Chapter 98: To Prove Yourself

"Tch! This rain won't stop!" Tyson shouted, trying his best to keep his eyes open thanks to the pounding droplets of precipitation. "That just means that the culprit is either right behind us or just before us, and if I had to guess..." Reiss thought back to the scene before, noticing the charge of lightning surging right by them before they reached the winding road itself. "They're definitely ahead of us, but surely not by a lot of we would have heard the announcement of another finish..."

"AND IN SEVENTH PLACE! ITS THE NEWEST GUILD ON RECORD. ITS EMPYREAN DAWN!"

Reiss immediately swallowed his words as his eyes widened in disbelief. He was sure that the remaining six guilds he saw around them all entered the final stretch around the same time. He was also sure that they weren't even halfway up the road, so how did one guild finish already!? Only two spots remained now, and the fact that the rain has yet to stop tells them that the ones behind it were still in contention to finish.

Back at the finish line they waited, unable to see through the rain themselves, except for Reve who was staring through the downpour intently, not saying a word. Jaxon steppes over and asked in a direct tone. "How many are before them?"

Reve simply answered his question with the same tone, unwavering from how he felt about them entering without his notice or say so. "Two. They're just one spot out of passing the prelims. If they keep at this pace...they'll lose."

Jaxon simply stared for a bit longer before turning back to his team. He took a few steps forward before cut off by the latest team to finish — a man with short black hair and blue eyes to be exact. When they bumped into each other, Jaxon took a step back, ready to give his apologies, but he halted that the second that man looked him in the eyes. Jaxon raised a brow, cautiously standing in the silent hostility before another male appeared pushing him in the back to make him keep walking forward. "Stop it, Marshall, before I tell Zinnia you're causing a ruckus."

"Zin-chan!?" The switch immediately flipped, and his eyes turned from blue to pink as he smiled brightly; as if his entire world changed at the drop of a name. It was the eyes that caught Jaxon's attention, unsure of what to make of the complete change so instantly. The male behind him has light blue hair, glasses shielding his own blue eyes. "Everyday he proves that all animals have a possibility to be tamed." The larger, dual colored male spoke. His long yellow and black hair draped down past his shoulders, and his black and yellow colored eyes dominated his visage. Behind him was a blonde haired female with red eyes simply smiling while punching the air as she walked along, and behind her, a similar looking female — a brunette with bluish eyes. The group of mages walked by, and as they did, Reve side-eyed them before turning back to the final stretching the preliminaries. The other four belonging to the veteran team simply waited behind him, unable to see what was going on so they patiently sat around, waiting for the final two teams to pass through the finish line.

"Two left." Reiss reiterates to himself. "And simply running there won't change the results. We're behind one, maybe even two! We can't sit here and risk another one passing us!" That's when he turned to shout towards his team, Lluvi."

"Lluvi! Can you propel me into the clouds above us!?"

"Huh!? What will that solve?" She asked, not seeing any positive outcome to such. "You'll just be even more blind than now, and the risk is too high! What if you don't make it back down here, and you fall—"

"Listen we don't have much of a choice! We're not going to make it like this! All I need for you to do, is trust me! Once Lluvi catapults me into the air, Ilaria, get ready to use your binding chains on me!"

"But from where! We can't even see in this rain!" She protested. "Just throw it forward when it happens! Don't worry, I'll be there!"

"But...it'll sap your strength and..."

"Trust me!" He couldnt make it anymore clear to them, but hesitation still resonated within his team until he finally got a seconded voice. "Listen to him." Tyson said, gripping Lluvi's shoulder just a bit tighter for reassurance. "We won't pass this way. We need something! And if this is that something...then it's all we got."

Lluvi hesitated again, but soon after, her hands were coated in her bluish aura as she prepared to do her part. Ilaria still held a somber expression as a glowing chain appeared in her hands. Reiss then turned back to Micaiah. "Micaiah. Can you give Lluvi a beacon with your light magic? If you concentrate on a single point hard enough, I'm sure it'll be noticeable."

"Mhm!" She nodded, and put forth the plan into action. "Elight!" Micaiah screamer, raising a right hand to the sky. From the palm of her hand, a powerful beam of light rose to the sky, just breaking through a small radius of the clouds above. That's when Reiss looked back to Lluvi one last time. "It's now or never, Lluvi. You trust me, right?"

"Just don't let us down...captain!" As she shouted, Lluvi slammed her hands into the ground, and just beneath Reiss, a large cylinder like barrier sprouted, shooting him into the air within the beam of light. Reiss took flight because of this, able to see a lot better now that he was placed in Micaiah's light.

His eyes turned to the two teams in front of them. At the helm, it was Lamia Scale, and that's who he was aiming for. The Native Summoner called forth one of his spirits. "Poia!" And upon that call, his star spirit Poia appeared. Reiss then pointed towards Lyon and the gang before giving orders. "Can you get me there? Me and Taru will take care of the rest from there!"

With a simple nod, Poia held Reiss in his hands before rearing back and launching him forward like a rocket with the force of enhanced gravity working against him.

As they ran, Ilaria squinted her eyes while looking forward, trying her best to spot Reiss or even just a sign through the heavy rain. "Nothing..." She whispered. "You can do it." Micaiah reassures, capturing Ilaria's attention. "You'll know when! Just don't doubt yourself. You can do it, Ilaria."

After looking her way, she nodded in agreement. "Michaiah's right... it's up to me to make sure the team makes it across. I can do it! I can!"

As the Ethereal Chains formed in her hands, she continued to sprint forward, waiting for a sign, any sign from Reiss.

