Chapter 2 - A Tank of Magic Fuel

"My power level is over 530,000 after all."

This last statement was met with silence. The bus's atmosphere was cold and heavy, and with tears, sweat, shaky breathings was all the students could respond with.

Her face relaxing, and her shoulders slacking, Sion said in a disappointed tone, "Aw, you could've laughed there."

Suddenly, light gathered in her palm and, pointing towards the bus driver, fire engulfed the driver and his seat whole, instantly burning them to nothing! For a moment, her smile dropped, and her eyes narrowed, as if she were irritated. Her face never left the students as she conducted her execution.

Feeling satisfied, Sion's face brightened again, just as innocently as before.

"See? I got irritated that my joke fell flat and I killed him~!"

In front of them was a powerful being, an inhuman, someone with no regards for human life, for morals, who just killed two people and was still gleefully talking to them. A psychopathic killer with the powers of a god who transported their bus to lead them to their doom. In such a situation, anyone would tremble and curl up in fear. And they did, some actually whimpering.

"MomDadOppa" Jinah quietly cried, tears on the verge of forming. She had seen horror movies, in fact she quite enjoyed them. Like her heart beating quickly as the heroine is about to be found by the stalker. She feels a particular thrill when the ride she's on suddenly drops when she goes to an amusement park. However, this was different. This was no situation where someone has to evade a slasher, or where her adrenaline starts pumping as a ride nears the edge of a drop.

Two people were killed, and an evil god was in front of them. The life of everyone in the bus was in her hands, and she could do whatever she liked. There was no escape, no bargaining.

She looked towards Ayaka. Her pupils were dilated, true fear overtaking her. No matter the circumstances, it was still off-putting seeing her like this. Jinah was the only person to talk to Ayaka in class, so she knew what she was like. This… Wasn't her.

Since Sion spoke in Japanese, Jinah missed some words but she got the basic gist of what she was saying. But… What the hell were "sage candidates"?

"This may look terribly unreasonable to you all," Sion tried to reason, "but that's just how the world is."

Sion continued, "Can never know what the future brings. Well then, I'll be allowing myself to explain the current situation. You might have already noticed, but as far as you are concerned this place is a parallel universe. And I am the one that summoned you."

Such an announcement should have aroused disbelief or doubt. However, due to their terror and fear of the entity in front of them, most of the students couldn't think of anything but to accept Sion's claims.

"The purpose of the summoning was to have you all become sage candidates. Sages are the ones who manage this world. However, they occasionally decrease in number, so the need for replenishment appears. Soooo…"

Again, Sion's hand brightens up, filling the whole bus in a bright glare.

Oh god, Jinah panicked. She's going to sacrifice us all!

Accepting her impending death, Jinah closed her eyes. Suddenly, the glare stopped, and nothing was happening.

"Everyone with their eyes closed, open them."

Jinah slowly opened her eyes. She heard murmurs spreading throughout the bus, and she could see why.

Huh? Everyone's glowing!

Looking at herself, she also came to the realization that she was also glowing. Interestingly, some were blue, some red or yellow. She herself was glowing red.

"I recommend that you take note of who looks powerful, since the lights will fade in a moment. Getting on the good side of strong companions continues to prove a solid method of survival. Since your powers will differ based on the color, think of it as those who are brighter are stronger for convenience."

Jinah looked to her right. Ayaka wasn't glowing. Looking at the other students more closely, she realized that Tomochika and Shinozaki the delinquent weren't glowing. Compared to the others glowing, she was in-between in terms of brightness.

Sion continued to say other things, but Jinah was becoming mentally tired and a little confused due to the amount and speed of unfamiliar words Sion was saying. Constantly translating those unfamiliar words inside her head was disorienting, so she asked Ayaka to help after Sion finished a few sentences. Whether it was the situation or just kindness (unlikely), Ayaka started condensing what Sion was saying.

"She's saying that we have software in us," Ayaka started slowly summarizing, quietly. "That we should see something if it works. I don't see anything though… Do you?"

She could. There was a display of colorful text, all of it in Japanese. However, if she had to rely on this, she needed it in Korean. But… What if Sion kills her for being annoying?

Sion started talking about "gifts" and how they were granted with power so they can work towards becoming a… "Sage". The deadline was one month.

"E-excuse me!"

Looking a row behind her, she saw Tomochika standing up, her hands raised.

"Yes?" Sion answered.

Jinah could see that Tomochika was still tense but had gathered all her courage to say one phrase.

"Is it fine to ask questions?" Tomochika asked.

"Sure." Sion replied with a smile.

"Um… Uh… I wasn't glowing? And… I don't see any logos or anything either."

"My, oh my." Sion's smile dropped to an expression of pity. However, one could say that a mixture of true disappointment and amusement was also mixed into that face.

"It is regretful, but there are occasionally incompatible individuals that appear. It's best that you give up, there's nothing that can be done."

"U-uh! Can I ask a question?" Jinah sprung up, also raising her hand. She was slightly squinting, but opened enough so she could see Sion's face.

"Yes?" Sion again asked, this time with a tired smile.

"Uh, change language, please? I am Korean, and Japanese is hard." Through her broken Japanese, she managed to string together a coherent sentence.

"Sure."

With some hand movements, Jinah's virtual display went blank. Logos and colorful text started fading in, this time in Korean. The display showed that she was level one and that she was… An attack type?

"Moving on…"

From what Jinah could understand, the whole class were now one group and that they would have to produce a "sage" within the given deadline. They could work in a group to raise one into a sage, or work alone.

Due to Tomochika's constant and brave questioning, the class managed to learn that they were chosen because their class was the most likely to produce a sage and that if they fail to produce even one sage, (this part with Ayaka's help) they will used as livestock, being loaded into a container and having magic power extracted from them for their lifetime. The last threat sent many students shaking, some grinding their teeth in fear. Tomochika's questioning did cause many of her classmates to stare daggers into her. Jinah also was quite pissed but it, as with the others, was out of fear of Sion becoming irritated.

"Everyone should work desperately hard, alright~?"

"On the other hand," Sion added. "If you do produce a sage, the rest of you will become the sage's acolytes, an influential position in this world. Your next mission will start in an hour, so don't die off on me now!"

Saying this with a bright and childlike expression, she walked off the bus after greeting "Well, have a nice day."

After Sion got off the bus, Jinah saw a notice appear on her display.

"Oh, s***…" Jinah gasped, along with many of her classmates.

"What?" Ayaka asked, annoyed. After Sion left, Ayake slowly returned to her irritating self. Remembering that Ayaka couldn't see it, Jinah told her their mission as best as she could with her limited Japanese pronunciations

They had one hour to escape a dragon. One that particularly likes eating humans.