His opponent, using the range of his weapon lunges at him with a forward strike, jumping at the end to come down on him with an indifferent wrath. Adrian doesn’t try to block or parry it, knowing he’s not skilled nor fast enough for either of them, so he moves to the side and tries to use the moment where his opponent is down before going for a slash on his back.

  Surprisingly, his opponent gets back up almost quickly, twirling his spear to push away his sword and then smashing the other end on his chest.

  Adrian backs away a few steps, the pain trying to break his focus. Gaining his breath back and blocking an incoming lunge at his face happens at the same time, and then it’s his turn swatting away the spear and stabbing with his sword.

  His opponent unfortunately moves his head to the side at the last moment, changes his stance, raises his hands and brings the swatted weapon down at him from an awkward angle.

  Adrian ducks below and trips his opponent with a sweep of his leg, and slash weakly from his weird position at the falling guy. Unfortunately, showing an astounding level of acrobat, the guy puts his free hand down first, transferring all that momentum, and pushes himself away into a roll backwards.

  Adrian doesn’t make use of that moment, being in a weird position himself, he also wishes to use that moment to gather his breath and collect himself.

  The man too stops and looks at him from his position. Something is different now though, the indifferent facade cracks for just an instance, showing a more sympathetic look.

  “Such a pity. Someone as skilled as you to be a slave of the Tower too. If we had met outside, perhaps something could be done. But now,” He sighs as if he truly finds this situation tragic and then something changes about him.

  Perhaps it is his stance, or his attitude, but something in the air changes. Adrian feels it distinctly in the air and yet he doesn’t care about that. He is more focused on what the guy said.

  Slave?

  There is no time to think anymore. The guy lunges, this time stronger. More powerful. Adrian tries to move away, but a thin line of blood stretches across his collarbone, a cascade of pain crashing down upon him, yet blocked by his own focus.

  And then the barrage comes. Attacks made so fast and so various that it takes his all to simply block them all as best as he could. Metal grinding against metal. Adrian rolls, ducks, deflects, parries, and everything he knows how to survive, but the man continues to adapt to his pace and then shatters it with a strike he could’ve never imagined possible with a spear.

  Adrian continues to gather more and more injuries, his shirt tearing up more than any test has done so yet.

  Adrian barely escapes another lunge at his face, before the lunge is somehow carried into a slam into his face, throwing some teeth at some distance away, and then everything blurs for a moment. The threat of life and death intensifies around him, and Adrian slips more and more into his focus until his body feels like a puppet on strings.

  So he pulls.

  His motions feel jerky, weird, but he escapes the straight strike at his heart, and then from an awkward angle he slashes his own. The man seems a little surprised, but blocks it successfully.

  Something inside of him at that moment moves on its own, and in a jerky motion, he pushes the sword and the spear away and with a motion which most definitely tore a muscle, jumps and kicks the man in his face.

  Adrian lands stumbling and wavering, but his control over his own body becomes more dissonant and yet stronger. He spins and slashes, his sword finally bringing the first blood from the man as he tears at his arm.

  And then comes another change in the man because the indifference crumbles and something else comes forward. Hubris, pride, ego.

  The man thrusts, the earlier delicacy losing to raw strength and ferocity, and like a wild animal, he too loses all sense of self-preservation.

  A dance of macabre and blood follows, in which Adrian is no longer sure who is winning. An injury traded here for another there. At some point his left hand stops working, no matter how hard he pulls it just wouldn’t move.

  Something in the background breaks, like a glass, and he doesn’t care. Then something else breaks and even then Adrian is focused. It is one motion after another. One slash here, one parry there. His body feels sluggish, and he is out of breath more and more.

  His opponent, as if in a mad rage, jumps and comes at him from the sky like he has done in the start. So similar and yet so different. The indifference is gone, the calmness is gone, and all that’s left is a man whose pride has been wounded.

  Adrian too has changed through the battle.

  He spins his body violently, throwing his left hand at the coming spear and receiving a deep wound on it, but then he turns and thrusts with his own blade, and it goes straight through the throat. Gurgles sound, blood flows, a tiny voice escapes in the suddenly silent station, “How… the revolution…”

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

  And then a life is snuffed.

  Congratulations! You have completed your tenth test! (10/11)

  You can choose one of the Sacrifices from your opponent. Do not ask for more, should even the one become unavailable.

  Enjoy your rest.

  It takes a few moments for his mind to come to terms of what has happened, and when it does he snaps back to reality from whichever distant parts within himself he has retreated to.

  The pain comes crashing down, blood flowing all around him and staining him. Adrian crumples to the ground, breathing and breathing and trying to bring his breath back to life. Thankfully, his lungs are fine. He can’t say the same about his ribs though.

