Hours had passed in Firestone Academy, a large square mud structure had occupied the space at the left of the school. It had no roof and was the size of a football stadium.
Inside was chaos as fighting raged on every corner of the structure. Some of the fighters were glowing while others were just running for their lives.
At it's epicenter could be seen three distinct individuals. One of them was a girl with black hair and cold blue eyes. She wore a warm black sweater with blue shorts and red sneakers. In her hand was a sheathed katana she swung with the efficiency to subjugate rather than kill.
To her side was a boy with a white cloth wrapped around his eyes. He wore a white hoodie, black shorts and black sneakers. He used his fists to fight through anyone who got close enough into his range.
A couple of meters from them was a blonde girl with light blue eyes. She wore a white sport's coat and white trousers. She used her hands in combat, and yet her clothes were seemingly stainless.
All three were cloaked in glowing aura around their bodies and weapon. For Zeke it was green, Nebula pink while the last girl had yellow.
They were dominating their respective battles and we're the strongest of the area.
There were others like them however who were scattered around the place.
These other contestants were also absolute monsters. They were just not attracting attention because they kept themselves far from the centre of action.
"STOP YOUR FIGHTING, THE EVENT IS OFFICIALLY OVER!!"
A man was floating over all the mud walls. It was the principal back to declare the end of the event.
"Well done all of you for getting this far. I hope you are all proud of yourselves. You struggled and survived this chaotic venture where others couldn't. I can genuinely say that I look forward to seeing all of your futures."
His words were accompanied by a smile that spoke of for him about how genuine he was. With a flick of his hands, the walls crumbled and the ground patched itself to resemblance what it was before they arrived.
Putting his right hand into his pocket, he pulled out a crumbled piece of paper. He unfolded it and read the contents to himself for a bit.
"So I'm going to read out the names of the most outstanding people here. Based on their performance, they will be ranked into the top ten and become the pinnacle of strength for all of you to overcome. I hope all of you exceed my expectations by defying this list and putting yourself in their place!."
Putting his eyes back on the paper, he began shouting the names from ten to one. After someone's name was called, they would begin unwillingly floating into the sky where the principal would shake their hands.
Zeke didn't recognise a single name until sixth place was called out.
"Grayson Howard!"
A confused emerged on his face. It couldn't be that Grayson could it. Even Nebula was perplexed. They thought he was disqualified, so why did the principal say his name.
A few inches from where the wall once was, The ground opened up and an unconscious body began floating out of it into the air. However instead of going to the principal, it just floated towards the school main building.
"Fifth place goes to... William Smith!"
The ground opened up once more and Nebula saw a boy with brown hair and yellow eyes float out of it. He was the same boy who was targeted first by the coalition at the beginning of the event.
He was also unconscious and sent to the main building. It seemed that even if you were beaten unconscious, that didn't translate to disqualification.
"Fourth place goes to... Zeke Everheart!"
Zeke felt a foreign force pull him off his feet slowly. Nebula grabbed his arm with the intending to not let go.
This resulted in Zeke floating upside down with Nebula holding onto him. As the two ascended into the air, the scene was extremely comical to the onlookers below.
The principal had his hand covering his eyes as he let out an exasperated sigh. Some of the crowd were laughing while others clicked their teeth in jealousy.
"Well... since your here, I might as well say your third place in the rankings"
With a dejected look, he announced third place to belong to Nebula. A blush formed on her cheeks as she had bloomed a shy smile on her face. It only made her look more adorable to all who saw her however.
Some of the younger male teens were mesmerized but quickly snapped out of it. For a moment they felt like someone was holding a knife to their throat and the feeling only faded after taking their sights of her.
Despite the blood rushing to his head, Zeke could tell the people who were staring at his little sister longer than he found tolerable. He had released a bit of killing intent in their direction and it had worked.
The principal gave him a strange look before flipping him upright as Nebula could now float on her own.
"Second place goes to... Connor Smith!"
An elegant young man in a tailored blue suit with a black tie began floating up. His hair was combed to the side and his smile sent flutters in the hearts of almost every female seeing it. His teeth were a near perfect white and his eyes were a crystal red.
"And the winner of this event and new first place on the rankings is... Bridgette Stormbrave!"
The crowed watched as a blonde girl with hair neatly tied back in a ponytail and skin more white than a sheet ascended into the air. If Nebula was mesmerising, she was nothing short of enchanting. Despite her bland expression, her beauty was unaffected in any way and captivated all.
The principal lined them all next to each other in chronological order with the exception of those who were taken to the main building.
"These are the ones you all must surpass, the pinnacle of strength in your generation. Moving forward, you all must not stop growing stronger until you are at first place."
After addressing the students below, the principal looked at the top ten. He's face turned extremely serious.
You represent the best of your age, but that's not enough. Untill you can no longer breathe, promise me you will always seek to grow from what you are now?."
"Yes!" They all said this in unison. He nodded and dismissed them first before going on a speech about growing stronger to the others.
Walking back to the dorms, it was now the afternoon and the sun graced them with it's unobstructed radiance in the sky.
' I didn't really know what to expect when I got here. If I'm being honest, I thought this would be a rather boring place but.. maybe I was wrong.'
Zeke pondered to himself. Turning his head to his sides, he saw everyone walking doing their own thing. Nebula was just quiet as usual, Connor had a serious expression but kept his thoughts to himself and Bridgette just took her time walking with no rush.
'Or maybe I'm right.'