Manifest War: The Weapons Within

Carmen, Elise, and Mariah walked forward through the bright yellow sea of light when suddenly, they found themselves in the middle of a dense forest. The overgrown trees were incredibly tall and impossibly thick, standing more like buildings than vegetation. The sky wasn’t visible at all as the lush, purple leaves draped above.

Carmen immediately recognized the energy pattern she felt around her, quickly remembering her time in the Core Depths with Homura and the Boundless. It brought about quite the nostalgic feeling, causing her to gently caress the pendant dangling from her neck.

“Let’s get going. We can’t waste any time!” Mariah said as she slung her bag over her shoulder. Elise and Carmen nodded and they swiftly set off into the deep forest to find more tokens. As the group navigated past the massive roots and colorful fauna for what felt like an eternity, Carmen began to sense something within their vicinity.

“I feel like we’re being watched, but I can’t pinpoint where though.” She said, glancing around with her red eyes. However, just as the words exited her mouth, a giant blue colored snake dove down at the trio, crashing into the ground with immense force. They all dashed out of the way, barely dodging its sudden attack.

“What the hell is that?!?” Mariah exclaimed as she got to her feet.

Once the dust cleared, they saw a menacing serpent with beady red eyes, hard blue scales, and a sharp horn on its nose. This creature was at least forty meters long and as thick as a small house. Terrifyingly, instead of hissing at them, the snake roared loudly as it asserted its dominance.

The trio braced themselves as the snake quickly slithered towards them, forcefully bulldozing its head through the many rocks and roots. They jumped up and dodged the attack, narrowly missing the horn on its nose as it crashed into a nearby tree. Carmen summoned her Manifest and fired off a few void energy bolts at the serpent’s head.

Her bolts blasted its eyes, causing the snake to stumble and roar. It swung its tail in retaliation, effortlessly knocking Carmen backwards and into the trunk of an adjacent tree. In that same moment, Mariah held out her hand as she started exerting her Core Energy.

“Come Forth, Ignis Eternal!” A suffocating blaze of fire occurred as her Manifest was summoned, igniting her immediate surroundings into flames. She gripped the pole of her spear before throwing it like a javelin at the creature, causing it to lodge itself deep in the snake’s side. Mariah then clenched her fist tightly and exerted her Core Energy again.

Her Manifest exploded with a fiery boom, setting the entire snake on fire. The now flaming serpent wriggled and slithered in pain, its mouth wide open as it roared loudly. Seconds later, Elise leapt into the air while gripping her daggers tightly and exerting her Core Energy rapidly. She became electrified, causing green sparks to jump around her body in a playful fashion.

Then, with incredible speed, Elise struck the head of the snake. She cut it clean in half, feeling no resistance at all from her electrified slash. As she made landfall, a loud thunderous boom occurred, shaking the ground violently. The serpent collapsed to the ground, spewing dark blue blood in all directions.

Wanting to avoid the bloody rainfall, Elise tried to take a few steps forward, but she noticed that her legs had grown weak and shaky. She dropped to one knee and sucked her teeth in irritation.

'Tch, I really need to be careful about using my Manifest's special ability during the exam. Losing my leg strength at the wrong time could end us.'

While she took a moment to rest, a dark shadow suddenly draped over her. Elise looked up with great shock as the snake’s tail suddenly moved and took aim at her. She was too slow to dodge, but just as it reached her, the tail stopped its approach. It was as though it had frozen in mid air.

Elise turned her head to the left and saw Carmen holding both of her arms out, palms extended. Carmen pushed her gravitational power outwards and set the snake’s tail back onto the ground.

“Whew, that was close. Good job guys!” Mariah said, forcefully yanking her Manifest out of the serpent's body. They brushed themselves off and suddenly a small leather bag materialized in front of them. Elise caught it as it dropped down and she slowly opened it, curious about the contents inside. Twelve tokens greeted her with a subtle glint, signaling that this creature was part of the exam.

“Looks like we’ve got fifteen total tokens now. I wonder what the max amount you can get from events like these.” Elise said with curiosity, closing the bag tightly.

“I’m not sure, but we better keep moving. There are probably other teams nearby.” Carmen carefully scanned the tree line, making sure they were still alone. The trio gathered their things and continued to walk the forest terrain once again.

Back at LaVeda, Headmaster Quinn and a few of his subordinates were standing outside of the royal viewing room. They greeted Azhane and Felicity as they approached, bowing their heads with great respect.

“It is an honor to have you back within our humble halls, Your Majesty!” Headmaster Quinn said with a gracious smile.

“Of course, thanks for the invitation. I’m eager to see how much these young Vesta’s have developed.” Azhane replied, accepting his greeting. “Is this where we’ll be watching the midterm?”

“Yes, the flow of time inside of the royal viewing room matches that of the Core Depths, so we’ll be able to see all of the action with zero delays.” He motioned his hand towards the golden door glowing in front of them.

