The room for the Task was in the Chosen section of the facility this time. When Fen arrived at the large metal gate separating the two sides there was an armed escort of Executioners waiting for him. At the head of them was Archon Ellora who was busily typing away at her mobile interface; she was too busy to even notice his presence until he threw a Vital construct at her face- to which her faithful guard Yor appeared out of nowhere to intercept.
The head Executioner examined the dagger-like Vital construct in between his fingers before applying a little force in his hands and smashing the energy apart with his strength. Based off the red energy resting over his fingers, Fen finally discovered that he was a Warrior.
"...I can sense that you have some pent-up anger right now." Ellora stored the mobile interface back into her Archon uniform.
Fen looked away at Yor for a moment and then back at the Archon as if asking, 'is she serious right now?'
She sighed and said, "Just to clear the record, I did try my best to push the changes back another month but a certain faction just really, really hates you for some reason."
"Is it the Wolves?"
"What gave you that idea?" Ellora raised her eyebrows with a surprised expression. Her reaction was the opposite of what Fen expected, making him doubt his hypothesis that the Wolves were behind the changes.
"If anything, the Wolves were the most against the proposed changes. If it wasn't for them arguing on behalf of the other Opfer with me, than the rest of you would still have the chance of going against Chosen. Don't get me wrong, they don't like you very much either but they're still choosing to hold onto the chance that you'll accept their offer to join their faction."
Now it was Fen's turn to be surprised at her knowing about their attempt to 'recruit' him. "You know about that?"
"How could I not? I know a lot of what happens on this side of the facility. Don't know how you broke an encirclement of that many pet Shadows, but I just assumed it had something to do with how you killed a Chosen and didn't think much else of it."
"Pretty cool how you did that though. Not something I could've done at your age," Yor cut into the conversation. "Though, I didn't have something like the Void to boost my natural energy. If I trained in a place like this, maybe-"
Yor stopped talking after Ellora smacked him across the head with her hand. "That'd only be possible if you trained for a decade; he did it in just a little over a month. No need to be jealous 'cause he's more talented than you."
In a strange positions of roles, the Archon was the voice of reason amongst the two of them.
"...Anyways, it doesn't matter who's trying to kill you, right now you have to focus on surviving the Task. Because something like this was unexpected, I managed to convince everyone to pull the records we have on your Chosen opponents. Here," Ellora pulled out a document from Heaven-knows-where and handed it to him. "As you can see, you'll be facing a Knight and a Warrior. For a close-range combatant like yourself, this could be a challenge."
Fen frowned as he looked through the information. "A Stage three Warrior and... a Stage two Knight? How's she a Chosen?"
If looks could kill, Fen would've had his guts ripped out by Yor's sudden glaring. Seriously, why was this guy so out of character? Usually he was much calmer than this.
Before Yor started swinging fists, Ellora calmly explained why a Stage two combatant could be considered a Chosen. Though, she couldn't stop her face from twitching and revealing her irritation.
"Ahem, not everybody can be as talented as you and become a Stage two Knight in less than two months. Even with the aide of the Void energy present here in the facility and whatever we can transport back to nurture talents with on Earth, there are less than a thousand Knights within the Foundation at and above the Stage two rank. And, because of a Knights' abilities and combat power- as well as how difficult it is to develop skilled Knights- they can be considered a Chosen even at Stage two. For the other Classes like Mages and Warriors, Stage three is the bare minimum."
"Oh. So I'm even more amazing than I thought."
"You little..." Yor had to be restrained by the escort of Executioners before the angered Warrior did something that he might regret under his irrational thoughts, although Fen caught more than a few glares coming from the escort members that made him have second thoughts about using such a security method.
He decided to keep his mouth shut from now on. It might help him from being stabbed in the back from pissed off Executioners. Just be safe, Fen used some Vital energy to conjure his Vital skin so he could be aware of his surroundings and protect his body.
Immediately, the now-familiar sensation of sound and vibrations entered his mind. For a brief moment Fen's mind was overwhelmed until he relaxed and let the overwhelming feeling wash through him while he adjusted his mind.
While he usually usually used the technique at all times it could get mentally taxing to keep the Vital Skin up for long periods of time so Fen turned it off in his sleep and whenever he was sure he was in a safe location. A few minutes ago he was sure this was going to be one of those safe locations, but it was better to be safe than sorry, right?
Archon Ellora noticed his usage of the technique.
"You worried about attackers before the Task? That shouldn't happen with many escorts, so you don't have to worry." She flashed a smile that might've been reassuring if not for the uncertain glances that the Executioners around Fen gave to their surroundings.
