"Why is he grinning like that?" Liz asked, staring at me.
"He must be confident in himself, that same arrogance will fail him," Says Sukai.
The grin faded away, and I sighed.
"Being confident in your own ability is not arrogance," I said in a dimmer tone.
Sukai shook her head.
I didn't know if she was disagreeing with me or not.
"We should take a walk around the district you guys, the mall, or something? We aren't going to waste hours just standing here right?" Liz said.
"Sure, why not" Christian agreed.
"You coming Red?" Bell said, but it went over my head.
I had turned my attention to the "recommended" students I was with a few minutes ago. The grey-haired guy, who the hell is he?
"Do you have a crush on Inita or something?" Christain said, standing next to me. "Bell asked you a question by the way,"
"Oh, sorry Bell, must've gone over my head, what'd you ask?"
"Are you coming?" She asked once more.
"Yeah, sure" I agreed.
"Do you know Inita very well?" I asked Christain as we started walking.
"We all went to the same academy, but I don't know her very well on a personal level," Christian said.
"She has a phoenix tattoo on her hand, you know why?" I asked, curiously.
"She is a fire-binder, but she uses the phoenix style instead, that mark, or tattoo represents it," Christain explained.
"On the same logic, the grey-haired guy uses dragon style?" I asked.
"Roman, you mean? And yes, I think so at least. He doesn't talk much, so I don't know a lot about him,"
"His Orizambi was so dense," I said under my breath.
"Say something?"
"It's nothing," I smiled vividly.
Now thinking about it. All of their Orizambi were intense, I could feel the energy around them. Was Inita right? Are they on a completely different level than me?
I had my head inside the gutter the entire time. The malls were crowded; most were adults and little children. They probably came here as a way to pass the time. We ended up at a food court, but I refused to eat. I wasn't hungry. Bell noticed how my mood had changed.
"It's not like to you say no to food," She said. "You alright Red?"
I nodded, "yes, I'm fine."
After a couple of minutes after that, Liz received a notification that the exam scores are about to be posted. We hurried up back to the school. The scores were posted as a hologram, it started from 500+ to 400, then 350, then 300, then 250, then 200, then 150, then 100, then 50, then 40, then 30.
"I made top 30?" Christain said, surprised. "Top 100 would be good, but at this rate, I'm heading for S-Class,"
He got a score of 508. Not bad.
Top 20. I saw Bell's name.
She took a deep breath.
Top 15.
"S-class material," Sukai said as her name popped up.
522.
Top 10.
Liz's name popped up.
530.
The scores were very close.
5. Eden Noir- 550
4. Shawn Tunel- 554
3. Deborah Suchel- 554.
2. Luke Mantriel-733
"Luke got second place?"
"With a score of 733?"
"That has to be a mistake right?"
The students started to murmur.
1. Reid Flannel- 750.
I smiled.
"Who the hell is Reid Flannel,"
The students wondered, asking themself.
"Not too bad for a commoner eh?" I said to myself.
"You got a perfect score?" Christian turned to me.
"Way to go Red," Bell gave me a fist bump.
"Thanks, Bell, not too bad yourself either," I smiled.
"The only people in recent memory to get a perfect score is the professor and Insunya," Sukai said.
"Incredible," Christian said.
"It's time to start the final trials. For those who didn't meet the required rank, you may now take your leave, hope to see you again," The proctor said. "The remaining students, if you want to be in teams for the next part, please wait for a while, if you are going solo, then please, follow the guides to the sector."
"I'm with you right Bell?" I asked.
"Teams can be up to five, right? So why not team with our new friends," Bell suggested.
"If they want to then why not, it's way more fun with more people," I smiled.
"Remember that everyone is responsible for their own kill though," Sukai said.
"There were some people to had the same scores on the exam, what happens to them?" Christian asked.
"They go head to head, a proctor will ask a question, and who answers correct moves on," Liz said.
"Damn, that's tough," Bell said.
"And now, for the one's in teams, you may proceed. Good luck to you all."
"Hey, Red, don't die okay," Bell said.
It reminded me of how she used to tell me every morning.
"Of course,"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Scoring is based on what rank of Lander you kill," The proctor said as all the students settled. The sector was huge. The environment was set to mimic a forest. "Ranging from E- rank to B- rank. Only the scores in the top 200 will move on. Everyone will start at score zero, so it doesn't matter if you did exceptional in the last trial or not."
"E-rank gives 1 point, D-rank gives 2 points, C-rank gives 3 points and B-rank gives 4 points. The watch on your wrist will keep track of your points and in the end, we will announce the ones who passed."
"30 minutes on the clock please,"
Silence.
"The second trials have now begun,"
"Let's go straight for D-ranks," Sukai said. "A great way to start and they give 2 points."
"A lot of people will be thinking that as well, I think we should go for B-rank or C-rank at least," I suggested.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Liz said.
"What do you think Bell," I asked.
"I'm with you Red," She said.
That makes me at ease.
"Yeah, I'm with Reid as well," Christian added.
"3 against 2, let's go,"
The section we headed to had C-ranks and B-ranks mostly.
"I'm going all out Bell, heal and restore me alright," I said.
"Sure,"
"I'll weaken some for you since you're not that great at fighting,"
She nodded.
I rose my hands, "Starfall, come to me."
I rushed into the dozens of C-ranked Landers.
"Fire bind- Fireball release"
The Landers screamed in agony as my flames came in contact with them. I sliced through their cores with no hesitation.
"Water bind- Great water prison,"
My water covered the Landers, as it gave an opening for Bell to attack straight on. She threw her daggers right over the core.
"Nice one," I said.
We used the same approach throughout the trial. Her healing was a really big help. I spotted my teammates whenever they needed help. They struggled with the B-ranks most of the time.
"Red, you should start finishing them off, I have over 50 points,"
I checked mine.
22 points? That certainly won't be enough to pass and certainly make S-Class.
"I'm heading straight in," I said to Bell.
"There are dozens of Landers in there if not hundreds, I don't think you can make it," Christain said.
"Be careful Red, I can't heal you that far out, and you have less than 10 minutes," Bell said, worriedly.
"Right," I said. "I need you to be at your sharpest Starfall,"
I talk to my katana sometimes.
I charged straight to where the Landers had gathered the most.
"Why'd you let him go, he can die in there you know," Sukai said.
"He won't die," Bell said. "This is nothing compared to what he faced. Red hunter, the boy who slew 100 Landers."
"Earth bind- spike control"
My spikes pierced through the Landers one by one, then, I sliced their core without no hesitation.
"I have to be perfect, no hesitation," I said to myself. "No, I need to be more than perfect,"
"Faster Red, faster, I need to be faster,"
"And when the time is right, you unleash it."
"Not yet...not yet...now,"
I stopped in my tracks.
I need to be precise.
"Lightening bind secret arts- Thunder control,"
I felt the lightening inside my body unleash itself, it roared and so did I.
I was covered in electricity. I felt hot.
The lightning pierced through the cores of all the Landers around me.
I checked the score watch.
97 huh.
And I thought I had gotten a bit stronger since then.
The scenery reverted to its original form. The entire forest is gone.
"hey, I feel like weird, damn, so tired all of a sudden." I fell onto a knee.
I let go of Starfall, and it disappeared.
"You did great today buddy," I whispered.
"Didn't expect to be standing after using lightening secret art. And I'm also hungry all of a sudden, maybe I should...I should... rest a bit, it's all over, Bell..."
I fell, and the darkness surrounded me.