Chapter 4

Ellis continues to travel on a relatively fast pace. He met some more Grims along the way but they are just small fries for him. The average levels of the Grims he met so far are only level 4 at the highest and level 1 lowest. It was disappointing for him for a bit but he also understands that the academy will not place the applicants into too much danger especially with the background of many people taking the test. He can only keep his feelings under control and expect not too much.

Ellis’ journey has been bland and boring until he stumbled into this pair of sibling. The siblings are facing a few level 4 Grims and in his view, they are in quite the trouble. If nothing miraculous happen to them, then he is afraid that a pair of body will be buried in this huge forest. He stops and tries to decide if he wants to help. This is a test and everyone is a competitor but seeing people in trouble and doing nothing is not easy thing to do unless one does not have the thing called conscience. In the end, he decided to help and do something normal for once.

He leapt out from his hiding place and smashed one Ursa to lessen the pressure towards the siblings. Two pairs of eyes instantly focused on him and he can only nod at them at this time. He does not want to say anything and just charged towards another Ursa while the siblings also started to regain control and gain some breathing space.

This time, Ellis is not showing the Abyss Devourer and only manipulates some random things he can get his hands on. A relatively big stone, a branch anything that can deal some damage towards the Grims. Even if he does not deal the killing blow, just by absorbing some pressure, he can already help. He does not want to help too much and gain a suspicious reputation instead.

After a while, the siblings finally started to eliminate some Grims and the fight started to reach its conclusion. The siblings are not too bad in actuality but there is just too much level 4 Grims crowding them and not letting the two perform in their best. When the last Ursa fell, Ellis is just sitting on the corner waiting for them to finish.

When the fight ended, the siblings are on the ground panting hard. The both of them actually seem to be twins but they have opposite gender. The girl has dark bluish hair and a pair of deep and black iris like a deep dark pool. She has a fair complexion and she seems to be from a well-off family. On the other hand, the male actually looks like a rough hooligan. He was dressed neatly but the scar across his cheek only serve as contrast to his get up. He also has a dark bluish hair and same deep dark irises than only strengthen Ellis’ guess for this siblings to be twins.

“Thanks buddy!” the young lad is the first to strike a conversation.

“No problem.” Ellis said as he prepares to leave the scene and continue on his way.

“Wait!” this time the young lady interrupted and hastily got up. “What’s your name?”

“Ellis…” Ellis wanted to say his last name but stopped. He knows that their family reputation is not the greatest. Sometimes, the mistake of the ancestor would also be the burden of the descendants.

“Ellis? Which clan are you from?” This time the young lad stood up and walked towards Ellis. “Like the idea of traveling together?”

“I don’t even know you guys and yet you want to travel with me.”

“Oh… silly me. The name’s Jake, that ugly girl is called Kyle” Jake made a disgusted face as he pointed out his sister Kyle.

“You dumb monkey is the only one that can say that I am ugly.” Kyle snorted and looked back to Ellis. “Would you mind if we tag along?”

“Up to you.”

Ellis did not say anything else and just starts to head north once again. The twins followed him at his side as they advance. Not long after, they finally see a small shrine which looks so ancient. The bricks were all covered with black soot. The walls of the shrine has countless hand prints as if the place gathered so much prints from different people that once also participated in this test. Ellis wondered if some of these hand prints across the walls are from a famous person. He can see how long the shrine withstood with such ancient air it exudes.

“I wonder if some great people’s hand prints are there…” Jake said as he looks towards the many handprints. “It will be a good thing to boast if I actually stamp the same place they did… I can proudly say that I stomped a great figure.”

“As always, you are an idiot.”

The siblings started to quarrel not minding the many crystal chess pieces placed on some places. Ellis did not pay attention to the sibling and walked towards one of the crystal chess pieces. He looked at some and he decided to take one crystal pawn to himself. The twins saw his action and also hurriedly went forward to take one piece.

“Well… I guess we just have to cross the rest of the distance and bring these relics back…” Jake is actually such a blabber mouth now that Ellis stayed with the twins for some time while Kyle is a bit of mean kind of a lady towards her brother.

“Do you always talk like this?” Ellis really wonders if they are actually siblings. He thought that siblings tend to be more intimate and not like a quarrelling pair.

“Like what?” the both of them said at the same time which only made Ellis face palm.

“Never mind.” Ellis said as he placed the crystal pawn inside his small bag.

“To the other side then!” Jake said in an excited way.

“This is why I am the intelligent one and you are the monkey.” Kyle said which only made Ellis sigh once again.

“Look around you monkey. You see these pieces? There are a lot of them left but how many participants are there?”

“A lot?”

“And? Go on.” Kyle nodded intending Jake to continue.

“Go on what?”

“Ah… You monkey.” Kyle shook her head. “We can take extras just to be safer. Who knows if there will be a time where we will need an extra relic?” Kyle said in a somewhat superior manner.

