A long path of neatly arranged bricks lies in a straight line, linking the gates to the main campus. The rows of trees to the side adds a verdant quality to the scenery, a dash of nature in the Academy. The air is kept abuzz by cicadas, feeding on tree saps in this heat. The leafy umbrella of a tree gently shelters the two boys underneath it, providing them with cool shade.

Terrence Light slowly draws his sword, the metallic blade menacingly grinds against his sword sheath. He holds the ordinary looking weapon in front of him and stabs. He stabs again and again, twisting and shoving, digging and thrusting, going deeper every time.

'...What are you doing?' Justice voices his puzzlement

"Digging a hole to bury you" Terrence dilligently works on making the hole on the ground bigger.

'Stop it' It demands.

"No" The teenager continues to dig.

'Why are you doing this? Just kill the boy already!' It would not do for them to waste any time here.

Terrence holds the sword in front of his face and stares into his own reflection.

"That's why. I'm not even sure if you are really called 'Justice' anymore, are you sure you didn't miss out an 'in' right in front of your name?" He hisses at the talking sword.

'How rude, I have told you that I precede mortals. The word you speak of originates from my name, not the other way around. It is you humans who glorify me in such a way. I simply side with humankind, that is all there is to it' it complains further. Humans had always been delusional, thinking they are the incarnation of goodness. Everything that protects them is given the status of deities.

"Big words coming from a talking sword. You showed up a little over a year ago and told me I'm the 108th Hero and I have to kill the Demon King. I know practically nothing about you, or this great battle of yours so why am I suddenly ordered to kill a defenseless kid?" Terrence refrains himself from mentioning the self-righteous lectures given by the chatty sword. Since it speaks directly into his mind, he does not have any means to block it.

'I have already informed you previously, I am not a sword nor weapon. I am simply taking this form until the pieces are gathered. My powers are sealed until the others are chosen. I have also told you that I am unable to provide information until-'

"Until the pieces are gathered. Yeah, you've told me for what? The thousandth time? If you can't even 'provide information' for me, then don't ask me to do ridiculous things! First you told me to travel all the way here to the Western Continent. Then, you told me to enroll in the Academy and gather allies. To top it all off, you display absolutely no special power at all and now, now you're telling me to kill a human being? Are you sure you're siding with humans? Aren't you supposed to be the very definition of fairness?!" Terrence pours out all his pent-up frustration into one long sentence.

'I do side with humans but sacrifices are necessary for the greater good. If you do not kill this boy now, the Cycle would continue again and again even if you defeat the Demon King. Humanity would have to endure the same suffering until the end of time if you do not defe-'

"Huh? What do you mean, is this boy the 108th Demon King or something?" Terrence cuts it off.

'No, and let me finish the explanation you have been begging me for. I can only tell you this, if you let this boy be 'complete', he would be unbeatable. I would end up losing again and nothing would change. Perhaps because the Cycle had been thrown off course, this is the only opportunity I have seen to defeat it thus far' Difficult. It is far too difficult to convey what it means with all these restrictions.

"I don't get you. What do you mean by it? Unbeatable? I thought you chose me because I was the most talented human of this era" That is what the sword told him and now it tells him that someone else would be stronger?

'I cannot explain any other way. You are indeed the most talented human being of this era but I did not say you would lose. You simply cannot win, no matter what or who you are. At least, not when it and the boy are fused completely. Now please, kill him for the sake of all humanity!' It must win this time, or humanity would be doomed. The 107th Cycle is not yet complete but it had to resort on choosing the 108th Hero. The side of Good is losing this battle.

"..No, I refuse" Terrence slams Justice back into its sheath and approaches Chase.

He touches his palm against the boy's forehead and starts to gather his Mana. His Mana flows through his veins rapidly, reaching his palm in less than a second. Once he had gathered a sufficient amount, he begins to heal the boy.

'Just how did this kid instantly cast those spells?' If I am supposed to be the most talented person on Armus, why is he superior?' Granted, he had not reached his maximum potential but the kid should be younger than him by at least three years.

