We had walked for at least a few hours with not much taking place. The forest was just as quiet as it had been, but that didn’t help to quell the air of anxiety that lingered in our group and the fires that raged behind us were still in pursuit. We have been able to keep a suitable distance from it, but eventually it will catch up.

All around us were towering columns of smoke, polluting the sky above and blocking out the morning sun. I held my hand to my mouth and nose, stifling a sneeze as fresh ash fall slowly drifted to the ground. The green, vibrant forest was now gray and dull, stained by the ash that fell to the ground like snow.

“Hey what’s what over there?” Enan said.

There stood an enormous stone wall that extended as far as the eye could see. There was no shortage of moss and weeds growing on its sides and if not for the ash, it would be a mess of green. At its base, there was a tunnel entrance leading deeper inside. Although there was a light at the end, we still approached it with caution.

“So this is what this ring structure was, several mile-wide colosseum like structure,” Cedric said while looking at the map. “It would seem based on this map that our destination is inside this structure.”

Senna walked a few feet into the tunnel looking, her bright green eyes pacing back and forth as if searching for some sort of stimuli.

“I see no other auras so I would say it’s safe to enter, but be on guard.”

 

Upon exiting the long corridor, something became immediately apparent. The frequency of trees here was way lower, and visible from between the branches of these forest trees was a large spire. Even though it was nothing compared to the one back in Procyon city, it was still impressive in its own right, with many branches extended from it as if it was a tree itself. What exited me about this tower was that to its very top was a gate similar to the one back on the testing ground.

“Hey is that?” Senna said aloud.

“Yep, that has to be it, our ticket out of here,” Enan replied.

Looks of relief and anticipation and even cheers, but we were given little time to celebrate as countless mana signatures suddenly came into being alerting my mana sense. I froze for a moment, trying to adjust to the sudden influx of noise. One after another, a flurry of existences popped into my range of senses. Inside these walls, countless battles were unfolding, and even if the trees and the sounds of wind obscured it, we knew what was happening.

And we were going to be dragged into it.

“Get ready for a fight,” Lyra said aloud as she reached for her staff.

 

Eight figures bolted from the treeline ahead of us and wasted no time charging our frontline.

Feeling the surrounding mana, I could sense four people approaching, with another six trailing behind.

“With me, Enan,” Cedric shouted. “Atsumi, Senna, you know what to do.”

“Bale help Cedric. Katia, try to get on their long-range fighters. If you can’t kill them off, mark them with your mana. I’ll handle the rest.”

 

“Hey there, why don’t you make this easy and hand over them points,” one of our assailants blurted out. 

He was a rather large husky merfolk with spiky wheat colored hair and an eyepatch across his left eye. He approached with great speed, looking to blow Cedric off his feet with his sheer weight.

 A loud clank echoed thought out of the once quiet forest as his scimitar collided with Cedric’s shield.

“Step aside.” Bale said as he charged ahead. He lowered his head to the ground as if he was a bull or mountain goat. Earth mana gathered to his head and formed stone horns, ramming into the merfolk, a strained “oof” escaping his lips.

Enan was already deep within their formation, using his wind scale magical art to move in and out of enemy range while slowly wilting down the opposition with sword slashes.

 

Being a little too enthralled with the fight ahead, I almost didn’t notice the figure lurking to my left. She had gone around to flank us and was trying to disrupt our formation as well. I parried the strike to my left before quickly retaliating with a downward strike. Surprised that I could see her coming, she kicked off the ground, pushing herself up before dashing back. I closed the distance and quickly drew my blade, delivering a single slash to her chest. She yelped in pain while clutching her chest in response. I could tell she was genuinely surprised that I had gotten to her. She glared at me for a moment, hesitating if she should flee or continue, but this moment of pause was her undoing as an arrow went straight through her chest.

The sensation of metal slicing through flesh and the sight of blood splattering everywhere caused me to tremble. It felt not much different from killing a cryptid, but the thought of severely injuring a person shook me for a bit. I reassured myself that this was just a simulation and she would be fine.

“Damn, these guys are strong.” A voice said upon seeing the fate of his teammate. His voice was cut short as the dark elf slashed him across the neck.

Upon seeing this, the leader ground his teeth, his earlier confidence now gone as his teammates fell around him. He ordered them to retreat, but alas, they didn’t get far.

“You aren’t going anywhere.” Lyria said as she finished her chant. “Cryo Wringer,”

A combination of wind and ice mana unleashed a torrent of razor sharp icicles that blasted through the enemy team. Cries of pain howled through the forest as they all fell victim to the elf’s spell.

