A quick look around the gymnasium would tell how serious everyone was about the evaluation. No one was chatting or standing by idly, if people were talking they were group members discussing strategies. And quite a few others were taking these last moments before the match to sharpen their weapons. The sounds of metal scraping against metal echoed throughout the tense gym.
"You two need to stay out of our way." Sampson turned around to growl at Joel and Nim. "Don't make yourselves targets or hostages while I'm taking down the other team."
Joel and Nim didn't manage to nod their heads fast enough so Sampson continued to berate them.
"Seriously, don't get in my way. If you make yourselves a nuisance or end up in my line of fire don't think I'll hold back to protect you or any soft shit like that."
Nim nodded enthusiastically almost slamming her chin into her neck as Sampson threatened her. Joel on the other hand was gripping the handle of his dagger while Sampson was barking at him. He definitely had a support type ability but from the pretty decent looking weapons he kept on his person to the fact that he was quite sturdy-looking, made Rhys think Joel was probably useful in terms of combat as well.
"Calm down Sampson. It's not realistic that the two of us can take on the other teams by ourselves for all of our matches." Rhys looked straight at Joel. "If you see an opening, go for it."
Sampson looked disgusted at Rhys's encouraging attitude and was about to say something when soldiers in black uniforms made their way to the different match pits. The hall of students immediately quieted down at the appearance of the fully-fledged soldiers in black. Rhys dry gulped thinking about how many of them knew that he was on the termination list.
One of those men approached their group with a tablet device in his hand, he looked forward at group 12 comprised of Rhys, Sampson, Nim and Joel, then he looked at the group they were scheduled to fight, group 19. After confirming that all the required people were present he proceeded to tap on the screen of the pad without saying anything, leaving Rhys and the others to stare at him expectantly.
"Trainees, you may now enter the match area." He looked up from his tablet to stare at the two groups who all flinched at the sudden sound of his voice.
Rhys, Sampson, Nim and Joel cautiously stepped down into the large circular pit and they found themselves naturally separating from the other group. Rhys and his group had found themselves on one side of the circle and the other group was occupied the other half. The circle had a diameter of at least 15 to 20 meters so there was a decent distance between the two groups.
"You have a time limit of two hours. The match ends when the flag of one team is completely in the hands of a member of another team. Also, be warned that medical staff will not enter the pit until after the match is over." Rhys's attention perked up at the last bit of information. Someone could potentially die if they did not receive the medical attention they needed right away.
['oh, so no one receives medical treatment until a team is confirmed the winner... that makes things even more interesting.']
'You mean it makes this evaluation that much more dangerous.' Rhys marvelled at his teacher's appreciation for unnecessary cruelty. What if someone got a fatal injury but the match wasn't over? That person would just bleed out and die waiting for the match to be over.
The soldier looked down at his tablet and tapped on the screen a few more times. A strange mechanical whirring sound churned from under the gym floor and suddenly a light orange force field shot up around the perimeter of the pit, imprisoning the eight trainees inside.
Rhys squinted at the orange barrier and recognized them as the barriers used by high-class storefronts in district 20. He and gramps used to dream about being able to afford a barrier like that around their script shop to put a stop to the burglaries. Orange barriers were used in prisons and probably facilities like juvenile hall as well. The question was, would Rhys be able to pass through it with his skill?
['Part of being a teacher is letting the student learn for himself']
'Stingy...'
"They really take this shit seriously." Sampson scoffed as he pounded his fist against the orange barrier. As if he was hitting some kind of reinforced glass, only a light thud vibrated off of the surface. Barriers like that rejected energy and physical interference so there would be no getting out of the pit until the soldier lifted the barrier.
Movement from the other team caught Rhys's eye. The four guys were walking to what looked like pre-determined positions around their half of the circle. Before long they had spread out and were standing in a trapezium formation. Even more worrying than their display of teamwork and strategy was the fact they were all staring straight at Rhys, the group member with the flag pasted on his chest.
"Hmmm..." Sampson chuckled, "looks like these guys will be going straight for the flag." He smirked and crossed his arms. "They're not going to waste time. I like it."
Although Rhys and Sampson had only been on campus for a few days, many other trainees had been on campus for up to a month and in all that time they could have been planning for the first evaluation. The way the other team had gotten into formation without so much as a word made Rhys sure of that.
"This could be a little tough," Rhys muttered as he used his Aura detection skill on the other team.
