Finn's heart raced as he plummeted uncontrollably through the clouds. His mind raced frantically searching for something… anything to avoid the rapidly approaching death.
"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm actually gonna—" He stopped losing his shit for a moment as he heard something despite the wind blasting in his ears.
It was snoring. Someone was snoring.
He twisted midair to see a young elf man—ears nearly as long as Elara's, pale skin and short golden hair fluttering wildly in the wind. He had his arms crossed, eyes peacefully shut as if this was his normal sleeping conditions.
Finn's panic turned into disbelief, then frustration, and finally exploded into comedic outburst while spinning slowly uncontrollably.
"Hey!! Wake the hell up, you lunatic! WE'RE FALLING TO OUR DEATHS AND YOU'RE SLEEPING?!" Finn frantically yelled out.
Slowly, the elf boy's eyes fluttered open revealing his dark red eyes. He fully came to and began calmly observing Finn's frantic spinning and yelling.
"Hm?" He muttered out, casually tilting his head.
"You're noisy. But I suppose fear is a natural reaction to helplessness. Tell me something my fellow elf brother, what determines who survives, the powerful or the powerless?"
Finn stared at him confused, not knowing what the hell he was even going on about, waving his arms desperately.
"WHAT KIND OF INSANE QUESTION IS THAT?! WE'RE ABOUT TO SMACK THE GROUND IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING!!"
The elf smiled faintly.
"You understand perfectly. True strength decides everything."
He unfolded his arms, spinning his body upright effortlessly. He reached over his shoulder, drawing a golden straight sword etched with ancient symbols. The gleam of it briefly blinded Finn for a moment.
"Bear witness, my fellow brother, to the strength of your savior—Sylas!"
He threw the sword high above the both of them and yelled out.
"Spread your wings, Atlas!"
The sword seemed to hear his call and began to glow before transforming into a majestic winged four-legged alien beast, its fur seemingly glimmering with stardust. It dove swiftly beneath them, catching the both of them safely on its back.
"Wh-what the heck just happened…?" Finn asked, stuttering his words out.
"Relax. Panic clouds your judgment. Power, once wielded properly, conquers even gravity." Sylas responded, as if anyone could decipher the riddles he seemed to speak.
The creature descended gracefully toward the rocky wasteland with scattered alien plants of all shades of green, crimson, and yellow below. Also standing at the landing spot was Nara. She had her arms crossed with a look of disappointment as she watched them touch down.
Finn jumped off followed by Sylas who nodded politely at Nara.
Ignoring Sylas, Nara walked toward Finn with an impatient glare.
"Hey brat. Where's Kaito?"
Finn glanced around anxiously.
"Wait…he's not with you?"
He in fact was not with them… he was still falling.
"Damn it! I can't slow down in time!" He thought to himself as he gritted his teeth.
Suddenly, he felt something squeeze tightly around his waist followed by long white and lavender hair blocking his eyes. He glanced over his shoulder only to see a petite elf girl with smooth vanilla colored skin clutching onto him with a death grip and her eyes shut as tight as she could.
"Who—who are you?!" He asked.
She peeked open one of her lavender eyes filled with blue sparkles like tiny blue stars.
"I—I'm Rikona! S-sorry…I grabbed you instinctively after losing my friend. I didn't mean—"
"Forget it. Look, we're falling fast, and I can't do anything! Got any tricks up your sleeve to help?"
She nodded rapidly.
"Yes, my backpack! It has everything. If we can just—"
"Where is it?" He asked urgently.
She pointed frantically downward to a bunch of debris and other examinees in freefall not far below them. In the middle of that clutter and bodies was a dark-blue bag with colorful stickers.
"That's it right there. If we carefully angle our—" Rikona began to say but wasn't able to finish.
This is because Kaito grabbed her wrists tightly, pulling her more securely on his back like she was an adjustable backpack.
"Hold tight!" He said calmly with a smirk of someone with a horrible idea.
"Eh—? Wait, wait, WAIT!"
He ignored every single one of her terrified squeals. He angled his body downward and began zipping through the air like a missile. Rikona squeezed her eyes closed tighter than before as she clung desperately to him, questioning every single one of her life choices that lead her to this moment in life.
