Zone 9
"I sense soone nearby," Elizabeth murmured softly.
Celeste, who was trailing just behind her, raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. "Just one?" She questioned, a bit skeptical. She had grown accustod to seeing students group together, even though they were supposed to be assessed individually. Despite the separation into two distinct teams, many had foolishly banded together in groups of four or five, thinking that numbers alone would give them an advantage. Celeste found it utterly ridiculous.
Personally, she had no complaints about partnering with Elizabeth. They had bumped into each other earlier, and Celeste quickly realized that together they could take down even the strongest of their opposition. It was a practical arrangent, and one she felt confident about. However, despite their strength, two of their targets had managed to slip away—Amael had been the first to flee, shalessly throwing Earth under the bus, and Earth had eventually followed suit.
Elizabeth's crimson eyes scanned the surroundings, her lips pressing into a thin line. "Yes... he's alone," she finally replied.
"He?" Celeste asked. It seed Elizabeth already knew who they were dealing with.
Without another word, Elizabeth took a single step forward—and vanished. Her movent was so swift, so precise, that it left the air vibrating in her wake.
"Elizabeth—!" Celeste gasped, blinking in surprise, though she was hardly shocked by her companion's speed anymore.
A hundred ters away, a lone figure reacted instantly to Elizabeth's sudden approach. Victor spun around with remarkable precision. His sword glead in the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees, and with a powerful swing, he intercepted Elizabeth's strike.
-BAM!
The force of their clash sent him sliding several ters back before he could regain his footing, his boots digging into the soft forest floor to slow his montum.
"What an incredible reaction," Elizabeth comnted, her voice carrying a hint of amusent as she landed gracefully on the ground. Her lips curved into a knowing smile.
"Elizabeth..." Victor muttered, his expression hardening as he sized her up, his hand tightening around his sword's hilt.
"Oh, isn't that Victor?" Celeste appeared next to Elizabeth with a playful grin. The grin stretched wider as if she knew Victor was done for without bothering to look that they were in the sa team.
Victor's brow furrowed in confusion. Normally, in an exam situation, he might have thought about fleeing. It would've been the smarter option, especially against two strong opponents like Elizabeth and Celeste. But the circumstances were different now. The appearance of Behemoth had changed everything. Running wasn't an option, not anymore. Besides…
"Wait a second, we're on the sa team, Elizabeth!" Victor pointed out, his gaze flicking to her Life Screen, which was glowing faintly with the sa blue hue as his own.
"Indeed," Elizabeth replied, glancing at her Victor's Life Screen.
"'Indeed'?!" Victor's voice rose up dumbstruck. "You nearly gave a heart attack!"
"You're one of the big fish, Victor. That much is obvious," Celeste intervened, her smile widening mischievously. "But it's good to have you with us, for now." She gave him a look that seed to suggest she enjoyed watching him squirm under the pressure.
Victor shook his head in exasperation, knowing better than to argue further. With Celeste's teasing and Elizabeth's detached deanor, complaining would get him nowhere. There were more pressing matters at hand.
"Alright, alright. Forget that," Victor said, his voice lowering as his expression grew serious. "There's sothing I need to tell you both. Behemoth has intruded into the forest."
"What?" Celeste's playful deanor instantly vanished, her face paling. "Behemoth?!"
Elizabeth simply narrowed her eyes.
"Hey, you're not joking around, are you?" Celeste asked, her playful tone gone, replaced by a rare seriousness that made her usually vibrant eyes narrow in concern. Victor shook his head gravely. "I wish I was. But no, I dealt with two of them already. That's why I ca to this zone—there's a chance so of the Academy staff are stationed nearby." His gaze shifted around the area cautiously, as though the trees themselves might be harboring unseen eyes. "You rember the ssage about gaining fifty points, right? If we can find one of them, we can let them know what's going on. Maybe they can stop this before it gets worse."
Elizabeth remained silent for a mont. "What do they want?" she asked, although there was a flicker in her gaze that suggested she already had a few suspicions of her own.
"I have no idea…" Victor admitted, exhaling. "But if I had to guess, judging by what happened in Dolphis, they might be after Alia. And possibly…" His eyes darted toward Celeste, his voice lowering slightly. "Celes, too."
At that, Celeste froze in silence.The day she was revealed as the next Prophetess to all of Sancta Vedelia, she had known this mont would co. She had always been a target, but hearing it out loud brought a chill to her spine.
Elizabeth glanced toward her friend, reading the unspoken thoughts on her face. She crossed her arms. "Behemoth has breached the forest, and no one has discovered it until now? That's rather suspicious, don't you think?"
Victor frowned, catching the implication. "You an, the teachers? They're supposed to be watching over us for the Exam. Surely there are hidden caras placed strategically throughout the zones to monitor everything. If Behemoth managed to get in, why hasn't the Exam been stopped?"
A knot of unease tightened in Celeste's chest. "Now that you ntion it…" She trailed off, her voice faltering for a mont. A nervous laugh escaped her lips. "W–Wait, my father is the one overseeing the Exam. There's no way sothing could happen without him knowing… right?"
