Chapter 5

I made my way out to the car where Dad and Amel were waiting for me. The black tracksuit fit perfectly to my body.

When I looked into the mirror before walking out, I tied my hair up into a high ponytail. Now I can feel it swaying back and forth with every step.

I slid into the back seat of the car next to Amel. As soon as my door closed, Dad sped out of the driveway.

Anddddd we were on our way to the Ruby arena.

I hid a smile behind my hand as we drove passed the buildings in the city. I remembered some of the houses and businesses from yesterday's drive.

I could feel excitement race through my body at the thought of unleashing my new found powers.

Well they weren't exactly new, but close enough.

Dad finally pulled into the already crowded parking lot. When we finally found a space to park in it was already 8:48. We need to hurry.

I practically ran across the huge parking lot, Dad and Amel struggled to keep up with me.

We finally reached the metal gates where the rest of the people participating lined up. I needed to wait till 9:00 for those gates to open.

I said my goodbyes to Dad and Amel as they went over to the longer line of people waiting to get tickets to watch.

I looked down at my watch for the time.

8:58

Two more minutes! More people had lined up behind me, some of them were panting. They must've ran here in hopes to make it in time.

The gate will open at 9 and anyone not in line by the time everyone had entered the arena they would be disqualified from the game. A scary thought for those who wanted to be the next ruler.

I walked underneath the gate and into the arena. Inside was covered by tinted glass, blocking the sun just enough that there was still enough light, but not too much to hurt or distract the participants.

I scanned the huge oval of the inner arena. The different arenas were divided by red tape that ran just on top of the sand, stretching from each side of the arena. The tape ran vertically and horizontally, making at least 20 arenas to fight in, maybe more.

They had Silvers lined against the walls of the arena just inside of the gate. We were to go to them to get know what arena we were to go to.

Oh I forgot to mention!

Each arena has a huge white painted number on the side closest to the gate, towards us. I scanned the lines of people in front of workers with clipboards, trying to find the shortest line.

There!

I speed walked to the line that was the farthest away but had only a few people in it's line. I waited, anxiously looking around the others in line.

Finally it was my turn to talk to the worker.

As I walked up to the women she said,"Name?"

"Vi Dazai," I replied.

She scanned the paper on the clipboard for my name with a bored look on her face.

"You're in arena 25," she said as she pointed to the field to the right of her. I'm guessing that's where I was supposed to start looking.

I headed over to the direction she pointed to. I scanned the numbers on the ground till I found the number 25.

There was someone in the arena already.

It was a man who seemed to be in his thirties. He was muscular and carried a huge sword across his back.

We were told we would be provided with our own swords so we didn't need to bring one.

I looked around the arena again and spotted the makeshift armory tucked on one side of the arena.

I headed over to pick out my sword, and I walked back to my arena spot with a thin but sturdy sword in my hands.

When I stepped into the 25th arena the man looked at me and then burst into laughter.

Ha...

He wouldn't be laughing when his blood stains the sand underneath his feet.

Breathe, Vi breathe.

I needed to calm down and keep a steady mind. So I ignored his laughter, but I did give him a glare.

Which made him laugh more.

...

Ha...! He's asking for it!

Calm. Down. Vi. Breathe!

I distracted myself by looking at the gates and watching as the last few participants ran through. Then I watched the metal gate slowly be dropped, it's teeth sunk easily into the ground underneath the sand.

A bell chimed from somewhere in the arena followed by a clear male voice in through the speakers.

"Gooooooddd morning ladies and gentlemen! Let's get ready for action! This first round will be a fight between two opponents to get the 100 participants here down to 50!! Now here are some rules. They are very simple! First thing first, if you step out of the red tap you lose! If you are injured and unable to move, you lose! If you are unfortunately killed, guess what? You lose! Haha! Remember have fun everyone!"

As the announcer voice went away a lot buzz was sounded that sent a wave of electricity through me. I was ready.

I turned back my attention to my opponent who stood there as if waiting for something to happen.

I knew I wouldn't be able to beat him with strength, so I was definitely not going to be on the offensive side.

I gave him a small twisted grin as I beaconed him forward. "Come on! Or are you too scared? You wanna run to your mommy over fighting a little girl? Come on, come kill me and get this over with!"

I needed to provoke him, but there's one problem. I'm not good at provoking people...

The man's only response was a questioning look and an arched eyebrow.

Damn it! He wasn't provoked! He was more confused about why a little girl was yelling at him to come kill her, more than my lame jabs to get him mad.

At least now he was starting to move towards me. Slowly he started walking towards me, he quickened his pace as he approached.

I dug my feet into the sand as the man rose to strike at me. The sound of metal hitting metal filled my head as he shoved his body weight onto my sword.

My feet started to slid backwards. There was nothing I could do about that. The bigger man man continued to push me backwards.

He was going to push me out of the arena. Or at the very least corner me with his body and the red tape.

He was three times bigger than me!

I looked behind me, I was almost too the line. Almost there.

The man wasn't even sweating!

I needed to do something! But I couldn't do anything. Not against his strength anyways.

My back foot was about to touch the red tape. It was now or never.

I ducked down and dropped my sword, in one swift motion I ducked into a roll and popped out on the other side of the man. Good thing he was three times bigger than me, I was able to fit just fine in the gape in between his legs.

The man's momentum carried him forward, but not all the way. As he tried to regain his balance, I braced myself with my arms, aligned my feet with his backside, and kicked him in the ass with as much strength I could manage.

The man landed face first in the sand before him, the tape was underneath his chest.

I won...

I won!

The buzzer sound not to long after. I was just staring in shock at the man I had just beaten.

I won against that huge man!

I believed I could do this but I didn't think I would be up against someone so big...

No. I'm just small. That's one of my advantages.

Then the buzz of electricity shot through her as the man spoke through the speaker again.

"Everyone who has failed this round, and you are not injured, please come to the gates so you can leave."

The man stood up, glared at me, and then started heading for the gate.

"The next round will start soon!"