The right side was sectioned off by a temporary wall. With this wall the only path that I was able to take to continue my path to the top of my class.
As I entered the next room, I saw a much smaller set of students than I had expected. There were currently only thirty of them or so. The room was very empty with only a teleportation circle that was against the rear wall.
I waited for a few minutes until I saw that the door that I used to enter the room shut behind me.
"Now that everyone has either passed the first trial of this advancement test or they have failed it in disgrace, we can begin the true test." A black demon that was wearing battle armor said as I saw him standing by the portal.
After he spoke, everyone seemed to be focused on every word that left his lips. Then, as soon as he finished speaking, I saw a set of massive gems appear between the teacher and me. There was a ruby, an emerald, a diamond, and finally a gold gem.
"With these gems, you can claim your right to join the final round and become closer to your victory. Each pairing will require at least one of each to open the door that will lead you to the final round of the event.
Each pair has been given one of the gems before the contest will begin. You each have the right to gather your gems through any means. The more twisted and eviler your method is the better. We are not softies like those of the holy realm so let us not act like it. I know that you are most likely wondering why we put you in pairs for this event. You must understand that even as a villain you will need some kind of help to succeed in your schemes.
The location of the final part of this test is a secret, and only those that are truly worthy will be allowed to enter. The team capacity is eight. This means that only the first eight teams to both gather the required gems and make it to the secret location will be allowed to participate in the event finals.
May you claim your team an evil victory to remember!"
As soon as he finished speaking about the rules of the event, the teleporter activated, and most of the students rushed in as if they were in a race. My roommate and I, along with a few others, did not rush onto it as if they were planning their moves first.
"What will be our plan?" my roommate asked me.
"Well, to be honest, I would prefer to either find the gems or fight for them. I am not a fan of this way that they will allow us to be cowards in our methods to gather our required gems."
"At least we can agree on that. I also should probably tell you my name since we will be working together. My name is Sophia. Most people at this school have started calling me the dark monk."
"Good to finally know the true name of my roommate, and I should tell you that I did not receive the gem for our team. Which type of gem did you receive?"
My partner slightly pulled out a red ruby from her pocket to show me.
"Okay, then we should go to the teleporter and begin our search for the other gems that we will need". I said to Sophia as I started to walk towards the teleporter.
I stepped onto the teleporter and was relocated to a set of old-world ruins that looked as if they would crumble at the first hard push against it.
The ruins were made out of marble, and I noticed that the area where I was standing on some kind of stage had a variety of different sections. These sections each showed a different type of environment ranging from what appeared to be a dark lab to a bright area that had a large fake tree in the middle. Then I noticed that in front of this stage, there were broken rows of seats that surrounded me.
This made it clear that I had been teleported to the ruins of an old theater.
As I walked around the old theater ruins, I started to notice that I was not alone in this set of ruins.
I saw a ball of black fire shoot in my direction, and as the ball of black fire approached me; I ducked down onto one of the broken benches around me.
As soon as the fireball shot past me Hynroe jumped off of my back and instantly grew to her true size. Next, I saw her return fire with a ball made out of blood magic. Then the ball shot at the caster that originally attacked me, but they did not react very fast as if they were not expecting return fire.
The other opponent on his team rushed at me while they were wielding a pair of curved blades that seemed to be enhanced with lighting magic.
When they rushed at Hynroe I saw Sophia jump from behind me, and she rushed at the enemy with her fists glowing with a white aura that seemed to surround them. I saw her punch the enemy with her enhanced right fist, and as soon as it made contact with their body it flew off into the distance until it shattered the rear wall of the theater ruins.
"I will have to remember not to cross you if I want my bones to remain intact," I told Sophia as I walked up to her while petting my pet dragon.
"Truthfully the only reason that was so easy for me is because they were not ready for facing the unfamiliar. I won't complain about it though because it will make it easier for us both to climb to the top of the school.
The next thing that I did was search both of their bodies for the gem that they started with, and when I searched the cold and lifeless corpse that Sophia had knocked across the theater, I found a green emerald in one of their back pockets.
"Hey, they happened to have an emerald for us. That means that we have to only find the last two types of gems."
I then gave the emerald gem to Sophia so that if we separated it would be easier to trick people if I only had illusion magical copies of them.
"Okay while you fly on your dragon to search for our next set of targets, I will be running on the ground through the shadows to keep up with you."
"Do you have a vial of blood to enhance yourself so that you can keep up with me?" I asked her before I started trying to mount my dragon.
"Oh; did I not tell you? As a monk, I can no longer consume blood to enhance myself because if I did, it would unbalance the ki within myself. And I would be useless in a battle until the blood left my body entirely."
"Interesting; I will use my vial of blood to enhance my vision to make us reach this objective faster.
As I mounted Hynroe I saw the body of Sophia start to vanish into the night. She started to vanish from the bottom of her feet, and only a few seconds passed by until she vanished from my sight into the night.
When I saw her vanish from my sight, Hynroe started to ascend into the night sky, keeping my eyes open for any potential targets. I then put drops of blood from my vial into my eyes.
The battlefield that was previously a bare desert to my eyes suddenly changed to a white sheet, and all of the people around me lit up due to their body heat.
These people were my next set of victims, and if I was to get into the arena for the final round of the test, they would fall by the power of both Sophia ki and my blood magic.