The circular platform pulsed with energy, glowing brighter as the final seconds of the countdown ticked away. A sharp chime echoed across the courtyard.
**
Without a warning the world twisted dividing the students but taking them to duplicates of the same location. The students now stood in what looked like a ruined city. Crumbling skyscrapers, scorched cars, concrete cracked with scars of battle. Ash floated like the snow in a windless sky.
Raya clutched Chris' sleeve tightly. "where are we…?"
Kira looked around calmly. "A simulation. But it feels…. too real"
They all looked around for a while.
Raya asked with a tone that denotes a little fear in it. "Lina-san, you were an instructor right.... do you know where we are".
Lina's voice was the only one without tension. "This is the site of the Crimson incident".
Chris eyes narrowed. "You mean…."
"Yes. The massacre that ended the Heroes High School two hundred years ago"
Chris' gaze swept over the distant buildings, then at the red moon hanging low in the sky. "it's as if the past is watching us".
"yeah like we have been brought back to the past" Kira added in a calm manner.
"well you can take it that way"
A voice thundered from above, shaking the cracked windows.
"WELCOME TO STAGE TWO
YOUR OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE.
FOR THE NEXT 2 HOURS, YOU WILL BE HUNTED"
"what?" Raya whispered.
As if summoned, a loud screech echoed in the distance—followed by heavy, inhuman footsteps.
Chris took a step forward. "we're not alone"
Suddenly, a monstrous figure leapt from a nearby rooftop, crushing unto a pavement with bone-shaking force. Its body was stitched together from parts—metal arms, reptilian legs, a human torso and a glowing pulse in its chest.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!" Kira shouted.
Lina's expression darkened. "A Chimera. Artificial but real enough to kill."
"Split up", Chris ordered. "Draw its attention from Raya".
"No" Raya said, stepping beside him. "I can fight too"
The Chimera lunged. Chris' fist shimmered blue- his punch knocked it back, but not down. A canon emerged from its throat- charging. Kira was faster. "Too slow" His blade severed the weapon clean off.
"why didn't you go for the kill instead of slicing its weapon".
"Well that isn't my way of doing things".
Still, the creature thrashed. Lina stepped in erecting a barrier just in time to block its spiked tail.
"if you had just killed it we won't have had to go through all of this"
"fine, sorry"
Chris launched skyward. He draws a sword *flash back of his memories but blurry that he doesn't remember the face of the one talking* "When you hold a weapon, you will automatically know how to use it."
His downward strike sliced the chimera into bits. He then rushes back to the rest of them.
"weapon mastery" Kira mumbled.
Chris voice with a little tension in it. "That isn't all…. More of them are here"
*BOOM*
More landed. One by one. Ten in total now—surrounding them.
Kira's eyes scanned the threat. "We're surrounded"
"Then we fight" Lina said, drawing a dagger.
Suddenly---
"Not necessarily"
A cold distant voice. Yuujin walked calmly through the rubble. Louisa followed, hands in her coat pocket, spinning a coin.
The monsters turned to him and stopped.
Yuujin raised his hand. Black mist spread within the air and crept along the ground.
"OBLIVION VEIL"
The nearest chimera dissolved on contact—disintegrating without a trace.
Kira flinched. "What the hell….?"
Lina's eyes widened. "That's not just void magic…. That's Eclipsed Null"
Chris watched him closely. "Eclipse Null…"
Lina nodded slowly, as if recalling a story too dangerous to tell.
"Yuujin Kael Arvandis. Descendant of the late hero king. Trained in a brutal isolation chambers of the Arvandis Lineage temple. He was the only survivor of the failed dimensional ritual at age 10--- and awakened the forbidden power of Eclipse Null, the art of absolute erasure. A walking paradox. A human black hole. His presence alone warped reality. His power didn't just destroy---it made the things unexists. This is the first time I have actually seen it in action."
Chris and Raya swallowed. Even he felt his aura thinning just by standing near Yuujin.
Kira then side eyed Lina. "is she…..crushing on him"
Yuujin raised his two fingers.
