Mages. Also known as Qi cultivators that lacked emotion. They were ruthless and cruel, often giving themselves wholly to the pursuit of the elements.

When he was born, his eyes glowed with ice. Since birth, he was above all life on earth. His parents would coddle him endlessly. His siblings full of absolute jealousy and envy. The common folk despised him for his strength and status. Others wanted to make use of him for their own gain.

His entire life, he had only met these two types of people. Those that hated him, and those that wanted to control him.

He grew to control ice to a great extent. He dominated the natural world, as warriors of metal fell to his magic left and right. He was only a child still.

Nothing in life had ever made him excited. One day, he caught word of a famous mage, his age. A female mage of lightning. He sought her out and challenged her in public.

The scars on his body remain till this day. From that point on, there was a third type of person in the world.

Those that could hurt him.

These were the ones he despised the most.

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Nobody was relaxed anymore. People were certain to die, at least those who went against the mage. The next fights were brutal, ending in severe injury to one side. Fear was ignited on all sides.

Barbos won his first fight, but sustained a severe injury. Johnson also won his fight. The next opponent of the mage was a swordsman, who asked if he could opt out of the fight. They told him he could, but only after the fight started. Before he could speak, an icicle was lodged in his neck.

Another one, dead.

Shouts of fury began to break out, but they were quickly silenced by the test proctor. They clearly would do nothing to stop this. Panic and fear began to spread like a virus, from person to person. I healed Barbos and Johnson quietly with a flick of blood.

Some people began throwing their fights clearly on purpose, so they would have no chance of facing the mage.

Finally, it was my turn.

I don’t remember who I fought, I just sent them flying far off the arena with a swipe of my newly metallicized red tail. They were caught by a drone.

“Who is that?”

“I don’t know, but he’s almost as strong as the mage.”

The crowd chattered after the match ended instantly. Only the mage had done this prior. Everyone else was fairly evenly matched at this point Everyone firmly in the C grade of strength, with Johnson having shown quite a bit of growth during the test, he was almost deserving of B grade strength.

“Is this the power of rank A?”

I liked listening to the crowd stroke my ego. They were good people.

Barbos lost his next match by a hair. He was clearly throwing the match, but with the elegance of an actor. He stumbled off stage, relatively uninjured. He whispered to us when he got nearby.

“Hehe, I threw the match on purpose. You guys do the same, that mage is too much. I really hate mages. Damn them.”

“This land’s warriors are truly a feeble bunch.” Stated The Lord of Star inside.

“Good acting, Barbos. You may be better suited for the screen than the battlefield.” I joked, not even bothering to heal him this time. I looked at Johnson, hoping he might take the advice.

Johnson was silent.

I went up again soon after, and the person decided to fight. I swiped my tail and they too rocketed off the arena.

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The audience did some more chatter. I was already too bored by them to listen anymore.

Johnson’s next match forfeited pretty quickly into the fight, as this became the new standard. When it was the mage’s next turn, the person that was called upon to fight him just decided to leave.

They just walked away.

A good choice, honestly. She was now never going to be a Blackstar mercenary, but there were other minor guilds and organizations she could join. Although she would never be part of the world’s foremost mercenary guild, she would still have her life.

Johnson’s third match was tougher. He fought a warrior who wielded an axe. His opponents' blows were heavy, but slow and limited in range. Using his speed, Johnson stayed largely out of range, only running back in for a poke or quick slice. Johnson focused on dodging and wearing the man down. The axe warrior struck two consecutive and quick blows, with the second being barely parried by Johnson, at the cost of his weapon.

As his sword went flying, the axe man charged forward. Johnson then revealed his gatling gun, now fixed, and shot the axe wielding man until he was laying on the ground, barely alive.

My next match ended in a forfeit.

The amount of people contending was dwindling down significantly.

Unknown people went up, and fought. No other deaths occurred. Only someone with enormous power and cruelty could kill before someone could verbally admit defeat.

When the mages name was next called, so was Johnson’s.

It was truly a bucket of cold ice, as they say. My mood was deflated, as the worst-case scenario came true. I looked over, Barbos was panicking as much as I.

Yet Johnson was calm.

“You have to leave the tournament. There’s no other choice.” I said firmly, not leaving room for debate.

He shook his head, silently.

“Lord, please. You cannot give your life to this creature. I will go with you. Let us find a better guild than this.” Barbos offered to leave as well.

“I’ll go too, It’s not like this guild means anything special. Strength is still strength. It remains the same no matter where you go.” I urged, “Come, it’s time to say goodbye.”

“You have both been good friends. But I cannot back down anymore. I am not willing to go further into darkness. I need this guild's resources and teachers.” He smiled weakly, “I can dodge that icicle strike, I can avoid that mist. Please, have some trust in me, brothers.”

As he walked to the stage, many couldn’t believe it.

“He’s actually going up? He has a death wish.

“Why?”

The mage too, held surprise in his eyes for the briefest of moments. I stood up, watching intently.

Johnson faced the mage; Fear could not be found anywhere on his expression. The look of a man with nothing to lose, perhaps. The mage looked back at him, without a trace of emotion.

It seemed like an eternity of them standing there, my heart dropping completely at the sound of a voice ringing out.

“Begin!”

An icicle shot forward, straight toward the neck. Johnson was prepared, and the icicle was deflected with his sword. The mage shot another one, deflected again. The third time, the icicle exploded into a mist. Johnson’s sword was frozen, he was forced to discard it, as he fled the mist.

His gatling gun rang out in the air, but the bullets simply bounced off the mage. The mage waved his hand, and every time, an icicle or mist shot forth. Sometimes icicles exploded into mist, sometimes mist congealed into icicles. The mage took a step forward every time, inching closer. A single hit would be absolutely fatal. And Johnson was running around, dodging death by the narrowest of margins.

“This kid has some balls; you could learn a thing or two.” Chided Big star.

“At least I have balls, wait.” I looked down, and confirmed I still had balls. I then looked back up to make sure Johnson wasn’t going to be killed soon.

It was simply futile, given the fact he could not harm the mage. When the mage was within a Swords striking distance, a sword of ice formed in the mages hands. He lifted his arm and struck the last blow.

“I forfeit!” shouted Johnson, at last, barely dodging the sword of ice.

The mage stood still for a moment, then returned to his seat.

The match had ended.

The crowd went wild.

I couldn’t help but run up to Johnson, giving him a hearty pat on the back. “Hahahaha, brother of mine, I tell you, I was almost certain I was going to have to intervene. You handled that battle very well. Discard that bitter expression now, next time, all you need is a heated blade, and that mage will be toast.”

He was clearly a little bitter about the loss. I could tell he wanted to escape from the shadow of mediocrity that he felt. The shadow his sibling and parents cast on him his entire life. He was simply looking for validation.

He smiled at me, quite brightly still. Just as he was about to speak, many people in the crowd ran up to him.

“Good work!”

“That was beautiful, truly.”

“You showed him, dumbass mages can go to hell.”

He instantly became the people’s champion. Johnson now lost all traces of bitterness. The light cast upon him for the first time in his life.

At that moment, the shadow in his heart began to fade.

Time to say goodbye, goodbye to the past.

Yet from the shadows of the arena, the mage watched on, as the people cheered at his misery.