In the underground assessment, things were intense between the students who were fighting. Twenty new students from the other underground assessments had been let into the cavern.
They had already gone through the same methods as the current year-one Red Headband group. However, there was a huge difference between the rest of the groups and what the year-one Red Headband group had been through.
The other students were unable to take the suffering, the hunger, and the thirst anymore. They had figured out the reason for the assessment, and in turn, they had gone from fighting each other. No one felt like they had anyone on their side anymore, and they had activated their instincts and the Qi in their bodies to the max. They had advanced through the stages, becoming stronger than they were before.
Now, joining the first years, they saw easy targets in their sights. Those who hadn't lost all of their thoughts. Those who were still hesitant to attack their fellow students. They ran around, leaping forth and hitting the students who were still weak, their bodies still not activating with the desperate Qi to fight back.
The main disciples were able to put up a fight so far but had realized that the others' attacks were either at the same stage as them or higher.
"These guys, they're not going down!" Lisa spun around and knocked one of the attackers by the side of their head, but they had managed to lift their hands to block the attack.
"The one thing that these guys don't have compared to us is skill though. We have to use our techniques and skills to fight back!" Sherry exclaimed, as she swung her thin sword, almost dancing around her enemies. Since it wasn't a real sword, even when her strikes hit, it wasn't causing a lot of damage.
The same couldn't be said for their attackers. Most of them had given up the weapons in their hands and had managed to use their Qi to reinforce their fingers. They would swipe at the Red Headband students, attempting to attack their necks.
One group in the center of it all had the majority of the attackers on them.
"Meat Shield!" Liam shouted. Immediately, Simyon leapt in the way, standing in front of them. A swipe was made at his chest, but the attack didn't cut through. Simyon then grabbed onto the student's hand holding him. Right after, Safa dived in, thrusting her wooden spear, hitting him in the stomach. Then from behind, Liam grabbed onto his flying sword and whacked one right on top of the head. It was a devastating blow that had caused the student to fall right to the ground.
But the student wasn't dead, and in a desperate move, grabbed onto Liam's leg. Another student was already there to attack him, and a fast swipe was made right at his neck. It was a fatal blow. Before it hit, Dame had grabbed the student by the wrist and then hit him away with the palm of his hand, sending him back a few meters away.
"All of you have to focus; you need to be ready for anything that is going to come your way. You guys are in the Dark Faction, not the Light Faction. Do whatever you can to fight and win this fight!" Dame shouted.
Dame was doing his best to not get involved; he wanted all of them to evolve, to grow in strength like these other students had done. To do that, they needed to feel like their life could be taken at any moment. However, he wouldn't let them die; it was his promise to Raze, and he fully intended to keep it. So if it wasn't a lethal blow, he would let them get hit.
The fighting continued, and many students from the year-one group had died; there weren't many left. There were four main disciples in total. And then out of the rest of the Red Headband group, there were only six that were still alive.
Tinson, Violet, and Joe were still alive, having backed themselves up against a wall. All they were doing was reacting to the attacks; they weren't trying to beat their opponents. These three were Red Headband users who knew each other for a long time.
Tinson was the only survivor from Raze's rampage in the dark space. They had somewhat realized what they had done, forcing their hand to attack Raze, but Tinson had stated to Raze that if he helped them, then they would be by his side in return.
The other students were those that were part of Alfred's group, a group that stuck together, planning to get rid of Raze, but their plan had failed, and Alfred had remained dead. There were only three of them left alive right now.
The fighting continued, and everyone was getting tired. That was until strangely, one by one, the attackers started to do something strange.
One of them had dragged the body of the dead across the floor and was running back down the hallway. Some of the others were doing the same, with the dead bodies of the past, not even those that had been killed yet. Eventually, one by one, the 20 attackers, now dwindled down to around 17 attackers, had retreated down the hallway, taking the dead bodies along with them.
Everyone was still on guard, not moving from their positions for a while, ready to fight. They all kept their eyes on the doorway, waiting for them to come back and attack, but it hadn't happened just yet.
And eventually, Tinson had collapsed, falling to the floor, exhausted.
"Ah... I've got no energy!"
Violet quickly grabbed him and lifted him up.
"Quickly, you have to cultivate, get some energy inside you; it's the only thing we can do."
Tinson listened and started immediately, and most of the others that were still alive in the room had done the same.
"It's strange, right?" Joe said. "Those guys, they're all from the other assessments, but they're acting like beasts. They're attacking together, even though they don't know each other, and now they're retreating as well."
That was what was making it difficult for them all. Not only were the other students at higher stages, but they were working together. The same couldn't be said for the first-year Red Headband students, apart from an odd collaboration from one part of them.
"Thanks, you saved me a few times back there," Simyon said, looking at Ricktor.
"If you really want to thank me, there are many ways you can, once we get out of here," Ricktor said, licking his lips.
Which immediately made Simyon regret his decision of ever thanking him and made nearly all of the dissatisfaction return in an instant.
"What do you think is going on in there anyway?" Liam asked. "Why did they retreat?"
"They may be different from us, but they still have Qi energy as well," Safa replied. "They probably realized it was a lot harder to take us down than they originally thought, so they need to rest as well. They know they're stronger than us in the Dark Space; they're better at fighting in there."
"Then what about the dead bodies?" Mada added. "Why take the dead bodies with them?"
They all knew that there was only one way for them to find out; they would have to go down the hallway, past the seclusion rooms and into the dark space.
"The rest of you recover; I'll go have a look at what's going on," Dame said.
Out of everyone, Dame looked to be completely fine. Other students were starting to notice that there was something different about him compared to the rest. They would have been happy about it, apart from the fact that he was only helping out a few people. Not complaining though, Dame walked ahead and continued down the hallway.
"Dame!" Safa called out. "Stay safe!"
Dame gave a thumbs-up as he headed in. He walked past the seclusion rooms, and as he did, turning his head, he realized that the dead bodies they had stored in the seclusion room were gone as well.
'I don't have a good feeling about this.'
The more Dame went down the hallway, the more sounds he could hear. He hadn't felt like this in a while. He was at a higher stage than all at the academy; he was beyond most of them, so why now did he feel so scared?
'17 fourth-stage attackers, if all of them were to go at me at once, can I best them?'
Dame continued forward, and when he did, he had entered the Dark Space. Focusing Qi on his eyes, he could see slightly, but still not well at all, but enough to see what they were doing. His stomach was churning at the sight, and the sounds he could hear.
"They're going to come back... and they're going to be stronger than they were before. As time goes on, we're only going to get weaker as well. Raze... where are you…?"
