After seeing one person take on all of the rabid students that were between the third stage and fourth stage, the will, the confidence that all of what Lisa and Sherry had completely disappeared.
"Look at you guys now, huh?" Mada stood up and immediately swung his sword. Visual Qi of a flowing waterfall appeared as he smashed it right against the neck of one of the Red Headband students.
His whole body had fallen to the ground immediately. It was hard to know if the student had been killed from the powerful Qi strike or just hurt, but it was clear that he wasn't going to get up from the strike either way.
"You guys, you really decided to team up with those that were trying to kill us!" Mada shouted at the other Red Headband student that had gone against them.
"During this entire time, we main disciples had decided to do nothing. We decided to leave all you guys be! Do you think we wanted to take part in this crap pot of an assessment? And, then when you get the chance you go against us!"
"Wait!" The student frantically dropped his weapon to the side and was shaking his hands. "It was Lisa's idea, the whole thing was her idea. She said that only five of us could go through anyway! How were we meant to go against one of the Main Disciples?"
"Did you forget who I am!" Mada swung his sword, bashing it right across the student's face. Blood splattered in the air along with a few teeth hitting the floor just before the student's head hit the ground.
"I'm a Main Disciple as well!" Mada stated.
Hearing who was behind the attack in the first place, Raze had decided to move away from the bodies on the ground he had created. He looked over at the others. They were hurt, cut in places and bleeding, but none of the wounds looked to be major. More than anything, they looked a bit exhausted, and it was the same for the others as well.
After seeing this, he turned around and headed back into the hallway where he had come from without saying a word.
Both Sherry and Lisa let out a big sigh of relief after seeing this. They didn't know why, but the look in Raze's eyes, and whenever he was in the room, it just made them feel sick.
"What, you think now you're free, after we just heard your plan, and the fact that you tried to kill us?" Ricktor said. "More specifically, you had personally targeted me as well."
The two girls looked at each other out of the corner of their eye. In their heads, they were both trying to see how they could get out of this situation.
"We were left with no choice!" Lisa shouted. "You know what this assessment is for. The plan was for all of us to get through; we were the chosen ones for this assessment.
"But then, we saw you getting buddy-buddy with the others! There are only five places. What did you want us to do, just give our lives? We were meant to get rid of Raze together, and then the others, but you ruined that."
"Get rid of Raze?" Ricktor replied. "That was an order that was given by your Clan Head, not mine, and our positions were never secure."
"The handsome one, the eye-patch kid, the mute, the tall one, and Raze. That already makes five. In here, have you seen how they have evolved? What made you so sure that we were above them?"
Sherry was biting her teeth by her side as well. "And what about the others, why didn't you agree to help? If you knew this was going to happen."
When Sherry shouted, she was specifically shouting at Tinson and the others.
"Do you think we cared about the martial arts tournament?" Tinson replied. "We just want to get out of this place. So rather than trying to be part of the final five, we were just looking for a way to survive."
"And how do you expect to do that? The assessment will go on for another week at least; can you survive with no food still? It's even affecting us, so it must be worse for you guys."
On cue, Raze had returned at that moment, and he was dragging two large sacks behind him. A certain smell was covering it up, the smell of blood that was lingering in the air.
When he came over, he placed the bag in front of Safa and Tinson and his friends, and let go of the tied end. As the large cloth unwrapped itself, that was when food was revealed to them all. Including large containers of water and cups for them to drink from.
Bread, different types of dried meat, and more. It was food, and it wasn't small amounts of it either.
"Can we… eat this?" Liam asked. If he even had the saliva to come out from his mouth, he would have been drooling all over the place.
"I am keeping my part of the deal, and you must keep yours. Before taking any of this food, I need to make it clear to you all that this is an offer for you all."
"If you agree to take this food, then you will be able to survive the assessment, but that means we have all gone against the order of the Pagna Academy and the Clans that ordered this."
"The way the clans have treated us, the way the academy has treated us, it's as if our lives don't matter. They wouldn't care if we are dead, so why should we care if they are still alive."
"If you take this food, then you are agreeing to go against the academy with me."
After saying these words, it didn't take long for Liam and Simyon to already dig in, and Safa followed after. They started to hammer the food and chug it down.
"Thank you, thank you!" Tinson shouted. "I never thought... I would survive down here. I really thought my life was at an end."
"Screw the academy, burn them all!" Tinson said as he went and grabbed the food, and his two friends slowly followed after.
Mada and Ricktor had yet to make a move, and Dame was carefully following them. Sure, it was nice that they got a few allies, but they were only three Red Headband students.
What they needed was the main disciples to join them. Not only would they be a benefit in strength, but also a benefit in information gathering and weaknesses of their clan.
They needed them more so than the others, and Dame was wondering if, with everything going on, enough anger had been placed in them.
While waiting, though, Sherry had stepped forward and had headed towards the food, to which Raze responded by stepping in her way.
"Not for you two, you two don't get a choice," Raze replied.
"What... but you just said... you just said."
"The one thing that we need if we are going against the academy together is trust," Raze replied. "Trust is the foundation of any secret group operating in a place."
"We have to trust everyone with the information they give, with the tasks given with our lives, because one wrong move and it could mean the death of us all.
"You two have already betrayed us once. That trust is forever broken, and it can never be mended no matter what you do," Raze ordered.
"But... but...!" Sherry was shaking. How did the situation change for her? Right there and then, close to rage, she lifted her fan aiming right for his chin.
Raze stepped back, dodging the blow. "Now!" Sherry shouted.
Right then, Lisa pulled out a small dagger, laced green. It was a special dagger she had been keeping on her for a while now.
'The Clan Head, she gave me this. She gave me it and told me to use it when the time was right. It's laced with the strongest poison that can take out even level 5 beasts. It's practically a clan's treasure.'
'She told me to use it at the right time, and this is the only time I can use it.'
It was thrown out with all the Qi she had. It went perfectly straight and had hit Raze right on his shoulder. When it did, though, it didn't penetrate him. Instead, a small reflective image appeared like a glare in a mirror, and the dagger had fallen to the ground.
'The blazer... I currently have it in a hidden state underneath the school robes... it activated and protected me from the dagger.'
While thinking this, Raze already had held Sherry with one hand, and her entire body had already shriveled up, her energy absorbed.
"That dagger, it should have stabbed you, it should have killed you!" Lisa shouted. "How did you stop it? What are you... you... you monster!"
