Two figures appeared on the blue side. Viviana and Lucian.

  Selenne sat on a lone hanging tree branch. Littered amongst the blue grass were dead and mutilated bodies. Strategically slaughtered to slow regeneration. Selenne sat casually, slowly wiping the blood off her blade. Her eyes weren't concentrated on them. She showed no openings.

  “You’ve been cleaning that for some time now,” Viviana said.

  Selenne shrugged. “Gotta keep your tools clean."

  Blue grass swayed in the wind as the world was dyed different colors. It was strange watching the sunset in the terrarium. Light refracted off the perfect dome, the only sign that they were in an enclosed, controlled environment.

  Normally you’d never be able to tell. Yet at times like this, man's imperfections made it clear. Everything was fake.

  They fought in a massive, transparent dome that made it seem like it was an uncontrolled environment. They fought desperately like their lives depended on it, drawing blood yet knowing that no one would die, truly.

  Viviana pointed her sword forward. “How are we going to do this?”

  “I thought The Hunter would kill you. I was wrong,” Selenne said. She pushed herself off her seat, finally done clearing her sword. She was right. It was still stained. “Lucian, kill her.”

  Lucian swung his sword.

  Viviana activated [lightning trap], causing his blade to stop right before striking her. Her own blow landed instead.

  He staggered back, grasping his slit throat. It didn’t matter. That would be a wound that needed to be fully regenerated. “I’m… glad.”

  [You have slain a level 2 soulbound.]

  [+2 exp] [shared]

  Selenne raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t think that would work, but not like that. You tricked him. How’d you put a [lightning trap] there without him noticing?”

  “When I saved him, I grabbed him by the collar. I pretended to use [dash] by moving forward quickly, but I was actually using my mana to place the trap.”

  Selenne nodded. “Very impressive.”

  Selenne walked towards her at an angle. The two began to circle each other. Viviana’s sword was raised at eye level. Selenne kept her blade at her side, but Viviana knew the low guard was a bait.

  Viviana spoke. “How much of this was planned, Selenne?”

  “Planned? What plan?”

  “Bullshit. You were working with The Hunter. You didn’t use any skills to start the fight, and neither did he. You two were planning to get everyone killed and reap the benefits for yourselves.”

  “Yeah, I was working with Kassan. Well, I didn’t expect you to defeat him. He should’ve been the strongest person here. Even if the fight was close, Lucian was supposed to subtly throw it. I guess he didn’t throw hard enough?”

  Why didn’t Lucian betray me back then? If he was going to anyways?

  “He hesitated, you know,” Selenne said. “If he was a bit faster, or you a bit slower with your [lightning trap], he would’ve taken your head.”

  Viviana pushed Lucian out of her head. The sun was setting. “You should’ve known this would be the final fight.”

  Selenne laughed. A hollow sound. “I knew, Adler-Stern. I knew. But it won’t be much of a fight. I need you to return something for me. After all, you…

  “You’re wearing my mask.”

  Viviana’s eyes widened as Selenne rushed at her, her instant acceleration pushing her on the back foot.

  That’s why it felt wrong. Kassan was never The Hunter. He never killed The Follower. Selenne did.

  Selenne laughed as Viviana desperately parried, back and forth. Her left arm wasn’t fully healed yet. Blood was seeping through the blue grass bandages. “Very good, Adler-Stern! You’re managing to block my attacks!”

  Wounds began building up as Selenne descended like a falling wave. Slash, thrust, counter, parry. Downwards, upwards, across. An unrelenting downpour of attacks.

  “Watch, proctors! Watch, student representatives of the guilds!” Selenne yelled as she fought. Savagery and motion and grace. “I am Selenne Kerzenlied! Level five!”

  Watch, they did.

  Three platforms unveiled themselves. Adler-Stern branded floating barges, with invisitech– the latest and greatest form of active camouflage. Various students, upper year students acting as proctors, holding glasses of champagne as they watched. So far removed from the violence.

  The pins on their lapels gleamed in the setting sunlight. Ferric Meridian. Ophidian Pact. Vulx Arc Cooperative. Adler-Stern was missing.

  Selenne grinned. She pushed harder and harder but didn’t activate any skills. She was trying to draw it out to show off her swordsmanship. She would make a spectacle out of Viviana. Dismantling the exiled heir of Adler-Stern.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “I killed The Follower! I manipulated the entire orientation, so I would win in the end!

  “You watched, as I gathered half the students under my thumb! Lying, cheating! Now you witness my strength!”

  Selenne began activating [dash], this time nothing like what Viviana saw earlier. She was holding back earlier? That was a deception too?

  Viviana struggled, having to match her [dash]es with her own. Yet Viviana could hardly hold on. If Selenne was telling the truth, Selenne was level five. That inherently meant she had far more mana than Viviana had. Viviana would run out. Something had to change.

  Viviana howled right as Selenne activated [dash], draining nearly all her mana. The mask crumbled and faded away. Selenne stumbled, her movement suddenly cut. Viviana moved forward, throwing her sword forward in a straight forward stab. Selenne stepped forward instead of back, swiftly adapting, pushing her sword to the side and delivering a punch that smashed into Viviana’s chest.

  Viviana stumbled back. She heaved, gasping for air. Everything hurt.

  Mana loss and pain ached her body and her head.

