Chapter: Start of the Final Task

Right now I'm back in my room, laying on the couch taking a little break from all the commotion that happened back in the hot springs. Tatsuo was out and about and Eldrin was doing who knows what.

Man this Academy really is amazing, I'm happy Grandpa convinced me to attend, there are so many amazing students here, and being surrounded by people my age is great, there are so many different personalities and faces.

If I chose not to come then I wouldn't have experienced any of this, and wouldn't have made all the friends I have now, this is so awesome I can't wait for the final task tomorrow!

As I was laying on the couch with a smile on my face, thinking of what the final task will be like, a sudden knock on my room door snapped me back into reality.

"Yes, who is it?" I asked looking at my door

"I-its me Hanako...may I...c-come in?" Hanako nervously asked

Hearing Hanako's voice I quickly sat up and burst out "y-yes of course you can come in!"

"T-thank you..." Hanako said walking into the room and closing the door behind her

"So what's up?" I asked trying to hide my excitement of talking to her

"I just want to a-apologize...for what my counterpart Yurei did to you..." Hanako slowly said looking at the ground still nervous

"Oh no no no, no need to apologize she didn't do or say anything to offend me I promise" I quickly said. "In fact, I thought it was actually pretty cool! I got to see Odayakana-Kazarashi in action, as well as summer style" I continued to say with a smile trying to get rid of Hanako's nervousness

"R-really? Normally people say the complete opposite...but I guess if she didn't say or do anything to attend you...then that's great" Hanako said finally looking up at me. "I'm sorry I was ignoring you earlier...I just thought you would look at me differently..but I'm happy you didn't" Hanako continued to say with a satisfied smile

"Woh so cute!" I muttered to myself, completely attracted to Hanako's smile. "It's okay I had a feeling that was the reason so no need to apologize, I'm just glad we are talking again" I replied with a smile

"I'm really happy to call you my friend," Hanako said with a grateful smile.

With a smile, I replied "so am I. We should head over to the girl's room where the party will be happening soon"

I followed Hanako to her room where I was met by the rest of the RisingSun Members including Rex. Everyone greeted me with a smile except Rex who gave me a cold stare like always. I honestly don't know what that dude's problem is with me.

"It looks like the two love birds are finally here!" Koko said teasing both Hanako and me

"Koko, why do you always gotta make it awkward?" I asked a little flustered

Hanako didn't say anything which is strange since she would normally deny it straight away. But this time she just stood there red as a tomato trying to avoid eye contact with everyone.

"Is this where Ken told us to come?" Tatsuo asked Eldrin as they both walked into the room

"who knows I was following you" Eldrin replied

"Tatsuo, Eldrin you're both here," I said actually surprised that they came

"Now that everyone is here let's get this party started!!" Leo shouted

As soon as Leo said that the party immediately began. Catherine brought out the food that she had made and Koko brought alcohol as expected, even though alcohol wasn't allowed on this exam. Eldrin sat with Koko and started drinking with her and Krow, Leo and Drew brought out the games.

Everyone quickly got comfortable with each other and the party went on with everyone enjoying themselves and each other. The night went by quickly filled with laughter and some displays of magic.

Soon everyone had fallen asleep in the girl's room. The room was messy; it was as if a group of 10-year-olds had a party.

The next morning

it was now noon and Mira was the first one awake, everyone else was still fast asleep. Mira stretched her body then looked around to see how messy the room was.

Mira being the clean freak she is, got angry at the sight of all the mess, so she quickly woke everyone up from their sleep and demanded everyone to pitch in and clean the house immediately.

She placed a strong magical barrier on all possible exits, so no one would try and escape. She then conjured an axe in her hand to intimidate us, showing that she is not playing around.

We all got up and quickly helped clean the entire room, she even made us clean the mess that wasn't caused by the party. It took us more than half an hour to finally finish cleaning the entire room. Mira finally undone the barriers and let us all out, all the boys went back to their own rooms.

A few hours passed and everyone was called up to the main hall, it was finally time for the final task to begin. Everyone gathered together anxious and some nervous, some even scared of what the last task could be.

"Alright, congratulations on making it here to the final stage of this survival Exam" Ace congratulated us with a smile.