'He is special and stop healing him! Do you not understand me? Just how many millions of lives would be lost if the cycle continues? Good does not always win, there are times the Demon King's side seized victory! Now is the perfect moment to finish everything' Justice interrupts his line of thought.

'Stop reading my mind! The Demon King won? Ha! Don't lie to me, the Hero always wins. That's how it's been every time' Terrence might not be the brightest or most well-learnt of people but he knows at least that much history. The Demon King and Hero appears every 20-30 years, Hero kills the Demon King and then the same thing occurs again. The pattern is identical each and every time except for the late-coming 108th which is a bit abnormal.

'Kuh... Fine, but know that each death brought about by later cycles are caused by you and not me' Justice finally concedes. Why is it that he had always chosen these sort of candidates? Big appetite, unfairly blessed with talent, oblivious to women and too naive for the good of them.

'If you're that worried about it, why don't I just recruit this boy into my party? If he's even half as strong as you said, defeating the Demon King would be a cinch right?' Just what is the fuss with this? Isn't it good to have a strong ally?

'You cannot. You do not understand. It does not matter, I will throw away this cycle. Just do your job and save humanity' The Hero does not know, he does not know how bad of a position they are currently in. He is alone on this side. This shall be the worst handicap for the side of Good, all because of those Lion worshipping fools and their idiotic plan.

'Tch, whatever. You're just contradicting yourself, when we started the test you said I shouldn't help anyone because it's fair that way and now you're trying to cheat' Talk about irony, it is just being a sore loser. Saying it would throw away this Cycle but then telling him to kill the Demon King. Its not even putting in the effort to make any sense.

'Hm? This kid is more beat-up than I thought. What's with all these injuries?' Terrence could feel the torn tissues in Chase's body. They are all the accumulated injuries from the extreme training the boy had to go through. Apparently Chase had suffered near permanent damage from overworking himself for the past year.

In the end, Terrence had to continuously mend Chase's damaged ligaments and tissues for the next hour without any interruption by Justice.

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Chase's eyelids starts to fidget and he lets out a soft grunt. He could faintly feel something warm touching his forehead but his senses are still fuzzy. It feels like he is in a dream and something soothing is flowing inside his body, taking away the pain on the back of his neck and making his body feel lighter.

His head gradually clears up and he opens his eyes to see a boy a bit older than him crouching on one knee in front of him. Dazzling blonde hair, emerald green eyes, finely defined jaws, a complete heartthrob that would have been undoubtedly popular with women.

"Feeling better, sunshine?" He grins, revealing a set of glimmering white teeth.

"Gaaahh!!" Chase is extremely taken aback by what he saw and casts an Earth Pillar aimed at the swordsman. For some weird reason his battle reflexes kicked in, just what is he doing here?

From his unfavorable position, Terrence effortlessly performs a backflip and lands ten meters away. He stands up leisurely and brushes off the dust that landed on him. He stares at Chase and laughs mirthfully.

"That is the roughest reaction I've ever had from waking someone up. Not much of a morning person, are you?" To think his wake-up call would be answered by a solid beam of Earth. Terrence notices something strange on Chase's face and frowns lightly.

'Wasn't his eyes purple just now? I could've sworn-'

"W-What did you do to me?!" Chase asks in a panicky manner. The memories are slowly coming back as he takes in the scenery, he remembers being attacked by that ungrateful group.

Seeing the wide and alert eyes, Terrence understood. The boy is probably extra cautious now that he had recently been assaulted. As a sign of non-aggression, he puts both of his hands behind his head.

"I just healed you, calm down" He says in the most calming and soothing voice he is capable of. Perhaps a little too suave and unsuitable with the situation but it would have to do.

"Heal..? You're a healer?" Chase raises his eyebrows inquisitively. Healers should be very rare and he had never heard of battle proficient healers, at least not this good with the sword.

"Yeah, keep it a secret will you?" Terrence winks.

