Chương 35: Chapter 35 : The Unexpected Test
[Activity room]
[Exam train]
The room was spacious, and 30 of the exam students were occupying it. It had board games and card games everywhere, TV, a foosball table, and a pool table.
Duri and Kazuma were walking through it, and many eyes followed them.
Duri looked at one of the students, asking, "The hell are you looking at?"
Kazuma tapped Duri on the shoulder and pointed at a nearby table.
"That's the thing I wanted to show you."
"Hm?"
A group of students were sitting at a table, playing a card game and getting money.
The one who was beating everyone was a kid named Shiryu. He had wavy blackish brown hair, red eyes, and a black earring in his right ear. Shiryu was the type of kid who would get distracted easily by things he found interesting, and he also spaced out alot, and he talks like he's always tired, having a soft tone of voice.
The kid he had just beaten in the card game, yelled, "DAMMMMIT! I almost had you!"
Shiryu yawned, "Can you…can you please keep it down? Some of us are tired…ya know?"
"Huh? You're always tired!"
Shiryu got distracted, looking over at another game.
"Oh…I wanna play that game now…"
"Don't get distracted! Rematch!"
Shiryu looked back at him, "Hm..? I already beat you though…I don't wanna play you anymore.."
"You basta.."
Duri put his hand on Shiryu's opponents shoulder, saying, "Get up."
The boy immediately got up, walking away.
Duri and Shiryu looked straight at each other.
Duri asked, "The hell are you looking at?"
Shiryu tilted his head to the right, "Nice birthmark. I find it…interesting. Do you wanna play?"
Duri looked down at the table, and saw a bunch of cards, but they weren't just any cards. They had different types of beasts on them, and they all had power levels with three different attack moves with how much damage that attack does.
Duri asked, "How do we play?"
Shiryu answered, "....It's uh…oh look…a bird is trying to catch up with the train. See…out the window?"
Duri replied, "STOP GETTING DISTRACTED! How do I play?"
"Oh. Um..it's basically like…you try and wipe my three cards of beasts out with your cards. Using strategy to make smart moves. It's turn-based. So I'll make one move, then you'll make one move. If you run out of cards, you lose. It's very…easy. Also..you can't use the same Kaiju beast twice in a row. Each beast has a cooldown, so if you use it for one turn, you can't use it for your next turn. And your strongest move has a cooldown too, you can't use it for two turns. Oi..that guy over there has cool shoes..I like those."
A dealer to the left of them handed Duri 3 cards, and they handed Shiryu 3 cards.
Shiryu started looking at his cards, and he yawned, "Again?"
Duri thought, 'I've been hearing what the others have been saying. Apparently, he hasn't been beaten at all yet. Also, people say he's won a few championships in this card game. I don't even know what the hell this game is called. Yeah. I'm gonna lose.'
Shiryu asked, "You ready…Duri?"
Duri replied, "How much are we betting?"
"Hmm, 100,000 yen."
*[100,000 yen in American dollars is at least $100 dollars or around it.]*
Duri answered, "Okay."
"Let's…start I guess. Oo, I love my cards. Oo, this train is pretty fast…that first exam test was pretty fun."
Duri thought, 'What is with this kid? He acts lazy and tired, getting easily distracted, but he is constantly beating everyone in this game. This reminds me of that time when Seven was beating everyone in the arcade. And I ended up beating her. Will this have the same outcome?'
Shiryu pulled out a small bowl shaped technical box, and sat it on the middle of the table.
Duri asked Shiryu, "What the hell is that?"
"This is to show our cards health. If you land an attack, the health bar of the target will go down. Which will be visible."
"Alright…"
"I've gone first..too many times. Here, you can go first."
"Okay."
Duri looked down at his cards, and looked at the three beasts on them. They all had an overall 300% health, and each had two attacks they used.
His three beasts were also named, "Kaiju's."
Kaiju 1 : A minotaur with horns and a sabertooth, and it had wings on its back that had fire attached to them.
Powers: Double fist strike (13% damage), Heat slash (26% damage).
Kaiju 2 : A rhino with muscular human arms and legs, a jack of jaguar fur, red eyes, and a black aura around him.
Powers: Horn charge (%16 damage), Rampage stomp (30% damage)
Kaiju 3 : A snake with long sharp teeth and a long tongue, fully black with yellow eyes.
Powers: Venom blast (32% damage), Chokehold (28% damage)
'I think my cards are..okay. I bet he has the most insane cards out of the whole deck. Damn nerd.'
