Trials - Chapter 11

After going out to have lunch at one of the various food stalls set up outside of the stadium, Eric and the others returned to their seats with only a few moments to go before the first fight began.

“So, are the stages in this tournament also virtual spaces created by Teeq?” Eric asked.

“Yeah, except, unlike the Team Tournament, the virtual space is identical to the real one,” Alexa replied.

“Huh?”

“You see the arena below us?” She asked, pointing her finger at it. “Teeq basically just recreates that exactly in his virtual space and sets up the boundaries at the edges where the stands, entrances and exits are so that we’re not harmed, but we can still see into it. By doing that, they’re able to have fighters go all out against one another without having the risk of damage to the competitors, the audience and the arena itself.”

“Is it me or is Teeq’s ability really, really, convenient?” Connor jokingly asked.

“Well, it’s actually pretty useless if you think about it,” Laila said. “While the ability to create virtual worlds and transport people to them is amazing, it’s also useless in a real combat scenario because once the world collapses, the people inside of it return to the real world in the exact same state that they were in before entering it.”

“Not to mention the fact that Teeq uses a lot of Mana to generate his worlds,” Kaida added.

“So, what did they used to do for tournaments before Teeq joined?” Eric inquired.

“They had a lot of rules, regulations and things competitors could and couldn’t do and obviously inflicting major wounds and killing other people were off limits,” Alexa explained. “From what my dad was telling me, when Teeq joined Ferris, the quality of the tournaments sky-rocketed.” Alexa blinked twice in quick succession and leant forward in her seat. “Oh, it looks like it’s starting.”

Accompanied by gigantic roars and applause, the first competitors in the final sixteen tournament entered into the stadium.

Per the rules of the Single’s Tournament, competitors weren’t allowed to change or switch out any of their equipment, thus, Paladin and Arian walked into the arena wearing the exact same gear and with the exact same equipment that they had used in the Elimination Match.

From the East Side, we have a self-proclaimed noble and honourable knight using an ancient and enchanted set of armour and weapons, it’s the self-dubbed Paladin himself; Fergus Reamann! From the West Side, the swift and deadly crossbow hunter who single-handily took down twenty other competitors in the Elimination Match; Arian Rajneesh!

On my mark, competitors will-!

“One moment, please!” Paladin cried out, catching the Headmistress off-guard.

What’s wrong, Fergus?

“Before the match begins, Arian, I would like to make a request of you.”

Arian lowered his hood, allowing his silver hair to flow over his left eye, a bored and frustrated expression on his face. “What?”

“I watched your performance during the Elimination Match during the intermission and I was very impressed by your skill. However.” He glared at Arian. “Not once did you ever fight seriously. Therefore, I wish to ask that you fight me seriously and come at me with everything that you have so that, no matter which of use loses, neither of us can be upset or frustrated over the result. What do you say?”

Arian let out a weary sigh and rubbed his eyes. “Sorry, but I won’t be doing that.”

“Might I ask the reason?”

Arian’s eyes shot daggers at him and he pulled his hood back over his head. “Various reasons.”

“That’s unfortunate. However!” He drew his sword and adopted a fighting stance. “I will fight you with everything I have.”

“It won’t matter,” Arian muttered too softly for anyone else to hear.

Erm, right, well. Kasmine coughed loudly into the microphone. With that out of the way, competitors on my mark begin!

3.

2.

1.

Begin!

Paladin let out an impressively loud battle cry and ran at full speed towards Arian, his sword drawn back and ablaze in fire. Arian aimed his bow at Paladin and unleashed dozens of arrows at him, forcing Paladin to throw his shield in front of him. The bolts bounced off it effortlessly but, while the shield protected him, it obscured his vision and slowed his charge.

Paladin closed the gap between him and Arian and swung with all of his might at Arian.

Just as the blow was about to land, Arian disappeared.

Before Paladin could even react to what had happened, Arian reappeared behind Paladin and stabbed him in the back of the neck with a curved dagger, killing him and ending the fight.

“If I had gone all out, this would’ve been even quicker,” Arian whispered.

While the crowd was initially taken back by the abruptness of the fight, they soon broke into a cheer and applause, singing Arian’s praises. He pulled his hood more over his face and swiftly left the arena.

“Huh, I didn’t expect that,” Connor admitted. “I thought for sure that Paladin would win that.”

“I didn’t,” Eric said.

“Really? Why?” Kaida asked.

