Chapter 10: A Challenging Welcome

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Dean and the girls met most of the other members of the Black Bulls but suddenly, they came across the second vice-captain Rhea who announced that they will be tested before gaining their robes,  with her having sent them flying outside through the now ruined gate beforehand  "Let's get this thing going" said Dean while pumping his fists fired up, with the girls giving a determined look.

She was now out of the base and there was a distance between them while the other members were watching while being near where the gate was supposed to be "I suggest we split up and surround her." suggested Serena, with the others nodding and then they ended up surrounding Rhea in a triangle formation. "Now" she shouted, with the tree running as fast as they could, managing to close the distance and reached for the grimoire held with their hands, but things would not be as normal and easy as they thought.

Rhea stood there as they made their charge together. As they got up close, she rose her free fist up in the air and slammed it down towards Dean, attempting to smash him into the ground. However, he immediately had his arms enveloped in his Gorilla Punch spell, blocking the hit and the ground beneath him cracked and was slowly caving in, but he was smiling to her indifference, with the girls then appearing from her right and left, closing the distance quickly.

"It's over!" shouted the girls as they extended their hands.

Rhea continued to put pressure down onto Dean and without missing a beat, just when attempted to reach for her grimoire, she jumped up above Dean, holding herself up with by using Dean as a stool and back kicked the two girls.

Dean then jumped back and regrouped with the girls "Damn, she's good." commented Helen.

"It's not only battle experience, she is immensely strong physically to boot." commented Dean and as they were talking, Serena was looking at Rhea serious and lost in thought.

"Guys, I have a plan but for it to work, you must fight like you really mean it." she instructed while seeming quite injured and was kneeling, with them nodding.

After a couple of minutes

Helen equipped magically her White Rose armor with sword in hand  while Dean changed to his Wolf Bite spell in addition to his Gazelle Gallop "Let's do this" they shouted in unison as they lunged towards Rhea, unleashing a flurry of strikes.

Rhea evaded the first few strikes before clinching her fist and throwing a single punch herself against his wolf bite attacks. An attack that would decimate his spell instantly, however, Dean grabbed her hand with his Gorilla Punch while Helen brought her halberd and was about to electrify her, with her halberd seemingly ready to be destroyed, but then.

"I wanted you to do that" said Helen smiling to Rhea's surprise.

She over to see Helen approaching and then looked back over to Dean. She rose her foot closest to him and slammed it down to his feet as she pushed him in, causing him to trip over her foot and lose his balance, causing her to use her hand that was caught to life Dean and toss him into Helen's path. She then leaped towards them to punch Dean hard which cause him to slam into Helen with greater force while taking the hit of her electric attack.

"Thank you...for being so focused on us...ma'am." commented Dean and before she could even turn her head, she was barraged by numerous magic bullets on her right leg and left shoulder, as they didn't have much mana behind them do do actual damage and then, she noticed that her body was filled with white symbols, with Dean and Helen smiling because she seemed to realize what was going on.

She looked at the white symbols for a moment and glanced over at Serena "Hm." Before looking back at Dean and Helen. She leaped towards them aiming to strike Dean with another hard punch. Helen then covered him and recreated her armor all while having a new halberd out, with it shattering from her blow and her being punched on the stomach, spitting some blood from the punch and Dean then punched Rhea on the face, but to no avail as she easily resisted it and counterattacked, with him kneeling while trembling. Rhea looked down upon them and walked away, make her way towards Serene "Alright twerp, its your turn." She said with a grin on her face.

Serena, while about to face a Rhea that was oozing bloodlust, was calm and chuckled "Fufufu, sorry miss Rhea, but it's our victory." she claimed, with Rhea's eyes narrowing from the confusing statement and as she came before her and was ready to punch, a metallic drone appeared from the ground and touched Rhea's grimoire for a couple of seconds before being pushed back while another blocked the punch, with it being almost ruined. "My drones transmit to me all they see and hear as my extensions so, doesn't that mean that I was the one I touched the grimoire in theory?" she asked to confirm while happy of the end result, with Dean and Helen smiling for their successful plan.