Wind roared in their ears as they zipped through and past numerous other flailing examinees and debris. The bag was rapidly approaching and Kaito reached his hand out.
"Got it!" He shouted triumphantly, snagging the strap just before blitzing past the space it was at ridiculous speeds.
He handed it to her and she snapped into action immediately. She wrapped her legs securely around his waist and slung the bag onto her back.
"Deploying now!"
Instantly, blue and silver mechanical wings burst out from the backpack, flaring wide open. Their speed slowed dramatically, as they gently floated down near a clearing filled with similar alien looking plants that was near Finn and the others and a small river with light green water.
For a moment they stood silently to gather themselves as the wings collapsed back in on itself to fit back inside the backpack. Rikona trembled slightly against his back, breathing heavily.
"Y-you're…insane, you know that?"
Kaito could only chuckle hearing that.
"Sorry about that. Thanks for saving me. I kinda would've been screwed if you didn't latch onto me. Name's Kaito. Also…" He looked down at her hands holding a handful of his jacket and continued.
"You know you can let go of me now. Another thing… I think something in your pocket is poking me in my back. It's kinda small but annoying."
Rikona began to blush like crazy as she ducked her head behind his shoulder.
"Oh…uhhh, y-you see… my race of elves have bilateral sexual morphology. I–I don't know why it got like that. I'm so sorry about that."
Kaito's face scrunched up confused.
"Bilateral what now? What does that even mean and why are you apologizing? Is it some type of device? It sorta feels like it's pulsating---" He began to say before the sound of something moving in the bushes nearby caught his attention.
Somewhere else, Nara, Finn, and Sylas all perked up abruptly when their wristbands flashed and beeped insistently. Finn lifted his arm hesitantly as the projection of Astra appeared above their wrists.
"Greetings again, remaining ascendants." She greeted them with a hint of amusement in her voice.
"Now that we've dropped some unnecessary dead weight, we can finally begin the exams properly."
Finn glanced over to the side, noticing several examinees trapped in glowing bubbles, some unconscious, some curled up in the fetal position trembling.
"Wait, what about them? What happens to the examinees who didn't land properly?" He asked the projection of the exam organizer.
She turned her gaze over to Finn and gave him a subtle smirk.
"They'll have another opportunity. They'll simply join the next batch of ascendants for the following exams."
On cue, a drone whizzed past them overhead. Beneath it was a glowing device. A magnetic-like pulse radiated outward, gently gathering the hubble bubble-bound examinees and carrying them upwards beyond the clouds, back toward the station.
"Now then…" Astra continued, her tone sharpening slightly.
"Those of you remaining must begin the first exam immediately."
Their wristbands flashed again, revealing two sets of numbers. One read five minutes in large numbers, the other showed ten in smaller numbers.
"This first exam is known as the Death Timer. Each candidate has five minutes on their personal timer. Your goal is simple… survive longer than the exam's master timer, which is set to ten minutes."
Sylas narrowed his eyes, already grasping the implications.
Astra went on, her smile growing larger and more maniacal.
"To extend your personal timer, you must touch another candidate. Any physical contact allows you to steal exactly half of whatever time they have remaining. However, if you're touched three times, your wristband will automatically eliminate you."
Finn swallowed hard as he finally caught on. Meanwhile, near a riverbank lined with alien flora, Kaito and Rikona slowly backed away as their eyes scanned the dozen examinees encircling them. Their wristbands finished broadcasting the same grim message.
"The only restriction is that you may not touch the same examinee more than once. Besides that… all methods are permissible. Even lethal force, if you deem it necessary."
Before any of them could voice a single question, Astra's projection vanished and both timers began to count down.
Kaito's CPI scanner flickered in his eyes. Each examinee had a CPI of at least 100,000 or more.
"Well, this just keeps getting better…" He thought to himself as he let out a small chuckle.
One examinee stood out in particular. He stood over five meters tall, towering over all of the other examinees. He had skin yellow as a banana and six different arms, each one nearly longer than his lanky body.