"Now for your final task you will be randomly put into groups of five, and one group member from each group will be given one backpack. Once the groups are selected you will all be sent into a labyrinth, where each group will have to find and retrieve seven magic orbs and make it out of the labyrinth with their whole group to pass" Ace Explained

"Also the carrier of the backpack can not change, and the backpack must also be in good condition, for you to pass" Ian explained before everyone started chatting among themselves

I just hope I get put in the same team as Hanako and I hope I'm not in the same team as Rex, as I really don't want to deal with him.

*Bing!*

Everyone's Student Portal rung and as usual a number appeared on our screens, these numbers were the groups we were put in. On my phone I had number 4, let's hope Hanako had 4 as well. Everyone moved around looking for people with the same number as them

"Oh hey, Ken," Nelly said, walking up to me. "Some other students told me you were number four? Cause I am as well"

"Oh hey Nelly" I replied "yeh I'm also number four, looks like we will be working together again" I smiled

"Did I hear number four?" A female snow elf said as she walked up to us, looking at me with a smirk. "What a surprise I'm also number four"

"You look familiar," I said, looking at the snow elf

"It's rude that you don't remember me! Since I was the one that stole your tag in the last task" The snow elf replied a little annoying that I forgot about her

"Of that's right...well it's good to have you on my team" I said with a smile since I was over her stealing my tag

"You're not mad? That I almost made you fail the previous task?" She asked a little confused

"Well at the time I was annoyed but I'm over it" I replied honestly "since we're going to be on the same side, what's your name?"

".....My name is Aemma" Aemma replied

"Well that's three of us, we need two more students with the number four" Nelly said looking around

"No way...d-don't tell me you're in number four," Claire said as she looked at me with an annoyed look "how did I end up with you"

"Oh well if it isn't the bow girl...what a coincidence that we're in the same group" I smirked as I crossed my arms, getting her name wrong on purpose

"My name is Claire not bow girl" Claire snapped "whatever you better not slow me down during this task"

"With Claire on our team and someone as strong as Ken this task should be a breeze," Aemma said to herself with a smile

"Alright that makes four of us now we just need one more" Nelly said

"Please let it be Hanako, please let it be Hanako," I said to myself looking around

It was as if the Divine Gods head heard my wish, because out of the crowd of students Hanako appeared in front of my group, holding her student portal with the number four on it. I was so happy I could start dancing but I had to keep my cool.

"Is this group number four" Hanako asked

"Yes it is" Nelly replied with a smile

"Oh great I hope I can be of great help," Hanako said with a light head bow

"Hanako your always of great help" I replied with a smile as she stood next to me

With that, we had our group of five and by the looks of it, everyone else had formed their groups. The teachers walked around giving each group one Backpack. It seems like Hanako is the one that is going to wear the backpack.

Once every group had gotten a backpack, Ace lead all of us out towards the entrance of a big labyrinth

"Okay as you can probably tell this is the entrance to the labyrinth," Ace said looking at all of us "you have four hours to complete the task and find your way out with your group, if none of you makes it by then, then you all fail" Ace explained, "but I know that won't happen so give it your all!" Ace added on

Everyone started lightly chatting among their groups. "If your ready then step within the labyrinth...oh one more thing, once you enter you will appear in a random area within the labyrinth, this helps to spread you guys out more" Ace added on

Slowly groups began to enter the labyrinth, and soon enough every group had entered the labyrinth and been randomly spread out. The labyrinth was lit up with glowing plants and glowing bugs that were everywhere, it was a giant underground cave but it wasn't completely dark, there seemed to be some sort of light source apart from the glowing plants and bugs lighting up the cave. The cave itself was very mesmerising with plenty of flora here and there, it was somewhat tropical and the water was clear.

My group appeared near a river.

"Amazing…." I said as I looked around

"Right, I think we can all agree that I should be the leader," Claire said looking at all of us

The three other girls nodded their head agreeing with Claire, I had no choice but to agree cause knowing Claire she would rather fail than let me be the leader

"Fine you can lead" I sighed as I also nod my head

"Great! Now then follow me...I have a good feeling we will run into an orb this way" Claire said as she leads the way

As we walked we passed so many cool looking plants and bugs that I've only read about. I couldn't control myself, I had to look at every plant and bug we walked by, I was too excited and curious.

This entire labyrinth amazed me, it's so huge and filled with things I never imagined I'd see, if this wasn't a test I'd spend so long exploring each corner of this place.

