Chapter 238 Martial Exam, First Trial

Van wished he had turned Devi down on her offer when she revealed her boney motorcycle. But they were running late so there wasn’t much they could do about it. Devi hooked a cart to her ride and they sent off towards the blood hall. Seral, Samira and Anna riding in the makeshift rickshaw while Van sat behind Devi, gripping her waist as she put the pedal to the metal trying to see if she could reach top speed.

The reckless driving wasn't so much the part he regretted when he accepted Devi’s suggestion of a quick ride. He had been somewhat interested in the bone bike and how it functioned when she first revealed it. But what he really regretted was all the eyes on them as they passed student after student in the large open hall. Looks of curiosity, confusion and worse… Judgment, for their weird actions and the inconvenience they forced on other students who had to move out of their way.

“Maybe we should slow down a little?” Van suggested. “I think we're close enough to walk the rest of the way there and still get there on time.”

“And miss out on the chance to try my new invention!? Perish the thought!” Devi exclaimed with laughter as Van hugged her from behind tighter to make sure he didn’t fall off.

It seemed she enjoyed Van pressing close to her, if her tail trying to wrap around his waist was any indication. Perhaps reasons beyond just wanting to try out her new toy was influencing her decision to turn him down and stop the ride short…

Unfortunately for her, all good things must come to an end. “We're here.” She said somewhat sadly. Stopping the ride a few feet from the doors that led into the blood hall. “When you're done, come back and give me a review of my ride. I look forward to any suggestions and compliments you might have for my awesome machine.” Giving them a winning smile.

“Thanks… I’ll think about it…” Van said as he slowly got off and on to his wobbly legs. Devi’s tail still trying to hold on to him.

“Oops… Let me get that for you.” Pulling her tail off of Van.

Seral and the others got off the cart, Seral personally seeming to be holding his stomach with his hands and looking a little green in the face. “I don’t think I want to do that ever again…” Looking a little miserable.

Samira helped her master by giving him a shoulder to lean on until he got his stomach settled, while Anna walked over to Van to offer a hand for him to do the same.

Devi saw that the two were going to be okay and turned her ride back on. “Alright, I have to get back to work. See you two later!” And with another smile and a big wave she shot back towards the foundry.

“That girl is very interesting…” Van couldn’t help but think. “And she seemed to be pretty important if the way her fellow workers treated her is any indication. Perhaps I should try and recruit her…” He inwardly smirked. “Her and Katalinya would probably get together like a house on fire. They would absolutely love each other…”

His stomach gurgled and he winced, leaning on Anna for support. “Less thinking, and more concentrating on stopping the floor from wobbling…”

After Van and Seral were able to get their stomachs under control, they headed inside to see if they were on time for the exams taking place.

They soon found themselves in a line where they had to sign themselves in and pick up a ticket. The woman in charge of handing them out gave them odd looks, as if she had no idea why they were there and was reluctant in handing them out to them. After that they got in line again until they were ushered out on the large open field of the blood hall.

In front of them was a tall and buff woman with little fat on her large body. She held her back straight and her hands behind her back. She gazed at the crowd of hundreds before her eyes with a mix of judgment and contempt. As she looked over the heads of the students, her eyes lingered over Van and Seral before moving on. Once she had figured that everyone who was going to take the exam was here, she spoke up with a loud booming voice addressing everyone before her.

“I AM INSTRUCTOR TIN! AND I’LL BE THE ONE OVERSEEING YOUR WORTHLESS BEHINDS DURING THIS PHYSICAL EXAM!” Her voice cracking like a whip and sounding like cannon fire silenced any and all gossiping and or whispering. The students felt completely kowtowed by the sheer pressure of her voice and presence, and waited in silence for her to continue.

“Now that the introductions are out of the way, it is time for the tests to begin. I’ll only explain them once, so you better pay attention.” Tin’s voice was calmer now, but still carried well over the silent mass of students who dared not make a peep in her presence.

“The first test is very simple. You just have to go to the starting line.” Pointing over to the track to her side. “And run ten laps.”

The students began to whisper amongst themselves in confusion.

“Of the entire stadium…” Tin’s eyes narrowed.

