[Outside The Dimension.]
The observation deck hummed with the low thrum of magical monitoring equipment. Large holographic screens floated in the air, displaying various chaotic scenes from the exam.
"This will be troublesome," Hayatobi said with folded arms. He stood before the main display, staring at the cluster of students gathered in the inner region's clearing. A deep frown etched lines into his face; the situation was spiraling out of the predicted parameters.
Gaga, standing beside him, nodded grimly. She waved her hand over a side screen, shifting the view to track two rapidly moving blurs of energy—Hitachi and Mirabella.
"These two will arrive there in some minutes. They will turn the whole land into a graveyard if they don't find the scrolls," she said, her voice heavy with concern. She knew the temperament of those two; they were forces of nature, not just students.
"You guys are forgetting the scrolls. We hid them, how come they are outside in the open?"
The Third Elder finally uttered a word, stepping out of the shadows. With a wave of his hand, he commanded the main screen to zoom in on the field, his gaze fixed intently on the dark, looming dragon statue.
"That statue wasn't there from the start," he said, slowly nodding his head as the realization took hold. "Seems the Twins are working together. We should have placed a rule against this. Because if two of these five work together, the other students won't stand a chance."
Hayatobi held his jaw, processing the implication. The Draconian siblings—Austin and Aurelia—combined the brute force of a Warrior and the deception of an Assassin. It was an unfair equation.
"You are right, this is a problem."
He looked over his shoulder at the status board, which listed the names of over one hundred students who had already been forcibly ejected from the simulation. He exhaled a long, weary breath.
"Let's see the rest of this match," he said, signaling for the audio feed to be amplified. The other two elders nodded their heads, their eyes glued to the screen.
___
[In The Dimension.]
[Outer Region - The Clearing.]
BOOOOOM!!
Carl and his team abandoned their stealth. They leaped from the tree line and landed heavily in the field, their boots digging into the grass. Their gazes were cold, weapons drawn, eyes fixed on the figure.
The explosion of the attack was immediately overshadowed.
The attention of everyone present—all thirty teams—snapped toward the edge of the clearing. A figure walked out of the forest with terrifying elegance. She had long, flowing silver hair and eyes like polished mercury. In her hand, she held a silver wand that pulsed with arcane power.
"Rose... One of the Invincible Five," someone exclaimed in shock, the color draining from their face.
Rose stopped in her tracks. She moved her gaze dismissively over Carl's group, then swept her eyes across the army of teams scattered over the green field. Finally, her eyes paused on the black dragon statue.
She narrowed her eyes.
"What audacity!!!"
She yelled in anger, insulted by the cheap trickery. She raised her wand into the air, the tip glowing with a catastrophic violet light.
"Killer Tribulation!!!" she yelled.
BOOOOOM!!
The atmosphere screamed. Everyone raised their heads to the sky, watching in horror as a dark, swirling storm manifested instantly, blotting out the sunlight. Without warning, a jagged bolt of tribulation lightning shot down from the vortex, carrying the weight of judgment.
"This?!"
Austin and everyone present were stunned. They watched as the lightning bolt collided directly with the statue.
There was no resistance. The stone didn't crumble; it shattered like glass, dissolving into mist. It had been an illusion all along.
WHOOSH!
From the dissipating smoke of the illusion, a figure flew out, landing gracefully beside Austin. She wore the academy black uniform that seemed to swallow the light, and a deep frown marred her face.
"She is still a bitch," the newcomer snapped in a low voice, glaring at Rose.
"Ahem! Are you ok, Sister?" Austin asked in surprise, staring at his twin.
"Yeah."
Aurelia dusted off the debris from her shoulders. Clutched firmly in her hand was a heavy leather bag containing a total of 25 scrolls.
She turned her sharp gaze to her brother. "You can't even do anything... You only eliminated one team, wait... The leader is still standing."
Aurelia snapped at him, disappointed by his lack of efficiency. She looked up at the sky as Rose's storm vanished, analyzing her opponent.
"Rose saw through my illusion with just a glance. If we work together, we can take her on, but..." She moved her gaze around the perimeter, eyeing the dozens of other teams watching them like vultures.
"We need to leave this place."
She dropped the heavy bag on the ground. She reached in and pulled out two scrolls, tossing one to her brother and keeping the second for herself.
"We can't enter the core region with more than one scroll, and we can't destroy these scrolls--"
"--Destroy?!" Austin snapped at her, cutting her off. His face went pale, his arrogance vanishing instantly. "Are you forgetting about someone?! If we destroy the scrolls, we will indirectly make him lose. Even the academy will have a hard time protecting us!"
Aurelia blinked, her hand freezing over the bag. The realization hit her. If he didn't get a scroll because they destroyed them, the consequences would be worse than failing the exam.
"You have a point," she conceded.
"What are you two blabbering about!"
A man from a nearby team yelled, stepping forward. He pointed his sword at the twins, his greed overriding his survival instinct.
"We can all see you have the scrolls, we have no idea how you got them all, but 25 teams must enter the core region, so hand it over!" he said arrogantly, rallying the other teams behind him.
Aurelia turned her head slowly. Her eyes were void of empathy.
"Do you know who you're talking to?!!!"
Aurelia threw her hand toward the man. It was a blur of motion too fast for the naked eye to track.
In seconds, a throwing dagger was buried deep in the man's skull.
"....?!!"
Instantly, he dropped to the ground, dead.
"....?!!"
Everyone froze. The silence was deafening. Aurelia possessed the Assassin Bloodline; her speed and precision were leagues above a standard Warrior class. But still, the man had been ready—or so he thought. He should have been able to defend, yet he had been extinguished like a candle.
"Aurelia Draconian and Austin Draconian! Both of you working together... Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?!"
Rose walked toward them, her voice cutting through the silence like ice. Her wand glowed brighter, her energy flaring up to combat the two siblings.
"Hey! What can you do? There isn't any rule that said we can't," Austin said, stretching his arms forward. A smirk returned to his face now that he had his sister covering his back.
"Yes, we didn't break any rule," Aurelia yelled, stepping up beside her brother.
"Ok then! I will just have to take both of you down with one single skill!" Rose declared. Spirit energy surged around her, lifting her hair.
But before she could raise her wand, the air in the clearing suddenly grew heavy. The gravity seemed to double, pressing everyone into the dirt.
Two voices, a male and a female, sounded from everywhere and nowhere at once.
Mirabella: "So arrogant."
Hitachi: "Hmmm...."
Everyone froze.
It wasn't just fear; it was physical paralysis. The aura and spiritual pressure rolling off the two new arrivals moved from opposite directions, smashing into the crowd like a tidal wave.
"Oh No!" someone whispered, their voice trembling as the true monsters of the academy arrived.