▌│█║▌║▌║Chapter 34║▌║▌║█│▌

Both teams went their separate ways. My group went immediately to the park on the right side of the arena, and Harry’s group went straight to Mr. Grey. We rushed through the buildings and streets. I knew that we wouldn’t have a lot of time to prepare for Mr. Grey’s attack. We finally made it to the park, and I could already hear the havoc that Mr. Grey was causing on the other group. After every explosion and shock, I heard, I just imagined the ease at which Mr. Grey was dismantling their group. I hurriedly started to tell my group what to do to make inconveniences for Mr. Grey. I had Zen and Thomas set up on either side of the fountain in the middle of the park, and I had Jack and myself on the left side of the fountain in the shade of the trees. Itsuki and Via was set up on the right side of the fountain ready to carry people away and block our way-out using air barriers. I held a thumbs up over in my position to see if everyone was ready, and everyone else responded with a thumbs up back. We got set up in our positions none too soon too because just when we did the explosions and shocks from the middle of the arena stopped. An eerie silence blanketed the urban training area for about a minute. I could hear every breath I inhaled and every movement that my group made. I watched us all become restless as we waited for Mr. Grey to make his way over to the park. It has only been four minutes, and he already finished off everybody in the other group. This is going to be a long six minutes if we want to last.

All of a sudden there was a loud boom coming from in front of the fountain, and a cloud of dust sprouted up from the explosion. I saw blue light start sparking and emitting from the dust cloud, and I shouted out, “NOW!!” to Thomas and Zen.

Thomas hurled water into the dust cloud, and Zen immediately froze it on when it contacted something. She also hurled some ice from the water in the fountain into the cloud. I also pulled my twin pistols out and fired into the blue lit cloud. Via also threw one of her explosives into the dust and exploded it for good measure too. The blue light disappeared for a split second, and we foolishly calmed down a bit. Right when we calmed down, Mr. Grey rushed Thomas and had his right hand around his neck in a blink of an eye. Lightning was back surrounding him, and his free eye was radiating a blue color. “Give up.” He demanded of Thomas.

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Thomas responded to the demand by throwing water from the fountain on his face which Zen immediately froze. Mr. Grey didn’t flinch though, and he just used his electricity to get rid of the ice just as fast as it formed. Mr. Grey then shocked Thomas using his lightning in his hand, knocking him out. I then tapped Jack on his shoulder twice, signaling that it was time to bail out. I put my twin guns back into their holsters and latched onto Jack as he moved through the shadows to where Via and Itsuki were. Moving through the shadows with Jack was an experience. When we were moving, it felt like we were in nothingness. All around us was nothing but darkness. I wondered how Jack could navigate through all of this. When we got to Via and Itsuki, I motioned to Zen to head toward us. She used the water and created a massive wall of ice between her and Mr. Grey. He immediately destroyed it and walked through it nonchalantly. This stopped Zen in her tracks as she threw up another ice wall. Mr. Grey destroyed this as soon as she put it up as well as he continued to walk toward her. A loud beep could be heard throughout the arena at this time. Five minutes have passed since the start of the quiz. Zen turned around as she made another ice wall and manipulated, she already made to go in front of Mr. Grey. She also used the moisture from her sweat to send spiked shards of ice at Mr. Grey. She looked back at us and shouted, “Go! I can buy you some more time! All of us won’t make it if we continue like this. Someone has to sacrifice for everyone. I have good grade anyway.”

She turned her back on us for the final time, and I couldn’t accept what I heard. I knew we would have to sacrifice one or two people for time but not Zen! I was thinking maybe Thomas, Jack or even myself, but I wanted Via, Zen, and Itsuki to finish with a passing grade for the quiz. I lowered my head in defeat and almost ran out there to help Zen, but Jack grabbed Itsuki and I and carried us through the dark abyss of the shadows. We reappeared in the real world on the edge of the park. I could still hear the explosions Mr. Grey was causing by destroying Zen’s ice walls. I felt off. I felt remorse coursing through me and regret for not being able to get Zen out of there. We didn’t have time to be dwelling on the past though. I pushed down my feelings and decided to continue with the mission. I looked at everyone and pointed toward the alleyways in front of us. “We need to go through there, keep to the shadows, and hopefully find a good hiding spot.”

We then proceeded to run throughout the alleyways while the explosions were still happening. Zooming in and out of the alleyways, we heard another buzzer go off signifying the passing of six minutes and also the stoppage of the explosions. I guess Zen finally got caught. She held out for a minute which is better than anybody else here could probably do. As we turned another corner, Mr. Grey was standing there waiting for us. His eye was full blue, and he had lightning jumping off of him onto the ground. How did he get here so fast?

▌│█║▌║▌║To be Continued║▌║▌║█│▌