My heart sank into my stomach.

With the reputation and sheer influence that the Great Families held over the world, there was no way that anyone would try and imitate one of their members, much less someone of the direct lineage. But with that amount of fame and power, the sheer size of the platinum spoon inside their kids mouths is something I could never fathom.

There is no doubt in my mind that I slipped up with my words, they’d fly into a rampage. Naturally it wasn't them specifically that induced a sense of impending doom, but rather their backgrounds. I’m sure that they could have me thrown into jail without even providing a reason as to why, and no one would say another word about it.

“Hey, are you okay? You’re sweating, like really sweating.” The one sat closest to me spoke, while simultaneously scooching his chair away. His appearance seemed to really go against what I’d expect from someone of his status.

His hair was orange, overgrown and messy. His face was littered with acne and freckles, and his skin was almost paper white. But when he spoke, it carried an air of confidence that proved his background and upbringing. It was if he was aloof to anything and everything that didn’t affect him directly.

The second kid was no better. His hair was similarly long, but fell over his face in dreadlocks. His hair was also oddly purple. I wasn’t sure if it was genetics or just an act of rebellion, but these kids really seemed to stick out like sore thumbs. His face was less boyish and pubescent, but his youthfulness was still evident.

Orange hair snapped his fingers in front of my face.

“Hey, you good? Do we need to call an Arimus?”

I finally snapped back to reality.

“Oh, no, no. Sorry I was just lost in thought. Cy- Jai. Jai Boone.” I coughed awkwardly while extending my hand out towards the both of them. I was hoping that neither of them had caught my slip up.

The two exchanged a glance before sharing a stupidly large grin and shaking my hand.

“Austin Burns.” Orange hair introduced himself.

“Saiba Okoye.” Purple hair followed up.

A small silence was cut short as Austin spoke up once more.

“So, why were you looking for us in particular?” He questioned as if it wasn’t obvious.

“I didn’t know who you guys were before coming here, so I wanted to know how strong you were.” I chose to answer truthfully, as there was almost nothing that could go wrong.

They both nodded in understanding and exchanged glances. At this point it was unclear to me if they were capable of some form of telepathy, or if they just understood each other that well, but I’m hoping it wasn’t the first one.

“We’re decent. Me and Austin don’t care for fighting as much as the rest of our families do, so we’re really only here to save face. We were thinking of getting second and third, so that we can stay in our families and not have to go overboard.” Saiba explained.

‘A bit of an over-sharer I see.’

I was a bit surprised that neither of them questioned how I didn’t know who they were, but it was also reassuring. Naturally because I hadn’t thought up a backstory, nor did I know enough geography to make up something on the spot.

“Why not just go for first and second? Clearly you guys have the ability to since you’re so confident, and from what I’ve heard it’s not like the Ukorin can forcefully bring the winner to their side if it’s one of you.” I questioned. It only seemed reasonable to go for first place if you were capable.

The two paused for a moment, before laughing.

“Dude, are you crazy? You think we want to go up against that monstrous bastard? We said we were thinking about two and three, but we meant we’d go until the final round and just quit one after the other. We just couldn’t decide who's going to take second and who’s going to take first.” Austin clutched his stomach from laughter while pointing to the screens.

“What are you talking about?”

Then I saw him.

My eyes shifted to first, and by far the largest camera. A young man, probably younger than me, stood surrounded by piles of carcasses. In fact piles was too much of an understatement.

Mountains of dead beast bodies surrounded him, as he sat on a mountain of his own, a flagstaff titled over his shoulder. There wasn’t a single sign of fatigue on him nor a single drop of blood.

He pulled a white sword out from one of the bodies underneath him and promptly sheathed it before beginning to meditate. For the first time in my life, I truly felt like a coward.

Watching the horror on the screen in front of me, I wanted to do nothing more than run away. Run away as far as I could so that I would never have to meet that monster.

“Who the hell is that?” I questioned softly, my heart still beating in fear.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Taking note of my expression, the pair stopped laughing and regained their composure.

“We don’t know.” Saiba said bluntly.

“What?” I cried.

“He’s right, no one knows who he is. He popped up out of nowhere, challenging so-called ‘geniuses’ across the globe. He ran through the entire southern continent before stopping and announcing he would only be participating in tournaments and fighting events before heading to The Academy.” Austin explained slowly.

“So he’s not a part of one of the Great Families? Or some crazy strong faction?” I questioned hesitantly.

“Gods no. Getting his hands on that guy would be my old man’s wet dream. Everyone wants to take him into their faction, clan, family, you name it, but he’s already declared that he’ll only follow someone he finds worthy.” Austin continued.

“Who the hell is more worthy than those old monsters? No offence.”

Though I didn’t know much about the Great Families, I knew that they didn’t reach their statuses from good politics and public relations. Their strength was unimaginable.

“None taken.” They both answered at the same time.

“That’s exactly what everyone wants to know. Just who could be powerful enough to make him submit.” Saiba explained, his voice showing signs of envy.

It was clear that this nameless man was a one in a trillion prodigy, and that fact was crystal clear to everybody.

‘So what if he’s a genius. I can take him. He’s probably not that strong anyways.’ I tried to reassure myself.

‘You’re on a break Infra!’

