37. Difficult to understand Mr. Coniel
Evangeline could swear that both Christopher and Sarah moved with the speed of light. Their movements were swift and calculated, almost too fast to be precise. The eyes of the spectators were fixated on them as no one wanted to miss a moment.
Apart from when they first met, it was evident that this was their first proper fight. Since they started, no one had gotten a single strike, they defended and launched meticulous counter attacks.
In no time, three minutes were up and Elder Suni decided to ring the bell signaling them to stop but, Mr Coniel stopped him from doing so. Their exam went on and on and it was an interesting sight to behold.
This continued for about an hour and it did not seem like it was going to end soon. Mr Coniel now satisfied with the sight before him got up and stopped them. Sarah and Christopher both retracted their swords and bowed.
No one could understand what Mr Coniel's goal was, but rather than be bothered by it, they couldn't deny the fact that they enjoyed the sight before them.
Derrick addressed them all and they were dismissed to prepare for their next exam.
*****
“What was that?” Derrick asked Mr Coniel.
“What?” He responded feigning ignorance.
Derrick squinted his eyes at him until he finally spoke.
“I wanted to confirm something.”
“About Christopher?”
He nodded.
Seeing that he was not going to give any details he drifted from the subject.
“Even at that, the sudden change in the exam and not declaring a winner, it's strange.”
“It's never happened in the history of Red Falcons Academy to not have the best swordsman at the semester exams.”
“There is always a need for change you know.” He replied a seemingly confused Derrick.
“No not this,” Derrick shook his head disagreeing with him.
“Will tomorrow's exams go as planned or will you switch it up like today?”
Mr Coniel let out a hearty laugh.
“We'll see about that.”
*****
The day ended quickly and it was the dawn of another. The students were prepared this time around as they maintained the same seating arrangement from the previous day.
Once the exam was about to start, Mr Coniel addressed them.
“Yesterday you saw how things could change. Today is full of surprises as well although it's not completely a surprise, today's exam would test things I can't tell you about yet.”
They had their hearts in their mouths as none could dare utter a word.
“It's similar to something you've done before that's why it's not a surprise.”
“Now drop your weapons,” he commanded.
They all dropped their swords and obeyed. Mr Coniel nodded his head and some guards standing close to a door in the building pulled it open.
“You can go in.”
They obeyed and walked into the the room that the door opened to, it was similar to the one for the entrance examination.
As they walked in, they realized the room was empty but they knew better
than to be fooled by the things they saw.
There were arrows stacked in the walls of the room and soon bat-like beasts were launched at them, considering how dark the room was Christopher knew it would be difficult for them to see. This made Christopher and his friends relieved. It was just as Tian had told them so they were not caught unawares.
Although they had no weapons, they could improvise. Christopher searched around until his eyes landed on some arrows stuck in the wall of the room.
“Guys here.”
They followed his lead while each picked an arrow, now there was no bow.
“It's utterly useless,” someone spoke.
“No, it's not,” Evangeline countered.
Christopher closed his eyes and focused at a 65° angle. Taking two steps backward and bending a bit low, he was sure that it would reach, he stretched his hand and threw the arrow with all his might. Everyone stopped to look up and to their surprise, the beast met its end as it descended.
They made use of what they had and continued. Now in the next room, everywhere seemed like they were outside. The sun shone brightly and the clear blue skies could not be ignored either. Christopher could not decipher if it was an illusion or real. It looked too real to be one and at the same time, the possibility could not be ruled out.
Just when he was trying to figure it out, he could hear growls from a distance. He knew danger was approaching. With a powerful sense of smell, one of the disciples was able to detect this. While trying to avoid the direction from which they heard the growling, they were met with another misfortune. They all stood transfixed to a point as the shadow of the figure before them covered their frames.
Christopher looked keenly and Valerie muttered. It is an ape beast. The figure was almost 10 feet tall if that existed. But in all sincerity, it was at least double Christopher's height. Just when they thought it was over, they realized that there were three others all with the same build and height.
While it resembled a human, its thunderous thuds could not be ignored. Sarah made use of her skills to try and fight but all to no avail. Evangeline rushed forward using her flowery rope beast soul to tie it down but in one growl all the ropes snapped like threads.
Seeing this, they had become very scared. Others also tried everything they could but, it was futile. Now panting from tiredness, they realized that they had come to an end, the rest began to run in the direction they came from shouting for help. Some were already crying since they were not ready to lose their lives. As soon as they were close to the door that led to where they had encountered the bats, the door was shut and death flashed before their eyes.
Before they could turn back they realized that the beast was only mere inches away from them. Christopher is now very confused trying to find a solution. The sword: he could use energy, he thought to himself.
Quickly placing his hands at his side to wield his sword, he remembered that they had been asked to drop it. He bit his lip while he cursed under his breath.
