•The Blood Game Begins
The next morning, five hundred candidates stood in the Grand Coliseum's center. Above them, in floating observation boxes, sat the leaders of W.N. and G.P.F.-Master Lee, Xion Fury, and the other continental masters, including a newly promoted Master Kunal, now radiating S-Rank power.
Master Lee's voice echoed across the silent arena. "The first trial: The Hunt of the Sundered Realm. You will be transported to an isolated domain where ancient monsters and... other prey... await. Your task: collect trophies. Monster cores, rare herbs, and the tokens of defeated opponents."
Xion Fury stood, his presence dominating the space. "There are no rules in the Sundered Realm. No protections. No medics standing by. If you die, you die. If you quit, you fail. Only the top two hundred by trophy count will advance."
A massive portal swirled to life at the arena's edge-a tearing wound in reality that showed glimpses of a broken landscape beyond.
"The hunt lasts three days," Master Lee said. "Begin."
The rush was immediate and brutal.
_____
•First Blood in Broken Lands
The Sundered Realm was a place of shattered floating islands, blood-red skies, and twisted vegetation. The air tasted of ozone and decay. The moment Lei Shan's team materialized on a rocky outcrop, they heard the first screams.
Not far away, a team from a minor Arcanis academy had encountered a pack of Void-Stalkers-six-legged creatures with too many teeth and claws that shredded stone. Before they could form a proper defense, the creatures were among them.
"By the gods..." Aakash whispered, watching in horror.
A Void-Stalker leaped on a young wizard, its claws tearing through his magical wards like paper. The boy screamed as black talons dug into his shoulders, blood spraying in arcs as the creature shook him like a ragdoll. His teammates tried to help, but another Stalker tackled one from behind, its jaws closing on her leg with a wet crunch of breaking bone.
"Should we help?" Priya asked, her face pale.
Lei Shan's eyes were hard. "They're already dead. And helping them would make us targets. We move."
He was right. Even as the Void-Stalkers finished their grisly work, another team emerged from the rocks-the Kaelthar warriors led by Borok. They didn't attack the monsters; they waited for them to finish, then moved in to claim both the monster cores and the dead students' tokens.
Borok noticed Lei Shan watching and grinned, holding up a bloody token. "First lesson, desert flower! In here, everything is prey!"
______
•The Dragon's Wrath - Moon Island
Far from the political games of Ozythra, a real war was beginning.
Moon Island, a strategic outpost off the coast of Arcanis, was burning.
The sky was black with smoke and the leathery wings of dragons. General Rudin's invasion force had arrived in full force. The initial portal had disgorged a hundred lesser dragons-wyverns and drakes-that now swarmed over the island's defensive walls, breathing streams of acid and fire.
The G.P.F. garrison was being torn to pieces.
A young soldier, barely twenty, raised his energy rifle, his hands shaking. "Hold the line! For Arcanis!"
A massive black drake landed before him, its scales deflecting the rifle's blasts. It opened its maw, and a torrent of black acid vomited forth. The soldier screamed as the corrosive liquid ate through his armor, then his flesh, then his bones. In seconds, he was a dissolving puddle of meat and metal, his screams cut short in a sickening gurgle.
From the command bunker, Captain Valerius of the G.P.F. watched the slaughter on his scrying orb, his face a mask of horror and fury.
"Where are the S-Ranks?! We're being slaughtered out there!"
As if in answer, the sky above the island split open.
A figure descended, wreathed in lightning. It was Master Leo, the S-Rank Wizard, brother of Lee Dean. His eyes crackled with raw power, and the very air grew heavy with ozone.
"Enough."
His voice was a peal of thunder. He raised a hand, and the clouds above coalesced into a massive vortex.
"Storm Law: Heaven's Judgment!"
Bolts of lightning, each as thick as an ancient tree, rained down upon the dragon horde. The explosions were deafening. Dragons were vaporized mid-flight, their ashes raining down like black snow. The shockwaves threw others to the ground, where G.P.F. soldiers finished them with blades and spells.
But General Rudin, observing from a cloaked position, merely smiled. This was the reaction he had hoped for. He raised a clawed hand, and a deeper, darker portal began to tear open behind the front lines.
From it emerged a new horror. A Bone-Crusher Wyrm, a creature the size of a small mountain, its body covered in jagged, stone-like plates and its maw capable of biting a fortress in half. It was a siege beast, a living weapon of mass destruction.
It slammed into the G.P.F. defensive line, ignoring spells and artillery fire. Its tail, a massive club of bone and scale, swept through a platoon of soldiers. The sound of breaking bodies was like a thousand trees snapping at once. Men were pulverized into red mist and mangled flesh.
Master Leo's eyes narrowed. This was a problem.
