'Scarlet Strings Of Destiny.'
Night Nineteen...
It had been six hours since the first test had began.
Two hundred and thirty six people entered the test.
By the end of it only seventy two managed to arrive all the way at the end of the ship with Radaghast many of them having their aura flickering in or out or breathing heavily.
"I... I made it I suppose." Cov sighed collapsing face first into the metal floor his gaming device slipping from his hands.
"T... That was the hardest thing I ever did..." Nick gasped spitting out some vomit as he had thrown up from running so much.
Even Brave and Kale looked tired the two breathing heavily though notably their aura didn't seem all that effected. Kale's had gotten a little smaller and flickered every now and then, but Braves seemed untouched. They were still both covered in sweat though and couldn't stop sucking in air like their life depended on it.
"S... Somehow we made it." Brave sighed shaking her head.
"H... Hey Fate." Kale gasped out. "Why the hell don't you look tired?"
"Huh?" The only two people who stood perfectly fine were Fate Williams and Radaghast neither of the two even sweating all that much. "O... Oh... I'm... I'm so tired."
"Nice acting-"
"Bite me Kale..."
Radaghast let out a snort when he saw the kids. "Alright, alright. Nobody go and get to calm. Listen up. The second test is starting. You're about to meet your second instructor. It was fun but I won't be staying for long. Some of you may be seeing me again though when we arrive at the school. In a few moments a door will open. Just step out onto the beach and you officially passed and will be starting the next test right away."
"Right away..." Brave muttered a frown on her lips. "We don't even have time to rest or anything-"
Radaghast ignored the many groaning children as he moved through them all. "Well. Good luck." He announced. And just like that he simply began to move all the way to the very back of the ship quickly stepping out of sight.
Before anyone could even say anything there was a loud rumbling as a section of the wall opened up and a darkish sky seeped in as it was now night, or rather the sun was just starting to set... A metal ramp slid down allowing them all to step off of the ship which they all did.
"Hello everybody!" A loud voice announced as they all stepped off the boat and onto the sand.
Brave, Kale, and Fate, moved to the front of the crowd the best they could and saw the next instructor. She was a young woman. She was in a suit like the rest but strangely enough she had a cat tail and cat ears. They were obviously fake however as they could all she the part that connected them to her skirt or head. She had long black hair tied into a set of twin tails and light yellow eyes. Her skin was pale and she had small fangs like a cat. She held both her hands up her middle finger and pointer finger both out on both her hands.
"What is she an idol?" Brave, and Fate both asked.
"I love everything about her." Kale announced.
"I'm Allura Nine." The girl said winking and making several of the boys happy. "Some of you will have the honor of calling me Professor Nine or even Ms. Nine though. But only if you can do your jobs right." She spoke in an almost giggle like voice as she walked towards them and then circled around them stepping onto the ramp which began to raise back up into the boat slowly. "So. Heres the second test. All you have to do is survive until rescue comes in seven days." She said giggling.
That seemed to kill the mood almost instantly as everyones (really just the boys) smiles suddenly vanished.
"Brave... Stay close to me." Fate sighed.
"Right... That girl looks cute but now I feel like shes gonna turn out to be a devil." Brave nodded. "Shame."
"Shame?"
"Yeah. She was really cute with those cat tails and ears."
"Uh oh... I don't like where this is going." Kale said with wide eyes as he processed the cat girls words.
"Hey wait aren't you that asshole I was talking to who vanished on me!" Nick asked suddenly appearing next to Kale.
"Ahh! That Nerd is back!" Kale said jumping into the arms of Cov who also suddenly appeared.
Cov grunted doing his best to hold Kale up as his teeth gritted. "Y... You are... Heavy I suppose."
Allure clasped her hands together. "Listen up everyone." She said in her overly sweet tone. "It's gonna be night soon and you should know that at this part of the test we hold nothing back. That other one was a cake walk only made to get the weaklings out. This one though. Its made to get the Decent ones out. You will die if you don't have what it takes. We're making more than soldiers we're making people who have what it takes to go up against not just the Mares but the threat of the New World. This island is in the middle of nowhere so don't bother trying to swim as you'll drown before reaching anywhere else. It's also filled with Mares that have gotten to evolve just a bit. Oh and it'll be night time soon so I'm sure you can all do the math." She said her sweet smile looking almost sinister for a moment. "Oh and just to make sure none of you just start teaming up..." She clasped her hands together a wave of black aura exploding out of her and forming black shadow like cats which washed over everyone. "With my Affinity Shadow Cat I'll be teleporting each of you to another part of the island. Have fun see you all when rescue arrives in seven days!"
With that the hatch closed right as everyone vanished all of them reappearing on other parts of the island. The boat began to move away from the island and the sun got darker and darker getting lower and lower as night began to set in.
Still tired from two days of running, it was time for them to all begin the next test.
"Ahh!" Brave fell out of the air falling towards the ground as she suddenly appeared midair but before she could hit the ground Fate suddenly appeared catching her and holding her bridal style as they crashed down. "Oh Fate! You're my Hero."