Suddenly a large rock landed in between the rumble currently going in the frontline. And with a boom exploded into a whirl of dust.

“Get the back line and retreat quickly,” a voice called out.

“Hey there’s a fight over here.”

Without missing a beat, two teams then engaged us. This time, from opposite directions, two were on me almost instantly.

I grabbed my Katana and channeled mana into my right hand, commanding wind mana around me to gather and used the Scarlet whirlwind to fend if the incoming attack.

“Gah” One of the attacker’s weapons flew out their hands as it collided with the maelstrom of wind. Not wasting time, I sent out a few slashes with petal strike. To my surprise, this nearly blew them away, which I had only expected to cut them up a bit. I didn’t give them any chances though and used Raging Thunder sakura to seal the deal.

I was a little disappointed that it had been that easy, but I had realized that I was inherently faster than most enemies I had encountered during this trial. I guess it was natural since my fighting style focused on speed, but still.

My thoughts were cut short as Lyria spoke from behind.

“The sacred sky blossom.”

Almost choking on my spit at Lyria mentioning my magical art, I turned around to see her eyes literally glowing in excitement. This was short-lived, however, as more fighters filtered in, which Alana then rushed in to intercept. She raised her sword to block the attack, which strangely had her wincing in pain. Her form was all kinds of bad and she held the sword awkwardly and as if it was too heavy for her to even carry. Another strike pushed her back even more. She then tried to attack, but it wasn’t even close to landing. Lyria quickly took her place to fend off the attackers.

“I can hold off on this end, help those at the front,” she said, now grinning. “Alana, stay in the middle and just keep some potions in hand.”

 Alana, who didn’t seem to have any fighting experience at all, simply nodded and stood next to me and Senna.

Lyria engaged the ambushers, and I thought to myself, does she even need someone to defend her? She moved effortlessly and gracefully through attacks as if dancing around her opponents. Her movements were fluid and filled with confidence. It was as if every attack thrown at her was moving through fast flowing water that veered them off track. Her staff vanished, and she reached for her rapiers, closing the distance to attack.

One of the other members had finished his chant, and a spray of stone shards flew towards her.

Water coalesced into view and formed long streams of water that flowed around her rapiers. The words she would utter next drifted into my ears and I almost couldn’t believe it.

 

“Sacred water lily magical art ebb and flow”. She said, before dancing effortlessly through the attack.

She approached the nearest assailant and pierced him through the chest. Ice shards explode from his back, causing him to cry out in pain before fading away.

The allies, seeing, turned tails and ran away, but Lyria simply wasn’t having it and wasted no time in chasing them down, disappearing behind the brush. I could only hear their screams as the hunter hungrily devoured her prey.

 

Our frontline had just been done with the others. A few of them got away, but in the end we won this first bout. Enan and Senna would exchange a fist bump before Senna gave me a pat on the back. Four teams had engaged us in that one skirmish, and none of us had gotten eliminated.

“Great job, everyone,” Lyria said, returning from her chase. She had a satisfied and borderline ecstatic look on her face, that face people would have when they just experienced their greatest pleasures in life. She turned to me, still panting, which I suspected was not from fatigue.

“I never expected to find another a Sacred flower user and the rarest one, no less. I am assuming you learnt it in Haakuni since Minsel, the only other place we can learn it, doesn’t teach the katana variant.”

 “Sacred flower?” was all I could mutter.

“Hmm? you say that as if you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“Not a clue,” I said in return.

 She let out a loud sigh and was about to speak, but was interrupted by a loud roar that echoed throughout the forest.

 

“We should get going,” Cedrick said.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, and we turned toward the gate. We didn’t get far before I sensed six individuals on our heels. I didn’t give it much thought at first until I sensed fire attuned mana approaching from their direction. It was moving rather fast, and it was much denser than I had first estimated.

It was then I realized what it was. Lyria would soon take notice, almost gasping as she turned around.

“Cedric, your shield” I shouted, pointing towards the approaching fireball.

Upon looking behind, he immediately took notice of the situation, and in that split second, the moment the Massive fireball appeared from between the trees, he activated Aegis.

Being pinned by the blazing inferno had given our pursuers enough time to catch up. I could recognize two of their mana signatures and, as the smoke cleared, my suspicions were confirmed.

The first was that obnoxious blond Draco guy from the Examination hall

And the second was that Draco girl from the testing ground.

“I knew it. It’s that tree hugger and crew,” she said nonchalantly. “And it looks like you got us some more fodder.”