Chapter 26

An Uneasy Alliance

“Jez? How long have you been there?”

“All. Ways.” Jez spoke so slow that it took me a moment to understand what she was saying.

“Are you trying to say you were always in that seat?”

“Mhn.” Jez slowly shook her head. It was impossible to see what expression she was making thanks to her red hood, which cover most of her face, but I’m sure she wasn’t lying to me.

How is she doing that? That’s twice that I somehow didn’t notice her next to me. Three times if you count the time, I lost her when we were about to enter the capital together.

“Is this some sort of joke? You seriously expect me to work with a blind person who can barely speak and a weak little feline?”

“Ignore him, Jez. He just mad that I defeated him.”

“You didn’t beat me. Our fight is far from over.” The noble grunted as he tries to get back on his feet.

“Honestly, watching you kids is always exhausting.” Sky lets out a sigh and flop down on the noble’s back. “So many young people with talent die today, even though I said killing wasn’t necessary. It really breaks my heart.”

“I don’t give a damn about your feeling! Get off me so I can kill that stupid feline.”

“You should listen to your elder more. Especially when they are as cute as me.”

“There’s nothing cute about you. Now get off me, old man!”

“Old man?” I glance over at Sky. Everyone keeps saying she’s an incredibly old person that popularizes martial arts and aura. Apparently, she even trained Dante. Even now, it's hard for me to believe that story. To me, she looks like a petite girl that seems to really love jewelry.

“Fine, if you really want to kill her, I won’t stop you.”

“Wait, what?” My heart nearly stopped when I saw her stand stretch so causally. A wicked smile spread across the noble’s face.

I’m not in any shape to fight. Both aura and bloom increase my physical capability in their own way. However, they’re both incredibly exhausting to use. It’s taking all my effort just to stand here.

“Are you sure you really want to do this? The reason why we have you guys team-up is that the last two trials are incredibly dangerous.”

“So what? I don’t need anyone's help.”

“My, such hubris. Although I guess I can understand where your confidence is coming from, you possess an incredibly powerful gift. However, your power is still immature. I’m sure you realize that more than anyone during your last fight.”

“…” The noble fell silent. His gaze fell to the ground like a kid who got caught stealing.

“It’s okay to have pride in yourself.” Sky kneels next to the noble and petted his blonde hair. “However, never fool yourself into thinking your superior to anyone. For arrogance will only lead you down a painful and lonely road.” Sky moves closer to the noble and softly whispers something in the noble’s ears. Thanks to my sharp hearing, I manage to hear what she said.

“You’ll never surpass him if you follow the same path he took.” The anger and tension emanating from the noble completely vanish when Sky whispers those words to him. Sensing I'm not in danger, I put my knife back in its sheathe.

“Hey! Catherine!” I immediately knew who that energetic voice.

“Aaron, you’re still aliahhh!” I turn around, expecting to see a young boy with a bow. Instead, it was a massive muscular body cover in wounds. “A-Aaron?”

“I’m up here!”

I took a step back so I could get a better look at whatever I was staring at. The giant man in front of me was the beastman Emma fought earlier. A young boy dressed in some old and worn farmer garments sat on top of the beastman’s shoulder, energetically waving at me.

“Catherine! Meet my new friend Leo!”

“New friend? When did this happen? No, how did this happen?!”

“I was on my way to help you when I saw all those flames, but then this giant guy with dog ears jumped in front of me shouting that I was a coward.”

“I thought he was running away from the battlefield, but boy, I was wrong about that!” The beastman laughed. He pointed towards a small hole in the center of his chest. Blood continuously seeping out of the hole, yet he didn’t seem bothered by the injury. In fact, he was gleefully laughing like he was proud of the wound. “That bastard didn’t hesitate to shoot. I honestly thought he was going to kill me.”

“I mean, I was trying to kill you.” Aaron laughs while bashfully rubbing his head.

“Are you sure you guys are friends?”

“Of course! We’re brothers now bonded by battle!” The beastman shouted proudly.

“Is that how it works?” I glance over at the noble who was still giving me the death glare. I guess it’s just a guy’s thing.

“Silence!” The heavily armored royal guard slammed his giant Warhammer into the ground, silencing everyone. It was impossible to see who he was looking at thanks to his helmet, but somehow, I could feel his icy gaze silently judging all the survivors. “The third trial will not be that difficult.”

I’m pretty sure he said that for the last trial.

“All you have to do is leave the theater, alive.”

I don’t like that ‘alive’ part. That means there’s something in the theater trying to kill us.

Each team will go through the iron door and try to find a way to escape. If you’re not out the theater by nightfall, you’re disqualified.”

