The next day, after breakfast, the second challenge was posted on the bulletin boards around the school. It was an obstacle course scheduled for thirty minutes from then.
Asha grinned as she saw the notice. This was going to be very interesting.
∽
"I hate this," Tim grumbled. "What was the point of this, again?"
Amelia replied in a mocking voice, "I think his exact words were 'to increase the sportsmanship of competitors and get the teams to get closer.' Biggest load of bullshit I've heard in a long time."
Tim shifted his stance, causing Rosaria to bump into his shoulder. "This is just overkill!" he snarled.
"Stop complaining. I'm the one with the haphephobia," said Asha from the left end.
Tim just bit his lip. They were all tied together at their ankles and wrists. This obstacle course was done in the teams of seven from each school, and all seven members had to cross the finish line still bound to win.
Ethelyn was in the dead center, with him and Amelia on either side of her, then with Rosaria and Blyke, then with Asha and Daniel on the ends.
The judge walked up to the flying platforms that were hovering around the teams on the ground next to the forest. "This is a triathlon, the course the school. The first part is on foot through the forest. The second part is swimming through the lake. The third part is flying through the air over the school. All Amora's abilities are permitted, but there are requirements for each zone. In the Air Zone, you are not allowed to damage any of the building. If you do, your school must rebuild and you are disqualified. For the Underwater Zone, the two participants on the outsides of the chains are not allowed to get wet, but all players must be submerged in the water If even a strand of hair is wet, you will be disqualified. For the Land Zone, you must never stop moving your feet. If you falter in your step, you will be disqualified!"
"Easy enough," Asha said.
Tim looked at her. That girl... always had a plan, no matter where she was dropped. He grinned. He might not like her a whole lot, but she was definitely the right person to strategize Luminine's movements.
"On your marks!"
"He didn't give us instructions on how to get through the forest!" someone shouted.
"How do we know they aren't giving Luminine an advantage?"
"I can assure you that this forest is off limits to all Luminine students and I personally installed the barrier," Randolph called. "Your own Headmaster and Headmistress have their own forbidden places, right?"
"Get set!"
Tim tensed his muscles, ready to spring.
"All ground-based Amora, Second Form," Asha hissed.
"Go!"
∽
Blyke transformed, the panther ears and tail and claws appearing as he, Amelia, and Tim sprang forward. He glanced to see if Asha was being dragged, but she was running, keeping up with them easily.
"Just keep going forward, and don't get wrapped around the trees," Asha called. "The forest is strange. It's just a kind of triangle from the grounds! If you've ever noticed, you just have to walk around it to get to the lake!"
"We've never had a reason to go to the lake!" said Ethelyn.
Blyke nodded, dodging a tree.
Students went to the lake to train, because, strangely, the lake had an almost perfect blend of elements. The forest was very close, and ice came from the forest to brush the shores. The sun above was hot and fiery, but there always seemed to be a stormy section.
But the cadre had never needed to train there.
"How wide is it? And how much further do we need to go?" Daniel called.
"It's about fifteen miles wide, and we've already traveled about two!" Blyke responded. "Let's pick up pace!"
"Watch out!" Asha grabbed Blyke's hand and jumped, yanking so hard it felt like his arm was going to tear from its socket.
Blyke was shocked when the others rose, too, like a whip being retracted, as Asha leapt in the tree. He looked behind him as they jumped away and his eyes widened in shock as a the dirt shifted into a mound as huge earthen jaws snapped shut, held a second, then smoothed back out, dust swirling as if nothing had happened.
"This place is terrifying," Ethelyn said in a very bland voice.
"Why do you think people with a low Cultivation Level aren't allowed in here?" Asha asked.
"Can you explain that CL thing that the Headmaster was talking about?" Rosaria asked.
"Only a bit. And that's because I'm not allowed to tell some people this information. Each Amorai is ranked by its power alone, its strength and its abilities in combat. Those rankings go from one to fifteen normally. However, some people with a hidden trump card actually can be ranked up to twenty."
