Chapter 295 – Opening Ceremony [2]
The first-year students found themselves in a pletely different place in the blink of an eye.
It was a wide-open field, the ground littered with rocks sharp enough to slice through skin if one wasn’t careful.
At the far end of the field, on the left side, sat a clear area with chairs set out. Some people were already seated, watching.
Cassandra was one of them. Along with three others, a man and two women. The man was painting on one of the women’s exposed breasts, while the other woman held his paint tool between her own.
But none of that registered with the first years. Their attention was fixed ahead, where the second-year students stood, their auras nothing like their own.
It was sharp, merciless and polished.
Copycat stood at the front, expression relaxed.
Teacher Jade and the second-year teacher — a short, bald woman with tattoos covering her face — approached each other and began whispering.
Cassius used the moment to study the other teams in his class, after a brief exchange of glances with Alexander.
He looked at Raven’s team, spotting the Prince himself, his sister Esmeray, Anesthesia, Sarah, Nourou, and surprisingly...Jeanne.
’Well, that’s actually not bad.’ He assessed, then turned to the second six-player team.
This one caught him off guard.
It was made up of his childhood friend Klaus, Keisha, and Natalia, along with Omm and Julaibib, and finally...
’...Love?’ Cassius thought at first he was seeing things.
But no. It was indeed Love, standing there, face twisted with anger, glaring toward Team Sky.
A team made up of Emrys, Theophane, Tiger Woods, Nafissatou, and the newly meek Jonathan.
’Oh my. Theophane cut Love loose? Why would she do that? Love is in love with Emrys, and she’d have been an asset.’
Cassius paused there, his attention flicking from Love to Klaus.
’Or...am I reading this wrong? Am I missing something? What in the Queen’s threaded name is going on between Klaus and Love?’
Because he knew Theophane wouldn’t discard Love without reason. And the idea that Emrys had been the one to cut her loose didn’t even cross his mind.
Emrys would never abandon a woman he considered his.
’Looking at the team, the only people there either dislike me or hate me outright. Everyone except Nafissatou, but only because they don’t know she and I have a relationship.’
So Theophane was building a team specifically around Emrys. A team designed to deal with him.
’Dangerous.’ He thought, his eyes hardening as he watched the teachers finish their conversation, ’Nafissatou needs to be careful, or Theophane will sense our connection through her Fate abilities and instincts.’
Only now did Cassius truly grasp that Theophane had already begun working against him. And in a way, she wasn’t even hiding it from him.
’It would be impolite not to return the favor.’ He thought finally, as Teacher Jade approached them.
"In 30 seconds, the first battle will appear on that screen." He said, pointing to a wide screen near where Cassandra sat, "There’s no time limit, but if we judge that a battle is being drawn out unnecessarily, we’ll intervene. Because of that, healing potions aren’t permitted. But if your Skills carry a healing aspect, you’re free to use them. Is that all understood?"
"YES!"
Just then, the screen flickered on, revealing the matchup for the first battle between the first and second years:
"First Game: Team Raven vs. Team Hunter."
Raven and his teammates looked at the screen, then turned to face the second-years.
They had no trouble locating their opponents.
The second-years were already staring back at them, wearing low, cruel, mocking smiles. Their team leader was a short man, extremely lithe, with blue lips.
The moment Raven and he made eye contact, the man drew a dagger and dragged his blue tongue along its edge, black eyes gleaming with hunger.
Raven watched him for a few breaths, then turned away, facing his teammates.
"Let’s go." He said flatly, and walked off.
Anesthesia and Sarah smiled, but the moment their eyes met, the smiles vanished, replaced with disdainful scowls.
Esmeray watched them both and chuckled, following her brother.
Nourou rubbed his enormous belly, licking his lips as he watched one of their opponents eating cake:
"...c-cake?" His eyes went blank, hunger flaring visibly around him, "...hungry."
"Both teams, take your positions, we start in 1 minute! Everyone else, clear the field!"
...
Raven stood in front of his teammates, the large translucent crystal behind him. He’d already tested its durability and knew anyone could destroy it.
Even someone without particularly great strength. That made it fairly fragile.
"We’re six, our opponents are six too." Raven said, "But we need someone to guard the crystal so the rest of us can go destroy theirs."
