"Welcome all."
A man had appeared put of nowhere on the stage. Rice never perceived him entering or standing there.
In fact right now, though he could see the man, his senses were telling him. He wasn't there. There was air there, Nothing.
Clearly there was a skill at work and it baffled him.
Rice didn't have much thoughts, so he nodded to the man. in the room there were twenty four others like him, at the forefront of them were clearly the 'guarded guest'. They were slightly detached from the rest. Infact a quick look told him that some of the guest brought more than one guard.
Did Yeniver not have anyone else to pick up? Or was there something else at play here?
He really couldn't tell, it was inappropriate to ask right now too.
The man on the stage introduced himself. "My name is Xavier, I'm sure your wondering why you have been brought here."
Some were slow to the punch, but it was clear. He wasn't talking to the guest, but to the guards.
This brought some realization to Rice and he felt, he may know what's happening.
"Sometimes when times get tricky, we decide to force promotion, promising candidates. You have all been chosen as 'guards'"
Xavier's eyes rolled over all candidates.
"We do this to hide the fact we are mass promoting. This isn't the only reason, some of you have attracted a bad crowd of strong individuals or a group that exceeds your current capabilities."
A man stepped up on stage to give Xavier some documents before stepping down quietly. The time of his pause was to recove these papers.
"Some of you are promising, but refuse promotion and some of you are quite skilled, and we dont want to lose you. So welcome to this promotion meeting."
Xavier smiled lightly.
"This isnt voluntary, you pass.. or.."
Xavier trailed off leaving everyone to reckon finish that in their own minds.
"Alright introductions out of the way, you have three task."
Xavier said calmy. "Your first-"
THU'UM
It was without warning, a terrible pressure slammed down on everyone. Rice gasped as he instinctual tensed up, his feet spread out to better handle the oncoming pressure.
He exerted himself, feeling his bones creak and a heaving foreboding that made him consider hopelessness.
Xavier's words cut in. "Is to survive, your second task.. is to-"
Rice barely had the focus to listen entirely. He honestly felt he was beginning to buckle. Which perplexed him, was the pressure growing stronger? Maybe.. if so it had to be gradual. He didn't have the calmness or experience to perceive it under the pressure that threatened to capsize him and crush him.
This was oppressive. The only thing he thought about, was the fact this man named Xavier was probably a six letter.. or a five. He has felt Yenivers arua before and though it had some quality like this. It wasnt so strong that he would feel like a candle in a hurricane.
There are always bigger fish in the water..
Rice began circulating his hell energy lightly. Even if they were in hell and the energy was around them. He hactually didnt have the skill to manipulate the ambient energy around him. He could control his own outside his body, but only bevause it came from him and there was will hidden in the energy. Attempting to apply that same principle to the ambient energy would drain ones mental capacity real quick.
Yeniver actaully told him it wasnt worth attempting if you were a three letter or lower. It was more of a four letter skill.
What was it that Xavier said?.. "Your second task is to endure.."
Ah, that's right. Survive was the first, and he did just that. He didn't dare look to see how anyone else was faring, feeling that a waste of his precious resources. Yes, even moving a little bit was draining.
As for enduring.. for how long? He wasn't sure. But he circulated his hell energy lightly. This eased the pressure a little bit. Enough for him to think.
And come to find out, yes The pressure was gradually growing. It didnt take long until he was nearing his upper limit again.
What a terrible realization. This man isnt even using his full arua.. thats.. that's scary.
Rice wasn't infallible, he wasn't fearless, he wasn't any of those legend defying things. those extremes weren't his way. He had the milds of those. Naturally facing stuff that is way stronger.. not very pleasant feeling.
He began to up the energy circulation. Almost reaching mid way. If he had to guess, he'd say he could deploy a forest of hell chains with this amount of energy. The real problem would be getting near more trump card levels of energy.
Thankfully Xavier seemed to ran out of patience and move on to the third task. Not that the pressure vanished, instead It quickened.
"Now your final task.. is to.."
Xavier hissed out a battle intent.
"Challenge me!"
Challenge him?!
How?
Rice didn't really know how he Is supposed to challenge something that can crush him like an empty soda pop.
But he realized he had to do it fast.. but wouldn't that counter act with the first task? To survive…
Bah!
He had to stop thinking. Fine he will try his amnesty. He sure as hell, heh.. didn't want to die.
Rice decided if he was gonna challenge him to do with with a bold move. He began lessening the amount of energy used which quickly lessened how helpful it was to the mounting pressure. Hell Rice felt his knees bend, then he buckled and felt to a knee awkwardly.
This was enough though. He let his energy swell in the next instant, before shooting to his feet and unleashing "Hell Hath Fury!"
BANG!
He shot to his feet and conjured a thick barrier around him. Swiftly deploying his soul chains, hellflame, forest of chains and his apocalyptic ruin illusionary skill. To be honest. He had never really named these.. he might do that later..
All of these skills were of course aimed at Xavier. Whom gave A slight nod before replying in kind!