Chapter 11

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The stars in front of him were fuzzy and indistinct as he reached for his skill. With half-closed eyes, Jack was meditating as he made his way uphill. Half-blind and completely open to any ambush, he leapt from tree to tree as he made his way in the general direction of the waterfall. A really reckless and stupid move for one so careful as him but he hardly had any choice. The clock was ticking and he had barely half an hour to find his friends and get to the finish line.

His Gift was being uncooperative, and the stars in his mind’s eye swam around him like a midday summer mirage in the middle of a desert. He had never been to one, but he imagined the experience wouldn’t be altogether pleasant, not unlike the one he was having right now. He was sweating for one thing and his entire body was heating up. There was also the fact that you couldn’t wear a suit in the desert.

“Com’on, work.” Sweat streamed down his forehead as he tried to stay focused on the stars in front of him. The burning feeling in his chest was getting more intense as he worked. Almost like he was being cooked from the inside. All signs of overmana. He was burning out like a candle in the wind and if he wasn’t careful he could end up just like Soja if he pushed his gift too far.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed past the pain and took hold of his gift. The stars appeared before him in a hazy mess but Jack ignored all the tiny pinpricks of light and searched for the biggest ones among them. He had pumped Tanner and Soja almost full to bursting with his mana which made them the brightest and most noticeable ones among his stars. The more mana they had in them the easier they would be to track. The burning feeling in his chest grew as he reached out with reckless abandon.

Two new suns bloomed in front of him nearly blinding him. They snapped into focus and Jack traced their movements to the north, very close to the waterfall.

“Found you!” Sweat streamed down his forehead as Jack kept the connection going, hoping to note down their exact location.

“Just a bit more.” The suns grew blurry and indistinct as he pushed past the limits of his skill. Alarm bells rang in his mind and there was a sharp stabbing pain in his heart. The skill broke apart and Jack was tossed out of his starfield like he had been shot in the chest. His eyes snapped open and he found himself seventy feet in the air, falling headfirst to the forest floor.

“Verdammt!”

His sword whip was in his hands in a flash, and his hands moved with blinding speed as he swung in a quick practiced motion. The whip flashed forward, wrapping itself around the tree branch he had just fallen off from. The flexible metal coiled around the tree limb in a blink of an eye, jerking Jack to a stop and leaving him dangling precariously a few feet above the forest floor.

That was a close one. Panting heavily, Jack listlessly hung down from the tree branch like an overripe fruit. He was in a sorry state. Knife-girl had really done a number on him. His suit was stained with mud and grass and his vest was torn open. The iron plates hidden inside the vest were spilling out as he moved and Jack didn’t even bother picking them up. The stabbing pain in his chest was flaring up in tune to his heartbeat, leaving him in a constant state of perpetual agony.

Panting heavily he touched his throbbing chest and a bit of red aura leaked from his hands. Jack’s eyes went wide realizing the reason for his current state. The red aura twisted in the air and disappeared from sight. No wonder he was having trouble controlling his mana. The beast pills had managed to worm its way into his system and his mana had been fighting desperately to eject the foreign substance out of his body. The constant burning, feverish feeling he was having was not entirely the result of low mana, and the main culprit was the red smoke that he had breathed in during his last encounter with Knife-girl.

If he was in this state from breathing a stray bit of pill poison then he would hate to be in Knife-girl’s shoes who had the blasted thing right in her mouth. Reaching into one of the pockets of his torn vest, he took out a small blade that Knife-girl used. He had picked it up on a whim and now had no idea what to do with it. Why did he even take it? Was it a trophy or something to remember her by?

That was another mystery that he had to solve. He apparently had a bounty on his head and he faced not one but two attackers trying to claim it. Thinking of Knife-girl and Flame-boy, Jack grimaced. He really should have tried to get their names out of them.

There were so many puzzle pieces that Jack’s head swam with the effort to keep track of them all. The black aura that he had been infected with, at the start of the exam, the Reavers, Knife-girl, Flame boy, and a five hundred credit bounty. The large amount eliminated most of the students, save for the nobles. Jack’s eyes narrowed as he thought of his cousin but shook his head at the absurd notion. No noble will dirty their hands with Reavers. 