“I was watching Ajax towards the end of the Elimination Match and I saw the number of people he’d defeated with just his crossbow. Honestly, I think he might be the strongest person in the final sixteen.”

“I’m not so sure,” Laila said, folding her arms. “There’s no doubt that Arian’s strong, but it seems like he only has his speed going for him.”

“So, he didn’t teleport?” Alexa asked.

Laila shook her head. “Unless Arian has some other abilities than his speed, then I don’t think he’ll make it through the next round.”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” Kaida said.

“Ah, here come the next two,” Connor said.

Seb Mahin and Edgard Gwydion entered into the arena, greeted with an even greater cheer.

From the East Side, I am proud to present you a student on special recommendation all the way from Romania; Seb Mahin! And on the West Side I am pleased to welcome one of the lucky few people in the world born with a natural affinity for multiple schools of Magic; Edgard Gwydion.

“There he is!” Kaida yelled, leaning forward and pointing towards Edgard. “He’s the one that held his own against Ace!”

“Him?” Connor took a quick glance at him, grimaced and hummed softly. “He doesn’t look like much.”

“What powers does he have then?” Eric asked.

“He’s a mage that can use four types of magic,” Kaida began. “Not only that, but he seemed quite skilled in using all of them and he seems to be extremely versatile in combat as well.”

“That’s impressive,” Laila admitted. “However, given his opponent, I don’t think it’ll be enough.”

“What do you-?” Eric tried to ask, but the match countdown had begun.

On my mark!

3.

2.

1.

Begin!

Before Edgard could even deploy his aura, the match had been decided.

The second Kasmine had said ‘Begin’, Seb had tapped his foot on the ground and, suddenly, a gigantic fist made of rocks broke out of the ground around Edgard, wrapping him in his fingers and crushed the life out of him instantly.

The rock hand collapsed and Edgard’s lifeless corpse fell out of it.

The fight didn’t even last a second.

While it was an extremely impressive feat for someone of their age to pull of such a powerful magic attack so quickly, the audience were, understandably, disappointed.

“That it?”

“Is that even allowed?”

“It was cool, but, you know.”

Winner: Seb Mahin!

Even after being disappointed, the crowd clapped and cheered for him.

Seb smiled, bowed to them, and promptly left the stage, a spring in his step.

“Dude…that must suck for Edgard,” Connor said.

“Yeah,” Eric agreed.

“His one chance to stand on that stage for two years and it was over that quickly for him,” Kaida whispered, intimidated by Seb’s power. “I feel so bad for him.”

“I’m surprised Seb didn’t put on more of a show though,” Connor admitted. “I mean, he could’ve made the fight entertaining at least, even if he was just going to wipe the floor with Edgard.”

“Maybe he struck that quickly because he was scared of what Edgard could do,” Eric suggested. “He held his own with Ace after all, and we struggled with him.”

“That’s not why,” Laila chimed in.

“What makes you say that?”

“Seb Mahin is a student of Shamir Morfran.”

“Seriously?” Alexa cried out.

Laila nodded.

Shamir Morfran, the Great Sage, was the world’s strongest Geomancer who spends most of his time in seclusion in a private academy for Earth Mages hidden in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. He had a reputation as being one of the kindest, wisest and most humble men in the world. Even with his great power, he had never attempted to use it to conquer or fight in wars.

“Given the Great Sage’s age, I imagine Seb has been sent here by him to announce to the world something along these lines,” Laila explained. “’Fear not, Geomancers, for I am strong enough to replace the Great Sage when he passes and I am his strongest pupil.’”

“He joined Ferris and entered this tournament for that reason?” Kaida asked.

“How comes they didn’t just host a press conference or something?” Alexa wondered.

“It’s easier to believe what you see than what you hear, right?” Laila asked.

“Still…” Kaida said softly, clutching her hands together. “It seems so unfair to Edgard.”

“Do you like him or something?”

“Huh?”

“Your face is bright red, you know,” Alexa teased, causing Kaida to lightly punch her arm. “Hey, at least the next fight can’t possibly be as short as that was?”

“I wonder about that,” Connor said, smiling weakly.

Dead Eye and Herne entered the arena from their respective wings and the crowd cheered loudly for them.

On the East Side, we have the legendary hunter himself, one who strikes from the shadows of an impenetrable forest before you can even see him; Herne Heolstor! On the West Side, we have one of the best snipers amongst the first years able to land a headshot from seemingly any distance; Kellan ‘Dead Eye’ Bowen!

“Well, this’ll be over in an instant,” Connor mused, titling his head upwards.

