The atmosphere within the central arena of the Hidden Maliqun Complete Educational Board was pressurized to the point of literal combustion. Millions of digital spectator screens hovered along the vertical walls of the multi-tiered citadel, broadcasting the event to every sector of the territory. Tens of thousands of elite students, bloodline descendants, and cosmic prodigies stood assembled across the massive, high-density metallic grid of the main staging floor.
Above the stadium, the sky parted. A massive, gold-rimmed void portal materialized, radiating a pressure so immense that the ambient energy fields of the students flickered erratically.
Stepping out from the portal and hovering in mid-air was Khandaker Al Khalid—the 8th Hidden Maliqun King, and the biological father of Team Thunder. His very presence distorted the light around him, his dark cape fluttering against a silent, unseen cosmic draft.
Silence fell across the entire citadel.
"Students of the All Category," Khalid's voice echoed, carrying an absolute spatial frequency that vibrated directly within the minds of everyone present. "The CESC Exam begins today. Your past rankings, your bloodline titles, and your theoretical scores are entirely irrelevant within this domain. Only survival, adaptability, and victory matter."
He extended his right hand, projecting a massive three-dimensional holographic interface across the sky.
"The parameters of this exam are divided into Three Phases:"
1. Phase One: The Teamwork Obstacle Race. "Every team will navigate a six-tiered hazardous terrain sequence. Your physical, energetic, and tactical performances will be calculated in real time by the board's central matrix to assign individual and team Bounties."
2. Phase Two: The Fixed Dual Combat. "Brackets will be automatically generated to match specific team members against one another in single-elimination duels. The winning team of each bracket secures the authority to mandate a temporary tactical rule for the final phase."
3. Phase Three: The Open Bounty Brawl. "The final phase is total battlefield engagement. The team that accumulates the highest total bounty value—and successfully claims the bounties of opposing teams—will win the tournament. To officially pass the CESC Exam, a team must secure a baseline threshold of 10¹⁰ points."
Khalid's eyes narrowed slightly, casting a sharp glance over the thousands of combatants below. "There is one universal rule across all three phases: The Knockout Protocol. Any student rendered unconscious, fainted, or physically incapacitated is instantly eliminated from the grid. Do not fail."
With a short wave of his hand, Khalid vanished back into the void portal, leaving the atmosphere charged with overwhelming tension.
***
As the central arena floor began to shift and reconfigure into the starting gates of Phase One, the three 1028-year-old instructors stepped up to Team Thunder's designated gate.
Lucky, the Qadirun Maliqun of War, adjusted his military gloves, his eyes locked firmly on Thunder. "Thunder, as the Captain, you are leading six total members in this formation. Be extremely cautious of squads operating with 10 to 16 members. Numerical distribution in an open grid is dangerous. Do not let your training go to waste. Win this."
Lady Mistriefe smiled warmly, giving them a confident nod. "Show them what real coordination looks like, boys!"
Beside her, Bucky lowered his stance, his wild eyes drifting toward a calm, silent figure standing at the adjacent starting gate alongside the six sons of Suleiman.
"Keep your eyes wide open, Team Thunder," Bucky warned, his voice dropping into a low growl. "My student, Arsh-AL-Qur-Haque Freak, is a complete anomaly. His capabilities exceed baseline logic. Do not underestimate him for a single second."
Thunder tightened his combat gloves, his jaw set. "We won't."
***
"ALL TEAMS, TAKE YOUR POSITIONS," the automated institution system announced over the loudspeakers. "PHASE ONE INITIATING IN THREE... TWO... ONE... BEGIN!"
The massive containment barriers dissolved.
"Ninten, speed boost! Now!" Thunder ordered.
"On it, Cap!" Ninten grinned, his eyes glowing with a bright cyan digital light. Reaching into his conceptual gamer interface, he channeled a classic speed-amplification mechanic from the Roblox system—Speed Coil Velocity Acceleration. Instantly, a bright, glowing red and blue kinetic spiral wrapped around the feet of all six members of Team Thunder.