At that moment, a second S-Rank arrived. Not a wizard, but an attacker. Lady Anya, the "Silent Blade" of Veyrath, materialized on the back of the Bone-Crusher Wyrm in a blur of motion. Her twin short swords, "Whisper" and "Murmur," glowed with a deadly purple light.
She drove both blades deep into the beast's neck, seeking a gap in its armor. Black blood, hot and reeking of sulfur, geysered out, drenching her. The wyrm roared in agony and thrashed, trying to dislodge her. She held on, her muscles straining, sawing through tendon and bone with grim determination.
The battle for Moon Island had just escalated into a clash of titans, and the bloodshed was only beginning.
______
• The Hunt Intensifies
For the first day, Lei Shan's team moved with careful precision. They avoided major conflicts, hunting smaller monsters and gathering rare spirit herbs that grew in the realm's dangerous crevices.
But the Sundered Realm was designed to force confrontation.
On the second day, they found themselves cornered in a canyon by a massive Stone-Scale Hydra. The creature stood three stories tall, its seven heads weaving through the air, each capable of spitting acid that dissolved rock.
"Form up!" Lei Shan commanded. "Aakash, shield the left! Mohit, take the right flank! Priya, aim for the eyes!"
The battle was fierce and bloody. Aakash's shield glowed blue as he deflected acid sprays, the liquid eating into the metal with hissing fury. Mohit danced between the Hydra's striking heads, his spear drawing black blood with every thrust. Priya's spells blinded two of the heads, making them thrash wildly.
But the real danger came from other hunters.
As they fought the Hydra, the Veyrath team emerged from hiding. Elina watched with calculating eyes as her team began harvesting rare crystals from the canyon walls-their true target all along.
"Don't mind us," she called sweetly. "We're just collecting what's valuable."
Lei Shan knew the truth-they were waiting for the Hydra to weaken his team before moving in for the kill.
The Hydra, enraged by its injuries, went berserk. One head slammed into Aakash's shield with enough force to send him flying backward. He hit the canyon wall with a sickening crunch, his armor cracking, blood spraying from his mouth.
"Aakash!" Mohit screamed, distracted for just a second-long enough for a Hydra head to strike him from the side. Talons ripped through his side, tearing muscle and cracking ribs. He fell, his blood pooling on the stone.
Priya tried to maintain her spells, but two more Hydra heads were now focused on her. "Lei Shan! I can't hold them!"
Lei Shan's eyes narrowed. The Veyrath team was moving into position, their weapons drawn. The Hydra was bleeding but not defeated. His team was broken.
It was time to stop holding back.
________
•The Golden Storm
Lei Shan moved like lightning. Not with his full power-that would reveal too much-but with enough to change the battle.
He didn't summon the bead. Instead, he drew on the minimal energy he allowed himself-a fraction of a fraction of his true power.
"Stay down!" he ordered his team as he leaped toward the Hydra.
His hands glowed with golden light as he formed a blade of pure energy. The Hydra's heads struck at him simultaneously, but he moved between them like wind, his energy blade slicing through scales, muscle, and bone.
"Heavenly Cut: Sevenfold Decapitation!"
Seven precise strikes. Seven falling heads. The Hydra's massive body collapsed, shaking the canyon floor.
But Lei Shan didn't stop. He turned toward the Veyrath team, his eyes burning with cold fire. "You wanted trophies?" he said, his voice echoing with power. "Come claim them."
Elina's confident smile vanished. She raised a hand, stopping her team. "A miscalculation," she said smoothly. "We meant no offense."
She bowed slightly and gestured for her team to retreat, their prize crystals forgotten.
The moment they were gone, Lei Shan's power faded, and he stumbled, catching himself against the dead Hydra. Using even that much energy had cost him.
Priya was already tending to their wounded. Aakash's breathing was labored-several ribs broken, internal bleeding. Mohit was conscious but losing blood fast from the deep gashes in his side.
"We need to get out of here," Priya said, her hands glowing with healing energy. "Other teams will have heard the fight."
Lei Shan nodded, extracting the Hydra's massive core. "This should guarantee our advancement. But we're vulnerable now. We need to find shelter."
As they helped their wounded teammates away, the true nature of the trials became clear. This wasn't just about hunting monsters-it was about surviving both the realm's dangers and the other competitors who saw every weakness as an opportunity.
______
•Dirty Tricks
Back in the coliseum's second round, Lei Shan's team faced the "Sand Vipers" from Dravania.
The Vipers' leader, Jarek, gave a mocking bow. "We've heard about you, AA-Rank. Let's see if you're worth the title."
The battle began normally until Lei Shan noticed a faint shimmer around Priya. "Priya, move!" he shouted.
Too late. Her foot landed on a hidden rune. "Venom-Laced Rune: Paralysis Web!"
Glowing green strands wrapped around her, searing through her robes. She collapsed, paralyzed, eyes wide with pain.
