-Next day, two minutes before the Team Battle Exam. Class Alpha Classroom-
"All right, everyone. Since we have two minutes left before the exam begins, we are going to have a battle plan." Sasha announced as the entire class listened to her. The words 'Team Battle Strategy' were written on the Blackboard.
"Since we are in a three-way battle against Classes Beta and Charlie, we need to split into three groups." She continued as she drew two lines and wrote teams 1-3 in between. "We are fourteen in total so," she wrote the names of Carol, Mina, Fred, and Marcus on Group 1 "Group 1 will be handling representatives from Class Beta and take out their fort.
"Then Group 2," she continued as she wrote Nadeshiko, Lena, Mark, and Misty on Group 2, "will be handling representative of Class Charlie and take out their fort.
"Ian, Leon, Ryan, and I will be on Group 3 for we are guarding the fortress and we need our long-ranged reps to handle raid attacks." She wrote her name on Group 3 along with the names of Ian, Leon, and Ryan. "And the Davis siblings will be our front attackers." She wrote Sephiram and Anissa's names on the 'Front Attackers' group. She turned to her classmates. "Any questions?"
Sephiram raised his hand. "Yes, Sephiram?"
"First: why am I on the attacking team?" Sephiram asked in an irate tone. "And second: Why I'm paired with Anissa?"
"For your first question," Sasha answered, putting down the chalk on the table. "Since both classes will send out groups that will distract groups one and two, they will bring out their aces to raid our fort. The three of us (pointing at group 3) will be handling the raiding groups. And because of what happened to the training room two weeks ago, you can handle them with ease."
"Hell, no!" He sarcastically objected. "I don't remember what happened there! What if I fail?"
"Don't worry, you can still handle them," Sasha reassured him, waving her hand mockingly. "And for the second question, we wanted to see your sis fight, since she's new."
"That's not the answer I wanted!"
'Class Alpha, Beta, and Charlie. Proceed to the training outer grounds.' The P.A. system is announced through the speaker.
"Well then," Sasha said while casting the spell 'Erasure' to erase what was written on the blackboard. "Move out, everyone!"
*
-Training outer grounds-
"This is the training outer grounds?" Mark asked, eyes twitching in annoyance. "Are they kidding us? We are outside Libertas!" The rest of them only looked in shock.
The training outer grounds are a lush forest with beautiful green scenery, sunlight shines through the tall trees, and blue rivers run through, making it untouched by man. From far away, they could see some portion of the ruins looming in the sky.
Westeria arrives along with them. "Something wrong, Cadets?"
"Um, sir. Are we outside Libertas?" Mina asked in concern.
"For your question cadet, yes but this is the portion of the island outside Libertas that is covered with the Muffula technology," Westeria answered. "Don't worry, vampires didn't set foot on this portion of the island."
"Are you sure about that, Rics?" A voice asked him before Westeria turned his head to the left and saw Instructor Axiom arrive at the grounds, Class Charlie behind him. "Maybe, we don't know that one vampire or two can attack on our students anytime."
"Axiom, we are NOT interfering with the exam," Claus said as he arrived with Class Beta in tow. "There are no vampires in this portion of the island. The scout's report says so." Hearing that, the entire class sighed in relief. They are not ready to fight them yet.
Westeria sighed. "All right, line up, everyone!"
All cadets are lined up. "We will teleport you to your respective ruins. We already provided food, your weapons, and other necessities there since this is a three-day exam. Remember that the higher-ups are watching via live streaming as we installed cameras throughout the forest. Your grades depend on your performance."
The three instructors raised their hands and cast a spell. Three large magic circles appeared beneath each class's feet, causing them to react, and before they could ask any questions, a pillar of light engulfed them. "The team battle exam starts now!"
When the students were gone minutes later, Westeria looked at his fellow instructors, wearing a serious expression on his face. "Axiom, Claus, drop the act. I know the scout's report that the vampires are now setting foot on this island."
The two instructors sighed and dropped their facade, although Claus was always serious. "Can we request to the higher-ups to reschedule, or rather, cancel the exam altogether?" Axiom asked, face written in worry. "I mean, we don't want to endanger the students, right?"
"I don't think the higher-ups will listen to us," Claus said, despite his stoic look, his voice sounded worried. " As they haven't received the report yet. It will be a matter of time before they receive the report, our students' lives will be in danger unless (turned his head to Westeria) one of your cadets handles the situation."