"Calm down Ken, you're getting a little too excited," Aemma said looking at me a little concerned

"Well what's not to be excited about, this place is full of wonders!" I said as I looked around the place

"If you don't hurry up, I'll leave you behind!" Claire shouted

"If you do that, then you will fail" I replied with a smirk

"Shut Up!" Claire replied as she greeted her teeth, knowing I was right

"I've been meaning to ask, Ken, where did you learn about red lightning?" Aemma asked as she slowed down walking beside Ken

"Everyone seems to be interested in this" I chuckled to himself "but Volterra taught me it"

"Who is Volterra?" Nelly asked looking up at Ken

"Volterra is an Emperor Dragon, also a close friend of mine" I replied as I looked at a bug that landed in my palm

"oh...WAIT AN EMPEROR DRAGON!" Aemma shouted with shock

"Wow, that's amazing! Your friends with an Emperor Dragon!?" Nelly said as she looked at me completely amazed

"It's no big deal really…" I replied with an awkward chuckle

"No big deal!?...this task is going to be a breeze with an Emperor Dragon on our side," Aemma said with a sigh of relief and a reassurance

"Well don't get your hopes up, I can't exactly summon him," I said as I kneeled down to look at a bug crawling on the ground

"That's just pathetic" Claire added on in a smug tone

"Even though he can't summon it, I still think it's amazing, that he has a pact with one of them," Hanako said standing beside me

"Yeah I think so too" Nelly added on

We continued following Claire through the labyrinth, and after some time we arrived in front of a stand that had a magic circle carved into it.

This must be where we retrieve one of the orbs, looks like Claire actually knows what she's doing

"Nice! We found our first orb" Aemma said

"But it seems like, we need to rewrite the magical circle, for us to obtain a magic orb," Claire said as she took a closer look at the magic circle "Ken come rewrite it"

"Huh? But you're right there, why can't you do it?" I asked

"Well...I'm the one that found it, so be useful and open it" Claire demanded

With a loud sigh, I say "Fine!". I walked up to the stand before placing my hand on the magic circle, it had quite a high-level lock on it but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Within a few seconds, I rewrote the magic circle, which caused the top of the stand to glow bright green, upon activation a small orb started to materialize above the stand

" woh...so cool," Nelly said looking at the orb

I grabbed the orb and handed it to Hanako, who then placed it in the backpack

"That's one down and six to go!" Aemma said with a smile

The magic circle quickly reverted back to its original state and the stand, once again, stopped glowing.

"Well that was easy, I thought this labyrinth would be riddled with all types of monsters and beast," I said with disappointment

"Jeez, why do you men love fighting so much, for one like this peaceful test" Aemma replied

"I agree with Aemma, I don't want to deal with monsters while looking for the orbs" Nelly added on, agreeing with Aemma

"D-don't say that Ken….you might j-jinx it" Hanako added on a little nervous

Just then a loud stomping noise could be heard coming from in front of us, slowly a beastly silhouette appeared in the distance and as it got closer, a giant ape-like monster the size of an average house stood before us.

The beast let out a huge beastly roar that could easily be heard for more than a few 100 meters wide, the beast looked at all of us, with a vicious look, it's huge muscular body towered over us, making it look even more intimidating

"Looks like it's a little too late for that, the idiot already jinxed it," Claire said looking up at the monster

"Ken! Why did you have to say something like that" Aemma whined

"It looks really scary!" Nelly whimpered as she stood behind me

"You three stand back! I'll take care of this!" I grinned, as I took a step forward

"I'm f-fighting...with you," Hanako said as she stood beside me

I looked at her and smiled before looking back up at the beast in front of us. The beast let out one more roar before it got ready to attack us, but before it could attack us a giant flaming black magic circle appeared above the beast.

A huge black monster-like arm, with white claws and white fur, submerged from the magic circle and ripped the beastly ape into shreds with just one swing. Seeing this happen shocked all of us.

"Th-the hell just...happ..end?" Aemma asked in a horrified expression

"B-blood..everywhere," Nelly said holding on tight to my shirt

"Something else is coming," Hanako said before grabbing her wooden Katana

"Whatever it is it's powerful, be on your guard everyone" Claire added on

"Looks like things just got interesting," I said with a toothy grin

Next Time: Intruders