“You’re not going to watch it?” Kaida asked.

“What’s the point? Dead Eye can’t beat Herne; he doesn’t have any superhuman abilities.”

“Alexis killed him with just her speed and skill,” Eric reminded him.

“Yeah, but Alexis had built up an insane amount of momentum and had a tiny window to actually hit him in. Herne will wipe the floor with Dead Eye.”

As much as Eric hated to admit it, there was little to no chance of Dead Eye beating Herne.

Contestants, take ready!

Herne’s aura began to expand and a black forest emerged around him, hiding him within its trees. It continued to gradually expand until Herne was perfectly hidden from Dead Eye’s vision within it.

Dead Eye’s frowned and pulled back on the bolt of his rifle.

On my mark!

3.

2.

1.

Begin!

A black arrow instantly flew out of the forest heading directly for Dead Eye’s forehead. Dead Eye saw it, spun around it, swung his rifle against his shoulder, turned to face the forest and fired a single shot into the forest.

The bullet echoed throughout the arena as it went eerily quiet.

After a few seconds of confusion, the forest began to rescind and, lying on his back in the centre of it was Herne, a large bullet hole right between his eyes.

Winner: Kellan Bowen!

The crowd were too shocked to cheer right away but, as they began to process what had just happened, they broke out into a cheer far louder than any before it. Dead Eye pulled back on his bolt, swung the rifle over his shoulders and strolled out of the arena.

“…Seriously?” Connor asked. “That…seriously just happened, right?”

“I didn’t see that coming,” Eric said.

Connor smiled. “I don’t think Herne saw it coming either.”

“Holy shit, that was awesome!” Alexa screamed, leaping out of her chair. “How did he manage that?”

“Simple; he saw the path that the arrow took and followed it back to its source where Herne had to be,” Laila stated. “Normally, however, even for a professional sniper, it would take a few shots to be able to trace the bullet back to its origin. Even after doing that, few would have been able to land such a perfect headshot as well. Dead Eye is very skilled.”

“I thought Herne could move through his forest quickly, though, right? Why didn’t he?”

“I imagine he didn’t think he’d need to,” Kaida said, folding her arms. “Against a non-superhuman opponent with a high power sniper-rifle would be dangerous if they could see you. Herne’s forest completely hides him within it and, usually, most people wouldn’t have been able to find him in it.”

“Guys, I don’t think I’m going to be winning the bet,” Connor whispered, still in shock from Dead Eye’s snap victory.

“Yeah, you’re not,” Eric added.

“I was actually looking for a ‘No, you could still win’ or something along those lines.”

“I know.”

Connor sighed, but he perked back up again when he saw Kiara and Ashar enter the area. “Oh, here comes my comeback!”

“I think everyone here put Kiara, so I don’t know about that,” Kaida said.

Eric hadn’t actually seen Ashar during the Elimination Match as he had been too occupied keeping an eye on his friends and teammates, and he couldn’t help but find Ashar’s outfit strange. He looked like a Victorian era aristocrat with smartly combed and trimmed hair, light blue eyes, and the way he presented and carried himself made him seem like he was looking down on those around him.

On the East side, we have a young and upcoming Vampire warrior in training whose playful attitude and approach to fighting have angered more than one of our combatants today; Kiara Morrigan! From the West, I present to you a young Vampire noble all the way from Lamia itself, the first born son of House Ozkan himself; Ashar Ozkan!

“A Noble Vampire?”

“Seriously?”

“Why is someone like that here?”

“Is it that big of a deal for Vampires to come out of Lamia?” Alexa asked, puzzled by the audience’s reaction.

“It is for Nobles and Ancients,” Kaida said. “In Lamia, they’re the absolute rulers of the country and so there’s no need for them to venture to other countries in seek of work, fortune or fame.”

“Then, why is he here?” Eric wondered.

Ashar listened to the crowds’ comments, smiled and bowed in an exaggerated fashion to them. “My name is Ashar Ozkan, a Noble-class Vampire from the nation of Lamia. I am here to do one thing and one thing only.” He glared at Kiara and she felt shivers shoot across her body. “Eliminate the disgusting vermin from our society, isn’t that right, Impure Blood?”

Kiara hissed and her eyes reflexively narrowed, her aura slowly expanding around her.

“I know all about you, you disgrace to all Vampires,” Ashar began, ignoring the chattering of the crowd. “To you who was not born a Vampire and was converted to one, know this; you are a disgrace to our people and should die.”

