that some of the survivors of the exam would ally against us, especially Alan.

After all, they had been able to see the great mace of light that Alan had to conjure so that we could escape.

It stood to reason that all the examinees would know that the light element was the hallmark of the DawnWinter family.

And even though they didn't see us it was easy to tell from the number of lifeless bodies strewn on the ground that Alan had some companions.

With those things in mind, we had made a simple but effective and lethal plan.

Which consisted of getting to the center and finishing off the enemies.

Starting with the ones that were there and then we would kill one by one the people that arrived.

With that in mind we moved to dodge the guys crossing the corridors with our guard up, everything went according to plan except for one thing.

We were a few meters away from getting to the center and we had already run into 3 people.

They were few, but taking into account the distribution of the camps and the number of guards we have now along with the survivors of the exam there should be at worst 20 people.

The minutes became long as we concentrated on each step we took and finally we reached a fork that allowed us to observe the center.

Which was adorned with a garden with chairs and benches, which were occupied by 5 people; 3 boys and 2 girls.

"Are those the ones you mentioned? - Ansiel said, looking at Alan who answered without taking his eyes off the 5 young men. - Yes, that's them, the women are the 2 female disciples of the Elten Sword and the other three are Gabin's disciples."

According to what Alan said they were all in Rank E. There were only 3 of us.

There were only 3 of us. But we had a secret weapon.

"Ansiel; Alan. - I said as I looked towards them. - Remember, don't leave any of them alive."

** ** **

"Are you sure they'll come, Vidn? - Said a boy resting his hands on the table, which held four other young men who seemed to have the same question. - They will, Peles, it's only a matter of time."

Replied the boy named Vidn in a confident voice, but he was let down by their constant glances towards the East door.

"By the way. - Said a girl with Piel-colored hair. - How many partners did you say that bastard Alan had."

"We don't know for sure. - The remaining man replied. - But we think it won't be less than 3."

A heavy silence fell as they listened to the words of the boy whose hands were completely bandaged.

"Please~, don't tell me you are afraid. - Said the remaining woman as she abruptly stood up from her chair. - Even if it's Alan he can't against the 5 of us, let alone if we add the 12 patrolling the corridors."

"So stop being such chickens and..."

-Baaaaaaang!

Just before the woman finished her words an explosion echoed from the door located to the east.

A large amount of smoke rose from the door and made it difficult for the 5 young men to see.

They put their guard to the maximum and placed their hands on the sheaths of their swords.

The five broke out in a cold sweat as they watched the icy smoke be replaced by an icy, gloomy air that swept across the garden.

At last, their eyes caught a lone figure waving his hair in the wind, which fixed its eyes on the five people and soon after started a fast run towards them.

In a matter of seconds, she reached them from the left side, and almost as if by suicide she pounced on the five of them.

The first to take a step was the boy they called Vidn who unsheathed his sword and ran to meet the young man.

The two swung their swords, which did not clash due to the platinum blue-haired young man who made a quick turn in the air, dodged the sword, and as he fell he jumped back towards Vidn who could only watch as a kick slammed into his ribs.

-Thud.

A thud resounded as Vidn bolted through the air, but was ignored by the silver-haired boy who fixed his eyes on the other four and raised a beautiful but crazy smile.

-Tap!

A step echoed as the young man leaped towards one of the women who quickly took a swing, which was dodged by the young man who spun around on his axis along with a swing that cut into his side.

A step backward then another one along with a leap that lifted him into the air where he raised his hand causing a lightning bolt that seemed to go out of control to fly to the ground.

-Baaaaang!

The ground rose and covered two shadows that moved in coordination towards the young men.

A soundless explosion generated by a spot of light was visualized between the shadows and followed by a beeping sound that replaced all sound filled the ears of those present.

-Piiiiiiii~

The beeping sound continued for a time that lasted as long as the dirt spread through the air.

When the dust was completely scattered a chilling vision of two bodies being pierced by a sword was reflected in the turquoise pupils of the platinum blue-haired young man.

He leaped towards the confused black-haired woman who lay wounded with her hand on her side from which she was spurting blood.

** * **

Sorry for the delay, tomorrow (from my country) I will be uploading a new chapter as sorry.