Justice.

Power flowed through Hiron. He’d only need to use Justice for a short duration to win now that the other two had tired themselves out fighting one another.

Tullian and Feris panted. They seemingly had a gentleman’s agreement between them to allow each other to breathe for a moment. The three-way duel so far had gone somewhat against Hiron’s expectations, given that the two actual members of the archaeology society practically ignored him and went at each other.

But Hiron wasn’t so kind. He’d take advantage of whatever he could in order to win!

Light imbued into his fists as Hiron flew forward towards Tullian and Feris.

Two fists that were as hard as steel balls met Hiron’s face.

Tullian and Feris had punched him so hard that Hiron flew backwards and tumbled across the ground, until he lay unconscious.

“Stay out of this!” Tullian roared.

“We’re IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING!” Feris screamed.

They left the unconscious Hiron lying on the ground as his Justice withdrew itself.

Tullian had combined different aspects of animals to enhance his own body. He had the eyes of an eagle, claws of a wyvern, and shell of an armadillo encasing his skin. Being a beastman, Tullian was able to make use of animal characteristics when he fought.

It was only after his loss against Rai that Tullian realised he needed to step it up. If he was going to fight alongside these people, then he’d need to be much stronger than he was back then. He’d pushed himself further and further until he discovered partial transformation as part of his divine form.

But Feris was no slouch either.

His Feral state was raring and ready to go. If anything, it seemed to vastly bolster Feris’s bloodlust. That, and the physical and mental boost it gave him, worked together to make Feris a real threat in close range.

Now, there was no time to waste.

The two of them attacked one another.

Tullian’s claws swung at Feris’s chest. They were about to slice through, but Feris dodged backwards.

He roared, causing the ground around them to shake.

Tullian was amazed at the amount of power Feris could produce from just roaring. It reminded him of his brother from the creed.

Tullian had little time to reminisce, however, given that the two of them were fighting near the edge of a cliff.

Crack.

SHATTER!

The cliff collapsed under the weight of Feris’s roar.

Tullian sprouted hawk wings from his back and flew away from the collapsing rocks. Maintaining wings drained his energy rather quickly, so he couldn’t hold their form for very long.

Feris upped the level of his Feral state.

Second evolution.

The world slowed down around him.

The cliff that they were standing on was still falling, but now Feris could actually see just about enough within a second to react accordingly.

He dashed from falling rock to falling rock before eventually landing on the ground.

Crunch.

A screech came from underneath the fallen rocks.

“YOU GUYS! YOU HAVE TO RUN!!” Sin yelled out to them as she ran away with Maya.

Tullian and Feris looked at each other for a second.

Then the fallen rocks all dispersed wildly.

Mother saxumite was not happy.

Tullian and Feris ran after Sin and Maya.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?!” Tullian yelled as he ran.

“FUCK IF I KNOW! I’VE NEVER SEEN SOMETHING LIKE THAT IN MY LIFE!” Feris replied.

“SHIT! WHAT ABOUT HIRON?!” Tullian glanced back at the top of the destroyed cliffside. It was practically gone, with jagged rocky remains poking out of the ground going all the way down.

“HE’S STILL UP TOP! BESIDES, WHO CARES ABOUT THAT FUCKER!”

Tullian didn’t like the guy, but he at least wanted to make sure he was safe. It would be fortunate for them if Hiron was still on top of the cliff. After all, Hiron was a part of their society now, so Tullian wanted to at least make him feel somewhat welcome. Though... maybe punching Hiron in the face would have done the opposite of that.

There was no time to think about it right now, so Tullian decided to deal with it later.

But...

Something wasn’t right...

“Wait... Why are those two just standing there?!” Tullian yelled.

“...” Feris was speechless. He had no idea.

Sin and Maya were standing still, facing Tullian and Feris. And, of course, the mother saxumite.

“Get behind me!” Sin told them.

Tullian and Feris ran as fast as they could.

They slid on the ground to quickly turn back around and stand next to Sin and Maya.

“Are you sure about this, Princess?” Maya asked.

“... Nope. But it’s all we’ve got.”

“Great... that gives me confidence. For sure. Veeeeery confident right now.”

“Just shut up and stay behind me!”

Sin didn’t want them to see her face when she used the Queen’s Domain.