He channeled his mana into his whip and the flexible metal coiled itself around the tree limb like a serpent, slowly lifting him up. When he reached the bottom of the branch he swung himself up to perch on the tree limb.

There was no use worrying about who was after him at this point. Only the test mattered. It was better to focus on that for now but there was one thing that was becoming abundantly clear. There was something definitely wrong with this year’s test.

Letting out a long breath, Jack took hold of his mana and circulated it throughout his body. The burning was still there but he was able to keep the pain at bay for now since he realized what was causing the issue. Red aura occasionally leaked from him as he cleansed his mana slowly. He would eventually would have to expel all of the foreign beast pill aura but that would have to wait until the exam was over.

Crouching low for added power, Jack leaped to the next tree and made his way uphill. He was able to glean a vague location where Tanner and Soja were, and for now it was best to head over there. As he got closer he would be able to sense them even without meditating. After that, finding them will be a piece of cake.

Trees whizzed by as he made his way up the incline. The hill was getting steeper as he got closer to the summit. There was a slight change in air quality too, and the constant mist that had covered the forest floor was slowly disappearing. Jack cautiously made his way uphill with his silver eyes scanning everything around him. The forest was eerily silent as though it had been emptied of all life on it, and everywhere he looked there was not a soul in sight.

The trees around him were bent and twisted and looking closer Jack noticed signs of battle damage. Large chunks of bark had been gouged out and further ahead few trees had been completely ripped out of the earth. Jack’s eyes narrowed at the sight. Did a Bison herd pass by here?

Jack looked around and saw that there was a distinct trail of damaged trees going in a straight line. It looked like something large and powerful passed by here and judging by the scope of the damage it was very fast and traveling in a tight knit group. Was this really the work of Bison? There was a distinct lack of tracks on the forest floor.

“One thing after the other.” He muttered and instinctively reached for his gift. His mana moved sluggishly but there was an almost immediate reaction to his probing. In the distance, he felt Tanner and Soja rushing ahead. He was finally close enough to sense them without meditating. Breaking into a grin, he charged ahead making a beeline towards the two of them. Coincidently, the trail of the damaged trees was also headed towards the same direction.

Jack glanced at the broken trees around him in trepidation but kept moving ahead. What will happen, will happen. Hopefully, he would get out of the trail before he runs into whatever that caused this level of carnage. 

With the two stars as his beacon, Jack carefully made his way through the forest. The trees around him were getting more and more battle worn as he traveled further ahead. Occasionally he spotted circular burn marks on the bark, and in other places, whole trees were blown up into smithereens. Jack was deep in thought as his eyes followed the destroyed trees as he passed by them. There was a chase, he guessed. Judging by the trail, two or more parties were chasing someone or something uphill on the very path that he was taking.

There were more and more burnt up trees as he made his way up the steep hill. The intensity of their battle was ramping up as the pursuing party started to catch up. Jack spotted a small crater off to the side which was clearly the work of some kind of explosive. The firepower used in this fight was something more than mere fifteen year olds could come up with.

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This wasn’t the work of Bison or even the students. No noble spat could escalate to them tossing missiles at each other or at least they wouldn’t make it so obvious.

Jack stared past the trees ahead, trying to gauge how far the trail extended. He might need to take an alternate route lest he runs into whatever was using the forest to play a game of catch me or I'll explode.

Scanning the forest ahead, Jack kept all his senses on alert. Something was off about the area that he was going through. Near the edge of his hearing, there was a sound that was barely audible, and he couldn’t make out what it was. A thumping noise so faint that he wasn’t sure whether it was his imagination or not. He kept his eyes peeled for anything dangerous.

As he kept looking ahead, Jack noticed something unusual. Lying on the forest floor were the crumpled forms of knocked out students. The smell of blood and burning flesh invaded his nostrils. The badges on their chest were blinking red indicating their elimination. Jack immediately went on alert and slipped deeper into the forest foliage and moved cautiously forward.

The forest around them was blown to kingdom come. Large craters dotted the forest floor and the trees in the area were burnt to charcoal. Jack stared at the bodies littered on the floor in horror. They were all dead and staring wide eyed into the void.