"Speak for yourself." Sampson tutted before frowning. "It's a bit annoying when you don't know their abilities though," Sampson admitted, trying to suss out any clues as to their core strengths.
"The guy in the front on the left is a water manipulator. All the others are just ordinary strengtheners." Rhys had planned to let Sampson figure out their abilities during the match, but seeing the other team be so organised had made him a bit nervous. Rhys did not want to lose the first match and be given F rank, and then live out his college career munching on stinky black food pills. So giving Sampson this bit of information was out of necessity.
When Sampson stared Rhys down with a questioning eyebrow, Rhys gave him a nonchalant explanation. "I overheard them talking about their abilities earlier when they were organising themselves."
"Yeah, sure." Sampson didn't look convinced.
"The match will begin in, five." Once again the soldier spoke all of a sudden leaving Rhys, Sampson Joel and Nim to panic.
"Oh fuck, we don't have any time," Sampson growled out.
"Four."
Sampson waved at Nim and Joel to retreat to the edge of the circle. "Ugh! Hurry up and get back."
Nim and Joel immediately scurried to the edge of the circle where they stood next to each other.
"Three."
"Since they are going to attack you first, I'll wait for them to pounce on you and then I'll torch them with my fire. Be ready to do your whole 'intangibility' thing." Sampson hurriedly whispered before running to the other side of the circle.
Rhys nodded feeling a bit more confident. It was a good plan. The other team had been so obviously staring at him because the flag was pasted to his chest. It seemed like they would try and go for him as soon as possible. Now that Sampson had run to the other side of the circle, they would definitely charge at Rhys who was standing by himself. Little did they know Sampson would release his full firepower on them as soon as they reached Rhys.
"Two."
Team 19 was ready. They were all staring at Rhys, ready to run at him and overwhelm him with their united strength. It was interesting to watch their individual auras blaze as the adrenaline pumped through them. The water manipulator had a particularly interesting aura, instead of just the usual bluish water aura, his aura looked like it was made of small balls of water, levitating around him like little bullets. After reading those books, Rhys knew that auras were like blueprints of a person's ability, his peculiar water aura definitely had something to do with his abilities.
[Aura: Strengthening (weak )]
[Aura: Strengthening (weak )]
[Aura: Strengthening (weak )]
[Aura: Water Manipulation (average)]
"One."
"Begin."
Before Rhys could even get a handle of what was going on, a small lightning fast water jet soared across the circle and smashed into Sampson's neck.
"Argh!" Sampson cried out and fell backwards as blood spurted out of a sizeable gash on the side of his neck.
Nim and Joel were astonished to see such a fierce guy fall so quickly. Nim was already running towards Sampson with her green aura glowing brightly, ready to heal him, however, a powerful ball of water flew straight into her stomach knocking the wind right out of her. She fell forward onto the floor with a thud, clutching her belly as red began to stain her grey shirt. Joel smartly stayed put and drew his daggers hoping that he would be able to slice the balls of water in half before they got to him, but ultimately the balls were too fast to even see. At least three splashes connected with his legs, knocking him to the ground as well.
Before Sampson could recover, two more water jets crashed into his knee and gut. The pain was enough to make Sampson shriek and writhe on the floor like a worm in the sun. His pants and shirt were quickly stained red as his clothes were being soaked in the blood from the wounds underneath. Rhys was frankly disturbed that water would be able to cut people that badly.
The water manipulator snickered at Sampson lying down on the floor with his hand pressed over the wound on his neck. He had a satisfied expression on his face that made Rhys think this had been team 19's plan all along. All of them staring at Rhys had just been a feint to throw them off their real target.
One of the water manipulator's teammates quickly tackled Sampson on the floor. With his strength, he easily held the injured Sampson to the ground and kicked his lighter away from him.
The water manipulator turned to his other two teammates who were standing a ways behind him. "Go get the flag."
They immediately set off in Rhys's direction with eager smiles on their faces.
The water manipulator turned back to Sampson and walked over to the bleeding restrained fire manipulator and let out a victorious laugh.
"I personally still think that manipulation elementists like us are superior to generation type elementists. I mean, we can mould our elements to be whatever we want them to be, we can turn them into serious weapons with enough training. Our only setback is that without a supply we are pretty much useless."
The guy picked up Sampson's lighter and twiddled it between his fingers mockingly, provoking Sampson to struggle violently in the hold he was being kept in.