Rhea looked stood there for a moment in silence before catching her off guard and kicking her in the stomach and slamming her into a near by tree. "I don't think you heard me the first time, so I guess I'll have to be much clearer this time." She raised her hand with the grimoire showing it clearly for all three of them to plainly see. "Your task is to get this book out of my hand. Just like in battle, landing one hit doesn't win a fight in the same way simply touching it isn't enough. You want to win this? Then stop treating this like a test, fight like your lives are at risk." Once she said that the air grew thin and dense as she released a strong thick, potent black aura around herself. As her monstrous magic power could be felt by everyone within the vicinity, shaking as if it was trembling in fear of her power. The three recruits became intimidated after releasing her power. "Because I'm done holding back now. If you dont want to die, then I suggest you take this seriously." She said in a cruel and vicious tone, the black aura almost shrouding her body as she looked at them with a glowing white eye that was glaring directly at them while the other eye is covered by her hat

Korag chugged from a bottle. "Here we go again."

Coco giggled from excitement. "Hehehe, yup, they're goners now."

The three of then became paralyzed from fear, becoming trembling statues "*Sh-she is so powerful, my mind is going blank, c-can't move.*" were the individual thoughts of the trio, with her changing direction uninterested.

Rhea was moving towards Serena who was trying to stand up while holding her belly and before she could strike, a sudden, beastly bloodlust filled the air and she turned her head to see Dean barely making a step forward and flaring his aura and mana to the maximum, with it taking the aura of a wolf "Hey, I don't care who you are or what the test is, but if you touch her, I *will*shred you to pieces, do you hear me?" he asked with a low voice full of anger, with both girls being in shock from that unseen until now bloodlust and anger of his, with Rhea facing in his direction with an emotionless look.

Drayd stood there casually, making a whistle sound to show how impressed he is.

"Wow" Coco said interested.

"I'd like to see you try." Rhea mocked, calling his bluff. She turned back to face Serena and winding her fist back, however, Serena ducked and rolled behind her and unleashed to her back a mana bullet in the form of a big blast, but she then received a slap that send her further away, with her managing to regain composure and land safely near the others, albeit greatly exhausted and pounding.

Much to her shock, Rhea emerged from the smoke with her back smoking but was still walking "Im-impossible, t-that was all my mana..." she said shocked and almost fainted, but Helen caught her.

"No Serena, your attack wasn't in vain." commented Dean while looking at her "She had to use her mana to reduce your blast's power. Rest, me and Helen will finish things, right Helen?" he asked and she nodded, with Helen leaving Serena laying on the ground who managed to smile at them. Helen then brought out her golden broadsword and Dean had his gorilla fists out.

"Let's finish this!" they shouted in unison as they lunged at Rhea.

Rhea grinned "Alright, one down." She said and then leaped towards them, her incredible speed made her appear before them quicker than they could tell. Once she did, she rose her fists up out and threw them down above them to slam them down. Helen then blocked with her broadsword that managed to endure more than the rest of her creations but was beginning to crack after some pressure, with her staggering back but before Rhea could punch, she got a punch from Dean to her stomach,and and then she caught him with her one hand by the collar despite the pain.

However, Dean used his two gorilla fists and slammed them on her hand, managing to get free and then, Helen rushed towards Rhea and before she could react, she raised her sword up and it shone, managing to blind her for a minute but when she opened her eyes, Dean had his hands on the grimoire and was struggling to remove it from her grasp, with her becoming angry.

"Whoa, they managed to got her to lower her guard." Drayd said the others.

"Yea, they're pretty good." Coco said sitting on the ground with her legs crossed watching the battle as if she was watching a movie.

Rhea showed no hesitation and gripped onto to it tighter to prevent him from removing it and raised her hand with the grimoire in it lifting Dean up in the process and attempted to slam him to the ground followed by a kick to send him away, however, he quickly put his hand on the ground and regrouped with Helen "Can you still endure?" asked a worried Helen, with him cracking his neck.