In the corner of my eyes, I caught a glimspe of something shiny. To my right, an iron door stood tall against the black wall. Carved into the iron door was a blacksmith holding up a hammer, ready to strike down on a sword.

Am I blind? Not only did I fail to see Jez sitting next to me, but somehow, I never spotted the fancy door that pressed to the side of the theater.

“This trial is stupid!” A young woman with short brunette hair march towards the stage where the armored royal guard.

“Quiet Emma, you’ll get us killed!” A scrawny guy in thick glasses covered Emma’s mouth.

“Is there something you have to say?”

“Yea!” Emma headbutts the scrawny guy covering her mouth,, cracking his glasses. “I refuse to be a part of a team, especially with this psychotic tin can?!” Emma shouted while pointing towards the man clad in rusted armor.

“If you have a problem with these rules, you can leave.”

“Why you…”

“Emma, stop!” The scrawny guy grabs Emma’s arm. “Are you really going to let yourself get kick out tournament because of a petty argument?”

“Tch.” Emma clicked her tongue before shaking her hand free from the man’s grip. “When this whole thing is over, I’m coming for you, big guy!”

“Hmph.” The armored royal guard snorts at Emma’s threat.

“Okay, everyone!” Sky loudly clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. “Hurry up and get moving! Remember, you have until nightfall to complete this trial. The faster you move, the better.”

The theater exploded with noise as everyone rushes to the mysterious iron door. It was quite interesting to see warriors carrying various weapons line up towards the iron door like it was the only bathroom in a hotel.

Are we really going to start the trial already? Can’t we at least get a break?

“Don’t worry, Catherine. I’m sure your team will keep you safe!” Aaron flashes me a bright smile. I know he was trying to cheer me up, but my worries only grew when he mentions my team. The noble still looks like he wants to pounce on me. And Jez was still sitting down petting the wyvern resting on her lap, seemly unaware of what was happening around her.

“By the way, where your other teammate at?” I peek around the beastman expecting another person to be hiding behind his giant body.

“Good question, where is he? Ah! There he is!” Aaron energetically points towards a guy wearing a gray kimono. “That samurai is pretty strong. He would’ve taken my head if Leo didn’t punch me out the way.”

“The only one who can kill you is me, brother!” The beastman guffawed.

“….” I fell silent, feeling stupid for thinking I had the worse team.

“Good luck, Catherine!” Aaron shouted as the beastman carried him off.

“You too. Seriously, good luck.”

“H-Hey! Want the hell are you doing?!”

I turned towards the commotion to see Sky throw the noble over her small shoulders. “Alright, slowpoke, let’s get moving!” Sky marches towards the iron door.

“I swear I’ll kill every single one of you for this humiliation!” The noble roar as he was tossed into the room. Jez slowly follows behind him, rhythmically tapping her cane on the ground.

“Well, are you going to keep your teammates waiting?” Sky said, turning to me.

“I really wish I could,” I mumble.

It’s going to be hard to complete this trial when I got a teammate who wants me dead and Jez, who I’m confident doesn’t even know where she’s at.

“Sounds like you need some motivation. How would you feel if I told you Dante is waiting for you at the last trial?”

“What, how did you….”

“Of course, I know about you, Catherine. If you’re Dante’s student, that also makes you my student.” Sky giggle. “I’m looking forward to seeing how well you perform in this trial.” Sky pushes me into the room. “Good luck, everyone!”

“Hey, wait!” I race towards the door, but Sky slammed the door shut on me.

“I swear I’m going to kill him!” The noble’s sounded shaky and weak. His body became pale as blood continues to flow from out his hand.”

“Let me treat your hand.”

“Why?”

“Because, unfortunately, we’re teammates now. And I can’t have you dying. At least not until this is all over.”

“….” Silently, the noble extended his hand towards me. I nearly gasp when I saw how grievous his wound is. The gash was far too big for simple bandages to fix.

“Here.” Jez hands me a jar filled with green gel.

“Is that ugh, yep it’s definitely soothing gel.” I was assaulted by a foul stench when I open the lid to the jar.

“Ugh, what the hell is that?” The noble’s contorted from the awful smell.

“Basically, it’s a bunch of herbs smash together so it can be applied on wounds.”

“And you plan to smear that disgusting concoction on me?”

“The worse it smells, the better it is for you.”

“I rather bleed out than have that gel defile my skin!” The noble try crawls away from me. But Jez grabbed both his shoulders and held him in place.

“Stay. Still.” Jez commanded.

“Kaaa!” Jez’s wyvern landed on top of the nobles and wrapped its scaly tail around the noble’s arm.

“Get off me, you barbarians!” The Noble screamed.

“Relax, I’ll be done in a bit.” I smear gel onto his hand then bandage it. Once I finished wrapping his bandage. I put some gel on his swollen cheek.

