With the upper-class students gone, the lower-class students started to go into a panic, they no longer were using their magic to block and stop the hands but were running around aimlessly looking for a chance to escape.

  The hands continued to leave the crystal and pull in the students.

  And now, nearly all of the students had been dragged into the teleportation circle leaving only the professors, Ray's group and Norah the princess, who hadn't been taken yet.

  However, the number of black hands hadn't diminished and with all the other students dealt with, it could focus all its attention on the last few remaining students.

  Flynn was the first to get taken by them and dragged away, Springett knew there was nothing she could do so she went over to the princess Norah, to make sure she was safe hugging her tightly before being swept up.

  "This thing, it's definitely teleporting us and I hope isn't taking us to where I think it is," Ray said. "The shadow arms, it looks like they're actually harmless and won't hurt us but at the same time I and the professors have no way to deal with them."

  Ray then looked back at Van and the others.

  "We have no choice but to let it take us."

  Bliss who had been trying her best to make sense of the situation had come to the same conclusion as Ray, no matter what the shadow was going to take them to wherever it wanted to.

  "Everyone grab hold of one another." Bliss said, "Don't let go, when we get teleported, we should end up in the same place."

  This was the best option, if they were to be teleported then they needed to be teleported together. Ray moved forward at the moment and reached out his hand to Van, but just before their fingertips had even touched.

  Ray had been grabbed and pulled in by one of the shadow arms.

  "Nes!" Max shouted.

  They had no time to act the shadow had already come and was starting to pull them in.

  "Kaito!" Max said as he saw him being swept away.

  Then before he knew it everyone had been taken away apart from Van. "Not again, is this all my fault?"

  Van did nothing to resist and was slowly taken away as well.

  While Ray was busy being dragged in he felt anger inside him grow, this was no longer the time to keep his secret, he cancelled his transform skill, opened up his endless void and equipped the beast armour in an instant.

  When he was back at Avrion he made Raiden make a few adjustments. He infused Ray's blood with the beast weapons he owned, making them soul bound. This would allow him to equip and de equip his equipment whenever he wanted, the only drawback was that no one else could use these weapons now and he would no longer be able to sell them.

  The shadows surrounding Ray disappeared in an instant as he unleashed the powerful Ki surrounding his body. Then Ray stared and looked hard at the true infected that had caused all this mess.

  "You, I should have killed you that day!?? Ray shouted. At the time when it had appeared in their room, Ray had allowed it to escape, because he wasn't able to track it with his dragon eyes, Ray had decided to ignore and it was a mistake on his part he felt.

  Ray dashed forward fast with his fist ready, then just before his fist could reach the true infected, multiple hands had come out after him.

  "Doppelganger"

  Using this skill, a clone of himself had appeared, the hands immediately grabbed the clone and pulled him in but Ray was free. He carried on moving and shot out a large fireball out of the palm of his hand.

  The shadow knocked the fireball away but behind it was Ray himself. Ray grabbed onto the shadow's chest and chucked him onto the ground pinning him down to the floor making sure his hand was directly above its heart.

  "Why are you after Van?" Ray knew that all the true infected were connected back to the shadow in some way. He would control them all like a puppet and if Ray was right, he would be listening in right now.

  "The one controlling you, the shadow plague leader, who is it!" Ray shouted.

  And as Ray thought, the Shadow plague was indeed listening and watching everything that was happening.

  "And why would I tell you that?" The true infected said. "But you, you are strange indeed, you smell different. Are you sure you are human?"

  For a second the question the true infected asked caught Ray off guard, and in that brief moment. Ray was engulfed by the hands and taken away into the magic circle.

  All the shadows were gone and the crystal with it, all that was left was an empty training room. Even the shadow wall blocking the exit had disappeared and standing outside where the rest of the students who were preparing to enter the room for the practical assessment.

  "What happened, that black wall that was blocking the entrance, it's gone."

  "Huh and there's no one inside, where are the others and the professors?"

  ******

  As the teleportation circle was slowly doing its magic, all of the students where being transported to somewhere but the big question was where. Ray had a hunch but he was hoping it wasn't true.

  Finally, after a few moments, the teleportation had ended and Ray was in a newfound place. As he looked around, he could see the black dead land, he was surrounded by forest and dead trees. And the little water there was around him was red in colour like little drops of lava.

  Ray's prediction was right, they were inside the shadow's territory.

  ****

  Special thanks to Daoist899694, IcyShadow2323, Fenrir2040, KINGDOM, ancientwatcher and Itz_Osas_Billions. It really means a lot to me and helps me continue my journey to being an author.