I am the one who will 'Remain'

Chapter 11

Melody just stares into the distance, her soul leaving her body. Then she hears Ark laughing.

"So, Melody, your mother, the Hero who saved them all, 'Computer the Destroyer,' it sounds like she had fun."

Melody's face goes beet red, redder than a baboon's ass. Hearing Ark laughing his ass off is even worse; if there were a hole in the ground, she would jump right in.

She looks at him and says, feeling like running away from embarrassment, "You know, young people do crazy and dumb things. I'm sure that was the case then also."

Niobe looks at them and doesn't understand why Ark is laughing. Just then, she remembers she needs to see how powerful they are. She thinks: 'If they were trained by her, then they must be really powerful. I want to see their power, but how can I do that?' Thinking hard, she comes up with an idea.

"Right now, it's the middle of the semester. If you want to join, you have to take a test to see how powerful you are. That way, we know where to put you two."

Melody answers immediately, more than happy to change the subject. "We'd be happy to. Can we do the test now?"

"Yes, let's go. I will personally test you two."

Then she gets up and goes to the phone in the office, picks it up, and tells the person on the other end:

"Prepare the 'Fight Arena' inside the pyramid. I will test two students personally there."

She puts the phone down and says, "Follow me."

They get up and start following the principal outside, walking toward the pyramid. Melody asks, "Why are we walking, and not flying or teleporting there?"

"Inside the University, there is a rule about using powers. It's forbidden to use any kind of powers. But inside the pyramid, there is no such rule. That's why I have to test you there."

"So going inside the pyramid is not forbidden?"

"Of course not. Actually, that is where most of our students are right now."

"The pyramid is our own man-made 'Dungeon.' The first 30 floors are the low levels. The 31st to the 60th floors are the medium levels. The 61st to the 90th floors are the high levels, and the 91st to 100th floors are the 'Nightmare Levels.' The last floors were only completed by 3 people in our Hunter University's history. So don't underestimate the difficulty of those floors."

"Then I guess it won't be so boring here."

Niobe looks at Ark and thinks that he is too full of himself. I will teach him a little bit of modesty.

She already has her impression of him and has already decided the course of his lesson—to be painful, really painful.

When they reach the entrance of the pyramid, Niobe takes out a card and puts it to a reader next to the door. The doors open, and they go inside. The space inside is bigger than the outside.

"The first level is a jungle, with most of the beasts ranging between the first and tenth levels. At this level, it's more about people doing their trades and fighting each other in the Arena."

"From here, we can fly. Let's go."

They take off into the sky, becoming just dots in a few seconds. After flying for about 10 minutes, they reach the arena. The arena is just a big square made of stones in the middle of the jungle. Around the arena, there are people with things to sell. Some were on the ground with just a blanket under them and their goods spread in front of them. Some had tables, others were trying to recruit people for a party, and some were just drinking and eating at the food truck. All in all, it looked like a crowded flea market.

When the people see who lands from the sky, everything stops: the eating, the drinking, the selling, the shouting. They just stare, as if they saw the most beautiful treasure in front of their eyes and wanted to open it as soon as possible.

Then a man steps forward and says, "Principal Megara, we cleared the arena just for you. You can use it anytime."

What the... is happening right now? Principal Megara wants to use the arena? And who would be so stupid as to fight with the 'White Nightmare,' one of the most powerful people in the city?

"Okay, so who wants to be the first to take the test?"

Looking at them, smiling, she waits.

"I will fight first," says Melody while looking at Ark, knowing that if Ark were to fight first, she wouldn't have a chance to take the test anymore.

Niobe nods and jumps into the middle of the arena, then Melody follows suit.

The people immediately start to take out their recording devices, knowing that what will follow will be epic. They'll have the 'White Nightmare' on tape fighting. But who is she fighting against? Who is the one with the red hair? A new student?

"Miss Ember, if you can resist one minute against me, then it's your win."

Melody feels like taking out the Dimensions Destroyer and showing her one minute of... 'Love.' But she knows she can't do that. She looks at Ark and sees him with a mocking smile, which makes her feel even angrier. Because she knows she can't fight using her normal powers, Niobe would recognize her immediately.

So she has to fight with one hand and one foot tied behind her back.

A man from the sidelines gives the start to the fight.

"Ready... Fight!"

Niobe just watches her with a tranquil face. Then she hears Melody:

"Poison."

"Space Swamp."

"Blindness."

"Gravity 100x."

She thinks...I will start easy and see what Niobe can do.

Then she flies toward her like a bullet, reaching her faster than a blink of the eye , and punches toward her. But Niobe just stands there, not moving, not dodging, not blocking. Then the punch reaches her face, and when the punch makes contact with her face, she doesn't even blink because she doesn't have to. The punch just passes through her face without causing any damage.

As expected, physical damage doesn't work on her, but I was expecting that. Just when the punch is behind Niobe's head, she takes out a knife from her space ring and pulls her hand back toward Niobe's neck. But then Niobe just walks forward through Melody's body and dodges the knife.

"Very good, Miss Melody, but it's a pity that your curses don't work completely how they should on me."

But Melody then says:

"Soul augmentation."

"Soul defense."

"Soul attacks."

And then she flies again toward Niobe with the knife in hand. But Niobe doesn't stay in place anymore. She flies toward Melody as well, and from her eyes, black smoke starts to pour out, the smoke taking the shape of monsters that begin attacking Melody. The monsters, being of all shapes and sizes, are now surrounding her, and the monsters aren't even the biggest problem. The big problem is that she lost sight of Niobe.

Great. Now I have an invisible assassin on my back.