SWOOSH!
Team Thunder detonated forward at hyper-velocity, leaving sonic booms in their wake as they surged past hundreds of standard applicant squads within the first few seconds.
Obstacle 1: The Icy Wind
Without warning, the environmental grid dropped to absolute zero. A roaring, sub-zero blizzard of compressed cryogenic air swept across the pathway, instantly flash-freezing the terrain, the air molecules, and the movement energy of every team in sight. Thousands of students were instantly trapped in thick, unbreakable blocks of glacial ice.
Team Thunder's momentum ground to a sudden halt as dense ice locked around their limbs.
"Tch! My kinetic output is dropping!" Thunder gritted his teeth, struggling against the freezing pressure. "We need to melt this entire pathway to maintain our speed, but using unrefined raw Sakti here will just waste our reserves!"
Across the field, Freak stood unbothered. Without breaking his stride, he extended a single calloused hand. A low, hyper-compressed aura of pure, refined hard-work energy flared from his body, completely vaporizing the glacial wind and melting an entire clear highway through the ice for Suleiman's six sons before he casually sprinted forward.
"Look at him go..." Mark noted coldly, his cybernetic visor calculating Freak's energy output. "His efficiency is absurd. Ninten, stop holding back. Use a high-thermal transformation immediately."
"Alright, alright, don't rush the carry!" Ninten chuckled.
Ninten's body burst into dark infernal flames as he executed a full character transformation from Mobile Legends: Thamuz, the Lord of Lava.
"ALL SHALL BURN!" Ninten roared in Thamuz's deep, demonic voice.
Activating his Ultimate ability, Cauterize Atmosphere, a massive pool of molten volcanic lava exploded outward from his body. The extreme thermal shockwave instantly shattered and melted the entire frozen valley, freeing Team Thunder and clearing the path ahead.
Obstacles 2 through 7: The Gauntlet
With the path clear, Team Thunder surged into the remaining sequence of hazardous environments:
- Obstacle 2: Sticky Liquid Hell. A swamp of dense, energy-draining adhesive sludge. Freak passed first by density manipulation, while Ninten used Thamuz's fiery scythes to create a hardened ceramic trail over the sludge for his squad.
- Obstacle 3: Rock Valley. A canyon of falling, hyper-dense meteorites. Mark mapped out every falling trajectory with his visor, allowing the team to weave through without taking a single hit.
- Obstacle 4: Fire Beetle Hell. Millions of explosive, armored insects. Gic deployed precise spatial barriers, redirecting the swarms into opposing lanes.
- Obstacle 5: Hydra's Breath Cave. Tunnels filled with corrosive acid gas. Dent and Riber coordinated energy shields to completely seal off the atmospheric toxins.
- Obstacle 6: Skeleton's Deadzone. An army of animated structural guardians. Thunder stepped to the front, releasing a short burst of Bijoyi Abha to crush their operational cores instantly.
- Obstacle 7: Piercing Valley. A canyon firing millions of high-velocity metallic needles. The squad synchronized their movement speed, crossing the finish line unscathed.
***
As all qualifying teams crossed the finish line of Phase One, the massive leaderboard above the stadium updated in real time, calculating performance metrics into monetary combat bounties.
The top 10 individual bounty rankings flashed across the screen:
1. Arsh-AL-Qur-Haque Freak – $1,500,000,000
2. Ninten – $1,200,000,000
3. Fi – $1,100,000,000
4. Gic – $1,000,000,000
5. Mark – $950,000,000
6. Thunder – $900,000,000
7. Dent – $850,000,000
8. Riber – $800,000,000
9. Shan – $750,000,000
10. Leomord – $700,000,000
Thunder stood watching the leaderboard, his eyes fixed on the massive gap between Freak and the rest of the board.
