The Phantom Riser

CHAPTER FOUR - THE TEST

“Hello new-born risers, my name is Noah, your test administrator. And with regards to today’s test, only half of you will survive,” Noah said with a straight face. It took a while for it to register in the passengers’ minds that he was being serious. You’d think by now, with all that happened, they would have come to term with reality. But they all sat on their seats in disbelief. And then came the panic. Noah looked somewhat disgusted at the sight, but he kept his cool.

“Calm down will you. Yes, I said only half will survive but only the better half. Why not worry about being the better half?” Noah said. Whether or not he expected it to calm them down or not is still a mystery but it did anything but that. In a fit, Noah released an intense amount of menacing aura. Even though they were all still low-level Risers, they could clearly feel the killing intent. Kiro gulped. Whether out of fear or reflex, he knew to be weary of Noah. Noah was more powerful than you would expect a test administrator to be. But he was a man with a very strict code and hence never killed on impulse. He was one who admired bravery and loved to see people push beyond their limits. Kiro had definitely caught his eye with a very risky bluff. But for now, everything was still going Kiro’s way.

“I said, be calm,” Noah ordered. In an instant, there was a surreal calmness in the cabin. “Good. Now let me brief you. In order to make big changes, sacrifices have to be made. Hence, cities were sacrificed in order to bestow upon you, remnant abilities. Abilities from the Eight. You are all Risers now. You should be seeing a virtual system now in front of you with your details. It should include your rank and abilities. Only you have access to it. However, as your test administrator, I have access to it too.”

A virtual system update popped up in front of everyone, only visible to the owners and Noah.

“What powers did you get?” Kiro asked Victor.

***

System Update

Victor Vaneki

Rank: Riser

Level: 1

Ability: Fire

Skill based ability: Fire ball (level 1)

***

“Fire ball,” Victor replied emphatically. For a moment, the joy of having powers made him forget the mess they were in.

***

System Update

Karenia Zari

Rank: Riser

Level: 1

Ability: Enhancer

Skill based ability: Super punch (level 1)

***

“I got super punch y’all,” Karenia rejoiced. A lot of the other passengers rejoiced at their new profound abilities, although they were still yet to try them out.

“Glad to see things are still the same,” Kiro said.

Noah continued to observe their reactions as he scanned through their abilities. He smiled at some and shook his head at others.

“What about you Kiro? What did you get?” Karenia asked.

“Yeah, Kiro. Tell us,” Noah said, as he appeared in front of them. They moved back in shock. “Who are you?” he asked as he looked at the system update in front of him in sheer disbelief.

***

System Update

Kiro Ner

[Your level is too low to see this user’s details]

***

“Why don’t you just check?” Kiro retorted.

Noah wore a smirk. He knew exactly was Kiro was trying to do. Letting people know he couldn’t see Kiro’s details would demean him and that was the last thing he needed at that moment. He still couldn’t profile Kiro and this new development made him even more weary of Kiro. He recalled when he first saw Kiro.

***

System Update

Skill Helios sleep active

Helios sleep nullified; Target is immune

***

He walked back to the middle of the cabin. “I’m sure you all have an idea of what your abilities are. As for figuring out how to use them, that is left to you. You should see the details of the test on your screens now,” Noah said.

***

System Update

Required test

Difficulty: C

Objective: Survive until only half the number of passengers in the cabin remain

Time limit: One hour

Reward: 500 coins

Penalty for failure: ???

***

“Your time starts now,” Noah said and disappeared out of sight.

The calm before the storm. Everyone knew what they had to do, but no one could do anything. A few hours ago, some of them were teachers, engineers, businessmen. None of them was a killer. But how were they going to get ahead without getting blood on their hands?

“What do we do, Kiro? Are we going to get our hands stained already?” Victor asked. All the excitement he felt had disappeared.

Kiro had no issue with getting his hands stained. In fact, the first time he found himself in this kind of test, he killed quite a few people. He was also convinced that his friends had to be aware of the fact that they would take a whole lot of lives. The laws of old no longer applied. It was to kill or to be killed. However, Kiro’s experience gave him insight that no one else had.

“We’re being tested. Difficulty ratings are not just an evaluation of a test but our ranks too. If you were to consider our novicey, then the test would be at best a D. We’re all weak. That makes us easy to be killed. But yet it said C. Furthermore, it didn’t say anything about killing. It said survive. All that matters is for exactly half our numbers to be present. In other words, we can cheat,” Kiro said with a grin on his face.

He walked to the middle of the cabin. “Can I have your attention please!” he beckoned. Surprisingly, they all quickly obliged. They were all looking for someone to turn to.

“I know a way we can all survive this. But some of us will have to forfeit the reward. Well excluding my friends and I of course. We’re forty in this cabin. Once I have twenty people, I’ll let you all in on my plan.”

The passengers were all shuffling amongst themselves. No one wanted to step forward. Some began to accuse Kiro of being partial. Why wouldn’t he be willing to forfeit his reward too? Kiro burst into a fit of laughter. “It’s been a while since I had such a hearty laugh. Humans will always be humans. I’m saving your life here and you can’t even forfeit the reward that you have no idea what it is like. In ten seconds, if I don’t see twenty people here, you are all welcome to fight amongst yourselves. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six… People began to come out and in a short while, he had twenty people out.

“See, that wasn’t so hard.” He engulfed the twenty people in a force field ball and levitated them out of the train. “Now, we have exactly half in the cabin.

***

System Update

Kiro Ner

Test passed

You have been awarded 500 coins

You have been awarded 500 more coins for your cleverness.

***

“I guess that’s it then,” he said, right before he let the force ball drop with all the people inside.