Kyle's POV

It had been more than an hour since Seraphina had left with the others to investigate and clear the shrine. Despite multiple attempts to contact them through the communication crystals, none of them had responded to my calls.

Growing increasingly worried and no longer willing to remain passive, I stood up and addressed my surrounding team members with urgency.

"I need to be direct with all of you. Something might have happened to Seraphina and her team at that shrine," I announced grimly.

One of my teammates looked genuinely shocked by this possibility. "How is that even possible? Who could defeat Seraphina and the team accompanying her? Are you certain you're not being overly paranoid, Kyle?"

The concern was understandable. Seraphina was widely recognized as one of the top five strongest students in the entire academy. Her legendary bloodline wasn't something that could be easily overcome by ordinary opponents.

I frowned as I considered the possibilities. "It's most probably Adrian Blackwood's team that's responsible. Alternatively, she might have been ambushed by an entire coordinated class. Otherwise, I don't see anyone else in this examination capable of neutralizing them completely."

The tactical implications were serious either way. "I need a team to accompany me to investigate, while the rest of you remain here to maintain our base security. Who is willing to come with me?"

Several hands immediately shot up in response. I selected the most capable volunteers before giving final instructions to those staying behind.

"Be extremely careful and maintain concealment while I'm gone. Report anything unusual directly to me through the crystals," I commanded.

With my rescue team assembled, we prepared to depart and discover what had happened to Seraphina's group.

***

"Seraphina!" I shouted as my eyes fell upon her motionless form on the forest floor. My blood ran cold, and I immediately darted toward her unconscious body.

I pressed my fingers against her neck, desperately searching for a pulse. The seconds felt like an eternity before I detected the rhythmic beating.

Beat. Beat...

"Thank god," I sighed in profound relief. She was alive, though clearly unconscious from whatever had transpired here.

I quickly searched the surrounding area for the other team members who had accompanied her, but found no trace of them anywhere. The battlefield showed clear signs of intense combat - broken trees, disturbed earth, and scattered equipment - but my teammates were nowhere to be found.

During my frantic search, my eyes landed on something that made them widen in complete shock. Before I could fully process the implications of the item lying on the forest floor, a familiar voice came from behind me.

"Student Kyle, could you please move away from her. I have a student who needs to be removed from the examination," an academy instructor said with professional authority.

My team members looked confused and alarmed by this sudden development. "Did something happen to Seraphina? What's going on?" one of them asked with obvious concern.

I understood the situation immediately and tried to intervene. Losing Seraphina so early on in the examination was a huge blow to our team that would be hard to deal with. "Instructor, Seraphina is fine and she's with us now. She might have activated her emergency crystal by accident during the fighting."

The instructor shook his head firmly, showing no flexibility in his stance. "It doesn't matter what the circumstances were. Her emergency crystal was activated, which means she is automatically excluded from this examination. She will not be permitted to continue participating."

My teammates looked genuinely shocked by this pronouncement. Seraphina being eliminated from the examination was a devastating blow to our overall strategy and competitive position.

"But she's clearly capable of continuing," I protested. "This has to be some kind of mistake or misunderstanding."

"The rules are absolute," the instructor replied. "Emergency crystal activation results in immediate removal, regardless of the student's current condition. This policy exists for safety reasons and cannot be overridden."

I watched helplessly as the instructor began preparing to transport Seraphina away from the examination grounds, realizing that we had just lost one of our most powerful team members to circumstances I still didn't fully understand.

My remaining team members gathered around me, their faces showing a mixture of confusion and concern about the rapidly deteriorating situation.

"Kyle, what should we do now?" one of them asked with obvious worry. "Seraphina has been removed from the examination, and her entire team has vanished without a trace."

"Yes, we are in a deep predicament. Just...who did this." Another member said, clenching his hands till they turned white.

I grimly nodded my head, acknowledging the severity of our predicament. Taking a deep breath to maintain my composure, I addressed the group with as much calm authority as I could muster. I had to be technical and calm before my team, or they would panic and we would lose our cohesion.

"We need to search this entire area," I instructed. "Look for any leads, evidence, or clues that might help us understand exactly what happened here. Check for tracks, displaced equipment, signs of struggle - anything that could tell us where the others went or who was responsible for this."

The team spread out across the battlefield, examining the disturbed ground and broken vegetation with careful attention to detail. The combat had clearly been intense and prolonged, but the specifics of what had transpired remained unclear.

Time passed as we conducted our thorough investigation. The silence was tense as everyone focused on their assigned search areas, hoping to discover something that would provide answers.

Finally, one of my team members called out with excitement. "Captain! I've found a letter, somebody deliberately left it here!"

I immediately moved toward the team member's location. There, partially concealed beneath some fallen leaves, was a folded piece of paper that had clearly been placed intentionally rather than dropped accidentally.

"Bring it here," I commanded, extending my hand to receive what might be our first real clue about the fate of Seraphina's missing team members.

The folded letter represented our best hope of understanding the events that had led to this devastating situation.

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