Chase does not let his guard down. He had been betrayed for the first time in his life. Spending ten years in confinement and one year among kindhearted people did not prepare him for this. Now he knows, how terrible humans can be. No, he shall not be fooled again. He would not trust anyone for the rest of this test.

'The test!'

Chase gasps and looks at the sun behind Terrence. It is almost noon now, he is running out of time. Twitching his muscles and making sure they are fine, he jumps on his feet without letting Terrence out of his sight. Something feels different, his movements are far easier and smoother than they were before.

"Thank you for the help but I won't be friendly with you, not until this test is over. My name's Chase, what is yours?" It seems the swordsman had really healed him and perhaps more, so a simple thank you should be in order.

"Terrence, fine, I'm okay with that" since the boy did not give out his full name, neither should he.

"Go, move first" Chase urges Terrence to move on. He would not be caught defenseless from behind this time or anytime for the rest of his life. In a way, this is actually a good experience to improve himself on the road to become stronger.

"Fine, fine" Terrence shrugs and sprints away, leaving Chase behind. Seeing the boy's ability for himself, they should be able to meet up and talk in the Academy once things have cooled down. There is no need to rush.

Once Terrence had gone out of sight, Chase too starts to move. Under the warmth of the sun, he wishes for nothing more than to pay the bastards back.

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On the rooftop of the main building, the professors are peering through their telescopes.

"Shouldn't we start removing the candidates who fainted in the first part, Professor Ga?" Miria says while looking at the pile of unconscious bodies.

"No. This might sound weird but it happens more often than you might believe. Even if you are completely outnumbered, outpowered or outsmarted by your enemy.. as long as you don't give up hope and keep struggling to the end.. chances are you might just end up winning!" Garion shares his words of wisdom.

"I see, how thoughtless of me! Very well, I shall not give up hope on them" Miria is truly touched by what Garion told her, even though it hardly made any sense if one thinks about it carefully.

"Ah, someone is getting up!" She notices a person raising himself up on his feet.

"Maybe this is what you were sayi-" A golem grabs the man and shocks him back into sleep. Miria turns towards Garion with watery eyes and quivering lips.

".... And sometimes you end up losing anyway" Garion mutters. He might have made the first part too hard.

"Hey Gabbon, you should look at the second part now. There's a pleasant surprise" Marius smiles when he saw the boy turning up.

"Eh? Well what do you know, the boy is tougher than he looks!" Korim who had been idling around grabs his telescope and observes the point of interest.

"Ga Ha Ha! What else did you expect from my chosen candidate!" Garion starts to brag but inside he is wondering just how Chase had managed to regain consciousness this early. Judging from the strength of the blow, he should not be able to wake up for quite some time.

"Bah, the other young man already passed through the second part though" Marius says in a mix of anger and respect. Anger at his subordinates and respect for the swordsman's skill.

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The second part of the test is located quite close, it took less than three minutes for Chase to reach it. He had expected to be the only one there, everyone else must have passed through by now. Never in his wildest expectations did he expect to see the traitorous group to still be there, all beat up and bruised.

"You over there, come here" A Zenithian Knight calls out to Chase. He could spot six men wearing the blue armour standing side-by-side blocking the path forward. Terrence is nowhere in sight, obviously he had passed through.

Chase strides ahead and walks in between the slack-jawed contestants. They did not expect the boy to be here.

"As you might have guessed, this is the second part of the test. The first part is to test one's sense of justice, the second is to test your strength" The Knight proclaims while his face is hidden behind his hawk-like full helm.

"You may fight alone or in a group. Know that the number of opponents shall match your side. Your opponents are us, the Zenithian Knights. A word of forewarning, you may die" At the last sentence, the Zenithian Knight blasts off his bloodlust.

"Hey, as strong as you are you cannot beat them alone! Team up with us!"

Chase recognized that voice, its the person who hit him. He turns around and gazes steely at the man. How dare he ask for favours now?