Horns blared out around the room, and my eyes moved to the screens once more. What were several mini screens were now one large screen, with a single green arrow pointing in the direction of the wall.

The first group had its winners and its losers, and it was now our turn. I’d be lying if I said a little bit of excrement hadn’t started to move around in my stomach.

⥁

As we walked through the very obviously solid wood walls, we were all greeted by a chilling site. Everyone had been transported into the maze at separate locations, far away from anyone else. Or so I assumed as I was now very much alone.

I relaxed my breathing and tried to calm my mind. As long as none of the stronger beasts noticed me, and everybody else was too preoccupied, I could sneak past everything and everyone and just nab a flag.

Yeah that sounds like a good plan.

“Grrr”

Heaving breath mixed in with stomachs growling inched closer to me from behind. And it was safe to assume that it wasn’t another person.

I allowed my aura to flare up and quickly dodged straight into the wall as a beast pounced at me.

They were all wolf-like creatures, just much larger, faster, stronger and much much more bloodthirsty. And to just add the cherry on top, I’d happen to stumble upon a pack of seven as soon as I entered the max.

Everything was working out for me.

⥁

“Well? Who do you think’s going to win?”

“Are you stupid or what? Obviously that silent swordsman kid. I already bet this month's salary on him.”

“The hell is your wife gonna say when she finds out about that?”

“Something along the lines of ‘let’s get working on number 4.’”

“You’re one weird guy, you know that?”

“Yeah, well-”

Creak!

The men straightened in their chairs.

“Cameras one through fifteen. Clear”

“Roger. Cameras sixteen through thirty, clear.”

“Roger”

Metal boots slammed across the floor slowly, and quickly a dark figure appeared behind the pair.

“Stop with the acting you idiots.” The figure smacked the men on the back of their heads, before throwing a sack down on the table. “Years salary on that kid.” The figure stretched a long bony figure and pointed at one of the screens.

“Him? No way boss, that guy’s a total wuss.”

“Shut up. You game or not?”

The men exchanged glances, and both dropped lighter bags onto the table in front of them.

“Deal, but we’re both betting on the Silent Swordsman” They exclaimed excitedly. They were already fantasising about what they could do with all that money.

“Good, I’d expect no less.” The figure smiled and stepped back. It calmly walked through the door and slammed the door shut behind him.

“Don’t disappoint me, Fortis.”

⥁

This whole test is a scam. It’s a worthless, stupid, pointless, idiotic, joke of a tournament. It’s so terrible I can’t even think of words to begin to describe it. The whole thing needs to be cancelled and never held again.

Since encountering the wolves, I’ve come face to face with eight different herds of beasts. Eight! After the wolves it was the rats, then it was the bears then it was the lions, then it was then mini gryphons then it was the weird multi-headed snakes, and then…I don’t remember what came after them but my point stands.

After nearly twenty minutes of running, I’d finally found a place to breathe. A small little crevice in the maze walls, just big enough to fit me, but too narrow for any real threats.

Crack!

“Oh come on! Are you guys sending me these things on purpose now!” I cried out in horror and began to frantically shimmy out of the crevice as a large hand began to pull out chunks of the wall.

“What is so hard to understand about a break Infra! Shut up! Zip it!” I yelled, my left foot and arm pulling the rest of my body out of the crevice. Though it seemed like my shouting only further incentivized whatever monster was coming to take me.

Just as the hand gave up on tearing at the wall and started to reach for me directly, I jimmied my whole body out and without wasting a second more, bolted as fast as I could.

The dormant cores of beasts rolled around in my pockets, as I ran, a few almost falling out. I managed to scavenge them from some already dead beasts, and was actually quite surprised to see that they were jagged rocks with the weird circle symbol in the middle.

Apparently Heartiles only took on the form of the cores after the host dies because without the Tecz it’s just that, a core. An empty tub of water. It was stupid, but it made sense in its own way.

I was currently very much regretting not scavenging more, as the measly ten or so that I had was nowhere near the twenty-five I needed. And as my flag plan didn’t seem to be looking too good, my options became very limited.

After several hundred meters of running in one direction, I’d arrived in front of twin stone doors.

“Random stone doors in a death maze. There’s definitely nothing bad back here.” I took a second to catch my breath. No matter how sketchy the doors were, the severe lack of other routes gave me no other choice but to enter.

With great effort and force, I slammed the doors open and shut. Once through them, despite the obvious impending doom that faced me, I allowed myself to slide down to the ground and finally take an actual moment to relax.

“You dare enter my home? Stand and die unworthy one.”

An eerie voice sounded out as a black ball of mist began to materialize in front of me. I took a moment to look around, and see that I was in some kind of abandoned and worn down throne room.

‘Makes sense.’

I stood up and took out my Weaver, letting it extend fully before letting my aura flare up at full force.

Soon enough legs began to step out of the mist, the arms, then a chest, and finally the head. Until a towering knight clad in black armour and gripping onto a blood-red sword stood inches away from me.

“Again? Really?!” I shouted in protest before lowering myself into a fighting stance.

“Whatever, let’s get this over with you giant tin can.”

“I will squash you like the worthless insect that you are!” The knight swung down at full force.

I began to wonder if maybe goading the twenty foot tall sword wielding death knight was the smartest choice to make in my situation.