Chapter: Intruders

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.

"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

The giant beast fell on the ground and on top of it was a humanoid silhouette. "He was too WEAK!!" The silhouette shouted in a beastly tone.

Multiple fireflies flew around the silhouette revealing it to be a muscular male wolf beastfolk with greyish blue fur, his mouth area was that of greyish white fur and his eyes a glowing blue. He stood at around 204 centimetres tall, he was bare-chested with only a metal shoulder pad; he wore baggy pants with metal shin guards and was barefooted.

"Now let's see what you five are capable of!" The beastling shouted as he store us down

"W-what's happening….is this p-part of the test," Nelly asked nervously, as she held on tighter to my shirt, shaking with fear

"H-he...annihilated...that monster..in one go" Aemma stuttered as she took a step back

"I get the feeling that his not part of this task," I said looking at the individual in front of us

"I think you may be right…" Claire said with a stern look

"His mana level... it's on another level," Hanako said, as she gripped her wooden katana even more tightly

"Which one of you is strong enough to face me" The beastfolk shouted with killing intent

The beastfolk looked at us with a toothy grin, before releasing a ferocious wave of his mana, his mana release was so intense it felt like the entire labyrinth was trembling, the air quickly became dense and the ground started to rip apart, nearby streams of water started to evaporate.

I could tell this guy was no joke and altho he was trying to kill us, this was amazing! The air started to become suffocating, altho it was no problem for me, I couldn't say the same for Aemma and Nelly, as both of them were forced down to their knees drenched in their own sweat and their bodies trembling with fear, they were on the edge of passing out

"K-Ken...I'm scared…" Nelly said with her voice cracking in fear "Solis please protect us" Nelly mumbled to herself as she held on tight to her sun God necklace

"I feel d-dizzy...e-everything...is starting to...f-fade," Aemma said taking deep breaths

This man's mana release is strong but not quite on Falera's level, but what makes his one dangerous was the killing intent his mana was releasing, It was as if a wild vicious beast intimidating its prey. Hanako stood strong beside me, but I could tell she couldn't take much more of this, and her hands were shaking, it seemed like the killing intent was getting to her.

Looking at Claire she was completely unphased, I guess she isn't a Wizard Elite for no reason. Before the situation could get any worse I release a large amount of my mana back at the beastfolk, making our mana waves clash for a few seconds before both of them disappear.

Although the atmosphere was back to normal and the killing intent was gone, Aemma and Nelly were still tired and shaken up. Looks like the only people that can fight this man is, Claire, Hanako, and I.

"I demand to know who you are! And what's your business here!" Claire asked looking at the beastfolk with a stern expression

"You can call me Five" Five said introducing himself "My business here? Simple, I'm here to rumble!"

Without any more time to waste, Five launched himself from the dead corpse that he stood on, and flew towards us like a rocket. Before the girls could react, I quickly launched myself in the air towards Five like a rocket. We quickly came into range of each other and quickly launched our first towards each other, at the same time.

Our fist collided with each other causing a small shock wave to be sent throughout the air. Just from the sheer force of Five's punch, all the bones in my arm and hand vibrate vigorously.

"This guy's a monster!" I thought to myself, keeping my fist tight

Five let out a loud guffaw before pulling me closer in and smashing his forehead against mine, this sent waves of sharp pain throughout my entire body causing my guard to drop leaving an opening and throwing me off balance.

Five grabbed my face and pitched me through the air, sending me hurdling across the labyrinth. I quickly regained balance in mid-air, but it was too late as I was immediately struck with a destructive spell cast by Five, the attack sent me flying even further through the sky, away into the distance.

"Kennnnnnnnnn!" Hanako cried out

"That idiot got in over his head," Claire said greeting his teeth

"Don't lose focus!" Five shouted as he landed on the ground "Giga FireBall!"

Five pointed his hand towards the girls and shot a giant blazing bright ball fire, the fireball jetted towards them at great speed. Claire jumped in front of all the girls and stood before the incoming spell.

"As one of the Wizard Elites and the leader of this group, I'll protect you three," Claire said standing firm "Fairy Magic: Glitter Sphere!" Claire raised her right hand towards the incoming ball of fire.

A sparkling gold magic circle appeared in front of Claire's right hand, and from it, a burst of gold glitter fired out of it and surrounded all the girls, creating a protective barrier around them. Upon impact the ball of fire detonated into a huge explosion, the explosion covered the entire barrier dwarfing it.

Soon the flames cleared out and every place that the explosion touched was scorched and melted, including the very earth. The only area that was not affected by the explosion, was the small space within Claire' Glitter Sphere'.

"For someone so young, you're incredibly powerful!" Five said recognizing Claire's magic "but if you keep trying to protect those weaklings, you won't stand a chance against me!"

"How many of you are here!?" Claire asked, demanding to know

"You ask way too many questions! So boring!" Five said complaining

"Answer my questions and I'll be sure to show you what my magic is capable of" Claire replied

Five let out a loud hysterical laugh before letting out a small sigh "fine! I'm the only number within this labyrinth but there are multiple homunculus eggs planted all around this place and they will hatch very soon, and once they do they will attack every living thing in sight" Five explained

"Now your next question is probably going to be why'? And to answer that, we simply needed someplace to take the homunculus for a test run, and what better place than a place filled with monsters and mages from Elenora's Academy of Magicka'' Five continued to explain

"If what he saying is true, then I can't waste much time fighting him, I need to go round up all the other students and lead them out of this place," Claire said to herself

"Now show me what your magic is capable of!!" Five shouted

"You will be fighting both of us!" Hanako said as she stood beside Claire holding her wooden katana tight

Before anyone could do anything, a bolt of red lightning came soaring above Hanako and the girls, before striking the ground in front of them. Everyone was confused except for Hanako, she could tell it was Me in the red lightning.

