The Final Test of Camp

"All the students, please gather in front of the building gate. this is an emergency.'' Isabella's panicked voice rang through the speakers. We all took a quick glance at each other and started running. Rose was ahead of us, with Sarah and Tom following closely, and me in last place. as I caught up with others, Sarah asked, "where are others?"

I looked behind me, only around ten students were there. Then I finally understood. empty infirmary, the silent cafeteria, and the number of students in restrooms. "looks like only this much passed the first round." I replied.

Just as we escaped the building, we were facing our possible second task. A thick fog covered the whole grounds, so much so that we were only able to see a few meters around us. "Now, as you can see, less than a third of you passed the first round. It is kind of shameful. after more than half learned how to kill when in danger." a heavy voice came from above.

There was a single figure, floating about five meters above us. The fog made only his presence clear, but it was still too hard to infer anything else. {what happened to the rest of the class?}

After last night, I haven't seen any of my remaining classmates. There were students from other classes, but they were also in small numbers like us. I heard the noise of footsteps slowly surrounding us, but the figure above gave off bad vibes. I prepared to go on defensive and got ready to do so. {I didn't think I would need to use this so soon} I waited for any movement from the people who surrounded us.

It happened sooner than expected. The masked figure in front of me closed at a fast yet familiar pace. I stepped back and yelled at others. "grab on, I have a plan." Those three locked arms with me without delay and I began using the only spell I could.

"authority of mana, order the cosmos to protect the user."

following my words, the ground below us raised, suddenly launching four of us high enough. Tom immediately let go of me and grabbed Sarah, while I and Rose regained balance. {looks like we are fighting.}

I looked at the cloaked man in front of us while preparing some circles to attack. but I couldn't. The fog around him was very dense, even though we got close to him. silently observing the battlefield below, he stood motionless. how many minutes passed as we stared at him, not able to do anything? I had no idea. The fight below us slowly came to a conclusion. Everyone was cornered, and not able to put up a fight. The fog got denser and the air got colder. It soon got hard to breathe and I felt chills run down my spine.

"Ray," Rose whispered, "make sure I don't hit the ground."

Before my brain registered what she had said, she began chanting. several spells came out of her mouth continuously and their effects were immediate. The fog cleared up in a flash, and the sun became visible along with it. Rose lost balance and started falling with no resistance. I pulled myself together and dashed in towards her. grabbing her entire body, I landed a few good meters from the crowd on the ground.

"What the hell were you thinking?" I shouted at her. she used up most of her mana to clear up the fog. It took her at least nine different wind-related spells to do so. She was conscious but was weak from exhausting so much mana. she smiled weakly, "nice catch. now we can see them all clearly."

I looked up, and for the first time, saw every attacker. The people below us had similar outfits and masks, but I could tell at least their gender apart. But the figure above, I could only conclude he was a man because of his voice. He stood there, covered in a black cloak and hood. He stared at us from his place in the sky.

"Well done." he started clapping. his hand, covered in gloves, made a dull sound. "At least you people show quick thinking, and some even show battle intelligence. some show that they can sacrifice if needed." he waved his hand and the fog started returning. I could see the fear creep on Rose's face. All of her efforts just proved to be useless, and that look on her face sparked something in me. I put her down and looked at my target.

I blasted towards that man, summoning several circles behind my palm as I moved forward. I didn't understand how I did at that moment, but I was able to form a metal staff about the height of my shoulder. holding one end with both arms, I swung it at the man. He leaned back and avoided the first hit. I turned my body and added more power to my next strike as I moved ahead.

That man simply grabbed the heavy metal rod with little to no effort. all of the momentum I had built up, got negated just like that. He then pushed me in Rose's direction. I lost balance and was going to crash into her. Luckily, Tom and Sarah prevented that.

all four of us sat down and checked up on our injuries. we all were almost out of mana. {good thing that flying doesn't consume mana.}

"Who do you think is behind this attack?" I asked tom. It was strange. we all got beaten up, but it didn't feel like it was meant to be lethal. The 'attackers' were also just observing us silently.

"Is this even an attack?" Sarah asked in response to my question. "I have been observing them, but they don't seem to be hostile. none of them even touched us in any kind of offensive way. it was only self defence."

She was right. Even when I attacked that man, he didn't even try to go on the offensive. He could have immobilized me, kill me even if he wanted to. The same went for others, they did close in on us, but didn't attack with the intention to harm. I decided to go to the other group. Jin was there, looking defeated. The 'attackers' let me easily pass through, surprising everyone.

"It's not an attack, is it?" jin asked. he smiled stupidly.

"they don't seem to be attacking at the moment." I held out my hand to help him stand. all the students regrouped for discussing the next move.

"What do you guys think?" Eve asked after proposing a theory.

"I do agree that these people are here for a very specific test, but I can't figure out what it is," Jin responded.

"Maybe it is our emergency response?" Robin suggested.

"then we already failed." Tom shook his head in denial, "I don't think that's it."

We spent around five minutes and came to a conclusive theory. Almost everything was making sense, except the man in the cloak. we couldn't figure out who he was. "Let me talk to them," Sarah suggested. We all agreed unanimously and let her go.

she approached one of the people surrounding us and after taking a deep breath, spoke to her, "what are you doing here mother?" {I thought so.} I turned to my mother, her slight smile visible beneath her mask. we all had expected it, as the attacks seemed familiar. {but....} all of us instinctively turned to the man in the long cloak. He slowly lowered himself and stood in front of us. slowly moved his arms and removed his hood.