“See, that wasn’t bad, was it?”

“My skin is ruin.” The noble tightly hugged his shivering body.

I ignore the little drama queen and finally decided to look around the room. Well, a hallway. We were standing in a very long hallway that seems to have no ending in sight. There were multiple iron doors the same as the one enter except each one has a unique design to them.

“Where’s everyone? We all enter through the same door, but we’re the only ones here.”

“Obviously, they went to find the exit. Something we should be doing.” The noble try to stand, but Jez pushes him back down.

“Rest.”

“You should listen to her. You and I are useless in our current shape.

“So, we should just waste our time sitting here?”

“I don’t see anything wrong with that. We have plenty of time till nightfall.” Thanks to the glass ceiling, I was able to see the orange dye sky. “Since we have nothing better to do right now, we might as well introduce ourselves.” I sat down next to the noble and Jez. “My name is Catherine Heart. Jez, you can just keep calling me, ugh, cat.” It physically hurt giving myself that nickname.

“Cat, huh, that’s a fitting name for you.” The noble snicker.

“Why don’t you introduce yourself, ass.”

“Gladly.” The noble took a deep breath which filled me with regret for allowing him to handle his introduction. “My name is Maximillian Phoenix, the rightful heir to the house of ph-

“Just call him Max, Jez.”

“Don’t you dare shorten my magnificent name!”

“Hi. Max.”

“Ugh!” Max lets out a groan. “Fine, if we’re going to give each other nicknames, what should we call you? Red hood?”

“No.” Jez dismissively shook her head and then pointed at herself. “I’m. Jez.” Then she pointed at the wyvern perch on her shoulder. “Dark.”

“I like Red hood better. By the way, why are you covering your face with your hood.” Max reach for Jez’s hood, but the wyvern snapped at his fingers.

“Bad. Scars.”

To be honest, I became more curious about Jez’s face when she mentions her scar. But unlike Max, I had no intention of pressuring her. However, there is something else I’m curious about I need to know.

“Jez, you do realize you’re participating in a tournament, right?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, that’s good.” I felt a huge burden lift from my heart. Before we enter the city, Jez told me her main destination was the adventure guild. So, I felt guilty when I heard she followed me to this dangerous place. But it seems she also wants to but here.

I wonder what she’s trying to achieve taking part in something so dangerous. Same with Max. If he’s really a part of the Phoenix clan, why is he participating in this tournament? He should already have everything he ever wanted.

“Ahh!” I let out a sigh and looked at the clouds drift past the window.

I know this my first time in a tournament, but something feels off. These trials don’t make any sense to me. Scar said that these trials were designed to weed out the weak. If that’s the case, then why didn’t they just have us keep fighting until there were only twenty or ten of us left? Instead, they are making us work in a three-man team with people who were most likely trying to kill each other.

It doesn’t feel like these trials were simply designed to find the strength. Rather it feels like they’re looking for something else. What exactly that something is, I have no idea.

“Hey, what are you kids doing in our turf?” I snapped out my head by the sounds of footsteps and snickering.

“I heard the tournament trials were being held in the area, so they must be participating.” Four rough-looking men walk down the hall. Every single one of them had their hands on their weapon.

“Aren’t you guys also in the tournament?”

“No, they’re not. They’re from a local gang.” I slowly reached for my knife. “We don’t want any trouble.”

“How funny. You say you don’t want trouble, but you guys came to our territory and caused a commotion. Sorry, but blood must be paid with blood, and we fully intend on spilling the blood of every bastard in this theater.”

This isn’t good Max still can’t move properly because his spirit hasn’t returned, and I’m too exhausted to run or fight.

“Jez, take Max and call for help! Aaron or Emma should be nearby!”

“No.” Jez step in front of me. “I. Fight.”

“You guys hear that? She plans to fight us.” The thugs burst out laughing. “Go ahead, girl. Give it your best shot.”

"Fade.” A soft white light enveloped Jez’s entire body.

“Shit, she can use aura!” The men rush down Jez.

“To.” The aura around her cane suddenly became darker. “Black.” Jez slammed her cane into the ground. Her blacken aura spread from the cane quickly spread across the ground, then right before my eyes, Jez’s darken aura and the floor vanished. Somehow, we were floating over a bottomless black hole.

“Dark.” During everyone we was all staring at the black hole beneath us. Dark launch off Jez’s shoulder and flew towards men. Slamming into one of the goon’s chests, knocking the men to the ground gasping for air. The three swung their weapon at the wyvern that flew dangerously close to them.

Jez, slowly approaches the group while holding her cane up to her face. Carefully, she pulled her cane apart, revealing it wasn’t a cane. It was sheathed, holding a beautiful black blade. Once her sword was fully unsheathed, she vanishes from everyone's sight.