  At the corner of his vision, he notes the time and his heart drops. Only 5 minutes remain.

  He lifts himself manually, the spear still stuck in his arm hurts even as he moves, but he didn’t even know if he should take it out or not. He lifts his head and looks at the Sacrifices which float in the air.

  There are 5 of them. Two of his own, and three of his opponents.

  Thank god I kept the other one.

  Initially Adrian had hoped that should the fight go easy, he might be able to sell the Khalkatouri back at June’s, and if nothing else, then only this one would break during the fight.

  Who would’ve thought it would take me so long.

  He has lost his Moe Jellyfish. A bitter feeling fills him, but it may as well be his own blood.

  Adrian painfully, and with difficulty finally stands up, dragging his right leg as it is very likely broken in three places. He moves to the Sacrifices, and they come down to greet him.

  Adrian first checks his own Sacrifices and the remaining two are fine. Then he checks the three which belong to his former opponent.

  Guess he never lost. Until now.

  The first of his Sacrifice is a green one, belonging to a very strong life element plant, considering how dense the veins of blood are inside the vial. If someone looked at it for long enough, one might even feel the veins beating with a thump.

  The next one is a clear vial. Adrian would have thought it is empty, if not for the usual fluctuations and subtle displacements like a ghost.

  A phantom element!

  One of the rarest elements, not just because how difficult it is to catch a phantom being, but because how difficult it is to actually collect anything left of them. As soon as they die, they usually dissolve into nothingness, gone just like that. It is amazing how the guy was able to get this, but the next one really sealed the deal in Adrian’s mind that this guy was the son of a big shot.

  The last vial has a glowing purple glow, flashes of lightning constantly going off inside the vial. It is not a lightning element, no, it's a Wisdom element. Belonging to only a few known species in the Tower currently, they are not found anywhere below the 13th floor.

  Who really was this guy? He has a full star cast!

  Honestly, Adrian wishes he could replace his Human Sacrifice too and choose one more from him, but sadly, he can only choose one.

  So with a very heavy heart, Adrian chooses the Wisdom Sacrifice and stumbles back with it into the train. Ji-a almost suddenly jumps on him, looking at his condition, and others come to help too.

  And even though every part of him is so tired and weary and wishes nothing but to just simply fall asleep and hope he wakes up more healthy, he stays awake through it all and watches himself get healed as much as one can in 20 minutes.

  By the end, he is more bandage than skin, and yet some wounds continue to bleed through, such deep their cut is. Adrian simply sits on his seat, waiting patiently and in pain, knowing that he still has one more test to go through.

  It’s hard to think about it when his world spins around and tumbles every few seconds from the blood loss, but he manages. He has two very very good Sacrifices now. More than he ever imagines himself to have. He just has to make it through one last, and then he’ll have his class. He’ll be healed. And he’ll be above everyone else by miles.

  “You think you can do it?” Ji-a asks. She has been talking to him almost constantly ever since he came back. Adrian understands that it is to keep him awake and keep him company, and he is grateful, he still wishes she could stop talking for a while.

  “I-I can manage,” He looks at her with a defeated smile. That is when he notices something else.

  “You got hurt too,” He states, pointing at the line of blood on her shoulder, mostly hidden behind the cloth.

  “It’s just a scratch, don’t worry about it.”

  “You should at least wrap something.”

  “I won’t die in the next 30 minutes. Don’t worry.” Adrian does stop at that. Not only because talking was getting irritating, but also because the next and final test is almost up. He just has to pass this one and he can do it. Victory’s never been so close to him.

  As the next station pulls up, Adrian stands up on his own. He does not take others’ help, and definitely not from Ji-a. He’s still a little angry at her attitude towards her own injury.

  Dragging himself, he finally reaches the door, nods at others in well wishes, and steps through.

  Instantly, he notices that he’s in a brightly lit room, sitting on a stool, and around him are more stools. 11 more stools which instantly start to fill up. With startled yelps, he finds people he has just left behind on the train suddenly teleported to his side.

  Behind him sits Michael, and beside him is John. Then the others come and soon everyone is here. Before any conversation could start though, something else appears in front of them. Or someone else.

  There are 30 people in black clothes covering every inch of their body, all with the face mask of an animal, standing in front of them. There is a racoon, a deer, a tiger, a mouse, and so many more.

  The Tower speaks then,

  Eleventh Test: The last memory.

  Dreams of your powers have led you here, with Sacrifices hand picked to be the best for you. A future depends on it, and this is the final time you put that future up for gamble.

  One of these 30 people has your Highest Valued Sacrifice. Choose the right one, and take your Sacrifice. Choose wrong, and lose the future itself.

  Goal: Find the person with your Sacrifice.

  Time limit: 30 minutes.

  Adios!

  Fuck!

  #