"I'm not some idiot who would only rely on a single flimsy lighter to supply me with my element." The guy lifted up his grey shirt to reveal plastic bags of water that he had taped to his torso. A great supply of water for him to manipulate into water jets. Moreover, floating around in the water was what looked like tiny little metal blades, like mini razor blades, they were the secret behind why his water jets were cutting.
Sampson's face burned with rage and humiliation as he flailed about in the strengtheners hold, wanting nothing more than to rip the water manipulator's tongue out of his throat. The hard truth was hitting Sampson like a truck, without his lighter, he had no fire to manipulate. He was a manipulator type and could not create fire on his own, he needed some kind of source.
"If you're mad at anyone you should be mad at yourself." The water guy twirled the lighter in his fingers enjoying his moment of domination against someone he disliked.
"If you hadn't shown off so much at the initiation test, I wouldn't have been able to make such an effective plan against you today. Oh well, enjoy being in the F category, maybe I'll give you my leftovers after mealtimes."
The water manipulator extended his finger and pointed it at Sampson's face. A stream of water funnelled out from the sacks taped to his torso and accumulated in a small ball in front of his finger. He aimed his finger at Sampson's face and the ball of water began to spin and churn. The secret to his water jets was not just the high acceleration he managed to manipulate them to and the tiny razor blades inside, but the spin he applied to the water ball itself.
"I wonder if element manipulators can handle their elements without their eyesight?" He grinned down at Sampson and aimed his finger at Sampson's right eye. As the water ball in front of his finger was spinning at an alarming speed. The water was so fast and compact that it looked more like a spinning top than a ball of water.
Sampson kicked and struggled and furiously fought, he had not been this passionate since Rhys had defeated him in that alleyway.
The spinning bullet of water was about to be shot into Sampson's eyes when all of a sudden the orange barrier around the pit shrunk back down into the floor and the voice of the soldier announced the results.
"The Match, team 12 versus team 19 is over."
Sampson stopped struggling and looked around in shock. How was it already over? How could this have happened? Did team 19 take the flag from Rhys so quickly?
"Lucky you, seems like your eyes were saved by your team's loss." The water guy smiled satisfied at the stricken expression on Sampson's face. He wasn't actually planning on destroying Sampson's eyes, but he did get a kick out of bringing toxic bully jerks like Sampson down a notch. He might have taken it overboard with his taunts. Maybe. But he had been a little angered when Sampson had looked him square in the face and did not recognise him. They had gone to the same high school together and although they weren't in the same class, Sampson had sent him home every week with burn injuries, bruises and charred clothes. It was fair that he got in a little pay back while he could.
"Team 12 is the winner. Team 19, head over to the benches on the side of the gymnasium." The soldier announced.
"Haha, you should have seen your face you look so shocked when..." The water manipulator paused. He turned to the soldier in black with a scrunched up forehead.
"Wait, what did you say? Did you say team 12 won, didn't my team win? Didn't team 19 win...?"
There on the other side of the pit was Rhys standing calmly with team 19's flag in his hands. In front of him were the two guys from team 19. They had looks of utter confusion on their faces. A moment ago they had simultaneously lunged for the weakest-looking guy in team 12, but somehow they had gone right through him and when they turned around to attack, their flag was in his hands.
"What! what happened?" The water guy staggered backwards at an utter loss as to what was going on. He had planned everything perfectly. He had taken down Sampson and sent his two other teammates to take care of the weak scrawny guy with the flag. They should have made short work of it. How did the opposite of what he wanted to happen take place?
While the water manipulator was struggling with an early mid-life crises, Sampson slowly got off the floor and walked towards him. Sampson was still putting pressure on his neck, trying to stop the bleeding. With his other hand he snatched his lighter away from the water manipulator. And before anyone could stop him, he flipped open the top and ignited the flame.
"Sampson, Don't!" Rhys already knew what Sampson was going to do.
The water manipulator's eyes went wide with dread before he was engulfed in Sampson's searing hot flames. He shrieked and tried to run away but Sampson easily extended the flames to eat him up again. Sampson cackled like a possessed person as he took out all his frustration on the water manipulator.
A moment ago Sampson had looked so weak and small, but as Rhys saw him with his flames he remembered who Sampson truly was: a sadistic, insane person. Someone who had basically ruled over an entire schooling district with fear and fire.