“Where the hell did that blind bitch go?”

“Doesn’t matter! Kill the other two.” One of the thugs pulls out a gun and aims at me and max.

“Crap, get down!” I grabbed Max's sleeve and threw both of us to the ground. The man readjusts his aim, just as he was about to pull the trigger, Dark swoop down on the thug and claw at his face.

“Get it off me!”

“Stay still. I’ll get it!” The thug next to the man getting attack reaches for the wyvern. However, before he could grab it, blood splashes on his face. “What?” confused, he looked down to see his arm on the floor covered in his blood. The man opens his mouth wide, but before he could utter a word, he was sent flying by a mysterious force. Jez appears where the dismembered man was originally standing, her black blade covered in blood.

“How dare you!” The last guy charges Jez. He raised his sword swung downward. Jez calmly blocks the overhead strike with her sheathe. Then, with a slight twist of her wrist, Jez moves the sword aside, leaving the man wide open.

Dumbfounded, the thug silently stares at Jez, who thrusts her blade into his stomach.

“Gah!” The goon grabbed his stomach in shocked. However, strangely, there was no wound, nor was there any blood. Confuse, the man looked down to see Jez’s blade was hovering inches near his stomach.

“Run. Now.”

“R-Right! Of course!” Both the man who got clawed by dark and the one who was nearly impaled turn and made a run for it.

“Wait.” Dark flew in front of the fleeing men stopping them in their tracks.

“W-What is it?” The man turns towards Jez. His face was ghostly pale.

“Take. Them.” Jez pointed her sheathe at the injured men next to her.

“Oh, right.” The two men picked up their injured comrades and fled down the hall as fast as they could. Once they were out of sight, the floor return to normal.

“Whoa, Jez.” I stare, stunned at Jez as she wipes the blood off her blade and puts it back into her sheath, once again, taking the appearance of a walking cane that has a silver goat head as a handle.

“Interesting.” Max rubbed his chin while observing Jez. “So, you possess a gift just like me. And from the looks of it, your power is invisibility, right?”

“Yes.” Jez nodded her head.

I guess that explains how I never notice her following me. And how she appears right in front of me during the second trial. I never thought Jez would be the one I consider to be the greatest threat in the tournament. Still, with that ability, she can easily take people out without anyone ever notice she was there, and what more impressive is her aura. It looked like she used it to strengthen her ability. I always thought aura was just a technique to increase a person's strength. But it looks like it has much more utility than that.

“So, are you guys planning on following those losers, or are we just going sit here like an idiot?”

“Huh? Why?” I turn to Max, who quizzically tilts his head.

“If those thugs just enter the theater, then that means they know where the exit is.”

“Ah.” Both Jez and I let out a dumb sound.

“Did you two really not realize that?”

“!!!!!!!” A blood-curdling scream echo through the hallway.

“What…. was that?” I pointed my blade in the direction the noise came from while slowly backing away.

“I think that was the gang from earlier. Crap, if another team found them, then we need to move now. We can’t let another team found the exit before us. They might seal it and trap us in here.”

“Right.” Jez nodded her head and ran towards the direction the noise was coming from with her pet leaving Max and me behind.

“Why the hell you still standing around here like an idiot? Jez may be strong, but she can’t take on a team by herself. She needs you.”

“And so do you. You can barely move.”

“Me needing you.” Max chuckles. “I’m not that desperate.”

“Listen, I know you hate me, but we’re a team now, so we need to- “

“Work together, right.” Max snickers. “What bullshit. Did you forget that only one person can win this tournament? We’re not a team. We’re merely using each other so, be useful and secure my exist for me.

“Wow, you really can’t but to be a douche. But you’re right. So be useful to me and survive your powers will come in handy.” I backed away from Max and ran towards Jez to back her up.”

.

.

.

“After the horrifying scream. An unsettling silence fell over the hallway. A young man dressed in a gaudy red suit constantly opens and closes his hand, anxiously waiting for his strength to return. Then, after what felt like an eternity, flames appear in the palm of his hand.

“Welcome back Prometheus, let’s get to work.” Max stood up and straightened his tie. He headed towards Jez and Catherine's direction but then abruptly stopped and looked at the door they enter.

Ninety-nine people enter through that door, yet the only people I saw when I enter is my team and some gangsters that broke in. Not only that but, this trial is competitive by nature, yet I haven’t heard any skirmishes at all, only silence.

“Could it be?” Max open the iron door he entered through. “!” What he saw made him gasp. “I-I see now” Max stagger backward, unable to accept what he’s seeing. “This isn’t a theater anymore; this is a labyrinth."