The Monster Monarch System-Chapter 44: Evaluation Test (Part 5)

Cynthia grinned a bit as she watched Krista evading helplessly, but the marbles got faster with each platform they touched... she was only hanging on by her Beastkin instincts at this point and Cynthia couldn’t blame the girl – they didn’t understand the point of the Evaluation test.

This evaluation test was held not only to test their flexibility, evasiveness and agility but to also test their brain power. So far, she trusted that even Rem wouldn’t figure out what he was truly supposed to do here but she felt disappointed in Cole.

’Soulless, this is supposed to be very easy for you,’ Cynthia groaned inwardly.

The marble upon impact with the skin triggered two situations – one, it would inflict physical damage of course and then two, it would suck an amount of soul energy away upon impact... of course the amount depended on the kind of impact.

If it was a grazing impact, it would absorb slightly less soul energy than a full body impact and these Black marbles were made specifically by the mayor to test new potential recruits. Since Cole didn’t have any soul energy, this was supposed to be an easy endeavor for him but his speed was unable to keep up with the marbles – at least that was the first time he took the test.

Krista leaned back, the first marble grazing past her chin and to her surprise, she felt her soul energy draining rapidly – flowing into the orb and the second one was on it’s way. Even with her energy draining rapidly, Krista found a way to lean away from impact but the both of the marbles bounced off the wall – heading toward her again.

Krista gritted her teeth, violet soul energy wrapping around her palms as she ducked under the first one and grabbed the second marble...

As her soul energy rapidly drained, Krista clenched around it tighter, hoping to shatter the orb and her endeavor might have been successful if the other marble didn’t collide with her back... the momentum it had been gathering by bouncing around sent Krista flying through the air, smashing into the wall back-first. Krista’s face slumped forward as the marble rolled to the ground.

"Even her too, she fell," Cynthia said then turned to the two boys on the stands, "What makes you believe that you can get through?"

Rem was silent while Cole was visibly trembling, the events of last time slowly but surely coming back to him... He could still remember...

"Aren’t you going to go? Since you’re the older one," Rem said and Cole tightened his palms around the rails, he didn’t want to go through that pain again but what was he to do?

Cole leapt off the platform, landing on the ground and facing Cynthia yet again... azure soul energy coated the blondie’s eyes as she whispered to the crimson haired Apprentice.

"You still remember right?"

#####

How could he forget?

Blood covered Cole’s figure as he clenched his palms – he was on his knees, staring at the two marbles which injured him greatly.

"How could you lose?" A cocky blond haired girl who was slightly taller than him asked, "You’re soulless for fuck’s sake, it didn’t suck any bit of Soul energy away from you yet you couldn’t brave the challenges – just how weak are you?"

Tears threatened to roll down his cheeks, he didn’t mean to... he didn’t mean to be so weak...

#####

’Steady yourself,’ Cole thought to himself as he observed Cynthia – this was not the first time he was taking this Evaluation test so he had an advantage over the others.

Cynthia rubbed the marbles, igniting them with soul energy.

"I hope you don’t start bleeding – like last time," Cynthia said before throwing the marbles directly at Cole, Cole’s body blurred as he moved to the right, avoiding them entirely and entering an all-out sprint – after his battle against Tobi... his body, everything felt more powerful like something within him had been unleashed, even though it was partially.

’He’s fast,’ Cynthia gasped a bit as Cole expertly dodged the next volley of marbles without even dodging, he was just sprinting around the battlefield – but even Cole knew that he couldn’t keep running forever, he began thinking.

’Dodging these marbles takes us nowhere,’ Cole thought as he leapt past another one, ’Instead it drains our energy and stamina – so there must be another way to pass this test,’

Since Cynthia was using a timer, it could be assumed that it was a survival test but Cole knew it wasn’t... this girl wouldn’t bring something as simple as a Survival test for them.

As Cole was evading and thinking, the timer clicked again and again... doubts lingered in his mind and he mis-stepped a bit, causing a marble to graze by his shoulder but he bit through the pain, it was nothing compared to what he had to endure from Tobi... he had grown stronger by that confrontation.

The second marble came sailing toward his head but he tilted himself in time to dodge the marble and sprint again – even with the timer clicking, he had to be very cautious... Cynthia noticing that he had clearly gotten used to having only two marbles released another marble into the arena.

The goal of this test was still under wraps but at the top of the stands, Rem could see it clearly – it was sad that the others weren’t able to pick up the simple clues left behind.

Cole’s eyes locked onto Cynthia, his figure blurred as he sped up – the marble heading straight from his face went through an afterimage and smashed against the wall, pushing toward Cole who had just reappeared again.

’What’s the true purpose?’ Cole thought while looking up at Rem, staring at him with an unentertained gaze – he really hated the way he was looked down on by Rem but there was nothing he could do about it... that was just the way Rem was.

Cole bounced off the ground, speeding off yet again in an attempt to complete this test once and for all.

-

Author’s Note:

And now... it’s time for me to remind you what to do before heading to the next Chapter and I want to thank you for the support so far and let’s hit 1k collections quickly! If you’re enjoying the book so far, don’t hesitate to add this to your library and throw in some power stones for me, and if you’re feeling really generous- you can support me with a golden ticket or two, and a gift too! Support People, Support!