The group proceeded to enter and what they saw was a room filled with comfortable seating fit for royalty, maids carrying around hors d'oeuvres, and multiple hologram screens showing all the action unfolding inside of the Core Depths.

“I hope everything is to your liking, Your Majesty. If there is anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Oh yes, everything looks good to me. Thank you.” Azhane took a seat that was placed perfectly in the middle, prompting Felicity to take up a position right next to her. Azhane scanned over the various viewing angles and took notice of one, growing curious.

“I must say, you have some very impressive students this year. Who might that girl there be? She seems to be making short work of this test.” She asked as she crossed her legs, her eyes glued to the hologram screen.

“Oh, I see you have an exquisite eye, Your Majesty. That girl is Bridgette Vandel, a Phoenix Class student with the highest Core Resonance of all the first years. She’s projected to be the number one ranked first year once this test is over.”

“Vandel? As in the daughter of Marcellus Vandel? Founder of Vandel Industries?”

“Yes, that’s the one. Once his eldest daughter Claudia got injured in the war, he enrolled Bridgette right away. I think Master Marcellus is hoping she follows in Claudia’s footsteps. Only time will tell though.” Headmaster Quinn crossed his arms as he joined Azhane, watching the screen closely as well.

“She’s also being considered for the Dahlia program. If she continues to impress during this midterm, Miss Vandel will obtain the final Dahlia and close out the eight ranks. And if I’m not mistaken, she’ll be the first, first year student to be given a Dahlia since you attended thirteen years ago.” Headmaster Quinn added.

“Oh wow, very impressive. She definitely seems worthy of the honor, good for her.” Azhane averted her gaze towards another screen and noticed Carmen with her group.

“And what of Carmen? How has she been doing this semester?”

Headmaster Quinn looked to his left and motioned for one of the instructors to approach him. The instructor quickly walked over and handed him a clipboard with various papers on it. He shifted through the documents until he landed on one with Carmen’s profile picture.

“Okay, let’s see. Well, compared to those within Wyvern and Phoenix class, she’s unfortunately been quite average, Your Majesty. Her academic ability is middle of the pack and her combat abilities, while potent, have shown a lack of finesse, creativity, and overall utility. I think with enough training, she’ll really come into her own by her third year.” He replied with a slight smile, clearly sugarcoating his analysis.

“Hmm, is that so…” Azhane simply rested her chin on her hand, now deep in thought as she pondered the Headmaster’s response. She focused her gaze on the screen and continued to watch silently.

A couple hours passed by and the trio had accumulated a total of forty tokens from killing various creatures and completing some intricate puzzles.

“Don’t you find it odd that we haven’t found other students yet?” Carmen asked, wondering why the forest had been so empty thus far.

“Yeah, a little bit. But, maybe they’re fighting each other off. It’ll be easier for us if that’s the case.” Elise replied, putting the token pouch into her bag. The group hopped over another massive tree root and finally they found a clearing in the trees, seeing the sky for the first time since they entered the Core Depths.

They exited the forest and climbed a hill that overlooked the whole area. In the distance they saw a massive translucent crystal structure surrounded by low hanging clouds, massive overgrown trees and mountains. The Core of Alaira was as impressive as ever, causing the group to gawk at its splendor.

“Man, I’ll never get used to how huge the Core is.” Carmen muttered, once again reminiscing about her visit here last year. Elise looked over with a confused expression.

“Wait, have you been to the Core Depths before?” She asked with great curiosity. Carmen hesitated slightly before giving her response.

“Oh, Uhh, yeah. I came here with a dear friend of mine last year.”

"What!? But how? The Core Depths isn't a place you can just go to whenever you want. Who was your friend?" Elise patiently awaited an answer from Carmen, but before she could pry for more, Mariah quieted them down.

“Shh, looks like we’ve got our first prey. Get ready.” She whispered, noticing a group of students walking out of the forest.

The group consisted of three boys and on their uniforms was the Griffon Crest. They seemed pretty oblivious and didn’t notice Carmen’s team hiding behind some bushes. The group walked forward for a bit longer and suddenly, they became frozen, unable to move even an inch.

“What!?” One of the students yelled in shock, surprised by their sudden capture. Moments later, Elise dropped from the sky and landed in the middle of their team. She touched the ground underneath them with her right hand while aiming her left hand towards the sky. Within a couple seconds, a massive bolt of green lightning fired down and zapped the group in spectacular fashion.

A loud thunderous bang occurred as dust and smoke kicked up in the entire area. As the air cleared, the Griffon students were laying on the ground unconscious and Elise was holding their token pouch. She started to walk away and the boys immediately began glowing yellow, dematerializing as they were ported out of the playing field.

“Tsk, dang it, Elise. I didn’t get a chance to fight!” Mariah exclaimed, disappointed that she couldn’t get in on the action. Elise gave no response and simply opened the token pouch, with an annoyed expression on her face.

“They only had twenty tokens on them. Bummer.”

“Well, it’s twenty more to add to our stash. C’mon let’s get out of here before more students show up.” Carmen replied, gathering her things and pointing towards a direction they should follow.