บท 5: Skydancer Exams (4)

The curse jumped and drummed against his soul happily because it had finally been used. This curse was also the power he was born with, unable to be taken away, left to rot with it till he died or was killed.

"Flap Flap!"

What seemed to be the flapping of wings engulfed the area around Hugo, the wind generated from the flapping lifted his clothes, making it seem like a black storm descended upon the area.

"This..."

Loudmouth's jaw hung open, if not for the help of his assistants there would be more than one fly taking his tongue and teeth as a temporary residence.

"Boss. Please keep your mouth closed!"

The head assistant exclaimed and tried to pull Loudmouth's jaw closed, but it just didn't move. The assistants frustrated at this finally thought to turn to look at their boss's reaction.

"It's him again!"

The head assistant yelled when he saw Hugo's unmistakable figure, and covering him was a pair of black wings... The wings were bird-like, obviously modelled after a type of bird.

The span of the wing alone could make up five grown men lying on the ground, with each flap of the massive wings the wind in the area went wild and the waves on the artificial ocean grew stronger.

"FLAP!"

The wings flapped once and Hugo shot into the air under the stunned gazes of many candidates. Each flap of his wing came about with a fistful of black feathers falling off from the wing.

The reactions he received were mostly of people shocked. But then weirdos like Raoul, Hyena, and Alpha2 had mixed reactions. They were shocked that was for sure, but it was more than that.

Raoul for one seemed turned on by Hugo's appearance.

"Oh my, he looks like a demon god. Ohhh, I want to see what makes him tick so bad. If I don't I think I might just go crazy!"

Anyone who heard would have assumed this fellow was gay (not hating xD) from the way he had acted around Hugo, his behaviour irked everyone who was around him, Raoul had no care of that, he was used to weirding people out; adding a few hundred people made no difference to him.

Alpha2 and Hyena's reactions were not as exaggerated though. The former thought something along the lines of; "I want to fight him!" and the latter felt an even stronger urge to question this youth.

"Flap!"

The wings became less loud with each flap, and that was what Hugo was waiting for all this while, he controlled all muscles within his body and commanded the power within to obey him, the power resisted at first, but after a while allowed Hugo to use it however he liked.

"Hmph, people who can only talk!"

An ethereal voice echoed within everyone's ears and awakened them from the stun they received from Hugo's transformations. They had only heard this voice once when Raoul was harassing him, the speaker was the 'shy' Smithson boy, who had shocked them over and over again.

"Flap!"

The boy; Hugo crossed the artificial ocean with the final flap of his dark wings. He reached the end of the sea where some other candidates stood on the shore.

"Congratulations on passing this stage of the first exam!"

A 'congratulation' bot popped up from nowhere and sprayed confetti on top of Hugo's head.

"Huff."

He took a deep breath and dispelled his skill.

"Hmm, a little cold for such a warm climate," He said breathing against his palm.

A lot of the other candidates who were keeping their cards hidden couldn't bear to do it anymore and rushed across the ocean like bolts of lightning. Most of these special attacks hidden in store were just excuses for burning up all their energy in exchange for short-term bursts of speed.

In a single second, over one thousand congratulation bots popped up and sprayed confetti all over the space. Meanwhile, some of the more unique figures were still on the other side of the ocean, not crossing just yet.

Hyena was still there for obvious reasons, but people couldn't understand Raoul and Alpha2's situation. Raoul should be able to easily pass with his almost inhuman speed, and with such a small figure Alpha2 shouldn't find it so hard to cross the ocean.

"Look, they seem to be moving!"

Someone on Hugo's side pointed out, and it seemed they truly were moving a little, trying to... push the other towards the ocean.

"Can anyone hear what they're saying?" A gossipy person asked evilly.

Hugo didn't know when he did, but he answered the question flawlessly.

"Uh, Raoul seems to be saying: 'No, you go first!' and then Alpha2 says: 'Why should I go first, you go first!', Raoul responds with a; 'No, I don't wanna go first!', then Alpha2 asks 'Why don't you wanna go first, anyway?'

Raoul answers him with a smirk: 'Cause, I wanna see you go and set the bar for me surpassing you. I have to look magnificent in all I do, otherwise, there is no point in it anymore!'. And then as you people see, Alpha2 begrudgingly agrees to go first."

He stared at them confusedly upon noticing their strange looks, "What?"

He stutters nervously and hoped he didn't say anything wrong.

"How did you hear them?"

A random candidate swallowed his spit and asked.

"Oh, that? I just read their lips, not hard at all!"

When Hugo said it, it sounded as if he was speaking about eating beans. What the hell was not hard about it, and why or how could he even see their lips from such a distance?!

A lot of the candidates who had used up all their strength struggled to stand and held on to each other in other to not fall from this madness.

"Swish!"

Candidates on Hugo's side heard swishing sounds and turned to look for the source... they hadn't even realized that Alpha2 was no longer on that side.