Her idea came from the falling cliff that momentarily buried the mother saxumite. If Sin could use gravity to force the mother saxumite down into a crater so large that it couldn’t easily get out, then they could all escape.

The saxumite ran along the bottom of the cliff-face screeching so loud that their ears bled.

It was even angrier than before, now that it had been assaulted by a literal cliff.

Sin audibly gulped.

“Now’s the time Princess!”

“Right...”

Sin took a deep breath.

Mother saxumite was closing in.

Queen’s Domain.

Stay buried.

The mother saxumite stopped in its tracks.

All of the little saxumites following it were also frozen where they stood.

Crunch!

The flooring beneath them cracked.

Sin pushed it further. Her mana channels were most definitely not used to outputting this level of concentrated mana. It was like the forbidden spell had etched itself into Sin’s mana as a whole, which made using the Queen’s Domain all the more taxing on her channels.

The saxumite ground its teeth together again, which momentarily messed with Sin’s concentration on the spell.

The saxumite nearly broke free.

Sin pushed herself beyond her limit for a second, to put the saxumite back into its previous state, under her spell. A sharp pain assaulted her mind upon doing so. But Sin held on strong.

After a solid few seconds that felt like ages, Sin buried the mother saxumite and all of its children.

She huffed, panting for air upon releasing the Queen’s Domain. Her head was hurting like crazy. Even... after... all... that... “HOW IS IT NOT DEAD?!” She screamed.

Sin’s knees buckled.

Maya caught her and held her up.

By now, Sin’s runes had disappeared, so the others had no idea about the spell. They were focused on the saxumite far more than Sin anyway.

“... C-... c’mon! We gotta go. Whether it’s dead or not, survival is what we have to focus on right now.” Maya shouted.

Sin grunted. She allowed Maya to support her out of the area.

Tullian used his beast sense to find an area in the forest without any large beasts or predators. He felt a lack of critters and creatures that fell under his beast sense.

“I know where we can go, follow me!” He said.

The others followed his lead.

Tullian morphed his arms into huge claws to slice off large stray branches from the trees that would’ve inhibited their path, and he brushed aside massive leaves to help the others through.

They were away from danger, for the time being.

The area that Tullian had found was a small clearing in the forest. The ground was mostly grass, with some tree roots lining themselves along the edge of the clearing.

They all sat down.

Sin took multiple deep breaths. The amount of mana that she’d poured into that spell was crazy, but it still wasn’t the same amount as she’d used on Rai when she first evolved the spell. And her head... it was still panging.

“Sin...”

Sin looked up at Tullian.

“What was that spell?” He asked. Tullian seemed serious.

“It’s... one that I can’t tell you about. I’m sorry.”

“...”

Sin had no time to worry about Tullian’s feelings or whether he trusted her or not. Her mind was solely focused on the task at hand.

Survival.

Quietness settled in.

Sin wiped the sweat off of her forehead. Or... at least she tried to.

Her clothes were all dirty and dusty now, so wiping her forehead did pretty much nothing to alleviate the feeling of dirt on her face.

Feris punched the grassy ground.

“ARGH! The FUCK is up with this place?! If there’s monsters here like that big one before... then just what exactly are they putting us against each other for?!”

Sin cleared her throat. It was unbelievably dry, but there was no clean water nearby. She could’ve trekked to the river that she’d found earlier, but it would take too long, and she didn’t want to lose track of her friends now that she’d found them.

“The tournament... it’s not about fighting each other.” Sin said.

“Fuck is that supposed to mean?” Feris asked.

“We have to work together. The whole reason they dropped us here was to get us to work as a team against the monsters. We have to survive for 12 hours, so how do you think that’ll go if we’re fighting against each other while there are monsters all around us?!”

Feris didn’t want to admit it, but Sin was making sense. But... it didn’t change that he still wanted to know who was the strongest out of all of them.

“Besides, it’s in our best interest to work together if we want to survive while exploring ruins, or on an expedition into a dungeon or something. It’s no wonder that they’d be testing our teamwork skills more than anything else!”

“We get it Sindyl! Let’s just... rest for a moment before trying to find the others.” Tullian said. He sounded frustrated, which Sin thought was unusual for Tullian. Though, they were in a dangerous situation, so she understood it.