The Red Lightning slowly disappeared and there I was standing in front of the girls and once again directly facing Five. My entire body was trembling as I stood there in silence.

"K-Ken...your back!" Hanako said with relief

"Your entire body is shaking...don't tell me you're scared?" Claire added on

Five looked at me for a few seconds before letting out a loud laugh "this isn't fear I'm sensing!...looks like things are finally going to get heated!"

I looked up at Five, with a smirk on my face "His right! I'm not shaking because I'm scared...I'm shaking because this is FUN!" I said with a voice filled with excitement

"Three against one!? Now, this should be a satisfying fight!" Five said as he took a fighting stance

"I'm sorry to ruin your fun, but I'll be your only opponent," I said, pointing to myself

"....Ken...let me fight with you!" Hanako offered her help

"Don't be stupid, you won't be able to beat him on your own, follow my lead and we will beat him" Claire said looking at Me

"Hanako if you fought with me, the back pact will get destroyed meaning we will fail the test," I said looking at Hanako, before turning my head and looking at Claire ``For once just have some faith in me, plus your the captain of this group, take responsibility for Nelly and Aemma," I said looking at two of them. Both Aemma and Nelly had already passed out. "You and Hanako take them two with you and leave, find a way to contact the teachers''

"Hate to admit it but you're right, these two need to be the top priority. Have it your way, we're leaving" Claire rebuked

Claire pointed her finger at both Nelly and Aemma, she twirled her finger which created a magic bubble around both of the unconscious girls, and safely float them in the air

"Please, be safe Ken," Hanako said with a concerned look

"Don't worry Hanako, I'll make sure to come back to you in one piece" I replied in a confident voice.

I clashed both of my fists together before incanting in dragon tongue "Volterra: Thundra Dovkel Velsa'', doing this caused Volterra's dark blue scales to appear on both my arms, coating it like armour, my fingers grew views, my entire arm was resembling that of Volterra's talons

Claire and Hanako ran off, and the two bubbles carrying Nelly and Aemma following behind them.

"You sure seem confident, for a guy I flung a few minutes ago," Five said

"I was merely testing the waters back then, now let's start round one!" I said with a smirk

Five let out a loud guffaw then clenched both his fist "Let's see how long you last boy!"

Five and I charged at each other at the same time with our first coiled back to our hips. Once we came within range of each other, we both vanished at the same time and reappeared in mid-air. We were still in each other's range, it was as if time had stopped as we glared at each other in mid-air.

Then within a split second, we both thrust our fist at each other and as they collided together it caused a shock wave that was even bigger than the previous shock wave. Thanks to Volterra's scales protecting my arms and hands, My bones did not vibrate upon impact.

"Dragon Magic!?, what else can you do!" Five shouted

"Here let me show you!" I replied

I quickly slap both of Five's ears, messing with his semicircular canal, and throwing him off balance. Within a split second after throwing him off balance I quickly kneed him straight in the face, then quickly smashing him into the ground with both my fist together.

"Not done yet!". I put both my legs together before dropping down like a heavy anvil stomping into Five's back striking him with a heavy force of digging him into a small crater. I jumped off of him, putting space between us.

"Sorry Josh, but I'll be stealing your spell," I said as I put both my hands on the ground "Kens Style, Retin Family Magic: Thunder Beast Crushing Fang!"

A crimson magic circle appeared underneath My feet. The same magic circle appeared underneath Five except it was much larger, it was about 60 meters in diameter.

A huge beastly mouth created out of red lightning rose out of the magic circle before clenching its jaws shut together, which caused more than ten billion volts of raging electricity to run through Five's entire body and this went on for quite a while. The spell finally vanished and Five was dug into an even deeper hole.

"Get up! We're just getting started!" I grinned with confident

Spontaneously Five let out a guffaw as he slowly walked out of the crater, with smoke flying off of his entire body "That was amazing! Show me more of your magic!!" Five shouted with a grin on his face

Meanwhile

In another part of the labyrinth, Alice's group headed towards their fourth orb. Alice's group consisted of Rex, Krow, Tai, and Catherine.

"You guys are lucky to have me as a captain! Thanks to me we have already found three orbs!" Alice exclaimed

"Huh? What are you talking about, I found the first orb" Tai said looking at Alice "all you did was almost kill us"

"And I located the second orb" Krow slowly said

"And I found the third orb!" Catherine said placing her hand on her hips "You have been completely useless so far"

"Who are you calling useless!?" Alice said glaring at Catherine with a sinister grin

"Something is there," Rex said as he suddenly stopped

In front of the group was a giant patched up egg with stitches.

"The hell is that?...." Catherine asked confused

"I don't know, but I hope it's something I can KILL!" Alice said with a sadistic grin

The egg started to crack like glass until it broke down completely, revealing a homunculus. The homunculus had a black humanoid body with overly large arms that had magic crystals engraved into its palms, it also had a crystal in its faceless forehead. It stood with a slight hunchback, with its arms hanging past its knees. The Homunculus gave off a foul intensity, an intensity that sent shivers down spines