"Look, I'm sorry okay? All of us are. Please, you must understand! I have kids back home, if I pass this test I can bring them along to live in the dormitory" He rubs his head on the soil and begs. Chase's flinty expression does not change in the slightest.

"Stand up" The boy commands. The group feels a sense of relief, they would be saved after all!

"Go-buh!" Immediately after getting up on his feet, his face is greeted with a fist.

"Gu-heh! Oof!" Followed by a one-two combo and an uppercut, ending with a round-hose kick. He felt his bones creak under the pressure as the kick sent him flying backwards.

"A good father? Screw yourself, go home and play with your kids! Don't you dare use them as an excuse to be doing this sort of crap!" Chase remembers the image of a strong, reliable man. His father is the very definition of a good father. No matter how hard life was for them, he earnestly gave it his all to earn money for the family.

"As for the rest of you..." Chase gathers his Mana. This time he would not use it to save these garbage.

"Hii!!!" They yelp and run away but to no avail. Long tendrils of earth shoots out of the ground, coiling around them like snakes.

With a whisk of his hand, Chase directs the earthen cords to toss them far away. All the way back to the first part of the test. He did not have to confirm his accuracy, the distant flash of electricity validated the precision of his throw.

Now having taken his revenge, he turns around to face the Zenithian Knight. A formidable opponent, perhaps stronger than Aaron.

"I'm ready, fight me" The Knight nods and swings and whirls his weapon around, displaying his mastery of it. Chase eyes the long and heavy trident, a difficult weapon to fight against due to its long range.

At a distance of approximately twenty paces apart, Chase draws his own sword and gets into a battle stance.

'An expert Earth Mage with a decent sense of combat. Not bad, but luckily I've fought against Earth Mages before. Showing his own tricks right in front of me means he is an amateur' Jack had been a Zenithian Knight for five years now. He is one of the Knights who had been appointed traditionally, not like the ones who ventured into the fourth layer of the Millennium Forest.

"Fuuh..." He starts to breathe rhythmically, increasing his focus. Alertness is vital in fighting magicians, their spells could come from any direction and catch you off guard.

Tightening the muscles on his feet, he prepares to attack. A full set armour provides more advantage than simple defense, the cover it gives can hide away the minute movements of muscles and facial expression of the wearer. In a fight between experts, having your movements read is fatal.

Jack lunges forward at top speed, intending to end this fight as quick as possible. He thrusts his trident forward, aiming to stop an inch away from the boy's face and claim victory. However an impossibly fast thick wall of earth rises out of the ground in front of him, covering his vision.

'Fast, but not out of my expectations' With that one move, Jack had confirmed his suspicion of the boy being an amateur. Battle-savvy Earth Mages would know that losing the view of their opponent could spell certain defeat.

'Phantom steps' Jack applies his technique, a unique one that he created on his own. He had polished this skill for years, it is this technique that had saved him countless times in battles. He twists his legs in midair and lands on the ground right before impact then from his unstable position he launches himself to the side of the Earth Wall and whizzes to the back of the boy.

'Good effort, but you need to try again next year, boy!' Sensing his triumph, he swings the butt of his trident at the back of Chase's neck to knock him out.

'What?!' His swing goes through the boy and he is thrown off balance by the inertia. The soil underneath his feet turns soft and mushy, sinking him in.

'Tch!' He stabs his trident into firm ground and tries to pull himself back up but a dagger appears at the side of his throat.

"Heh.. heheheheh!! Ahahahhahaha!!" He had lost, he knew he had lost when he saw the image of the boy fade away. It was his mistake, the boy was not a mere Earth Mage. He actually mastered more than one element! A monster worthy of passing the scholarship test.

Chase is covered in mud from head to toe. He had prepared himself to throw up an Earth Wall at the slightest movement of the Knight at the beginning of the battle. Then, he immediately created a virtual copy of himself using Light Magic and sunk himself into the ground at the same time. The Knight appeared faster than he expected but thankfully he managed to submerge into the mud in time. The rest turned out smoothly.