"OBLIVION SPIRAL"
A circular zone expanded around him. Time bent, energy stuttered. Within this field, their powers were weakened. Only he remained untouched---moving like a ghost in still air. All the chimera lunged at once. They all then turned to dust midair.
Louisa spun her coin lazily. "Can we go now? This is boring"
Yuujin didn't respond. His gaze slowly shifted to Chris.
A long pause. Their eyes locked. Then Yuujin looked away and turned to leave.
"This test is meaningless"
Chris felt a chill. "Is this what the students felt... when they encountered Leo".
But before the tension could break, a laugh echoed from the rooftop above them.
"Maaan, you guys wiped out the fun before I even rolled my dice."
They looked up.
A boy with wild spiky, half-red and half white, crouched at the ledge tossing a glowing dice between his fingers. A card floating above his palm.
He grinned wide. "Yo, my name's Dice. Mind if we join the game late?"
Beside him appeared a shadowy girl in tattered cloak—Marin, her eyes scanning the battlefield.
Then a hulk looking figure—Korran, armored like a mobile tank, landed beside her with a thud that cracked the concrete.
And finally, a girl floating down with silver hair and an innocent smile—Sennya. Blood-red rings glowed around her wrists.
Raya stepped back. "who are they…?"
Lina's breath hitched. "That's …. The Four Sinners. A rogue team that passed the pre-entrance test by defeating the invigilators."
'Wait if that's the case then does it mean that every region's exam is different.' Chris thought to himself.
Dice then jumped down, landed effortlessly, and bowed dramatically.
"Dice Verrin Laestra. Gambler, strategist and casual lunatic at your service."
He held up his card—marked with the crimson Joker.
"Now then," he said with a smirk, "shall we see what luck has in store?"
Chris, Kira and even Yuujin watched in silence.
Yuujin shrugs and leaves with Louisa.
Dice chuckled and flicked his card.
It burst into sparks revealing the message.
*YOU HAVE BEEN MARKED BY THE GAME MASTER*
"Oh?" Dice grinned wider. "looks like someone upstairs likes us"
Above, the glyphs in the sky shimmered.
STAGE TWO HAS BEEN PARTLY COMPLETED WITH HALF OF THE TIME SPENT
REMAINING STUDENTS WILL BE GIVEN THE TASK TO ACCUMULATE POINTS.
THIS EXAM HAS A SPECIAL REWARD. DETAILS WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU PRIVATELY ON YOUR BANDS.
The city begun unfolding inwards. Buildings melting into light.
Raya gripped Chris's hand. "We are almost done right"
Chris smiled at her. He then gets lost in thought. Accumulate points huh… I guess the exam is going to get even harder from here on. Especially the two boys that just appeared.
One with the power to erase and the other who turns war into a game.
I wonder whether there are still many others like these.
Chris smiles with the tension of his thoughts. This is going to be interesting.
They then get teleported to an empty space.
*THE SECOND PART OF THE EXAM WILL BEGIN SHORTLY*
Dice walks up to Chris and grins, spinning his dice in his hand playfully.
Dice strolled up to Chris, spinning his dice with a grin.
"Yo, since we're both teams of four—how about we team up?"
Chris blinked. "Team up…?"
Before he could answer, Lina stepped in.
"Don't. They have a record for—"
"Let's do it," Chris said immediately.
Lina stared. "You didn't even let me fini—"
"I have one condition," Chris added.
But Dice just laughed. "Don't worry. You'll lead. That's what you were gonna say, right?"
He walked off, already acting like it was settled.
This way I can stay close… and learn why they call him the Phantom Player.
Chris turned to Lina. "What were you gonna say?"
She sighed. "It doesn't matter now. Let's see how this plays out."
She walked back to the team, thoughts racing.
That Dice kid… he's hiding something. But maybe this alliance will prevent a clash. For now…
Chris regrouped with the others, officially announcing the alliance.
Some students didn't agree with the alliance but they couldn't do anything about since it has already been done.