Despite the massive plot of land used for the Academy Final exams… if you listened hard enough, you could make out the different sounds of destruction created by the different monsters scattered in the forest as well as the evenly monstrous mage recruits.
But there is an area which made a sound that is at least twice as loud as the others…
Here, the densely packed trees are now scattered, forced apart by the brutal battle.
The once 13 Gorbacks, each standing over 15 feet tall and weighing over 1000 pounds, are now reduced to 5 by just two young mages.
A Gorback riddled with bleeding cuts growls weakly as it stumbles to its knees, its still hostile eyes fixed on Dae who calmly walks towards it, leaving another lifeless Gorback behind him.
The injured Gorback growls loudly at the sight of its fallen breathen.
Dae stops to look up at the injured Gorback's massive hand now casting a shadow over him as it rapidly approaches him. With a heavy slam, the Gorback's hand slams down on Dae, completely destroying the ground beneath with a loud crash.
But its eyes widen once it senses Dae now standing at its feet, completely unharmed as electricity sparks around his body. He takes a sudden low stance and crosses his two swords over each other.
"Dual Sword Style. Form 4. Static Shear." Dae mumbled as his body flickers before fading away.
The Gorback growls as several deep cuts instantly appear around its entire upper body.
Now momentarily suspended in the air behind the beast, Dae sighs as he flicks the blood off his swords… just as the Gorback's entire upper body scatters into large, sliced portions with its blood sprayed everywhere.
"Hell yeah!" Dom shouted in excitement as he watches Dae's attack before jumping to avoid the attack from a Gorback that completely decimates the large tree.
Dom instantly kicks off the next tree, snapping it in half as he zooms forward.
The attacking Gorback turns and barely growls as Dom's fist smashes into the side of its head.
The impact instantly spreads through its head, causing its skull to explode on the opposite side with its brain and blood smashed against the nearby tree.
Dom grins as he watches the dead Gorback fall just as a large hand suddenly grabs him mid-air.
The next Gorback growls happily as it stares at its closed fist… just as Dom forcibly pushed its fist open with its fingers now bent and broken.
The beast howls in pain just as Dom bounces off a nearby tree, grabs the beast by its arm and swings the massive beast down on the last Gorback watching from below.
The two beasts collide with the ground with an impact that rattles the earth.
And before they could get back up, Dom smirks as he kicks off a tree trunk, moving him upwards before planting his feet under another branch.
He grunts as he bounces off the tree branch, breaking it as he surges down towards the Gorbacks with both feet first.
The impact of the thrust, destroys their bodies, creating an explosion of blood and debris that is carried in every direction by the massive gust of wind simultaneously generated.
Dae jumps back to avoid the large cracks now spreading through the ground while he stares, his expression slightly taken aback at the sheer destruction Dom just created.
Dae lands some feet away as the debris slowly settle before looking up as Dom suddenly crashes down in front of him.
Dom gives Dae a smirk as he straightens up before frowning once he sees the blood stain on his shirt. "Oh, come on." Dom grumbled as he tries to wipe off the blood but only makes it worse.
Dae sighs with a roll of his eyes as he sheathes his weapons…
Sometime later…
The two resume their dash through the forest with Dom leading this time while Dae follows behind.
As they move, Dae continues to stare intensely at Dom's back, just like he has for the past ten minutes.
"I'm impressed." Dae asked, finally deciding to speak up.
"What?" Dom asked, his eyes still facing forward.
"I said I'm impressed. Even though I've seen you use it many times these past few years, your strength continues to surprise me." Dae said as they leap over a dead boar-like beast, most likely killed by another recruit.
Dom smiles. "Thanks. And I could say the same about you. Every time I think I catch up; you somehow get even faster. Not to mention your sword attack names are so cool." He looks at his hands. "All I do is punch and kick."
"They're more than just names." Dae grumbled; his tone slightly agitated.
"I know, I know. They are different disciplines passed down to you by your master. They represent focus, determination and bla, bla, bla." Dom said, almost mockingly.
Dae glares at him before scoffing which makes Dom laugh.
They continue their dash in silence for a while before Dae speaks up again.
"Why are you doing this?" Dae asked and Dom turns to give him a confused look. "Joining the Academy, doing those intense training and becoming a Knight? What's your goal?"
Dom suddenly grins as he slows down to be able to run beside Dae. "What's with you today? You're not usually this chatty. Don't tell me you're already missing me before we even graduate?"
Dae fumes at Dom's comment and clicks his tongue. "Forget it." He suddenly speeds up, leaving Dom behind.
"Come on. Don't be like that." Dom chuckled as he quickly catches up. "My goal is becoming the greatest knight in history."
Dae turns to Dom expecting his teasing smile but is surprised to find him giving a genuine smile. "You're serious? I thought you kept saying that as a joke."
Dom shakes his head. "No joke there."
They arrive at a large stream where two large monster fishes suddenly emerge with their jaws aimed at the mages… but within seconds, they are left slashed to pieces and blown apart by the mages who move on without breaking so much of a sweat.
"Is there a reason?" Dae asked.
"Not really." Dom said with a somewhat serious expression which makes Dae genuinely curious, evident by his raised brow. "At first, it was just some childish dream I had…" As he recalls his past, Dae notices Dom touch his scarred cheek. "… but then a really bad guy showed up when I was 10."