"I'd rather rely on myself for my own survival and besides, the issue of the escorts could always just be solved by throwing more people at us."
"...Np, that might be problem for some people but not when I'm here. They wouldn't dare." Despite her confident words, Fen saw her hesitation.
It seemed that the issue of security was much more serious than he previously thought. With just a thought, Fen injected more of his Vital energy to connect with his Vital Skin and extend his awareness further into his surroundings.
The mechanical doors opened shortly after their conversation ended, revealing the entrance to the Chosen section of the facility. The escort of Executioners immediately moved back to their positions around Fen and started marching down the corridor towards the Task room where Fen would be transported to the Scenario space to fight.
Along the way the escort passed a lot of Chosen candidates. Most of them were curious to see why an Opfer was surrounded by so many Executioners, but there were some who were openly hostile to them, even going so far as to threaten the escort with magic spellworks and weapons. However, those acts of aggression didn't last long; the Executioners weren't there just to look intimidating. There were very few of them below Stage three, and some were even Stage four.
At least, that was what Yor told him to make some conversation on the trip to the Task room.
They quickly beat up the poor Chosen who dared act aggressively with very little effort; not only were the Chosen outnumber but the strength of the escort was nothing to scoff at. And that wasn't even mentioning the strength of the Archon.
She didn't do anything the entire way to the Task room, simply observing the Executioners as they took care of all the trouble. Now that Fen was aware of the Stage system, he tried to make a guess at her level, but... there wasn't enough information. The only time that he had seen her use her magic was in the beginning of the Program when she shocked the candidates with lightning.
But something like that could be done by any Mage with enough magical power and enough practice with that spellwork or construct. It didn't help either that Fen himself wasn't a Mage and so didn't know how much power it would take to do something like that. But someone with the title of 'Archon' couldn't be weak, right?
In the end, Fen was left alone with his guesses because he didn't know if it was rude to ask. Either way, she probably wasn't even allowed to tell him because of the rules with authority level and his being an Opfer.
Even if he was the Opfer who killed a Chosen, there wouldn't be any rewards for his work. Apparently, the Foundation only had punishments like doubling the amount of opponents he had to face for his effort.
Well, he couldn't be too upset. They at least had the decency to change the rules so that none of the other Opfer had to face Chosen in the Task, otherwise, Fen would've burst a vein from rage.
"Alright. You already know how to deal with Mages, but your experience with Warriors at and above the Stage two level is lacking, and your experience with other Knights is nonexistent, so if you survive this at least you'll fix some of your major weaknesses."
"Yeah, as if not being able to fight in a two versus one situation is a weakness." Fen said, deadpan. "But you're right, sparring with my Squad mates isn't good enough experience for killing other humans. Oh, and after I come back, tell me who put in so much effort to make this Task so terrible for me. I'd like to see them if I could."
Ellora looked surprised at the amount of confidence Fen had before thinking about his request.
"No reason I can't tell you now if you're so sure you want to know. Right Yor? There any Foundation regulations preventing me from telling an Opfer stuff about our factions that I should know about?"
Her faithful Executioner nodded, "Just don't tell them about the number or strength of their forces and we should be good."
"Good." She smiled. "Then, it would be the old bats that proposed the new changes. Er, I mean the Tanciens, those senile fools- Ahem, I mean those very wise, very experienced men."
"I see you like them a lot, based of your words." Fen's lips twitched upwards before settling back into his normal expressionless face.
"Something like that. They don't accept any females so that kinda pisses me off- not that I would join anyways- and they like the current state of things and the old rules the original founders created. More like worship them actually; it was really surprising that they would try to change anything just to create problems for you. Ring any bells why someone like them would be targeting you?"
Fen shook his head. "Nope. Never even heard of them."
"Weird then. Oh, I sense your Chosen opponents coming now. Good luck, and make sure you survive even if you lose."
"What the hell does that even mean? I'd die if I lost the-"
Fen was cut off when the door to the Task room shut behind after he was shoved in by Yor. The guy was much stronger than he looked; before when he was trying to punch him from showing off his talent, the Warrior wasn't even trying otherwise Fen might've ended up dead from his strength.
Much to his surprise, the same female Foundation member who was in charge of his first Task was in front of him. She still looked scared but rather than being scared of the two Chosen to her right she looked more fearful of him. Her eyes darted from Fen to the Chosen and back and forth, never letting her gaze stay in once place for too long.
"Uhm," She managed to speak, "You already know the process, so just... stick your hands in the interface and uhm... Good luck?"
