The Ascension Age

Twenty seconds remain...

Aire and Altina used their Stellar Suit Arm as well as they could. Of course, just one arm wasn't enough to defend themselves, so they made sure to move about, only using the arm to land certain blows.

Fifteen seconds remain...

A Stellar Beast passed by Altina and Aire's defense. However, Kymei didn't simply absorb Sera's energy. He kept looking around, ready to react. Besides, with Aire and Sera's help, the points at which he could be attacked decreased, making it easier to shoot back.

*Bang, bang, bang!*

The Stellar Beast jumped right in front of Kymei's rifle, who didn't even need to target anymore. Unsurprisingly, it was soon devoid of life in front of Kymei before he continued to absorb Sera's Stellar Bubble Energy.

Ten seconds remain...

Aire finally began to run out of Stellar Energy. However, he touched his bracelet and started to absorb the energy from it. Normally, the suit would spend energy much faster than Aire could replenish it. Though, it was at moments like these that his Energy Blood Flow Assistance helped out. It wasn't enough to make up for the Arm's consumption speed, but it could at least reduce the burden.

Five seconds remain...

Riser after Riser fell at even greater speeds. No team was unscathed anymore at this point. Some of the lucky few who had four members till the very end were even wiped out. In a certain way, luck played a very big part here since the Stellar Beasts didn't have the intelligence to select targets. They just moved by instinct.

Out of nowhere, Aire and Altina were surrounded and attacked from all sides. They kicked and punched out, trying to get off of the enemy's jaws. However, they only had so many arms and legs. Unfortunately for them, it was too late as well. For those two, who were already at their limit, those attacks were fatal.

Their protective bracelets then shone with silver light before their bodies were covered in the same protective gel as the others who lost. The Stellar Beasts' attacks landed on them, throwing their gel-covered bodies everywhere. It's just that they couldn't cause any damage anymore. Aire and Altina couldn't help but feel despair at this moment. They were so close!

Yet, it was at this moment that they noticed something odd. They weren't the only ones who were enveloped by the protective gel. Kymei, who was being attacked but wasn't in a desperate situation, was also enveloped by the gel. Aire and Altina's eyes were still working. After all, the gel only protected the Riser. It didn't kill them. It's just that they weren't able to interact with the outside world anymore. They could even blink.

As their bodies flew for a moment, they were able to get a panoramic view of the surroundings. Everywhere, all the Riser students were enveloped by the gel as well. It wasn't only them. It didn't matter whether the Risers were going to be killed or not.

Eventually, Aire understood what happened as he thought, 'That's right! How will the teachers rescue us after the mission's over? There are too many Stellar Beasts. Until they manage to subdue them, many Riser students would just end up being protected by the bracelet. That being said, the best option is to simply activate all the bracelets and take their time dealing with the beasts.'

Altina and Kymei also noticed this point and couldn't help but feel excited. The mission was over before they could be taken down by the beasts! Like other teams, they also lost at least one member. In any case, Kymei had recovered all of Sera's Stellar Energy, so that didn't matter anymore.

Sure enough, the airships hovering in the air began to descend as several people came out from them. They were all Risers at the Stellar Foundation Level at the very least. Although their numbers were smaller than the Stellar Beasts, the difference in strength was just too big for the beasts to do anything.

Well, even if the beasts succeeded in landing an attack that could kill them, those Risers were also using the same protective bracelet. In the end, they would be protected by it.

The Risers were obviously used to it as the Stellar Beasts were captured one after another. They didn't kill them since they needed to use those beasts in other tests. Eventually, the beasts were taken away before the bodies of Riser students were collected.

Unfortunately, the gel seemed to have some sort of sleeping drug in it. With that said, Aire's group only stayed awake for a few seconds after the mission was over, so they didn't see anything that happened after.

Around a day later, Aire woke up in the infirmary. He looked around, feeling a bit of a headache...only for it to get worse. 

'Aire! You finally woke up!' Stella's voice echoed louder than normal in his mind.

'Stella, can't stop shouting? You know I can hear you even if you speak normally,' Aire said as he put a hand on his head.

Stella immediately apologized in response. 'Oh! Sorry, sorry. It's just that you slept for so long that I got bored.' 

Aire's mouth twitched after hearing that. 'Shouldn't you have said you were worried?'

Unfortunately for him, Stella only looked at Aire as if he was an idiot. 'Are you dumb? I have a full understanding of your body, you know? I knew very well what your condition was, so why should I be worried?'

Aire could only sigh in the end as he told her, 'Whatever, just stay quiet while I check out what happened.'

With that, Aire got up and opened the curtain that was isolating his bed. In an instant, he noticed the numerous amount of beds in the surroundings, and it was only one room. 'So, I came back here once again, huh? Well, Altina isn't on top of me this time.' He then remembered how good it was as a smile appeared on his face, completely ignoring the pain and the problems he got that day. 'Such a pity...'

Just as he reminiscing the past, someone whispered in his ears, "What? Sad that Altina wasn't there with you today?"

Aire felt his body go cold as he jumped away as fast as he could. Only then did he see who said those words. "Teacher Zule..." 

At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder, 'Are you a fucking esper?'