Rise of the Crusader

After the name of those who qualified were declared, the ten of them were soon called onto the stage.

Raphael and the others stood in front of the seven directors with different expressions on their faces.

While the thoughts of the ten of them were unknown, a light smile hung on the faces of the directors, with the only exception being Kai and Vermont.

"Congratulations!" Kai suddenly spoke.

He stood from his seat, with his hands then placed behind his back and a very serious look on his face.

"The academy won't be unfair to you and whether or not, you win this tournament, each one of you will be rewarded handsomely."

Kai exclaimed.

As the director of the number one division in the academy, Kai's words were akin to gold before the students and instructors.

None of the people doubted what he had just said, and those who knew Kai to an extent were eagerly waiting for the rewards that would be given to their students.

"We are already at the final phase of the tournament, and it here that a king or queen would be crowned."

"Unlike the previous assessments, there won't be a one-on-one combat here." Kai paused, "And instead it would be a three-on-one."

Everyone wondered what Kai really meant by a three-on-one. Would the students be teaming up to defeat an opponent, or how would it be?

However, a few seconds after Kai spoke, the surrounding there were ins began to change. It happened in the blink of an eye, and the previous gladiator stadium transformed.

Both students and instructors found themselves in a huge hall.

In front of them were the seven directors and three huge projectors which were placed beside by side.

"What are they doing?!"

One of the students in the hall asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

Among the students in the domain, the ten students who qualified for the next phase of the tournament weren't in the hall. Instead, they seemed to be in another location but were being displayed on the projector.

They were grouped into three, and the last person which was Aliyah was nowhere to be found.

Jeremy, Elisa, and Nevaeh were in the middle of a garden.

Raphael, Aurora, and Clement appeared to be in a desert.

While, Dwayne, Hilario, and Teresa were standing a few meters away from an ocean.

The nine of them were staring at the surrounding there were in, seemingly perplexed. However, after a few seconds, Kai's voice rang out.

"Listen attentively."

Kai's voice echoed through the domain in which the nine of them were.

Though it brought a bit of confusion to their faces, they listened attentively to the words that Kai was about to say.

"The nine of you are going to face a meta beast!" Kai stated.

"I know what you must be thinking at the moment, but we wouldn't have you face them if we didn't think, you're capable of it." Kai said, "And besides, it's not like the goal is to have you defeat the beast."

"You simply need to get the key from them." Kai paused, "Whoever gets the key.

Kai then gave the nine of them a few seconds to assimilate what he had just said before he continued.

"Lastly, the beasts are of A-rank."

"Good luck," Kai exclaimed.

It wasn't even up to a second after Kai spoke, and the nine people who were shown on the projector experienced a change in their surroundings.

Aurora wasted no time and immediately wore her suit quickly. She moved a few steps, neither close to Raphael nor Clement, while her eyes scanned through the surrounding.

Even though the director of the elite division said that this was going to be a three-on-one battle, Aurora refused to team up with Raphael or Clement.

She couldn't get the picture of how he treated Camille away from her head.

"Hehe!"

Meanwhile, a chuckle escaped Clement's lips as he stared at Raphael.

He licked his lips in a sadistic manner, as this was the moment he was waiting for. The tournament had been cruel to them, and he or Hugo had gotten the chance to get rid of Raphael.

But, the opportunity had finally arrived, and Clement swore that he was going to put Raphael to rest.

If nothing, he had to at least ensure that Hugo didn't die in vain.

"Scorpions," Raphael muttered as he saw the creatures that were crawling toward them.

Over a thousand scorpions were moving forward, but among all of them, the scorpion that received the most attention from Raphael, Aurora, and Clement was the red scorpion.

Apart from being bigger than the rest, there was a necklace wrapped around its telson.

A key was used as the pendant of the necklace and as the trip saw the key their eyes lit up.

Aurora, Raphael, and Clement, and suddenly, Aurora moved.