"It would seem I got lucky and appeared next to you. It would also seem you got unlucky and appeared in the air." Fate nodded.
"Yeah... Talk about seriously being unlucky..." Brave said letting out a sigh as she got out of Fates comfortable arms. "And this is only the second test... Aw geez. This is a lot hard than I thought."
"At least we're together." Fate hummed reaching into her pants and pulling out a knife of her own. "Have you ever actually fought a Mare yet."
"N... Not really. But I'm confident that I can run away from them for seven days straight!" Brave announced proudly pointing up to the moon.
Fate simply sighed. "I see... Perhaps you're more trouble than you're worth..."
"Huh?"
"Nothing." Fate sighed shaking her head. "If you can't fight the Mares Brave just hide behind me and I'll handle the rest-"
The bushes began to rumble as a hand stretched out. It was long reaching at nearly six feet long. The Mare pulled himself out of it. He looked almost human save for the pale white skin and his long and stretched out limbs. "You two..." He gave a large grin filled with razor sharp teeth. "The two of you look so good!" It announced jumping at them as its mouth came unhinged. "I'll devour you two whole-"
Fate's knife came out in a blur slashing across the Mares throat.
"What?" The Mare asked coming to a stop. "Did you hit me-" His head slowly rolled off of his body as he suddenly exploded into a hail of black smoke vanishing.
"Wow... Fate is really good... I think she's even better then Black and White." Brave said with wide eyes staring at the raven haired beauty.
A Few more Mares came out of the bushes all of them still looking almost like a human but slightly off. Fate danced around them each strike of her knife ending them all in a single stroke as their heads came off smoke blasting out of them with every strike. It was over fast. Fate having finished them all off in moments.
When she finished she twirled her knife placing it at her belt. She raised her hands and said a simple prayer. "May you rest in peace."
"You're praying for them?" Brave asked.
"Of course. They did use to be human. It isn't their fault sin entered them turning them into these things... This is all we can do as Imps... We can't save them... We can just release them from this hell and stop them from evolving. Most of these are all just low level Mares. Barons only... I can finish them off in one or two strikes with ease."
"I guess... I never really thought about that." Brave nodded. "Or rather... I didn't want to think about it... I didn't want to think what would happen if I had to..." Brave went silent all of a sudden as her nose began to burn slightly causing her to grab it. "Ow..."
"What?"
"M... My nose burns all of a sudden... It's like I can smell... Something else is here... I don't know how to explain it but-"
"WOW!" A loud voice yelled out as a massive rumble echoed throughout the woods. "You're a big one ain't ya!"
Before Brave and Fate could react the woods suddenly exploded out as someone came flying out of them rolling across the ground. It was a young fourteen or fifteen year old boy. He had silver hair streaked up and bright yellow eyes as well as tanned skin. He was in a baseball outfit of all things and carried a large metal bat. A massive grin was on his face as he came sliding out of it.
Coming out of the woods after him was something that made Brave and Fate's eyes go wide. It was a larger Mare. Far bigger then any of the other ones they've seen. It looked almost like a large wolf and blood coated fur. Instead of wolf legs it had human arms that were covered in muscles. It had six in total. Four of them walked across the ground holding the wolf up while the other two stabbed out of its back. One of its hands were wrapped around the body of another random Imp. They were dead their back having been snapped in half. Brave winced when she saw the Imp was a young twelve year old girl.
"A... An Earl class Mare..." Fate said her face beginning to pale. "They're seriously not holding anything back this year-"
"Sup ladies." The boy announced placing the bat over his shoulder. "Names Kenji Flex. And if this has you two lovely girls worried don't worry cause I'll take this sucker down!" He announced a white aura surrounding him and covering his legs as he jumped up high into the air. He spun around the aura covering his bat as he began to slam it down to the beast.
"He used his aura to make himself jump higher and then channeled it into his bat for a powerful hit." Brave stated staring at the dropping boy.
"What the hell is that idiot thinking!" Fate said with wide eyes. "Weak aura like that won't work-"
Kenji reached the Mare slamming his bat down as hard as he could but the Wolfs arm raised up blocking the strike with its wrist. There was a loud crack as his bat bent back and twisted and vibrations tore through Kenji's body making him grit his teeth. "W... Whoa." Kenji said with wide eyes. "Dude is hard-"
The Mare slammed its hand out towards him making a grab for him but right before it could reach him Fate blasted forward twisting her body and slashing out with her knife severing the Mares entire arm causing it to go flying off. Fate landed on the ground standing in front of the Mare as she held her arm out. Kenji collapsed back to the ground holding his bent back bat as him and Brave stared at Fate with wide eyes.
"Whoa..." They both said.
Fate was pretty cool...
The Mare let out a small growl as its missing arm began to bubble up and a new limb grew out of it. The hand flexed a few times and the wolf like monster showed its fangs before its nose twitched for a moment. A small grin came onto its face.
"This scent..." Its eyes lingered on Fate. "I know it... You're a Steel Blood." It growled. "One of the kids who grew up in Paradise. Its been so long since I've tasted one of your kind."
"Fate..." Brave said with wide eyes. "You're a Steel Blood?"