In the blink of an eye the soldier in black who had overseen their match was behind Sampson. He swiftly punched Sampson once behind his ear and Sampson immediately keeled over. He dropped his lighter and pretty much collapsed onto the floor with a groan.
"Once the match is over, all fighting will cease immediately. This is Sampson Welsh's first warning. If there is a second instance of this, you will be disqualified." The soldier was basically a robot, he was so emotionless and formal.
"Everyone except those who want medical attention, please exit the match pit." With cold indifference to the trainees' shocked faces, the soldier commanded them out of the pit.
A medical team in white coats with green auras rushed into the pit and pounced on the more seriously injured people: Sampson and the water manipulator. They also crowded around Nim who still had not gotten up from the floor after she was first hit with the water ball. She most likely had some tiny blades embedded in her stomach which made healing herself impossible, she would need special attention. Joel's wounds weren't that bad so they didn't make as much a fuss about him.
While his teammates were being checked on, Rhys stepped out of the pit and sat down on the floor. It had been so easy for him to take the flag from the other team. All he had to do was concentrate his spiritual body into everything except his fingertips. So when they charged at him, all he had to do was stand still and catch the lip of their flag in his fingers and peel it off of the guy as he ran by. It had been so simple, and yet Sampson and Nim almost died. Joel was also injured, just one match had taken out three-quarters of their team. The rest of this tournament was looking very grim for them.
Rhys perked up when he saw the healers who had been treating Joel's legs get up and move towards Nim and Sampson. Joel happily jogged over to Rhys and took a seat beside him. His legs were completely healed and a fresh smile was on his face.
"Geez, you really saved us. If it wasn't for you we would have lost." Joel seemed just as bewildered by the situation as Rhys was. Joel's gaze landed on Sampson who was sitting on the floor surrounded by medical staff. He was completely still, just staring forward into nothingness. Sampson was someone with a big ego, so being put down like that was having a serious effect on him. Rhys only hoped the guy came out of it with more sense instead of less.
"And after all that talk, he's the one who ended up the most damaged." Joel chuckled as he stretched out his legs and leaned back on his elbows. Apparently, Joel was not a fan of Sampson's.
"This shows how important teamwork is. If we had been more prepared..."
"No, it doesn't." Joel's sharp tone startled Rhys who turned to look at the former.
"We won because you have a better ability than those guys. Teamwork is useless if you don't have powerful teammates." The smile Rhys was so used to seeing on Joel's face was gone and his yellowish aura looked dimmer than before. Rhys would not enter into an argument about the importance of teamwork with him right now because it looked like that was the last thing he needed. Even if Rhys wanted them all to work as a team, he had no idea how to talk them into it. He himself knew that in the face of an ability like Connor's, teamwork was pretty much useless.
The sound of loud footsteps encroaching made the two boys turn their heads.
"Well, well, you are the first group to finish so why don't we jump straight into the next match. This team sat out the first round because of the uneven numbers. You guys can fight them for a chance to get into the second round."
Rhys almost had a stroke as he looked up into the pleased face of the bald female instructor. She spoke like she was completely unaware of the death sentence she had just handed to team 12.
Even her formidable figure could not hide the crackling electric aura behind her. It was Connor. Connor and his frightening power, accompanied by three other formidable teammates were all gazing down at Rhys casually. Unlike Rhys and Joel who were practically shivering, Connor and his group eyed their opponents, eager to use them as a warm-up.
"But. But..." Joel was speechless but desperately trying to come up with something, anything so that they would not have to fight against Connor's team.
"That's doubtful, Instructor Zora." The cold indifferent voice of the soldier who had overseen their match came to the rescue. "The medical staff said that the treatment for the other half of this team will take at least twenty minutes. Another team will most likely free up for a battle before then."
Zora rubbed her glistening bald head and sighed as she gazed around the gym at all the other teams fighting in their pits. "If it's gonna take that long, I'm sure another team will be ready before then."
Just as she finished speaking, sounds of hollers and cheers broke out from the other side of the gym. Rhys turned to see four very happy team members high-fiving and hugging. They were doing a victory lap because they had just won their match. Little did they know that they were about to have a match with the most feared team of the two classes.
"Perfect." Zora beamed. "Come on boys, your match awaits." Zora walked in the direction of the other team with Connor and the three others following behind her.
