Being careful not to make any noticeable movements, Alex carried on eating his food as if he had heard nothing, but he was much more alert than beforehand.
Mira was no different. She had heard the same thing, except for the fact she was facing the direction the sound came from.
It was hard to tell in the darkness, but she swore she could make out three dark silhouettes before they disappeared.
Since Alex was facing Mira, away from where the sound came from, he mouthed to her, acting like he was chewing on some meat.
'Something in the darkness?'
Mira fake yawned and tilted her head up and down in the process.
This was a clear 'yes' to Alex's question.
Fwoosh
All of a sudden, something came flying out of the darkness and brushed past Mira's face, her barely dodging in time.
With all pretenses shattered, both Alex and Mira stood up with their knives in hand and turned to face the direction the projectile had been fired from.
Lit up by the fire between them, two bipedal figures stepped out of the darkness slowly and entered the range of the fire, revealing themselves.
'Humans??'
The two people who showed up in front of them wore the same uniform.
They were also applicants!
"Two little rats like you don't belong in this level of society. The mere fact that you even think you have a chance of enrolling in the top 5 is a joke." The boy on the left spoke.
He had long, dark blonde hair tied up into a ponytail. He held the same standard issue combat knife in his hand. Except it was coated in some sort of purple substance.
'Poison.'
Alex recognised this substance.
Joanne had used the same thing when she and Raymond killed the Flaming lion.
"Don't you know the examiners are watching? Are you so daring to kill other applicants right in front of them?" Alex asked them. No fear could be heard in his voice.
In fact there was a trace of confidence when he spoke.
But Mira didn't share that confidence.
'Where's the third?'
She had clearly seen three silhouettes, yet only two people had shown up in front of them.
Alex wasn't aware of the third person.
"Haha, the fact you think this way is quite funny. Let me tell you something, rat." The boy on the right, a short and plump boy with spiky black hair, spoke this time.
"The examiners don't care about applicants killing each other. In fact there's a hidden rule they didn't reveal. If you kill other applicants, you inherit their points."
Alex was shocked when he heard this.
Every applicant here was just a teenager at best.
But then he remembered how the world worked.
He had just been living in his own delusion ever since he returned back to the federation.
How could things be any different in the federation than things were in the Primordial Expanse when they were essentially governed by the same system.
The strong rule, the weak obey.
"I assume you come from some sort of influential family to know such a hidden rule. I assume this is some sort of way to cull any weaklings or 'people who don't deserve to be here' like us?" Alex had a sinister look on his face when he asked this.
"Think what you like. All that matters is that you will die here today." The blonde boy with the ponytail got fed up with all the talk and directly readied his combat knife.
He launched himself off the ground towards Alex, with his knife in position to slit his throat.
On the other side the spiky haired boy did the same with Mira.
But Alex and Mira were quicker, before they were attacked they kicked the glowing, hot sticks of charcoal in the direction of the attackers, causing them to dodge and abandon their quick approach.
"Don't let the blade hit you!" Alex shouted to Mira, not wanting her to get poisoned.
Alex was about to prepare his own counterattack, but before he could do anything, an arrow came flying in from the darkness and penetrated his shoulder.
"Arghh!" He cried out in agony, grabbing the arrow and attempting to snap it.
But instead of feeling the wooden shaft of the arrow in his hands, he felt nothing.
The arrow disintegrated into particles of light and were carried away by the wind, leaving his wound open and allowing the blood to flow out much quicker.
'Shit, I should have known there was a third.'
Inwardly, he was cursing himself for not noticing the discrepancy.
He should have noticed something was off when he saw two people approaching with nothing on them that allowed projectiles to be fired at speeds like that.
'How the hell did they get a bow?? Everyone's supposed to be limited to the same equipment!'
At the same time Alex had been shot by the arrow, Mira shot towards the two attackers she could actually see and slashed at them violently.
There was a spartan rage in her eyes as every swing of her knife was launched with the intent to kill.
'I only just made my first friend, and now someone's here to ruin it for me again. I'LL KILL YOU'
Her thoughts ran wild as she abandoned all rationality and just attacked with sheer instinct.
Her strength was higher than both of her attackers, allowing her to fight on par with both of them at the same time.
But the archer had also started focusing on her, not giving her any room to attack, only defend.
Seeing how the situation was quickly turning against their favor, with Alex injured and her unable to deal with three of them at the same time, Mira made a daring move.
'Golden Pres-'
She was about to risk her life by transforming again so soon after recovering from her previous use, but a voice spoke through gritted teeth behind her.
"Don't."
Hearing Alex's voice, Mira snapped her head around and saw him standing with one arm limp, and a huge fireball in his other hand.