“As good as that plan sounds that is a death trap you know?” Ellis this time said before this lady actually takes one more relic.

“Why?” Jake said in confusion. He is looking between Kyle and Ellis simultaneously.

“Like she said, there are a lot of participants this time. You want to be hated by those that are not able to take a relic just because you happily took one more extra? Let’s say there are a few hundred of us, how many relics are here in the shrine?” The siblings look around and saw that the number is less than a hundred.

“Let’s say we manage to pass and those few hundred failed. How will they feel when they discovered that you kept one? Wouldn’t they think that if only you did not take one, they might be able to also succeed. How will they feel, I guess you can also realize.”

Kyle and Jake shuddered at the same time as they picture out what will be the result. They will really get lots of animosity in exchange for a possible useless relic. The two of them hastily reigned themselves and got away from the relics.

“And here you are coming up with bad plans once again.” Jake said with an accusing tone. “This is why I don’t trust your plans. Look what we got into when you said take the shortcut and we met a bunch of Ursa which we nearly died by the way.”

“You are just imagining things! We were just unlucky at that time!” Kyle defended but her face reddens for a bit due to embarrassment.

Ellis looks at the both of them with a weird gaze. There are only a few kids around his age in Lutton town and those kids don’t know the meaning of easy going. Those kids also dive towards the maze ruins in hope to get fortune or earn more crystal. The scene in front of him is a first for him and he doesn’t know what to feel. He wondered if this is how the people that live in the walls of Vale kingdom are like.

Somehow, his lips loosened up and he thought that this kind of life doesn’t seem too bad. Though he will never say in front of other people. He just turned his back and started to walk towards the designated area. The twins noticed it and also started to walk with Ellis leading the way.

“You don’t have a partner right?” Kyle said when she caught up to the side of Ellis.

Ellis looks at her and nods without saying a word. Jake also caught up and he looks quizzically at Ellis. Jake wanted to ask the same question actually but feels awkward himself.

“What do you plan when you arrive at the end of the cliff? Will the professors deem you pass if you don’t have a pair?” Jake asked.

“There is no such rule saying I need a pair. It said one needs a relic to pass.” Ellis said casually.

“You’re not fond of partners huh…” Kyle said in conclusion.

Ellis ignored her and continued to walk towards the cliff of the north. They encountered some Grims along the way but the twins quickly made a quick work out of them. The twins are both using twin swords but one sword is always shorter than the other. It looks weird if Ellis was asked but he doesn’t have any comment when he saw how the twins perform with these swords.

While walking, they suddenly heard the sound of clashing weapons against each other. They heard sounds of battles along the way but the clashing of weapon to weapon is the first for the three. They curiously walk towards where the sounds are coming from and see two people going at it.

Ellis tried to be silent with his approach but Jake just has to trip and alert the two people battling. Ellis nearly cursed out loud but decided to see what is happening. Ellis saw a man and a red-haired girl standing still while looking at each other with animosity burning in each other’s eye. A man with silvery hair is holding a whip with serrated edges like a saw. The other party is a girl holding a simple and unadorned staff painted in yellow.

“Who’s there?” The silver haired boy shouted without taking his eyes off the girl in front of him.

Of course Ellis will not answer back. He just remained silent and let things go on their way. He is not planning on interfering or do something at all. He just wanted to see but who would have expected that Jake will blatantly alert the opposite party just like that?

“Now you have the luxury of taking half of your attention huh? Stop looking down at me!” The girl once again charged towards the silver haired boy and once again the battle started.

The girl swung her staff horizontally but was parried by the sword of the opposite party. The red-head girl tried to use her staff as a pole and performed a kick but the guy stepped back and answered with a straight thrust of his whip which straigthened up suddenly. The girl’s reflexes are actually really good as she tilted her head just a little bit and successfully evades the attack. With the small space the girl has, she still attempted to rotate herself to throw a round house kick.

This time, the silver haired boy does not have any space to perform another block. He has too little space to block so he just gritted his teeth and took the blow as a man. Before he flew though, he still managed to swipe his sword and successfully hit the cheek of the girl leaving a slim line of red across. Once again, the two of them were separated with space and the girl lifted her hands to feel her cheeks. When she saw the blood on her hands, her body shivered a bit.

“Well, he is ruthless enough I guess.” Jake said with a grimace.

“He will never be popular with women.” Kyle said in a low voice as she performed some weird actions with her hands while mumbling incoherent words.

“First you hurt my brother that made him not able to participate in this test and now you actually dared to make a maiden’s face bleed. You are just one hell of a scum.” The girl said in a chilly tone and slammed her staff towards the ground. She repeated it five times which looks like she was performing some sort of ritual.

