I'd only just recovered from the initial shock when I had to duck because of a fireball sent my way. I was suddenly aware of Alasis leaping across to another team that was coming on our right and slightly behind us.
I didn't know what she did then, but later I found out that she'd attached her reel onto the matted fur of our shinhueh and swung around to a third shinhueh that was around 10 metres to our right and slowed down both of them, making the one in the middle run into it and get tangled. I'm guessing she also took out the third team as well. There had been a lot of of teams to start out with, but I guessed our number had been halved with the initial rush.
Suddenly we plunged down into a forest, and there were trees zipping past us as we went. Looking back it was pretty sparse but I had to let the Blood Assassin help me dodge the trees. There are times when his reflexes come in handy. He saw some fire in the distance that was probably Nal-Kae's team, but he didn't have time to think as a spear came flying towards him. He extended his power towards the spear and it shattered upon his outstretched hand. His face was fixed in a tight grin. This was what he loved, fighting and most of all killing.
Another shinhueh drew up alongside him and he could see a fisherman swing over on his reel to land on the shinhueh. It would have been ideal for the Blood Assassin to leap onto the shinhueh alongside his, but he couldn't strengthen his body. He could only weaken things. That was just the kind of person he was.
He whirled around and blocked the punch sent his way. He meant to weaken the fisherman's fist and break his fingers, but the fist was strengthened as well, and the only result was that no one was hurt. The Blood assassin looked back and saw that the shinhueh was veering off course. They were heading towards abandoned ruins, and he couldn't afford to fight at the same time.
Where was Alasis? He turned in time to see the fisherman's foot, and had to decay the area around his face to make sure it didn't get punched off. But he still stumbled and fell on the shinhueh's body. The fisherman's fist sparked and he was about to punch downwards. The Blood Assassin was about to dodge, but I knew that a blow like that might kill our shinhueh. I had been holding back the Blood Assassin because the residue decay might be bad for the Shinheuh, but I let go and the Blood Assassin gathered in his power and thrust his palm forward. His fist contacted and cracked, his fingers breaking simultaneously. His eyes widened and the Blood Assassin kicked him and his ribs caved in as he fell.
He suddenly felt a jolt and realized the shinhueh had ran into a wall. He flew into the ruins and weakened the bricks so he wouldn't break any bones. Staggering to his feet, he looked around and saw the shinhueh rear and run away, leaving him in the dust.
I kicked the walls and they crumbled. I should've killed that fisherman, crushed his limbs one by one until he screamed for me to stop and kept on going until his throat was dry and then I should have crushed his skull. I calmed myself down. The Blood Assassin wasn't needed here and destroying everything wouldn't help.
I suddenly heard a rhythmic thumping behind me. I turned, and saw another shinhueh coming towards me. I was about to attack whoever was riding it when I saw Alasis on top. She slowed down for me and I grabbed onto its fur. I was still yanked off my feet, and it felt like my arm was pulled off from the rest of my body.
"Thought I'd lost you." Alasis said brightly. "Good thing I could sense whatever you're emitting, its really obvious."
I meant to ask her what she meant, but I was worn out from controlling the Blood Assassin and I rested my head on her back. There was a pause where Alasis maneuvered the shinhueh through the ruins, then she said. "Stay alert. We're still not done here." I sat up and looked around. We were in another forest and there were two teams on our tail. Alasis tensed but one of them must have been a lightbearer because he broadcasted out "None of us want to fail anyone." he said "We will fight to defend ourselves, but we could all finish this test without any injuries."
The Blood Assassin stirred again, telling me that these people were just trying to lull us into a false sense of security, but I didn't listen to him. Alasis seemed to have come to the same conclusion because she veered away from them. Unfortunately, the other team didn't agree because one of them threw a spear that moved with uncanny accuracy. Alasis grinned and caught it out of the air with her reel. She grinned at me, then jumped off. I whirled around, but instead of tumbling into the distance, she caught herself easily and ran towards the offending shinhueh. I had to keep concentrating on what was ahead of me.
The Blood Assassin had realized that the shinhueh could sense the decay of things around them and were scared of it. He made the air around the left of the shinhueh and it veered right. He smiled and easily maneuvered through this thicker forest. He kept an eye on the other team, but they seemed to have meant what they said, and didn't move towards us. Once he burst out of the forest he could see the finish line. He wanted to kill the other team, said they were just competition we'd have to fight later, but I forced him down and went past the finish line only seconds after the first team.
They turned to smile at me, but I looked back to see how Alasis was. Another team burst through, but I could see it was Nal-Kae and his teammate. I grinned, despite the Blood Assassin growling in my head, and saw Alasis riding another shinhueh towards us. She waved, and stopped the shinhueh just before it crashed into us. The ranker smiled and said. "You four are the only teams left, and you have all passed. Congratulations."