Castle Battleground

As Wei climbed the stone stairs from the cavern back into the light of day, he was momentarily blinded by the brightness of the forest clearing. His eyes adjusted quickly, however, and he soon found himself in a small grove surrounded by thick, dense foliage.

The main path on which his classmates had been running was not visible, and instead a narrow dirt path lead out of the clearing into the forest. Hesitantly, Wei looked around for the vicious flying beasts, but he found this place to be quiet and peaceful.

He followed the winding path for a few moments before it turned left, and then as he rounded the thick forest trees he found another set of steps leading up. These steps were wide and long, and they lead up to the side of the very castle he had seen in the distance.

”That’s strange,” Wei thought, “Before, the castle seemed very far away. Even if we ran another ten minutes straight without breaking, we wouldn’t have reached it. But now, I’m already here.”

He mounted up the stairs and found that he was actually on the East side of the square Castle. There were two small doors leading inside, one on the left and one on the right.

”Since I came from the south, its probably better to pick the left door this time. Everyone always picks the right door, but in this case, it could be dangerous. If I go in through the left, that will put be closer to where my friends come from.”

With that thought in mind, Wei approached the door on the left and entered inside.

The interior of the castle was quite simple. It comprised a single large pavilion about the size of half a sporting field. It was square, and the ceiling was three stories tall. In both the south and the north, the majority of the wall was open to the forest beyond. On the west and east sides, a massive stone statue rose like guardian towering above, 25 feet tall and with imposing eyes gazing down on the center of the pavilion.

Wei was the first to arrive. He crossed over to the southern threshold and looked down the stone stairs towards the forest road. In the distance, about a single sporting field away, Wei could see the last of his classmates still running for their lives from the remaining flying beasts.

As he looked out, he wished he could do something to help them. In that moment, however, the vicious beasts cawed and, as if they caught sight of him, turned and flew away.

”What? They flew away because of me? Maybe once the first person makes it to the castle, all of the beasts give up?”

Wei’s classmates were growing closer now, and in a few moments time they finally made it to the bottom of the stairs beneath the castle.

There were only a handful left who hadn’t fallen in the forest. Wei quickly took count of them as they mounted up the stairs.

Four boys and two girls, plus Wei. That made 7 out of the original 25 students in their class who survived.

”Hey, how did you get here so fast?” The first boy to make it up the stairs was a cruel and handsome young boy named Victor Schmidt, who all the girls had crushes on, but who in secret could be extremely vicious and ruthless, even towards his friends.

It was a well known rumor that he had been the first boy in their class to get a kiss, and that after kissing one girl, he immediately broke up with her and kissed a second! This made all of the other boys in their class, all of whom had still not even kissed a girl once, seethe with jealousy.

But there was nothing they could do. He was popular, charming, handsome, and what was more, his parents were well off, at least compared to other kids in their class.

Even though he had already broken one girls heart, there were still more lining up to be ruthlessly heartbroken by him in the future.

”I’m not sure. I fell down a hole and when I climbed out, I was already outside,” Wei responded. He didn’t mention the spark or the jade slip. It was likely that Victor would betray him the first chance he got. ”We should go inside and see what’s next. I have a feeling we are going to meet the other class soon.”

Sure enough, almost as soon as they had entered into the castle from the southern entrance, a panting young boy barged in through the north, followed by a second and then a third. Their group also ended up with two girls coming in last, but altogether they had only 5 still remaining, to Wei’s 7. If it came to a fight, their chances were already looking good.

”Do you think we have to fight them?” Wei asked.

”Hm, there are some weapons there,” a young girl named Emily spoke timidly, pointing to racks of weapons that lined the western wall. There were swords, spears, javelins, even wooden shields, sabers, one handed axes, and two handed great swords.

”Haha, first one to get a weapon wins!” Victor shouted out. He instantly realized if he could grab a sword before the children of the other class, he could kill them ruthlessly and maybe even pass the selection test.

Several of the other boys immediately followed, trying to catch up to Victor so they could stay alive.

”We really have to kill them?” Emily hadn’t moved from where she stood, and Wei turned to look at her. “I-I don’t think I can.” She was shaking from head to toe, clearly terrified.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Before Wei could say anything to her, however, a burning deep red fire lit within the eyes of the towering statue on the eastern wall, and the next moment two massive burning beams of laser struck down and scorched Emily where she stood. Her body fell to the ground, charred beyond recognition, dead.

Wei stumbled backwards, horrified.

“Hahaha, it’s only a game! Come on, Miss Rodriguez told us we just go back once we die, it’s not like it matters!” With a shout, Victor had already grabbed a sword off the rack and was rushing towards the northern side of the pavilion.

Even as the boys from the other class made it to the weapon rack, it was already too late. Victor’s sword slashed down. However, even though he was ruthless, he was still just an untrained 12 year old. His cut didn’t go deep, but it was enough to knock the other boy from his feet and cause blood to pour out upon the floor.

The other boy looked up at Victor, terror in his eyes, but a moment later the two beams of laser light once again struck out, burning him to death immediately.

”So it’s like that!” Victor shouted, pouncing forward towards the next opponent.

Wei looked on. He hadn’t yet moved towards the weapons rack. He was a bit worried that the statue would kill him without warning if he didn’t move, but so far it had only attacked those who either gave up or were defeated. Looking at the weapons rack, he remembered the Basic Hand-to-Hand training slip he had received earlier.

