Xander walked over to the large gathering of order members to find a shocking sight.
The old head priest he had given the jade slip to was fighting a barely winning battle against the last E-rank leader from the church.
[Human - E-rank - Half-step]
The only problem was they had come into this battle with two E-ranks, and one of them was currently fighting while the other was planted into the ground, held up by a longsword that was on fire, burning his corpse.
"Damn! That's an ugly sight!" Russel said, trying to be heard above the noise of the crowd.
Xander watched as the seemingly last member of the church here at the capital fought with his life on the line like a rabid animal backed into a corner.
"I'll kill you all!! You just wait!! I'll!!! Kill!!!! You all!!!!" the tall young E-rank with burning red hair yelled at the top of his lungs as he swung his sword at the old head priest.
With each sweep and each thrust, the old head priest was nearly burned to a crisp, his only lifeline a shroud of death qi surrounding his small body.
The young redhead, on the other hand, was being pushed back time and time again with some of the very moves Xander had just used.
'Necrotic Blast'
'Ethereal Dash'
'Soul Rend'
'Ethereal Dash'
'Phantom Air'
'Wraith's Touch'
Xander continued to watch the old head priest put on a master performance, pushing the young redhead back once again.
The fight was almost over, and Xander could feel the tension in the air; he could cut it with his spear that he still held tight for comfort.
He hoped with the end of this battle his trial would come to an end, and he would finally be free, at least a little while before being sent back into the tower with his real body, where he would have to learn to fend for himself, and his survival would once again be tested.
"Boom!!"
"Bang!!"
"Shing!!"
"Boom!!"
The attacks continued, and just as Xander thought the old head priest was about to win...
"Boom!!!!"
The young redhead, with his life on the line, tried something so stupid, so risky that it would either work and he would survive by the skin of his teeth, or he would kill himself in a terribly painful way.
"Ahhhh!!"
The old head priest cried out in pain as the redhead's attack cut off his dominant right arm.
"Dammit!!" the priest yelled.
'Dammit!' Xander thought, his dreams of passing going down the drain by the second.
"Boom!!!!"
The redhead attacked once again, this time taking the old priest's other arm.
"Ahhhhhhh!!!"
'I have to do something, or I'm going to fail! I'm going to die!!' Xander thought as he stepped up to do something equally as stupid, but this was his only shot.
He didn't know much about the trials, but this seemed like the end of his trial, and this fight would likely decide his fate.
So he charged the tip of his spear up with 'Wraith's Touch,' then created a massive spear in 'Grim Reaper's Spear,' reared back, and launched his spear with all the strength he could muster, and both spears were planted deep into the back of the young redhead.
"Ahhh!! You bastard!! You heathens have no honor disrupting our battle!!" the redhead yelled as he stumbled to the ground but still managed to turn his head toward Xander.
Xander looked right into the eyes of the redhead and, for the first time, noticed that where his pupils should be, a bright fire was burning white hot.
And then he felt it.
Xander looked down and saw his feet were starting to burn.
"Ahhhhhhh!!!"
Xander yelled as he fell to the ground, his feet turning to ash.
He hit the ground hard, his eyes blurry from the tears and dirt in his eyes.
The fire started to creep up his body, already up to his knees.
"Dammit!!!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!!"
Being burned to death was a terrible pain; it was not the way anyone, especially Xander, wanted to go out.
He knew his death was likely when he got selected to enter the tower, but this was not how he thought his last seconds would be—being burned to death by someone much, much, much stronger than him.
In a last act of defiance, the fire already burning past his belly button, Xander looked up at the redhead.
"Boom!!"
The redhead, who had only briefly turned his body toward Xander to kill him, was just now turning back around when the old head priest, who was also on his last legs, charged up a massive 'Death Spike.'
It was ten times the size of the ones Xander had created days before during his practice.
"Boom!!!!"
When it hit the ground, there was an explosion of dirt, fire, and body parts as both the old head priest and the church's young redhead died from the massive spike of death qi that the priest had exploded in an act of sacrifice to kill his hated enemy.
"F***!!! Why do I have to die like this? I F***ing passed!! All the enemies are dead!" Xander yelled in anger and pain as the fire was now up to his sternum, mere inches away from his heart.
Then, his vision went dark.
'This is it,' Xander thought.
[Congratulations!]
[You have passed the first trial!]