Simyon had run back through the forest with Safa on his back. He had seen a couple of Hop Bunnies running through the forest and heard the sounds of other students trying to fight the beasts, but he had decided to ignore them all.
There were even those that seemed to be fighting against each other already, attempting to steal the power stones from each other.
“I just can’t see it, I just can’t see how Raze will beat those guys on their own!” Simyon thought. Playing in his head were each of the disciples going after him, Raze using his strange magic but failing at every corner.
It just wasn’t possible, even with his powers. He had the chance to help out but had decided not to. It was all because Raze was the one that had given him the order. He thought there was no reason for both of them to get hurt.
Even with the two of them, it wouldn’t have changed the situation anyway. So the best thing to do was to do as the disciples said and betray them, that way at least they got the rewards.
While having this thought in his mind, Simyon opened his hand. There were two power stones that had been given to him by Ricktor in turn for helping him out, for turning Raze in. Right now, they felt so dirty, and he wanted to just chuck them away, but that would have been a waste.
“I have to listen to Raze, I promised I would do as he said, and right now, I need to protect Safa as well.”
The two of them had eventually made it back to the Starting Zone and were standing in front of the large doors. There was no one else around, there was still plenty of time until the assessment was to end.
Looking into the forest, Simyon was just hoping that he would see Raze pop out of it, with the usual sucky look on his face, or with an insult, but no such thing had happened.
Safa’s eyes started to open, and as soon as she was conscious she shot right up like a bamboo shoot. Twisting and turning her head, she was only looking for one thing. Her eyes started to tear up as she ran towards Simyon, who had grabbed her by the wrist before she could hit him.
“I know, I know, I’m sorry!” Simyon said. “I wanted to stay and help him as well. I didn’t want to leave him, but Raze told me to go, he told me to look after you as well, Safa. He did that for our sake, so if we were to go back, or try to fight against them, then it would all be in vain. Let’s just wait and see, I’m sure he’s okay.”
Safa continued to sulk and fell to her knees; she was losing energy inside her. Simyon, seeing her like this, felt like they perhaps both felt the same way, that they were incredibly weak and powerless in this situation.
They had felt this way before, but at least they had managed to do something when Kron was in trouble, but here they were able to do nothing.
The two of them waited and waited; hours passed, and there was no sign of Raze. What had occurred was students returning. Some of them were standing a few meters away, near the entrance, and others still clearly inside the forest.
It was like Raze had mentioned; they were waiting to ambush those that had already collected a large number of Power stones.
What soon had occurred were fights that were breaking out, and even fights at the starting area as well, yet for some reason, not a single person had decided to mess with them two.
“Is it because they don’t think we have any power stones, so there’s no point fighting us? Or is this the main clan disciples’ doing?”
Simyon had yet to see them arrive, and a misty grey was appearing over the forest; the sun was soon to rise.
Eventually, the fighting had stopped between students. There were even those that had made deals to give some of their crystals rather than take a beating against each other and fight.
Finally, the five main disciples had arrived, and they had done so together. However, there was no sign of Raze with them. Safa stood up and immediately went toward them, but Simyon quickly grabbed her hand.
“Hold it in,” Simyon said. “Please hold it in; right now, we’re not strong enough. I know… you want to get revenge, but now is not the time. I promise you, I will protect you and help you in any way I can to get what you want!”
In order to stop Safa from making any loud noises, Simyon had to hold her head to his chest; he did so firmly. It was the only thing he could do for her, hoping that if she at least didn’t look at them, her anger would be calmed.
When the five disciples walked past, Ricktor gave a smile to him, and it was then that even Simyon couldn’t take it anymore.
“What happened to him? What did you do? Where is he?” Simyon asked.
The other main disciples continued to move closer to the door, while Mada stopped. “That white-haired kid, turns out he was nothing special after all.”
Walking away, Simyon bit his bottom lip so hard that he had pierced it with his tooth, and blood was starting to drip down his chin.
The door opened as the sun rose in the air, and Pincer and Gunther had come out. The sight they could see in front of them was an expected one. Many of the students were injured, but not so much that they couldn’t walk.
Pagna warriors were skilled enough to tell after a few exchanges who would win a fight, so they would quickly give up the crystals. Which was why all of the students were able to head back toward the entrance. That was all apart from one.
Gunther was scanning the area; he could see Simyon and Safa, but where was the white-haired student, where was Raze? 𝒩𝑂𝒱ℯ𝓛xt.𝑪𝑂𝑀
“Hey!” Gunther asked, approaching both Simyon and Safa. “The other one, did he not come back with you.”
Simyon shook his head. “No… he got lost on the way.”
It wasn’t a smart move for Simyon to tell the examiners it was the main disciples’ doing. It might have sounded as if he was trying to get them in trouble, making it harder for their lives to continue at the academy.
“Pincer, I’m going to look for someone!” Gunther shouted. “You start to collect the crystals!”
Pincer did as asked, while Gunther rushed into the forest. After all the crystals were tallied up, the students were told to head inside where they would be told where they were staying and where they could finally rest.
The result of today’s events would be revealed later. Mada took one look back into the forest, imagining his brother searching all over the place, for a no-name.
“Truly pathetic, he has no right to be the next Clan head.”
Gunther looked everywhere he could in the forest; he truly searched up and down, through all the fighting areas, but he was unable to find anything.
“Was it the main disciples’ doing? Did they decide to get rid of him? If it was them, even if the academy had found out it was their doing, then they wouldn’t punish them much since he was a no-name,” Gunther thought.
“Maybe it was the best for him to have gone. With that Qi circulating in his body, there’s a chance he could have turned crazy at any point,” Gunther thought, as he decided to return.
Following along with the other students being helped by the staff, Simyon continued to walk, following them through the halls, and he noticed that he had caught the eye of Ricktor a few times. Every time they did make eye contact, he would deliver a strange smile to him.
“I thought as much… now that I have done as he asked, he won’t let me go, he hasn’t finished his fun with me.”
Instinctively, Simyon went ahead and rubbed the bottom of his earring, and he remembered the last thing Raze had done before the assessment had started,
Raze had placed his hand on the earring, and a strange darkness had surrounded his hands, entering the earring.
“This time, if someone messes with you, they will be in for quite the surprise,” Raze said.