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Chapter 3 - Chapter 2

We all stood together at the side of the platform, directly opposite the Cerebrals. I know we were told that they were fake, but I still couldn't shake off the feeling of helplessness that I felt 9 years ago – I won't let that deter me though.

"We need to be careful about these creatures. Let's first analyze the–" I couldn't finish my sentence before Umaru rushed off, charging head on towards the Cerebral at the middle. Yes, we weren't facing just one Cerebral, but three. Each one was fast, deadly, and vicious, and from what I've learnt about them so far, they are fast, have really sharp claws and teeth that can rip things and people to shreds, and can release sharp ear piercing screams that once heard is capable of disorienting one's senses. Even though the ones standing in front of us right now might just be replicas, it's very possible that they exhibit the same attributes as the real ones or something very similar.

And I wasn't proven wrong, because not even a second later, the Cerebral at the left threw out a fast claw towards an approaching Umaru –who narrowly missed, preventing him from moving closer to the one at the middle. Before Umaru could move another step, an arrow made of lightning from above struck the ground close to his left feet.

"Hey!" Umaru shouted

"If you know you don't want to get hit, then you shouldn't get in my way" Sabrina shouted back

"Or maybe you should learn to aim properly"

I turned around, trying to gauge what to do next, only to realize that Roshan was off to the corner, looking the least bit interested in whatever was going on. Trishie looked shaken, so I moved in front of her in an attempt to protect her. She looked up at me, the gratitude shining in her eyes.

"Thank you", she mumbled. I nodded letting her know I heard her, even though I wouldn't have if I hadn't been keenly listening to everything that was happening around us.

Some of the other teams were already done fighting, some had lost , some were still in battle. I heard the sounds of cheers of encouragement and the clash of weapons and powers against claws. But so far I observed that the cerebral replicas were only capable of the fast movements and thankfully not the super sonic scream.

That lingering gaze from earlier didn't exactly go away, instead, it felt more intense, like as if the person watching me was aware that I knew they were watching. Between the noisy cheers, the clashing of weapons, claws and abilities, the weight of someone's watchful gaze on my back, the uncoordinated attacks of both Umaru and Sabrina, Roshan's lack of interest and motivation and me trying to protect Trishie, who was hiding behind my back, and my lingering emotions from that dreadful night, I suddenly felt drained, overwhelmed –mentally.

"Enough!" I screamed " Umaru, Sabrina, if you both decide to continue like this, then we're going to fail this test. The purpose of this was to work together as a team, but you just go rushing off on your own, and none of your attacks are working against those creatures, while Roshan is just standing over there, bored and uninterested. And Trishie..." I said, pulling her to my front and continued more calmly," please pull yourself together, our future depends on this test. To the rest of you, if this was a real battlefield, and if those Cerebrals were real, then we would all have been dead by now, we need to work together, that's the only hope we have". I stopped talking and looked around, relieved that they were finally listening to me.

They all moved towards me, then we huddled together to form a much needed plan.

"Okay human, what do you think we should do?" Umaru asked eagerly

"It's Hazuri, and whatever I'm about to say, we have to be quick and precise about it's execution. We should also be alert until it's all over"

"Yes ma'am " Roshan drawled lazily, examining his nails like we were discussing dinner plans, not deadly monsters.

"Okay, so this is how we're going to do it, Umaru– because of your brute strength, you'll aim for their legs. Sabrina, I'd like for your to do that lightning arrow thing to distract them, Roshan and I will finish them off–"

"Uhmm, I would like to do something too. I don't want to be a liability to the team" Trishie said, timidly interrupting me.

" That's good, but what would you do?" Sabrina asked

" I have the ability to control nature, though I haven't really mastered it yet. But I could set up simple traps to hold them down, while Sabrina is distracting them, Umaru can go for their legs, then Hazuri and Roshan will go in last and secure our win"

"Now that is a solid plan. Thank you for pulling yourself together Trishie" I said with a smile.

I'm glad that everyone agreed to the plan and we're finally cooperating.

"Let's do this! I'll whistle as our signal to start".

Then, like as if the replicas were programmed to attack whenever we were ready started moving, but unlike before, they charged towards us. It was as if whoever programmed them, realized that we were now serious about the fight and were willing to give our all.

I blew the whistle, Sabrina immediately flew into the air with her angel like wings, and started firing off her lightning arrows. At the same time, Trishie had set to work on her traps, her hands glowed at first, before plants started sprouting out from the ground and wrapped around the feet of the Cerebrals, keeping the Cerebrals trapped for the few seconds needed for Umaru to move in and destroy their legs. It wasn't easy though, these Cerebrals were replicas, but they were still strong. I honestly wondered how much strength it took for Umaru to be able to take out their legs, but I knew he could do it, after all, he was a werewolf.

Once Umaru had taken care of their legs, I nodded at Roshan who nodded back, then we took off towards the enemy. Roshan still looked bored and uninterested but at least he was participating now, perhaps my little pep talk had done something to change his mind.