The crowd’s murmurs became much louder and angrier at his remarks, with a few people even yelling things at Ashar and many more pitying Kiara.

“Lamia’s name is dragged through the mud by people like you, you know,” Ashar continued, scowling at her. “Hurry up and disappear from my sight.”

“…Shut up,” Kiara growled.

Ashar smiled sadistically and he turned to face where he knew one of the cameras were. “People of the world, allow me to show you the power of a true pure blooded Vampire born from our country.”

The Headmistress hadn’t said a word since Ashar had started speaking, but Eric knew that she must have been furious with Ashar.

For one of her own students and her own people to say such things on live television to the entire world, just who does he think he is? Eric thought, digging his fingers into his legs.

That is the attitude of someone who has been on a pedestal since his birth, Lucifer said in Eric’s head.

Lucifer?

In his country, I imagine he could say and act as he pleased and so he has no care for what others ‘beneath him’ have to say about it.

Then, if he’s already being waited on hand and foot, why is he even attending Ferris?

Lucifer hummed a little, before saying, Perhaps he was exiled from Lamia, or perhaps he has come to learn how to kill ‘Impure Bloods’.

Now then, everyone, Kasmine said into the microphone, her disdain for Ashar evident, the match will begin on my mark.

3.

2.

1.

Begin.

Ashar grunted, thrust his palm towards her and a large rune appeared in front of him, firing a solid beam of black energy at Kiara. Kiara flew to the side of it, only to have another solid beam fired at her, smashing into her chest. She flew out of the air, tumbled across the ground and vomited blood.

“I knew you were weak, but I didn’t expect you to be this weak,” Ashar mused, smiling arrogantly at her. He slowly began to walk towards her, conjuring half a dozen black balls of energy around his head. “Tell me, what class of Vampire converted you to one? Was it a peasant of some sort?”

Kiara glared at him and flew at him, her nails extending into claws.

Ignore what he’s saying! Keep your focus! She told herself.

Ashar sighed, clicked his fingers and the balls flew in different arcs at Kiara, all aiming for different organs. Kiara clicked her tongue, spun her body and fired two black balls of her own at Ashar. Ashar caught one of them and spun to the side of the other, before throwing the ball back at Kiara with the force of a cannon, just as his own six balls converged on her.

She howled in pain and went flying backwards, hitting her back hard against the ground and she struggled to get back up.

Kiara’s body was badly broken from the attack.

Two of her ribs had been broken, her left forearm had been completely crushed, her stomach had been ruptured, her thighs had gigantic dents in them, and her forehead was bleeding, blood trickling into her eyes.

It hurts! She screamed, barely able to lift herself into a crouched position, her body screaming in agony and her vision slowly turning red, but not just from the blood. No! I can’t lose my focus!

Another ball hit Kiara on the side of the head and she crumpled onto the ground, barely able to move. “I asked you a question,” Ashar said angrily. “What class of Vampire are you even meant to be? I thought you might have at least been higher than a peasant, but it seems that I was wrong.” He laughed. “What a joke. How did someone as weak and as disgusting as you even make it this far?”

Kiara uneasily began to get up, using her right arm to support herself. “Shut up,” She said, blood drooling from her lips.

“Huh?” Another ball took out Kiara’s supporting arm and she fell onto her side once more.

Kiara’s body went cold.

Darkness crept over her body and mind, crawling into her heart and mind, taking it over.

No, don’t lose control! She yelled again and again in her head, but it wasn’t working. Her vision began clouding over and turning into a deeper and deeper shade of red.

“The person who made you a Vampire must be a fool,” Ashar said, shaking his head a little. “Honestly, what kind of scum would make more Impure Bloods? People like that should just be killed.”

Something snapped in Kiara’s body and, in the next moment, she had zoomed right before Ashar’s face, her eyes overflowing with hatred and glaring at him.

“Shut up,” She hissed, throwing her fist into Ashar’s face.

Ashar cried out in pain as he was flung fifty metres through the air, landing roughly on his front and rolling several more metres. He scowled at Kiara and winced when the pain from his broken nose registered in his body.

“What the hell?” Ashar yelled.

When he went to look at Kiara again, he found her already before him, her heel aimed right for his temple.

“Don’t fuck with me!”

Ashar’s body exploded in black energy, pushing Kiara backwards and he sent twenty black balls of energy at her, aiming at her heart and brain. The balls smashed into her but her aura absorbed the attacks, rendering them useless.

“What?” Ashar cried.