That shut everyone up. If it was just this world’s equivalent of ten miles, it would be doable. Tiring. But doable. Vampires had an abundance of stamina after all. But this stadium was gigantic, running that many laps would be the equivalent of running forty to fifty miles.

“Oh… And for every hour that passes, we have set the environmental controls to increase the gravity by one for anyone still on the track.

The students' faces paled, some whining about foul play or the unfairness of such a thing. But a quick glare from Tin shut them up once more.

“That… Is simply the first test… We of course will not be judging you if you fail to run the ten laps. What we will be judging you on is how far you can go and how far you are willing to push yourself. And if you fail and feel like you can do better, you can try out and take the exam every day until the opening ceremony. Your best score will be the one that sticks, so keep that in mind for the future and make sure to keep your ticket as you will need to give it back at the end of the test for us to update your scores.”

Van looked down on his ticket and turned it over. It seemed like there was a tracker circle on the back of it. Tin then went over the fact that they had to put a drop of blood on the ticket to help the track of everyone and then went into the rules of the exam. Mundane stuff such as no pushing or pulling or attacking of fellow students.

While she was talking, Van couldn't help but notice that Luna and Serena were there amongst the crowd, as well as Arkina and Kira. He wondered what they were doing here until he remembered that this kind of exam was right up his wifes alley.

“Now that all that hogwash is out of the way. Please line up on the line or behind someone who is. Chop chop now people, I haven’t all day!” Tin yelled.

A few minutes later Van and Seral were lining up behind a few other students. They were given awkward glances as if the girls around them were wondering what they were doing here. Samira and Anna were behind them as they also had signed up to join them.

Tin raised her hand up high and scanned the crowd one last time. “Ready-? GO!” And with a harsh chopping motion brought her hand down signaling everyone to run.

A tidal wave of people began to run down the large, yet narrow for their numbers, track. Van and Seral jogged behind a few of the students, matching their pace with ease. Looking to the side, Van couldn’t help but let his eyes wander to Luna and how she was doing, finding her doing just fine, if not for her breasts waving to and through and side to side. He felt such a sight was always a bit comical every time he saw it.

Paying attention once more ahead of him, he slowly picked up the pace as the other contestants did the same. He and Seral made sure to go with the flow and not get in each other's way. Nothing much happened for the first lap, except for a few out of shape students slowly falling behind. But upon seeing them, they got a new second wind and tried their best not to lag behind a bunch of males…

A few of the other students who took note of them, tried to impress Van and Seral by running in front of them, then turning around and running backwards, giving them a wink and a smile.

Their attitudes soon changed though, when Van and Seral paid them no mind and continued on their course without losing speed or momentum.

Once they got around to the second lap was when a lot of the students began to drop out, at least a third of the total students quit, unable to continue. They crowded the edge of the track, sitting down to watch the rest of the runners continue their test. A few students took their exam very seriously and over-lapped Van and Seral during this time.

By the third lap, the gravity on the lap doubled.

“Whoa- this is actually starting to get a bit tiring huh.” Van said as he felt the extra weight on his shoulders. By this time Van and Seral had joined up with Luna and the others and were moving in a group together.

“Hmph!” Luna said.

“Oh come on, you can’t still be mad at me for coming here without you? I’m sorry, okay.” Van complained.

A chuckle was had between everyone in the group at Van’s expense.

“Still… I’m surprised you two are doing okay. Even Tabitha’s butler hasn’t lasted this long.” Serena commented.

“Trevon was here!?” Van asked in surprise.

“We passed him twenty minutes ago.” Seral said.

Van simply looked flabbergasted.

Everyone once more chuckled at the silly expression that Van was making.

“Anyway…” Seral began. “Me and Van have been sparring and training with each other for a while before we arrived here. I don’t know much about what he went through, but he and I are mostly equal in stamina, and I’ve taken some serious training by several experts ever since I was young and knew I wanted to be a vampire knight. So I’ve had decades of training, I could at the very least run a few more laps with even more weight than this.”

Serena looked impressed. “Really!? That’s amazing!”

Seral blushed a little. “Not really… Just hard work is all.”

Van looked between Seral and Serena, wondering if there was something there or was Seral just weak to compliments.

By the time they reached the fifth lap the gravity increased again and they were starting to feel the pull on their bodies. By this time only a third of the students were left. Serena, Seral, Samira, and Arkina were looking a little worse for wear. While Van, Luna and Anna still seemed largely fine.

