The chase continued for the entire day, with numerous scares along the way. But, each time when the blue team nearly caught up, Jim or one of the other guys would jump in and force them back. The gap between the two groups slowly widened.

When they thought they would lose the match just like that, their strongest fighter, Luciette, quickly recovered and after just a few hours she managed to catch up with Kairos with her superior movement techniques.

The heir of the White Snow family proved how formidable she was. She engaged the five of them several times, and singlehandedly pinned them down.

However, even with her superior martial arts, high-grade equipment, and with help from Alucard and his team, she was unable to get back her flag. Somehow, through devious plots and grim determination, the four of them will find a way to help Kairos escape, and they discovered first hand just how difficult it is to take down any of the five.

When pushed to the brink, the boys would try to lead the enemy on a wild goose chase, and if that failed, one of them would stay back and unleash all his soul energy reserves in a burst.

After surviving the Orc siege, both the Snowdrifts’ combat abilities and teamwork had far outstripped the other First Years, and this is especially evident on the five.

Despite that, she never gave up on the chase even when her teammates started to fall behind. In her heart, she knew that her chances are slim, so whenever she saw Edward, she would shout at him for being sneaky, causing the rather shy archer to shrink back each time.

Nevertheless, he and his brothers gritted their teeth and persevered getting the flag away. Right now, everyone’s future is hanging on the line. If they succeed, they could land the team rewards or even be awarded an aristocracy.

At the very least, they would avoid being kicked out of the school. Dropouts were never given a fair chance to earn a living.

Not only that, because the person that wins the match by flying the flag on the enemy’s base will earn the most points on his team, even Kairos hardened his heart and rush forward.

By the time he reached the West hill on the evening of the second night, only he and Edward were left.

They were both in shambles by now. Chased by E rankers with movement techniques, they had no choice but to use their Origin Infusion. Granted, the boost gave them speed bursts that even Luciette, a speed-based fighter, could not match, but this proved to be an unequal exchange.

An average person takes four to six weeks to recover a pint of blood. Losing two to three pints would be enough to go into temporary shock, and death would occur anywhere after losing four pints or more blood.

Putting aside the fact that Origin Energy users have more life force than their peers, they actually do not recover faster than non-practitioners by much and can only use the technique sparingly.

Taking a bet that his strength will last long enough to literally fly the flag of victory, Kairos charged towards the F rankers left by Luciette to guard the cave entrance.

Right behind them, Luciette and Alucard’s team had already caught up.

Without a word, Edward turned around, and for the first time, he met with Luciette’s reproachful eyes.

“You cheaters! I even helped you, and saved your lives!”

He blushed furiously, but nevertheless, held up his bow.

Kairos easily broke through the guards and continued storming into the enemy’s base. A month ago, this would have been something completely unthinkable for the J ranked boy, but now he stood here at Peak E rank, the Third highest combat ranking among all the first years.

Now only very few students are at the same level as him, like Luciette and Alucard, with the others being Mid or Entry E rank or below.

Of course, there are still two students above him at D rank; Calculus who is at Entry D and Jones who reached Peak D rank, but Kairos is confident that even against them, he can still hold his own for a few minutes.

Comparatively, these guards simply provide no resistance to him!

*Clank*

*Piang*

*Splat*

In his wake, the students slumped against the walls or buried into the soil, like a tornado had gone through.

The contraptions and steel bars were completely unused, thanks to how fast he assaulted the base. In just a single breath, he smashed past the unmanned defences, through the multiple rooms, and breached the ninth room. As he expected, Luciette had brought the bulk of her forces to aid their red team.

“Gosh, I feel kinda sorry.”

Inside of the resting area, only a few students are there. Hearing the commotion in the room below them, they woke up with a start and began preparing for an enemy attack, but halfway through he entered.

"I call into existence, thine sixteen elements of the highest," Kairos chanted coolly. Those closer to him immediately froze. His secret art’s most potent effect isn’t the devastating power, but the ability to immobilise even the Orc King.

It has far greater strength than the Bagua formation #2, Yin-Yang Array, but lacked the ability to absorb power from those affected by it, and unfortunately, it also comes with a few limitations.

In return for the nearly unfair binding power, it lasts merely a second or two. Also, it does not affect an area, but only a few selected targets. Although he couldn’t use it against numerous enemies at once, it is invaluable in clashes.

