Te gates swallowed the students one after another.

The light that carried them away was neither warm nor cold.

It pressed down like a weight, as if their very hearts were being measured. In the next instant, the pull ended. Each student was thrown into a world not of their choosing.

The large world was split into various regions and as the children were sucked in, they could each hear the cry of their mates around the place.

The first youth slammed into dry soil. He pushed himself up, dust clinging to his armor.

The plains stretched endlessly, the ground cracked like old bone.

The sky above was torn apart by dark clouds, heavy with thunder. He rose to his feet, trembling.

"Okay, I should be able to do something. First, I should check if there are other people around." The youth said with determination.

If they actually stayed together, then they would be able to clear things a lot faster.

"Woah! It's starting! I didn't realise the Final Selection would be the same exam as last ten years ago."

The people in the collosus were raving with excitement so they could barely keep quiet.

"Wasn't the one ten years ago the most brutal one to exist?" Someone said, and there was concern in their voice.

"Okay? Who cares about that! It would even help our students to be more stronger and protect us more when those shadow beast appear." Another person gave a sharp response.

These were the kind of people who could'nt care less as long as they survived and didn't have any work to do.

Back to the screen, the boy tried to stand up and look around but before he could move, he heard something and his body stiffened.

The sound of claws scraped against rock. His hand darted to his weapon as a creature padded into sight, its jaws dripping with saliva that sizzled against the earth.

The youth already knew the creature on front of him.

It was a Desert Three horned Beetle and the worst part of it was that, this was his natural habitat.

Another appeared in the ruins of a city. He stumbled between shattered towers and headless statues that lined broken streets.

At first he thought they were stone alone, relics of a past age. Then dust rained from above.

The cracked head of a statue turned toward him, stone eyes glowing with a faint red. One after another, the statues awakened.

The boy's sword clattered as his hand shook. He cursed and grabbed it again, sweat flooding his brow.

"Why did teacher never tell us that we'd be facing something as evil as this?" The boy wanted to curse and he did what any normal fighter would do in the moment.

He channelled all his energy and made a run for it.

"If I find another person, then we're going team up and I'd probably ditch the person when the fight gets worse."

The boy had an evil plan in his mind too. He didn't care.

At least what their teacher had said was this.

'Try you very best to survive by all means possible!'

And this included both good means and bad means.

A girl fell into fog. Her feet sank into damp earth. The mist swallowed her vision, thick enough to drown the light. She steadied her breathing, forcing her heart to slow.

A wingbeat echoed above. Then silence. Then another wingbeat, closer. She lifted her arrow and lowered her stance. The fog parted slightly, and a vast shadow passed above her, circling.

One more crashed into a marsh, the smell of rot filling his lungs. He gagged as slime clung to his boots. "To think my luck is this bad!" He muttered with a crunched up nose.

Every step dragged him deeper into the muck. The surface rippled.

A mass rose from beneath, scales slick and black. Yellow eyes broke through the surface, glowing faintly, watching. His body froze, his blade shaking in his grip. The water rippled again as more eyes opened in the dark.

A bulky youth, the one who had beaten his chest in pride, landed on jagged stone where rivers of fire snaked across the ground.

The heat burned his skin even through his armor. His grin spread. He slammed his hammer down, laughing. "Perfect!" he roared. But the flames writhed.

They took shape, pulling themselves into bodies of burning beasts. Their hollow faces twisted with hunger. The man's laughter faltered as the ground trembled beneath his feet.

The gates scattered them, one by one, into trials carved by hands of pure terror..

Terra stepped onto barren land. The sky weighed down like iron. Her hand brushed against the ring on her finger as she scanned the horizon.

The silence was suffocating, but she did not waver. She knew something was watching.

The emptiness of the land only made the certainty sharper. She pressed her lips together, refusing to give fear its way.

Isho stumbled when he landed. His palms sank into moss as he pushed himself up.

Twisted trees stretched around him like skeletal fingers. The air reeked of decay. A branch cracked behind him, sharp and sudden.

His throat tightened. His father's gaze burned hotter in his mind than any shadow in the woods. "I will not be weak," he whispered, clutching his emblem. His words trembled with him, but he forced himself forward.

Across the colossus, the watchers leaned forward. Their eyes locked onto the great screen, which revealed the scenes of scattered students.

Gasps, cheers, and nervous mutters clashed together.

"They are alone. None can rely on each other."

"That is the rule of the Final Selection."

"But what if they made teams and groups? It would also be good!"

The crowd erupted when a boy on the screen screamed as he was thrown down by a beast.

His family covered their mouths, praying under their breath. Others sneered, shaking their heads.

Leon Lohengrin sat high above them all. His gaze cut through the noise. His eyes followed the screen as it shifted from one world to another, until it paused.

Reith. The SSS GRADE TALENT, and the one he was very much interested in.

Reith's gate did not spit him out in haste. It carried him longer, the light wrapping around him like water.

Stars seemed to ripple in his pupils. For a brief instant, arcs of lightning flickered faintly in his gaze.

His boots touched the ground.

This was no ordinary trial. But he could tell that something was off.

The world itself seemed alive.

Although the world took the appearance of barren land, he knew that he dared not to raise his hopes high.

The Final Selection was created many years ago by certain strong men and women and it was a way to seperate the stronger fighters from the weaker ones.

Those who stepped out of the exam alive were deemed worthy of the honour to fight for their nation.

And the Final Selection was never the same exam, it always switched, and due to this spontaneous characteristics, everyone was always looking forward to it.

Leon's lips curved faintly. His hand tightened against the armrest of his throne. "Interesting," he whispered again.

But Reith's world was only one of many.

Beyond him stretched other realms. A fiery land filled with volcanoes where molten rivers carved paths of destruction. Creatures born of flame crawled across the surface, their bodies rising and falling with the heat.

A frozen wasteland churned in another corner. Blizzards howled endlessly. Ice towers pierced the clouds. Shapes moved within the storm, their massive bodies barely visible, their growls echoing like thunder.

In the skies above another region, an ocean of clouds rolled like tides. Floating islands drifted without anchor. Shadows of beasts larger than palaces passed over the mist. The wind roared as wings beat across the horizon.

And deep below, a forest thick with shadows spread its roots across the soil. Dark energy pulsed in its veins, drinking from the earth. The silence there was heavier than death.

The realms stretched endlessly, each one waiting.

Above them, the sky cracked open with light. A timer burned itself into existence. The digits glowed red, large enough for all to see.

One hundred and twenty hours.

That was the time given.

The students lifted their heads when the timer seared across the heavens.

Fear broke into their eyes. Some clenched their fists tighter. Some whispered prayers. Others gritted their teeth, swearing to stand tall no matter the cost.

The colossus shook with sound. The crowd roared, some laughing in disbelief, others gasping. But they didn't turn their eyes away.

Reith looked up at the numbers.

Apart from the number, another robotic voice resounded in the arena.

"Every action you take will be counted, and the weight of it will decide your experience points. All living things have points, and if you kill them, you get those points."

"Gather experience points and stand above your peers to get to the top!"

With that rule, different thoughts appeared in the students' head and some were beginning to plot sinister plans.

Afterall, in this place, anything was passable and the goal was to win.

The Final Selection had truly begun

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