...She was much more nervous than Fen thought. 'She's terrified like a mouse that got snatched by a hawk. Is there ever going to be a time when I see her that she isn't terrified?'
For her status as a Foundation member, she looked rather young. Supposedly, every member was at the Stage two level or higher; Fen had yet to meet anybody below that. Shouldn't she at least have the confidence fitting someone of that level? Maybe she got bullied at a young age and developed confidence issues or something...
'Ah, my thoughts went into a weird direction. Whatever, lets just get this over with.'
"Altairus, I hope that you prove to be an interesting opponent- Eh?" The male Warrior tried to say something to Fen but he stopped speaking when his opponent just tapped the interface and disappeared from everyone's sight.
"Did he just...? Arrogant bastard!"
Despite his angry words, the Warrior had a bright smile on his face.
"Careful Hondo. Your excitement's showing." The female Knight was much more calm compared to her Warrior companion. The duo probably knew each other outside of the Program for them to interact like this. "But I do have to say; it doesn't look like they lied. He's a breath of fresh air compared to all the lazy good-for-nothings in the Chosen. Handsome too."
"Yeah, he even had the guts to interrupt me while I'm speaking." The Warrior said, not knowing that his companion was insulting him too. "Though, I don't know about the handsome part; my face looks much better."
As if to prove his point, Hondo struck a pose with a smile.
"Hmph. Sure," Kara snorted and barely masked her giggles with a cough.
The two stopped talking and calmly started equipping their armor. Unlike their predecessor Edmond, they came equipped with their own sets of armor and weapons. They weren't going to risk losing because they came underprepared; and it wasn't like Chosen were lacking in the Points department. All they had to do was run a few Scenarios with their strength and then they'd be rich enough to buy whatever they wanted.
The Foundation member just stood to the side and watched. When they finished, they grabbed onto the golden particles of the interface and disappeared with a flash of golden light as they were transported to the Scenario space where their opponent was waiting for them.
****
Fen didn't really have a plan. Other than killing the Warrior first, he was pretty much going to improvise through the entire fight.
Well, to say that he wasn't prepared was wrong as he did prepare an abundance of materials and items that could come in handy for all sorts of situations. The only issue with carrying such a large amount of items was the large bag that he had slung across his shoulders.
It wasn't heavy thanks to his significant strength, but it was unwieldy and could get in his way in a fight.
"But that doesn't matter, I can just explode it with energy if it really got in the way." Fen muttered to himself while he looked around the area.
It seemed that this generated Scenario space placed him in the middle of the woods. Tall trees surrounded him on all sides with a dark green canopy covering the sky, letting in only slivers of sunlight.
After observing the environment Fen dropped off a few tools. "Not an urban environment so I won't be needing these."
He also dropped the items he could use to see far distances from his bag with no hesitation after realizing that the trees would obscure his view. By emptying all the useless items from the bag then Fen would have a much easier time accessing the more useful stuff when he needed to. "And there aren't any animals nearby, so I'll just arm myself." Fen grabbed the Thunderbird helmet from his bag and put it on. The electrical currents that ran through the equipment passively kept him alert and aware and it didn't make him unbalanced either.
"Hmm?" After climbing up a tree to get a good grasp of his environment Fen felt a slight vibration in the energy around him. Thanks to his newly acquired Vital core, he could sense different types of energy much easier and so instantly raised his guard after feeling a violent surge of energy to his left.
He couldn't see anything, but he didn't relax. If anything, he tensed up even more because he couldn't explain the sudden appearance of energy; he couldn't help but already think that the Chosen had already detected him.
'Not Vitality, so if it's not some type of monster- which shouldn't be possible, the Foundation said that it'd just be us inside the Scenario space- then it has to be the Warrior.' Fen's thoughts were quick to analyze the situation. 'So this is Aura... It seems powerful.'
Fen's body tensed up and he raised a shield of destructible material with his right hand facing the opposite direction of the energy he sensed.
A dart of Vital energy slammed into the consumable shield and tore it away from Fen's hands. It was too bad for them that Fen had long since activated the Vital Skin technique and had the ability to sense the vibrations in the air the dart made.
'So the Aura was just a distraction, huh? Interesting.' Despite being surprised Fen had a smirk on his face. There was a dark glimmer in his eyes as he stared in the direction where the Vitality construct came from. 'If you planned to get me with that much, at least use more than a single dart of energy.'
Simply by applying force into his feet Fen crushed the tree branch he was on and rocketed away towards the Knight. He wanted to take full advantage of the distance between his opponents and maybe even eliminate one before the other could react.