Shika Exam Ended

{ Somewhere in Zone C }

The castle was drenched in rain and the pathways were clean and shiny like a bald man's head.

The eerie atmosphere due to thunder and lightning with slightly lit castle rooms was suddenly in chaos as people were running around the hallways.

*bam* The door to the third elder's room was pushed by the servant so hard that instead of locking itself, the door sprung back.

"Elder, m.. master Kane's blood lamp has dried out"

Sitting on a rocking chair against the window, an elderly dumbledore-like face turned to look at the shivering servant.

The thunderclaps outside the window and the low-lit background made it seem like the servant had entered the cave of a ferocious monster that ate dozens of humans for snacks.

"Tch!", was the only response the old monster let out at the news of his grandson's death.

*eek!* The servant unconsciously let out of a muffled scream and immediately after he saw the old man's image turn upside down.

Slowly, his vision scaled and started to move downwards with the image of the old man in the chair moving up.

There was not a single sound or a speck of blood when the servant's head hit the ground.

"Sight, go investigate the third leg's death. Be careful of the monsters lurking in the shadows; and bring me the person who killed my grandson..."

A shadow that had remained unmoved in the corner of the old man's room suddenly moved and disappeared into thin air.

"Yes, master!"

*****

{ Shika association, base camp | Dandi Forest }

By 5:50 AM in the morning, 15 of the original 28 candidates had made it back after three nights of extreme hardships and suffering.

Those 15 were divided into 3 groups of four and one group of 3 that consisted of Vikram's teammates.

~Tch! At least, he should have come back alive even if he couldn't complete the tasks~

Mandy looked displeased at not finding Vikram in the group.

He was the only person she had personally handed the item list. Based on his attitude and the strength that leaked out of his body, she judged him to be one of the strong ones.

'did I misjudge him?', she thought.

Despite having a residential mutation, Vikram was the first candidate to complete phase one of the test, and that too within 18 hours.

It was a record in the history of the zone Y's Shika exam and even then he had done it alone.

That is why she had given him slightly difficult items to find, she knew about Siren's existence, but that monster never killed any candidates. Instead, Sirens were known for stealing a Shika's stamina rather than taking their life.

She walked over to the slightly raised ground treating it like a podium and cleared her throat.

"Let's get it started. I see that at least half of you made it back, so that is a good start... I guess", her voice trailed off as she said that.

She wanted to wait for Vikram before starting the ceremony, however, she couldn't bend the rules for a single Shika.

*rustle... rustle*

As she continued to speak, a ruffling noise was heard from the bushes at the back. Everybody's eyes moved sideways in search of the culprit of that disturbance.

Right next moment, a boy leaped out from the thick bushes and landed in front of the 30-some crowd of people with a bang.

The boy was covered in mud and filth, his left arm missing, and his shirt had a large hole in the middle of his chest.

He didn't have anything on him except the Dais watch on his wrist and a fanny-pack hanging loosely on his waist.

"What is the meaning of this-!"

One of the examiners shouted from the sides of the podium angered by Vikram's disruptive behavior.

Vikram didn't reply. Instead, he ran straight to the other side of the crowd by leaping up over the crowds' heads.

"YOU-"

"Danger incoming-! Get ready to fight", Vikram talked over the examiner's voice as he ran to hide behind the crowd of 15 Shika candidates.

- "What-!"

- "Isn't he that boy"- Akram

- "Hah-! Loser lost an arm, but I'll still take his life when I catch him"- Basil

Everyone faced Vikram, including his previous teammates who recognized the distinct face.

*rumble...* But the very next moment a huge rumbling noise resounded from the shadows of the forest. Then a huge wave of suppression came over, as the loud noise grew louder.

*rustle... whoosh... thud*

A monster 12' tall and having a build like a gigantic lorry truck with six legs and two tails jumped out of the forest.

This monster had scales like a lizard but a face like a hyena. Its eyes were glowing purple with a smoothly flowing tattoo extending across its face.

- "That's a Thunder Bala, a C+ rank monster"

- "Run! Get Behind the examiners"

- *tap... tap... tap...*

Before the situation could get any messier, multiple examiners jumped forward, including Mandy, and stood in between the candidates and the monster.

Everyone's face distorted in fear when they realized that the Monster instead of being intimidated suddenly jumped with full vigor as if it wasn't the least bit scared of them.

*wuh-PSSSH... thud... bam*

Using her symbolic whip as a weapon, Mandy got hold of the leg of the monster and dragged him back to the ground with a force that created a 10-foot wide crater.

