We somehow reached our destination, but at what cost?
The angel's lift was too fast for us, we almost got flattened on the ground and the experience with it was too sickening, we'd been puking all we had eaten in Ruri's workplace.
And worst of all, the whole school was watching it.
I could hear some people booing at our sudden appearance, claiming we were only lucky on being transported here before the other team.
"The top 10 is now official!!!" the emcee's voice amplifies through the speakers around us and the other ten teams appeared on the field, facing the school president on the floating stage.
"Congratulations to those who had succeeded in the race!" the school president applauded. It brought tears to most of the participants, including Lawrence who couldn't hold his cries. "Now into the second part of the race!"
"What the—"
All of our ears heard it. All our struggle, none of it was done yet and it brought a bit of ruckus into the winning participants.
"Do not worry, you will be racing in the barren wasteland no more." the school president assured which somehow brought relief to the participants. "Each team will go against the academy's top 10 students. And those who will win will be exempted from the other parts of the exam!"
"Is that real!? Bring it on!" a participant yelled.
"Yeah, let's show them what we're made of!" another shouted.
"Now-now, hold your flames. Don't be too excited as these children are no ordinary students." the president replied. "Emcee, if you please."
"Now, to call team 26's opponent!" the emcee spoke then a little girl holding a teddy bear came out of the iron gates. "Ranking no 10 in the whole school, Yumi Miyazaki!"
"Hahaha! This is our opponent? This will be a piece of cake!" one of them shouted then started advancing but to his demise, a bear from behind the girl rushed to her aid and gnaw him mid-air, tossing him to the side with a large crash.
"I-it's just one bear! All at once, attack!" the four remaining members of the group shouted but they soon turned running in the opposite direction as not just bears but large tigers and dinosaurs came out of the large gate.
It also shook the other groups, turning their feet away and running farther into the sidelines where they are deemed safe. Leaving only three groups including us standing on the field.
"M-maybe we should l-leave while we still can?" Aika asked as her legs trembled.
"Tsk! Bunch of cowards" a lady near us insulted then advanced in front. "Who will be our group's opponent?"
"O-oh! For team… 15!" the emcee spoke. "Ranking as top 6 in the whole school and the best swordsmanship in the academy... Toby Ceagar!!!"
The whole crowd cheered and then waited. And waited. But no one appeared from the gates. It was just the little girl, lying in the comfort of her beast's fur.
"T-Toby Ceagar?" the emcee called once more but to no response.
"Pfff! What is this? Tucking his tail before the match could start? What a loser." the woman laughed then a blur caught my sight.
"Yawns… Can we just get this over with? I'm quite tired from last night's training." A young man spoke from behind the woman on the other team, then all of a sudden, the woman collapsed on the ground as she spews blood.
Before the others could even react, the young man started assaulting all of the other participants from the other team until all of them were lying wounded on the ground.
"Now, for the next prey." he grinned, gazing upon Gabby, and within seconds, he was already next to her. "Bye."
He swing his sword but Gabby's aura activates on time and countered him, kicking him in the face where he got sent flying into a distance and hitting the walls of the stadium.
Meanwhile, the whole stadium was in shock at what she had done.
"A-are you okay?" the others asked upon approaching Gabby.
"I-I'm fine…" she replied but her eyes froze in shock. And to where she was staring, a young man with white hair slowly approaches.
"E-everyone! Our rank 3 is here!" the emcee commented but the young man ignored the cheering of the stadium.
"What are you doing here, failure…" he spoke.
"C-C-Clarence…" Gabby muttered as if the two knew each other.
"I said what are you doing here!" the young man said, releasing a thick aura in such speed and force that it instantly sent Gabby flying. "You have already been banished from the island yet you still dared to show yourself here, in my face!? Weakling should stay hidden from this world. You're disgracing our bloodline."
"Same goes for you, asshole!"