  She could barely hold her sword in front of her. Her left arm was shaking. The impact of Selenne’s blows somehow damaged her left arm harder than regeneration was repairing.

  Selenne spread her arms, gesturing at the spectators. Egging them on. To watch. To witness her.

  Viviana was in no shape to hear what she was saying. Then her vision went black.

  Nothingness.

  Viviana's instincts screamed. No, she didn’t faint. This darkness was caused by a skill. Her enemy was right in front of her.

  Out of nothing but reflexes, honed from years of fighting, she reached out with her left hand.

  One last gambit.

  She felt her hand split into two. Selenne’s sword was travelling down, ripping through flesh and tissue and nerves, threatening to bisect her arm entirely…

  But not before Viviana activated her ability.

  Lightning surged through Selenne’s blade and up her arm, paralyzing her temporarily. Instantly Selenne’s skill stopped, the endless darkness clearing up to reveal the two combatants.

  Selenne finally moved. Viviana moved faster, plunging her sword towards Selenne’s gut.

  Selenne’s eyes focused. She stepped inwards, taking the blow with her shoulder instead, barely avoiding a lethal blow. Selenne tried to yank her blade out of Viviana’s arm, to finish the fight, but Viviana curled her arm around it, holding it firm. Another lightning sigil formed.

  Lightning struck twice, arcing through both of them.

  Viviana pulled, yanking Selenne’s sword out her hands. Viviana realized her sword was stuck in Selenne’s shoulder. Both of them were effectively weaponless. So she let go and moved low, pushing, rushing, grappling her legs.

  Viviana couldn’t see clearly anymore. Too much mana fatigue. Yet she resisted the urge to give in. To the pain. To the tiredness. She should’ve fainted by now. She didn’t. She was used to it.

  She was on top now, and Selenne below. Oh, how she wanted to wipe that grin off her face.

  Selenne was still smiling as Viviana pummeled her with her fists, over and over and over. Her right hand was fine. Her left was a bloody mess. She was hurting herself more than Selenne, but it didn’t matter.

  Selenne clawed at her, desperately moving her hands to try and fend off her attacks, but it was futile.

  Viviana laughed. Selenne couldn’t push her off. Guess you should’ve put more points into STR.

  A crack. A choking cough. Viviana stopped. It was over.

  Viviana stood up. She moved. Stumbled. Slipped on blood. She grabbed a sword. She couldn’t tell whose it was. It didn’t matter.

  A voice. Quiet and whispering. Viviana knew that only she could hear it. “You’re the only one who's ever survived that, Adler-Stern.”

  “Good fight,” Viviana said.

  Viviana dragged the sword over. It hovered inches above Selenne’s throat. Viviana looked at Selenne’s face. Covered in blood. “Good fight,” she said.

  On the floating invisitech barge, one of the upper year students swirled a glass of champagne. The other students gave him a wide berth, for he was an upper ranker– a tier zero, one of the top hundred students in the academy. The thing that added more to his infamy was his name.

  Adam, better known as ‘The Adapter’.

  Normally, someone as high-profile as him wouldn’t attend orientation. It was beyond him to scout for his guild. But today, he made an exception. Viviana Adler-Stern, the only Adler-Stern to ever attend the academy, was competing. A heir candidate at that. He had to check her skills for himself.

  Another student walked up to him. She was his attendant, a strong soulbound at that. “Sir, do you have your eyes on any of the students?”

  Adam fidgetted with the snake he kept pinned to his suit, a reminder to all that he belonged to Ophidian Pact. He spoke. “Who is that girl, Rin?”

  Rin the attendant blinked. “Sir, that is Viviana-”

  “No, the other one.”

  “Selenne Kerzenlied, Sir,” Rin responded. “I have a profile of her here. Pact related parents. Relatively decent positions in the company. She's got a silver spoon. It’s strange– how did she not secure a guild affiliation before entering the academy?”

  “Family? Connections? Weaknesses?”

  “She has a twin brother, Lucian Kerzenlied. He’s,” Rin paused for a second, scanning the bloody scene from the deck of the floating barge. “Right there.”

  Adam nodded. The brother is of no concern to me. “We’ll extend an invitation,” he said, turning back to the carnage below him. Both participants of the final fight were confirmed dead. Funny, he thought. The whole point of the activity was to capture flags and keep them to the end. If they survived, they’d get the points. Now everyone is dead. Nobody won, except us, of course.

  “And what of Viviana Adler-Stern?”

  “There’s nothing to do about her,” he said. “Adler-Stern has exiled her in all but name, and that means something.”

  “Forgive me for asking, Sir, but what if another guild acquires her? Surely the Pact will be angry.”

  Adam shook his head. “Look around. Do you see the five winged star?”

  Rin made a show of looking around. There were the pins of all the prominent guilds, save for one. “No, I do not, Sir.”

  “Let me tell you something. Adler-Stern has no students in the academy. Zero. Even so, they normally send someone to attend orientation on their behalf. If they find someone promising, they take them out of the academy immediately, training them themselves. Yet today, no Adler-Sterns are here.”

  “I don’t see how it means anything other than they’ve abandoned her.”

  “They’ve abandoned her here, yes, but she keeps the Adler-Stern name. They want her in the academy. They know no guilds will take a direct Adler-Stern heir. They’re telling her to rise or fall on her own.”