Keno, Youssef, and Li Kang proceeded to cross the bridge slowly and cautiously, their senses intensely heightened until eagles began swooping down upon everyone.
As they prepared to engage with them, Li Kang said:
"I'll handle the eagles. Watch for the fish—they're more dangerous."
They agreed to his plan and monitored the water while Li Kang directed his hand toward the sky, releasing a beam of searing red radiant energy at the descending eagle. The beam pierced through the bird's body, causing the giant eagle to plummet into the lake where the fish attacked it. When another eagle approached, he fired again, bringing it down.
Youssef joked:
"This will be extremely easy using your power."
Keno saw Noor and his companions crossing the bridge and witnessed what Sairi and Ares had done. He was astonished by their strength and self-confidence. He noticed that after Ares kicked both fish simultaneously, they decided to leave him and head toward Keno and his companions.
He said to Youssef in a stern tone:
"Get ready... they're coming!"
Youssef looked anxiously at the water while Li Kang, having eliminated the aerial threat, turned his attention to the water. He saw the two fish leaping toward them. He glanced at Keno, who understood his signal.
Keno said meaningfully:
"I'll take care of the fish on the right."
Keno directed his hand toward the fish. The palm of his hand retracted to his wrist as his hand transformed into a cannon. He fired a projectile at the fish, which exploded with great force, tearing it to pieces. Meanwhile, Li Kang emitted thermal radiation from both his hands and eyes simultaneously, managing to burn through the giant fish. He succeeded in killing it and penetrating its body, causing it to fall into the water as the lake filled with blood.
Suddenly, an eagle swooped down on them from behind, catching them by surprise. Youssef nervously extended his hand toward the dangerously close eagle, freezing it in mid-air. The eagle screeched in pain, attempting to free itself from this unknown force and invisible hand that restrained it. Then metal covered Youssef's hand as he lunged at the eagle, punching its body forcefully. The eagle fell into the lake.
Keno noticed what had happened and asked in amazement:
"Do you steal others' powers?"
Youssef, trying to hide his nervousness, replied:
"You could say that. When I touch someone, I can acquire their power for five minutes. My true power lies in healing, which is why I resort to stealing—or more accurately, borrowing. Instead of directing my energy into a patient's body to heal wounds, I reverse it, drawing their power for a short time... Don't tell anyone about this, you too, Li Kang... Is that understood... We shouldn't trust anyone now!"
Li Kang, crossing his arms, said:
"That's an amazing ability, but if its secret becomes known, it will be a significant weakness for you."
"Yes, I know that, which is why I didn't want to tell anyone about it."
"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."
Keno remained silent and headed toward the opposite bank, saying hastily:
"We must hurry. The first two teams have already crossed!"
They proceeded to the end of the passage where Noor approached to congratulate them on their crossing. They saw Sairi and Ares who had begun running toward the finish line.
Keno said impatiently:
"We shouldn't waste more time. Let's go after them."
Noor sighed, saying in a gloomy tone:
"As you can see, Akira has exhausted his energy saving us... so I'll stay with him until he recovers his strength."
Akira, noticing Noor's words, adjusted his posture and said firmly:
"Noor, go ahead. Don't worry about me... I'll follow you when I recover... You know my ability will allow me to catch up with you quickly."
"No, I'll stay. I owe you my life."
Jean added that she would stay too. Despite his insistence, Akira realized Noor was stubborn and wouldn't change his mind, so he fell silent and accepted them sitting beside him until he regained his strength. Meanwhile, Keno, Youssef, and Li Kang took off to continue the deadly race, with only one stage remaining before the finish.
Noor bid them farewell and watched as they disappeared into the horizon. Looking back at the bridge, he realized the fourth team had crossed long ago, perhaps even before them, though he didn't know exactly when they had crossed. This filled him with confusion, then terror as he imagined they might have been devoured and never crossed at all. But he tried not to dwell on it, knowing that fewer competitors meant better chances for himself—yet he felt conflicted between his desire that no one should die and his wish to win and escape from this place. A struggle between self-interest and mercy.
Yassin approached the bridge to cross. Ares, scrutinizing his sky-blue face, asked:
"How did your face become like this?"
Yassin replied without any change in his expression:
"I don't know, but is that strange?"
"Of course it's strange. Do you see anyone else among us with a peculiar face like yours?"
