Pulses of water and healing magic flash behind me as I take Nat's buffs down from their max to zero while giving her self-regeneration to instantly heal her fatigue.
Rodrigo's voice yells out to the arena as the flame residue dissipates.
"That's it! The winner of the entire 4th Stage tournament is Natalie Sterling of the Apex Region. You've now earned yourself a seat on the Association's B-Class board, automatically receiving a B-Class hunter's ID, and have the choice of a long-term contract with any Region of your choosing!"
Slow claps begin to sound from the audience of Directors.
I grin while watching the Bedrock Region's director point at the leaderboard and celebrate while the claps from his section echo the loudest.
The last moments of the battle happened so fast, it was almost impossible to see.
Even the 40 or so applicants in the second viewing area are particularly confused when the fire and lightning residue clears.
They all begin to clap slowly too.
The other Directors and their guests are still discussing the Flame Emperor's power, and many have more faith that there is something mystical behind it and it's not just a powerful artifact.
However, in the top 20 viewing area, there is a far different reaction. All of the hunters present are either partially paralyzed by the lightning residue that ricocheted off my attack, or they're stunned by the fact that two hunters just mutilated the top-rated Apex Region's hunter without thinking twice.
Many of them yell at Ember and me with anger in their voices.
"Why would you do that?"
"What's wrong with you? A cheap shot like that when he was disoriented from losing the match.... Nice way to kick a man when he's down."
"Just because you lost to his artifact doesn't give you the right to make such a brutal assault when he's unguarded."
I shrug off the insults and watch Nat make her victory lap around the ring.
None of the Apex guards have anything negative to say to me or Ember. Neither Callum nor Mack, the battle healer, say a word to us either. They're the only ones that understand we just saved all of them from being at the mercy of whatever that orange gem would have produced from Trax.
Nat's respawn item begins to flash and blink, then she is also teleported into the viewing area with all of the other top 20 finishers.
Rodrigo continues to speak to the crowd.
"Thank you all for coming out this evening. I know your travels out to the Apex Region were rather abrupt, but I believe the show tonight was well worth it!"
More chatter comes to the crowd as the arena is cleaned up of the leftover residue and Rodrigo floats down into the ring to speak directly to the Directors.
"Our winner will have time to decide which contract to draw up once the exams are over."
He points toward the box of 40 or so applicants across the ring.
"These fighters, however, have already been disqualified from reaching B-Class status this year. All of their contact information has been provided before this event, their test scores and marking from the first three trials have also been provided for your leisurely study as well. Please do reach out, and know that all short-term contracts that are done outside of one's home region below one year long will have their payouts doubled by the Apex Region. The friendly trade of resources between the eight great regions is recommended and rewarded!"
He smiles and turns to the viewing area where us, the rest of the applicants, watch.
"As for the top 20, the filing and offers of these new contracts must wait. We will be moving onto stage five, the final event of these exams!"
The entire area begins to close in on itself while Rodrigo floats up in the air out of its center and the blue dome protecting it disappears.
All of the directors that are seated on the outer edges move closer to the middle of the ring while the large box of applicants that failed the exams floats down toward the center of the ring.
It opens up once the arena has shrunk enough and all of the applicants come out in four single-file lines led by Apex Region Guards.
They reunite with their home regions and are met with mixtures of responses.
Many of the lesser regions like Raya, Silca, and Bedrock are rather uplifting and give their failed recruits a pat on the back to do better next time. However, the Vice, Veridian, and Phantom Regions give cold, unwelcoming reactions to their failed applicants.
The few Apex Region hunters that failed disappear behind the guards that lead them and wait for instruction.
The Talton Region Leader looks straight at our top 20 viewing area, while the glass front of it begins to be blocked by a layer of mana shielding to make the whole room solid.
I watch Rodrigo fly over, and hear a light thud on top of the box while the sensation of floating comes over me and the entire room starts to shift and move.
Rodrigo's voice resonates in all of our ears as a new leaderboard of the top 20 ranking is projected onto the ceiling and his face right next to it.
"Congratulations, you've made it to the final stage. You all did incredible in the tournament, and I'm sure no matter what happens from here on out, you will all be offered very good contracts for your time with us. In order to get proper results for the last trial, we will be giving you all a suite to rest in for 12 hours and a personal high-grade healer to negate your fatigue. The only hint I can give you now is that you will all be participating in this final stage simultaneously, so make sure to keep your remaining allies in mind moving forward."
