Emil

There goes my plan to avoid the initial chaos.

Emil smiled uneasily at his predicament. There were three contestants in his direct vicinity, each one of them positioned in a troublesome spot. With the sandy terrain slowing him down, breaking through was going to be a difficult task. Meanwhile, he was at the bottom of the sand dune, out in the open, without any cover against his opponents’ attacks.

The situation was exacerbated by the fact that all of three of their bloodthirsty eyes were only directed at him.

So much for a battle royale. This is more like a planned ambush.

He shot a quick glance behind him, hoping for a path to retreat, until he realized that he was at the edge of the stage. Going out of bounds would immediately get him disqualified. In other words, he had no choice but to fight his way out.

Amazing.

Accepting his bitter reality, Emil noted his opponents’ positions. The male student with the Gift that shot acid was camped out in a trench to the left about fifty meters away. Another male student was situated on top of the sand dune, staring down at him with a condescending expression. Finally, there was a girl to his right, observing from the top of a sloped ridge that led to the apex of the sand dune.

Who do I take out first?

“Oh! The Goddess smiles upon me!” A shrill voice suddenly echoed across the area before Emil could arrive at a decision. He glanced up, realizing the student atop of the sand dune was orating.

“Emil Milligan! The dastardly delinquent that seized the heart of the beautiful Anna Seibert and the eyes of the distinguished Ice Maiden! What great pleasure it is to be able to test my meddle against such a foe!”

…Um, what the fuck? Emil shuddered with discomfort. The hairs on his arms shot up as if crawlies had slithered up the length of his back. Slightly disgusted, he grimaced at the male student.

“I didn’t realize I had a secret admirer!” he yelled back.

“Oh, what feisty words! A clever retort despite your lowborn status! How marvelous!”

The student clapped his hands in feigned admiration. His shrill, flamboyant voice suddenly lowered to a threatening cadence, dripping with obvious distain.

“Nevertheless, a lower born remains a lower born even if adorned in gold. And it is my job to make sure that they know their place in this world.”

I see, so he’s a snotty noble. The contemptuous glare in the noble student’s eyes turned malicious.

“And therefore, I, Louis von Langford, will bestow you the honor of being my first prey!” he proclaimed. With an over-the-top gesture, Louis opened his arms and snapped his fingers.

A flash of azure immediately surged in Emil’s periphery. A pocket of air beside his right ear suddenly began vibrating with a violent cadence. Alarmed, Emil tossed his head back.

Boom!

The air spontaneously ignited. The thunderous cackle screeched in his ears. Emil winced, recoiling from the stabbing pain. The blast of heat seared the side of his neck. His skull rattled. The concussive explosion nearly knocked him to his feet. His ears shrieked with a high-pitch ring.

Is he detonating the air?!

Another snap resounded. Emil narrowed his eyes, focusing his shaky vision to focus. This time he found an agglomeration of mana gathering directly in front of him.

He leaned back and tapped his chest. A plate of stone emerged over his torso right as another pocket of air detonated at the site of the concentrated mana. The shockwave rocked him onto his heels, but Emil managed to remain upright. Fragments stone fell as the hastily made chest plate crumbled from the explosion.

In the corner of his eyes, the male student by the trenches also began to move.

Emil pre-emptively stomped the ground. A stone wall shot up in the path of another acid blast. The surface of his wall, however, was too small to completely block against the attack.

Small bits of the acid landed on the side of his leg. Emil clenched his teeth, his leg immediately weak from the scalding pain. He glanced down, aghast. The caustic fluid already ate through a hole through his trousers, leaving behind a dark smear along his calves.

Shameless prick!

Encasing his hand in stone, he immediately wiped the remaining acid away. Another explosion from Louis forced him to jump back.

I have to make a move. Staying on the defensive does nothing to improve my situation.

The male student who conjured acid had already ducked his head beneath the trenches, concealing his position in case of a counterattack. The girl hadn’t made a move yet, seemingly content to observe for now. Louis was atop of the sand dune, readying his next attack.

His Gift is the most dangerous. His position is also the most advantageous.

It was an obvious decision.

Emil dug his foot into the sand and charged towards the sand dune. Explosions and acid were simultaneously flung in his direction. He twisted his body as heat grazed his hand and acid stained his shoulder.

Shit!

He should have been able to get out unscathed. The sandy terrain, however, dulled his speed significantly. Watching his careless advance, Louis let out a deranged cackle.

“Ahahaha! Good! Come to me, Emil! Face your demise!” Louis yelled with a wave of his hands.

Emil’s eyes went wide. He was at the foot of the sand dune when an array of a dozen trembling air pockets manifested above him.

“Bastion!”

He pulled back his arm, mana surging from the edge of his fingertips. A platform of stone suddenly rushed out laterally from the sand dune. There was a distinct pop. The ambient temperature jumped as the air pockets spontaneously combust.

