Battle Academia (The original one)

Chapter 4: The Test: Part 2

Both the guy with the braided hair, Ezreal found out later that his name was Kayn, and the girl with the yellow eyes, Neeko, were finished with their tests in under a minute.

Kayn had the ability to walk through walls and in the darkness that covered him he simply stole the coin and stepped out undetected. He was a Battle Club member now. Neeko had found herself in a huge building. It looked like a museum. Her coin was heavily guarded, placed behind a glass. A tiny man was in charge of the coin and everyone followed his orders. When he moved away, Neeko took his form and picked up the coin, telling the guards that plans had changed. She smiled devilishly looking at the green fire on her coin.

Luxanna was having trouble in her test. She was the only one left on stage right now. The hands of her sleeping body were clenched.

Luxanna was in a green field, but she wasn't alone. Ezreal instantly recognized her brother Garen in the vanguard trying to fight the enemy team, wielding a huge sword. Their goal was to obliterate the team and destroy their base. But Luxanna looked hopeless amongst her comrades. All she could do was blind the enemies with her light and slow them down. Her team was dying. One after the other. And all she could was hide in the backline. Garen was fighting five people alone. He was swirling his sword in every way. But he was hurt. He couldn't last any longer.

Ezreal saw the determined look on the girl's face.

"No more holding back!", she yelled.

Beams of light were being emmited for her body with extreme force towards every direction. Her eyes had turned white. Ezreal felt a hint of fear and swallowed hard. Garen looked at her puzzled.

"I'm sorry brother", was all she said to him. "I can't hide it anymore". The enemy base had been destroyed singlehandedly by her. There it was. She picked up the coin from the enemy leader's burnt corpse.

"Sorcery Club!", announced Principal Yuumi to her when she woke up.

Luxanna had a gloomy expression when she was walking off stage. Garen had walked up to her but she just ignored him, saying something to him before she got back to her seat next to Ezreal.

The boy was quick to realize that it wasn't the right time for a witty chat. His name had been called on stage anyway and he stood up. He turned to look at her one more time before he began to walk but she quickly stopped him, grabbing his hand.

"Ezreal. Good luck", she said. This time her smile was gone. Ezreal simply nodded.

He was lining up for the stage. He was the last of the three. Now he had gotten a tiny bit nervous, he had to admit so. He took his seat. The bright lights were making him squint a little. He took a sip. It tastes sweet, didn't expect that, he thought.

After just a few seconds he felt like he was in free fall. No sounds, no smells, no nothing. There is something blissful in the nothingness. He didn't feel his body. It was like his very being had gathered in the center of his mind. But the feeling was pleasant.

It seemed to him, as if he was created to obtain this. He had heard stories of the spirit tomb of Ekrin and the treasures that supposedly were inside it. And the golden coin. He had been climbing up the mountain all day. At this point exhaustion was his middle name. But he kept on going up till he was right at its doorstep.

What Ezreal couldn't imagine was exactly how heavily guarded the tomb would be. The place was crowded with monks, specially trained in martial arts all their lives to protect the golden coin by all means necessary. Even sacrificing themselves in the process.

Ezreal posed as an impressionable visitor to get inside. He saw a giant hall with numerous artifacts placed in protective glass. Next to each exibit, stood an unflinching monk, holding a red spear.

Ezreal couldn't help but feel a little intimidated. But no. Now he had his eyes on the prize. The golden coin. The central exhibit of the tomb. It had drawn so much attention because people had attributed mystical powers to it through the ages.

I'll be coming for you.. Ezreal thought and left the building after a while. He hid in every place he deemed safe around the tomb, till it got dark. He had tried to figure out the patterns of the guards watch, but so far he had no results. None of them had left the building all day. Ezreal was pondering whether these guys were actually human at this point.

The gauntlet was the surefire way to get him inside. Although, he could only teleport for a few meters it still came in pretty handy.

He was now inside. He was walking on the tips of his toes but the place seemed vacant. Ezreal walked up to were the coin was. He took a deep breath and turned to see if anyone was watching him. Seconds before he touched the coin, the guards had circled him, pointing at him with their spears chillingly close to his neck. He gulped and raised his hands up in surrender. When he was sure they'd bought it he shifted to the other side of the room behind the coin.

"Stop him", one of the guards yelled and their reactions were so fast that he didn't have time to shift again.

"Stop! We have someone you might want unharmed", someone said to him.

Two guards came forth and held Luxanna by her arms, all tied up. A piece of cloth was wrapped around her mouth and her hair was a mess.

"Why did you follow me?", he said to her half angry, half sad.

Even though she couldn't verbally reply, her eyes were full of sorry. He took a deep breath. He seemed dead serious now.

"Let me take her with me and I promise you will never have to see me again".

He was well aware that these guys weren't the authorities. And he knew pretty damn well that they were civil people above all. The deal was struck. Luxanna walked towards him. He untied her hands and mouth and gave her a hug.

"I'm sorry Ezreal. I'm sorry", she said crying.

"It's okay Lux. We got this" he said looking to the guards and kicking down the glass of the coin. He was fighting the guards. The gauntlet was shooting beams of light towards them.

"Take it Lux! Fast!", he shouted. Luxanna took the coin and ran to him. Ezreal shifted them both outside the building right away.

But the guards were following suit. Spears and arrows were flying left and right and Ezreal was running and teleporting both of them from place to place as fast as he could until they had found a safe spot.

Ezreal lied down on the ground and sighed. He was about to lecture Luxanna on why she shouldn't be following around anymore and how dangerous what she did was, when he saw her expression.

"Ezreal? I'm not feeling very well", she said as she fell on his arms. Ezreal caught her and only then did he see the arrow that had pierced her from the back all the way out of her stomach.

"No. No. No. Lux!", he said frustrated as he tried to examine the wound. His hand was full of her blood.

"It's okay", she said smiling. "Take it", she continued as she extended her hand holding the golden coin.

"Please don't. Don't die Lux", the tears were stinging his eyes. He was trying to hold them back for her sake.

The coin was shining in her hand and he took it still holding her. When he touched it, it revealed the red shuriken engraved on it.

When he woke up he felt disoriented. Where am I? The bright lights and Yuumi's voice brought him back to reality.

"Battle Club!" he heard her saying and he quickly walked down the stage after that. What had just happened? He was moving towards his seat when he saw Luxanna giving him a playful smile.

It all had come to him. Two things were for sure: Things were going to be awkward now between them because of his stupid simulation and Garen was defintely going to give him a hard time.

"So", she started, "Lux huh"?

"Well, I think it has a ring to it", he replied trying to play it as cool as possible at this point.

"I like Lux. You can call me that", she grinned.