In response to each of the attacks she had shown that she was not to be trifled with, but her immense strength and force that had been gifted by the fact that her body had been compressed by her transformation art was a lot more difficult to show to people than Cleo’s own flames. She had a target painted on her back, but she was dealing with it with grace and elegance, full in the knowledge that if anything truly dangerous happened to her Yun would intervene.
She began biting her nails while watching her friends drag their heavy bodies to the end of the pillar and one after the other, watched them join her in surveying the remaining competitors. Jim appeared first, crawling next to Cleo before falling on his stomach and lying there in his slowly pooling sweat. He groaned pathetically while looking at the crowd below. There were four visible groups within the crowd now. The first was those who had finished, containing around sixty people, almost all of them half a step away from Heaven rank. The next major group was the fifty or so Saints swarming towards the pillar in the middle, hoping that they would be the one to touch the pillar before anyone else. They were varied and by far the most brutal group, as they had the most to lose. Not one of them wanted to be the forty-first person to touch the pillar, and it showed in their violence towards each other. Even now, when most of the people still moving were completely drained, they still fought tooth and nail with sword and sorcery. Bloody wounds had been chunked out of every person still moving, even Jim had deep rivulets of flesh missing from his back, and he had left a trail of confused and battered corpses in his wake.
Winoa and Louisa were both part of this group and were rather worse for wear, even though they were near the front of everyone. Each step caused them to grimace in pain, but they were still making steady progress unlike other people. Of those left inside the group furthest ahead, many of the people pushing had attempted to bite off more than they could chew, and had ended up wasting almost all their energy before they reached the end. The two girls edged closer together and quickly began supporting each other towards the pillar. With every step they took someone would attempt to take a swing at them or throw something at them to slow them down, but it did not stop them. They pulled themselves over the bodies of the various collapsed Saints and after several moments both girls touched the pillar of light with their palms. Their touch upon the pillar seemed to ignite something inside it, from the base several thick lines of light spiralled to the top of the pillar, forming a symbol representing the number five.
“Looks like the two girls just reached the soft cap for passes. There are only five more spaces within today’s trial, Challengers,” the woman said. She was like an immortal deity looming over her worshippers as they tore themselves and each other apart. Cleo and her friends had all passed the test, but it had only become more vicious. One part of the group still taking part were simply now trying to make sure that no one else passed the test. Again and again and again someone would try to climb out of the mass of people, but each time they would be dragged back in and torn apart. Each time someone would get out they would be weaker than the last, until finally there were two rings of people around the pillar, the inner ring with around fifty people who had congregated from both those who had forged ahead and those who had been left behind by the people who had completed the challenge.
The outer ring was one of abject failure. There was no other way to describe it. In comparison to the inner ring, that was around five meters away from the pillar, the outer ring was halfway between the entrance to the test and the pillar itself. There was a long way for any of them to go, and most of those within the ring had already expended all the reserves that they had inside them long ago. Most people assumed that there was no way for any of either group to finish at this point, but there were still five spots open and the trial would not finish until all of them had been filled.
There was a sound from to the right of Cleo as one of the people who had shied from the test before stepped forwards. He sank slightly, but moved forwards with purpose and soon enough he reached the halfway mark inside the ring. Stepping heavily over the bodies of the people below him he tried to mitigate the grabbing hands and claws as much as possible, but still they managed to draw blood. He passed the first circle and soon enough other people realised what he was trying to do. There was a second stampede of weaker people trying to pass the test, most flagged immediately, their expectation of the weight of the very air they were walking into being far less than it actually was, but many managed to reach the outer ring quickly. The young man who had started off the second stampede was at the inner ring at this point and he was flagging, but still in much better shape than those who were on the floor. He gingerly stepped over the thin line and pushed forwards once more before touching the pillar and watched the five tick down to a four before he was teleported away.
Cleo held her breath as she watched the end of the trial. The majority of the new people swarming to the end had fallen, but most of the first wave were not moving much either. There were only ten people left standing, and the harder the pushed the more fatigued they became. It was no surprise when they began fighting, and in the midst of the foray that sprang into life, two women managed to sneak through without being harmed too much. The other contestants let out a yell of rage as the counter ticked down to the number two. Almost immediately the last eight stopped fighting and made a mad dash towards the pillar. As a young Lupe clansman and a Drake clanswoman touched the pillar it flashed once more and a zero appeared above it.
Another flash occurred and all those who had touched the pillar were transported into a new room with glazed wooden walls and a soft carpet floor. In the middle of a room there was a white bowl with numerous signs and marks upon it. The woman who had presided over the trial stood at the head of the room, looking at the hundred or so people who had overcome it. “Well done,” she said, glancing at the people in front of her. “I can understand how some of you must be rather tired, well don’t worry. You can rest here until you need to move on. As for the expected upgrade for you, well on exit to the floor you have to put your ring in the transformation bowl and you will receive it. It’s simply turning your ring into an unlimited storage space for shards, seeing as you should be getting a lot in the future”. She stopped and looked at her own pointer ring, before turning back to them. “I have to do some work now, unlike you all I am expected to actually work for the tower”. At that she turned and walked out of a door that had been obscured by her frame, ruffling her feathers as she clipped them against the frame of the door.
Sliding down against the wall nearby wall, Cleo and Louisa began getting out food and began making the group an impromptu picnic. Jim walked over and looked at the two girls questioningly, but at the sight of the food he joined them in eating. Soon all five of them were recharging their engines and preparing for the journey ahead. They all knew that they had a long way to go.
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