Still in shock, Jack was about to approach the bodies when he heard a rustling in the bushes nearby. Jack’s head snapped towards the sound. His hammering heart threatened to burst out of his chest at the sudden noise. Staring intently at the bushes that were moving slightly Jack saw eight eyes staring intently at the bodies lying on the floor. The red compound eyes rotated in their sockets as a monstrous form slowly scuttled its way out of the bush.

Jack took in a long sharp breath. “Swarmlings!”

He stood up from his perch. He never considered that Eaton would be insane enough to conduct a test in an area with these things running around. He needed to get out of here with haste. If one of them were there then more were sure to come. Looking around he slowly snuck his way ahead when he noticed something out of the corner of his eyes. Eight compound eyes were staring at him while perched on a tree that he was standing on, right next to his face.

With an inhuman screech, the creature was leaping towards his head with its mandibles open.

“F*ck, f*ck, f*ck!” Jack’s whip flashed so quickly that it left after images in its wake. The sword whip glowed with his mana as it speared the dog-sized spider right in the abdomen and threw it off the tree that he was perched on. The creature fell sixty feet and crashed loudly into the forest floor.

Its eight legs flailed in the air as it tried to right itself, and with jerky, twitchy movements the spider rolled to the side and got to its many legged feet. Its companion from the bushes scuttled beside it and rubbed its fellers down its legs, and both spiders swiveled their heads towards the knocked out students on the forest floor.

“Oh no you don’t!”

Jack came hurtling out of the trees sliding down its trunk. His whip flashed once, wrapping around the head of the spider that had ambushed him. The creature screeched as it bit into his metal whip, trying to hold him in place. Seeing Jack immobilized, Its companion scuttled towards him with its many legs at an unnatural speed, planning to take him out while its sibling held him still.

“Mutter F**ker!” Jack’s free hand darted towards the hunting knife strapped to his back. The dog sized spider leapt towards his face, intending to bite his head off. Human brain was a delicacy which it seldom got to taste. Jack’s hand moved in a flash and the purple knife went flying towards the spider and stabbed right into the creature's eye, wedging itself deep into its head.

The creature let out an inhuman screech as it was struck down in mid-flight. It crashed into the forest floor with a dull thump, and its eyes started melting under the corrosive purple poison of the hunting knife. It borrowed a hole right into the creature's brain and the spider fell still, dead. Jack felt his whip being tugged away from him as the other spider desperately tried to free itself now that its sibling was slain. He pulled at his whip with a grim smile, beheading the other spider too. Blood splattered onto the forest floor and his whip slowly slithered back into place.

Breathing heavily, Jack looked around to see the two dead spiders and the scores of unmoving students lying on the forest floor. The smell of blood and burnt flesh filled the tiny clearing, and Jack just stared at the fallen with indecision. The winds shifted and the white fog slowly rolled over the bodies, hiding them from view. The smell, however, was still present.

“F*ck.” He cursed under his breath as he swung his whip towards a low hanging tree branch with a grimace. The whip coiled around the branch sending him flying up into the trees. Jack gave one last look at the kids down below. Hopefully at least one of them will be alive by the end of the test.

The trees whizzed by him as he sped through the forest. Jack still had an ugly look on his face as he made his way through the trail. Who knew that he would run into Swarmlings of all things? He shuddered. Hopefully, they were strays, and there wasn't a nest hidden in the forest. He wouldn’t want to run into an adult.

He just needed to keep his eyes peeled for anything. You never know when you would be ambushed by the creepy buggers. Jack scanned the surroundings with trepidation as he moved forward. A slight tremor came from the tree that he was stepping off from, and Jack’s eyes widened when he heard it again. It was the strange rhythmic thumping noise and it sounded a lot more closer this time.

Jack cocked his head from side to side trying to discern where the sound was coming from, but he wasn’t Tanner. Even after listening to the sound intently, he had no way of making out its exact origins. Sighing, Jack decided to stick to his present route. If he attempted any fancy maneuvers it would only result in him getting lost. Raising his head he scanned the surroundings, and his eyes followed the path of broken trees.

The trees were getting burned, ripped, and blown apart with increasing frequency as he made his way uphill, and the trail of deforestation was extended far into the forest ahead of him. There were several other things that he noticed that were odd. It was the scent. He could smell soot in the air mixed with engine fuel. There was also a sharp pungent smell in the air that he couldn’t quite place. Just what kind of machine was capable of this kind of destruction?