“I think this is it…” Arkina gasped. “I can’t go on any longer… Tell my crush… I love him…” Then proceeded to stumble her way off the track, a relieved look on her face when she fell onto the nice soft grass and didn’t feel the extra gravity anymore.

“I’m honestly surprised she made it this far.” Van said as they left Arkina behind.

“I’m honestly surprised you guys are still doing fine.” Serena panted, her breath coming in faster and faster.

“Wha-whats your secret.” Seral asked breathlessly.

Van and Anna shared a look. “Luna?”

Anna nodded. “Luna…”

Van turned to Seral. “Well… When you have a wife as insatiable as Luna…”

“VAN!” Luna elbowed Van from the side, her face completely red with a look of betrayal and horror at what he might have said next.

Serena couldn’t help but laugh, commenting on how jealous she was, making Luna even more embarrassed.

“Jokes aside.” Van said, the small smile dropping from his face. “We had a literal demon from hell put us through the worst trails imaginable. Someone who’s whins we were forced to obey and who took great glee in seeing us suffer through a never ending series of tortures and adversaries. Who made us bend over backwards for her pleasure and made sure we obeyed her every command to her satisfaction…”

“Really? Who?” Seral asked.

Van smirked. “My mother-in-law.”

VANNNNNnnnn~!” Luna whined.

Van grinned. “That’s what you get for ignoring me.” Though his smile made it clear it was all in good humor.

“I’ll show you ‘insatiable’ tonight…” Luna muttered darkly.

Serena couldn’t help her laughter. She only knew these two for at most a few days. But they were simply hilarious! Sadly, that burst of laughter took the last of her energy with her and she had to bow out of the race. Though she at least made sure to reach the sixth lap before doing so.

“Thanks for the fun guys, I’ll see you all when you're done,” Serena said, landing on her ass on the soft grass outside of the boundaries of the track as she took big gulps of air.

They said their goodbyes and continued on, but half-way through Seral also had to get out, followed by Samira who, while probably able to go a little longer, stopped for her master's sake. Leaving Van, Luna, and Anna to continue the battle.

By the time Van and Luna were at their seventh lap, they were running on fumes. The gravity had increased once more and without their friends to help push them forward, it was becoming harder to find the willpower to continue on.

“Lets…” Van took a labored breath. “Try at least for… The eighth lap…”

Luna panted like a dog next to him. “I… Don’t think… I can make it…”

Their running had slowed to a crawl, and even Anna was starting to sweat. They had been running for hours. And by the yells of the instructor, they weren’t allowed to walk, they had to run or jog. Those being the only options available to them, A few other students had become disqualified for moving slower beyond a certain point.

Finally, halfway through their seventh lap, they dropped off and landed on the nice soft grass. To their surprise, about a dozen students were still on the track, continuing their trial. One even went so far as to be on her ninth and a half lap.

After about another forty minutes the test ended as the last student gave up.

Instructor Tin then spoke up, drawing everyone's attention, her face displayed on a few floating screens around the track for everyone to see. “You have all done well. Some of you a lot better than expected. We will now show you your results on the leaderboards above. Food and water will be handed out. You all will have an hour to rest until the next test. Which will be an obstacle course. When the time comes, line up at the starting line once more. That is all.”

She then left and the screen changed to one that showed the results of all the students. Their ticket number on display with the time they spent on the track and how many laps they did. They earned points and grades depending on where they landed on the board, some earning extra points for impressing a few watching instructors. A wave of whispering and gossip filled the stadium, as people began to wonder who was who. Some cries of joy when they saw themselves ranked highly, some cries of despair when they saw they fell short.

Though another wave of gossiping came around, as people began to wonder whose number was the males and where they landed on the board. A few girls eyed Van up with suspicion and curiosity. Did he really stick it out to the end? Was he high up on the board? Or bow out when it got too tough? And if he stayed and got a high score, did he cheat? If so, how? Did he woo an instructor or two?

Van and Luna awkwardly accepted the sandwich and water being passed around as the eyes of their fellow students watched their every move. Hopefully, he could put such gazes to rest and show everyone exactly what kind of person he was when the next test began.