"Cadet Davis doesn't remember what happened two weeks ago," Westeria said to Claus, remembering the incident from the training room two weeks ago. "Even Doctor Kyle re-evaluated him, he said that he doesn't remember anything at all."
"Did the doc shows the footage to him?" Axiom asked.
"The principal told me to keep the incident confidential, so no."
"This will be a problem," Claus said, putting his hand on his chin thinking. "Let's hope that those vampires are not trying to attack our precious students."
"Yes." Westeria nodded. "Let's hope it's not and if those bastards show their ugly hides and harm our student," he took out a small cross-like necklace in his pocket and it began to materialize into a bow that resembles a giant cross, its silver color radiates in the sun. "We will eradicate them."
*
"Ouch!"
Sephiram fell face flat on the ground as he materialized into the teleportation portal that was opened 2 meters above the ground. He stood up while dusting his uniform and saw a building in front of him.
A large mansion stood in the middle of the forest that had decayed by time. Moss and wildflowers grow within the cracked walls and branches crawl in the pillars that support the roof. The door is slightly open and somehow damaged over time.
Sephiram walked further towards the mansion while turning his head left and right, searching for his companions. 'Weird.' He thought. 'We were supposed to be in the ruins. Where the hell am I?'
As he tried to set his foot inside, the communicator began to vibrate in his ear. He answered the call.
'Seph, where are you?' Sasha's worried voice was on the other side. 'All of us here are now in the fortress ruins except you.'
"What?" Sephiram was shocked. He realized that he was teleported to the wrong place. "I thought this mansion was our fortress that we needed to protect."
'Mansion?' Sasha asked. 'Where is this mansion's exact location? We will inform Sir Westeria immediately to get you out of there.'
"I don't know." He answered. He doesn't know where he is either.
'Okay. We will inform this first to Sir Westeria.' Sasha said. 'For now, do not enter the mansion. Wait for us outside, okay?'
"I understand." He answered and the call ended.
Sephiram looked at his surroundings one more time. The entire environment was filled with silence except for the birds singing. He looked at the opened door again, tempted to let him in. He sits on the staircase of the house while waiting for his instructor for a bit.
Two hours later, he was roaming around in circles before deciding to enter the mansion due to the scorching sun. As he set his foot to enter inside, a hand grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the door.
"You're not entering that house, aren't you?"
Sephiram turned around and got a sigh of relief when he saw Westeria's face. "Instructor Westeria!"
"Vidal called me. Seems like the teleportation spell went haywire earlier. Let's go. I'll take you to your class' fortress."
As the two walked further away from the ruined mansion, little did they know that something was watching them in the second-floor window.
*
The two arrived at the temple ruins before sunset. The entire class was elated when they saw Sephiram and Westeria arrive.
"Seph, where have you been?" Mina asked him worriedly as she and the rest of their classmates approached them. "We were worried that you would end up elsewhere."
"I ended up in an abandoned mansion," Sephiram answered. "Seems like the spell went haywire." Then he turned to their instructor. "Thank you, sir."
Westeria harumph. "Make sure that you contact me next time. (Sephiram answered with a 'yes, sir'. Then turned to the group.) All of you must make camp for today. The sun is somehow setting and remember to cast a protection spell that I taught you. Understand?"
"Yes, sir!" All class saluted.
"I'll take my leave then." He cast the teleportation spell on himself. "By the way," he reminds them. "If any of you encounter those vampires, you must call us immediately. Don't attempt to fight it. You may hide or run." Then he vanished.
All of them stared at the spot where their instructor teleported out.
"I wonder what he is talking about," Ian said. "What did he mean by 'You may run or hide but don't attempt to fight it'?"
"I think this is related to the reports that our instructor mentioned earlier," Sasha answered. "We need to keep our guard up in case they show up."
"Wait, what if those vampires did show up?" Ryan said nervously, hugging both his hands in his arms. "I don't want to die here."
Tension and dread filled the air as the whole class shivered in fear of the vampires showing up.
Fred started to speak to ease the tension. "Let's go prepare our camp and set up the protection spell before evening, everyone." And everyone's released all the tensions in their bodies and preparing to make camp while some are asking to help each other out.
Little did they know that something, like a pair of red eyes, was watching them from afar from the dark bushes.