The next day when they woke up they did not go for a run after breakfast as they usually would.
The instructor immediately took them to yet another room that was connected to the training hall. This room was about as big as the mobility center. But unlike the mobility center this room seemed to be filled with a real life forest for about 3 quarters of the room. The ceiling was filled with a whole array of the complex magical webs.
“This is where you guys will fight each other. The magical web you see on the ceiling is also on the floor below the grass. Once you step into the forest the magical webs will substitute your body with a magical one however you wont be able to feel any difference and anything you feel will feel the exact same as it would to you in your normal body.” The instructor told them his words being received by the group with widespread amazement. “However when you die in the forest you will not actually die and be transported right back here to this area.” He continued pointing to the stone strip they where standing on.
“Therefor there is no need to hold back and you will be given actual weapons and will have to kill each other to win. Remember however holding back will not help you or your opponent! You have to get used to fighting you have to feel the fear the pressure and the excitement of a real fight.”
After his speech the instructor split them into teams of 4. Each of the kids would still be with his partner and they would be grouped with 2 others on the field. Greys group was split up as it would be deemed unfair if any of the four of them would be paired into one group. Grey and snowflake were grouped with 2 girls who could have been twins for all anyone knew. They both had slightly scaly skin and had green hair and light brown eyes. The two seemed to get along extremely well and had even taken names that resembled each other. One was called Fog the other was called Mist how they had reached these specific and peculiar names Grey did not ask. One of them wielded a longbow that she handled with extreme precision as people had already taken notice of in the training. Her sister had a short sword and a shield they already practiced working together and could coordinate their attacks extremely well it was almost as if one could read the others mind.
Grey's battle assessment of them was that they would be extremely useful in a fight and should keep working together the way they were used to. He and Snowflake however had never really worked together in training or in a fight before. Mostly this was because of the fact that Snowflake was always training with the elder when the rest had weapons training. While at the same time during their free time Grey was always at the forge.
The battle plan the 4 simulated was that Fog (the one with the sword and shield) would be the front guard while Snowflake would follow shortly behind, at the rear they would place Mist so she could target the enemies Snowflake would be in the middle because he should have some range with his choice of weapon. Grey would move on his own the Sisters had come with the idea that because Grey could move so silently that he should move alone and scout the area and also cover them while hiding his presence so they would have a slight advantage when they engaged any opponents.
Before they started however the instructor asked Tatt's to follow him and they walked to into the forest area. As soon as they entered and where about 20 meters in the instructor suddenly spinned around lightning fast and chopped Tatt's head of in one clean blow. The result was pretty gruesome as his blood started spurting everywhere and part of wat used to be Tatt's head was crushed and became some kind of pulp. Before people could react however there was a brief white flash and Tatt's appeared right in the midst of them like nothing had happened.
“I did this to prove that you would not die in there and i once more want to press into your hearts not to hold back! How do you feel?” He asked Tatt's who seemed a bit shocked but otherwise perfectly fine. “ I don't feel any different actually mostly surprised and a bit ashamed” he said frowning. “Dont be ashamed if you had managed to block the attack it would have been a miracle i havent told you guys this before but i am a gold 1 rank warrior.” This caused a bit of commotion in the group people knew that Gold was really high but they where unsure of how strong it really was. The little feat of strength the instructor had just showed them however told them that at the very least it was a lot stronger than they where.
They groups where then led into different parts of the forest one at a time and where told to wait at their spot until they could hear starting signal. When it was the turn for Grey's group they where led into the forest. It felt kind of strange feeling the grass under his feet and the smell of the plants, trees and dirt was completely unfamiliar. It smelled good to him however he quite liked the scent. They talked a bit amongst themselves before getting in position. Grey quickly did a little practice to see how his movements would be affected by the new enviroment. Although walking on the grass created slightly more ripples he doubted that anyone would be able to hear the noise he made. Especially considering how much sound there would be once everyone started moving and fighting.
He started twirling his Naginata around a bit exited about wat they where about to do. Then they heard the low song of wat was possibly a gong. The starting signal. Fog started to move forward carefully through the bushes making her way to nowhere in particular but trying to make sure they sighted the enemy before the enemy sighted them. Grey thought this wouldnt be a problem and increased his pace to a bit more of Fog's scouting the way ahead and using his ripplingsight to see ahead and check for movement after a while he saw small ripples coming along from a tree ahead of them. The ripples moved from one tree to another through the air and he could see no ripples from anywhere else. He slowed down a buck and walked back signaling mist to keep an eye on the trees and for the rest to hide in the bushes.
Those ripples in the trees he was pretty sure was Pebble doubted anyone else could move like that through the tree tops. It didn't take long for him to come into Mist's visual range but she just slowly drew an arrow and connected it to the bow-string waiting before pulling it back. She waited patiently while Pebble was getting closer. He could feel the tension rising with Fog and Snowflake. He himself could feel his hands trembling a bit in anticipation. Then suddenly in practiced smooth motion Mist drew the string to her cheek and fired the arrow exactly where Pebble's head would be when he landed. To their surprise however Pebble seemed to have spotted the movement because with an inhuman reflex he managed to twirl the arrow away from its deadly projectory. Causing the arrow to only nick the side of his jaw. He gave a cheeky grin to Mist before suddenly he stiffened and fell forward from the branch with a knife in his back.