Everyone was watching closely, and one boy was looking too closely at Duri's cards. That same boy snuck his way over to Shiryu, and tried to whisper to him what kind of cards Duri had.
Shiryu interrupted the boy by grabbing the back of his head and slamming it into the floor.
Everyone gasped, and Shiryu sighed, "Cheating isn't fun.."
Duri thought, 'That looked painful. Do they really hate me that much to the point where they would cheat?'
The other exam students around them whispered, "Whoa.."
"He did that so fast.."
"That was unexpected.."
"He doesn't play around.."
Shiryu smiled at Duri, "Let's start, Duri."
Before Duri could say anything, a girl put their hand on Duri's shoulder, saying, "My brother didn't let you know everything about the game. When he lands an attack with his beast on your beast, you can use another one of your beasts to jump in and take the damage for him, but you can only use it twice per beast."
Shiryu sighed, "O..I forgot. When did you get here…Espen?"
Espen was Shiryu's little sister. She had wavy shoulder length hair, on one side it was black, and the other side of it was white. She had one green eye, and she had one red eye.
Espen said, "Shiryu. Your shirt is too wrinkled. And your hair is a little messy. You look hideous. Get it fixed."
Espen was the type of girl who wanted everything to be neat, and she would always tell someone what's on her mind, even if it was disrespectful or not. She was always brutally honest and clean.
Shiryu replied, "Espen…why are you talking? Oh…I want to go get some water later.."
"The cards are a little sloppy. I don't like the way they sit on the table. If they fall off, you'd have to clean them up."
One boy from the crowd of students said to her, "Mind your business, Espen. No one cares."
Espen turned around to him, replying, "You didn't do anything during the first exam text. You sat inside this train the whole time, scared. You don't deserve to be here. You're a phony. You're not worthy of talking to me or anyone else on this train. You're weak."
Espen turned around, leaving the boy speechless.
Duri said, "Can we just…PLAY?!"
Duri pulled out his Kaiju 3 snake, and said, "I'm gonna uh, do this attack. The venom blast.
Both cards vibrated, then the health of Duri's beast went down by a few percentages.
Shiryu said, "That's interesting. I'm gonna do a staff blow on your snake beast."
The staff blow from Shiryu's beast card made his and Duri's cards vibrate. And the snake card lost health points.
Duri thought, 'It's funny. He didn't use the guard when I attacked the first time. This is definitely some sort of strategy he's brewing up. Or already made. Shit. I'm not big on strategizing. I just DO. I'll copy him though. If he's not using the guard, I won't either.'
11 minutes went by, and during that time, Duri was more focused on the game than ever. He just wanted to win. He took some damage off some of Shiryu's cards, and Duri lost some too.
In the end, Duri had one card left, and Shiryu had two cards left, with more exam students surrounding them.
"Duri lasted this long against Shiryu?!"
"Duri must be cheating since he's a murderer and all.."
"There's no way Duri is gonna beat Shiryu.."
Espen said to all the exam students commenting the disrespect, "You all are losers. Hating on Duri because you guys didn't last this long against my brother Shiryu. You disgust me. Jump off the train."
Duri was sweating, looking at his last card, thinking, 'I only got my rhino left. This is the main beast I used all my defense up on. I'm not sure what the hell to do next, and it's my turn. I'm put on the spot. I could either do my strongest attack, and get wiped out. I don't wanna pay this guy anything. This is my first time playing a game like this. Think..think! If I'm cornered with my strongest move left…wait! His other beast is on 13% health. I can use my final attack on that one. I won't win, but I'll be respected since no one else got this far.'
Shiryu asked Duri, "So? What are you going to do?"
Duri responded, "Shh. I'm thinking."
"Take your…time. I want a face birthmark too now. Will it make me stronger?...Who knows."
Duri thought again, 'Wait, maybe I don't have to give up so damn easily. Risking a life for a life in this game, and my last beast has 35% health left. I noticed that with his other beast, who has 30% health left, has attacks that range from 20% to 36%. The strongest attack has a cooldown of two turns, right? And I haven't used my strongest attack with this beast in three turns. If I take his weakest one out, and let his other beast use his non strongest attack, I'll be in the safe zone! And since I have one beast left, I don't have a cooldown for which beast I use! I'll use my weakest attack on his weakest beast, and then use my strongest attack on his last one! Shiryu has a cooldown for his strongest attack, he uses it one turn ago…or was it two? Dammit! I don't remember. I'll just wing it.'
The exam students were focused heavily on the game, whispering their thoughts. Most of them were genuinely surprised Duri lasted this long against Shiryu, because everyone else failed miserably in a matter of a few minutes.