"Hey, human. Who do you think you are, prancing around the galaxy as if you belong here? You think you're welcomed here?" He said with a surprisingly high pitched voice.
Another alien, humanoid but covered in colorful feathers, butted in.
"Your species is a disease. Didn't the Accord wipe your filthy kind from existence already? You creatures just don't know when to quit. I guess those rumors weren't rumors after all. You all are true pests to the universe."
A multi-eyed, tentacled alien spoke up.
"Doesn't matter. We'll finish what the Accord failed to do."
Turning toward Rikona, it continued in a mocking tone.
"Hey. Elf girl, I'd suggest you run far away. Stick around, and you'll end up just like this filth."
Rikona's body trembled against Kaito's back, her grip even tighter than when they were free falling. A sinking sensation filled Kaito's chest as he felt her body shake from the fear. He spoke up gently.
"Oi, Rikona, you don't have to stay. They're after me. Get out of here, I don't want you caught up in this."
She didn't lift her head up when she responded, so it was muffled by his shoulder.
"I…I have nowhere else to go. I can't fight like you, and who's to say they won't chase me afterward anyway? I'm…I'm sorry."
Kaito's gaze drifted to her and he noticed her CPI reading of 6,900.
"Damn, she wasn't exaggerating. She'd be easy prey out there alone." He thought to himself.
Gently, he reached behind him, gripping just beneath Rikona's trembling thighs and lifted her up slightly so she's more secured on his back. Her breath hitched in surprise. She lifted her head out of his shoulder. What she saw made her eyes widened slightly and her cheeks blush..
Kaito was looking at her with a reassuring smile over his shoulder.
"Don't worry—I got you. Just hold on tight, alright?" He reassured her calmly and confidently.
She felt an indescribable warmth radiating from him when he spoke. Her blushing intensified and she buried her face deeper into his shoulder as her tiny pointed ears fluttered nervously.
"Th-thank you… I owe you my life…" She muffled out.
Kaito chuckled lightly. "
"You don't owe me your life, but…" His voice trailed off as his eyes drifted briefly to her backpack strapped on her back.
His stares were quickly interrupted by the sounds of the examinees inching closer.
Kaito dropped into his fighting stance, eyes scanning every single one of them. The tall yellow fellow raised two of his six arms. As if he was made of rubber, they stretch towards Kaito as if someone stretched and released a rubber band.
Two other examinees darted at him simultaneously from his left and his right. Their plan was simple. Don't allow the human to escape… Easy right?
If only.
Kaito jumped over the stretched hands effortlessly. While in the air, the two examinees reached out to grab a hold of him. They were mere inches from him.
He was stuck in the air.
They had him.
Or so they thought…
Seemingly creating momentum out of nowhere, Kaito twisted his body in a way where both of their arms missed him. One too high, the other too low.
Next moment, the bottom of his feet met their faces after twirling into a nasty split kick.
The impact knocked both of them away, one into the nearby river, the other into the treeline.
He landed gracefully on the ground and jumped back to create distance as he prepared to make his next move.
Beep.
Before he could make a move, he felt a vibration shoot up his arm along with two high pitched beeping noises coming from his wristband. He looked down and saw his personal time increased to match that of the master time.
Master Time:
00:09.46
Ascendant Time:
00:09.42
"That's right… When I kicked those two I stole half of their time. Mine is almost the same as the master time already!" He thought to himself as a small cocky smirk slithered up his face.
But before he could stroke his ego further, he spotted something in his peripheral. It was one of the arms from the stretchy fellow. But he wasn't aiming for Kaito… he was aiming for Rikona on his back.
Kaito's jaw clenched slightly.
"Shit… I gotta move!" He thought to himself urgently.
He turned his body away from the approaching hand as it whipped past them. He thought he was in the clear… but he was wrong.
He was stopped in his tracks when he felt the grip of two sticky hands around his ankles. He looked to see two yellow hands from the same examinee surfacing from the ground like a groundhog, grabbing hold of his ankles. He tried to move, but it was as if he was locked in quicksand.
Beep.
His wristband beeped, but he had no time to look.
"Where do you think you're going, human?" The stretchy examinee said.