Now the beasts were about a step away from them and Evangeline was now tugging at his robe with tears-filled eyes. It had to be far from over. Surely they wouldn't put them in a kind of situation they couldn't rescue themselves from.
While the beasts lowered their gaze in an attempt to pick them up, Christopher knew that this was fully possible seeing well that they were like ants compared to the beasts.
Feeling pained, Christopher let out a scream. Suddenly, flames burst out sending everyone into a frenzy. All four beats were roasted on the spot and they finally breathed in relief.
Evangeline struggled to regain her breath but she still spoke.
“Big bro,” she yelled as realization and amusement hit her.
“Your element.”
“It's the fire,” she exclaimed.
Christopher was as surprised as she was.
He was happy to have found his element but they couldn't rejoice yet. Not with the danger lying ahead of them.
As they continued walking, they realized that the atmosphere had changed again and the ground now seemed drier than before.
Once again, Christopher tried to convince himself that this was another illusion but he knew any moment from then he could be attacked by another beast. As he predicted, Valerie noticed small stones of fire on the ground. Before any of them could react they were faced with five dragon beasts that incessantly spewed fire from their mouth.
Okay, this should be easy someone said while stepping forward. He took a look at the beasts in front of him and shook his head. He walked back immediately.
“What's wrong?”Christopher questioned
“I need water.”
“But this place is like a desert. We can't get anything like that here.” The rest nodded agreeing with him.
“Wait,” Evangeline spoke
She held her hands until flames burst out making everyone feel the heat.
“Everyone give me your sweats.”
They frowned in confusion.
“Quickly,” Christopher commanded.
They placed their hands on their head attempting to gather as many droplets as they could.
Now all the people with water elements should come here. They obeyed and they gathered the energy of the water.
“It's not enough,” someone spoke.
“What do we do then?” another asked in distress.
Before they could answer, one of the dragons used its thorn-scaled tail to grab one of them. This caught them unawares. The rest ran away to save their lives.
Without thinking, Christopher placed his hands on Evangeline's in an attempt to take some of the drops of sweat.
He raced towards the beasts who were now retreating with the young man wrapped around them.
“Stop right there,” he ordered and the dragon turned back spewing fire. In that instant, it began to rain around him and as he focused more it began to increase neutralizing the effects of the fire. He faced the dragon head-on. He took an arrow from his side, one which he had taken from the ones stuck on the wall in the former room. He took one step backward and leaped forward, the beast collapsed in that instant. He stuck the arrow which had a silver tip that glowed so brightly in the beast. His mouth widened
“The water element.”
“The fire element.”
“The thunder strike.”
“The silver blaze.”
“Wow.”
He looked back and saw that the rest had scrambled to safety.
“Are you alright?” he asked the young man whose face was now very pale.
“Name?” he asked raising a brow while stretching his hands towards him.
“Michael” he answered while taking his hand.
He simply nodded but he could swear that he heard a sharp sound. He turned to face the direction it came from but there was nothing.
“Stay put” he ordered while he walked slowly.
He could see a tall seven-foot-tall beast that possessed a long beak and a crow on his head that resembled a cock. Its claws were long and pointy as sounds of metals could be heard with every step it took.
Before he could say anything, the beast was close to him. Its claws were inches away from his neck and while Christopher anticipated his fate he closed his eyes but saw nothing.
He was confused. He noticed that they were no longer there and he could only see the wind moving in full force forming whirls.
“The air element.”
“Master” Michael bowed as his voice trembled.
“I think you have all the elements,” he shouted.
“Shush,” Christopher shut him up.
“You can't tell anyone, okay?”
He nodded.
“If you do, I'm afraid I will be forced to silence you myself.”
Although Christopher was bothered there were far more things to be concerned about.
With hands akimbo he paced about and could now see an old door.
“There,” he ushered and pointed towards the direction of the door.
He and Michael walked towards it.
On getting there he realized that there was no knob.
“What's wrong?” Michael asked.
He pointed to the door showing that there was no knob.
“Oh, we can force it open,” Michael suggested and started pulling it with his might.
Christopher joined in and he could feel that it took away a part of his energy. He continued and was finally relieved as he heard loud creaking sounds.
The door finally opened and they entered.
“Finally,” he breathed as loud claps filled the atmosphere.
The others were jot back yet which made him wonder where they went to.
Before he could start getting worried, they walked in through the door and he was relieved.
As they walked in, Christopher's eyes drifted to the blinking screen in front of him as he could see his name at the top of the list with the highest score followed by Michael and the others' names on the screen in the order in which they came out.
He also realized that more scores were added based on the skills displayed.
“Welcome,” Elder Suni said smiling sheepishly like a proud father.
“Now we have combined three activities into one: archery, elements, and energy. although most of you didn't know that you need to be able to gather the energy of the wind to open that door.”
Their mouths went wide open because they didn't expect that.
“Well, that's all for today.”
“You may retire to your dorms,” Mr Coniel finalized.
They all scrambled away hoping to get some rest.