As I approached the creatures, cold sweat trickled down my palms, my breath hitched– just like that night. I pushed it down I had to. I never really got over that night, anytime I see the creature or anything like it, flashbacks from that night 9 years ago begin running through my mind. But I wouldn't let that distract me, my team and I have already come this far, and they're counting on Roshan and I to win this test, they've already done their parts, so I won't let them down.

The one at the middle threw a claw at me, I bent slightly backwards to avoid it, then took a slash at it's arm using an old sword my uncle gave me, it belonged to my mother. After I slashed it's arm, I went ahead to its neck, which was the weak point then tried to do enough damage to kill it. Because they were fakes, rather than dying when killed they'd disappear. I moved on to the last one, Roshan in tow, we dodged a few thrown claws left and right, then we struck from both sides, our blades slicing in unison. It fell down, but before it could hit the ground, it disappeared also. I didn't see when Roshan killed the first one, so I was surprised to see him behind me running towards the last cerebral.

We barely had time to breath before the crowd erupted in thundering applause. Then it dawned on me that we were the last to finish, so everybody in arena were watching us, including the other contestants. I felt the gaze of the stranger on me again, after the adrenaline from the fight wore off, I looked towards the shadows, only to see that the Principal and rest people in the shadows were stepping out. I didn't know who that person was or how they looked like, but I traced the gaze until I saw the person–a man.

***

"The Rite of Resonance has been concluded. Mind you, this academy does not judge based on strength, but your perseverance and resolve. You will be judged based on your character and spirit. These people behind me are the Luminaries." Mr Winterberry gestured towards the people behind him. They came out of the shadows that they had been in since the beginning of the selection process

"They're elite members of the academy's body and they are proficient in the use of magic an weapons and also armed with war experiences. They will be your teachers within the duration of your stay here as students. You will be taught on combat mastery, affinity and power control, mental fortitude and team dynamics. And when you're done learning the theory part of all these, you'll put it into practice during your field test. Those that do not pass the field test will have to withdraw from the academy, while those who do pass, will continue to learn then advance to the battlegrounds."

My eyes strayed to the man whom I felt his stare on me throughout the rite of resonance. He's a tall man of let's say 6'3, with shoulder length, wavy hair that's probably the most deepest shade of brown there is. His hair is so brown that it looked almost black, and I would've thought so if the lights in the arena didn't bounce off his hair. As for his eyes, he was blindfolded –I didn't know how a blind man had such an intense gaze. I had felt the weight of his stare from the beginning of the selection process, it was as if he could see me, or maybe... he could. Maybe he wasn't actually blind, but decided to appear so–to decieve enemies? To remain shrouded in mystery? I didn't know what his purpose was for going blindfolded but the fact remained that he was the most handsome man I have ever seen. Blind or not.

He looked so young that he wouldn't be more than 25 years old. He was easily the youngest Luminary amongst the others, which was pretty obvious from the perfect proportions of his face and slender but impressive build. He wasn't a bulky man, he just had muscles in the right places.

I looked back up at his face, just for my breath to get caught in my throat –he was already staring at me, watching me doing a full body assessment of himself. I didn't know how I could guess that he was staring directly at me, he could be staring behind me for all I knew. Except that I felt his gaze on my face, I felt his slow perusal of me, from my head to my toes. We locked eyes–his blindfolded eyes against my green ones.

Even under his scrutiny, I never felt frightened or uncomfortable. Instead I felt safe, warm and familiarity. I didn't know what it was about him that made me feel we've know each other forever, maybe it was the way he watched me, like a husband would his wife, or it was his knowing smile that made me think that he knew exactly what I was thinking. I wasn't sure, but whatever it was, I have never felt anything like it before.

I felt a connection with him, which was weird because the only other time I felt like this was when that mysterious person saved me and my uncle the day my parents died. Could they be the same person? No. It was just a coincidence, nothing more. My village was pretty much far away from the capital, there's just no way that he would've appeared there, and at that moment of all things. But that didn't erase the fact that it was possible, after all, from the glimpse of the mysterious figure I saw, they had similar build, but didn't many others? Or was it the aura? It was soothing and bursting with silent power.

I was very skilled in gauging the strength of people. I could only sense his aura , which was not the case of the other people around me, I could sense auras and power levels. The Luminaries were strong, very strong, same with the headmaster. I was unable to sense how strong my mysterious watcher was, but then I realized something scary– either he was too weak, which was very unlikely considering his position, or... He was that strong enough to hide his true strength.

"Now..." The headmaster continued, then gestured towards my mystery man, who stepped forward and stood side by side with the headmaster. " This is Davis Ashbourne and he would be your guide throughout your training, and not just your guide but your Combat mastery instructor, which pans across fighting styles and weapon mastery. He's the best we got, so learn what you can."

So my mystery had a name, and it was Davis, suiting for a man like him. We locked eyes once again, and I got a feeling that our paths are going to be very intertwined soon, and that there's more to him than meets the eye. And from the quirk at the corner of his mouth, he probably felt the same too.

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