Russia

Months passed, and it was finally time for the midterms.

Up until now, their team had managed to keep a tight grip on the first place position. Chuan Si had finished creating all the necklaces for their team members. By now, the design team had succeeded in filling all of their closets with brand new clothing. Lucky for them, they had yet to lose a teammate and was hoping that their graduating class would be able to graduate as a whole together.

The midterms were going to be more advanced and harder than the midterms they took back home. They were expected to cover everything they had learned not only from the previous semester but from the past years of education as well.

Those that didn't specialize in one specific area were swamped with work and studying, her being one of them.

Other than just studying and reading books, some subjects required a physical project, whether it be a video, a poster, or a choreography, they also had to go through a military test to test their physical strength and endurance.

At least her group didn't have to worry much about that. But nonetheless, they increased the difficulty of their exercises.

After the midterm, they would be given two weeks off and a whole new schedule for the last semester. After the second semester ends, they will be allowed to travel the island and go sightseeing with a tour guide. Contacting the outside world was still a no-no.

Professor Chad Smith is somehow still teaching despite the complaints submitted by many students, and they were able to entirely stabilize their alliance with the Japanese team. They might have to restabilize when the new students arrive for the next year. They have also decided that Japan will be their only ally, after all, too many friends can lead to too many risks, especially in their situation.

The mysterious messenger didn't tell them as much information as in the first few weeks but never ceased to warn them of any upcoming dangers.

So far, with the help of the messenger, they have managed to keep a tight grip on first place with Japan coming in second. They were in the lead by 652 points, and with a total of 5329 points.

Over the past few months, the school had been assigning random tasks at random times. Most of those tasks had led them to rush around to complete it while studying.

Most of the time, the tasks were assigned to buildings. Only the students studying there were allowed to participate. Any outside help will lead to deducted points. Group tasks were mainly physical, be it a relay race or a scavenger hunt.

Her training with Ryder, Josie, and Cole continued, and Ryder was as quiet as ever. He only ever spoke when he had to and never to join in on the other's conversations no matter how much they nudged at him too.

Because she could easily pick up different skills, she was able to quickly progress on both a mental and physical level. Her mentors were impressed and pleased at her fast-paced learning. If it weren't for them, she wouldn't be where she is now.

Ever since the school announced that formal duals and competitions were allowed, their team found themselves being fighting dual after dual, competing almost every day. Rules were simple:

Duals will end only when one person admits defeat, otherwise death may occur.

Competitions only end when the timer runs out or when one person admits defeat, death may also occur depending on the challenge.

Both teams must be equal.

Both parties must be willing to participate.

Cheating or tricking is not allowed.

All participants must be approved by medical professionals to fight.

Prizes and punishments will vary, must be approved by the administration.

Betting is permitted, only in the form of cash or change, cards and online payments are not.

Any outside duals or competition done without the knowledge of the administration.

Possible suspension will occur if the rules listed above are broken.

Because of those rules, several of their team members had blood on their hands, something that tormented them at night. Out of all of them, Jian Nu, Jiexu, and Angli were the calmest, even her brother had been shaken up a bit. The people he killed were criminals worthy of death, but his competitors at school weren't.

Their weaker teammates had lost a few matches, it was no surprise that they did, but now they had some of the bloodiest hands in their group. Her baby sister had been challenged once to a physical fight, a fight that she had ended within minutes. Her last words to her opponent were: "Tck, what a waste of time, I have to get back to work,"

Yaorui didn't know whether to be proud or upset.

Most of the time, the prizes were points given by the losing team, this served as both a prize and punishment. Sometimes it was something more costly such as public humiliation. By now, students had learned their lesson and avoided that kind of bet, only the arrogant ones asked for it.

Yaorui remembered when the girl from Australia had tried that, she had challenged her to a jousting match, a sport she had never tried, but she was very experienced in horseback riding.