** Active skill activated **
Leap
Jump forward at a short distance in an instant. Increase damage by 20% upon leap. Increase fatigue by 20%.
Skill cooldown: 20 seconds
**********************
With a single punch, he went crashing into the walls near where Gabby had landed. "That's for hurting her just a while ago!"
I began running at the fastest speed I could then as I reached him, I threw the strongest punch I'd ever let out of my life.
"And this is for being one of her shitty relatives!" his bones cracked along with the walls behind him. "You don't deserve salvation!"
"Stop! Please, don't do anything anymore" Gabby replied, grabbing me from behind.
"B-but he-"
"You've already done enough…" Gabby claimed then darkness began to engulf the sky above the whole stadium.
"How dare you do that to Clarence!" a floating girl shouted, holding a ball of black energy and hurling it into our path.
"No!!!" Aika shouted, and light emanated from her hands, countering the incoming darkness. "Please, stop fighting already!"
"That's not up for you to decide!" the swordsman shouted, appearing suddenly within her reach but soon got blasted again by a bright light.
"Booyah! Target destroyed!" Edison cheered, holding a plasma gauntlet in his hand.
"Yumi, what are you waiting for!? Attack them!" the floating girl commanded then the little girl's pets started advancing. But their advance soon got halted as Lawrence's bladed whip exerted domain dominance within his reach and wounded the beasts nearing his domain.
The battle continued between our team against the rankers of the academy. The stadium was starting to shake and the watching crowd started running away from their seats.
"That's enough!" the school principal shouted through the mic, amplifying his words which stopped the fight. "Clarence, Toby, Erica, and Yumi! Your actions without the approval of the teachers have earned you disciplinary actions. You will be given proper punishment later."
"Oh, come on, Linda. The fun was just getting started." the school president claimed from the speakers' background.
"Shut it, James! Some of this is your fault too!" she scolded. "And for team 7. By showing such great ability, your opponent will be the strongest in the academy. The person who ranked number 1 and defeated all of the top 10 single-handedly, both current and old. It will serve as judgment and punishment for the unnecessary behavior you've shown."
The crowd started coming back and the cheering for this rank 1 became louder than the speaker itself.
"Hey, how did we get to be included in the punishment!?" Edison grunted.
"Ha-ha! You five are done for. Our queen will avenge us. She will toy with you until you'd stop dreaming of coming into the academy." the dark orb-throwing lady mocked.
"Ladies and gentlemen! The opponent of team seven is announced! She is the best of the best! A queen of all queens! The greatest magician in Saint Andrea's Academy!!!" the emcee spoke with pride while the crowd cheered the word 'Wizard queen.'.
A silhouette of a familiar girl step forward from the gates then a blizzard passed through, creating pillars of ice.
"N-no way" Gabby gasped as she too recognizes that jacket.
"The rank 1 student of the academy and the queen of wizardry! Elizabeth Hunters!!!" the emcee called, assuring my guess.
"Ellie!?" Gabby and I questioned, leaving even her shocked.
"Huh!? W-what are you guys doing here!?" Ellie asked, then approached us lightly.
"We should be asking you that!"
"Well, I transferred into this academy the moment we move into the city. I already said it to everyone back at the beginning." She claimed.
"W-what do we have here? The queen knows the participants!?" the emcee asked. The crowd went silent, waiting for a response from Ellie. It was as if they'd been holding their breath in suspense, eager to quench their curiosity. "Ms. Queen, do you know these people?"
"E-he-he, yeah. I live with two of them" she giggled in response, shocking every people in the stadium. Especially the boys whose jealousy couldn't be contained. "But what gives? Why didn't you tell me you two were entering?"
"Because we didn't even know this was your school!"
"You should have asked first! I would have helped you." She replied.
"What are you doing, Queen!? Kick their asses!" the girl from earlier shouted.
"S-shut up! Stop calling me that right now!" Ellie scolded, hiding her face within the shade of her pink jacket's hood. "As much as I want to help you enter, I also have a job to test you."