Hastily made, the stone platform immediately shattered against the violent shockwave. Blasted into tiny grains, the fragmented crumbles began to fell. Shadows loomed over Emil as the remnants of the platform blotted out the sky.

For a moment, the line of sight between him and Louis was cut off.

Realizing he had an opportunity, Emil channeled mana into his soles. A stone column erupted at the bottom of his feet, propelling him skyward. Emil closed his eyes as he felt the stone shrapnel scratch his skin. With the descending stone fragments acting as a veil, he rapidly ascended the height of the sand dune uninterrupted.

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As the feeling of coarse fragments against his skin disappeared, he reopened his eyes. His stone column had carried him above the top of the sand dune. Louis was below him. A dumbfounded look was plastered on the noble’s face. His arrogant expression vanished, quickly transforming into rabid indignation.

“Blast!”

The air below him exploded. The stone projection propelling him upwards suddenly burst into pieces. Emil felt a momentary sense of weightlessness as he was separated from his foothold. With only empty air beneath his feet, gravity dragged him down.

He compressed his body into a ball while covering his exposed areas in stone armor. Heat engulfed his body as he descended. Another concussive blast had detonated to the left of his torso.

Thud!

He landed atop of the sand dune, launching a barrage of sand into the air. Louis was just inches away from him. The noble extended his hands—mana blooming at the edge of his palms. Emil dug his foot into the sand and kicked.

“Gahhh!”

Louis reeled from the wave of sand flung in his face. His explosive attack went wide, missing Emil completely. Momentarily blinded, he was unable to respond as Emil closed the gap.

Pop!

Mana buzzed as Emil slammed his knuckles together. Stone gauntlets morphed over his hands. Without mercy, he rammed his fist into Louis’s guts. The noble instantly folded from the vicious blow, gasping for air.

Another desperate explosion detonated directly in front of Emil. He barely managed to cover his body with his arms in time, clenching his teeth against the violent shockwave and surging heat.

Not bad.

The tenacity of the noble was admirable. Feeling petty from his earlier provocations, Emil grabbed Louis’s head and slammed his face into the earth. The student squirmed against the weight of his grip.

“Goodbye, Louis.”

Emil cocked back his fist and hammered down against Louis’s head. The resistance disappeared. Louis’s body went limp.

He should just be unconscious.

Slightly concerned by his own brutality, Emil pressed his fingers against the noble student’s neck. A raging, but steady pulse rippled against his skin.

Whew.

“What an insane reversal!” Melody’s voice suddenly echoed across the Nautilus. Emil flinched, knocked out of his fighting trance. Violent cheers of the crowd screeched in his ears.

“In the desert quadrant, Emil Milligan takes down Louis von Langford after being stuck in an impossible situation! Ladies and gentlemen, we already have the first elimination of the Clash of Dawn preliminaries! But it’s too early to celebrate! Emil is not out of danger just yet!”

The ominous warning from the excited announcer jolted him out of his confusion. Emil spun around. The girl who was standby at the right bank of the sand dune was suddenly charging straight at him. The soft sands masked her approach. She was just twenty meters away when he finally noticed her presence.

He clicked his tongue, cursing himself for letting his guard down. This was a battle royale—eliminating a single person didn’t mean he could rest.

Emil channeled mana to his feet. Stone protrusions suddenly erupted in front of him. Like a wall of spears, they rushed at his oncoming foe. The girl didn’t slow down, however. To his surprise, she lunged straight at the array of spears. Mana engulfed her body as the spears loomed close. Emil’s jaws dropped as the girl’s head morphed in a lion’s mane.

Another shapeshifter!

Bitter memories of his battle against the ogre flashed in his head momentarily. The girl completed her transformation, right as the stone protrusions made contact with her body. Covered in a translucent veil of mana, the stone spears shattered like brittle sticks as they smashed against her strengthened body.

The shapeshifter let out a deafening roar.

Emil winced, involuntarily taking a step back. He froze at the monstrous cry. Goosebumps shot up along the length of his back. He tried to maintain his composure, but the primal instincts engraved in his body shuddered at the sound of the massive predator. Towering over six feet on all fours, the girl had morphed into a terrifying lion.

The beast pounced. Emil instinctively raised his arms, still encased in stone. The claws of the predator bored into his gauntlets. He felt the integrity of the armor crack as the force of the lion’s front legs slammed against his elbows.

Paralysis jolted the length of his arms. Suddenly, they felt stiff, heavy, unresponsive to will. Strength slacked. Unable to mount a proper resistance, Emil’s legs buckled as the lion’s weight pressed down on his body. His back slammed against the harsh sand. The beast immediately swooped in.

