Divinity

--- [Alex’s perspective]

So Lucas won’t join us then…

Alright, we’ll just have to find somebody else.

But who…?

The only one I really knew how strong was, is Lucas.

Other than that, everyone else here is on equal ground.

Although I suppose since we already know Rin, we might be able to work better as a team with her compared to total strangers.

It seems Lett and Shin were thinking the same thing; we all head over to her.

“Long time no see!” – Lett

Next to her is a tall and muscular woman.

Her abs though…

…

Are they friends?

“Oh! You cuties know, Rin?” – Jade

Shin visibly shudders and mutters to himself…

“Eugh…” – Shin

“Oh… I know those three.” – Rin

While pointing at me, Shin, and Lett, she continues explaining.

“We met during the F-rank exam. She was my teammate and those boys helped us out.” – Rin

Rin’s friend starts patting our heads.

“Thanks for helping my little Rin out!” – Jade

Shin immediately yanks away her hand.

“Oh, my bad!” – Jade

Shin takes a step back and coughs before getting to the point.

“Anyways! We came to ask you if you wanted to join our team, Rin. But it seems you’ve already found someone else.” – Shin

“Yup. I’m sticking with Jade…” – Rin

Jade smirks, but it quickly fades away as she hears what she has to say next…

“… Unfortunately.” – Rin

“Hey! What do you mean ‘unfortunately’?!” – Jade

“Eh.” – Rin

“!!?” – Jade

Jade picks Rin up by the back of her shirt; she just hangs there lifelessly like a sack of potatoes.

She doesn’t resist and just goes with the flow.

“Let’s go find some teammates!” – Jade

She walks away while still carrying her.

Rin turns around waves us goodbye.

“It was nice seeing you again!” – Rin

“…” – All of us

What was that…

“I guess we’ll have to find somebody else then…” – Lett

From the looks of it, most teams are already starting to be fully formed.

We don’t have much time to spare.

Before it’s too late, we need to find someone…

Anyone…

We franticly look around, but we can’t seem to find anyone who is alone.

We should have just accepted that guy from earlier…

We’re already four, and most people seem to have already found at least one teammate.

Do we need to start breaking up teams to try and fill our last spot…?

Illian taps me on the shoulder while pointing away from the crowd.

“Look! She’s all alone!” – Illian

There’s a girl standing all alone far away from the rest.

Why is that?

As we get closer to her, I start to notice how nervous she looks.

“Yo! Join our team.” – Shin

“Uhh… Uh… Are you… Uhm… Sure?” – Nervous girl

Lett puts her hand on her shoulder and tries to calm her down.

“Are you okay?” – Lett

“I… Uhh…” – Nervous girl

She doesn’t look any of us in the eye, and constantly fidgets with her sword.

“We need a fifth member, and that’ll be you.” – Lett

“Oh… Okay…” – Nervous girl

Why is she so nervous?

Is she afraid of the exam?

If she’s so scared of it, why did she sign up…?

“What’s your name?” – Lett

“Isabella…” – Isabella

“Hi Isabella, I’m Lett! That’s Alex, that’s Illian, and the dumb looking one is Shin. Nice to meet you!” – Lett

She tries to lighten the mood by cracking some jokes.

Shin picks up on it and tries to get back at her, but she quickly interrupts him.

“Anyways! Now that we’re five, we can head back.” – Lett

“…” – Shin

He looks a little annoyed…

She got him good, heh.

--- A few minutes later

“Alright! Looks like the teams are all formed then.” – Leanne

The groups are all separated, but still near Leanne.

There are seven full groups, with three people left over.

Those three already know what is going to happen; their defeated looks say it all.

“You three in the back! You already know the drill. You failed to form a full team in time, so you fail. Better luck next time!” – Leanne

They slowly walk away as an aura of disappointment exudes from them so clearly you can almost see it.

I knew they’d have to leave, but there’s one thing I’m not entirely sure about.

There are seven full teams here…

That means there is one team too many.

I know she said she wouldn’t compromise on the games, so she wouldn’t allow a four vs four match.

Maybe her words influenced me, but in my mind, I foresaw two teams of four being left, and them both having to leave.

But instead, there was an additional team of five, with only three extras…

Will one of us have to leave…?

If so…

Who?

Leanne points at a team, seemingly at random.

“You guys…” – Leanne

They look confused.

“You’re out.” – Leanne

“What?!” – Guy

“There’s one team too many, so one of you have to leave.” – Leanne

“Why us?!” – Guy

“Why not?” – Leanne

He looks dumbfounded; he doesn’t know what to say.

“This isn’t fair!” – Girl

“Okay… And?” – Leanne

Just like him, she’s completely dumbfounded too.

“…” – Leanne

Leanne just stares at them while expecting them to leave.

“Come on then! Go! You failed.” – Leanne

“…” – The entire team

“Oh my god… Fine. If you won’t leave yourselves, you leave me no choice.” – Leanne

She flicks her finger up, and a column of rock rises from the ground below them.

A cocoon of stone grows around them, making them unable to escape.

The pillar suddenly grows horizontally so quickly my eyes can’t even follow it.

It carries the cocoon with it, and in the blink of an eye, they’re God knows where…

I suppose the cocoon was there to protect them and make sure they didn’t fall off the pillar while it was moving so fast.

I don’t think we’ll be seeing them again any time soon…

“Right then… We’re finally able to continue…” – Leanne

She thinks for a second before explaining further.

“Isabella, John, Lucas, Jade, Samantha, and Hector. You’re the leaders of your respective teams. The title doesn’t mean anything, it’ll just make it easier for me when deciding your matchups.” – Leanne

She raises her hand, and a stone wheel rises from the ground.

I see…

So it’s just like that other time then.

The names of the leaders are already inscribed into the stone.

“The first match will be between…” – Leanne

She spins the wheel, and the first name it lands on is Isabella.

So we’re up first…

“Team Isabella, and…” – Leanne

After saying her name out loud, Isabella looks even more nervous than before.

All the work we did to calm her down went down the drain just like that…

“Team Hector! You guys will be the first ones up.” – Leanne

Isabella whispers to herself.

“Hector… That sounds like the name of someone strong… Oh no…” – Isabella

After crossing off our names, Leanne spins the wheel yet again.

“Team Lucas vs… team Samantha! That means the third and final match will be between team John and team Jade. I’ll follow you all to your respective bases, just wait for me here. Oh! And, like usual, your injuries won’t be healed until the end of the exam, or you when drop out. So be careful everyone.” – Leanne

Leanne walks over to us.

“You five, let’s go.” – Leanne