"I have received a lot of damage, but I'm nearly used to so much thanks to my training with wild beasts. Helen , I have a plan." he said serious and whispered to her, looking at Rhea after "Miss Rhea, we will give it our all , so be prepared to lose." he shouted serious with a tone of concern, with her eyebrow being up for a moment. They then took a deep breath and began running towards her, much to the suprise of everyone that was thinking that both wanted to die. They almost closed the distance and Rhea was about to punch him with her free hand, her fist a meter away from their face, but Dean smiled "go!" he shouted and Helen was close to Rhea and swang her sword.

"Take this, all of my mana!" she shouted as she unleashed a huge beam at Rhea who was struggling to block it. She then realized that Dean was nowhere to be seen and then she saw him running, with her trying to extend her free arm all while being focused at the blast and Dean then planted his feet on the ground and sprang via his Gazelle Gallop above her hand and he had his Gorilla Arms activated,, with the ethereal arms grabbing the grimoire, with the whole momentum managing to release the grimoire from her grasp, with Helen being happy as she stopped her attack exhausted and the others being shocked at his reckless but successful action.

"We won!" he shouted while raising the grimoire up before falling down ,with Rhea looking shocked at her palm and then at them.

She looked at her empty hand before slowly clinching her fist while tilting her head down while growling. "GrrrrrRRRRRR! Hahahahaha!" She lifted her head, laughing at the situation. "Well done, the both of you. Your magic and that strategy combined teamwork was flawless. Truly impressive. You've all shown great courage in the face of danger and stood your ground against the odds." She said as she patted against their backs to congratulate them. She then pulled out two black robes. "Now, I present to you two, a symbol our squad, your robes." She said to the both of them as she handed them the robes of the Black Bulls.

Serena who was behind them tried to get up to go get hers, but Rhea looked over and walked between Dean and Helene and headed over to Serena before sitting down in front of her. "And for you, you stayed to your strength and provided support to your comrades, even defended yourself enough to evade danger against a greater foe but in the end, you gave easily to your weak endurance and got out of the fight early." She explained calmly to her, with Serena feeling down, believing she had failed the test. "We're gonna have to work you extra hard so you can keep up with your squad mates." She announced with a grin that caused Serena to look up confused as Rhea handed her a third Black Bull robe, much to her surprise.

She stood up and turned around to face the others. "Now, front and center all of you." She said to the recruits making them stand up and line together carrying their robes in their arms. "With these, you're now officially members of the Black Bulls. Don't do anything that would bring shame to Korag or the Black Bulls." She offered as words of encouragement. "Let's see how they look on you."

The trio then wore the robes on top of their clothes, with Helen's eyes and hand glowing as she was caressing it wholy "Done." she said to herself satisfied. much to the curiosity of Rhea and the rest.

Everyone stood there in silence. "Uhh, what was that?" Drayd asked confused, with Helen looking at him and smiling.

"Oh, nothing. I just have a spell that allows me to analyze simple items, memorize and recreate them faithfully as many times as I want, with them existing permanently." explained Helen casually while thinking, with everyone receiving a tremendous shock from that revelation.

Coco ran up behind them and bumped into the girls putting her arms around them and shoving them closer as a huge "I cant believe you guys beat her, eh kinda. But still you passed, im so happy for you." She cheered as she jumped up and down in excitement with them along with her. "This calls for a banquet, right daddy?" She said looking over to her father Korag.

Korag took a gulp from a bottle and looked over at them. "Gahhh. Why not, you earned it." He with grin.

From the top floor of the castle, inside the window, a figure walked up and gazed out of the window, watching them all head inside. "So, those are the other recruits." the voice of the figure said. The figure was a girl, almost the same age as them, with long blonde hair that was wearing a black dress with the robe of the Black Bulls worn over. She brushed her fingers through her hair "Filthy commoners." She said with disdain.