Suddenly, electricity started to crackle along the staff and a blue lightning started to rotate beside the girl. Then a small crown made out of lightning appeared on her head. One of her eyes started to dim which seem to be that of blind person's eye. Ellis thought the transformation was done until a scaly tail popped out of her behind. It was slim and a metal arrow which colored green adorned the tip of the tail.

Ellis looks at this in shock and awe. Who could have thought that the girl in front of her is a Faunus with a semblance related to lightning? At this point, the air started to shiver as the girl started to walk towards the silver haired boy. The boy in turn grimaced with an ugly face.

“You know it was his fault. Why are you pestering me during this time? We are still trying to pass the test! Why can’t you realize that?” he said indignantly.

“Test?” The girl tilted her head in return. “What test is more important than the future of my brother?”

Suddenly, the ground around the girl exploded and the girl appeared right in front of the boy with a raised staff ready to smash the boy into a pulp. Fortunately, the boy already saw a similar transformation and leapt back hastily managing to avoid the strike. The ground he was a second ago turned into a wide horizontal whole like a water canal. The girl slowly rose and looked at him with anger.

“Come take me on you pussy. Is that all the Schnee family amount to?” The girl taunted while raising her middle finger.

“What can you expect from barbarians?” He shook his head and small blue formations started to rotate around him. Swords started to appear from those formations and remained suspended in the air. Suddenly, humanoid figures of a knight started to grab the swords and leapt out of the formation. They stood like a wall in front of the silver haired kid.

“Don’t blame be being impolite then.”

At this point, Ellis wanted to leave. He can see that the both of these warriors have a grudge to settle and it is not right to take sides especially if he is just a stranger. The twins though are not having the same thought at him as they already took out their weapons ready to charge at any moment.

“What a total dick!” Kyle cursed and stood up from her hiding place.

“What an unreasonable woman!” Jake said at the same time.

The twins look at each other shocked. The two of them actually thought that the both of them will side into one side but it did not happen as Jake thinks that the girl is unreasonable and does not know how to read the other’s dilemma. Kyle on the other hand thinks that the boy actually deserves death as he hurt a maiden’s face. Even if she does not know what the root of this is, the fact that the boy left a red line across a maiden’s cheek was unforgivable. Now the twins are once again starting to argue and quarrel at the side.

“What kind of situation is this?” Ellis asked to no one actually. He just finds the situation confusing.

At first he just thought that the two warriors just need to settle their own grudge and he can just leave them to whatever happen to the both of them. He can’t be thinking of intruding in this kind of affair. Who would expect that the twins will actually want to meddle and actually pull out their swords at this time. Ellis doesn’t know what is happening anymore and left the four of them to their fates.

Ellis left the scene without the four people noticing but the four of them are actually inside a weird atmosphere. Jake and Kyle are both baring their fangs at each other while the original combatants are also confused on what is happening. Two people with almost the same appearance appeared but then started to argue with each other who is dumb and who is hateful.

“You brainless monkey! I curse you to never find a girl that will love you unless it is a grandma!” Kyle shouted as she tried to punch Jake on the face.

“You ugly duckling! This is why women are mean animals! You just insist your own ideas without minding others! Totally unreasonable!” Jake responded as he dodged the strike from his sister and step back. Even if they are quarrelling he can’t possible hit his sister right? He can only take the blows passively and evade.

“What’s happening?” The silver-haired boy actually took his sights off the red-haired girl which was also stunned with what is happening.

When the four of them are about to fight again, a broadcast across the entire forest sounded.

“Attention! Only ten more relics are not taken. Those who don’t have a relic yet still have a chance. Ten more pair is needed before the test officially end. Good luck to everybody!”

After the broadcast, the silver-haired boy actually ran away towards the north side where the intended place for redemption of relics is. He is not having any nonsensical fights with the red-haired girl. Besides, he knows that the girl has no relic and if he just handed over his relic, he can pass and leave the girl and won’t be seeing her anytime soon. With this reason, he dashed madly like his life depends on it. He was travelling as fast as the wind as formations started to appear beneath his feet as he travel which boost his speed faster.

The red-haired girl also noticed this and she also madly rushed after the silver-haired boy. Every step she takes makes the ground explode as too much strength is being transferred towards the ground as she moves forward. She was shouting angrily as she smashes tree after tree that blocks her way.

Jake and Kyle also tarried and they looked at each other strangely. “Say, if people ganged up against us and we lost our relic, I am sure that grandfather will not make us feel better.”

The two of them nodded and started to rush towards the cliff in a rush. After a few moments, shadows started to appear and noticed their tracks and angrily shouted then followed after the earlier people on the site. As more time passes, more and more shadows started to appear and chased after the four people earlier.

For them, all that matters is that they get a relic and pass. Whoever has those relics does not matter as long as they get accepted in Beacon Academy. The end of the test is nearing.