"Shit!" Milin cursed as her umpteenth attempt to break the invisible barrier failed.

"Let me give a try," Rudra said and a dozen daggers glowing red above his head, the hilts pointed upwards.

"Don't use magic, its no use. Clearly, the barrier is there to prevent us from escaping." Eren hastily stopped Rudra from wasting any more energy.

All three of them were present at the edge of a cliff, overlooking a sea of red tulips stretching as far as the eye can see. The tulips moved slowly as the wind blew as if waving and inviting the three kids to join them. The petals catching the warm sunlight glowed faintly making the scenery look like a painting brought to life.

Eren tugged at a silver bracelet on his right wrist, surprisingly strong given the dainty look and intricate craftsmanship. It was designed like a snake swallowing its tail. By tapping on it twice the snake's eyes would glow blue and project a translucent blue rectangular interface into the air but it was visible only for the bearer. All three of them had the same bracelets. At the top of the screen was TEAM 7 written in bold letters and below it was the information of Rudra, Eren, and Milin. Probably the three of them were grouped into some sort of a team, they had concluded.

NAME SPELLS LEVEL Rudra Alrariel Fiery Thorns, Pain Bind, Thunder Arrows 1 Milin Draga Strengthen, Heal, Rock Fist 1 Eren Penhallow Dark Sword, Rock Shield, Deflect, Trap 1

The Levels only determine the amount of Aether someone has. Aether is a substance present in every living being of Erza. It has no color, no smell, no form, or a state. Its physical manifestation is what people call 'magic.' A Talent is like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it becomes. But magic is different as it depends on the Aether reserves in the user's body. The stronger the spell the more Aether it consumes. To make your spell stronger there are two options, either become mentally stronger or increase the Aether reserves. The names were given to the spells solely to facilitate imagining them. With enough experience in using a spell, one doesn't even have to say its name to conjure magic. But increasing Aether reserves was an entirely different matter. Although it would replenish naturally, the amount would still be capped. To increase the limit there are three options:

1. Become physically stronger. 2. Kill a Fiend. 3. Kill a Human.

Normally, people at level 1 can use up to 3 spells but Eren was able to use four which put him at the top five percent.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Alert! A message has arrived." The three exchanged looks and nodded in unison as if to confirm that they had heard the same thing.

A screen similar to the one projected by their bracelets, except bigger by multitudes, appeared over their heads, with the following message on it:

'Congratulations on making it this far. After five minutes the game of King's Crown is going to start. There are four zones in total and you can only enter each zone through a Gate. A certain amount of points would be required to enter a zone that will be granted appropriately through the player's actions, like eliminating another team or healing a teammate. Everything required for living, from food to shelter can be found within the zones. Inside the innermost zone is the King's Crown, the person who finds it first wins the game. Including yours, there are fifty teams in total. Hurting a teammate would result in punishment and leaving the examination premises would immediately disqualify you from the game. Use your Halos to communicate with teammates and receive further messages. We wish you the best of luck.'

Below the message was a rudimentary map of the layout of zones. Including the outermost boundary, there were four concentric circles, dividing the perimeter into four zones. The outermost zone where all the teams were currently present was labeled Zone 1 and the innermost as Zone 4.

As the message finally disappeared, the three found their voices again.

"So this thing is called a Halo? How do you communicate with it?" Rudra said as he pressed his ear against it.

Milin ignored Rudra and presented a question to Eren. "Don't you think this exam... the 'game' is a little weird."

"Yes, the rules seem to be designed to force us to fight each other. I can understand if this was just a game, but this doesn't look like an exam at all." Eren replied thoughtfully.

"Maybe they want to weed out the weaker ones." Rudra offered.

Eren shook his head, "that's not plausible. This is the final phase, the other exams we had until now were separating the weak and the strong. There's something more we are missing."

"Now that I think about it, they said harming a teammate is not allowed but then why can only one person get the crown? How are you supposed to win like that? No one is going to give up the crown voluntarily." Milin tugged her hair in frustration.

The gears in Eren's mind turned as he processed every piece of information he had and then finally it clicked.

"You have come up with something, haven't you?" Rudra said as he noticed the faint smile on Eren's face.

Eren nodded.

"Spill the beans then," Milin said impatiently

"The Director told us to think about it as a test and I still don't understand completely how this test works or what is the motive behind the rules of the game, but I think to pass we have to either break or bypass this barrier."

"What?"

Eren continued ignoring the looks of surprise on their faces, "the rules stated that harming our teammates would result in punishment but if we leave the perimeters of the examination we'll be disqualified from competing in the game."

Milin's face returned to normal as realization dawned on her, but Rudra was still confused. "Can anyone explain what's going on?"

"Leaving the perimeter is only going to disqualify us from the game, but they didn't say how it's going to affect our exam. That means to pass the test we need to find a way out."

"Are you sure? They might have used the words game and test interchangeably." Rudra was still a little doubtful.

"I am not entirely sure either but we don't have any other clue, so I think this is the most logical conclusion," Eren reassured.

"Anyway, we need to find a safe spot and get food, we are probably going to stay here for a while. We'll figure out how these Halo things work on the way. None of us know detection or cloaking spells so our chances of getting ambushed are high. We need to be as safe as early as possible."

Milin and Rudra nodded in agreement and the three turned their backs towards the annoying barrier and entered the dense vegetation with Eren in the lead.