She backed away a few meters away then claimed "Come at me if you dare!"
"Me first!" Edison claimed, aiming his plasma gauntlet but lightning struck it, rendering it useless. "O-ouch! Ouch! On second thought, you guys can go first."
"Really? That's all you can do?" Lawrence grinned, then used the bladed whip.
He was able to dodge every fireball while dealing cuts to Ellie in the random path of his loose blade. But it only triggered Ellie, knocking off Lawrence afar from the large blast she conjured using an improved fireball.
"Stop ruining my jacket!" Ellie scolded.
"I… I can do this! Light blast!" Aika shouted as she fired a beam of light towards Ellie who couldn't dodge it from its speed. "I… I did it!"
"Oh, what was that? A thank you?" Ellie asked, unscathed from the blast, and instead, all her wounds Lawrence had given were healed. "If you were a healer, you should have at least repaired my jacket."
Ellie sends an ice field toward where Aika stands, making her slip every time she tries to stand up.
"Who's next? Gabby? Cipher?" Ellie asked.
"Ah… time out. Just a few minutes here." I claimed. "Team seven, gather for brainstorming!"
The five of us started gathering in a circle, all heads looking at the ground.
"This is bad. I used up all my gadgets" Edison claimed.
"What if we attack all at once?" Lawrence suggested.
"T-that's a good idea!" Aika agreed.
"Yeah, if you're on a suicide. She can turn us into ice, burn us alive, or strike us with lightning all at the same time."
"You siding with her now? Which team are you from?" Lawrence complained.
"He's just stating the truth, Law. You've just seen it, and I've seen worst." Gabby added.
"What's with that nickname!?" Lawrence complained.
"Oh, common guys. It's already been a minute." Ellie complained.
"Just… few more seconds," I stated then back into the brainstorming. "I have a plan. It's risky but can you all do it?"
"Do we have a choice?" the four claimed.
"Come on, the audience is getting mad. Don't drag the inevitable." Ellie laughed then the others laughed as well.
"You're right. None of us can beat you. Even together, our end will be the same."
"Glad to hear it. So, are you giving up?" Ellie asked.
"But…"
"But?" she asked while the curiosity of the watchers piles up.
"We have a secret weapon. She is the most powerful being we've seen and only she can beat you." the audience gasp in disbelief but Ellie was prideful, she'll never believe my claim.
"Ha! Do you think so? Just to tell you this, you can't drag someone who isn't part of your team. Unless it's a pet or a weapon." Ellie claimed.
"You're right. But she isn't a person and she misses you. So-so muchhhh" ugh, I can't believe I had to do this in order to win. Sorry, Ellie but it's your fault for leaving her in the wrong place in the first place.
"What in the world are you talking-" she froze in shock from the item I pulled from the shared storage. "W-w-w-why do you have her!?!?"
"Hi, La-la. Do you want to have a tea party with me?" I asked Ellie's female stuff toy in such a high-pitched tone, it was cringing me. I heard her talking to this thing numerous times on the deepest night, it was so funny. "This is my friends. Say hello to Gabby, Aika, Ed, and Lawrence!"
"Hi, La-la!" the four respond with a cringing smile while the audience laughed at the sudden turn of events.
"And there's mommy! Say hi!"
"N-no! Stop! Enough! Put her back!" Ellie shouted, blocking her ears with her hands. "I resign. You guys win."
The crowd went silent while the jaws of the school rankers and teachers dropped.
"Something unexpected happened folks! Team seven just won against the top ranker of the school!" the emcee declared as the audience booed in dissatisfaction.
But a win is a win.
"Yehey, we won!" the five of us cheered, not knowing I still had the stuffed toy and was shaking it too hard.
"N-no! Stop it! Hide it quickly!" Ellie ordered but it was too late. I pulled something from the stuffed toy, then it spoke itself.
"Mommy, mommy. Where's Daddy Ciphy?"