He just had to keep his fingers crossed that Tanner and Soja would not run into them before he got to them. Taking a deep breath he reached for his skill. Tanner and Soja’s stars flared in his mind’s eye almost immediately. Jack's head snapped to the right and he made a beeline straight towards them. He was close, really close.

The two suns in front of him burned brightly but they were getting noticeably smaller by the second. Frowning, Jack observed the stars and found them shrinking rapidly.

“Shit!” His casting was nearing its time limit. Circulating his aura to the limit, Jack raced ahead as the stars got smaller and smaller. He had to get to them before they ran out of all of his borrowed mana. He wasn’t Tanner, without his skill there was no way he could find the two of them in this large forest.

Fishing his phone out of his pocket, he checked the clock. Jack's eyes narrowed as he calculated. Barely twenty-five minutes left. Circulating his remaining mana throughout his body, Jack charged through the forest. He swung his whip forward and latched to a branch up ahead. The whip sent him flying through to the next tree in a sudden burst of speed. 

Taking in a deep breath Jack took hold of his gift and traced his two friends. The suns in his mind’s eye were deflating like a pin-pricked balloon, and very soon its flames would be smothered completely. Already one of them was teetering on the edge. Soja’s star was flickering like a candle in the wind about to be blown out.

Jack flitted in between the trees swinging his whip forward which sent him barrelling ahead at tremendous speeds. In his mind’s eye, the stars were desperately keeping their flames still lit but the result seemed to be a forgone conclusion. Soja’s star dimmed and went out completely, leaving only Tanner left for him to track. Jack gritted his teeth as he raced ahead while keeping an eye on the path Tanner was taking.

He was intensely focused on his gift when a sudden, loud thump broke him out of his revelry. Jack’s eyes widened as he heard the familiar rhythmic sound which was a lot more louder this time. It was coming from the same direction that he was headed. Tanner’s light started flickering as his borrowed mana was spent at a rapid rate.

“Com’on, com’on!” Jack raced ahead as he watched Tanner’s star fizzle out and die. Noting Tanner’s last position, Jack made a beeline straight for the copse of trees ahead. He was just beyond that wall of foliage.

Jack leapt from tree to tree with swift agile movements keeping his eyes peeled for Tanner and Soja. through the corner of his eye, Jack saw a bellowing long cloak. Tanner was crouched low on a tree up ahead, staring intently at something up ahead. Soja was beside him clutching the tree bark looking tired and pale faced but none the worse for wear.

Letting out a breath of relief Jack landed beside them. Sensing his presence, Tanner’s hand darted into his long coat, but paused when he saw who it was. Seeing that it was Jack, Tanner silently cursed under his breath, clutching his heart.

Jack chuckled and was about to speak when Tanner covered his mouth, miming him to be quiet. He jerked his head towards a thicket of trees uphill. Jack swiveled his head with Tanner’s hand still on his mouth and stared ahead.

For a while, nothing seemed to happen and the forest stayed eerily quiet. Jack’s eyes darted back and forth, but he couldn’t see anything. Just when he was about to give up his search, he heard that familiar rhythmic sound once again.

Thump!

The forest shook at the sound of a single footstep. Jack’s eyes went wide when he was finally able to give a name to what he had been hearing all this time. In the distance, there was the sound of toppling trees as something titanic moved in the distance.

Thump!

Jack swallowed hard. The trees moved as though trying to give way to the metal monster that was coming towards them. He had wondered what was capable of causing such destruction and mayhem in the middle of an entrance exam, but never in a million years he would have thought that he would encounter something like this.

THUMP!

A colossus of an Exo stood before them towering above the treeline. Its metal surface was colored red as though it was dipped in rusted blood. The whole forest seemed to be holding its breath, and Jack found himself shaking as he beheld the metal behemoth. The Exo stood smack in the middle of the path leading to the waterfall, blocking the final stretch of their journey.

“You gotta be kidding me!” Jack's muffled voice came from under Tanner’s hand. Twenty minutes left and they had an exam to finish and an Exo to fight.