As the cube floats up through the sky, the outlines of doors form on all of the walls numbered 1-20 and Rodrigo's voice calls out again.
"Due to the events taking place inside the viewing area, we need to immediately split you up into safe rooms and review the footage. No one is at fault, this is only standard safety protocol."
Despite these words, everyone in the rooms stares at Ember and me.
The only notable applicants other than the Apex applicants and Guards that don't are Dane, who was standing next to us the whole time and has blind trust in me, Nat, who is still in partial disbelief of what just happened in the last few hours, and Marcie, who smirks with her arms crossed, enjoying the scene caused in the room, not caring enough to pick sides.
The Phantom Region Applicant that made it into the top 20 watches me curiously from the back of the room too. He doesn't speak or move, and the ominous black mist of his ranked up buff has been active since such a commotion started.
This all changes once the feeling of soaring through the air in this room speeds up and we're all transported far away from the arena. Many applicants hold onto the wall as the room shifts and creaks.
The outlines of all of the doors fully form, and a few seconds later there is a sensation of landing and the room coming to a halt.
All 20 of the doors click and swing open to provide hallways twisting off in opposite directions.
I turn to look at Ember and speak through our link.
"Well... The orange gem is intact. I feel it in my storage, but it still isn't releasing any energy. I'll be able to study it once we finish this fifth stage."
His eyes track around the room while I walk over to the door labeled [1], then he replies.
"Good. Don't take it out of suspended animation until we're away from this exam site. It could easily disrupt the barrier I created just by making contact with it for too long. I know we had to act fast to subjugate that mage, but it may have been overkill. From Rodrigo's hint, my guess is it's going to be some kind of battle royale. My advice, we do the bare minimum to stay in the top 12 during stage five while helping your allies just barely get by too, then leave before they question our abilities any further."
His eyes still wander around the room while applicants walk through their doors.
Trax is carried into door number [2] by the wind magic of the Apex Guard while the emotionless healer walks beside him continuing to pulse white magic into his face and side.
I nod at him, then reply while we walk into separate rooms.
"We're almost there. I just want a single chance to be in the room across from those golden eyes. I want to see how strong the Apex Region's Director really is."
All 20 doors shut and the room is emptied, leaving just two of the guards behind inside.
I walk down the narrow hallway behind door [1] and find myself inside another suite with a lounge area with chairs, couches, a bed, bathroom, wall of B-Class gear, and a mountain of perfectly preserved food in transparent containment cases.
A 12-hour clock ticks down on the ceiling, and a door closes behind me, cutting off the exit to the hallway.
There are multiple messages stating that I should stock up on food, water, and as many items as I need for the next stage, but no actual clues as to what the stage will be show up.
I let out a sigh and jump onto the couch at the back of the lounge and begin to meditate and slowly take in the mana that comes off the shielding from the walls flowing through the air.
About two hours pass before the healer woman comes in after knocking.
She doesn't comment on the situation from before at all, and offers to heal me many times before my rude refusals are enough to make her leave.
Over the next ten hours, I shut my eyes and think.
While most hunters are in dire need of these resting times and healing opportunities, it is rather boring to me.
I fake being asleep and think about the possibilities of what this next round may be like. Ember's guess of some kind of battle royale seems likely, but I doubt there won't be some kind of twist to it.
The presence of the golden eyes I felt, power level of the two A-Class hunters, and mystery of the orange stone floating in my item storage rise to the surface above any worries I have for the fifth stage.
I can't quite understand why and how Divine Energy has anything to do with these exams, and the comment from Trax much earlier about the Director's obsession with healers and a special ability don't stop surfacing in my mind either.
Once the timer hits zero and the door opens, leading me back down the winding hall, I'm still not a single step closer to making a connection between any of this new info.
If anything, I'm even more confused.
I don't bother taking any food or gear from the piles and displays on the wall.
The door labeled [1] opens up back to the room where we all left from, and once I walk inside, there's quite the surprise waiting for me.
Lining the walls, all of the other hunter applicants line up just like I am, rejuvenated and fully geared up.
In the center of the room now, there is a small white circular table with a large cyan gem on top of it. It appears to be a sphere at first glance, but there are so many sides where light comes into it, the gem must have 30 or 40 edges.
It doesn't give off any energy at all, and given today's events, I have a good guess as to why.
Both of the A-Class hunters that intervened in the fight earlier stand behind the bright blue stone on guard. They stare forward with blank expressions on their faces while waiting for all of the doors to shut behind us and for all applicants to arrive.
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Author's Note:
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