“They gave everyone else weapons, but they gave me a fighting style. If this is a test, they must want me to use the fighting technique they gave me, so I won't choose a weapon at all. As long as I can dodge my opponents' attacks, if I can at least hit them once or twice, that will probably be enough for the test to eliminate them,” Wei thought to himself as he watched the melee.

Just then an ugly boy who was slighter taller than Victor rushed forth with a spear in his hand and managed to impale one of the boys on the other side. Victor snarled, and before the laser light had even finished off the opponent, he raised his sword and struck out at their classmates back.

The tall ugly boy turned and had just a moment to look at Victor from beyond, the pain of betrayal written upon his features. The next moment his body was lit ablaze, however, and he fell to the ground along with the one he had impaled.

Two girls were facing off against each other on the side. They had managed to find rather lightweight weapons, which they seemed just barely able to lift. The girl from Wei’s class had picked a slender rapier which curved slightly. The girl across from her had picked a short sword, which was straight but a little bit too thick. In the end, she wasn’t strong enough to swing it quickly, and the girl from Wei’s class slashed her across the throat with her rapier.

Victor turned towards her, a look of bloodthird in his eye. They were the last three left. All of the opponents from the other class had been defeated.

”Heh,” Victor laughed as he looked at her, “Hey, if you give me a kiss, I’ll let you kill me and then you can win!”

The girl gave a sound of disgust, and yelled out “Dream on!” And then launched into her attack. Before Wei could move she had already charged out towards Victor. Victor lifted his longsword and as the girl charged at him cut down as if he was holding a balling bat.

The girl brought her rapier over to parry, surprisingly deft with the weapon she had just found, but she wasn’t nearly strong enough to stop Victor’s attack. With her momentum from the charge, the rapier was knocked away easily and the longsword slashed at her ribcage, knocking her down.

”Go to hell, Victor!” She yelled just before the blazing light enveloped her body and sent her back to the normal world.

Wei stood across from Victor, studying him. Victor really was ruthless, and he was holding a large, three and half foot long sword in his hands.

”Hahaha, I never thought I would actually pass the selection test! Wei, you coward, you haven’t even moved from where you stood. I’m surprised the statue didn’t just kill you already. Did you pee your pants, or what?”

Victor began to walk towards Wei slowly, obviously intending to land the finishing blow, eliminating both friend and foe alike so he could stand on their dead bodies and reap eternal rewards.

Anger flushed through Wei’s cheeks as he heard Victor’s taunt, and suddenly it was like the power of the spark flooded through his body once more. The images of the 1,000 kicks and punches once again came to his consciousness, and his eyes narrowed.

”Well, what, are you even going to try and get a weapon, or are you just going to stand there and let me cut you down?” Victor continued to taunt him as he closed the distance between the two.

From the corner of Wei’s vision, he saw a glimmer of fire swirling in the massive statues eyes.

”For all the classmates you betrayed, I will never let that happen!” Wei shouted out, taking Victor by surprise. Then he immediately sprang towards Victor, bringing his fists up in front of him.

”Oh!” Victor’s eyes widened, but then he gave a snort, “With what weapon?” He shouted.

Just as he had with the girl, Victor brought his sword up and swung it like a balling bat, putting all of his momentum behind it.

However, just as the sword cut down, Wei’s feet launched him backwards a single step. The sword, heavy with momentum and 100% of Victor’s strength, continued on through the air. Victor didn’t have the strength or time to stop it.

Wei dashed forward in the opening, and then with a pivot on his left foot brought his right foot around through the air in a circle kick. Victor’s eyes could only widen further as he watched Wei’s foot connect with his face.

His grip on his sword broke, and the longsword went flying, dropping to the ground and bouncing far out of reach. Victor hit the ground next, landing on his back. Blood dripped down from his nose where Wei had stuck him.

He crawled backwards, propping himself up on his hands as Wei stood over him, peering down.

”Get up,” Wei said.

Victor glanced at the sword on the ground, and then at the weapons on the rack. They were both too far away. If this fight was going to continue, he could only use his fists.

Just then, the fires began to swirl in the statue's eyes, but suddenly Wei surprised himself.

”No!” He said, turning to stare at the statue. Was he challenging the God’s? Then he immediately turned to look at Victor again. “I said, get up!”

Victor scowled and with the back of his sleeve wiped the blood from his face. Then he struggled to his feet, and without another word launched forward into another attack. With only his hands, all he could do was wind back a punch with his right fist.

”Too slow!” Wei shouted. As Victor’s punch came, he instinctively threw a left block with his left forearm, knocking the punch out of the way. Victor was wide open. Before he could even catch a breath, Wei’s right punch came in quick succession.

The punch slammed into Victor’s already broken nose, blood gushing more profusely now. Victor struggled back a step, but before he went any further Wei’s next attack was already lined up.

Left kick!

Wei’s left leg swung around and slammed into Victor’s ribcage. He had already been off balance from having his first punch deflected by Wei’s block, and so his right arm had been flung into the air far to high to guard his ribcage from the kick.

”This is for the girls you hurt, and the boys you stabbed in the back!” Wei shouted out, and then, even as Victor’s knees hit the ground, Wei threw out a right roundhouse kick.

His foot smashed into Victor’s face hard. The bones in Victor’s face broke as he was flung on the ground unconscious.

Looking down at Victor’s unconscious body, he then turned to looked up at the statue, burning eyes swirling. He didn’t know why, but in that moment he stood, brought his hands together before him, right hand a fist, left hand an open palm, and bowed.

”Thank you, Masters, for allowing me to finish him myself.”

There was a pause, and then the laser light leapt out and devoured Victor’s unconscious body.