Broken Promise

As all the students were approaching the volcano, the thick smoke that it previously released had gotten worse. In addition, the ground started to shake violently. 

At the center of the volcano where all the smoke came from, a loud screech echoed all throughout the island. The screeched was unbearably loud. All students were forced to cover their ears to prevent them from rupturing.

After the screech stopped, a large figure flew out from the crater of the volcano. The temperature of the atmosphere had suddenly increased by a few celsius. 

The figure hid itself from sight using the smoke being released by the volcano. As it soared through the sky, its magnificent figure was revealed for everyone to behold. Two gigantic wings, sharp and pointy claws, and a beak that could break tens of golems in single strike. 

A Phoenix thrice the size of an ordinary golem flew past the students at high speeds. It looked around its surroundings with a furiously. 

Three students who were on their way to the top of the volcano were immediately spotted by the large bird. It quickly approached them from afar and dove towards the trio. With the sharp claws, it pointed them towards the students.

"That thing is heading right for us!"

One of the students cursed loudly. Both of his eyes were widened in fear, as the bird approached them quickly.

"Focus! Cast a barrier dumb*ss!"

Another student yelled at his buddy who had frozen in place. After the loud awakening from his teammate, he was able to wake up from his daze and all three of them casted a barrier together. 

Three barriers with varying sizes and color appeared right before the Phoenix. The barrier had collided with the bird's claws, and was broken into tiny pieces.

"Stop!"

The three students yelled in despair. But in the nick of time, just before the bird could take apart its victims, a crescent shaped object cut through the air landing on the chest area of the Phoenix. It threw the bird off its trajectory, as its claws just barely avoided the three students. 

But it wasn't an object that struck the gigantic bird, but a skill casted with the use of sword aura. 

"That wasn't that difficult was it now."

A confident grind appeared on Zeno's face, as he switched his gaze between the three students and the smoke cloud that appeared after the Phoenix crashed itself towards the side of the Volcano when it received a hit from Zeno. 

Boom! Boom! Boom! 

Loud explosions erupted from where the Phoenix had crashed. But it didn't come from the bird. It came from the mountains of spells being thrown at it by the students from far away. 

Like snipers, even those students from a kilometer away didn't shy from casting a skill towards the Phoenix. However, from such a range, the efficacy of their skills were minimal.

However, the magnificent being would not so casually fall just like that. With emotions of anger flowing in its veins, it flapped its wings and soared towards the sky to escape the onslaught. 

The Phoenix thought it was safe with its ability of flight, but to its surprise, the students were now hurriedly flying towards its direction. 

Mana was truly a useful thing. The students could manipulate mana and use it to hover above the ground and fly. But this kind of mana manipulation was a taxing process, those who couldn't or were disinterested in its complexity opted for another option which was a flying gadget. 

Flying hoverboards were a very popular item used by countless people. It was easier, and was a big help in order save mana, which can be used for casting skills. 

Now, nearly a hundred students were flying towards the bird. With one exemption. Which was Geo. 

Geo didn't bother going after the Phoenix. In his mind it was not going to be fruitful for him. After all, he only had a single mana core compared to his classmates who had tens to even hundreds of mana cores. This meant that they had a larger mana pool for flight. At the same time, Geo had no flying device for him to use. 

The boy was flightless. So he decided to make his way towards the volcano while all his classmates were busy with taking down the Phoenix. 

As Geo rushed towards the volcano trying to seize the opportunity, two different pairs of eyes were looking at him from a different place. One of them was Aviana Luth. 

"It seems like this boy is going to be the first one to reach the center of the volcano and finish my test, it seems like I should prepare my reward."

Aviana sighed. She had anticipated a frenzy to occur between students but the opposite had happened.

At another place. A figure of a hooded man was seen laughing, as he watched Geo running towards the center of the volcano. 

"Seems like the boy will be the first to finish reach the portal at the crater, if the others find out he took the win underneath their noses, they'll be pissed! HAHAHAHA!"

The man wore black leather clothes, making him look like a mercenary. The man appeared to resemble a middle aged man. He had a well trimmed and lush beard. And his name was Varce Kane. 

Varce took a closer look at Geo trying to pry into his soul. This was an ability that even generals and tier ten beings could not accomplish. However, his curiosity only ended with him in shock.

'Kairo....' 

"Kairo!"

Varce yelled at the top of his lungs. The man hurriedly stretched back his hand, and punched the space in front of him, creating a spatial crack.

From the cracks, he used both his hands to pull it apart, expanding it and creating a portal that directly went towards the island. Varce quickly passed through the portal which he had created.

After releasing his mana, he was able to easily sense Geo and fly towards the boy in lightning speed. Faster than even the Phoenix. 

"Oh sh*t!"

Geo could sense the intense and overwhelmingly thick aura of kill intent being directed by a hooded man who had now appeared in front of him in mere seconds. 

"Kairo! Pay for the everything that I lost due to your broken promise with your life!"

Varce's eyes were pitch black. It was as if he had no soul behind it, as all Varce could think of was the promise that his dear friend had failed to do. 

"I'm not Kairo!"

Geo yelled trying to plead for his life. To him, he had to clue who the powerful man in front of him was and what he was talking about.

'So strong! It's as if I'm looking at king Kairo himself! Wait... king Kairo!'