"You pass, go ahead!" The Knight merrily told him.

Chase constructs a pillar of Earth to push them back on level ground and then sieves off the dirt and mud off his clothes by using Earth Magic. As an afterthought, he cleans up the Knight as well.

He picks up the sword he had unequipped in favour of the lighter and faster dagger. His eyes widen in shock once he saw the penguin strap dirtied beyond recognition.

'Noooo!!!' Realising his mistake, he frantically cleans Alice's gift. Seeing the strap completely spotless, he heaves a sigh of relief.

The other five Knights stand to the side of the road, admitting his passage forward to the third part of the test. With a nod to the Knights, Chase dashes ahead, eager to complete this trial.

"Squad Leader Marius would kill us, Jack" Alex, the other Knight who had lost against a contestant says in a depressing tone.

"Well, at least it was fun" Jack truly enjoyed the battle, it is something fresh compared to the melee practice he has to go through everyday.

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*Cough* *Cough*

"And who was it that told me MY part of test was TOO SIMPLE? Huh?" Garion smirks at Marius. The Zenithian Knight's face turns red as a beet.

"My test only LOOKS simple but it's not. Think about it for a second, the first part is to test a person's morality, second is strength and third is intelligence. Without a sense of justice, one cannot be a Hero. Without strength, you are nothing but a righteous weakling. Without intelligence, you may be deceived by your enemies!" Marius gives off an explanation that everybody present already knew of.

"And your point is...?" Garion's eyelid droops while his pinky finger digs into his ear for gold.

"Well my definition of strength is not merely physical strength as you might be thinking! I also take into account mental strength. Give it a thought, Zenithian Knights are known far and wide as Masters of their art, the strongest warriors in Armitage! It would make sense for the contestants to shake in their boots when facing such opponents, right? So, only those with great mental fortitude and combat proficiency may pass my part of the test"

Marius beams, proud that he had explained it better than he thought. Actually he had no idea on what to do and just decided to make it a duel with his squad members.

"Sure...Huuuuugh... sure, whatever you say Marius. As long as it makes you happy" Garion answers while yawning.

"Shhhh... can you youngsters be quiet? The third, MY section of this test is about to begin!" Korim interrupts their conversation, spotting the young swordsman approaching the final stage. The others return to observing on their telescopes.

"Oi, I don't know what you wrote on that thing but from the setup I can sort of guess what you're doing. Ours might be simple but aren't yours just a cheap copy?!" Marius rants once he sees what the third section holds.

"That's what I want them to think" Korim gives off a devious smile.

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Terrence comes upon a marble podium set firmly onto the ground. An open tome rests upon its top, displaying the contents of a page. A large establishment with two visible doors lay behind, two Zenithian Knights guarding each entrance respectively.

Being the first to clear the second stage, Terrence had the privilege of not having to wait for any earlier contestants. As such, he had not been barred entry by the Knight stationed about one mile back. He approaches the tome with great interest and eyes the text written upon its moldy parchment.

'They sure did well selecting an old book, the thing looks like it could crumble at any time!' Terrence noticed the yellowed paper and rugged book spine from where he stands.

' Before you lies a labyrinth. Only one door shall lead you to the correct path. One of the guards may only speak the truth, the other may only speak lies. You are allowed to ask only one question, ask wisely or be lost forever '

The bubble of excitement that had been pooling up in Terrence deflated like a punctured balloon.

'Seriously? I expected better from the Academy, and they came up with this overused riddle? Oh well, whatever' Sighing in disappointment, Terrence shrugs it off and decides to go on anyway.

'...........' Justice makes a soft humming sound.

He approaches the guard on the right and asks him a question.

"If I ask the other guard which door would lead me to the correct way, what would he answer?" A widely known solution, if the guard he is questioning is the one that tells the truth, he would tell a lie. If he is the one that deceives, he would also tell a lie. To make it simple, the other door would be the correct answer.

"The door to the far left" He says.