Emil’s mind blanked. Time seemed to slow. The lion’s colossal figure loomed overhead—the heat from its bated breaths inched closer with very passing second. Its dark crimson eyes beamed with a bloodthirsty glint. Its razor-sharp claws flared, eager to break through the stone protections and tear into his flesh. Its jaws stretched wide and fangs bared, ready to gouge on his neck.

His heart screamed. He could already imagine the lion ripping him into pieces. He shrank, trembling—until a cold, callous voice boomed in his head.

What are you so afraid of?

It was the condescending sound of the witch’s voice. Fear turned into fury. Emil’s face instantly contorted as the thought thundered, silencing the terror that gripped his mind.

It’s just a big cat. His mind’s projection of the witch snorted. Was your resolve that weak?

“No!”

Indignant, Emil slammed his hands into the ground. The force propelled him upwards. Mana coalesced around his head, creating a makeshift helmet. He cocked back his head and swung it forward like a hammer.

Crunch!

A low guttural squeal escaped the lion’s jaws. Emil felt warm blood trickle down his head as his stone helmet cracked from the blunt impact. Still, despite the devastating blow, the lion’s momentum carried its body forward. Emil winced as its claws dragged a line through his shoulders.

“Ha!”

Stone columns rose from the earth. The lion, concussed from the earlier collision, was slow to react. The columns rammed into the beast’s side. Knocked airborne, the lion flopped onto its back with a loud thud as it crashed into the sand. Emil pressed his advantage. Stone projections immediately shackled the lion’s limbs, pinning the beast down. He rushed in, fists raised, ready to deliver the finishing blow.

The lion’s body suddenly shrank. Mana poured out of its vessel, shrouding its body in pale blue light. Rapidly, its mane and elongated jaws reverted back into the shape of a girl lying on her back. Her large, doe-like eyes trembled at the edges, staring at him in fear.

Emil froze. His rage vanished as if his head had been doused in frigid waters. The realization that he was fighting a shapeshifter and not a man-eating beast suddenly made him pause.

“Ngh!”

Searing pain suddenly exploded from his flank. His back was drenched in a burning fluid. He felt his skin bubble from the caustic sensation. Emil’s eyes watered from the agony. He glanced back. The male student who was camped out in the trenches appeared above the sand dunes.

Fucking vulture!

“Gotcha!”

A pair of hands suddenly wrapped around his neck in a chokehold. It was girl who had somehow broken free of her stone shackles.

Shit! I thought she was incapacitated!

Emil grabbed onto her arms, frantically trying to pry her ironclad grip apart. He cursed his naivety—reprimanding himself for holding back. The girl sneered at his desperation. Mana surged around her causing her limbs to suddenly expand with dense muscle mass. The strength of her grip suddenly increased exponentially.

Emil choked, gasping for air. His mind blurred. The girl continued to squeeze. The suffocating pressure on his windpipe steadily increased.

What the hell am I doing?

This was the Clash of Dawn. This was the stage dreamt of by every Exalted. It was the place where they could announce their names to the world. Elites across the kingdom were watching closely, giving their rare and undivided attention. For many, this event could change the entire trajectory of their lives.

Did I underestimate their resolve?

He didn’t want to admit it, but he couldn’t deny it. Petra was right. He was arrogant. He believed he was overwhelmingly superior thanks to his training under Steiger. He thought he could hold back, leveraging his combat experience alone.

Emil discarded his useless pride.

“H-Huh?!” the girl stammered as her arms were suddenly being forced apart. Emil’s hands glowed a brilliant blue. Mana from his Azurite pendant cackled as it coursed through his veins, supplying his muscles with an unnatural strength. The vice grip around his neck finally loosened. Air reached his screaming lungs.

He stomped the ground. A crevice opened beneath the girl’s right foot. Suddenly off-balance, she stumbled. With her lower body staggering in disarray, the strength in her arms slacked. Emil immediately seized the opening. He lashed out, delivering a vicious kick into the girl’s knees. Her legs instantly buckled. Still grabbing onto her arms, Emil dragged her body to the left.

“Argghhhh!” she screamed as she took a direct hit from a splash of acid. Emil used her as a shield against the oncoming attack from the male students still camping by the sidelines.

“You asshole! I’ll—”

He silenced her instantly with a blow to the forehead. The girl’s head dropped—unconscious. Emil let her down gently on the sand. When he looked back up, the male student was already running away in full sprint.

Emil frowned, rubbing his neck from the burns left by the girl’s chokehold. His face soon twisted into a savage grin.

You better get ready, you cowardly bastard.

He snapped his finger, creating a path of tiny stone protrusions along the ground that led towards the retreating male student. Using the protrusions as a foothold, he gave chase. Pain from the residual acidic sludge on his back continued to flare.

In exchange for this pain, I’m going to give your face a damn make-over.