"Get this b*tch", she shouted.

All the examiners jumped over the injured monster with their respective weapons out.

Mandy alone was enough to make the monster whine like a little b*tch in a matter of seconds. Her fiery whip suddenly burst into flames that burnt the monster's pelt and it couldn't move anymore.

Once immobilized, it was only a matter of will for the other examiners to swoop in and penetrate both his main and auxiliary hearts with their special weapons.

**

"Candidate 420, What is the meaning of this-?"

An examiner 5'8 and with dark-brown skin got up after handling the monster carcass and faced Vikram who was breathing heavily on the ground behind other candidates.

Vikram didn't reply and simply took out a poop-emoji-shaped hardened object of dark-brown color from his fanny pack and threw it at the examiner.

The poop flew for a few meters and hit the examiner's shirt who was too dumbfounded to even dodge when he saw what was flying at him.

"YOU...!!!", the color of his face darkened, even more, when he looked at the object after it fell to the ground.

It was the hardened poop of the Potty-Rabbit, one of the item-request Vikram had received from Mandy a couple of days back.

Paul brandished his sword to behead the disgusting little grunt that dared to fling monster shit on his face.

"Paul. Stop it-!"

Although Paul was older than Mandy in age, he was lower in the association's hierarchy.

"But Ms. Mandy, don't you see his behavior. Not only did he disrespect me, but he also risked the lives of so many candidates with his idiotic behavior. I say that killing him will save a lot of trouble for the association"

"Don't act as you care about the association or the candidates when none of the ones you assigned the tasks to have returned-! I'm the in-charge here, not you. I'll decide what to do."

Paul shut his mouth. None of the original 3 Shikas he had assigned tasks to had returned from the test.

He was just one petty Shika that loved to torture young children and enjoyed the look of desperation in their eyes when they were left with no choice except surrender to their faith.

With a disgruntled expression, Paul went back and fell in the line with the other three examiners.

They were all subordinate to Mandy and none of them dared to even look at the candidate despite having much to complain about.

- 'Why is she protecting that candidate?'

- 'Idk, maybe he is her boy toy or something?'

"You, boy, what is the meaning of this obvious disrespect?"

'Should I have not made it obvious? Is that what she means?', Vikram thought but refrained from replying.

"That is the item responsible for all of this", he said instead, "... I was simply answering the examiner's question"

"What the-", Paul was fuming with anger.

"What do you mean?", Mandy cut him off.

"I mean that I need an answer from the association as to why did an Earth-level Shika decide to sabotage my exam by telling me to fetch that ominous item?"

Just as he said that everyone's eyes naturally navigated to the poop lying on the ground. None of them could understand what Vikram meant. Ominous? That Poop? Everyone thought.

Mandy, who didn't know what he meant, kept quiet to let him explain. But Vikram took it as a sign of acceptance from Mandy.

He got up and walked closer to her with anger-filled eyes.

~I assume you have a good answer for this transgression! You'll not walk away unscathed from this~

Vikram's voice was heavy but low.

Just like the time when he was interrogating Kane, his aura was intimidating and he didn't look like a random trash Resident of which their were many in the world.

Not that anyone except his teammates knew, but they still didn't think highly of Vikram either because of his homeless look and a missing arm.

His social credit was low because he had lost an arm in a simple exam like this. That was the reality of this dystopian world.

None of the candidates equated him with a cold and powerful figure. As for examiners, they were sure that a disabled kid had no chance of survival in Diaspora where only strength mattered.

Mandy, however, being at the end of his rage, had her heart skip a beat due to the sudden chill.

Other candidates felt the threat and started to frantically lookout for another monster attack.

"H... How... dare you?", Mandy gritted her teeth, but refrained from attacking a newbie, lest she wanted to be labeled as someone who liked bullying children like Paul.

~ *buzz...* Huh-!? Okay, Yes, I understand Sir~

Mandy talked slowly on the talking device in her ears with proper decorum and her anger seemed to reduce with each word.

"I'll let you go today-!", she said to Vikram who was only standing a few feet away from her.

Vikram didn't respond and simply walked and stood behind other Shika candidates in the line.

Even though Mandy was 5 years older than Vikram at 22, she was a couple of inches short.

She glared at Vikram once and then walked back to the podium to continue declaring the results.

There were no human activists in the world or big media-news agencies, however, the AI that controlled the public news still loved to popularize such news from time to time and that is why the oppression of weaker sections was still only done in the shadows.

Even though Mandy wasn't happy with how Vikram behaved, she still couldn't have acted with a free hand as long as there were people around.