Dom pauses to jump, evading the bite from a massive snake beast which Dae instantly slices into two halves before jumping up to join Dom on the trees.
"He killed some boys I used to play with and tried to kill me too… then a knight saved me. From then, it wasn't just a childhood dream anymore." Dom said as they rapidly jump across the tree branches.
Dae looks away from Dom to face forward with a sympathetic look on his face as the image of a fair-skinned old man suddenly crosses his mind.
"So… you're doing this more out of admiration than aspiration." Dae said as he drops back to the ground.
Dom swings on a tree branch, putting him in a momentarily inverted position while he thinks about it with arms folded. "I guess." He grumbled before moving upright as he follows Dae back on the ground.
"Then it's a respectable goal. I wish you good luck." Dae said with a smile on his face.
Dom smiles. As far as he'd known Dae, this is one of the few times, he'd seen a genuine smile from him.
"What about you?" Dom asked.
Dae narrows his eyes. "My… goal?" He mumbled, his smile slowly fading.
"Yeah. You're working as hard as I am, so it has to be something good, right?" Dom asked with a wide grin which fades once he sees Dae's frown.
"My goal is…" Dae trails off, leaving Dom in suspense before shaking his head. "It's none of your business." He added with a suddenly cold tone as he speeds up even more.
Dom is left speechless at the sudden change of tone before furrowing his brows as he glares at Dae. "Oh, come on! I told you mine!" He said as he moves to catch up. "This is why we're not really friends; you need to let me in, bro!"
Dae clicks his tongue in annoyance as he goes even faster while Dom grits his teeth.
"What's his problem?" Dom grumbled to himself as he increases his own speed, following Dae who now had a conflicted look on his face.
It's now 4 hours after the exam began…
Dae and Dom have been running non-stop, their feet an almost cartoonish blur as they practically zip through the forest.
"Seriously." Dom said, his agitated tone audible through the howling wind around their rapidly moving bodies. "It sucks that I still barely know you after sleeping in the same room for three years."
Dae sighs. "Just give up already. I'm not here to make friends."
Dom rolls his eyes. "None of us came here for that. That doesn't mean we can't be though. I mean what happens if we end up on the same knight division, huh?"
Dae suddenly lets out an exaggerated laugh. "Very unlikely."
Dom's brow twitches. "You're a real killjoy. You know that, right?"
Dae smirks. "And you're-"
Dae suddenly shuts up, his feet sliding to a stop across the grass.
"Huh? I'm a what?" Dom asked angrily as he slides to a stop just after, his agitated expression quickly faded once he sees Dae's now serious expression.
That's when Dom notices it too. The forest now seems quiet… too quiet…
Dae calmly walks forward, his eyes scanning the trees around him until he finds a large claw mark on one of the tree's hard bark. He runs his hand over it, trying to decipher the animal itself from the claw mark.
"Dae!"
Dae looks up to find Dom jumping across the trees in a new direction and runs to catch up to him.
A couple seconds later, Dae walks past a broken tree and narrows his eyes at the large forest clearing which seemed forcibly created from a brutal looking battle.
As he walks into the clearing, he notices the different variants of beasts lying dead on the ground. Dae then stops behind Dom who has been staring at something on the ground for a while.
Dae moves closer and his eyes widen when he sees the severed head of a fellow recruit, he'd seen Dom interacting with throughout the Academy training.
Dom tighly clenches his fists, his eyes now darkened with anger. "David." He mumbled.
Dae frowns as he looks around, his eyes now finding a couple more dead recruits among the beast corpses. "Were they working together?" Dae asked.
Dom takes in a deep breath to calm himself. "Probably." Dom said as he truns to count the different beast corpses. "With these many monsters, I don't blame them."
Dae looks at Dom. "But I remember David's team being the third strongest in our set. I doubt they would lose so easily." Dae said.
Dom nods as he looks around.
The amount of destruction both to the recruits and beasts is too much for either sides. And with they were they looked, it is almost as if most of them were taken down by the same attacks. But from what? A single beast, another team?
Before Dom could question it more, his eyes widen once he sees a human figure move on the ground across the clearing.
He rushes to the figure with Dae right behind him.
Dom gently raises the recruits' body, immediately recognizing him to be David's partner.
"Sam. Sam!" Dom said as he gently shakes the severely injured recruit who groans as he opens his non-swollen eye.
Even though his vision is still blurry and his head feels cloudy, he could recognize the person holding him.
"D-Dom." He mumbled weakly.
"Yeah." Dom smiles a little while Dae cautiously looks around. "What happened?"
Sam's brow furrows as he tries to recall his memories. "Dave and I… we found a group… they were cornered so we helped… then…" Sam's mouth suddenly hangs open with his eye widened in fear once he remembers something.
"You need to go. Now."
"What?' Dom asked just as Sam grabs his shirt, his hand now trembling.
"It might still be here. It'll kill you!" Sam suddenly shouted out, drawing Dae's attention too.
"Calm down." Dom said as he holds Sam's hand, steadying his tremors a little. "What are you talking about?"
Sam opens his mouth to respond but his words are instantly swallowed once he sees something behind Dom and Dae.
A split second later, both Dom and Dae flinch as they finally sensed the beast behind them.
They slowly turn their heads to find two large glowing red eyes now a couple inches away from them.