—Teleportation was starting to get familiar to Jay as Helmet used it naturally and effectively all the time. It was a paid feature, which usually only benefits a single member while in use. Teleports cost Gold Coins the longer the distance, and it multiplies with each person taking part in the teleport. The price can skyrocket quickly, which is why players tend to use the metro's in the cities or just get everywhere on foot.
Jay feels the sensation of being hurled across the game's world at incredible speeds and feels his feet start to emerge themselves into something solid. It seemed he was reaching his destination soon.
Helmet spawns from the teleport first, landing softly onto the ground and casually walking forward. Everyone else is merged close together, and they all awkwardly fall on top of each other in a jumbled mess.
"Get your crossbow off of my face!!" Axel shouts.
"Get your face off my crossy!" Kira responds.
Jay escapes the pile of players from the party and quickly shuffles his clothing to be straight. Axel, Ivy, Kira, and Dillan quickly stand up with him and ensure they have everything on them as usual.
"Jeez, where are we now?" Dillan asks Helmet, who was pacing ahead of the pack.
Helmet turns to Dillan the rest of the party in a confused expression, with his digital eyebrows raising and lowering at the same time.
"Did you forget this place already?" Helmet asks, pointing behind him.
Helmet was pointing at the arena that the Slayer's Pack arena explicitly made for the tryouts, and everyone was standing in the same clearing that the finish line for the race for a place was. Jay looks around to see the screens and speakers gone entirely, which confused him.
"What's going on? Why is everything gone?"
"Well, it's part of the reason we held the final section of the tryouts in the Decimation. Part of it was money and publicity, of course, but this arena caused more issues.—" Helmet says.
"—For starters, a group of moderators stated that this arena's right of construction was never passed through legitimate reasons, so we couldn't hold any public events here. The organization simply rented out the Decimation to avoid any controversy."
The Slayer's Tryouts this year were pretty offputting, which started when Stan gave Ivy, and her team in Oasis, passes for free. Part of it felt botched or last-minute, but it was probably because the Slayers never got permission to follow through with part of their tryouts for a little while.
"On another note," Axel says, "How much do you spend on teleports!? That was *easily* a grand you spent just now to put all of us here!!"
"Not my money," Helmet says, "There's a Slayer allowance for teleports, and since I'm on schedule, I can reap the benefits."
"Slayer allowance?" Kira asks.
"What, you think we're notorious because of our skill alone?" Helmet says, "A code you'll learn today, for all those joining the Slayer's ranks today..."
"Is the Slayer's Pack. Not the Guild itself, but the actual code we live by."
"And what's that?" Ivy asks Helmet.
"Ha, that'd be spoiling the surprise!" Helmet says, shrugging and then motioning everyone to follow him, "Ok, the initiation is taking place soon. We better hurry."
As Helmet finishes saying this, other players start to teleport in masses around the clearing. Stan is seen among the groups, walking calmly from many players sprawled on the ground in a pile. Stan wasn't the only one teleporting Prospects here. It seemed like the thirty Prospects that took place in the final section of the tryouts were here.
Although, Jay doesn't spot tide anywhere.
"Calling all Prospects who passed the final section of the tryouts! Please make your way to the front of the room once entering the hall!" Stan announces, "There's special seating for you all!"
The party hears Stan say this, and all turn to each other. Jay wasn't sure what to do are where to go. Axel puts his hand on Jay's shoulder.
"Guess we're gonna split up for now!!" Axel jokes, "I wonder if front seats are even a good thing..."
"You'd rather sit in the back?" Kira asks Axel.
"*YES*!!" He responds.
Jay watches as his friends make their way into the makeshift arena in the clearing, thinking about what this initiation would entail. After the party is lost in his vision, Jay starts to make his way into the building.
"Hey, sidekick!" A voice calls out.
Jay turns behind him to see a familiar pink figure rushing over to him. His shield was awkwardly moving left and right on his as he paced over to Jay. It was embroidered with many different gemstones and finishing touches, with a large center gem in the middle of it all. It was highlighted with silvers and golds.
"Don't call me that," Jay says to Blaze.
"My bad," Blaze says, scratching the back of his head, "Are your friends still here, or did they just ditch you?"
"Oh, well, they all had passed the tryouts, so they're in special seating in the building. One of the Guildmasters just talked with them." Jay explains.
"A Guildmaster?" Another voice next to Jay asks, freaking him out.
Jay and Blaze both flinch at the other person speaking to Jay but calm down after seeing who it was. They walk over to Jay and Blaze and inspect their weapons.
"Seeing your actual equipment compared to the Decimation's is a change of pace," Sandra says.
"I'll say, Blaze's shield looks even weirder with that large opal in it!" Jay teases.
"Shut up! Your sword is weird too!" Blaze responds, then turns to Sandra, "Hey, wait, where are your chain blades?"
"Like I said when I ran into you both," Sandra says, pulling two large disc-shaped objects from her back, "I use chakrams."
Sandra's chakrams are shaped like throwing disks, with a large hole in the middle of their metal framing, like a donut. Thorn-shaped blades poke out of the circular weapons, creating a deadly throwing weapon.
"Right... But what if you miss your target? You gotta go run and pick it up?"
"Watch this," Sandra says, throwing one of her chakrams in the air away from the group.
