Humanity's Last Hope

Chapter 4: Survival Exam

 After waiting for a while, the weapons were finally ready... Dusk and Tohka approached Hikari and Mizuki after just taking their weapons back.

"Done now? Show me your weapon!" says Hikari

"Hmm? No, I don't want to show it to you... Why would I let my rival know my weapon?" says Paul while smiling at Hikari

"R-Rival? Okay then, we are rivals! Looking forward to our first battle!" says Hikari, also smiling to Dusk.

  --- The day has passed pretty quickly, after going to their room, both Dusk and Hikari going to sleep right away after the extenuating training they just went through. The following day, nothing too unusual happened... Just the usual daily routine, and then going to school, thinking that this will be a normal, boring day of it.

 After getting to his seat, Dusk is bombarded by countless praises and questions from his classmates, regarding the lesson they went through yesterday. After all, his power was truly insane... They kept buzzing him about the fact that even the ones in Year 2, with way more training, or even some actual soldiers don't even have near that much magic power and skill.

 However, Dusk was not in the mood for talking, not like he ever was... So after answering with short replies every time, he easily brushed the gathering off from his desk, finally being alone after some time.

"Hmm? He is not here...?" mutters Dusk after looking to the empty desk that was usually the one where Kubo Yuuji would sit.

 After that, Mizuki suddenly approaches Dusk's desk and asks him: "You are wondering where Kubo is, right?"

"Are my thoughts that easy to read after all...?" he replied.

"Yes... Yes, they are," affirmed Mizuki with a smile, who continued then with the explanation regarding Kubo's absence: "Kubo got suspended for two weeks after trying to stab a fellow student. You know... Yesterday... Also, miss Aiko said that you are now the class's Vice-President. The discipline representative role will be given to someone else."

"More work to do, huh? Well... I think I am going to do it..." said Dusk with a not so excited demeanour.

 While they were talking about usual non-sense, the time flew by faster than Hikari's light swords. It was already the time for their first lesson of the day to start... Or it was that time... Suddenly, the bell started ringing in a weird pattern. It was actually...

"The fire alarm...?" muttered Dusk

"Everyone! Please form a line and leave the classroom quietly!" shouted Mizuki

 After all, it was her job to evacuate all of her classmates in this scenario... It was indeed a hard task for someone without leadership skills, but for Mizuki, it wasn't so hard...

--- Meanwhile in class 1-D.

 Sitting with his head on the desk, sound asleep like he usually was at this hour of the day, was none other than Hikari Ianku, the acting class representative of class 1-D. Since there was no leader to guide them, everyone from the class started running around for a bit and managed to get out fairly easy after screaming for some time... Some even jumped on the window to get out, which is an impressive task by itself for someone without magic... Since their classroom was on the 3rd floor.

 After a while, everyone from class 1-D was out... Other than Hikari. We can see a big silhouette approaching him from afar... Outside the school, everyone was wondering why the fire alarm has started since there was not even a spark...

 Suddenly, one boy that was currently still sleeping thought it was a good idea to take flying lessons from the principal, so was right now falling from the 3rd floor of the building after being thrown out from the window.

 Standing at the window from where Hikari got thrown a few seconds ago, the other students could clearly see the principal smiling, as if he achieved something he was really proud of.

"Good morning everyone! I see everyone is here... From the 1st year, I mean..." said the principal through a microphone. The background was full of astonished voices that didn't fully understand what was happening. But now that they looked around more... It was true that not even a single class of the 2nd year was outside.

"Every year at this school, we start with a good first lesson... A survival test!" shouted the principal

"Wasn't the first lesson yesterday...?" asks the sleepy Hikari.

"That was just to measure your abilities and also accommodate yourselves. The first lesson starts tomorrow! Today, you have all the time and also permission to train on the school's training grounds!" and then, he quickly continued with the rules:

"I will explain the rules now... All the classes will fight on an abandoned island against each other. You have to work hard for your team or else, you will lose... You will be given our battle armour prototype. A vest that reduces damage and measures the power of an attack... And if it was powerful enough to kill... So you don't have to hold back. Try to kill your target. The vest will protect you even if it is not the zone targeted... The winning team is the one that kills all the members of the other team or the team that has the most members alive when the time goes out... The winning class gets an A grade in all subjects! This is all... Go train now!" shouted the principal.

