I'm still wielding my sword at the noisy idiot who is probably the leader of this team, he doesn't have the guts to make a move and is probably thinking about how to get out of our little standoff alive.
The remains of the members of both groups are still paralyzed waiting to see who will make the first move, which will trigger a bloody struggle that will likely result in the deaths of most of the people here and will likely be the cause of the defeat the survivors have experienced. The idiot who finally managed to get his brain back up and running decided to speak again only this time he wasn't yelling or insulting other people.
"Okay, let's all calm down, but in our current situation fighting will be the same as failing the test and I believe that no one will want that to happen. Why don't we try to divide the fort and keep our groups separate?" A good idea, but the idiot will probably get revenge during the test, because he's an idiot with self-destructive tendencies, and I don't feel comfortable around such an unstable ally.
"That's a good idea, but I'll have to turn it down but I have a better offer, but unfortunately, it's not for you, it's for your group. My team will put down their guns and we promise not to attack you, so you won't have to fight to the death because an idiot screwed up with your test, and after everyone backs off, I'll kill this idiot with my bare hands and lead the two teams during the challenge, it's a simple offer and to accept it you simply have to step back."
I see confusion and some relief on the faces of the members of the group led by this idiot, it looks like he was probably the cause of the difficulties his group faced in the first test, and it made his teammates resentful and very prone to accept my offer. But the idiot is blushing from how angry he was feeling, when his group didn't defend him and seems to want to back off and leave him alone to die.
I think the only reason they are afraid to accept my proposal is because they are afraid of being penalized after they leave for failing the third challenge, as they will be one man short, and he unfortunately was the person with the level. of stronger cultivation.
"You can't believe him! He must be lying; they will kill them after he kills me! You will be considered traitors! Balder will kill you all later!"
The idiot is really desperate, every time one of his companions backs off which is a sign they agreed to my proposal, he gets more desperate and his angry screams intensify. With his fate sealed I give my mother a free sign to Vali and Isabela who are looking at me, unlike the others who are looking at the pathetic figure I've been abandoned by their group.
I attacked the idiot without warning, I used my aura and elemental energy in an explosive way to deliver a deathblow to the idiot who is still yelling at his former teammates, this is a very good opportunity for me to waste. The best result is I kill him with a single move, but unfortunately the idiot is not a weak useless, he still managed to defend my blow, but as he was still caught off guard, I was able to change the path of my blade and make a cut deep in the idiot's shoulder.
With my first move failing in the attempt to kill him, I still managed to inflict a serious wound on him, his left arm must have lost at least half its strength and as he is a two-handed sword user, his combat ability it must have already been badly damaged. I attack him with my sword a few times putting him in a defensive position, and I also make him spin by moving in a circle around him taking advantage of his new weaker side.
I had my back to the idiot's teammates for two reasons, the first was to test if they were trustworthy, if they tried to save the idiot, I know I can't trust them but if they still stay away and let me kill the idiot i feel i can have a lot more confidence in them. I think it's really funny this weird test I'm doing, judging people I don't know as trustworthy, when they're letting one of their teammates get killed by me, I doubt that many people who have had this experience act.
When making a direct attack on the idiot's skull, he blocks my sword, with his in a defensive posture that forced him to kneel for me, he's blocking my cut with the side of the sword because he's using his injured arm to lean on mine from the body of your sword. He is completely overwhelmed and desperate to the point where he has an expression that fuses despair and madness.
"You can't kill me! My family will avenge me, even if the institute doesn't kill you! You are a d..."
The idiot's hateful and despairing speech was interrupted when a green blade came out of his chest. Behind him Vali stabbed him with her magic, he created an extremely dense and deadly wind blade at the tip of his staff and used it as a spear to pierce the idiot's back.
Before the fight started, I gave him a signal to Isabela, make a move when I distract the idiot. He may have been easy prey in the end, but he's still a warrior in the final stage of the gray core and that means if he accepts his death and tries to take me with him, I'm very likely to get hurt.
Even though I got lucky and managed to hurt him in a way that greatly diminishes his combat ability, I still wouldn't be comfortable killing him alone. A wild animal faced with death is always a very dangerous enemy and should be avoided if possible.
The idiot's death was even quick is perhaps painless, only a person who had their heart impaled by a blade of wind, can say that this is a death with little pain or if the pain is too great. It's a shame we can't have the answer to that question.
As the idiot's body dropped to the lifeless floor, I turned to face our new colleagues. They were all shocked and some showed fear, this was not exactly caused by the idiot's death, but how he died, I said I would kill him myself, but the reality is different, I always had the intention to distract the idiot and one of my colleagues kill him.
But that makes me a liar and now, they're afraid that I've also lied about not attacking them, even though attacking them now is silly and unproductive, lessening their fear won't be easy for me.
"Thanks for the help, Vali. She came at the perfect time, great job."
"No need to be afraid, we will not attack you now. I know you may have some doubts, but we have time for me to gain your trust, we still have to find the extrusions and probably defend the fort. I think it would be better if we all stayed calm and worked together in a cordial way and without even a silly attitude."
When I was calming my new companions, an origami came down in front of me, it was a red paper swan. I'm shocked by this, um I didn't know swans existed in this world, I decided not to assume that animals that existed on earth will exist here too, it's a different world after all.
Yeah, I don't hope to see an origami, as far as I've seen and read, I haven't noticed even a reference to origami or any art of paper folding, but I also haven't been reading books about all the crafts times, maybe that's the reason that I haven't read anything about origami.
The red origami landed in my hand and unfolded into a note. Aviates clear streaks in origami, 'Defend the fort from enemies, the state of the fort at the end will be the biggest source of your note. We have our eye on you now, Ulric.'
The instructions are exactly what I thought they would be, but I didn't expect this warning at the end, it looks like I wasn't sentenced to death by the examiners who are watching us but I could still feel the threatening tone of the sentence. It seems that if I kill a few more participants or bend a rule too drastically I might end up getting killed when I leave the matrix so I better behave myself.
Suddenly the red paper in my hand catches fire on its own before Isabela can get it to read it, it feels like the last part of the message is for my eyes only.
"Well, on paper there were ways for us to work together, to defend the fort from our enemies. It doesn't allow time for the attack or any clues as to the nature of our enemies, so we'd all better get to the wall."
"I doubt we'll have much time before the attack."