"Look at those numbers," Thunder said quietly, his voice heavy with tactical concern. "Freak didn't just pass Phase One... he did it while expending less than five percent of his total energy reserve. His efficiency metric is higher than any of ours."
"He's analyzing the system in real time," Mark added, adjusting his visor as data streams scrolled across his display. "His background forced him to optimize every single micro-movement. In terms of pure operational efficiency, he is currently outperforming our standard baseline calculations."
Ninten reverted from his Thamuz form back to his normal self, stretching his arms casually with a confident smirk. "Hey, come on, Captain! I literally torched an entire glacial zone in one second. We're sitting right at the top of the board too. Why the long face?"
"Because Phase Two is where the real trap lies," Gic interjected smoothly, crossing his arms. "The dual matchups aren't randomized. The board matches combatants based on direct tactical counters."
Suddenly, the secondary board lit up, displaying the official Phase Two matchups:
- Thunder vs. Leomord
- Mark vs. Lassy
- Ninten vs. Shan
- Gic vs. Whisper
- Dent vs. Abha-sttar
- Fi vs. Torment-Tornarto
Thunder looked at his team, his expression turning solemn as the gravity of the upcoming battles set in.
"This is it," Thunder declared, his voice ringing with absolute leadership authority. "Every single opponent matched against us is designed to test our weaknesses. Do not fight as individuals looking for personal glory. Fight to secure the rules for Phase Three. We are Team Thunder—and we take absolute victory!"
"Understood, Captain!" the team shouted in unison, their eyes burning with determination as the arena floor began to morph into the Phase Two duel arenas.
***
As the stadium announced the additions to the duel bracket, the crowds in the arena roared.
Torment-Tornarto stepped into his assigned combat sector, his body surrounded by a violent, howling aura of localized wind pressure and atmospheric distortion. His eyes flickered with intense green vortex energy as he sneered across the platform.
"You're Fi, right?" Torment-Tornarto laughed, the wind around him accelerating until it cracked the metallic floor plates. "You got 3rd place on the bounty board during Phase One, but speed in a straight line means nothing when the very air around you is turning into a meat grinder. I'll slice your aura to ribbons before you even take a step!"
Fi stood perfectly calm at the opposite end of the stage. He didn't drop into a defensive stance, nor did he flare his energy recklessly. He simply adjusted his coat, his eyes locked onto Torment-Tornarto with total composure.
"Your wind vectors are loud," Fi said quietly, his voice cutting clearly through the roaring gale. "You rely on chaos and destruction to hide the fact that your control lacks precision. In front of absolute balance, a hurricane is just wasted noise."
"We'll see about that!" Torment-Tornarto screamed, slamming his hands together.
"ATMOSPHERIC DECAPITATION VORTEX!"
A colossal, razor-sharp tornado exploded forward, tearing up the stage floor and locking off every single evasion route. The gale-force pressure was so dense it created a vacuum, threatening to shred Fi's physical form instantly.
Fi didn't move until the storm was inches from his face.
Then, with frame-perfect timing, Fi extended two fingers, channeling a hyper-concentrated pin-point beam of pure, refined energy directly into the eye of the vortex.
THWIP!
The massive tornado collapsed in an instant, its kinetic force completely neutralized and dispersed into a harmless breeze. Before Torment-Tornarto could even process what happened, Fi appeared directly in front of him—his movement so fast it looked like instant teleportation.
Fi lightly tapped Torment-Tornarto's chest with the palm of his hand, detonating a focused burst of internal shockwaves.
BOOM!
Torment-Tornarto was launched backward at sound-barrier speeds, crashing hard into the arena's boundary wall and falling unconscious instantly.
"MATCH SET! VICTORY FOR FI!" the automated system announced.
Fi turned back toward Team Thunder's bench, giving his squad a calm nod as the crowd erupted into cheers. "One win down. Let's sweep the rest."