"You've got to be kidding me..." said Dusk

"Yo!" said Hikari after approaching Dusk.

"What happened to you... Why on the window?!"

"Not important... But what is important is that we might finally have our first fight!" says Hikari.

"Yeah... But leaving that matter aside, when did everyone here leave?!"

"I don't know... Maybe they are pumped up for training, or just ran to hide somewhere..." said Hikari.

"I will take the first example and make my way towards the training grounds... Don't you dare come after me..." said Dusk

"I won't... As much as I'd like to see your weapon, my training is way too different from usual ones..."

"I won't train with my weapon anyway... Cya later then!"

 After that, Hikari rushed to his training place and started working really hard like usual, but on the other hand... Dusk's training didn't go that smoothly...

"Why are the training grounds full?!" shouted Dusk upon seeing the weird scene.

 A girl's voice could be then heard from afar on a side of the training grounds, calling for Dusk...

"Dusk! Do you want to train with us?!" the one calling for him was none other than Tohka. She was training with Mizuki and both of them really looked like they wanted to win.

"Sure... I can train with you... I don't have anything else to do..."

"Thanks!"

 Dusk then starts training with the two girls, but after a while, he finally gets bored enough to want to leave.

"I think I am going to go..."

"B-But only 30 minutes have passed... What are you going to do?"

"I've got something important to do..."

 Then after hearing this argument, Mizuki approaches Dusk with a suspicious look on her face and asks:

"You are going to sleep, right?"

"Crap, she got me!" thinks Dusk

"Are you going to be fine...? I mean, if you don't train enough..." asks Tohka worried.

"Don't drag our class down!" says Mizuki with a smile on her face.

"I won't... I have someone I want to fight, so I can't lose... Well, see ya later..."

"See ya!"

 Dusk then walks to the dorms, right into his room and goes straight to bed... It is so early and yet, he still wants to sleep. Meanwhile, Hikari continues with his training with the sole thought in his mind being that he doesn't want to lose against his rival.

 Without even eating once today, Dusk falls asleep... After many hours passed, at 02:00 AM, when everyone should technically be asleep, Dusk wakes up and sees Hikari sleeping in the next bed.

 Dusk gets his black jacket and leaves the room, going to the training grounds for a late at night training session. But up to his surprise, one more person was there... Someone that he already knew well enough.

"Mizuki...? Why are you here at this hour?"

"Hmm? Dusk? You know, I could ask you the same thing..."

"I am here to train for tomorrow," says Dusk

"You should go to sleep... If you are too tired tomorrow, all this training will be in vain..." added then Dusk.

"Okay... I will... See you tomorrow..." and just like this, Mizuki goes towards her dorm, leaving Dusk behind to train.

 Dusk trained intensively all night until the next day arrived. At 08:00 AM an alarm could be heard... It's the signal that the first real lesson is going to start. Everyone got on the huge ship that is now going to take them to the abandoned island where their test will take place.

 Going towards Dusk, Hikari asks smiling:

"You didn't sleep well, didn't you?" 

"Umm, yes..."

"He really trained late at night so that no one could see him... This guy..." thinks Hikari

 After arriving on the island, all the inspectors give the students their vests, and then... Out of nowhere all of them got transported to different places on the island, and then... The principal gave the start of the exam...

"May the 1st year's first lesson start! Do your best, shrimps!"

 Every class had different strategies... Class C made 4 groups of 5, with them being a total of 21 classmates, one of them ran off on his own... In class B, all of the students stayed close to one another to have a number advantage... They wanted to choose a leader, but then... That happened...

"Where is Dusk...? If we need a leader, he might be the best choice for us..." asked Mizuki

 Even though they all had the same opinion, Dusk was nowhere to be found. He ran solo as well, and let the rest of the class with Mizuki as its leader.

 Meanwhile, in class D, Hikari as the leader started making strategies for the team. One of the reasons Hikari is Dusk's supervisor is that he is one of the most intelligent humans in the school. It is stated that his strategies and intelligence would be better than those of the principal...

 Everyone started moving after a while, but just then, they could hear the lesson's narrator coming with news for them...

"Five members of Class C got "killed" by Dusk Aome!"

"What...?" asked Mizuki quietly.

"Already?!" shouted Hikari