From the bottom of my heart, thank you to my p4tr0ns: Morpheaus, and RTB <3 <3 <3
Become a p4tr0n too and read up to FOUR chapters ahead!:
h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / t r a s h w i t h g l a s s e s
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The week flew by, and before I knew it, it was the feared battle royale.
I dreaded that day so much, that my fear seemed to bent time itself, for I couldn't record a single thing that happened during the previous days, but right then and there I was, standing in a line before the muscular woman with long black and wild hair, our teacher, while she was explaining how that lesson of Applied Magic would work: "As required by Council Member Tanka, this class will test your skills on the battlefield. You will all be allocated to the forest that border the Bear Mountain, and will stay there until there's only 10 of you remaining, and I give the signal!", she explained, then raising a hand upward, and shooting a fireball that flew four meters upwards, and exploded producing much yellow light. "You will be eliminated if you get hit by a water ball. Any other type of attack is strictly forbidden, and totally pointless! And don't even think about trying to cheat in any creative way I know you're coming up with right now, for I'll be scouring the entire forest, and I WILL find out if you break any of these rules. Any doubts?!"
No one produced a sound, or stepped ahead.
"Very well", the teacher snaped her fingers, and then, as suddenly as when I first tried to enter the bear mountain, I found myself in the middle of the forest.
"Ugh…!", I crouched down, disoriented and nauseous.
Soon, however, I was back on my feet, and looked all around me: there was no one, but I knew very well that that forest was filled with at least some fifty shaman apprentices ready to fight. Actually, I was quite sure I was already listening to some duels happening around me.
Then I smiled.
"Yes…!", I whispered to myself, shaking with excitement.
After all, from the rules explained by the teacher, we didn't need to fight, only to be between the last 10 remaining students! From that moment on, my strategy was decided: I'd hide myself somewhere, and wait for the signal.
That shouldn't be too hard, for the shadows were already long, and the sun was setting; the teacher spent most of the day making sure we knew very well how to use the offensive and defensive spells she taught us; it was weird to learn the water ball spell, to "close your eyes and imagine a water ball, and then to pull it down from your mind", almost wrong, but it worked anyway.
"Here, this place should be good enough" I approached a tall tree with many branches and leaves, and started to climb it.
Noises in the air, and vibrations in the ground allowed me to avoid everyone while I moved through the forest, but once I climbed the good enough tree, I should have an easy time for the rest of the night.
"Wow…" I whispered to myself from my hidden nest of leaves and branches, watching some of the fights that were happening all around the forest.
Stone walls and water balls were flung here and there, and sometimes some other type of spell too, but surely the teacher would punish those rule breakers later. Students hit by the water balls simply stopped fighting, sometimes sighing, sometimes cursing, and walk to the edge of the forest with their arms raised.
I had to admit it, even if it wasn't really my thing, I could totally see why some people liked violence. There was some kind of primordial appeal to it.
Then, when the shadows had all fused in a single mantle of darkness, and the only light was that from the stars and the moon above, or from shy fires conjured by the few remaining students that hesitantly hunted down one another:
"BOOM!", a red fireball exploded above the canopies of the forest.
"Yes!", even though I did nothing but stand still, hidden away, my heart was racing that my strategy actually worked. "But… Wait a minute. Wasn't the light from the fireball that the teacher exploded yellow?"
"Yes, it was yellow" I heard the most dreadful voice behind me. "We found him, my underlings. I knew it, the coward was hiding away all this time… Let's show him what we do to cowards."
It was Ursus and his three goons.
I didn't have time to say a word before the giant Trunk kicked me in the chest, bringing me down; I slid for a couple of meters on the damp and leaf-covered ground of the forest. I ended up right beneath the ugly girl who called me a slave, and she didn't hesitate to kick me in the face.
"Ouch! Stop it!", I curled down, "T-This is against the rules!"
"The rules, he says", Ursus smiled, stepping on my face. "Don't you realize it? It's impossible to keep an eye out for everyone here, and keep counting the eliminated students", putting a hand on my thigh and another on my lips, he continued: "No one's coming to help you."
Scarred, I swatted those hands away, already heavy breathing from fear and anxiety. Ursus didn't seem any happier after that.
"Show this weakling a lesson, my underlings. Rough him up."
"Huff…! Sorry, huff…! Boy", said the sweating girl from her brother's shoulders, as he started to pull back a kick.
"I'm not sorry at all! Fucking slaves deserve beatings! That's only natural!", the ugly girl was already stomping my body, arms and legs, remorseless.
The following was a section of pain treatment that I hadn't felt since my encounter with that Sumixam beast that split me in half.
*
"Yeah, yeah, I'm out, but only because I wanted to", I explained myself to the angry-looking teacher, playing with one of the many priceless piercings on my scalp. "You know, to have a bath already, and eat something. No point in wasting my energy with such a pointless activity…", fuck, she was clearly strong, but she didn't seem to get it for some reason. I didn't want that to turn out like that time in the alleyway, so I started to ask for forgiveness: "Sor-"
"You're right. It's pointless this early in your training", Gaillardia, the muscular teacher spoke, turning her piercing gaze away from me and right to the forest.
I knew it! Strong people understood one another.
…Still, I didn't want to follow her gaze.
"Hey… Did that guy got eliminated yet? You know, the Coyote one, the seed in a sand desert", I asked something I knew I'd regret.
"…No."
"I see", I lit a cigarette with a heating stone I bought, and started to walk away from the night training grounds of the forest border. Once I was far enough to not be heard, I looked over my shoulder, to the testing ground, and said: "For how long will you manage to stay good? Everyone has a breaking point, no matter if they pretend otherwise."