"How?" Esmeray asked.
"That’ll depend on the terrain we end up fighting on." Anesthesia replied, glancing at the empty rocky field, "The Teacher said the field will shift once the fight starts. It’d be unwise to plan around a location we haven’t even seen."
"But we also can’t just wait around." Sarah cut in, "If we wait for the field to change first, I doubt we’ll have time to put together a plan. We can’t assume the other team will give us that luxury."
Anesthesia said nothing to that, though she rolled her eyes at Sarah.
"Sarah’s right." Esmeray said.
Silence settled between them before the Prince broke it:
"Sarah, you don’t have much offensive power, but your ability could still be useful. I’ll stay here and guard the crystal." Raven said, looking at each of them, "As for destroying their crystal, we’ll figure that out as the battle unfolds."
"I can make that easier. My power lets me create resonance between people." Anesthesia said, "I’ll link us together so we can municate without needing to speak."
Raven smiled, "Perfect! Then—!"
DING! DING! DING!
Raven’s words cut off as finally...
"The First Team Battle may now begin!"
The air shimmered wildly, like disturbed water, and everything shifted around them.
Raven and his team found themselves in a vast, ruined city, crumbling walls stretching out, smoke and dust coating everything.
The smell of fire was so overwhelming it drowned out every other scent.
The first-years stood momentarily disoriented, their minds struggling to catch up with such a sudden shift in perception.
Raven immediately moved closer to the crystal, shouting, "Don’t cluster together, move—!"
"You really shouldn’t be shouting in a situation like this, dear Prince."
Raven’s head snapped upward, spotting the same man, Hunter, bursting through the cloud of smoke and dust, heading straight for him and the crystal.
Hunter pointed a finger at Raven, and three daggers materialized, launching straight at the Prince, the air whistling behind them, their tips slick with poison.
At the same time, all around them, the five other second-years appeared with terrifying efficiency.
Sarah was struck immediately with a flaming fist to her jaw, delivered by a snickering, mocking woman, cracking bone on impact. She flew backward like a thrown rock, sailing past the crystal and disappearing into the cloud of dust and smoke, her cries of pain echoing after her.
Raven saw it and moved to help her, but Hunter was already on the ground, locked in close bat with him.
Anesthesia blocked a strike from a hammer-wielding brawny man with her elbow, purple eyes flicking around as she realized all six second-years were here, present.
’They’ve abandoned their crystal entirely for full offense?’ Anesthesia thought, surprised, gritting her teeth as she twisted her elbow downward to throw off her opponent’s balance, then followed with her left leg straight into his temple.
Raven fought Hunter while shielding the crystal. With Sarah down at the very start, Esmeray struggled to hold off two opponents at once.
They realized then that while they’d been hesitating over strategy, the second-years hadn’t hesitated at all.
’Enhance me!’
Anesthesia paused as the words surfaced in her mind through their resonance. She traced the source while still fighting, realizing it came from Jeanne.
’Enhance my essence, now!’
Anesthesia had no room to hesitate at that point. She didn’t just enhance Jeanne’s essence, she extended it to everyone else on the team except Sarah.
The effect showed immediately, as she began to feel overwhelmed. But not her teammates.
Raven sighed wearily as a dagger grazed his cheek, leaving poison behind.
Since the fight began, he’d only used his First Skill, and even that, he was holding back on.
Not out of mercy, but because his Aspect was far too dangerous to use casually, even in a supposedly friendly battle.
’But I don’t have a choice.’
He decided finally.
Using his weapon, he blocked the ining poisoned daggers, but the motion left his left side exposed.
Hunter seized the opening instantly, closing in with a dagger already ready, and stabbed him clean through the left flank.
Raven grunted as pain exploded through his mind, staggering back two steps, vision swimming.
Hunter reached out with his other hand, aiming toward the crystal. Another dagger formed, ready to fire and shatter it.
But before it could, Raven gritted his teeth and grabbed the hand still lodged in his side.
"Second Skill." Raven growled, eyes blazing with intense essence, "Erosion."
Hunter’s eyes widened in shock as his hand began visibly eroding, skin blackening and rotting, crumbling away like sand.