Jarek laughed. "One down!"
Enraged, Mohit lunged recklessly. A crossbow bolt from the crystalline forest took him in the shoulder. His arm went limp, spear falling.
Aakash, distracted, took a heavy blow that broke his guard.
Jarek turned to Lei Shan. "Looks like you're all alone, AA-Rank."
Lei Shan's calm shattered. "You play with lives as if they are toys."
Jarek sneered. "It's just a game."
"No," Lei Shan said, eyes glowing faint gold. "It's not."
He moved like a hurricane. His palm struck Jarek's elbow-wet, explosive SNAP. The arm bent backwards, bone tearing through skin in a blood spray. Before Jarek could scream, Lei Shan's fist drove into his solar plexus, blasting air from his lungs, making him vomit bile and blood.
Lei Shan spun, his leg sweeping out to shatter the knee of the Viper who shot Mohit. The joint disintegrated with grinding gravel sounds. The man dropped, howling.
The remaining Viper surrendered, face terrified.
The coliseum fell into stunned silence. Lei Shan stood amidst broken bodies, knuckles smeared with blood, his gaze challenging the judges' box.
He then healed Priya with a touch of golden light. She looked up at him with new fear-not of enemies, but of his power.
______
•The Butcher's Bill
By the third day, the Sundered Realm had become a charnel house. Of five hundred candidates, less than three hundred remained. Bodies littered the landscape-torn by monsters or killed in brutal ambushes.
Lei Shan's team hid in caves while Priya healed their severe injuries. "I can't fully heal them," she reported, exhausted. "The damage is too severe."
Lei Shan examined their trophies. "We have enough to advance. Priority is survival."
When the portal reopened, survivors emerged like ghosts-bloodied, broken, missing limbs. Medical teams rushed forward, but for some, it was too late.
Master Lee addressed them. "Two hundred seventy-three remain. The rest are dead or broken. Congratulations-you passed the first trial."
His eyes swept over the battered candidates. "Rest and heal. The next trial begins in two days. It will be worse."
As Lei Shan helped his wounded teammates toward medical tents, he caught Elina watching him thoughtfully. Borok gave a grudging nod of respect. Alaric made notes, analyzing every injury.
The games were over. The real bloodshed was just beginning.
____
•The Architect's Gaze
In a chamber floating high above the coliseum, far beyond the perception of any candidate, three figures observed the Sundered Realm through a mosaic of shimmering screens. Master Lee sipped tea, his expression unreadable. Xion Fury stood like a granite monument, arms crossed. The newly promoted Master Kunal radiated a calm, deep-sea pressure that had not been there before.
"The filtration rate is within projected parameters," Kunal noted, his voice devoid of its previous boastfulness. The S-Rank promotion had sanded away his ego, leaving only cold efficiency. "Forty-five point four percent attrition. The realm is performing its function."
Xion's eyes were fixed on a screen showing Lei Shan's team helping their wounded into a medical tent. "The AA-Rank from the desert. His performance is... surgically precise. He moves only when necessary. Exposes only what is required."
"He understands the first rule of survival in a den of predators," Master Lee said softly. "Do not appear to be the fattest calf." He gestured, and the view zoomed in on Lei Shan's hands as they channeled golden energy to heal Priya. "This energy signature. It is not listed in any Arcanis registry. It is ancient. Pristine."
"Shall we intervene? Test him directly?" Kunal asked, the eagerness of a hunter faintly coloring his new-found detachment.
"Not yet," Lee countered. "A blade being tempered should not be struck before the metal has set. Observe. The other predators will test him for us." He shifted the view to Elina of Veyrath, who was meticulously cleaning her daggers while her team set up wards. "She recognizes an anomaly. Borok senses a rival. They are better probes than we could ever deploy."
______
• The Butcher's Tally
The medical tents were a gallery of suffering. The air was thick with the scent of blood, antiseptic magic, and the ozone-tang of severed limbs being cauterized. Priya worked alongside the medics, her healing magic a gentle green glow against the harsh white of emergency spells. Aakash and Mohit lay on cots, their breathing shallow but stable.
Lei Shan stood by the entrance, a silent sentinel. He watched as a team from a northern glacier city was brought in. Only one survivor, a girl missing both legs below the knee, clutching the tokens of her dead comrades. Her eyes were vacant, lost to shock. This was not a trial; it was a factory that processed hope and produced corpses.
Borok and his Kaelthar warriors marched past, barely scathed, their trophies clattering in large sacks. Borok stopped, his shadow falling over Lei Shan.
"You fight with surprising fire, desert flower," he grunted, his gaze lingering on Lei Shan's knuckles, still smeared with Jarek's dried blood. "But fire attracts attention. In the next trial, there will be no caves to hide in." He leaned in closer, his voice a low rumble. "My team will be coming for your trophies. And your tokens."
