Dimensional Descent

Leonel's brow raised. It was over? Just like that?

There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason. The balls only increased their speed just once. In addition, Leonel had started paying attention to who was getting hit and who was dodging after a while, but everyone other than the six of them seemed to have gotten hit at least two or three times. 

That meant…

'So it's based on elimination.'

Leonel looked toward the two youths too tired to even stand up. Their Force had been completely run dry. 

The young man who had been tackled wanted to vent out his rage and unwillingness, but he couldn't do anything but glare and breathe heavily. 

Eventually, a flash of light sent both out of the room. 

As expected, they really were eliminated. This likely meant that these rounds would continue until there were just four remaining. 

'If that's the case, depending on this next round, we can just end things early.'

"This next round will test your strength. Begin."

The walls flashed and all the balls suddenly vanished. With another subtle glow, numerous lights coalesced. This time, however, instead of forming balls, they began to form humanoid puppets. 

Leonel found that his soles were stuck to the tiles beneath his feet. He tried to lift his leg and found that it was an enormous task. 

'Gravity? Magnetism?' Leonel couldn't decide what it was. 

He didn't think it was gravity because though moving his legs was hard, the other parts of his body didn't feel heavy. As for magnetism… He might have been a man of metal, but everyone else seemed to be experiencing the same thing. It couldn't be that they were all metal men and women too, right? How could there be such a coincidence?

'What a weird phenomenon…'

Leonel found the balls that could sap energy to be quite fascinating. He could imagine how over powered such a thing could be if it was an ability. 

But as broken as that ability seemed, if someone could make you suddenly magnetic to the ground beneath your feet mid battle without any warning, how devastating would that be. 

Leonel couldn't help but wonder how these things worked. It made him realize that he should definitely be more eager to use Valiant Heart's training rooms. 

The puppet before Leonel suddenly through out a punch. 

Reacting quickly, Leonel too threw out a punch, obliterating the puppet before him into motes of light. 

Leonel felt the magnetism at his feet disappear. But, before he could be confused, another puppet began to form. This time, he felt as though all the air in his surroundings had vanished, not allowing him to breathe in the slightest. 

The sudden change caught Leonel off guard, but it still took him just a single punch to eliminate the puppet before him. 

On the third, he felt like his skin was being seared in a vat of lava. On the fourth, he felt a chill down to his very bone. 

'Is this a strength test, or an adaptation test?' 

Leonel was so wow'd by the changes that he completely forgot to end the exam early like he had wanted to. How this testing arena managed to cause so many changes in such a fine area was beyond Leonel. 

It was all the more shocking because Leonel knew how poor this organization's standard of Force Crafting was. It was impossible for them to create something like this. 

"Second round concluded. Third round commencing."

'Huh?' Leonel was caught off guard. Only then did he realize that he had gotten completely lost in his analysis. Maybe he liked Force Crafting for more than just defeating his father one day. He didn't even realize how ingrained it had become to his very being. 

Two more youths who couldn't survive the round were suddenly teleported out. No, it wasn't two, it was actually six. 

Leonel raised his brows. It seemed that they had all fallen at the same stage so they were taken out together. Some of them were convulsing, obviously still stuck in whatever harsh environment they had been feeling. 

Just like that, only ten remained. 

"This round will test your speed. Begin."

Leonel's eyes flashed, his body instantly flickering to the side. 

A sharp silver dagger whizzed by him. 

'Another dodging test?' Leonel raised an eyebrow. 

But, he had hardly finished the thought when the dagger suddenly stopped midair, flipped backward, and headed for him again. 

'Oh…'

Leonel rolled out of the way, narrowly dodging the dagger again. 

But, some others weren't lucky. This time, not only did they feel a piercing pain, freezing their nervous system for a moment, but their stamina and Force was snatched away once again. 

The corners the dagger took to stab toward Leonel grew sharper and sharper. Eventually, it reacted so fast that Leonel didn't even have the option to stay in the same place. 

He swiftly dodged backward, the dagger bearing down on the tip of his nose. Leonel almost became cross-eyed trying to keep his gaze locked onto it. 

'What a test. They want us to display this level of speed in a 20 by 20 meter room with nine other competitors amongst us? The worst part is that they didn't even make any effort to separate out allies from one another, so there are most definitely people who will work together. Unless…?'

If this was done on purpose, Leonel could see it having a potentially good effect. Teamwork was good for the sake of building the foundation of an organization. But, Leonel felt it would be better to promote this teamwork against their enemies, not their fellow students. 

The more Leonel thought about it, the more likely he felt it wasn't a coincidence that Hero Peak had sent exactly four to participate in this test. And, it was most definitely not a coincidence that they had all come together at the very last minute, even later than he and Aina. 

Leonel sent a gaze over toward Aina. Considering her speed, he wasn't worried about her. What he was worried about though was… 

Leonel's eyes narrowed.. Even without turning, he could feel that someone had targeted him from the back.