"Wait—!"
Raven didn’t wait. His free hand backhanded Hunter’s face, sending his head spinning, feet stumbling backward.
Meanwhile, Jeanne hovered in the sky, black flame licking at her feet.
She scanned the area, searching for the enemy crystal, though the destroyed buildings made it nearly impossible to spot anything.
’Where is it?’ She frowned.
On the ground, the second-years began to panic. They launched ranged attacks at Jeanne, but Nourou blocked every one, his body now stripped of fat entirely.
He was lean now, dense with pact muscle.
He engaged two opponents in hand-to-hand bat, each strike so heavy it felt like being hit by a speeding truck.
He moved with incredible speed too, striking and retreating before they had any chance to counter.
Esmeray took on two of her own, laughing now, snapping her fingers repeatedly, detonating wandering souls around her against her opponents.
Explosions that tore straight through their souls, wearing them down steadily.
Anesthesia struggled to keep pace after burning through so much essence enchanting her teammates.
But she didn’t care. After all...
"Second Skill: Black Phoenix."
Jeanne’s voice rang out coldly, and in the air, a Black Phoenix materialized behind her.
She ordered it to locate the second-years’ crystal. The Black Phoenix flapped its wings once, then shot forward like a cannonball.
Hunter grew desperate. He looked to one of his teammates, the flaming woman who’d struck Sarah down, and shouted at her.
"Now! Do it now!" Then he lunged at Raven, dragging him away from the crystal.
The woman acted fast, and ruthlessly.
She opened her mouth wide, coughing something up from deep in her throat.
A small sphere, slick with saliva and other substances, appeared, glowing orange, burning hot.
She grabbed the sphere and hurled it toward the first-years’ crystal, shouting,
"Second Skill: Explo—"
"Not so fast!" Sarah, blood streaking her face, eyes bloodshot, shouted as she dragged herself in front of the crystal.
She caught the sphere before it reached its target, gritting her teeth as her flesh burned, spun, and hurled it back toward the flaming woman.
The woman’s eyes widened as her word finished instinctively.
"—de."
The sphere exploded right in her face. A horrific scream tore from her throat.
Hunter’s eyes went wide at the sight and sound of his rade. He snapped his head toward Sarah, swaying, clutching her burning hand in agony.
Hunter screamed and hurled two daggers at her, allowing Raven the opening he needed to gain the advantage.
The daggers struck her right eye and her shoulder. Sarah’s eyes went wide with horror before she collapsed, wailing as the pain overwhelmed her.
Raven lost himself at the sight.
He grabbed Hunter’s hand, the one that had thrown the daggers, and crushed it under his knee.
Hunter opened his mouth to scream, but Raven slapped his essence-coated palm over it.
Hunter’s black eyes widened, locking onto Raven’s crimson ones, burning with intense fury.
"You bastard—!"
"Third Skill: Life’s Kill."
Hunter’s heart skipped a beat as he felt his life...being extinguished.
’No...no...no!!!’
Esmeray, meanwhile, ran toward Sarah on the ground, leaving her own back exposed. Her remaining opponent seized her spear and hurled it at her.
Anesthesia screamed a warning through their link.
The Princess turned just in time, the spear an inch from her face; she ducked and dodged it, expression turning dead cold.
"Third Skill:" she ground out, still on the ground, pressing her palm against the earth, "Anguished Souls."
Dozens of souls surged up from the ground, screaming, rushing toward the man and swarming inside him. He began thrashing on the ground, rolling, clutching his head, forced to relive dozens of horrific deaths, over and over.
Esmeray ignored him and pushed toward Sarah, still twitching on the blood-soaked ground.
’How much longer, Jeanne! How much longer???’ Anesthesia shouted through the link, just as her shoulder dislocated under a hammer strike.
She cursed, mouth filling with blood.
Nourou coughed up blood too, a sword piercing his chest. He coughed harder still as another opponent slapped his left cheek with wind-coated force.
"That hurts, motherfucker." He growled, head foggy, and began, "Second Skill: Hunger—!"
’I found it!’
Just then, Jeanne’s Black Phoenix located the crystal and destroyed it with a single fiery screech.
DING! DING! DING!
—End of Chapter 295—
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