Right now, his upper limit is up to five enemies, and lessening the targets wouldn’t change the duration of his skill.

Fortunately, most of the students in the room are still unprepared. The few that are ready are immediately immobilised, and then before anyone could react, all of them are taken out by the incredibly dominating attack.

*Huff huff*

The last fight wasn’t as easy as it looked, despite how none of them came close to attacking him. Having expanded all of his energies, Kairos dragged himself into the last room.

With hands trembling from the fatigue, he excruciatingly hoisted the ropes that raise the flag.

“Nooooo!!”

Luciette screamed when she entered the tenth and final room, but by now the flag has reached the top.

“That idiot Jones did not help at all!!” she said madly.

Shortly after, Edward entered the room with Alucard right on his heels.

She took one look at Edward and turned her face away, “Hmph!”

The archer blushed furiously, but he couldn’t help but breathed a sign of relief. Their gamble had paid off. They don’t need to be expelled!

The two boys looked at the flag again, as if checking it is truly completely raised to the top. It signalled the unlikely victory of the Red team, and the two looked at each other with excited smiles.

“Hahaha….”

“BAHAHAHAH!!”

No doubt Luciette is feeling quite distasteful of the loss. The two people she dislikes the most is laughing heartily before her like they are rubbing it in. Especially, Kairos who pretended to be nice then hoisted the flag; Edward only comes to a close second for taking a cheap shot at her.

Of course, none of the five leaders from Snowdrifts is exempted in her personal blacklist. Despite how they say that all is fair in love and war, the Orc King was an unpredictable element. Truthfully, the examination shouldn’t continue after its appearance, but she knows that this part is the academy’s failure.

Luciette vowed to bring the matters into the hands of her elders. Something as serious as an Orc King mustn’t be ignored.

At this time, a voice sounded throughout the hall of the tenth room in West Hill, “Well done, first years! Congratulations to the Red team for their victory!”

The owner of the voice stepped into the tenth room dressed in the light-yellow grab that staff members of Saint Cadet's academy usually wear. On his shoulder is a badge that wrote the word “Copper”, indicating his grade among the academy’s staff.

The Copper grade within the staff are mostly B rankers, while instructors are usually Silver grade and are A rankers, while Head Instructors are all at Gold, and at least S rankers. Above them is another level, the Platinum grade that is above S rank, but those individuals are hardly found in the school; Instead, they frequent the battlefield.

Seeing that the students have fallen quiet at his arrival, the Copper grade staff continued, “You will now be sent back to the academy, upon reaching you are free to return to your dorm to await your results.

Every choice and action you had made during the training grounds exam in this past month will be thoroughly judged.

Once your score is tabulated, you can receive it in the gathering hall. All students present are now to follow me back and report to the training ground entrance immediately for a final briefing.”

The tired Kairos placed his arms around Edward, and they slowly went back with the academy staff. Luciette kept giving them dirty looks from the side as they walked back.

Throughout this final stretch to victory, everyone in the red team has made the maximum amount of effort pushing towards the West hill and stopping the blue team pursuers. Their hard-fought victory came about in an unexpected way, and those who lost were simply speechless.

“Maybe I have been too naïve throughout this exam. Sigh.”

As the commander, Luciette begrudgingly accepted that it was her fault.

From every direction, the students headed southwards where the gates are, with members of the academy staff leading in front.

The first years gathered by the gates, while they did a final headcount. Then, the students were dismissed, and all returned to the academy.

Along the way, the five of them were greeted with cheers from the red team. Many nobles, from both sides, went forward clapping them on their shoulders and back, and quite a few of them extended invitations to them for their clans.

In fact, the majority of the aristocrats belonged to the blue team, and most that approached them were affiliated with Alucard and those from the Dracula team that approached them.

From this, one can see just how powerful the Angelheart family is in this aspect. As well as how unfairly the students were grouped.

After being greeted by those of the Angelheart affiliation, the crowd thinned. Of course, none of the noble families or clans that are affiliated with the Devilheart family, which Calculus belongs to, spoke a word.

They glared murderously, especially at Kairos. If eyesight could kill, he would have been dead several hundreds of times over. Of course, their reaction wasn’t because of any true hatred they have towards the Snowdrifts or Kairos, but to display their loyalty towards Calculus.

“The bootlicking abilities these nobles in Calculus’ faction have, definitely could not be underestimated,” Kairos said softly to his friends around him, and they burst out laughing.