"I never heard about that," Blyke said. "I only knew the rankings went to fifteen."
"Well, once again, that's a combat ability, because Artemesa is run by the strong. However, the Cultivation Level is a level concerning several different aspects, one of which is combat, but also regeneration abilities, defense, speed, the bond with your Amorai, even your mental strength. Also, how much control you have over the dominant element."
"What level are you?" Tim asked, leading the cadre back down to the ground.
"That's... classified."
"That's her way of saying she's the most OP person in the world," Amelia sighed. "How much does a cultivation level help?"
"Well, if we were in a video game, let's say you're a level one noob, and you only do one damage, right? Well, if you have a level two hundred cultivation level, then you add two hundred give-or-take a few points damage."
"That sounds very useful," commented Ethelyn.
"It is. In the normal ranking, there's an aura that is given off each user, and you can tell roughly their strength. However, CLs can be completely concealed. This may not make much sense right now, but as soon as you gain higher levels, then I can tell you more."
"We're here," Blyke said.
"We were too fast for the traps to activate most of the time," noted Rosaria. She grinned. "This was never a fair battle, even if this is our territory."
"Of course not," replied Asha. "We're the strong of the strong." She looked at Rosaria. "Sorry, but you're going to have to do most of the swimming. Daniel and I can hold the water off our skin with a layer of air, and I have a little present for the other competitors."
"I can pull a tank behind me in the water. Six scrawny teenagers aren't a problem," Rosaria said. "Anyone who doesn't want to get wet, put up a barrier, now." Without warning, Rosaria jumped into the lake.
∽
Asha held the barrier in place as Rosaria took the lead, the rest being dragged smoothly in a V similar to a flock of birds. As they glided smoothly through the water, Asha froze the lake behind them. Chunks of ice floated in the water even as the top five feet started to freeze over. The lake was special, because instead of a steady slope into it, it was an immediate twenty foot plunge as soon as you stepped in.
The cadre's progress sped up as Rosaria shifted into her Amorai's Second Form. Her Amorai is Mer, or a mermaid. Rosaria's legs melded together in a long, opalescent, scaled tail, and what seemed to be tattoo trails of a shimmering violet ink swirled over her arms.
"Someone's coming!" Amelia barked, her fluffy, white leopard ears twitching.
"My ice just broke, which is remarkable, seeing how I have to continuously freeze the moving water," remarked Asha.
"Let me handle this," Tim said. "Even I have a hidden card up my sleeve. When I say, Daniel, set up a barrier over all of us."
"Got it."
Tim flipped himself so he was looking behind the group and was upside-down. Seconds passed. "Now!"
A barrier formed around everyone except Asha, who already had her barrier up, and Tim threw out his arms as if throwing out a blanket over something.
Sparks flew from his fingertips and arched through the water, fanning out like a tidal wave on the beach.
Tim grinned as screams shattered the silence seconds later. "It worked."
"Paradox element?" Asha asked, raising an eyebrow in a kind of reluctant admiration. "Color me impressed."
"Just a little something I thought I'd try out," Tim said with a shrug.
"We're out!" Rosaria shouted, giving one great burst of speed so they shot out of the water and into the air.
"Daniel!" Asha called.
"Ready! You had a plan for this all along! Dammit, you're good," he shouted back.
"Second Form!" they shouted together.
Asha uncurled those teal wings from her back as Daniel's dragon-like ones burst into the air. With their cooperation, the cadre zoomed into the air. "Oh. No wonder they said we can't damage the buildings," muttered Asha.
"That's just overkill," Ethelyn agreed.
The obstacle part was becoming evident. There were rings of fire, tumultuous air currents, arcing nets of electricity... and the rest of the schools on those floating platforms, Amora summoned and in battle position.
"If any of you get motion sick, I'm sorry, but this is going to be a bit rough," Asha warned. "Now, Daniel!"
They shot forward, the rest of the cadre dangling between them.