Now that he had a chance to look at Kiara again, he was frightened of the girl who stood before him.

Her appearance hadn’t changed and her body was still damaged and broken all over, but her aura was much larger and more intense than it had ever been and her eyes colour had completely changed into a deep, dark and terrifying red.

“You…You’re higher,” He whimpered, inadvertently stepping back. “How? How is trash like you a-”

Kiara disappeared from his sight and appeared before him. Even though Ashar was scared, his instincts reacted to Kiara’s movements and he unleashed a powerful blast from a rune he spawned behind him, attempting to push Kiara back. She took the brunt of the attack full on and was sent back a handful of metres, but it was a gap she could close in the fraction of a second.

Ashar spun to face her, thrust both of his palms out, and summoned eight different runes before him, all firing thick, intense beams of energy at her. The area where Kiara had been standing exploded, smashing apart the concrete and creating a smokescreen of sorts.

Kiara appeared in front of him again and Ashar used the same attack as before, but Kiara wasn’t damaged by it; her aura completely absorbed the attack. Ashar roared and summoned four more runes and increased the power and size of all of his beams, determined to destroy Kiara, even if he put too much stress on his own body.

“I won’t accept it!” He yelled. “I won’t accept it!”

A far larger explosion than the previous one consumed Kiara and Ashar slumped forward, breathing heavily.

After using that previous attack, Ashar’s body was almost completely drained of energy. He had never expected to run into another high-class Vampire like himself outside of Lamia, let alone an ‘Impure’ one.

“Damn it,” He hissed, his muscles and circuits screaming at him.

He felt the hairs on his back stand up and, before he could act, a fist blew through his stomach. Ashar tried to use another spell but Kiara ripped her fist free, kicked Ashar onto his knees and walked around him to look right into his eyes.

“How?” Ashar asked, blood pouring from his lips. “How can you…be that strong…?”

Kiara lifted her heel high into the air and brought it down as hard and as quickly as she could, shattering Ashar’s skull and instantly killing him.

When Ashar fell onto the floor, the stadium screamed and cheered loudly for Kiara’s victory, even before the official announcement had been made.

It was far louder than any before it.

Kiara’s vision and mind returned to normal as the stage disappeared, resting everything back to how it had been before the fight had begun. She saw the crowd cheering for her, then the unconscious Ashar, and she smiled, waving back to the crowds and swiftly making her departure.

Even Connor and Alexa were out of their seats, shouting and applauding for her as loudly as they could.

Eric, however, was looking at her with concern.

She lost control, didn’t she? Eric asked Lucifer in his mind.

Quite spectacularly as well, Lucifer replied. Do you think many other people noticed?

Eric looked around at the audience and saw that some people had realised what had happened as well, but a number of them also hadn’t realised.

Perhaps they thought she was putting on a show, Lucifer wondered.

I hope that is the case, Eric admitted. He then looked to his left and he saw Kaida scowling at Kiara, her arms folded and her nails digging into her skin.

“Man, I never thought I’d be so happy to see someone get ax kicked to the head,” Alexa said, smiling.

“I don’t think you’re ever meant to feel happy about that,” Eric mused, smiling a little.

“Well, when it happens to an arsehole like that, I think it’s fine,” Connor said.

***

As soon as the fight had ended, Kiara had left the stadium as fast as she could and found Kasmine waiting for her in the corridor to the waiting rooms. Kasmine had then dragged Kiara to one of the empty back wings of the stadium and locked the door behind them.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about, Headmistress?” Kiara asked anxiously, a smile on her lips.

“You know exactly why,” Kasmine said, a slight frown on her face. “You went out of control after you promised me that you wouldn’t.”

“That was because-!”

“The reason is irrelevant.”

“How can you say-?”

“Kiara. I’ll overlook you losing control this one last time but, if you go out of control one more time today, I’ll give you a far worse punishment than you could possibly imagine. Okay?”

“I…understood,” Kiara said, nodding weakly.

Kasmine’s expression lightened up and she brought Kiara into a soft embrace. “I know it’s difficult for you and I’ll punish Ashar later for such a disgraceful display, but, if you can’t learn to control your powers and bloodlust better, you might end up killing someone.”

“I know, Headmistress. I…I promise I won’t go out of control again.”

“Good girl.” They separated and Kasmine let out a small sigh. “If you do feel yourself slipping and losing control again, just remember to tell yourself that when you go berserk again, it won’t end with a small telling off.”

Kiara gulped hard and her body began to sweat all over. “I’ll be careful.”