Long Story short, she won, her opponent failed at cheating and was publicly humiliated.

There was another time when Sheng Rong was challenged to an MMA fight. Her opponent was a cocky male with too much pride, what was so great about challenging someone you thought was weaker? But then again, he would have also been denounced for aiming too high.

But Sheng Rong, the three years reigning champion in the international junior boxing championship, was no easy opponent, especially since she had been training and improving her martial arts recently.

I'm sure you know who the winner was.

Luckily, the man tapped out before Sheng Rong did anything serious to his face. His face was going to be the only thing going for him in the future.

Most times, girls challenged others academically while men were challenged physically.

Their team had raked up a lot of points from these.

As of now, Yaorui and the rest of her team found seats in the stands to watch a match. Sun Long, a first-year student was being challenged to a physical duel, the fighting style was freestyle, a stupid move made by his opponent, a strong and bulky young man from Russia.

Sun Long was best at anything that included water, except when it came to chemistry, there were too many components alongside that for him. Although his specialty was water, his skill on land was either equal to or almost equal to. And because swimmers were generally slim, he was agile, something that has proved useful during land fights.

Because he liked to lay low, Sun Long wasn't challenged very much, and when he was, he always won.

Yaorui watched from stands as Chuan Si hung the last necklace on Sun Long's neck. Although Sun Long had participated in other matches before, they were only academic ones, today marks his first physical duel.

The match was going to take place in an MMA ring with spotlights looking down at them.

They took their places, locked eyes, and circled each other. Russia hit first, fast and dirty, immediately aiming for the quadriceps muscles in his thighs. A important muscle used for startups and turns, losing them would mean losing his ability to swim competitively.

Russia wasn't trying to beat him, he was trying to stop him from doing what he loved.

Sun Long wasn't fast enough and was hit hard and fatally in his right thigh. Almost immediately, his muscle tore and a nasty bruise caused by the bleeding formed. Xu Minghao, his best friend, screamed, and Qi MingMing, the first-year leader, flinched. Xu Minghao screamed for him to tap out before things got worse, internal bleeding that serious needed immediate attention by a medical professional.

But she knew Sun Long, so did Xu Minghao, he wasn't going to forfeit.

_______________

Sun Long's POV

Sun Long moved his right leg, and pain instantly contorted on his face. Needles shot through his thigh as if it were asleep, it was then he knew something had happened. Out of the corner of his eye, he managed to see the dark purple bruise spreading at a rapid speed.

He had three options, forfeit, cut his leg to avoid too much blood clotting up, or allow it to flow inside his body.

The answer was simple, cut his leg, but how? He looked around, option three it was.

Okay...right leg was down, looks like he'll have to move the fight to the ground.

Using his left leg, he slammed his opponent to the ground and got on top of him, attacking his head almost immediately. Due to his injured leg, he was overpowered easily and found himself in a chokehold on his back.

He tried to kick him off with his left leg and loosen his grip with his hands, but it was a vain attempt.

________________

Yaorui's POV

Her eyes were focused entirely on the opponent, watching his every movement as he choked one of her own.

All of a sudden, Russia's muscles loosened, and he collapsed. When he turned over, he appeared to be crying, but tears weren't seen running down his face or forming in his eyes, then he fainted. Just like that, the man dropped.

The doctors took this as forfeiting, and Sun Long was announced the winner. While the team rushed down from the stands to celebrate his first win, Yaorui rushed after the stretcher Russia laid upon.

"Excuse me! Doctor! What happened to him?" She heard somebody from the opponent's team ask.

"He is severely dehydrated, don't ask me too much, I don't know-how, his results from the body exam early showed that he was even a little over-hydrated,"

If the opponent was hydrated, then how did he suddenly collapse from dehydration? She looked at Sun Long with a complicated gaze.

What happened during the last moments of the match?

Ding~

'It's been a while old friend,'

'It looks like your friend was the first,'

'Be careful of Russia,'