Despite her attempt at reassurance, doubt crept in. Inwardly, she was deeply worried. Her father was ticulous—nothing ever slipped past him, especially during an important event like this. But now… the fact that Behemoth had entered the forest without anyone raising the alarm gnawed at her.
Elizabeth exchanged a knowing look with Victor. She was thinking the sa thing: sothing had gone horribly wrong. "You're right to be nervous, Celeste," Elizabeth said quietly. "If Behemoth managed to slip in undetected, it ans sothing's happened to the teachers. And possibly… the staff."
Elizabeth didn't manage her words making Celeste's worry worsen.
'Had they all been killed?' Elizabeth considered what seed impossible. How could Behemoth have managed that without drawing any attention? Unless… unless they had known exactly who the staff were, where they were placed, and how to eliminate them swiftly and silently.
'Did that an soone betrayed them?'
But the Teraquins made sure everything was alright…
Suddenly, Elizabeth's eyes widened in shock. Without hesitation, Elizabeth whirled around.
"Elizabeth, what's going on?" Victor asked, alard by her sudden movent as she prepared to bolt.
"I have to find Selene!" She called over her shoulder. Without waiting for a response, she vanished in a blur of motion, darting back through the forest with incredible speed.
Victor stood frozen for a mont, caught off guard. "Elizabeth! Where are you—" He stopped mid-sentence, realizing she was already gone.
Elizabeth knew exactly where Selene was. And right now, nothing mattered more than getting to her before it was too late.
"Wh–What do we do? I'm worried about my father…" Celeste murmured anxiously. Her fists clenched tightly as she tried to suppress the growing fear. "Let's keep moving. We'll definitely find soone—one of the staff mbers—who can get us out of here quickly.They must have arrived in the forest through the teleportation mana circles placed in specific zones. It's the only way they could respond to ergencies like this."
Without waiting for a response. He was convinced the Academy staff had a plan for these kinds of situations, and they would surely have a way out—especially if students needed urgent healing or protection.
Celeste took a deep breath and followed Victor "Right…" Victor glanced back over his shoulder, trying to comfort her. "Professor Zestella is one of the strongest people I know. He'll be fine, Celes. Don't worry." He shot her a reassuring smile, but she could tell even he wasn't fully convinced. "Yeah…" Celeste forced a smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. After a mont, she glanced at him again. "Aren't you worried about Selene, Victor?" She couldn't help but notice that he seed far calr than Elizabeth had been—despite Selene being his girlfriend.
Victor's expression darkened for just a mont, but then he chuckled lightly, shaking off the worry. "Of course I'm worried… But I didn't know exactly where she was. I hoped she was in the higher zones, where things might be safer. In any case, by warning a teacher, I could save her too." He paused, his smile returning with a bit more sincerity. "But now? I'm not as worried. Elizabeth's already on it. She'll find her, no doubt."
Victor had full faith in Elizabeth when it concerned Selene.
"Right… I suppose you're right," Celeste agreed, nodding slowly. But her gaze drifted, and her mind returned to another pressing concern. "I'm more worried about Alia though…Last ti, she was saved at the last possible mont by John. I don't know why, but Behemoth keeps targeting her…"
"Knowing John, I'm sure he's already aware sothing's wrong. He's probably already after her as we speak. That guy's sharp, always knows when things are about to go south."
Celeste smiled faintly at the thought of Alia and John. She was genuinely happy for her friend. "You're right. John is reliable… and I'm really glad Alia found soone she truly likes. Soone she can depend on." She didn't know John well, but one thing was clear—John was the man Amael trusted the most in all of Sancta Vedelia. Despite their constant bickering and competitive banter, their bond ran deep, like that of brothers. They might clash, but when it ca down to it, they would always have each other's backs.
Victor, however, seed to be thinking of sothing else. "Well, as for , I'm more worried about Amael, though…"
Celeste stiffened slightly at the ntion of Amael. "W-What about Amael?" She asked, her voice faltering. She had always assud Amael was safe, that he feared nothing, no matter where he was or what he faced. The thought of him being in danger seed… foreign, almost impossible.
Victor shook his head, his brow furrowed. "I don't know… It's just this bad feeling I have. He's always throwing himself into dangerous situations. Lately, he's been coming back from fights more battered than ever."
Celeste remained silent, biting her lip. She couldn't deny what Victor was saying. Zestel, Alvara, Adrian, Dolphis and recently the most terrifying mont was when he lost control over sothing even she couldn't understand at Zestel. The list of great dangers he found himself involved seed to grow longer with each passing day. It was hard to forget how they had narrowly escaped death when Jas Raven had intervened at the last second against Navas as well.
And now… Amael was involving himself with Alvara again.
Her mind wandered back to the prophetic dream she had. In the dream, she had seen him fighting an High Elf, his body bruised and bloodied. Amael had been visibly disturbed, almost as though he were battling sothing far more personal than just the enemy in front of him. The vision had unsettled her deeply. It wasn't the sa Amael she had t when she first arrived at the Academy—calm, and collected. Instead, it was like he was constantly on edge.
'Yeah, recently he looks tired…'
Celeste rembered that mont when Amael hugged her as if he was scared of sothing and all his previous expressions. It was like he was a bit depressed about sothing.
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