Dusk had finally descended, showing off the last rays of the sun as the sky shifted into a purple-colored hue. Exactly thirty minutes had passed since the last challenge commenced, and now it was time for Satoshi and the others to clear the forest in a little less than an hour.
"We're going in, try to keep up." Satoshi joked, unleashing his pure physical prowess and accelerating at top speeds. He had already calculated the exact amount of energy he was going to expend. That's why he didn't hesitate to use his top speed.
"That should be my line!" Jonathan grunted as he caught up to Satoshi in no time. With Satoshi leading the way, he'd be able to keep his pace and not accidentally exhaust himself by wasting too much energy.
Grinning, Yun Zhe started running as well. Hopefully, he'd be able to keep up with the two physical-training monsters.
"So, what's the plan?" Satoshi asked out of nowhere since he just started running without thinking about a plan.
"I'll take care of the route. With my keen sense of smell, I'll be able to detect if there are beasts nearby." Yun Zhe volunteered. With this, he'd be able to contribute to the team and in turn, give Jonathan and Satoshi more leeway to focus on running.
"All right. If we encounter a beast, we'll try to outrun it as much as we could. If we can't... then we'll just lure it to another Disciple." Jonathan smirked as he voiced out his mischievous plan.
"Nice idea," Satoshi and Yun Zhe both responded, nodding their heads at each other. The other Disciples should be strong enough to deal with the beasts, however, it would shave off a lot of their time if they were to engage these beasts in combat.
From the starting point of the challenge, the other Managers eyed the trio before they stole a glance at Bucky Barnes. In terms of first impressions, Bucky Barnes's Disciples weren't that impressive, that's why the other Managers already assumed that they'd fail the exercise.
"You think?" Dumble Dore muttered to himself as he overheard the other Managers. He was the only one who could see that the trio was taking it easy at the moment. He had his doubts, but he was fairly certain that the trio would easily clear the challenge.
As for Bucky Barnes, a smile formed on his lips when he saw his Disciples running. They haven't even achieved anything but he was already proud of them. With confidence, he puffed his chest, fully knowing that his Disciples would pass the challenge with flying colors.
The other Managers thought otherwise. They were convinced that the trio would fail miserably. Not only would they not be able to eat dinner, but their reputation as Bucky Barnes's Disciples would lower, causing the other Disciples to steer clear of them.
There was only one way for the three of them to escape their fate of being shunned by the rest of the Disciples and Managers— they had to clear the challenge no matter what!
...
A couple of kilometers from the flag's location.
Forty-five minutes into the challenge, Himuro and Nanako were surprised that they were doing fine. Even though they thought that they'd be left behind, they were unexpectedly on time. Smiling, Himuro clutched the five flags which he hid under his robe.
As for Nanako, she just carried her flag, waving it around. Well, it's not like she had any choice, she was wearing bikini armor after all, and she had no idea where to put the flag.
"I can't wait to meet up with the others. With this, all of us passed, right?" Himuro called out to Nanako. Even though they'd been running nonstop for forty-five minutes, they weren't out of breath. As expected of the Disciples chosen by Hermione Ranger herself.
"Yeah, once we get back, we can have dinner together as usual. I can't believe we survived the second day of the Disciples' training." Nanako commented. "In any case, how did you know that it would be allowed to get more than one flag?"
"Of course, I did my fair share of research about the Managers. That's why I knew that the Manager Issei would prefer if we get more flags. For a moment, I thought that he'd call us out for it, but my intuition was correct, and he ignored us."
"Yeah, I was surprised. I thought we were going to get disqualified." Nanako chuckled.
Himuro and Nanako grew up in the same orphanage together. Some might even call them childhood friends but they were nothing like that. In fact, before they became Disciples, they were mortal enemies.
But when they joined the Disciples under Hermione Ranger, things changed for them for the better. They realized what family was all about, and they became friends. They weren't romantically attracted to each other, but they consider themselves siblings— that's just how close they were.
The two of them weren't the only ones included in their family though. In fact, they treat everyone as their family. For the first time, they finally had a home to go back to, and that home had one underlying goal which united them together— to save the universe from the World Eater.
It wasn't even their universe, but they were tasked with it. They were the only ones who could do it, and adding to that, they hated the thought of an entire universe being deleted from the dimensions.
From a distance, they could see the other Disciples who were under Hermione Ranger as well. In total, there were five of them, still keeping their pace even though it was clear that they won't make it to the flag's location and back on time.
Seeing them, Himuro and Nanako heaved a sigh of relief. They were just glad that the five of them didn't encounter a beast.
Then again, even if they were to encounter one, they'd be able to defeat it without much difficulty. Even though they weren't that physically gifted, they were still chosen Disciples. It was just a coincidence that Himuro and Nanako had more stamina compared to the five of them.
"Raniel!" Himuro called out, waving his hand as if he was happy to meet them in the middle of the test. He picked up the pace, catching up to them in no time.
Nanako also picked up her pace as well so the two of them could greet the group together.
However, Raniel didn't even greet them in return. He just turned away and clicked his tongue as if something they did frustrated him.
This made Himuro stop short as he forced another smile on his face. "What's wrong, Raniel? Are you tired, don't worry I brought—"
Before Himuro could get the flags under his robe, Raniel grabbed him by the wrist and forced him to kneel on the ground. It should be mentioned that Raniel was actually the first Disciple that Hermione Ranger ever chose.
His strength was something to be reckoned with. Even the formidable Himuro was easily brought to his knees in a second.
"Himuro!" Nanako screamed as she ran to help Himuro. However, the four other Disciples stopped her from getting closer. One of them even pressed a dagger against her neck.
"Easy now, tiger," Claire whispered, putting the dagger even deeper until a line of blood dripped on its blade.
"What are you doing?!" Nanako gritted her teeth as she tried to escape their grasp. However, they overpowered her so much it couldn't even be called a struggle. "What are you doing you guys?"
"Don't worry, Nanako, they're just joking," Himuro said. He also couldn't believe that the group would do something so underhanded, especially to those whom they considered family.
Raniel didn't let go of his grip on Himuro's wrist though, and he continued to grip it until Himuro had no choice but to flick his hand away.
"What's the big idea, Raniel-san?" Himuro asked, clutching his wrist since it was almost broken. "If this is a prank, then you've already gone too far."
"Hand me your flags, then we'll let this matter go." Raniel offered as if he didn't start the offense in the first place.
Unbelievable!
Gritting his teeth, Himuro hid the flags under his robe. At first, he wanted to give them the flags so all of them could go back together. If they only let him speak, he'd have given them the flags.
However, they just had to rile him up and stab him behind his back. It was clear that this confrontation was pre-planned, and they opted to gang up on the two of them right from the start.
A moment ago, the flags already belonged to them. But now, Himuro didn't want to give them the flags anymore. If any, he was prepared to engage them in a fight, even if it meant attracting the beasts that lingered all over the forest.
"Raniel, are you really going to do this? Then come at me with everything you got!" Himuro taunted as his lips curved upward.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