The wind began to blow stronger as it began to rain as the water fell it became frozen balls of ice, or froze the people it came in contact with. The phoenix flapped their wings warming the freezing waters, each firebird carefully moved as to keep the natural and unnatural nature of the world away.
Mothers covered their children with warm blankets as they laid them for the night, while their husbands and fathers began to take up guard, to keep dangers of both beast and people away.
Wagons moved through the night, as and men began to exit them while the free guard watched them work through the night, slowly the sounds of hammers hitting spikes echoed through the night. Tents were set up, as merchants prepared themselves for the days to come.
Stalls were placed, food was taken into count, stuffed animals, dry meats and pickled fruits placed under guard, finally, as the rain fell the final posts were picked up and tied with ropes. Hot drinks were passed around alongside dry coats to protect the men from the cold winds, unfortunately, all of them refused the dry clothes for they would have to work through the night.
Slowly horses marched one by one and side by side with many beasts, nobles- businessmen and people that were highly respected began to arrive, yet none dared to exit their wagons because of the storm. The storm lasted through the night until the sun began to rise and the people that were waiting in the city awoke to a transformed land.
One by one, each noble and person of interest began to walk towards their destination dressed in fine silks and kept warm with many rare furs they took their seats on a large wooden table that had several crystal balls on it. Close yet distant their guards watched unwanted movement.
Jaune- Pyrrha and Scar took a deep breath as they checked their armors and weapons making sure that nothing was damaged- too lose or too right. They had awoken to three simple bags filled with food- different kinds of first aid medicine and several bottles of water, alongside ways to purify any freshwater they found.
With their new bags, they found a letter that explained that their meal would be nothing more than hard bread and water, it also said that by the end of the that they would be thanking their handler for doing this for them.
One by one they began to exit the guild house and took a brief moment to look at it before turning around and heading to the area everyone was gathering in, their eyes widened at what they saw thousands of men- woman- boys and girls were all gathered at starting line their destination clear the top of the single building in a massive cage whose walls were made of ice.
Men shared dry meats with one another, while knights in perfectly trained positions drew their swords, barbarians beat their own chest in an attempt to get their blood flowing before the battle began.
It was all a disorganized mob one that would soon have everyone attacking each other, rather than attempting to reach their destination. Perhaps that was the case Jaune noticed that several elven archers eyed a group of soldiers that checked their guns one last time.
Pyrrha realized that more than one woman looked at her with eyes filled with anger, while she noticed that more than one of them glanced at ther two teammates.
Scar smelled the nature of the land and the people they had both stepped into and found themselves surrounded with. There was a sense of blood- fear- hate and regret in the air, this was no place for children that wanted to be heroes if the people around them didn't die to each other then many would fall to the animals here.
Slowly drones both magical and technological in nature began to fly allowing the people in the city to see what was going on in the testing grounds, it was dangerous to let the animals and creatures that lived here to be so close to the people on the outside.
One by one several Adventurers began to arrive and the three noticed Lord Naotsugu amongst them. "Listen up, anything goes, your pins will teleport you away before you die!"
"All that you and your teams have to do is reach that tower and get to the top!" The all screamed, before walking over to the edge in order to get away from the students to be.
Jaune felt his bravery begin to leave him as no one dared to make sound, he failed as he drew his sword and noticed that the air began to heat itself up. It was the convinced wills of everyone around him.
Pyrrha looked at Jaune as she let a smile cross her face he had already drawn his sword.
"Scar, Pyrrha stick close to one another everyone is about to run so we might get separated if we aren't careful." Jaune said to them.
For a moment Pyrrha was taken back yet she chose to follow his instructions.
"There's something watching us in the forest, my guess is it was drawn to us because of how tens everyone here is." Scar said before the Adventurers voices screamed
"Begin!"
Instantly everyone ran into the field below like a waterfall that had found itself in new ground they tore through the snow- ground and stone below their feet and were met by the roaring screams of defiance as a green wave of Orks charged from the forest within the greater cage.
"WAAAA!" They screamed as they waved clubs made of wood and animal bones, stone axes and swords made of rare minerals.
The two waves crashed into one another as they both fought for dominance, the Orks came for the thrill of battle and killing the fools that dared enter their territory and the recruits fought to eran their place.
Those with skill ran on top of the wall of bodies and used the nearby trees to gain distance from all the fighting, all they had to do was reach the top, no one had said anything about helping each other out.
Those with arrows and guns attacked from a distance taking advantage of the fact that so many of the recruits needed to attack from close range, but they could not relax as people bodies vanished, teleported away, signing that they had nearly died in combat.
Jaune blocked a stone ax from hitting Scar, as Pyrrha turned her sword into a rifle and began to open fire, only for a bone sword to comedian upon her, the sword dissolved long before it met its target, destroyed alongside its owner as Scar destroyed them both.
Knights worked alongside barbarians opening a path and when the wall of orks broke the recruits spilled thru overwhelming the orks with sheer numbers alone.
"Head to the forest!" Jaune screamed, as he hoped that the trees would give him and his team the much-needed cover they needed to matchup their wounds.
The three did so as a lion made of fire made its presence known, drawn in by the smell of ork blood, it charged at the recruits that brought it down with a combination of arrows and gunfire.
Jaune gasped for air as he cookout a bottle of water and took a deep drink, he handed it to Pyrrha who after drinking gave it to Scar who gave it back to Jaune now that the bottle was empty.
"Are either of you hurt?" Scar asked his team.
"No" Pyrrha said
"Just some scratches" Jaune answered, his voice winded from the fight.
"Good, Captain it looks like everyone has started to move on their own. That first fight took out the people that weren't supposed to be here, I suggest we move carefully, no one said anything against recruits killing each other. All we have to do is reach the top." Scar told Jaune, but his eyes were directed at Pyrrha.
No more words needed to be said and the three began to walk carefully their only landmark was the giant tower in the distance. The forest that was once quite now shook with the battles being fought within it, the screams of beasts and men were carried by the winds, reaching the ears of those that remained.
Back in the balconies set up for those of high birth Weiss covered her mouth in shock at what she had just seen, her mother held her shoulder trying to bring some comfort to her daughter.
"The man thinks well on his feet, not only had he instructed his team before but also assessed the safest way to his destination." A man said as he placed forty pounds of gold on the table, as the image of Jaune was shown to them.
"I'll tell you what, I heard that you hold a great amount of coal under your control. So how about four hundred pounds of dust worth forty pounds of gold, for forty pounds of coal worth forty pounds of gold." He father answered the man.
The man just smiled and said deal, immediately the two sighed a contract and continued to watch.
Laughter erupted as both men and woman handed over contracts and sacks filled with gold or silver, while the images of men- woman- boys and girls were shown recovering from their wounds. The test was over for them, yet they all received a mark of approval, they had been accepted by their respective guilds.