"I don't see what's different! You have dark skin while others have white skin, and some have unusual features and narrow eyes. What's the difference between my face and yours?"
Ares fell silent, not knowing what to say. Nader added:
"You don't remember anything either, just like us, right?"
"Yes, I don't remember anything, and I don't understand what's strange about my appearance."
Nader whispered to Ares:
"Perhaps he's forgotten what real humans look like too, despite seeing us. But what's stranger is that he's emotionally numb, as you can see—it's as if he doesn't even remember how to feel, sense, and react."
Yassin moved forward, leaving them behind. Ares called out:
"Hey, Blue Face, wait for us!"
Yassin's body disintegrated into air molecules like a gusting wind and surged through the gentle breeze to reach the opposite bank. He then returned to his natural form and continued walking forward.
Nader, feeling envious, said:
"How lucky he is. If I had that ability, I would have finished the race long ago. Now I have no time to waste, I'm going too."
Ares, with feigned irritation, watched Yassin walking away unconcerned about them:
"It must have limits like everything else. But I wouldn't want to be the one who discovers those limits."
Ares received no response from Nader and looked beside him to find that he had vanished.
Ares exclaimed angrily:
"Where did that scoundrel go? Left me talking to myself. I'll definitely teach him a lesson."
Ares looked toward the end of the bridge to find Nader appearing out of nowhere, beckoning to him. He said to himself:
"So he has the power of invisibility, and he envies Yassin for his ability?! What a scoundrel."
Ares used his shapeshifting ability, touching the bridge floor to change his color to match the brown bridge beneath him, like a chameleon. Then he crawled quickly on his stomach to catch up with them. He heard sounds of battle on the bridges nearby, so he hastened his pace to avoid danger. He crossed easily and swiftly like the rest of his team and rushed to catch up with them to reach the finish line.
Noor stood thinking about their chances of survival until Akira's voice interrupted him, saying with vibrant energy:
"Well, I've recovered my strength, friends. Thanks for staying with me. Now... let's win this race."
Team Noor completed their run, hastening their steps to catch up with the others. The numerous footprints on the dusty path ahead served as their guide as they continued running relentlessly to secure victory.
After a few minutes of running, they reached a large arena where ten closed gates stood side by side. They approached one of the gates and peered through its bars to see a path filled with large barriers and obstacles. They checked another gate to find a water route behind it requiring a boat to cross, and yet another path that appeared perfectly regular without any flaw, seemingly devoid of any obstacle or danger.
Then they saw the finish line gleaming in the distance, their eyes lighting up with immense joy.
Jean said with a hopeful tone:
"It's finally the finish line. We've aged waiting for this moment."
Akira added with a tone excited from excessive happiness:
"How do we open this gate?"
Noor looked around the gate to find a panel hanging beside it with rules and conditions for opening the gate. The rules were as follows:
You must find the key to gate number five on path number five.
There are four keys for each gate that have been well hidden, and each key allows only one person to pass.
All means are permitted to obtain the keys or steal them from other contestants, including killing.
The faster you find the key, the higher your score.
The instructions ended and everyone stood lost in deep thought. Which path should they take?
Akira said, having made up his mind:
"We'll choose gate number five of course, it's the easiest and simplest and will get us to the finish faster than the other paths."
Noor interrupted him saying:
"Everyone will choose gate number five, so it's not in our interest to choose it. Everyone will fight for its keys to finish the test quickly and easily. Others will choose this path without thinking, and may be surprised that others have chosen like them and could be killed if they obtain one of the keys. So we'll choose another path. Also, despite its simplicity, this path may contain some hidden traps."
Akira felt embarrassed by his naivety and said while scratching his head:
"Ah. How did I not think of this. Of course everyone will head there. So if we choose another path, we won't find anyone there and obtaining the keys will be easier. Despite the longer path, we might arrive before the others."
Jean interrupted him, saying decisively:
"Fine. We've made our decision and will choose another path. But which one should we choose? We need to hurry because it seems the others have already chosen their paths and might be on their way back now."
Noor walked around examining the paths carefully while thinking about which was best. He saw a path full of ropes that one must hang onto to cross to the other side, where falling appeared to mean death; another path filled with fog where he could barely see anything; and another sloped path that looked like a large ski slope descending downward but seemed extremely dangerous. He said in a straightforward, frank tone:
"I've made my decision."