Standstill

'Truly worthy of being called a godsoul.'

Asher frowned as he faced Aurora's pressure. Nonetheless, he didn't slow down in his movements as he continued to approach her.

"Die!"

Aurora roared as she prepared to charge at Asher with her spear, now with equal proportions of gold and purple entwined around the shaft, pointed toward him.

Almost immediately, however, Asher stopped and abruptly glanced in a certain direction by the side. Lyn had also turned towards the same spot. Aurora paused, albeit she was slower than the duo. This was because she lacked the special scouting abilities that Asher and Lyn wielded. Nonetheless, she managed to pick up a strange sensation. Added with a mental message from Lyn, Aurora also stopped her assault.

At that moment, they could all sense a couple of presences approaching them.

While it might seem like their focus had been on the battle, neither Asher, Aurora, nor Lyn had forgotten that they weren't the only ones in this location, the Manchurian forest. There were also monsters and competitors in the form of the other students. Also, they knew that the strange change in this exact location would surely attract the attention of the others. So even as they fought, they all kept close attention to their surroundings. Now, that decision turned out to be right.

"Oh, it looks like we've been spotted already." A voice spoke a few dozen metres away from where the trio stood.

Aurora and Lyn couldn't hear it, but relying on his fourth-stage equivalent mental sense and wood-type sensory skills, Asher managed to pick it up. The voice was that of a boy filled with confidence and calmness. Although he had yet to see the speaker, Asher easily ascertained that he was the leader of the arriving group. Also…

'It sounds familiar.' Asher narrowed his eyes.

A few moments later, a few figures burst out from the canopy of trees in the direction Asher, Lyn, and Aurora glanced at. They numbered eight in total and at the lead was a young boy with golden hair followed closely by a young girl whose face was covered with a white veil.

At the sight of them, Aurora and Lyn grimaced. Even Asher was affected by their presence, albeit only a slight frown cropped on his face.

The young boy with golden hair and the veiled girl were individuals the trio was familiar with. To Aurora and Lyn, they were relatives of sorts. For Asher, the girl was an acquaintance whereas the boy was someone he felt he had a lot of destiny with; someone he defined as his fated rival in this region.

Young lord, Wendel Castellan.

The little miss of the third-greatest household, Emma Lucienne Saunters.

The atmosphere immediately became frigid as Lyn walked up to her sister and they formed one group. The other group was the new arrivals led by the young lord. As for the final group, it consisted solely of Asher.

Actually, there was one other group which was made up of the unconscious individuals from Aurora's team, but they weren't being considered at the moment.

"What a surprise seeing you guys here." Wendel right after making his appearance.

He noticed Aurora's teammates laying unconscious on the floor and raised an eyebrow at the sight but kept to himself. Seeing Asher alone, Wendel began to connect the dots.

The others on his team all had their eyes wide open in shock as they found it hard to comprehend the current situation.

From the looks of things, Asher seemed to have soloed Aurora's team with only her and her twin sister, Lyn, left standing. Also, one could see the spear in Aurora's hands wasn't ordinary and seemed to be in a battle-ready stance. However, Asher's hands looked empty.

This, added to the fact that Lyn stood alongside her sister made them presume that it was a 2 vs 1 fight and Asher held the advantage, or at the very least, was able to hold them down.

This sounded absurd as it was well known that Asher was a null. Even if he was ranked 10th in the entire division, it was impossible for him to hold his own against both the first and second rankers individually, much less at the same time. Unless…

'So that's it.' Wendel smiled in understanding.

There was only one way for Asher to be able to hold them off, or at least, take on one of them. That was by utilizing precious items like weapons and talismans, and not ordinary ones.

To a normal student, even one of equivalent status to Wendel, this was impossible. However, Asher was the only direct descendant of the Arnhaunt family and the irrefutable successor of the family, so it was natural for him to be equipped with a lot of life-saving items and high-grade weapons.

By using such items, it was not impossible for him to hold his own against the duo, even knocking out their teammates.

It seemed like Wendel's teammates thought the same as the gazes they set on Asher were filled with disdain and even a hint of envy.

