I reached down and reached my hand down, offering it to Estell. She took it after taking a quick glance at her watch.
She took my hand in her own and I pulled her off the ground and found myself face to face with her. She was serious, her mouth thinned instead of the playful smile that she usually had it set to.
"Twenty minutes… that's all we have left"
I nodded before taking a step back and thinking.
"Can we do anything in that time or do you just want to rest for the last twenty minutes? I'm actually quite tired right now anyways."
"You are?"
"Yeah."
"Heh… then that's good, there'll be something happening in the last ten minutes of the trial. We can rest for the remaining time before that."
"Something?"
"Yeah, something. They were infuriatingly vague with it, saying things like that it would be a good experience and that you should just prepare and rest and other nonsense."
I backed up a bit, sweating a bit at the bloodlust she was showing.
She breathed a deep breath, "Sorry about that, I just don't like not being in the know."
"Ah… it's fine, do you know where we can rest then?"
With that I start to look around the area. Everything around here was either burned or seriously malformed from the attacks of the Mask but there were several spots where we could get a vantage point.
I felt a tug on my shoulder and looked over. I saw Estell pointing towards a building.
It was not the tallest one nor was it short by any measure but from what I could tell it had a pretty unobstructed view of the area.
But…
"I can't make it up there, we'd have to walk and take up most of our time."
For a moment she just stood silent before a grin appeared on her face, a predatory one at that. I took a step back but was not fast enough.
Before I knew it my small body was taken in her hands, the wind buffeting me as I looked down and saw the ground growing further and further.
A moment later and we were on one of the highrises but that was not the end of it as a we only stood there for a moment before she jumped again.
Again and again this repeated as I found myself almost sick to my stomach from the force of the jumps.
I was let down, my hand reaching to anything to hold myself stable. I ended up holding to Estell's shoulder.
Her gaze looked down at me with pity as she helped me down.
"Why~" I moaned out, sick to my stomach.
"Cause I could~" She practically sang out all the while looking down at me and patting my back.
She sat down next to me, leaning against the wall as she put her head to my shoulder.
"I've already set a ten minute timer, it'll wake us up then… so sleep for now."
I nodded and closed my eyes. Usually I wouldn't do this, falling asleep in front of a stranger but I had no choice.
My eyes were already dropping and my muscles ached from all the exertion. It would be more effort to stay awake then to just sleep for a moment. And that was why I did so, even knowing that I was with an unknown.
…
I opened my eyes to the buzzing of a timer. It woke me and Estell.
My head moved to try and look out from the ledge but I was distracted by the drooling Estell, she was smiling and drowsy. Somehow finding a way to make that cute even when she was waking up.
I stretched and Estell followed. Her eyes were partially closed signifying that she was still sort of asleep.
"Hey" I whispered close to her ear while flicking her on the nose.
"What!" She startled, jumping from my shoulder onto her feet.
"Just making sure you're awake."
She nodded before looking over the ledge and gazing at the city.
I did the same, standing next to her and watching the sun set over the horizon.
There was nothing that I could see, no grand threat, no monster or disaster.
"What do you think they meant by prepare, what sort of disaster would they be so… hidden about."
"Don't know," she shrugs, "but it's good to be prepared anyways."
It was at that moment that a grand roar echoed throughout the city.
Yet it was not one that could be heard conventionally.
It was just as the others were, a psychic scream.
But this one was different. It brought me to my knees, my teeth grit from the pain.
"Hey! You okay?" Estell hurriedly asked, looking down at me.
I groaned before answering.
"Ye- Yeah."
I got up before looking out, only to see the largest Mask that I had seen this whole trial.
It towered over even the biggest of skyscrapers.
Just it's head was as big as a house and it had dozens upon dozens of evolved faces.
It looked to the horizon before stomping its foot down.
I took hold of Estell and hurriedly dragged both of us down to the ground.
Everything tumbled for a moment, the building we were standing on collapsing slowly.
I got up from where I was laying and kicked apart the debris.
What I saw when I looked out stunned me.
All around us was destruction. No buildings had survived and the only thing standing was the rubble of the buildings.
I could see for miles on end, wasteland covered by dust and dirt.
Various people rose from where they were and tried to move.
The giant Mask saw them and roared again, this time it was tangible meaning that everyone could hear it.
I covered my ears and eyes but by the time I could open my eyes again all I saw were the mangled corpses of those unlucky enough to be hit directly by the Mask.
"My God…" Estell whispered, checking her watch.
"We have to survive a whole nine minutes against that- that thing"