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Grey looked around surprised to see that Snowflake had dashed forward and with an incredible show of skill had slung his knife around the tree using said tree to stop the slinging motion to make it whip itself back into the back of Pebble. Well so much for worrying about her fighting potential grey thought smirking to himself. Mist and Fog seemed surprised by his display of weapon proficiency. Snowflake quickly told him that the Elder had been teaching him to spread the innate magic the Aetlings had to their weapons. Alowing her to manipulate the steel. She said she could freeze the momentum of the knife when she whipped it to allow it to swing back with wat before would have been an impossible trajectory.
Since they had taken out Pebble the group he was scouting for came within his visual range soon. Maybe calling it his audio range would be more suitable but technicalities aside. They where close!
More importantly they had no idea what they where running into. Thus they set up an ambush waiting for them to get here. They had Mist set herself up in a nearby tree that granted her some good vision of the nearby area. As Pebble's group walked closer he could tell that there where 2 other groups at the edge of his range and that they where nearing on the group aswell although they might pass them by altogether.
He was not given any time to think about the other 2 groups however because Six and the other 2 that where part of Pebble's group had already walked into range for the ambush. Mist used her expert shooting to take out a beastman wielding a Greataxe in one arrow to his eye. He went down without any further ceremony and hit the floor dead. His partner just barely managed to dodge the knife that whipped towards him and rolled to his feet grabbing his spear in hand and getting into battle stance. Fog clashed against Six trying to overwhelm him with the element of surprise.
Six however reacted with no sign of emotion and calmly defended himself from the onslaught. The clear sounds of battle rang as steel clashed against steel. The 2 other groups where rushing to where they where at full speed and could be here at any minute. Grey gave the rest a warning shout telling them about the 2 other groups before he engaged the spear fighter. This guy seemed to be human as far as Grey could tell and he slashed his Naginata horizontally trying to cut the spear-wielder in the neck. The blond kid managed to block his slash rather expertly though and blocked the staffblade by hitting the wood below the blade with a twirl of his own. They soon engaged in a twirling exchange of blows.
Before one or another could land a blow however the roar of someone else reached their ear. It seemed one of the other groups had arrived. Almost immediately they clashed with the other group that arrived from the opposite direction wich turned the area they where in into a war zone. It soon became a mishmash of fighting the first to fall unfortunately was Fog. It seemed Six could wield his weapons with more expertise than people would have thought of him. With a cry she went down having an axe implanted into her chest.
The result was surprising however. Mist gave a little cry as expected and shot an arrow at Six. Six however seemed to have lost his shit. He went completely berserk and smashed his shield into the next closest fighter who was near him. It was as if the man had turned into a battering ram he crashed into the other fighter as if he was straw doll. The fighter was knocked back into one of his teammates. Six didnt hesitate at all and jumped forward swinging his axe with a bloody smile on face. He looked rather scary with that smile and the blood which had spread out over his face and clothes.
Grey didn't have the chance to give it any further attention however as the spear wielder made a stab at his face which he knocked aside returning a slash. Through sheer luck just at that moment another fighter stumbled into the spearwielder causing him to be knocked forward into his slash. The blow hit him right on the artery in his neck and the blood splashed into his face and into his eyes. Then something weird happened the previously grey ripples turned red. The dark crimson of blood rippled everywhere he could see and his vision had turned red.
The beat of his heart started to send one clear ripple that overwhelmed all the other ripples bathing everything he could see in blood. Pound! Pound! The beating of his heart overwhelmed everything else he could hear see or sense. Then his body started moving. He needed more blood! He wanted to kill more people he wanted more of the exiting rush that the fighting was sending through his veins. The beast had been awoken inside him and refused to back down. Thus he thought he attacked with a viciousness that would have previously been unbecoming of him. He completely forgot anything he had learned about defense from Pebble. He went in full offense mode and started to slice away at anything that was within range.
He saw movement to his right and sliced his blade across the leg he could make out in the blood. The owner of the leg fell down to one knee and he promptly chopped of the head. Losing himself to the blood fever he started slashing at everything that was within reach. His clothes started to become darker and darker from all the blood spatter. He had long forgotten that he had allies, he just wanted to kill more enemies. Feel more of their warm blood splashing onto his skin. He wanted more of those pleasing dark red ripples!
Suddenly his next blow was stopped by a shield and his bloodshot eyes met another set of bloodshot eyes. Six. He saw a similar bloodthirsty grin in the opponents eyes and they started battling with each other furiously. Neither would give the other an inch. Using both the staff end and the blade end of his weapon to attack he sent his vicious onslaught in Six's direction. Six responded with an onslaught of his own. They both took wounds that should have hurt. Should have slowed them down. Neither of them gave a single damn about any wounds they where getting though. They just wanted to inflict more wounds on the opponent. They wanted each other dead.
Then with a sudden blow everything halted. His consciousness had no chance and was lost without further ado. everything went black.
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I noticed that i havent gotten any replies since chapter 5 orso. This is kind of demotivating for me because i have no idea if you guys like my writing style or not! I cant improve if no one tells me how im doint or what could be done better! I would REALLY REALLY REAAAALLLY apreciate it if some of you guys could tell me whats what and give me some constructive kritisism so i can improve my writing!