Kazuma, on the right of Duri, whispered, "Beat him, Duri!"
Espen walked beside Kazuma, and said, "Why are you telling him that? You think you're lifting his spirits up? Imagine."
Duri lifted his card up, and said, "For my last card…I'll use…"
Everyone wanted to hear what Duri had to say, listening closely with their eyes peeled at him. Before Duri could slam his card down, Hosts Tesuya, Chaos, Kedarah, and Hanako barged in.
Duri turned around and scoffed, "Oi! I was about to win! You guys fuckkkkked it up! You owe me money!"
Tetsuya responded, "This is way more important. This is your grade from the first exam tests. Everyone is getting one. Don't share it with anyone."
Suddenly, white envelopes appeared in everyone's hands, and they began to whisper again.
Seven and Nine were in the room too, holding their envelopes.
Ren-Ren and Jiyu were doing the same thing, looking at theirs.
Kedarah smiled, "Yay! Everyone got one! Remember, don't share it with anyone!"
All the exam students looked at them with a straight face, then began to rip their envelopes open, and share their grades with each other.
"Ah, HOW DID I GET A D?!"
"HAHA, MY GRADE IS BETTER THAN YOURS!"
"I like my C. Satisfactory."
Seven looked at her grade then looked at Nine's.
Seven asked, "You got a fucking S? While I got an A? Bullllll."
Nine replied, "I mean, what can I say? I'm just too good, ya know?"
"I'll top you next exam."
"Is that a bet?"
"Hell yeah it is."
Seven and Nine shook hands with a grin, saying, "It's on then."
Ren-Ren and Jiyu were sharing their grades with each other too.
Ren-Ren said, "Ha! It's only right that I get this grade. Although an S would've been better."
Jiyu said, "I li-like my grade…at the bottom of the paper it says what we need to work on.."
"Hm? I didn't even see that."
Ren-Ren began reading the words at the bottom.
"Heh? I need to work on my arrogant attitude? I'm not arrogant! I'm Ren-Ren!"
Jiyu says, "I just have to work on my clumsiness during a f-fight…I hope I do better next time. I'm really trying.."
Kazuma ran to Jiyu, and Ren-Ren, and he said, "I got a good grade too! Look! Look! Look!"
Duri was reading his A+ grade constantly. He read the words at the bottom of the paper, which was telling him what he needed to work on.
'They're saying my attitude could've killed the other students, wasting time arguing with Tek when I could've been following through with the plan. Maybe they got me there, but I don't like people giving me orders all the damn time. I'll try next test to be so-called obedient. Damn them all.'
Espen and Shiryu were comparing grades, and Espen said, "I got a B. Doesn't matter. As long as my grade went up. What's yours, Shiryu?"
"I got an E. *Yawn*...that is pretty low..my powers were useless in that first test. That birthmark on Duri's face is pretty cool though…I wonder what happened to that bird outside the train I saw.."
"Focus, Shiryu. You're strong. Maybe stronger than the entire train. You will get a better grade next time."
"Yeah? Good.."
In the front of the room, Chaos asked Tetsuya, "You knew…this was gonna happen, right?"
Testuya smirked, "Of course I did. I just wanted to see if they would actually listen to me. They're teenagers, what did we expect?"
Kedarah added, "Hmmm, it seems like some of them are reading what they need to work on at the bottom of the paper! Amazing!"
Hanako said, "..."
Kedarah turned to Hanako, touching her face, smiling, "Come on..smileeeee! I know you want tooooo! I've never seen you smile!"
Hanako moved Kedarah's hands away from her, responding, "Smiling is for the weak. Smiling in battle is what causes your demise. I have wisdom of that all too well…Kedarah."
Tetsuya let the students talk to each other for an extra two minutes, then he clapped his hands loud.
"Alright. Time is up. And I mean that in both ways."
The students responded, "What ways?"
"Time is up. We've arrived at the next exam test site."
Kedarah smiled, "Yay!"
All the exam students looked at each other, while Duri continued to eye down the Hosts.
A minute later, everyone was getting off the train, and the sun shined on their heads still.
Their feet touched the grass, walking forward.
Duri was the last one to get off, and looked straight ahead.
'What the..?'
In front of all of the exam students was an 85 foot tall and 70 foot wide hotel.
The other students said:
"A hotel?"
"What's this all about?"
"Looks fun."
Tetsuya and the other Hosts got in front of everyone.
Tetsuya said, "I'm gonna make this quick again. For this test…you all will be working together."
The students said, "Together?!"
Duri scoffed, "Tch! No way!"