"Kitsune! Third form! Sword of Return!" Tim shouted, his fox ears and tail vanishing as the sword with the foxtail crossguard appeared in his hands. He slashed through an ax like it was cheese.
Daniel and Asha flew toward a ring of fire. They grabbed each other and spiraled through, the force of the spiral driving the other cadre members further into the air, so they didn't hit the ring.
Daniel and Asha both were remarkable fliers, and they had nearly no trouble dodging the obstacles in the air or the attacks from the students.
"We're going to win," Blyke said.
The finish was barely thirty feet away.
And, of course, that's when everything went to hell.
Asha's senses prickled and she grabbed Blyke, yanking the whole chain after her. She flew straight ahead, then banked around the finish line pole, facing the figure in the air, even as the sky started to turn black.
Not like an inky black, but as if the sky and sun had been smothered with a heavy black cloth. Even Asha's senses couldn't help.
"What's going on?!" Amelia demanded below. "What happened? Is this part of the test?"
"No," Asha replied. "This is definitely not part of the test. Everyone, prepare yourselves."
"It's her, isn't it?" Blyke breathed.
Asha laughed gravely. "Yes." She said clearly, "Now, Ethelyn."
"Right."
The world lit up, a bright, white light blinding everyone trapped in the darkness. When the light faded, the darkness around them was still there, but less oppressive, and the ball of light above Ethelyn's head lit up the darkness enough to see.
See a huge, five-headed dragon taking to the skies. One head had flame-shaped scales in crimson, one had teardrop scales in sapphire, one had lightning-shaped scales in gold, one had white scales, and one had black scales.
Asha's blood ran cold. She knew that dragon. This wasn't possible. They'd parted ways many, many years ago.
"Let's go, Feed!" the cloaked boy shouted.
"What kind of Amorai is that?!" hissed Daniel.
"That... is the Five Element Evolution Dragon," Asha replied slowly.
"What rank is it?" Amelia asked.
"It's not ranked."
"How?"
"Because it's a new Amorai. A new species that hatched sixteen years ago," Asha replied.
"How do you know about it?"
"I've... seen it before," she hedged. But if he was here... and SHE was up there... this was either going to end with one of them dying, or the school being destroyed. Very possibly both.
Because Asha had missed one name on her list of people who could match her, maybe even defeat her.
"How dare you show that filthy beast to me!" the figure shouted. She raised her hand, and an eight and a half foot long pole landed in her hands, matching five foot scythe blades on opposite sides. She met the dragon head on.
∽
Blyke watched in awe as that tiny figure in the sky parried all five heads of the dragon, delivering swift and sure blows that drew blood, piercing the dragon's titanium-like scales like a knife cutting through cloth.
"He's losing," Ethelyn muttered.
"No, he's not," Tim replied. "Only his Amorai is fighting he has yet to join the battle himself."
"This is amazing, isn't it, A...sha...?" Blyke asked, turning, but Asha was nowhere to be found, the rope hanging from his wrist as if she'd just slipped out instead of cutting them. "Where did she go?" he asked.
"What?" Amelia replied.
"Asha's gone," said Blyke, showing the unwound rope. "But when did she...?"
"How is she gone now? This could end horribly, and our Queen isn't even here," hissed Daniel. "What could possibly be so important--"
"Wait, guys," Ethelyn interrupted. "She got us through the course. She planned everything out. She's not the type to blindly charge in without some kind of plan. All we can do is stay calm and wait for her plan to play out. She's never actually left Luminine completely defenseless, and she only leaves because she knows she can trust us to keep Luminine and the students safe."
"Those students aren't weak, either. Not as strong as us, granted, but together, we could take over a country," Tim agreed.
Blyke nodded, turning his gaze back up to the two fighting. But he couldn't help feel uneasy. Why had Asha been shaking when she saw the Amorai? And why would Argo be fighting a student? But why had Asha taken off so quickly?
Little did he know, he would get the answers, but much, much later, and in even graver circumstances.