“There’s something wrong with this path!” Zephyr quietly spoke as he stared at the path before him. “Indeed!” Yang replied while he nodded in approval. Zephyr was not kidding, he could feel the danger from his acute senses. He could tell that a deadly weapon resided along the path.

Someone had gone ahead in a rush. In an instant, as though the man had ruffled a wasp nest, he was struck by a volley of fire arrows. The range of the arrows covered the entire pathway. The man tried to push on quickly, hoping to dodge the fire arrows. A terrible sight ensued. As he tried to charge onwards, the arrows became more abundant, before finally amalgamating into a thick fog of sharp points. In the end, the man was not able to dodge the attacks quick enough. With a gasp, he took on the full brunt of the volley, being rendered into a pile of mush. Nothing was left of him.

A silence came. For a long while, everyone only watched on in horror. They instantly understood how dangerous this volley was. Most times, weapons were but minor annoyances to strong fighters. However, that man earlier was an Agile, yet he was unable to withstand the flurry of the fire arrows.

This was going to be a challenging test.

Many turned a contemptuous gaze to Ricky Shafer, most of them pinned the poor man’s demise onto him. Had he not angered the strong man earlier, they could have been reminded of the path’s danger. The man could have escaped a cruel fate! Their contempt soon turned to disdain towards the prince of Xenon.

“Hmph!” Ricky huffed, before pushing the people away as he made his way towards the path. Following closely was Aiden and some other people. “Golden Shield!” Ricky stated as another volley of fire arrows shot down. Suddenly, his body was ablaze in golden light. This light completely blocked the arrows. Some even ricocheted off of his body and created small sparks after connecting with his golden defenses. Even his followers were unharmed under his strong defense. Ricky had protected himself, and his lackeys.

Everyone stared at him in awe. They had not expected the prince of Xenon to be so powerful.

Beyond the sea of clouds, a group had gathered to watch the apprentices. “This b*stard’s strong!” an old voice came. “Indeed, too bad he’s too cold and brutal!” another came. “It doesn't matter, we can iron him out! What matters is his mettle!” the last voice came, icy cold. With that, the sea of clouds became silent once more.

‘This guy’s good! I wonder what technique he’s using?’ Zephyr wondered. He steeled himself once more, looking to the sky. Although the sea of clouds looked to be normal, he felt as though someone was watching him. “Let’s go!” Yang said. “Yeah!” Zephyr replied. He frowned for a moment, before taking off himself.

“Oh? Has this one noticed us?” a soft voice came from the clouds above.

Yang’s body was covered in streams of black light. He carried himself with a presence of evil. As the arrows shot out, it rotted at the touch of his black energies, melting into dark goop. ‘Scary!’ Zephyr thought after he bore witness to Yang’s incredible defense. Zephyr did not care for the arrows however, bravely facing them on. As the arrows came, Zephyr did not do anything special. He decided to take on the brunt of the arrows and only relied on his body’s defenses. He escaped unscathed from the attempt.

“What strength!” a voice whistled. “He must have an augment!” another chimed in. “This must’ve been a piece of cake for him,” another voice came.

As more and more arrows came, even Ricky started to show signs of difficulty. The arrows came wave after wave, pouring out like an endless ocean. It was tough, and it was even more so by his efforts to protect Aiden and his lackeys. Suddenly, a silhouette blew past him. “What?!” he cursed as he noticed who it was.

Zephyr had surpassed him on this path by a lot. Ricky’s pride could not allow this. “Zephyr has augments Ricky! That’s why he’s so scary,” Aiden frantically explained. “Of course he does!” Ricky gritted his teeth as he attempted to calm himself down. Watching Zephyr be unscathed in such a strong wave of attacks left him with lingering envy. Zephyr’s augment looked to be special. Ricky knew that. Ricky wanted that.

Zephyr was one in a million!

The other fighters could only sigh as they watched him pass them by.

…

At the top of the path, a man stood there waiting. From his appearance, one could guess he was the manager of the third trial. His powers were stronger than the other two. As Zephyr approached, he let out a look of suspicion. He had not expected anyone to arrive so soon.