"To the right it is" He winks at the Knight and heads through the right door. As expected of a labyrinth, he could already tell the passages would be long, twisting and confusing. With every maze, the trick to get out is simply follow the walls.

'....' Again, Justice hums slowly as if trying to tell Terrence something.

'If you're not trying to help, just shut up' Terrence sends the thought towards the irritating sword.

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"And the first one falls for the trap, lets see what happens to our younger black-haired contender shall we?" Korim gleefully announces what happened to the other professors.

"What, did he ask the wrong question? Everyone should know how to solve this" Marius really could not figure out what is happening here. Thus he speaks out the only possibility that dawned on his mind.

"Uhehehehe, depends on what you mean by correct question" Korim smiles wryly.

"Ah, I get it. You're just plain terrible, Korim! Ga Ha Ha Ha!" Garion seems to have understood the puzzle.

"Oh, so that's it!" Miria too had comprehended the conundrum.

"What is this? Someone explain to me!" Marius asks around wildly, this is making him feel stupid.

"Well it's quite simple really. Actually- oh! Here he comes, here he comes!" Garion got interrupted at the juicy moment of unveiling the truth when he saw Chase approaching.

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Chase had been held back for about five minutes a distance away from the third stage. It provided him valuable information, Terrence had been here five minutes ahead of him. He approaches the tome and reads the script written on its open page.

'Isn't this that old riddle?' Chase knits his eyebrows. He remembers encountering this riddle plenty of times in some of the books he read. It seems to be very popular but he never would have guessed that he would be plunged into a real life situation involving it.

'Now how does this go again?' Chase remembered the time he spent on solving this riddle in particular. He had taken a mathematical approach with it.

'Let's see... I'll assign the one who tells the truth a positive sign and the liar a negative sign..' He draws an equation on the soil by exerting a minuscule amount of Mana.

'And now.. I need to make both of the answers the same.. umm... ah!' Finally he remembers the solution.

+ -

- +

--------------

- -

--------------

A cross multiplication would yield the same answer.

'The equivalent of that would be...' Chase raises his head up and confidently approaches the guard standing on the left.

"If I ask the other guard which door is the correct way, what would he tell me?" A bit different from Terrence's question but similarly structured nonetheless.

"The door to the far right" He says.

"Thanks" Happy that he received the answer he wants, he goes into the left door. Since both answers are negatives which represents lies, it does not matter which guard he asks. Both would tell him lies. It is quite pleasant to solve this riddle in such a situation.

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"And.... another one takes the bait!" Korim cheers, his part actually managed to give some form of resistance to these seemingly unstoppable duo. They would have some way to go in terms of paying attention.

"How long did you make the maze, Korim?" Garion asks, he needs to know how much time they would spend inside it.

"Seven storeys, if you follow the walls and walk it should take an hour for each floor" He replies nonchalantly.

"What?! How are we going to remove this once the test is over? The administration would have our heads for this!" Marius shouts in protest after hearing the ridiculous size of the construction.

"Relax, how did you think I built it in such short notice in the first place? We've got enough funds to hire a team of expert Earth Mages well versed in architecture" Korim answers without batting an eye. They had received a LOT of money to conduct this test, he did not even scratch half of the funds.

"So now we wait and see whether they could realise their mistake in time" Garion removes the telescope and exposes a dark rim around his eye due to pressing it hard against his face.

"Hey you haven't explained to me abo-" Marius remembers his question earlier, he is feeling more idiotic by the minute.

"Umm... I brought lunch for everyone, who would like to eat?" Miria produces a stack of four lunchboxes she prepared for the occasion. How sweet of her.

"OOOOHHHHHHHH!!!" All three males cheer for the lunchbox. They never thought they would receive homemade lunches at their current age, this is just heavenly.

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And part 3, the finale of the test shall come out at a later date. Sorry about this part coming out late, some stuff came up and kept me occupied.

A taste of betrayal Armus Damn it, what is going on here?!

For The Curious Mind