She instantly used her gravity manipulation, flames, and ice spikes on the scorpions. And as that only affected a quarter of them, Aurora brought the big guns out.

It was an anti-tank rocket launcher, but unlike the one she used previously, this was a grader better.

Boom!

Followed by the rocket launcher appearance was an explosion occurring in the desert.

As Aurora continued to move towards the black scorpion with the key, Raphael couldn't wait around.

He cracked his knuckles and was about to take a step forward when Clement suddenly appeared in his front.

The sadistic grin was still on his face, and a second after Clement appeared in front of Raphael, he held Raphael's hand immediately and spoke.

"Bazinga!"

Raphael already found it absurd that Clement was able to break past the force field that was around him, and as Clement uttered those words, his eyes twitched.

Before Raphael could even retort, he felt Clement tightening his grip on him, and followed by that was an explosion.

Boom!

The explosion was massive to the extent that the ones which were caused by the ten rocket launchers in the desert were nothing.

They couldn't hold a fart to the one that just surfaced, and as the ground trembled violently, Aurora had to halt her steps.

She turned, and as she saw the area that Raphael once was, her with opened wide.

Fear was written all over her face soon after.

"Raphael!!!!!"

"What the hell!!"

It wasn't just Aurora who was left stupefied by what she was seeing, but also the people who were watching the whole show in the hall.

Meanwhile, Elisa and Nevaeh were having a heated exchange with a nine feet tall bear.

The bear was donned in armor so powerful that the purple rod which was thrown by Nevaeh didn't have the slightest effect on it.

It was, in fact, as though she were hitting an egg on a rock.

Nevaeh tried using the purple rods on the bear countless times, and after her eighty-five attempts were all in vain, she eventually gave up.

"Son of a bitch!" Elisa blurted.

She staggered a few steps backward, glaring at Jeremy with eyes that were simply full of killing intent.

When Jeremy saw the expression that was on Elisa's face, he had a huge smile on his face. Placing his hand behind his neck, he continued to watch as they fought the bear.

Nevaeh was equally enraged as Elisa because she knew exactly what Jeremy was waiting for.

A cave existed in the garden they were in, and that same cave was not only the home of the bear, but it was also where the key they needed to pass the phase was.

To get the key, they needed to defeat the bear who was protecting his home and belonging. And Jeremy was waiting for them to defeat the bear, then sweep in and get the key from the cave.

"ROOOAAAAARRRR!!!!"

The bear bellowed with rage as after numerous if attacks from Nevaeh and Elisa, they were able to create a hole in his chest.

Another fierce scream was let out by the bear and as he screamed, he hit his hand against in chest, displaying how infuriated it was.

A light smile appeared on Elisa's face as she saw the bear who was bleeding.

They had been battling the bear for hours, and they had not been able to cause real damage to the bear. While their own body was in a severe state.

"There's an opening," Elisa mumbled as Nevaeh appeared beside her.

Elisa then informed Nevaeh about the way they could take down the bear, and as Nevaeh heard, Elisa, her lips curved into a smile.

After all that the both of them had been through, it felt really good to finally see a breakthrough.

Nevaeh patted Elisa on the shoulder gently and said.

"This is really good, Elisa."

Elisa nodded her head, "Let's go."

With that said, she was about to run toward the bear that was coming their way when Nevaeh pulled her back.

"There's no need to get yourself involved in this." Nevaeh blurted. "Only one of us is needed for this, and I will be the one to take care of this."

"Why?" Elisa Inquired.

And in response, Nevaeh turned towards Jeremy who was eating an apple, "Because of you of this scumbag!"

"I can accept you taking the key, and winning this phase of the tournament, but there's no way, I will tolerate him winning this," Nevaeh said.

Elisa's mouth opened slightly, she wanted to speak, but before she could do so, Nevaeh pushed her.

"Go!!!!"

Meanwhile, In the feat of rage by the bear, it rushed towards Nevaeh and Elisa swung its hand left and right.

"ROOOAAAAARRRR!!!!"