“... Right.”

Maya felt awkward in this situation. The people around her were getting heated, and it clearly wasn’t easy for the prideful of them to put aside their egos and work together instead of against one another. It didn’t help that the Princess wasn’t being up front about her abilities. That knowledge could help a lot in upcoming fights.

Maya thought that this might be something similar to what her mother must’ve experienced in the war. Working alongside comrades who might work well together, or might have heated discussions like this one.

Sin was exhausted.

She took this fleeting moment to lay her head on the ground and rest quietly while the others did the same.

Maya took point since she’d exerted the least energy until now. Tullian still maintained his beast sense to make sure they were safe while resting.

But...

What none of them noticed was the enemy unseen.

The tree roots began slithering along the ground. Unfortunately for Tullian, his beast sense couldn’t track beings that weren’t beasts.

By the time they’d all notice, it would be too late.

 

---

 

“Well, what do you think so far?” Naam asked Lilly.

“They’re... definitely listening to each other at least. Even if they don’t really want to.” Lilly answered.

“Damn right. They’re all prideful young adults, so it feels normal for them to be awkward about it all.”

Kallad yawned. He listened to his daughters discuss the ‘simulation’, as they called it. Somehow, they’d set up strange magical crystals across the entire island, so they could watch how all of the scenarios went as they were happening.

“Wait... what are they doing?!” Lilly asked. She sounded panicked.

Kallad looked into the crystalakrum that the magical crystals all fed into.

Naam burst out in laughter.

“Those idiots! Bahahaha! They’re resting right in the middle of the treant forest! Wahahahaha!” She slapped her knee.

Lilly stifled a giggle of her own.

This situation was far too hilarious.

Kallad interjected. He didn’t sound too happy.

“You brought actual treants here?! How on Zenith are those young adults supposed to survive against treants without any help?!”

“Tut tut tut dear father, you have no faith in the next generation.” Naam said.

Lilly nodded in agreement.

“You see, they have all the tools they need to survive against treants. It’s up to them to see if they can make and execute a plan quick enough to counteract the stealthy nature of those tree-things.”

Kallad facepalmed.

“Great. Wonderful. And what of the others?”

“Well... Rai’s defying our expectations completely, but we’ll just leave him to it. He’s on the complete opposite side of the island to this lot. Rai’s to the south, while they’re to the north. We placed them further away, so they don’t all rely on him by default.”

“Okay... I understand that. He can probably handle himself against most of what the island has to offer. But... wait... how’s he still gaining leadership points?!”

“He’s... really special. I have no idea what kind of psychopath would try what he’s doing and still succeed at it, so to be completely honest I have no fucking clue. This island’s designed to calculate these things on its own so-”

“How’d you two find this place anyway?” Kallad asked, interrupting her.

Naam look at Lilly, who looked back at her.

Lilly answered. “It... was described in one of mother’s journals that she left to me. You didn’t read them before you gave them to me, did you?”

Kallad’s eyes widened. Then, they softened. “No... I didn’t... What did she write about this place?”

“That it’s a training ground... that was made by one of the original Deceivers. She somehow figured out that Vesta Raven had created this place. We’ve only just learned out how to kind of use the island for what we need.”

“... That woman never fails to amaze me. Even after she’s gone.” Kallad smiled to himself. “Anyway! That’s all well and good, but I want to hear about Rai! Tell me, what’s he doing that’s so crazy?!”

Naam wagged her finger at him. “Nope. You’ll just have to wait and see for yourself.”

“Whew. Okay, fine. What about the other two? The twin suns and moon?”

“They’re doing surprisingly well. Neither of them are good at direct combat, but they support each other to make up for their weaknesses. They started on the north-western chunk of the island, but they’ve managed to push towards the centre. I wouldn’t be surprised if they met up with Sin and the others soon.”

Lilly took a sip of tea.

Kallad leaned back on the sofa.

“I get it so far... but... please tell me there’s a flourish to this or something. I’d be disappointed in my daughters if they couldn’t create a spectacular ending to this trial.”

“Oh you’ll just have to wait in anticipation. We’ve prepared something that’ll require all of them to work as one.”

A creeping grin found its way onto Kallad’s face.

“Now THAT sounds like fun!”