"Trilith! Trilith! Rajagalia" Oueus shook him awake as his eyes slowly opened.
"You are one resilient kid, I'll give you that." The restraints unshackled as Trilith regained consciousness, slowly tilting his head with a pleased but exhausted smile.
"What happened? How did I do?" The crowd remained silent, anxious.
"You were pushing yourself too hard. It might have gotten a bit problematic if we continued any further, I had to stop it."
He grabbed the teachers arm with the little strength he had left. "Did I make it pass the mark?" he said, almost out of it.
But Oueus was silent and didn't say much, he got up, and away from Trilith for the crowd to see him.
"Well, get up and see for yourself." He stretched out his hand to lend him a hand up and the crowd stared on silently to see if the boy was alive.
Trilith moved his leg, propped himself up on the chair and pushed himself up. The crowd broke out in a roar and cheered him on, screaming words one could hardly make out.
"I guess all that training finally paid off." He smiled as he took Oueus' hand. "It always does." He hailed him like a champion, arms up and high and he saw them wave at him, cheering him on. "But it wouldn't hurt to put in some more." He said with a smile.
"You don't need any further training if you ask me." Oueus hinted. "Most people can't even make it past the 70's, they mostly call it quits there. You're more than ready for integration. Good job. Find yourself a suitable beast."
"Thanks Oueus. But I think I'll be ridding solo for a while."
On his way off the stage, he stumbled yet managed to regain his footing and went down the platform, at the last stair, Aide, assistant to Oueus and staff of the Beast Counter Measure department handed him a revitalizing pill to chew, restoring his burnt up energy and healing any internal damage taken from the test.
"You don't need to visit the infirmary." Aide winked.
"Well done." She remarked.
He was full of energy once again and joined his overjoyed friends in his accomplishment and they complimented and praised him.
"Well. I guess that makes me the next." She said sounding nervous.
"You got this." Khay assured as the rest looked on confidently at her.
"Alright." She heaved a heavy breathe and took to the platform. "I'm in your care, Oueus." She took her seat.
"Relax Lilith; no student would come to harm under my supervision. Just keep your mind strong."
Oueus hit the "BEGIN" button on the screen once again and the beast integration test began. All was progressing smoothly and so were the nerves that started from her backside and had spread, straining the body on a cellular level. She sat in the seat without a hiccup, the mark climbed fast into the 60th percentile and climbed smoothly with no seizures or spasms, unlike those before her so much so that one would think it abnormal or bizarre even, evident from the crowd's subtle murmuring. And before the crowd could grasp what was going on, she had already hit the 88% mark. Confused, they crowd replied with murmurings. Then, as if to put them at ease, minor complication began to rear its head. Her vitals began to spike up, the anatomy icon on the screen began flashing red and her readings had become critical in the blink of an eye. And quickly, Oueus stopped the test right there before it could go any further.
"This year… sure does hold some promising students. Surprisingly." He chuckled nervously and yet smiling gently as he attended to her.
She pried herself out the seat as her left hand reached for her head, groaning. She slowly found her way to Aide.
"How are you feeling Lilith?"
"Feels like someone hit me in the head with an axe"
"Beast Integration can be quite a killer. But it goes to say that you killed it. Here" She handed her a green pill.
Feeling twice as worse as her twin brother did, she took the revitalizing pill and went over to her friends. But she noticed, the crowd had mixed feelings, sure, she'd scored a high mark but something… just felt off. And she could tell by some that glared at her with disdain from within the crowd.
"That was amazing Lilith." Khay cheered, reeling her back to reality. And like a flood, the cheers of her well-wishers drowned out the noise. And she was washed up by it too.
"I didn't know you could do that." Mira arrived with Ingrid and Kiriku.
"Haha." She chuckled. "Neither did I."
"Good going Lilith."
"Yeah, that was quite surprising you know." Ingrid and Kiriku said respectively.
"That was mind blowing, Lilith." Han expressed and Lui, in a noticeable smile and a thumbs up.
"Ayyy. As expected of my sister huh." Trilith rubbed his hand over her hair, praising her yet leaving it a little messy after he lifted his hand. Normally she would burst out in anger because she's older now and it also made her hair messy. If it was any different occasion, she would have pushed his hand off immediately, but this… felt like it was a long time coming, so she allowed it.
"Don't let any of it get you down Lilith, we're the mischievous trio." Khay smiled brightly in attempt to put her worries to rest.
A rather soft and calming smile fell on her face and Khay chuckled in response. And before anyone could ask what the two were on about…
"Lillyy!" Mikado came out of nowhere and gave her a tight hug. "You guys just keep surprising us one after the other."
"Mikado nee." Her voice, strained from the tight hug came squeezing out of her. "As expected of my star pupil."
"Hey, I thought I was your star pupil." Trilith shot back in disagreement.
"Haha." Mikado chuckled. "You all are." She rubbed her hand on Trilith's hair.
"I guess that leaves me."
"Young Master."
He chuckled.
"Looks like it's time for the main character to take the stage. Keep your eyes opened people."
"What's he going on about?" Kiriku questioned.
"He gets like this sometimes." Han responded. "Just pretend you don't know what he's talking about."
"I'm about to blow your mind. Teacher Oueus, don't stop till I'm dead."
"This boy…"
"Young Master, don't go overdoing things."
"Mothers orders."
"Haha. I won't if I can't."
He took to the stage and planted himself in the Beast Integration chair and laid back his head, relaxing as he took a deep breath.
At the back, Miscovan found his way to Lady Chislon.
"Zen-Jou sama." And she sighed in displeasure.
"Apologies." He had registered her displeasure with that name. "Word from Isove."
"I see. Tell him to return home."
"Noted Zen-Jou sama." He said.
And she sighed in response once again and twirled the umbrella round and round.
"I don't think the young master is at any risk. If anything, he should do fine with this test. Statistics show that those who don't quite excel with the elemental affinity test do well with the beast integration test."
"I know Miscovan. I just can't help but be."
"All is well Lady Chislon."
At the podium. The beast integration strains chair was done restraining Khay and…
"Hit me." he signaled and Oueus sighed in response. "All my years, I've never seen anyone this eager to take this test."
Oueus began the test on Khay's mark and everyone looked on as an eerie silence filled the air.
"Give it your best shot Khay."
"Show them how it's done."
Lilith's voice seeped to his ears and Trilith's followed.
The test had begun and he was already past the 50 mark in less than 10 seconds.
"That's… weird…" Oueus commented.
73%. Khay's' readings were rising higher and faster than any previous students', and within a few seconds, the nerves on his neck and hands could be seen underneath his skin, vividly. He'd reached the mid 80's heading to the 90. But again and surprisingly he wasn't showing any bodily pains or anything of that sort and crowd murmured and bickered amongst themselves. The nerves now bulging on his cheeks and face had him in pain and it was evident from his subtle groans. Oueus; carefully monitored his vitals and looked back at the boy and didn't feel the need to put a stop to the test even though he wanted to. The readings didn't lie.
The creatures' nerves had crept up a little further, the students looked on with mixed feelings, some scared, others shocked and baffled as they murmured, whispered and bickered.