Chapter Three
"What are you?""Who are you?""Are you the one who trapped us here?"
Questions exploded from the crowd, voices colliding in a chaotic storm. Fear rippled through the students like a living thing—then slowly curdled into anger. Hundreds of terrified eyes were locked onto the creature floating above them, its body suspended effortlessly in the air as though gravity itself feared touching it.
"Keep it down, pathetic humans," the creature said.
Its voice wasn't loud—yet it cut through the noise like a blade. Cold. Absolute. Unquestionable.
A man pushed his way through the students.
The school principal.
His usually composed face was now twisted with rage, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles had turned white.
"You think you can control us?" he shouted, pointing an accusing finger upward. "Just because you can fly doesn't mean you have authority over us!"
For a heartbeat, silence hung in the air.
Then—
"Yeah!""How dare you control us!""Flying doesn't mean you're strong!"
The students took courage from his defiance. Shouts erupted, louder and more reckless, fueled by desperation and denial. Some stepped forward. Others raised their fists. A few even hurled insults, as if words alone could drag a god from the sky.
Kisame didn't join them.
He stood still, eyes narrowed, pulse steady despite the chaos. With a subtle movement, he gestured for Ali to stay quiet.
This is wrong, Kisame thought. You don't provoke something when you don't understand its limits.
While the others wasted their breath, Kisame observed. The way the creature floated—no wings, no visible force. The way the air around it felt heavier. The way its gaze carried neither anger nor fear… only indifference.
Ali leaned closer and whispered, barely moving his lips."How stupid can they be? If that thing told me to bark, I'd bark. I'm not messing with a flying creature that clearly has powers."
Kisame almost smirked. At least one of us has survival instincts.
Above them, the creature's expression darkened.
The air shifted.
"Enough."
The word echoed—not once, but repeatedly, as if reality itself had been struck like a bell. The sound vibrated through their bones.
Suddenly, the students who had been shouting froze mid-sentence.
Their mouths were open.
But no sound came out.
Hands shot to throats. Eyes widened in horror. Panic erupted silently as they tried to scream, cough, beg—anything. Veins bulged. Some collapsed to their knees, choking on their own terror.
The message was clear.
Fear spread faster than before, heavier, suffocating. No one dared speak now.
The creature calmly cleared its throat, as if nothing unusual had happened.
"Without further delay," it said, "let us begin your first trial."
It snapped its fingers.
The sound was sharp.
Final.
In an instant, translucent blue screens burst into existence before every student's eyes.
Floating. Glowing. Impossible to ignore.
They hovered inches from their faces, responding to their gaze, pulsing faintly like something alive.
At the center of each screen, glowing white letters appeared.
System Activated
"Huh… what's this?" Ali whispered, his voice trembling with confused curiosity.
"Hm," Kisame murmured.
His stomach tightened.
He had watched countless anime. Read countless novels. This situation felt terrifyingly familiar.
And that was exactly what scared him.
The blue screen flickered.
The text changed.
First Trial
Find Safe Zones to advance to the next Trial.
Trial begins in: 30 seconds
30,
29,
28,
The numbers tick down in silence.