Rebirth: The Shadow Of Greed

... The gate opened as a single mammoth monster walked through the gate towards them.

---

"What are the odds they would succeed at this stage?"

The chief examiner turned to ask the examiner once again, he had been let down a couple of times today, but he was happy that the boss monster from stage 10 looked strong enough to end their streak. 

"Sir, according to estimations it would be a 95% chance that they will lose this round."

"Oh? That's good, I'm sure you haven't planned for anything above this stage correct?"

The chief examiner raised an eyebrow as he looked at his staff curiously. 

"Er... We have Sir, but stage 11 to 18 are weaker than this boss. So… if they win it will be a significant boost to their scores."

The chief examiner shook his head as he continued to look at the screens. 

"For your sake, let's hope the boss monster does its job."

---

Odrunn and Vero stared at the monster approaching them at a distance, the pressure was immense as they looked at the grotesque monster coming towards them. It resembled a satyr, yet it had 4 arms and mandibles. It truly resembled the stuff from nightmares. 

"I can't imagine fighting something like this"

A member of the audience shouted, 

"My legs are already wobbly and I'm not even on the stage"

"I'm afraid I'll have nightmares after this."

"I hope Lord Vero can pull through!"

The crowds had big reactions when it came to the monster that was introduced, Vero steadied himself and got ready for battle. 

"Look what's Odrunn doing?"

"Holy shit, is he just using his artefact now?"

"you mean he hasn't even used his artefact for the entire run of the battle?"

"Man, he has my respect! He actually went to stage 10 with just his useless manifest and b.a.r.e hands. He is the real beast here."

Odrunn slowly put on his gauntlets as the eyes of the lion shone a deep blue, he punched the gauntlets together creating a crisp 'ding' as the sound of metal trailed off. 

With great haste Odrunn dashed forward at full speed, dodging the first two swings of the monster ahead of him, using the artefact to its full potential like how Z taught him he swung it as he released a shield knocking monster back and staggering it. 

He dashed around while the monster was winded and targeted the back of its knees, using a solid blow he forced the monster to land on its 4 limbs with its knees and hands on the ground. 

Flailing around, the remaining 2 hands tried to grab hold of Odrunn, but he was as slippery as an eel avoiding the hands entirely. 

On the other side, Vero had used his manifest to grow to the size of the monster, he dashed forward with a foot thrust, catching the monster off guard as he kicked the monster further back. 

As the monster lost his balance, he charged forwards using his shield to land a blow knocking the monster onto the ground hard. 

The monster fumbled as it started to thrash about, its 4 arms and 2 legs struggling trying to regain control. 

Odrunn and Vero pretty much got the monster where they wanted and it looked like they were pressing the advantage. By landing blow after blow, it was just then, Z in the crowds had a terrible premonition, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand as he knew something was wrong. 

Looking at the stage, he noticed something appearing from the back of the monster. 

It was the tail, the tail which was hidden away had emerged and on the tail was a snakes head, as it slowly went around the back of Odrunn and Vero as it prepared to strike. 

"What!? Isn't that cheating?"

"F*ck me, isn't that a chimera then?"

"Just look at that! Isn't it too overpowered? What kind of boss monster is that?"

"This isn't realistic at all! The monster might as well stand up and say 'this isn't even my final form'"

The crowd went wild, they were jeering, just when they finally got in the mood to cheer on their fellow students, the trials finally had a way to cheat them. 

The snake tail wound itself back as it prepared to strike, it launched itself and soared through the air ready to bite into the neck of both Odrunn and Vero respectively. 

Odrunn feeling the shift of the air immediately dodged to the left as the snake missed his neck, but landed on his arm giving him a clean bite. 

Vero on the other side wasn't as lucky, the snake planted a bite on his neck, but thankfully his armor protected his neck, receiving half of the dosage of venom. Vero shrugged the snake off as he slammed it on the ground and decapitated it with his shield letting the head twitch around, while he went ahead to continue trying to finish the monster off. 

Odrunn wasn't so lucky, under normal circ.u.mstances, he wouldn't be fazed by that level of poison, with his manifest, he would be able to completely ignore the poison and his body would be able to produce antivenom to fight against it. 

Unfortunately, under a simulation, his Hp started decreasing drastically, not paying attention to this, Odrunn went ahead to bash the boss monster to death, while his Hp was also dropping drastically. 

Both sides finally took the final blow and slew the monster. Odrunn stood up, with the snake still firmly attached to his arm. At this moment, his Hp fell to 0 as he was eliminated. 

Odrunn was in shock, he finally realized what had happened. 

On the other side, Vero still had a bit of his Hp remaining and the effects of the poison had run out, he stood up as he raised his arm showing his content in surpassing the stage, as he looked at the corpse on the floor, smiling he felt an attack run him through from behind. He looked at the gate, the light still hadn't turned green, so where did this monster come from to deal him damage?