There is no moon tonight, even the wind is gone... I can't even hear the sounds of crickets, all thats left was darkness. I swept the sweat dripping on my forhead as I fix my white hair into a tight braid. I was still contemplating whether I would wear my armor or not. I was trained for survailance and one by one elimination combat, stealth moving is my strongest skill and heavy armor is a big hindrance.

All twelve of us chosen warriors appointed by our respective masters gathered around the clearing with only the bonfire serving as light. Everyone was on their own fixing their weapons and armors, checking if its intact and in the right places.

Tonight will be the final judgement. It was the 19th annual performance that will be the last step for me to be free. I trace the sword in my back and it was intact, knives were all secured, my blindfolds were uncomfortably tight but that's the least of my worries. I have to keep my composure to at least survive.

I can hear the drums roll, a sign that the Grandmaster has arrived and the show will begin shortly.

"To all the masters, assasins and warriors of the clan.. we are hereby gathered tonight for the final judgement of the 12 warriors who will soon become assasins, who will take pride to battle the enemies that come before us...."

There's so much introduction to this event when all we know is we have to kill our own before we could have a chance to fight the enemies. Its a stupid strategy in terms of resources and waste on people who would be great warriors but end up dying in the final judgement, but who am I to complain, its been a tradition for thousands of years and all I have to do is kill 1, just 1.

The rule for this survival killing was easy. There were 12 of us in the battlefield, all were trained since childhood just to be ready for this night. The survivors will then be ranked up as assasins and will be sent on different places for a mission. We were never allowed to cross the borders of this land, it was a fortress that no one can enter or leave.It has been like this since I can remember. The only exception is to be an assasin and take missions outside for the safekeeping of city.

The first thing I learn from the master? Empathy is weakness, and weakness equals death. That is my strongest point as I have no one to care about, no parents, no relatives, no origins. No one ever knows me. Even I don't know myself anymore. All I just ever wanted is to be free.

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All were blindfolded, you will never know who will be

your foe. The only thing you can rely on was your skills and a bit of luck. This is a bunch of skilled fighters who killed men twice their age and experience in the war of Mt.Tamas. I bet their masters trained them to be ruthless not just because of the pride but for the money they earned for the kills. And here I am standing with just one man killed on my list. My master was also ruthless but he was so tamed compared to the others, he always have time to pray and rest, sing and plant crops when all those times could be my training. Nevertheless, all my skills aquired was because of him.