Two of his arms were buried underground behind him. The other four, however, were racing over towards Kaito. They weren't alone…
Roughly a dozen of the remaining examinees were barreling towards him as well, as if he was a baby zebra surrounded by a pack of hungry lions.
"Shit I can't move! They're coming in too fast!—" He thought to himself urgently, his eyes scanning all around them before continuing.
"—I have no choice… I was going to save all five of my ultimates until the final fight, but four should be more than enough anyways."
He began to take a deep breath, but lost focus as he heard Rikona speak from his back.
"D-Deploy wings!" She stuttered out.
The same blue and silver mechanical wings spread out of her backpack and began to flap. The powerful gusts from the wings stopped some of the examinees in their tracks, even blowing some of them away into the surrounding plants and river.
As they took flight to over three hundred meters in the air, the stretchy yellow alien held onto Kaito's ankles the entire time until his arms reached their limit. Their ascent stopped in their tracks.
"I-I can't fly any higher! He won't let go!" Rikona said nervously.
Kaito, however, saw an opportunity.
"No, this is perfect…" He muttered out, just loud enough for her to hear.
"H-huh? Wh–what do you mean?" She asked confused and equally worried.
And who could blame her after seeing the mischievous look on his face.
"Don't worry, just—can you angle me downwards a little… pretty please?" He asked while fighting back an evil smirk.
Rikona took a second before agreeing to go along. She loosened her grip on him slightly enough for him to lay parallel to the ground before she locked her legs around his waist, now sitting flat on his back.
As he looked down to the distant group of examinees that looked like ants, his smirk morphed into a genuine smile.
He was excited.
"Let's see how much that essence control training paid off Elysia! Sorry sensei, I know you prohibited me from doing this for now, but…" He thought to himself.
Rikona's eyes widened as she began to notice small arcs of lightning dancing around her. Her CPI scanner in her eye began to flicker.
Kaito: 175,000… 220,000… 380,000…
"380,000 CPI… and rising!? A-Amazing… Who is this guy—" But her thoughts were stopped in their tracks as the small lightning arcs became larger and more intense.
"IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ALL FORGOT TO CHECK THE PATCH NOTES, BECAUSE GUESS WHO GOT A BUFF!?" Kaito yelled out as he raised both of his arms, aiming down at the group of examinees.
"RAIDEN GARDEN!!"
Dozens of small bolts of lightning shot out from all ten of his fingertips, zipping down to the ground.
Not even halfway there, all of the bolts divided in two, and again, and again, multiplying their numbers many times.
A millisecond barely passed and the ten small bolts of lightning turned into hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands.
It was as if a tree made of lightning was spreading its roots from the clouds above.
The examinees below looked in awe as the bolts came down.
There was nowhere to run.
Nowhere to hide.
There was nothing they could do but watch as the very human they hated took down almost every single last one of them in a single attack.
The yellow stretchy fellow got the worst of it as he tried to hold onto Kaito's ankles the entire time. The amount of electricity that traveled through his body was so massive that his arms didn't even retract as he let go. Rikona watched in complete amazement, she could hardly believe what she was seeing.
They flew back down to the ground and began to walk over to the pile of unconscious examinees to steal their time. Before reaching them, two examinees who were hiding in the nearby plants jumped out and lunged at them.
Kaito jumped in front of Rikona immediately as he prepared to fend them off… but he didn't have to.
Before they could even get close to them, they were blasted away by two beams of concentrated orange essence.
"Wh–what was that?" Kaito asked himself, completely astonished.
He turned to see someone standing behind them holding up two pistols that looked like futuristic revolvers, their barrels smoking. It was an elf with somewhat long ears, not as long as Elara's but longer than Finn's and Rikona's. She had light brown skin with dark freckles sprinkled over the ridge of her nose and light brown eyes just like Kaito's. She wore cutoff shorts with a holster on each side along with a tank top that seemed to be forcefully ripped down the middle a bit, allowing her two girls to breathe as much as possible. Her black dreads were tied into a short ponytail with a few locs suspended covering her dangling earrings.
"Valentina!" Rikona said excitedly as she began to run over to her.
"Valen…tina?" Kaito repeated under his breath.