His platinum blonde hair, tied behind his head, now waved in the wind. His eyes, as he opened them, showed a flame red glow. His features contrast with the background that he stood in front of. He glanced over the students and his lips curled up, revealing a calming smile.

"Congratulations on passing the first two tests. sixteen of you will take part in the third and final test with me," he said. his voice was much more normal-sounding than before.

"Will you introduce yourself first?" Jin sounded irritated.

"Pardon me. I am the candidate for the 7th prince position of this nation, Lucian. I graduated from this academy two years ago. Now that my candidacy has been confirmed, I am here to recruit a small team for a trip I am going on in three months."

"and it is all of us?" Eve asked, "or are you going to shed the group even further?"

"oh, no. All 16 of you are going with me. This test is to see how much training you are gonna need. you all have weapons that you have gotten yourself familiar with, use them well enough and you will pass the exam." our parents brought out weapons. all of them were the real deal, even though I had wooden staff. After getting hold of the weapons, we all gathered to make a game plan.

"I think we all have a vague idea about what the test is going to be." I addressed the group. they all nodded in response. "So we all are going to take on our targets as we wish. or does someone need any changes?"

"Let's confirm first." Eve made a suggestion.

"If it is not what we expect, we can switch then and there." Rose said and stood up. We all were prepared as we stood in front of Lucian. He had taken off his cloak and gloves, and looked very dignified. His red eyes scanned over both teams. our parents were still in their matching outfits, but were not wearing masks and had their weapons equipped. {so that is what dad meant by 'all kinds of blades?}

"Your goal is to survive a fight against one of the most efficient task forces that were trained under the previous king's orders. I chose people you know so that you won't have that hard time fighting them. I will oversee and assess the position each of you is in. This is kind of my test as well, so have fun out there. The time limit is two minutes, which starts in 3...2...1… NOW!"

Just as he said that, mom disappeared from my sight. I instinctively took off to a distance. right where I stood earlier, was now occupied by a huge sword, impaled in the ground.

"Are you trying to kill me?" I shouted at mom, who had just let go of that sword.

"Oh please, you won't die from just this." she pulled out two short swords seemingly out of nowhere. and reached for me.

I used the staff to block one strike and kicked her other hand to get rid of the other. the plan worked, at least to some extent, I lost the staff to her. the sword cleanly cut through the wooden staff.

"Really inefficient, that weapon of yours." mom commented as she got down and picked up the huge sword like it was nothing. I got rid of the wood fragment from my hands. "there goes your only defense." she chuckled a little. {it hasn't even been twenty seconds…} I tried looking for the rod I used on Lucian. {...damn it} not willing to waste time, I decided to go with Plan B.

"I didn't expect you to be this aggressive." I had to buy a few seconds, "I can see why dad decided to be a healer."

"You should talk less." she disappeared again. {Not this time.} I bent my head down and avoided the blade that came for my head. The momentum did the rest of the work in aligning both of us to my favor. {Now or never} I summoned as many circles as I could between her and myself. The rod pushed both of us apart, hitting mom in the abdomen in the process. I grabbed the rod as I was pushed by it. It felt a lot heavier than a wooden rod, "this one shouldn't break", but I can make it work.

Mom was a little distant from where we clashed. she was clearly surprised from suddenly getting hit, but it didn't seem that she got injured in the slightest. she then glared at me, then took a look at the new 'staff' that I created and smirked. That smile told me to run away.

The next thing I saw was her figure about a meter away from me and she was ready to swing the sword. Instead of running away, I blocked her with the staff. The shock of the sword and rod colliding was sent throughout my body and I was sent crashing to the ground. Just as I got back up, a knife was approaching my neck. I put my arm in its way and activated the latest circle that I learned to make.

the knife passed through my palm without touching it and stopped just as it stabbed my neck. I could feel blood trickle down my neck, and into my shirt. I grabbed the hand that held the knife so mom can't bring out another one. her sword was stuck in the staff that I held in my other hand. she let go of her sword and reached for my head.

{hidden knife? a small sword? another summoning?} her hand landed on my hair. "well done." she said while patting my head. "You did better than I expected."

"The two minutes are over." the prince announced, "you all somehow passed. get down please."

Mom cleaned up the blood and dressed the wounds I had. I was injured in various places, so those got bandaged as well. my left wrist was broken as I tried blocking the sword and my neck had a hole a centimeters deep. Other than that, I was fine. We all gathered in front of the prince after treating our injuries. all of us had similar, beat up and bandaged appearances.

"all of you managed to survive against your parents for a full two minutes. This may not seem like much, but in life or death situations, the first two minutes is what decides whether you live or die. And as some of you have experienced, your parents were seriously fighting." my neck felt a little sting after he said that. "For the next two days, you will be trained to utilise the weapon of your choice and its varying alternatives. it will be hell, so make sure to get healed and eat properly today. i'll see you at the end of camp." he left shortly after that, followed by our parents.

and just like he said, the camp was hell indeed.