[Name: Connor Twenty]
[Aura: Electrokinesis (Very strong)]
It didn't matter how many times Rhys had seen this aura, he never got used to how incredible it was. Honestly it was a pity that only he could see it.
[Aura Detection used +5 Exp]
[Name: Unknown]
[Aura: Teleportation (Average)]
The guy walked past Rhys and Joel with a smirk on his face and dragged his fingers through his ginger hair. He was tall and lean and stank of arrogance. Then again if Rhys had started out life with a teleportation core than maybe he would have been too. With a core as expensive as that, he was definitely from the 17th. More importantly his aura looked like a grey mesh cloth was floating around him like a cloak.
[Aura Detection used +5 Exp]
[Name: Unknown]
[Aura: Black Bear Physiology (Average)]
The next guy was massive. He was bordering on obese and was at least a head taller than Connor who already dwarfed the majority of the freshmen. And his aura made him look like he was standing in the middle of a black bear.
[Name: Unknown]
[Aura: Wind Manipulator (Average)]
Connor's last teammate was neat and trim with her hair secured perfectly in a bun. Unlike her team mates she didn't find the need to glare at Rhys or Joel as she walked by. She just quietly followed as he windy aura blew around her.
"What a frightening bunch..." Rhys let out a big breath and slumped back against the floor. He felt like he had just escaped some great calamity. He knew he would have to fight Connor at some point, but not right now, not when Sampson was half dead and Rhys still didn't know that much about his power.
"They're my age, but they really scare me." Joel traced the handle of his dagger absentmindedly. "Can you imagine if we had to fight them? That's scary stuff to think about."
[Name: Rhys Anson]
[Race: Enlightened Human]
[Level 3]
[Exp: 278/300]
[HP: 29/30]
Rhys took a look at his stats and sighed. He desperately needed to get to level 5 to unlock the aura manipulation skill. He needed a good offensive skill like that if he wanted to win this tournament, and yet that seemed so far away.
He would need to get as many Exp as possible in the next matches. His teammates would have to take a backseat to him, because Rhys had a goal to achieve.
'Any hints on how to level up faster?' Rhys directed his thoughts at the teacher.
['Did you forget about your quest?']
'That whole, familiarise yourself with death thing?'
['Of course']
The system pasted the quest Rhys had received soon after he had woken up in the hospital in his vision.
[New Quest: The user has recently witnessed the death of a loved one, as well as sent others to their deaths. The user is becoming familiar with death which is necessary for the user's transition. Have ten unique experiences with death.]
[Reward: ???]
[Penalty: Haunting]
[2/10 death experiences completed:
• Unique experience: holding an urn
• Unique Experience: touching a dead body]
['Like I said before, you will receive the best rewards from this quest when you kill people. Kill one person and you will be rewarded enough Exp to level up to level 4. Kill a few more than that, and getting to level 5 will be so easy for you.']
Rhys couldn't deny that he was tempted but ultimately he knew that he would not be able to kill someone for something like wanting to level up. Sending Barrow's men to their death had been okay for him since they had tried to kill him first.
['Are you suggesting that killing someone is fine as long as they go after you first?']
'Yes.'
['Well then, by your logic you should be fine with killing every trainee here. The whole point of this evaluation is to fight each other isn't it?']
'Yes, to fight each other. The instructors want to get a sense of our strength so that they can rank us. That's why they provided medical staff, so that no one actually ends up dying.'
Rhys rubbed his forehead wondering if his moral logic was actually as solid as he always assumed it was.
['What nonsense, if they really did not want any casualties they would not make you fight each other. With the technology I have seen available in this world, a device that measures an individual's power should be possible. If they didn't want any of you trainees to die they would have just used a device like that.']
Rhys knew the teacher had a point about this evaluation. There were many other ways that they could have ranked the students without doing a battle like this that was bound to have casualties. But in the real world fighting and being able to win against others or other beings was the only thing that mattered. And if they didn't care about losing students they wouldn't supply medical staff at all.
Rhys was firm in his stance. He would not kill anyone, who like him, was just trying to get a good ranking. However, if he felt that someone was really after his life, he would absolutely protect himself. Even if protecting himself meant someone else's death.
['You are uselessly stubborn.']
Rhys chuckled as he stared up at the ceiling of the gym.
"What so funny?" Joel asked seeing Rhys's amused expression.
"Nothing much."
'There's just a complete psycho spouting nonsense in my head.'