Rise of the Crusader

When Sean heard the muscular man, he couldn't help but be extremely delighted, but while he was excited by the adventure ahead, the same couldn't be said for his classmates.

SZZZZZZZ!

As they came in contact with the lightning around the speed force, their bodies trembled violently. While some of the students were able to handle the lightning which was coursing through their bodies, some weren't.

Xavier's body throbbed, almost as though he were going through a seizure. The flame attribute in his body rejected the lightning, and as such both forces conflicted with one another.

The unsteadiness lasted for a few minutes, and Xavier alongside the others got a firm grip on themselves. They moved several steps away from the speed force and then glared at Lucien with killing intent evident in their eyes.

"Now that you have consumed a bit of the force into your system, I can assume that you're ready for the speed force domain." The muscular man said with a smile on his face.

"We have about thirty minutes to go, so this is how it will be. During the next thirty minutes, you all will be running on the track, you will begin from the starting point, and you will only stop when the thirty minutes is complete."

"It's just as simple as that. It is also impossible to get to the end of the track, so you should try as much as possible to survive the next minutes.'"

"Let's not waste any other time!" The muscular man exclaimed. "The speed force will take care of the rest, you simply have to run like your life depends on it. Well, to be honest, your life does depend on it."

"What do you mean by…" Before Melinda could finish her words, the ground began to tremble and a few seconds later, water began appearing a few meters from them.

At first, the water appeared very slowly but within seconds it turned into a scenario that could be said to be a flood.

The flood then surged forward at an insane pace, and as the students all stared at the incoming water, fear gripped each one of them. Some of them were having the thought of climbing back up when the whole area was suddenly sealed by glass.

"Don't bother!" Lucien sneered, "The glass is a level fifteen material, you don't stand a chance against it. And Sean, what the hell are you doing in there, your training activity is different from the others."

As Lucien spoke, he waved his hand towards Sean who was on track, and Sean immediately appeared in front of him.

"As a speedster, you should be able to use your speed to manipulate airflow, which you're not

able to do well enough.

"Also your connection with the speed force isn't to the level it should be. Except you want to become a worthless speedster, then you might as well stick to what you have presently."

The expression on Sean's face changed the moment he heard Lucien. Sean clenched his hand into a tight fist, and without wasting any time, he sat on the ground cross-legged.

"Very good!" It was the silver-haired woman that spoke as she saw lightning coiling around Sean's body.

A second after, the woman's voice rang out, and Becky spoke. "Our… Powers! It's gone!" Becky's legs shivered as she uttered those words.

The students soon entered into a panic state, as one after the other, they began to manifest their powers, but it was indeed just like Becky had said. Not a single one of them was able to access their powers, it was as though they didn't possess one in the first place.

"Oh, yeah, I almost forget… Once you have assimilated the force from the speed force, you won't be able to access your powers until you have left the domain." The muscular man stated.

"I should also warn you."

"If the water is to come in contact with any of your body, prepare for the worse. And I'm not talking about death, but instead, a suffering that would last till your final breath."

"This is really going to be interesting, don't you think? Anyway, have fun!!!"

The students didn't even wait for even a second after they heard the muscular man, and they ran like their life depended on it.

In as much as they had thought to, the flood wasn't something anyone of them could go up against. Perhaps if they were with their powers then they might possess the strength to challenge the flood, but without their powers, it was a different story.

And while the three instructors had only said a few things about the flood, the students could already perceive a deathly threat coming from the flood, which made them extremely wary of it.

"Oh, oh!"

Nineteen of the students had covered quite some gap from the incoming floods, as for the other student, he was in a horrible position. Devon's breathing became erratic, and it soon became very difficult for him to move.

After staggering a few steps further, Devon wasn't able to keep going, and he stumbled to the ground.

"Devon!!!!!!" As Bane and Raphael heard Aiden's face, the both of them turned around. And seeing Devon on the floor, both of their mouths opened slightly.

As the water was about to envelope Devon, Aiden was already racing towards him. He was however unable to cover much ground as a few seconds after the water came towards Devon, they buried him and then moved on to their next target.

"Aiden!!!"

Aiden was left shaken when he saw what had just occurred. It was only when Bane's voice rang out that he was able to regain his composure, and even then, the water was already advancing crazily towards him.

"Y-You…" Before the water could come close to Aiden, Bane suddenly appeared, and then pulled him by the collar. Bane held Aiden tightly and began to run at a crazy pace.

Earlier, it had only been Raphael, Aiden, and Bane that stopped, the other students didn't even turn around, instead they were all running for their lives.

"Do you think they will be able to make it?!" As the students ran from the flood that was surging towards them, the three instructors had eyes fixed on them.