It speeds towards the Wilds nearby at a fast speed, but then its momentum slows to a halt, and it floats in place. Then, it rebounds like a boomerang back to Sandra's hand.
"With my air Aspect, I can simply call them back to me," Sandra says, tossing her chakram up and down in a fidget motion.
"That's pretty cool! I've never seen someone use chakrams or throwing knives like that." Jay says,
"What can I say?" Sandra says, posing a little bit in pride, "I guess I'm just better than everyone else..."
'Ok, princess, you can chill out!' Blaze thinks.
Jay, Blaze, and Sandra all start walking to the arena in front of them. It was a different sight than when they had seen it before or even took their exam in the second section. There wasn't any life to it anymore. The entire time Jay and the others made their way to the front entrance, there was a feeling surrounding them. In fact, it had been with them after the fight before they met up again.
They all lost in the worst way possible. It wasn't great to think about, but Jay was trying to put it past him. He needed to be excited for his friends and how they achieved what he was fighting for.
"Do you think there's a twist to it all?" Jay asks Blaze and Sandra.
"Huh?" Blaze says.
"What do you mean?" Sandra asks.
"I mean, why go to the trouble to have three Guildmasters overlook the matches if the winners were the only ones who would be granted access to the Guild?" Jay explains.
"Maybe they get to choose who they want in their respective clans?" Sandra theorizes, "It would make sense."
"Yeah, I guess..." Jay says, looking ahead of him.
After passing through the entrance of the arena, it was evident that things were changed significantly. After entering, the large open area that the test was taken place in was shrunk down, and a ceiling was added. It created a decently sized hall, with seating for thirty players exact and higher-up seating facing the prospects.
Jay sees his friends up in the front, talking amongst each other, and he walks close by and takes a seat. Blaze and Sandra sit next to him as more and more Prospects flood into the room.
"This place looks completely different," Jay whispers.
"Yeah, it almost feels like I'm going to church!" Blaze whispers back.
The atmosphere wasn't precisely how Blaze described it, but Jay nodded his head in agreement. Sandra folds her arms in boredom as the group waits for someone to explain why they were here.
"I still don't understand why we're here at all." Sandra says, closing her eyes as she spoke in anger, "If we see that player that beat us, "I'm going to lose it!"
"I'll be mad too, but let's try to keep everything together. Good PR is good if we want to retake these tryouts next year!" Jay explains.
For a second, Sandra looks at the floor with absolutely nothing in her eyes. They were lifeless, even, with a cold stare that Jay couldn't interpret.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Slayer initiations," Corvus says to the players present.
Jay and everyone else in the room look up to Corvus as he addresses them. This was the Guildmaster of the Ravens but also was the Captain of the entire Guild. He was the CEO of the whole Slayer organization and one of the strongest players in the world.
"Thank you to all that have made it this far. I appreciate your commitment to the Slayers around the world." Corvus explains, "I will now give a run-down of what will be taking place here today.—"
"I have here beside me the three Guildmaster you all got to see before you entered the Decimation. Helmet of the Wolves, who gave an opening speech before the third section of the tryouts took place. Crash of the Sharks, who is a master hunter and one of my closest friends. And finally, Rayna of the Pythons, who is a master Blacksmith and supplies weapons for Slayers." Corvus says, introducing the Guildmasters he brought along for today.
Some players quietly whispered around, and as Corvus mentioned Rayna and her role.
"I heard the Pythons only have around seven members in the entire Guild! How pathetic!"
"The Pythons... they're like the worst Guild in the entire clan!"
"She looks so tired, but maybe she'll make me a good weapon!"
Jay looks around to see some player bad-mouth Rayna and the Slayers in general. Helmet overhears the commotion as well but stays silent.
"silence," Corvus says, pointing to his right side, "Or you will be kicked out promptly by my friend over there.
Jay looks to where Corvus is pointing to see Stan leaning up against a nearby wall, shuffling his cards as silently as possible. He smiles and waves to the prospects. Corvus lowers their hand and faces the players who had won their matches. This included Ivy, Axel, Dillan, Kira, and the nameless player who killed Jay, Blaze, and Sandra.
"For those who won their matches, congratulations on making it over the final hurdle. You all will undergo the Slayer initiation." Corvus says, looking at Helmet afterward.
"Well, some of you." Helmet speaks up, "There's another layer to this entire thing we haven't elaborated on yet."
Everyone starts conversing with each other after Helmet says this. What he meant was up in the air, and Jay was entirely misled. Blaze and Sandra turn to each other and shrug, not knowing what is going on.
"Helmet, Crash, and Rayna are here to choose players that won their matches and add them to their respective clans. However, they also aided in the judging process of this entire event." Corvus says, "The race, the test, and even your overall performance in your skirmish matches.—"
"—Those with high scores, or those who a Guildmaster sees fit in their clan, can still become Slayers. sequentially, those who have won their matchup but ranked low in all three sections can be stripped of their immunity and can be denied for Slayer privileges." Corvus finishes, staring at the player who won the third match.
They shuffle awkwardly in their seat as Corvus stars them down. Meanwhile, Jay's heart pounded in his chest. He still had a chance to become a Slayer.
"I open the floor to the Guildmasters, who will grade everyone in the room to determine each prospect's final scores," Corvus says, outstretching his arms.