Chapter 4

As the young boy stepped into the simulation, he placed the helmet on and tightened the strap, the simulation world beginning to build up around him.

He was placed into the same vast desert Ember was placed in an hour ago, the simulation wind picking up as he looked around before setting off in a northern direction towards the cave.

30 minutes passed before he reached the cave, the distance designed to test the user's endurance, and stepped inside the dark cave eventually finding his way to the large opening in the cave.

The young boy moved into the cave, not looking around for Coal.

"Coal! I know you're in here! Come out and prove who you say you are!" He shouted as he kept his head straight, his mind planning for Coal's first move.

Ember leaned forward in her chair, her eyes fixed to the screen as a mixture of anticipation and excitement swirled in her mind as she waited for his first move.

Ember's excitement peeked as her eyes didn't move away from the screen as she saw Coal jump down from a high ledge, palms outstretched as he looked to gain the surprise attack.

Coal's palms come a few inches from the young boys back, electricity sparking, looking a connection.

Smugness crept across Ember's face as the 'best hunter in the class' was about to be hit by a surprise attack, but the smugness quickly vanished and quickly exchanged for a shocked expression

The reason for her expression was explained as Coal shared the same simulated expression as his attack was easily stopped.

His shocked expression was kept as the size difference simply meant there was no way for the young boy to have stopped the attack.

The young boy simply looked back at Coal as he held two small daggers blocking Coals palms, both near the boys' neck.

Coal looked around for a reason as to why his attack failed, and found what seemed to be two clones of the boy.

"Were they clones? Triplets? A semblance?" Coal's simulated brain whirred as he tried to come up an explanation to the three versions of the young boy.

Coals artificial intelligence was too preoccupied with understanding the situation, it had completely forgotten about using his weapon, made ineffective by the plastic casing on the Young boys' dagger.

Coal's body was hurled across the cave from the combined strength of the three versions of the young boy.

Coal's body flew several feet across the cave before crashing and rolling across the cave floor, Embers face filling with amazement and the events that just unfolded

Coal slowly got up and opened his eyes to see only the young boy walking towards him, holding his two daggers to his side as he walked to Coals head.

"Game over Coal! You've lost" the young boy smugly says before lifting and slamming his boot down

But, before his boot made contact with Coal face, it was stopped by Coal's right hand gripped tightly around his ankle.

The young boy panicked as he began to lose balance, his daggers flying from his hands as Coal gripped around the boys left leg, electricity pulsing around his body, causing him to seize up and fall down.

Coal used this to his advantage as he quickly got himself up, raising his fist causing the gems to glow as the young boy moved his hands to his daggers on his belt whilst trying to control his panic.

Coal slammed his fist down, but was blocked by the x-shape formed by the boys daggers, his two clones gripping his fist and trying to pull upwards

The games in the cave grew brighter as both sides were trying there hardest to win, Coals weapons whirring at the max, causing his fist too became encased in blue electricity as he pushed with all of his might

The young boy panicked as he was determined not to give in, his two clones straining from the force of the punch.

Coal's weapon began to leak grey smoke as it worked to its full capacity, gaining full power from the surrounding. Coal had not taken any notice as he felt his fist coming closer to the boy's face, the boys' daggers glowing from the heat of the electricity.

Victory spread across Coal's face as he began to win the tug-of-war, but it quickly vanished as all of the crystals inside of the cave began to explode at random, the room beginning to dim as all of the gems exploded.

As the gems exploded, Coal's weapon began to become ineffective as the electricity faded and he was once again sent flying across the cave floor.

This time Coal slowly lifted himself up off the floor as he saw the young boy panting as he sheathed his daggers into the belt, picking up the two from the ground as he didn't progress forward.

The gems exploding in the cave meant the light had vanished, leaving only the faint outlines of Coal and the boy.

They were both exhausted as they had all given there all during the tug-of-war.

Ember began to squint her eyes slightly as she tried to figure out where the two people were situated, before being slightly surprised by the small sparks caused from the two metals hitting against each other.

The small sparks from the metals gave quick suggestions as to where the two were, both somehow seeing in the darkness trading hit for hit, all being blocked by their weapons.

Time seemed to move quickly as both where expertly fencing with their weapons before Coal was thrown off by balance as the metal arm guard glanced off of the boys dagger, creating a big sparks, lighting up the boy's face as he moved his dagger upwards, landing a clear shot as it was multiplied by the boys two clones.

The final hit sent Coal crashing to the ground, but this time he was not able to get himself up as a big screen flashed in front of the boy showing he had depleted Coal's aura.

"SIMULATION COMPLETED!" The female robot voice bellowed as the world disintegrated around the boy

"Well done Maron, an A class performance" the man with the clipboard said with a small smirk as he led the boy out of the simulation.

A few claps rang around the room as he was led past the seated hunters and huntresses. He gives a small smirk before being led through the large white double-doors

"Wow. That Maron kid is a good fighter" Ember said in an impressed tone as she sat back in her chair

"He certainly is. You could learn something from him" her Grimm telepathically replied as it looked at her, Ember replying with a hard glare which caused her Grimm to drop its head and look away.

Ember looked back at the screen as another hunter was taking her position in the simulation.