It was the silver-haired woman who spoke, and when Lucien heard her, he shook his head. "I think only a handful of them will make it, the rest won't," Lucien responded.

"Yes, this generation depends way too much on their powers, that they have forgotten about several other things. It isn't all about superpowers sometimes you know, take a look at Ximic for instance."

"He would have taken me down during our last encounter if I didn't move quickly."

"By move, you mean flee right?!" The silver-haired woman exclaimed with mockery in her tone.

The muscular man, however, shrugged his shoulder, "Whatever you say. My points remain that without possessing any extravagant superpowers, Ximic remains one of the strongest metahuman in the world."

"He's a huge headache for us to be sincere."

"Hehehehe! Not to worry, I heard the academy intends to send one of the directors personally to go take care of him." Lucien said.

"I guess we should go dig a grave for Ximic then since that would be the end of the era of the master of mimicry."

There was an outburst of laughter from Lucien, Atticus, and Leilani, as they discussed the death that was going to befall Ximic once the academy decides to send one of the directors to him.

"Not so bad, there are seven more minutes to go, and we still have fifteen students. It seems like my judgments about these kids were wrong after all, they do possess some skills." Lucien exclaimed.

A smile appeared on Leilani's face, as she stared at the students who despite being covered in sweats, and were totally exhausted, still kept moving forward.

"Ahhhhhhhh~!"

As those screams sounded, the number of the students who were on the track went from fifteen to twelve immediately. A few minutes later, the number decreased drastically.

"What the hell!!!!! In barely a few minutes, you went from fifteen to seven, even my grandma can run better than you all!!!" Atticus yelled at the sight of the students, who were being enveloped by the flood.

"And by the way, she is dead."

Leilani shook her head for a few seconds before then saying, "If they knew the benefits this training offered, perhaps they would put in more effort."

"It's your fault you know, I told you not to act the whole death, life depends on it saga you always pull off. It might have worked on the others, but it might not work with these year students." Leilani said.

"Hey!!! I firmly believe that the best way to bring their true potential out is by giving them a death scare. Only then would they take things seriously." Atticus responded.

The muscular man was, however, greeted by a sneer from Leilani when she heard him. "It's time already. Should we pull them out, or we should wait for a few more minutes?" Leilani asked.

There was however no response from Atticus and Lucien, the both of them stared at the track with a neutral expressions on their faces.

"Lucien, that should be all for now." Attics stated.

Lucien waved his hand and six students appeared in front of him. Lucien, Atticus, and Atticus seized them from head to toe, before then shaking their heads simultaneously.

"Where… Where are they?!" Elisa asked.

The six students who appeared before the instructors were Aliyah, Dwayne, Sylvia, Elisa, Levi, and Raphael. As soon as Elisa appeared in front of the instructors, her voice rang out.

"Come on out!" Lucien exclaimed, and a second after, fourteen students walked out from one of the rooms in the surrounding.

Atticus eyes bulged as he stared at the fourteen students who were swept away by the flood. "It's like you don't know how essential this training really is. Because if you do, I expect you to put in more effort to it."

"I might as well tell you now. Training in the speed force domain under the influence of the speed force itself will have you understand how to run at a superhuman speed, and your bodies will also instinctively understand how to react in high-speed situations."

There was rage evident in the muscular man's voice as he spoke.

"Speedsters naturally possess heightened stamina, agility, healing, senses, and sometimes strength, as well as increased mental capacity. With the speed force manifesting into your body system, you would be able to possess all these characteristics as well."

"Even though you won't necessarily acquire all the skills a speedster possess, you won't be far off either," Atticus muttered.

The expression on the faces of the fourteen students changed when they heard Atticus. And seeing their looks, Atticus nodded his head, "Very good! You will get into the track again, and this time I want a better result."

"Ah-Ahem… We have fundamental psychology class now." Aiden said, scratching his head.

"That won't be a problem. I have informed Edgar that I will be using his class, and he has no issue with it. So, we are stuck together for the next hour."

"I'm just going to break it to you now. We will not be leaving this place until I'm satisfied with the progress you have all made."

A worried look appeared on the student's faces when they heard Atticus.

Suddenly, Atticus turned toward the five of them and said, "The five of you are free to go. Consider this a free period, since you have achieved what we wanted."

"Wheeewww…"

"Raphael and Aliyah," Atticus paused, "Edgar asked the both of you to come to his office. I think for some therapy session or something, not quite sure what he said."

"He also said it's compulsory."

Atticus then shifted his gaze to the other students, "Let's begin!" They all assembled on the track once again, and a few seconds after the race started.