'What the heck is up with these guys?' Asher frowned at their looks.

"What are you planning, brother?" Aurora said as she stared at her half-brother.

"Oh, nothing. I was just leading my team to the source of these bizarre happenings and somehow encountered you here. It's merely a coincidence you see." Wendel smiled, but behind that smiling face was a calculating look.

Whether the phenomenon had anything to do with a treasure or not was secondary. The main point as well as the reason they were all here was because of the test; anything else came second even the source of the phenomenon.

With a chance to be able to take down the number one and two students together with the tenth ranker, while also seizing the tokens of a bunch of other high rankers, it would be a lie to say that Wendel wasn't tempted.

If he took on Asher, Emma takes on Aurora while the rest of his teammates face Lyn, Wendel felt that they had a good shot at winning. It was an irresistible thought, like a pie within arm's reach.

As for why he had settled to take Asher instead of Aurora, a couple of reasons were involved including their relationship, as well as the fact that Emma's Saunter family techniques were better suited against Aurora than Asher.

Nonetheless, although the idea seemed tempting, it was still too risky.

Just as with Aurora and Asher, a third party could pop up in the midst of their fight. The third party could be third-stage monsters, other teams, or even Asher's teammates, whom Wendel had yet to spot. Such a variable made him all the more cautious.

Also, there was no assurance that the remaining group of six could take on Lyn even though they outnumbered her. It should be known that every treasured child of a big family possessed a few protective items, much less one from the royal family. Even Wendel, with his half-blood status, had at least three special talismans, much less Lyn and Aurora, the two twin godsouls of pure blood.

Finally, was the eerie location they were in. The source of the bizarre phenomenon of mana flow going stale was a cave about twenty metres ahead. That might seem far but it wasn't for a fourth-stage Guardian mage.

If in the midst of their battle, something unexpected departed from the cave right then, it only needed to wield a strength at that level and they would be dead from an ambush. Although it was suspected that the academy had cleared this region, Wendel felt that they might not have noticed this cave. In fact, he had a gut feeling that this bizarre occurrence only took place during the time they were here. Hence, one could say that the cave was an unexpected occurrence; a phenomenon with a possibly high level of uncalculated risk.

As a result of these reasons and a few others, Wendel hesitated on whether to make a move.

With Wendel acting in hesitation, Aurora and Lyn remained still, after all, a standstill was very advantageous to them rather than a battle, especially for Aurora who was a bit exhausted.

Asher, on the other hand, saw no reason to attack.

While he might be a reincarnation of a Celestial Emperor with a lifespan of at least three million years, Asher's current strength wasn't enough to provoke a fight between the two parties. It would be nothing short of suicide if he did so and there was even a chance that they would all gang up on him.

Aurora and Lyn alone would force him to take things seriously, but if Wendel and Emma were then added to the mix, Asher would have to go all out and even use the white crystal sword he got from that soul fragment to survive.

All four of them had magic power at the level of a third-stage Guardian, the same as Asher's true strength. Apart from that, Asher was very sure that they also had special items and weapons, similar to Aurora's Heliotrope spear. With those in hand, their raw power would be pushed to a half-step fourth-stage Guardian realm. Then include any special talismans in hand and one could say that they, together, were capable of trading blows with a fourth-stage Guardian mage and forcing the opponent to go all out. In this case, that would be Asher.

However, forcing Asher to go all out didn't mean that they could defeat him.

'But there's no reason to show such level of skill as it would attract unnecessary scrutiny. Even a godsoul by this world's standards can't take on such opponents and still remain standing -unless they were a stage ahead- much less a null. By then, it wouldn't be only the royals who would want to have a 'talk' with me.' Asher narrowed his eyes.

'Nonetheless, things can't remain like this.'

With all three sides not making a move or saying a word, a formless pressure descended turning the situation into an intense one. There was no doubt that if things remained like this, an individual from one of the three groups would eventually make a move that would mark the start of the battle.

Just as the pressure from the standstill was reaching its peak, Lyn, Asher and the scout on Wendel's team raised their eyebrows.

Another group was approaching.