That's when the Summoner went into action, plummeting back towards the road. Reve arched a brow as he watched everything clear as day, and as Reiss soared, his body began to glow. "It's time. I haven't been sitting on my ass over the year. Watch me, Reve. I'll make you look at us as more than just rookies. Summoner's Cloth: Taru!"

A shining light appeared through the heavy rain, catching everyone's eyes. As Reiss revealed himself once again, he showed new attire — shirtless, Reiss dawns a large grey cloth around his waistline. Upon his face, just under his jaws and eyes, he's graced with stone that decorated his features, finished off with a grey, skinny headband that holds back his hair. Stone braces are seen dangling from his ankles and wrists. This transformation personified the Stone Spirit, Taru and as Reiss neared his target, his glowing arms began to gain a stone armor around them as he reared his arm behind his ear. Just before he swung, Lyon and Lamia Scale turned to spot him with wide eyes. "What is that!?" Chelia shouted. "It's a meteor!" Toby shouted incorrectly. "No..." Lyon began sliding to a defensive stance as he prepared to use his magic in retaliation. "It's those White Eclipse kids! Chelia, you and the others keep running!"

"But..."

"Now!" Lyon exclaimed, and they didn't even have time to respond as he created a makeshift ice wall for a feasible defense. It was all he had time for. A small circular structure made of ice was his only defense as Reiss's stone covered arm smashed into it, then through it, causing Lyon to topple over and fall to his back as Reiss was yet to finish. His fist clashed through the ice like nothing, only to create a heavy impact against the winding road itself. It cracked, creating a large fissure all the way across before finally...

The entire road from that point collapse, leaving nothing but the home stretch to the finish line. "What the!? No!" Lyon shouted as he fell to the ground below. Everyone behind Reiss at this point was most likely on a free fall back to the ground, and as he stared out into the rainy abyss, he waited. The lone mage upon that road waited, looking back towards the gunslinger who also waited at the finish line with his hands folded over his chest. Reiss would ignore him, turning back to the chaos he created with the help of his team until finally, a large chain rushed right towards him. He snagged it, and immediately he began pulling with the strength of his spirit, Taru involved. As he pulled, he could feel himself becoming weaker by the second. "Yup! This is Ilaria's alright! Come on, Reiss! Don't stop until they're here!"

And he did just that, pulling as hard as he could with whatever strength he had left until finally they arrived. With one final pull, Reiss and his teammates reconvened.

"It's a total flood down there!" Ilaria pointed out as Tyson piggy backed the exhausted Reiss while the others ran for the finish line. "But more importantly..."

Chapati: "Ladies and Gentlemen! In eighth place, it's the rookies of White Eclipse, proving that they too belong in the fight for the strongest guild! Congratulations to them!"

"They did it..." Lance quivered in happiness. "They did it!" As he shouted, the entire guild celebrated in their own ways. The veterans didn't even realize they were being caught up with a bunch of kids they didn't even know nor weren't even sure if they were going to remain members when this was all said and done, but for now they didn't care, celebrating their rookies's successful fight for placement within the Grand Magic Games.

Back at the finish line, the spotlight didn't last long for them as the final team appeared right behind them. "And your final team..."

"Must be Lyon and the others..." Gray said with certainty. But unfortunately for him, it wasn't.

Sliding across the finish line was a familiar purple haired female along with her team. "I told you we'd do it! We just had to believe, right Diamond!?"

The person she was speaking to, was a pale skinned, ice blue haired female who only gave her an evil eye. "Barely, Asuka. Barely."

"Oh cheer up! You don't hear Alexa complaining, do you?" She bragged, wiping her nose with a finger.

"Alexander!" He shouted back, just remembering the rain above them. "Oi, Chiara. Can you cut the rain now?"

"Hm? Oh, okay." She said, and with the wave of an arm, the petite little girl caused the downpour to cease. With a much clearer view, Chiara was seen as a small girl with black hair and grey eyes.

"So it's her?" Jaxon asked in surprise. "That's a lot of magic for such a little kid. I wouldn't expect it at all..."

"She's probably not worth the investigation,

Jaxon." Reve stated, walking off. Jaxon could only shrug, walking off with the rest of the team as well.

"Ethan! Everything went as planned, right!?" Asuka shouted, running over to the other of two males on their team. Ethan gave her a look of disbelief. "We almost lost, Asuka!" He had short black hair and brown eyes. Most of his hair remained wrapped in a large headband. Ethan then sighed and smiled, as if it was expectant of Asuka to be this way despite almost losing. "But we're here...Black Phoenix is here!"

"Yeah!" Asuka shouted. "Lets our Tristan in a winning position, then take this entire tournament with ease! Black Phoenix, Rise!"

"That's not going to catch on." Alexander gave his side comment to end the day.

As Reiss and the others laid about at the end, completely exhausted, Reve simply stared at them in the doorway. That's when Luke walked in with the others. "You're not going to punish them?" He asked, remembering the lecture he went through with Calium. That's when Reve replied as he slid his hands into his pockets. "No need. Look at them. They're wiped out, and that's from the preliminaries. Starting tomorrow, their rude awakening is really going to hit them, and there's nothing we can do to help. And then they'll learn their place instead of trying to overcome adversities they weren't ready for. If they would have failed, then I would have punished them and kicked the fakes out. But since they made it, and this is their physical result from the easiest part, then lets see how it affects them. That's an order by the way. They have ten people. So they don't need our support until I tell you guys otherwise. Let them figure it out on their own since they wanted to be here so bad. Until then, rest up...

It begins tomorrow..."