Tetsuya said back, "You will be."
Duri answered, "As if!"
"In some tournaments, there will be 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4 fights. Not every real tournament fight is a 1v1. There are over 200 innocent people in that hotel, and 10 kitchens. 10 of you students will be placed in each kitchen, while me and the other Hosts will watch over what you guys do."
Duri asked, "What the hell are we gonna be doing?..HOSTS."
Kedarah twirled with a smile like a ballet dancer, "Well, serving the people of course!"
Tek, from the side, implied, "Hmph. I'm not going to be serving people. I came here to use my powers the right way. Not be a servant."
The other students complained, but Chaos said, "It won't be like, THAT bad. You all will work in the kitchen, serving the customers with what they want. You can use your powers, but watch how much of it you use. This test will see how much you can control your powers around innocent people, and to see how your team communication skills are."
Duri scoffed, "I'm no maid! I'm not doing it."
Tetsuya said to Duri, "If you don't, you fail. Then you'll be escorted back to Saitama."
Duri didn't say anything else, he just clenched his fists and looked the other way.
Seven watched, and thought, 'Duri's upset. I am too. Control my powers around innocent people? I'll just not use my other powers then.'
Kazuma said, "Sounds fun!"
Ren-Ren scoffs, "Pfft! I hate kitchens!"
Jiyu smiled, "I-I love to cook.."
Espen uttered, "Cooking for hungry people. That's what we will be doing."
Shiryu was looking up, saying, "I love the clouds today.."
Nine smirked, "Ha! Too damn easy. I'll get another S grade again."
Tetsuya said, "Everyone go on in, and we'll show you what team and kitchen you will be in."
All the students walked past the Hosts, muttering under their breaths. Only a small percentage of them wanted to do this exam, the larger percentage didn't want to.
Hanako asked Tetsuya, "Tetsuya. Is Arsenal out?"
"Ah, yes. ARSENAL. He'll be an obstacle for the students.."
In a cellar under the hotel, was a beast man from another realm by the name of Arsenal. Like Odyn, Arsenal is from the void prison, released by the Hosts just so he can participate in the exams, but he doesn't know that. And again, like Odyn, Arsenal thinks he was broken out of the void prison.
Arsenal was 13 feet tall, muscular with horns on his back, his skin was all black and red, he had long black hair, 3 big black tails, sharp white teeth, and pitch black eyes.
He was walking through the cellar, coughing tremendously.
"I need…I need to feed this lust…I don't know how I got free..but I'm glad. I need to feed on humans…I sense them all around me…too many to hold within my stomach. If I don't eat them…I won't be myself anymore…this lust for blood…is a part of me..I gotta eat!"
[Arcane Realm]
[A bright white and gold area]
Zabel was floating in the clouds, gold and white clouds, with a peaceful wind blowing around him.
Floating beside him, was a golden orb, and someone was speaking out of it.
The voice said, "I overheard your plans, Zabel. You plan on controlling the thoughts and emotions of all living things in all the realms? Even the Titans? You are a guardian, but the other guardians do not know what you are planning. What about us? What about the Arcane? Are you going to control us too?"
"Yeah, yeah, you caught me. No need for me to hide it from someone who overheard me. But you all will be safe from it. I only want to do this so my father can pay for what he's done. I only want to do this so everything can be balanced with my enlightenment and wisdom. There will be no more bullying, strife, envy, murder, or sin. I dealt with too much of that. If I told the other guardians this, they would hit me with a million questions like how I'll do it. They won't be down for aiding in killing a child. Children are highly praised here, their like walking trophies."
"I see. And I know you can't lie, Zabel."
"It's who I am, uncle. Have you located my father yet?"
"I'm still trying to pinpoint his location."
"You haven't gotten anything?"
"He's…not in any of the realms."
"What? Impossible.."
"Earth isn't considered a realm, though. It's a world outside of the void space of realms."
"Have you checked there?"
"I haven't. But there's another possibility that he's in another world other than earth…"
"..Not that other place..if that's the case…then…we're in trouble.."
[Earth]
[Exam hotel]
In the kitchen, Duri, Kazuma, Ren-Ren, Jiyu, Espen, Tek, Seven, Shiryu, and Nine were dressed in red suits with black ties, and they were holding cooking utensils.
Kedarah was in there with them, smiling, "Okay! Let's get to work!"
Duri thought, 'Yipee. Lame cooking shit. My type of game.'
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
JOSH_ONE
JOSH_ONE what do you think of the next test idea? and what do you think about Zabel's true intentions and motives for wanting to control everyone's thoughts and emotions?
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực