Van rose higher and higher, he had to use his aura to adhere himself to the ground, otherwise he may have well fallen off the cliff he was now standing on. He heard another ding! And announcement saying that they were now allowed to wear armor. Looking over the edge, he found the leader of the assailants regrouping with the remains of her squad. She had donned armor she had retrieved from her soul realm, making her look even more dangerous than before.

She wore a helmet, scaled armor over her torso, long leather skirt to protect her legs, greaves and pauldrons on her shoulders that had runic enchantments on them. She looked up at them and fed mana into her pauldrons until they glowed and fired two blazing balls of flames in their direction.

Van easily moved out of the way, then leaned forward once more to see what she would do next.

“Blast pauldrons…” Kira said beside him. “They allow people to fire balls of fire from their shoulders. And that there she’s carrying is an anti magic shield. To top it off, she’s using a conduit. An extremely difficult to master but versatile weapon that can change into anything the user desires. And look there, do you see her shoes?”

Van peered down, eyes narrowing as the now armored up enemy leader seemed to pour mana into her right boot. With a massive leap, she flew through the air to land on an outcropping about a third of the way up the cliff that Van and the others found themselves on. She almost missed her landing, but by pouring mana into her left boot, she stuck herself to the ledge and pulled herself up. When she looked towards where Van and the others were, she seemed to have given up, deeming them too far out of her reach.

“The right boot is to help her move or jump at great speeds, the left boot seems to have a gravity enchantment on it to help hold her ground. The combination of which allows her great versatility. This is no common enemy…” Kira said with some respect in her voice. “With the blast pauldrons she can fire from a great distance, with her conduit she can attack from mid to close range, and with her shield she can block off most attacks, a powerful enemy to be sure. Though she also kinda looks familiar…?” Looking at the now heavily armored opponent with interest.

Van looked down and had to admit Kira was right. He had no idea who this girl was nor her backing, but if she had joined in from the beginning, they may not have lucked out. “Do you know her?” He asked.

Kira Shrugged. “She’s too far away to see her face. And I was a bit preoccupied with all her goons attacking us to check if she was someone important. I just can’t help feeling like I’ve seen her somewhere before…”

The enemy leader then yelled something up at them. Something about her name being Aldina and that she vowed to try and get them back for this. She then jumped down using her left boot to stick the landing and had her underlings form up on her. With that, she disappeared into the brush of the newly formed woods.

“So what do we do now?” Van aske, looking down at the retreating back of Aldina.

Kira had a complicated face. “Well… shit…” She said, after hearing that the enemy leader was called Aldina.

“You know her?” He asked.

“She’s from a branch house of my family…” Kira answered. “We’ve never really got along…”

“Do you think she knew and attacked us specifically because of that?”

Kira shook her head. “If anything she would have tried to avoid us. She doesn’t like the main branch that much, but that doesn’t mean she would want to complicate things between us, probably didn’t realize I was one of the people she was attacking.”

“I see… So what now?”

She shrugged. “I guess we just wait it out and hope that nothing comes our way that might kick us out of the exam anytime soon.”

“Uh… Guys…” Luna said in a panicked voice. “You might want to come look at this.”

Van and Kira turned and their eyes widened as a large rocky fifteen feet tall golem lumbered into view. With a roar it charged at the group.

They scattered, trying to avoid the clumsy rock monster as it tried to smash them with its hammer-like arms. A task a bit difficult due to the lack of room they had to work with.

“Shit! I really don’t have enough talismans for this.” Kira complained.

“Can’t you use that burning shadow thing? Maybe that would help?” Van quickly said as they created as much distance between them and the golem.

Kira went red in the face a little. “Well… I can’t… Really use it for more than a few seconds…” She mumbled.

“What? Why?” Van asked, confused as they placed their backs to the edge of the rampaging monster.

“I… Can’t really use magic… Nor physical enchantments very well…” She painfully admitted.

Van looked at her in shock. “WHAT!? WHY!?”

She looked away from him, embarrassed. “I… Don’t have the same potential as my mother… The only thing I can use are the talismans I make, and my silk scarf that has runes on it that help me regulate what little mana I have. I’m sorry… I’m probably going to just hold you guys back…” Looking downcast.

“Kira… It’s fine. We can work something out.” Van said, then his eyes widened as the golem swung a big fist towards them. He didn’t have time to think, he grabbed Kira in a princess carry and jumped on top of the golems arm. Then ran up it and jumped off the other side, his aura flaring like crazy trying to keep up with his crazy stunt.

He gently put Kira down next to Luna and the others. “Let’s save this conversation for later. Right now, we have to figure out what to do to deal with that thing. Luna, remember how we practiced beating the shit out of that boulder for training? I think it’s time we put what we learned to the test…” Stepping forward, getting ready to fight.

Luna nodded and stepped up next to him. “Of course I do. That stupid lump of rock won’t know what hit it.” She said as the golem turned to charge at them.

They both took a stance and charged up their auras. Van remembered how he fought against the shriekers back so long ago. It may take up a lot more aura from him than normal, but he was willing to spend it. First he and Luna let their eyes go red, then he created the runes on his body and started to pump power through them. He was planning to end this all in one blow…

“NOW!” Van yelled, and faster than the wind Van countered the golems punch, swirling around the outstretched hand, cutting it up as he neared the head and sliced it off in one fell swoop. Luna went straight for the leg, and with a mighty punch, shattered it to pieces.

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Without an arm and a leg, the golem lost balance, and without a head, it became directionless. Van and Luna wasted no time in pulverizing the rest of it. Making sure that the monster was down for good.

“What the hell was that!?” Kira exclaimed.

“That was amazing!” Arkina said.

Nephi simply stared in stunned silence.

Luna puffed out her chest. “That was just a taste of our true power!” Enjoying the awe and commotion she made.

“Van, how did you do that! It was almost like the burning shadow technique that my family uses!” Kira asked, rushing up to him.

Van felt a little embarrassed by the awe in her voice and explained how he created it in a time of desperation. Giving her a quick summary of what happened while making a few white lies about who helped him create it.

“Wow…” Nephi said after he was done. “Well… That’s a trump card if I ever heard of one.” She acknowledged.

Kira and Arkina were quick to agree.

“Thanks.” Van blushed a little at all the praise he was receiving.

“Uh… Guys… We have another issue here.” Luna said, she walked away pouting when she saw Van getting more attention than her. Which allowed her to notice a few problems on hand.

Van and the others tensed up, looking around for whatever next danger they had to face. When they saw Luna looking near the edge, they decided to take a look at whatever had her concerned.

Standing next to Luna, Van soaked in the changed landscape around them and picked up an inkling of what might have his wife so concerned.

“We're trapped.” Arkina said, saying out loud what was on everyone's mind.

“Not just that.” Nephi added. “We’re trapped on a very small piece of rock surrounded by giant monsters. If even one of them decided to come up and attack us, we’d have nowhere to run, and no room to fight back.”

The group stared down in silence at the scenery around them as giant roving monsters casually bent trees in their wake. But then he noticed something else, looking up, he saw a floating board that showed the number of students left. About three hundred and eighty nine.

“Well… It’s not so bad…” Van said, looking up at the board and trying to sound optimistic. “So long as nothing happens, we can probably ride our way to the tournament level with no problems.”

The others turned to see what Van was looking at and noticed the board as well. Just then another student must have been taken out because the number dropped down to three hundred and eighty eight.

“I… Suppose we can do that?” Arkina said thoughtfully, though looking a bit unsure.

With nothing else much to do. The group decided to just get as close to the center of their little island in the sky and sit down and wait everything out.

“So Van, do you mind if I ask you about that technique you pulled off? Like, do you mind teaching me?” Kira asked.

Van thought about it. “I’m not sure I want to be sharing this technique with anyone at the moment.” He said, not trying to put her down too harshly. “It’s not something I can just teach to anyone…”

“Ah… Gotcha. It’s probably something you can only teach to your family right? Well, as embarrassing as it is. If I could marry a male like you, I’m sure my mother would be very happy. I'm willing to support your family as well. That is… If you want.” She shyly offered.

Van glanced at Luna for her reaction and didn’t find much other than an interested look. “I think… I have enough wives for the moment…” Trying to let her down softly, and wondering if Kira forgot who his other wife was. “But why would your mother be happy about you marrying a complete stranger?” Changing the subject. It was that he didn’t appreciate her offer, if anything, she was cute enough to make him contemplate it. But he didn’t think it was the right moment for such a thing.

Kira looked down sadly. “I’m… kind of a failure… I don’t have the height… Or the strength… Or the magical aptitude of my mother. The best that I can do is draw… And I use that to make talismans and this silk scarf that I use to help me channel my magic.” She then lifted it up to show.

“May I see that?” Van asked, showing keen interest in the silk scarf.

“Sure.” Kira shrugged and began explaining the inner workings of her unique weapon. “This magic circle here helps me control the scarf like an extension of my own body. And this one fire’s a fireball when enough mana is poured in. And do you see this circle, if I overlap this circle with this one.” weaving her scarf until two circles became one. “I can shoot out a more powerful spell.”

“Fascinating…” Van said in wonder. “So you can mix and match whatever fire spell you want to create. That shows great versatility.” Van complimented.

Kira blushed. “Thanks… But still nothing on what you can do…” She sighed.

Van felt sorry for her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Hey, don’t beat yourself up like this. What you showed me is amazing. From your scarf to your talismans, you show real great skill for rune craft. I think that’s something to be admired.” He said genuinely.

“Really?” Kira asked.

“Really.” Van nodded.

“Yeah!” Luna added. “And just because you can’t get married to him, doesn’t mean you can’t be his concubine or lover! I support it! And I think you deserve it!”

Kira blushed hard. Unsure of how to take what Luna just said.

Nephi looked a little shocked.

Arkina saw that and explained a little. “Luna is always looking to add a new lover or concubine to her house. She made lots of friends this way.”

“Really!?” Nephi asked. “Does this mean… Even me? I can be a lover or concubine?”

Luna was the one that answered. “Sure! If you want!” She happily said.

“Oh… because… I want…” Nephi mumbled sheepishly, looking away in embarassed.

“And me!” Arkina looked at Luna a little desperately.

“Hmm…” Luna thought about that. But slowly gave her consent. “Yes… Okay… You too.”

“Ahem… Luna? What happened to everything you said this morning?” Van asked.

“OH! Right…” Looking like she just remembered. “Everything I said still holds true… it’s just that…”

“Just that?” Van asked.

“Just that I can’t help thinking that everyone here is already my friend! And when I think of it like that, I want to share my joy with everyone and make everyone my family!” Luna said innocently.

“Aww…” Arkina said, touched. And so were Nephi and Kira by Luna’s words.

“Well… I guess that’s an improvement… Going from using me to make friends to making family out of the friends she’s made.” Van cleared his throat, “anything else?” He asked.

“Umm…” Luna furrowed her brow in thought. “OH!” Looking up wide eyed like a light bulb went off on her head.. “Not all my friends will be family. Sometimes they will just be friends. And any friends that want to be family have to be approved by me first.”

Van cleared his throat again. “A-hem…”

“AND VAN! And also Van.” Luna quickly added.

“Ahem Ahem.” Van said again.

“...And his other wives and concubines and lovers? Or at least the majority? You have to at least be able to get along with your sister wives and stuff!” Luna added, looking a little panicked towards Van’s direction, worried she might have forgotten something else.

Van thought about it and gave a small nod. Luna sighed with relief.

“...You two are funny…” Arkina said, watching the exchange.

Like this they talked and had fun for the next few hours. Even as the light began to dim and it got darker outside. Van looked up and it showed that there were still about a hundred and eighty people left, even though it was almost night out.

“Are they going to continue the exam? It’s getting awfully late out…” Van commented.

“I believe they will. I heard that last time something similar happened and the students were stuck here all night until finally the number of students went down enough for the tournament to start.” Nephi commented while Arkina nodded in agreement.

“We should probably get ready for tonight. Maybe start a fire or something?” Kira suggested.

Van looked around. “There's no fire wood up here. Nothing to burn, and nothing to cover ourselves with.” Not wanting to mention that he could probably bring some fire wood from his soul realm. After all, it would be weird to do so when most people think soul realms should only be used for the storing of important valuables.

“I guess we’re just going to have to go to bed as is then…” Arkina said, looking dejected.

“Would they wake us up in the middle of the night if the number goes down enough?” Van asked.

“They don’t care if you get enough beauty sleep or not. After all, this is an exam. We may be lucky that most of the monsters down there probably won’t bother to climb up here. But imagine the other students. They probably have to stay up all night if they don’t want to fly towards the stands.” Arkina said.

“Good point.” Van acknowledged. “Well… Nothing to do but rest… I guess… Good night?” He said unsure.

Everyone gave an awkward good night and slowly tried to get comfortable. It was hard to rest on the hard rocky ground, but they tried to make do.

“Hey Van…” Luna whispered as she neared him. “Can we…”

“No… especially when everyone can hear and watch.” Van said.

“But it’s been so long.” She complained.

Van couldn’t help but agree. Even for him he had gone long enough without a good rump in bed. But he stuck his foot down. “Maybe later, promise, just deal with it for tonight, okay?”

Luna sighed. “Okay…”

Van and Luna closed their eyes together. Trying to find the elusive rest they seeked.