All of us had just entered the Gate and light flashed in front of our eyes. The world turned white for a moment, before turning into a sparse forest. Green trees were spread around us, not very dense but enough to provide cover for people. The terrain seemed to be designed by keeping more aggressive people in mind. I looked around us to find Sirius and Nora, but they were nowhere to be seen.

 

‘Is everyone separated?’ I thought.

 

I pulled my spear off my back and clenched it in my hands before I heard the professor’s voice.

 

“There are no restrictions in this trial. You can take any approach you want and as deadly you’d like. Your life isn’t in any danger even if you’re killed inside the Gate, but you wouldn’t want to experience your own death now, would you? So, think of it as a real life battle and adjust accordingly. If you need a weapon, then just say the name of the weapon you’d like and it will appear in front of you. There are no limits to how many weapons you can call. Keep one thing in mind, you can withdraw anytime you want by willing it and there will be no point deductions for that. If you die, though, you’ll lose quite a bit of points. We raise prominent figures in this academy, not fools looking for death. This trial is not a battle to find the most powerful, it is a battle for survival. Get to the middle of the forest and collect the Badge of Honour, and you shall receive a reward from the academy. Get ready. May the eyes of Stars and Heavens be on you.”

 

As soon as the professor’s words ended, the ground shook and the forest around me rumbled loudly. A little in the distance, I noticed a small hill emerging from the ground, on top of which a small slab of stone was kept. That was our destination.

 

I looked around to see if anyone had ended up near me but I failed to find anyone. So I started walking towards the hill. Even if I were to run with full strength, it would take me a couple of hours to reach the base of the hill. If everyone was transported the same distance away, then it would be extremely stupid to just run towards the hill. And so I walked with fast steps, trying to conserve my stamina as much as I could. I was using trace amounts of mana on my legs to strengthen them while also optimising for stamina control. 

 

I had walked for quite a while when I heard the sound of weapons clashing. I slowed down my pace and softened my steps so as not to make any noise. I followed the direction of the noise and stealthily approached the source. Upon reaching close, I noticed three people in a small clearing. Two of them had partnered up and were fighting the single one. 

 

Two different parties? They must have come from different directions.

 

I needed them alive for my purpose.

 

I blitzed in while increasing the quantity of mana around me. My steps had become fast and my eyes focused as I approached the back of the two men party. 

 

“Blade.” I spoke softly and a blade appeared in front of me. While running, I caught it in my right hand and put my right leg forward. I pivoted on my right leg as I twisted my body in a spiral motion and threw the blade coated with mana at one of the people in front of me. The blade ripped apart the air in the way as it made a screeching noise as if angry at the poor human’s impertinence. And the poor human noticed a bit too late.

 

“Shit! Dodg-” His partner had just turned around to see where the threatening noise was coming from when his heart stopped. Before he could finish his words, the blade had already stabbed the head of his friend and lifted his entire body up like a ragdoll. The blade, which carried a corpse, travelled further before it struck a tree and stopped. The impact of the blade hitting the tree had created a small quake in the area and the tree had almost been ripped apart by the force. 

 

The body of the poor human was still hung on the tree when it started shining softly. The corpse turned into small orbs of light and dispersed, leaving behind a bloody blade stuck to the ravaged tree. While the two boys who were still alive were looking at the horrifying scene, I was still running towards the person close to me. The corpse’s partner. 

 

He belatedly noticed when I had reached close to him and swung my spear horizontally at his legs. His body flung in the air for a moment before I elbowed his abdomen in the mid air to throw him on the ground.

 

“Staff.” I spoke and a wooden staff appeared in front of me. I held it tightly in my hand as I stepped on the boy’s shoulder to crush it. 

 

AAAAHHHHH!

 

I rammed the wooden staff into his mouth tightly which incidentally also shut his scream up. 

 

The third person had started to run away at his point. I held my spear tightly as I pivoted on my foot to throw the mana-clad spear. It reached the running person within a couple of moments and sliced his leg apart cleanly. Another scream entered my ears but it just felt nostalgic at this point. 

 

I started walking towards the third person that had been hit by my spear. He was backing away slowly while trying to regain his composure. His sliced up leg was leaving behind a trail of blood that shadowed the boy closely. 

 

“I- I withdra-'' The boy had just started speaking when I interrupted him.

 

“You complete that word and trust me, every single day in the academy will be like today for you.”

 

“What do you want?!” The boy screamed at me in pain and anger.

 

I walked up to his crawling, crippled body and lifted him up to bring him towards the other person who I had kept alive.

 

“I’ll ask some questions to both of you. And I want answers that I would find pleasant to hear. If I don’t like the answers you give me, I’ll kill you and you can say goodbye to your points. If I do like the answers, however, I would allow you to withdraw. Now, do you both understand?” I said as I pulled out the wooden staff from the mouth of the first person. His eyes showed anger while his face was painted with agony. 

 

“You- Do you know who I am?!” He said, as soon as I pulled out the staff.

 

I walked to the other side and lifted my leg upwards. With mana swirling around and an inhumane amount of force, I brought it down towards his only working shoulder.

 

Crunch.

 

“AAAAHHHHH”  Another harrowing scream simply dissolved in the surrounding forest. I picked up the wooden staff and jammed it in his mouth again.

 

“I’ll talk to you later.” I said while looking at the boy crying over his crushed shoulder. The other person had slowly started trembling while looking at me. I realized that I had overdone the violence in my excitement. I sighed while shaking my head and asked the other person.

 

“Shall we start?”

 

---

 

 

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