—

No one spoke and they were nervous.

While his friends were busy settling down their nerves, Raven activated the whole formation and stepped inside.

The whole room was filled with lights, it then formed six door shaped portals, Raven entered one of the rooms and sat down, as soon as he did, the formation did it’s magic and separated his consciousness from his body to transport it to the virtual arena.

As soon as he opened his eyes. He found himself standing inside an arena which is filled with numerous cages. Collectively, these doors formed a huge dome which completely sealed all of his escape paths.

Behind these cages, were eyes of beasts which showed a scarlet glow, even with his enhanced vision, Raven couldn’t peek beyond the cages to clarify which type of beast was hidden. Suddenly, he heard a loud sound behind him, he looked over and saw that a certain cage from the lower part of the dome was opening.

As soon as the cage was lifted, it was then followed a by a loud bestial roar that echoed in everywhere. Raven heard heavy stomps which also made the earth tremor, as the beast stepped out of the cage, Raven could now tell what type of beast he was about to face.

“Three-tailed Stone Monkey huh? This should be interesting.” He smiled as he saw the beast walk over. Three-tailed Stone monkeys are generally as tall as most humans are. They are very nimble and playful, on top of that their defences are extremely tough because of their innate Stone Skin.

Since Raven was already wearing his Flexible Fighter Set, he and his enemy basically charged at the same time towards each other. His movements were actually slower than the monkey but he wasn’t entirely worried.

The monkey leapt and attempted to rip his face off using it’s sharp claws, Raven lifted his palm and did a circular motion with it, intercepting the attack and redirecting it somewhere else. He then followed with a right leg hook, to which the monkey reacted by covering it’s chest with all of it’s tales and curling up like a ball.

Raven leg hit a tough spot but his limbs were strong enough for him basically neglect the pain. The monkey was forced to a distance which made it screech in anger, Raven wasn’t planning on letting the monkey steal the initiative so after knowing that the monkey escaped his attack, he immediately followed and sent another leg hook but this time, using his other leg.

The attack landed on the shoulders off the beast which caused it to screech in pain, Raven’s strikes were as heavy as boulder. The monkey skid quite far and kicked up a dust because of constant tumbling from his kick. It didn’t take long before the monkey was back on it’s feet and was already charging towards him once more.

This time, the monkey’s steps were heavy and it’s tails were wriggling everywhere signifying that it’s mad. Raven similarly charged towards the monkey but there was a slight change in the scenario. He saw rocks flying past him as he ran, he looked carefully and saw that the monkey was using it’s three tails to smash the land on it’s feet while also picking up stones to throw at him. He smiled and thought that this was a clever trick, this type of apes definitely trained their tails to the point where they could use it instead of having it as a weakness.

Raven nimbly dodged the projectiles while also closing in the distance between him and the monkey, as he went closer, Raven leapt up and somersaulted in the air which totally surprised the monkey. It threw rocks at him while he was on the air but Raven’s defences was strong enough to enable him on ignoring it entirely. With his legs stretched high up, he allowed gravity to do it’s magic and sent a guillotine kick towards the head of the monkey while also covering his entire leg with energy to amplify the effects.

*Bang*

The monkey tried defending against that strike but it was too heavy that it caused the bones on the monkey’s body to shatter. Raven’s kick also landed on the skull of the monkey, firmly ending all it’s struggles and the battle.

He watched as the corpse of the monkey disappeared, he heaved a sigh of relief and saw that a platform raised in front of him. There was a stone tablet on top of the platform that had a writing with them which said: ‘Continue Challenge?’ And below that question were two hand prints that’s colored Green and Red. Green to continue the challenge and Red to leave. Raven placed his hand on the red handprint and his vision blacked out.

Next thing he knew, he woke up and was back to his body. He took time to see of there were something wrong with his body but found out that there was none, so he smiled and felt like giving himself a pat on the back for being such a genius.

He stood up, went outside of the formation and saw no one there. He raised his brow and took out the main control for the formation, only to see something that made him smile even more.

“The first step towards real Knighthood, is acknowledging your fears. Great job guys.”

***

Few minutes ago.

“He went in.” Paul said as he watch Raven disappear inside the formation.

“We could see that.” Ellen chimed in which caused Paul of roll his eyes.

There was another brief silence in the area where they were gathered, no one spoke nor moved, it was clear that they’re scared by the idea of dying inside. Surprisingly, someone stepped forward with the intent of going inside the formation.

It was Luna.

“Luna…” Anne whispered as she saw her friend walk forward.

“We have to experience this.” She said, “Knowing death is knowing what will be lost if we fail. I can’t let it happen so I have to face this.”

Her words speaks volume to the hearts of everyone around her. All of the were awed by the determination of the little princess. Her identity isn’t much of secret now towards her friends, the girls knew all along, she told Raven first so that only leaves Mark and Paul, who had their suspicions basically confirmed.

Knowing that she is a princess is one thing, but realizing the responsibilities that she has to face is on another level.

Luna never thought of fighting for the Crown, because of her previous ‘illness’ and her being a female, killed the thought before it was even born. But this doesn’t mean that her responsibilities as a royalty disappeared. Add the fact that she was surrounded with people who were constantly fighting for their home, her fighting spirit was ignited and she became bolder with her decisions and actions. The little pampered princess is now coming of age. If the Palace were aware of this, this will garner many opinions amongst their ranks.

“What the hell…” Paul chuckled, “If you put it like that, then you’re making us men look bad.” He stood up and walked with her. Luna was about to clarify her intentions but she realized that Paul’s words had a deeper meaning.

She suddenly felt a pair of hands clasp hers, she looked to her side only to see Anne and Ellen holding her hands while smiling at her.

“You’re not alone in this fight Sis. We’re coming with you.” Anne said as she placed a determined expression on her face as well.

“We can’t let Raven to strut further away from us. We have to catch up.” Mark stated as he readied his swords and armor.

His words received a collective nod from them, they too prepared their weapons and armors. They all had a very serious expression on their faces as they step forward inside the formation and had their consciousness separated from their own bodies.

As they disappeared within the formation, it was also the time when Raven emerged from it and found out that they disappeared.

He then took out the main control for the formation and sank his consciousness within. He saw all of them were transported inside arena but unable to see each other. Just like what he experienced, each of them faced a beast but what came out was different for each of them.

Paul’s enemy is a Ferocious Blood Bear, Mark’s enemy is an Evil-eyed Mantis, Anne faced Headhunting Crow, Ellen faced a Sand Alligator while Luna faced Three-horned Boa.

The beasts that they facer were incredibly challenging for someone at their level but seeing the brave expression of his friend stopped him from interrupting. He knew that of he stopped them now, then this will undoubtedly wound their ‘Warrior Heart’ which definitely not something that he wanted to see.

He sat down and continued monitoring the fight of his friends.. It was also this moment that a faint glow of silver was flickering behind him.