The time slowly moved and the tension in the hall seemed to be at an all-time high. Everyone was trying to quickly get a tag before the two hours ended. Those who were lucky enough not to be a target of the two ghosts continued their struggle to get tags.
As for those who did get mugged, they could only search around, trying to find who took it. Naturally, that led to them starting to suspect each other.
"Y-You stole it!"
"I know you did it!!"
"No, you did it!!"
"Give me back my tag!!"
It didn't take long for fights to break out again but for a completely different reason. Everyone was now suspicious of one another. Even though logically, none of these people seemed to be strong enough to pull off such a feat, the panic made that go over their heads.
The fights turned even more violent, barely not crossing the limit set by the supervisors. Meanwhile, Talon watched that with a sigh.
"I guess this is enough for now. Doing more than this will make them realize that I did it." He muttered.
Even if Talon was stronger than most of these people, if everyone realized he had taken their tags, it wouldn't be easy fighting that many people or even running away from them for that matter.
He had done the best he could and now it was a matter of time before the test ends. Everything was going perfectly fine. Until...
"I know who took the tags!" Someone suddenly yelled.
Talon lifted his head and looked in a different direction, there, he saw a familiar face. The arrogant young man from before was the one who yelled.
"I have seen it with my eyes!"
His words made everyone turn around to look at him. Most of them didn't really believe him, but they had no other choice.
As for the man himself, he was struggling to hide his grin as he suddenly lifted his finger and pointed it at someone.
"It's that girl, I have seen her snatch the tags." He said with a fake angry look. "She had taken our tags!"
The moment everyone heard that, they turned to look at the person he was talking about. Surprisingly, it was the girl from before and she was now the focus of the entire hall.
Talon squinted his eyes silently. 'He really did that...' He shook his head with a sigh. He had to admit, it was a really smart way of executing revenge even though he was the one in the wrong. The girl seemed to notice that, but her expression didn't change at all.
"I can't see any tags on her!"
"That can't be true! That person had stolen at least a few hundred tags, where are they?!"
Experience tales at m v|l e-NovelFire
Everyone started looking around them at the same time. The girl moved through the vast group like a ghost. But, unlike before, everyone was focused on her so it didn't take long for them to locate her position.
Many tried to grab her, but she seemed to swiftly get rid of them before they could even react. From an outsider's point of view, people were getting thrown everywhere by an invisible force that could not be seen or felt.
Even Talon was taken aback. 'She was holding back before...'
A few seconds passed and the girl was still not caught yet. Many started feeling panicked, but the urge to get their tags back pushed them through. From a few dozen, it turned into an entire chaotic battle with almost a thousand people trying to get a single person.
The pressure on the girl rose as she continued dashing through the masses as fast as she could, throwing everyone away where she could. She was an absolute monster with the speed of the wind. However, even then, it was still a losing battle.
No person could fight one thousand others and survive, at least not at her level. In a matter of minutes, the girl found herself being cornered and almost captured many times. Her ability also seemed to be getting a little weaker with each passing moment.
Everyone noticed that, including Talon and he could only frown. 'I guess everything has a limit. But, even then, she's still holding on. Can she really make it?'
If the girl was caught, it was over for her. The tags would be snatched and it would take another hour to get them back, if she could that is.
At that moment, Talon felt a little hesitant. For some reason, the idea that this girl might get disqualified made him frown. 'She's quite strong. But, her bad luck is going to get her kicked out. That would be a huge loss.'
He had found her power to be intriguing. He would be lying if he said that he didn't want her to remain in the exam since well, he saw her as a good target for improvement now.
It took him a few moments of thought before he opened his eyes as if he realized something important. A small smile appeared on his face. "This should be worth it."
Acrypha noticed that grin on his face and could only feel curious about what he was planning.
***
'I need to find a way out of this. It's too crowded.' Leen clenched her teeth secretly as she barely dodged a few hands that wanted to grab her. 'It's getting out of hand.'
She was struggling to get out of this sticky situation. She already knew that the bastard who did this didn't even know that she had the tags, he simply wanted to execute revenge on her and coincidentally, the lie he spouted was the truth.
Time was ticking slowly and her Aetheris was running out rather quickly since she had been using her ability for almost two hours non-stop now.
Meanwhile, she was moving to the other side of the hall, seeking some space she could at least work with. At that moment, unbeknownst to her, she passed beside someone. But, shockingly, that person was able to grab her arm.
'What... How did he?' Looking behind her in shock, she was about to instinctively yank her arm away.
"I can help you." The young man that did grab her said with a smile. "You seem to be in a lot of trouble. You could definitely use a helping hand, no?"
A//N: If you enjoyed reading, don't forget to support the book with GT and PS. Thank you!