In order to give themselves more time to prepare, Ruena and Ruben decided it would be best to split up. Hopefully, that would split the forces as well. Ember volunteered to go with him so they could keep communication. Ronav’s team took on the role of distraction and defense while Ruena’s would follow Soral’s plan and go out on attack.

“I will test it on my own first,” Soral told them. He didn’t want everyone to risk themselves for a plan that might not even work in the first place. Besides if the traniva powder was able to get through the barrier, he had an idea to spread its area of effect. He would just need to be able to get magic through the barrier too.

“Be careful,” Ruena told him, “I believe in your skills, but don’t get caught by the enemy.”

“Of course,” Soral promised. He had a plan to test everything without even getting close. He had been careful not to listen to anyone’s thoughts thus far, but this was an emergency. It was also the perfect magic to slip through Mack’s shield undetected.

“Do you have enough of that powder?” Rosalie asked.

“If not, I have some muffins I made with it,” Soral replied, “But it shouldn’t come to that.”

“We will do our best to help distract their attention from you,” Ruena promised, “I should be quite the tasty bait.”

Soral winced. “Just… You be careful too.”

Before things got any more mushy Soral darted off in the direction of the largest clump of the enemy that had surrounded Mack protectively. Before he reached them, he opened his mind and magic and began to listen in to their thoughts.

‘Looks like the prodigy is coming.’

‘Playing the traitor is more difficult than I thought. How am I supposed to make it possible for them to win?’ Mack thought.

Soral slowed his pace and ducked behind cover as he carefully listened more. Playing the traitor? Possible to win? Had this been a trick from the beginning?

‘My shields are perfect. Ronav knows that. Just because one of the testees is some crazy prodigy doesn’t mean he can break through either. If he somehow does manage, he deserves to be a mercenary more than anyone.’

That was right. Lies or not, that could be settled later. Right now, everyone was counting on him to take the shield down. After that he could corner Ronav and get some answers. Soral carefully readied his pouch of powder and darted forward again. It seemed like Mack only defended against threats he knew about, so as long as he didn’t notice the power until it was too late, this should work.

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‘A frontal approach? I expected more. I could never be beaten by something so obvious,’ Mack thought as he watched Soral charged him.

Good. He had let his guard down. What should he do? He needed an obvious attack to distract him while he used magic to spread the powder. A punch? Soral didn’t have any weapons on him so that might have to do. He swung his fist, bracing for the firm resistance of the barrier, Much to the shock of both Soral and Mack, his fist went straight through.

“What?” Soral asked, frozen in shock.

Mack, not seriously hurt since the punch was never meant to hit him in the first place, was just as confused. “What are you?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Soral admitted, “I am something, probably.”

‘He doesn’t know? Then how did he go through my barrier so easily. It’s not even damaged.”

“I don’t know,” Soral repeated, before realizing he was responding to his thoughts, not his words. Time to knock him out! Soral quickly released his traniva powder bomb before Mack had a chance to think too hard about anything.

The sleeping powder bomb was incredibly effective. Mack immediately fell unconscious, and the others who were about to interfere also fell.

“Did you kill them?” Ronav asked in shock, not even bothering to pretending to fight the fake intruders anymore.

“They are just sleeping,” Soral told him, “I would never break the rules of the test. Even if everything you told us was a lie.”

Ronav sighed. “I will explain everything later,” he promised, “For now, play along if you don’t want the others to fail.”

“Fine,” Soral agreed reluctantly, “There had better be a good reason for all of this.”

Ronav grabbed the horn and sounded it again. “Act while their shields are down!” he ordered, his voice filling the entire test arena.

Everyone charged, filled with a renewed spirit, and just like that the very real but fake forewarned surprise attack was over. There were still two days for Soral to shake Ronav down for those answers, so he played along, as promised. He muffined any unfortunate acting intruders that were still awake, and everything was over. It was such a waste of precious sleeping muffins.

Everyone celebrated as Ronav and the other judges took care of the intruders and the traitor. Well, everyone but Soral. He still felt twisted and betrayed. The whole rollercoaster of events had just been a ploy, and he couldn’t even tell anyone about it. The others noticed something was wrong, but none of them pestered him for info.

As soon as Soral heard news of Ronav’s return, he took off to find him. He needed some kind of answers now. He especially needed to know why he must keep his findings a secret. When Soral arrived at the judge’s cabin, Ronav appeared to have been waiting for him.

“You have no patience,” he commented.

“Not with liars,” Soral replied coldly.

“Liar, huh. If you react this strongly every time someone lies you are going to have a hard time out there,” Ronav told him, “Or is it because you trusted me? It doesn’t matter either way. That is the nature of this test.”

“We really thought the test was under attack. Ruena blames herself,” Soral argued, “This isn’t just some little everyday lie.”

“It is good that she has some awareness of her position and the weight of her actions,” Ronav mused, “The reason is always different, but this event happens on the fifth day of every mercenary test. However, I never lied to you about the threat itself.”

“What do you mean?” Soral asked.

“The threat is very much real. It is just not here, in these walls. Did you really think our security is so lax we would allow them to directly interfere with the test?” Ronav asked.

Soral paused. Ronav had a point. That must have been Mack’s real role. “Why am I not allowed to tell them?” he asked.

“Let them have their night,” Ronav replied, “I will reveal everything in the morning, anyway. Once I do, the nature of the final days of this test will change completely.”

“The real test has just begun?” Soral guessed.

“That’s right,” Ronav confirmed, “So go back to your base and get ready. Tomorrow will be a busy day.”

Ronav had given him no straight answers, but Soral had his own theories. That whole event had been some kind of culling to test the wills of the testees and send those of weak heart and mind home before they got too deep. There was a chance they had even been told the truth by Paz once they had been escorted out.

It was at least good to know he only had to keep this secret until the next morning. With any luck, Ronav would be more forthcoming with answers then.