Lei Shan met his gaze, his own eyes flat and devoid of fear. "Come then," he said, his voice quiet but clear. "The harvest is always plentiful for the reaper."
Borok's grin was all teeth. He clapped Lei Shan on the shoulder with a force that would have broken a normal man's collarbone, then moved on.
From across the tent complex, Elina watched the exchange, a small, analytical smile on her lips. She didn't see a rival or prey. She saw a puzzle. He allows the provocation, but his energy remains placid. Not a lake, but an ocean trench. What lies beneath?
Her second-in-command, a slender boy with silver hair, whispered, "His tactical assessment just increased by thirty points. His threat level is... unquantifiable."
"Precisely," Elina murmured. "A variable. And variables are the most valuable resource in any game."
______
•Moon Island - The Turning Tide
On Moon Island, the titans clashed. The Bone-Crusher Wyrm was dying, but its death throes were a weapon. Lady Anya, coated in black blood, was thrown clear as the beast convulsed, its tail whipping across the battlefield and carving a new chasm into the island.
Master Leo hovered above, his lightning now focused on closing the dark portal from which the Wyrm had emerged. "Rudin! Show yourself! Or are you content to hide like a coward while your beasts die for you?!"
From the shimmering air above the portal, General Rudin materialized. He had shed his humanoid guise. Now, he stood in his full draconic majesty—a being of scale and shadow, with wings that blotted out the smoke-choked sky. In his clawed hand, he held not a weapon, but a pulsating, black crystal.
"Cowardice, Leo? This is economics." Rudin's voice was the sound of grinding continents. "The Wyrm cost me a pittance. It forced the deployment of two S-Ranks. It revealed your defensive response patterns. And it bought me the time I needed to fully anchor this."
He raised the black crystal. It pulsed, and the very air of Moon Island grew heavy. The G.P.F. soldiers still fighting felt their strength wane, their magical rifles flickering.
"A Null-Source Anchor," Lady Anya spat, getting to her feet. "You're trying to turn the island into a dead zone."
"A resource denial strategy," Rudin corrected. "If I cannot have this island, then neither can you. My master grows tired of your federation's expansion."
Master Leo's face was grim. This was no longer a battle for territory; it was a battle against a strategic weapon. The calculus had changed. The cost of holding Moon Island was about to skyrocket.
• The Second Trial - Annihilation
Two days later, the two hundred and seventy-three remaining candidates stood in the coliseum once more. The air was different. The spectacle was gone, replaced by a grim finality.
Master Lee addressed them. "The first trial tested your will to fight. The second will test your capacity to survive. You will be teleported to the Storm Plains. There are no monsters there. There are no herbs to gather. There is only one objective: Endure."
Xion Fury took a step forward. "The environment is the enemy. The very air will seek to flay the flesh from your bones. The ground will try to swallow you whole. Magical storms will drain your energy until you are a dry husk. You may form temporary alliances. You may fight over the few shelters that exist. There are no rules."
"The trial ends when one hundred remain," Master Lee finished, his gaze sweeping over them like a physical weight. "One hundred and seventy-three of you will die. Or break. Begin."
The teleportation was violent, a wrenching dislocation. Lei Shan's team materialized on a vast, cracked plain under a raging, violet sky. Howling winds immediately tore at them, carrying grit that scored their armor. In the distance, terrifying electrical storms raged, and they could feel their personal energy reserves subtly leaching away into the hostile atmosphere.
Aakash immediately raised his shield, a blue dome flickering against the wind. "The energy drain is constant! My shield won't last an hour!"
Mohit pointed his spear towards a jagged rock formation in the distance. "Shelter! But look!"
Other teams had also seen it. Dozens of candidates were already sprinting towards it, and the first clashes had begun. Spells and steel flashed at the base of the rocks as teams fought desperately for a haven from the storm.
Lei Shan's eyes scanned the chaotic plain, analyzing the flow of energy, the patterns of the storms, the desperation of the hunters. The first trial had been a test of aggression. This was a test of endurance and resource management. The greatest resource here was not strength, but time.
"Not the rocks," Lei Shan commanded, his voice cutting through the gale. "That's the obvious choice. It will be a meat grinder."
"Then where?" Priya asked, her face already tight with the strain of resisting the environmental drain.
Lei Shan looked down at the cracked earth beneath his feet. He channeled the tiniest spark of his golden energy, not to attack, but to sense. He felt a hollow space below. A cavern, untouched by the others.
"Here," he said, kneeling. "We dig. Our shelter isn't on the plain. It's under it."
The true test had begun. Not of power against power, but of will against a world designed to break it. And in the skies above Moon Island, a different kind of breaking was underway, one that would soon send ripples through every corner of the world, including the artificial hell of the Storm Plains. The Blood Game was evolving, and the price of a seat at the table was rising.
To be continue....