GUARDIAN OF THE END

'Why is it so dark here… I remember gathering for the trial of fear but what is this place?'

'I can't sense anything. Heck, I can't even sense whether I have a body or not. Something is definitely wrong. System, can you hear me?'

No response came. Jason couldn't tell what was happening but he tried to remain calm. Surprisingly, it was much easier than he thought.

'Without a body, its much easier to control my mind.' He thought.

Jason waited patiently for something to happen. His patience won and he heard a voice echo inside his mind soon.

"The trial of fear has started. You are the bearer of one active divinity, two dormant divinities, and one apex guardian. You will placed inside the expert zone." The voice said clearly.

For some reason, the expert zone didn't sound nice to Jason. He wanted to negotiate with the voice but it was useless.

"Looks like I am back in my body again…" Jason muttered. He could feel his body again and his senses were working fine.

He slowly opened his eyes and stared straight above. A clear sky was visible above him and it was around evening time.

[ Are you all right, host? ] The system questioned in a worried tone. It had been disconnected from Jason for the past few minutes.

'I'm fine for the time being. Apparently, we are in the expert zone which means that our lives will be in immense danger. Can you sense any beasts around us?'

[ About that… I can't sense anything around us. My senses have been restricted to about 1 meter cube area. ]

"Haaa… must be some kind of restriction imposed on us." Jason sighed.

He slowly stood up and glanced around at his surroundings. He was present in an open grass field and no living thing was visible for kilometers, excluding plants.

Jason observed that the field had tons of different kinds of planets which made him wonder whether he had appeared in an evolved grasslands.

[ Most of those plants are hostile towards living beings and some might think of you as food. ] The system informed.

A frown appeared on Jason's face. He tried using inspect to confirm the details but nothing appeared in front of his face.

'Damn…' Jason sighed again.

He remembered that he had to find a portal to exit the trial. What he liked was the fact that he could still sense two out of the four children he had put a tracker on.

Both of them, however, were extremely far away from him. Jason couldn't risk going after them without any preparations.

'At least I don't have to worry about food…' Jason silently thought. His eyes moved towards the ring on his finger.

The chickens he had captured during his survival test were still present in his ring. Though he would need to remove the useless parts, the silver-haired boy was happy to have something to eat.

[ As for water, I could provide you with liquid to drink. ] Hestia added.

'Is it milk?' Jason immediately asked back.

[ No, its not milk. As a guardian of beasts, I can locate things easily in the wildlife. I might be able to guide you towards a spring and you can purify the water with the help of your dark element. ]

'I see…' Jason thought with a slightly disappointed expression.

His eyes took another look at the surroundings before he decided to move. As a precaution, Jason covered his body in lightning to make sure that he would be ready for anything.

[ Here, you can now sense the spring that I marked for you. ] Hestia informed.

Jason felt another thing popping up in his senses. For the time being, he turned off the trackers he had put on his friends and decided to approach the spring.

'I don't want to touch any of these plants…' Jason thought with a grim expression.

He carefully moved around the place, his eyes following the movements of certain plants. Though it was hard, he managed to leave the field after a few hours and entered a thick forest.

Night had approached and Jason wasn't thrilled to stay out in the open.

He decided to take shelter atop one of the trees and not eat anything for the day. Since he had replenished his body with nutrients before entering the trial, his soul state was still in peak condition.

Jason could go three days without eating anything. After that, his body would start to lag behind, creating new problems for him to face.

[ Jason, you should sleep right now. Since no beast is currently present here, its best if you rest up as much as possible. You might enter dangerous areas in the following days. ] Hestia explained.

'I guess you are correct. Guard me in the meantime…' Jason agreed with her and asked his guardian to guard him while he slept.

Hestia appeared in her wolf form and stood beside her partner. Both of them stared up at the enormous trees.

They silently agreed that sleeping on trees was the best thing for them to do until they had solidified a position for themselves.

Jason used his dark harpoon to easily climb the tree. After searching around for some time, he found the perfect branch to sleep on.

He crashed down on it without any worries. Hestia would protect him.

'Something doesn't feel right about this place.' Hestia thought silently. 'Its as though I have come here before.'

Her eyes were focused on the young boy's face. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if Jason would've been present in the past.

'Maybe Aiden would still be here due to that.' Hestia sighed. The ex-goddess turned her eyes towards the moon and decided to keep guarding Jason.

It was going to be a short night for someone like her who had experienced countless years in complete darkness.

***

Meanwhile in Vancouver academy.

Albus looked at the unconscious children with a grim expression. As the person responsible for supplying the trial with mana, he knew about the things happening inside.

The principal could tell that no beasts were currently moving inside the trial and none of the portals had appeared yet.

'Only a few hours have passed for all of them yet two days have passed in the outside world. I have no idea how much time it would take for all of them to come back.' Albus sighed.

He looked up at the sky and wondered what responses he would give to the parents of the children.

Albus thought of some excuses before realizing that there wasn't any need to do that. He could just take Julian's and everyone would shut up.

Except for the families of the top nobility. Albus had felt an incoming headache just by thinking about some of the stronger noble families questioning him about their children.

'I'm worried about the Syrward family… I don't want Risa anywhere near this academy. Hopefully, Issac will come here himself to solve this. He would only destroy property which can be restored.' Albus shuddered a bit.

He wanted to stay a hundred thousand kilometers away from Risa but that wasn't possible. Albus would welcome Issac's destruction causing nature with open arms instead of coming near his wife.

'Both of them are a match made in heaven… One destroys you physically while the other destroys you mentally…'

Albus stopped worrying about the future and instead looked at the children. He could tell that the portals were soon about to be revealed and the beasts would finally appear.

The newbie protection would soon disappear and the children would face the wrath of the trial.

***

[ Jason, I think you should wake up. Something is about to happen. ] Hestia suddenly warned Jason and asked him to wake up.

The silver-haired boy woke up with a jolt. He hadn't put his guard down and his reaction was expected.

"What is happening?" he questioned, his eyes moving around the area.

It was early morning in the forest. Fog covered the entire area, making Jason a bit nervous. He had gotten over his fear of mists and fogs yet it still made him nervous.

[ I sensed a shift in the natural mana of this place. Some spots suddenly have concentrated mana in them as though the mana is being gathered for something grand. ] Hestia informed.

Both of them stared at the sky in silence. All of a sudden, an enormous amount of mana washed over the entire area.

Five blue pillars of light suddenly shot towards the sky. All of them were enormous and released a huge amount of mana.

Jason's eyes looked at all of their locations before stopping on the one closest to him. The pillar of light closest to him actually had a second pillar shooting towards the sky about two kilometers away.

For anyone teaming up, this was the perfect place for them to aim for.

Jason wanted to go towards another pillar of light but that was going to be hard considering how the other pillars were far away.

'If these are the portals, everyone present in the area would soon start moving towards them.' Jason thought with narrowed eyes.

Seeing no other option, Jason decided to go towards one of the twin portals. He slowly made his move and sprang from one branch to other.

'Hestia, can I obtain the powers of other beasts once I grow up and learn to control your powers even better?' Jason asked curiously.

[ Maybe, maybe not. We will see in the future. ]

Jason was about to reply when he suddenly felt multiple auras popping around him. Even with his restricted senses, he could tell that the auras belonged to vicious beasts.

From the looks of it, they were hungry as well.