8 The End of trials

Jayesh and Stanis conversed with David and Caleb. The topic of the talk quickly steered to the trials they had been through, interestingly something that neither Caleb nor David seemed unfazed by. In fact, the two of them seemed quite chipper about it as they talked about the difficulties they had overcome.

It was a topic everyone still alive at this stage could talk about, something that they could all connect to. Despite no one opening up or going into too much detail, both parties expressed good-will towards the other as they identified them as some of the few good left in a sea of bad.

The trio of scumbags conspired in hushed whispers, arguing when they should act. At first, they had thought of acting now but had shortly realised that the message could come at any moment. It would be better to act after everyone had, hopefully, split up.

However, minutes later, the message still showed no signs of appearing, nor any cues as to why, and so the three ran out of patience. At worst, the people here would stop them, but wouldn't kill them.

Why? Because this was a team activity; each trial had only gotten harder, and facing a ten man trial with only seven would be indistinguishable from suicide. On the other hand, at bestthey could…

Having agreed, one of the Indian men turned to Jayesh before almost walking towards him. He was quickly stopped by the other Indian man who said, "Forget it Romesh, he's surrounded by many others. He might be a brother, but he might not be one for our cause. Let's just do it instead."

Romesh seemed won over as he stopped in his tracks, to the interest of Stanis and Caleb who saw this as Jayesh and David talked onwards. They were certain something was about to happen.

The trio made their move as they walked closer to the injured Asian and European girl, alongside the wild looking African lady. It was as they were walking over that the Asian man pursed his lips, before letting loose a wolf whistle.

This seemed to catch everyone's attention as all eyes turned to the group, now in the centre of attention and in terms of positioning. Apparently unfazed by the attention, Romesh let out some sincere words of adoration.

"Hey baby, are you feeling a bit down? How about you let me make you feel good again?"

If looks could kill, Romesh wouldn't have made any more steps forward.

But looks couldn't, and Romesh did.

"Look babe, you're patching her up all bad. I can teach you, alongside my good friends", said the other Indian man as he motioned to Romesh and the Asian. Both of them smiled sincerely, although the meaning was far more malevolent than suggested.

The two girls were both frightened as they saw the trio advance, regardless of how cold the atmosphere had gotten.

Jayesh was now shaking, his arms tense as he forced himself not to move. Stanis had already taken a step in front of him in order to stop him, although he didn't know how long the effect would last considering the trio had only gotten worse. It was to his luck, or bad luck that the message finally appeared.

[This is your final trial, the final wall between you and your home planet. You are set in two teams of ten, each around 1km away from the other. You have 2 hours to reduce the number from 20 to at least 10.

Good luck!

Number of participants now alive: 20]

The Asian man took this opportunity to make his say.

"Will you look at that, we are going to need everyone in tip-top condition if we are to win this. How about this: we help you, and you help us back?

What do you say about that boys?"

He said this as he turned around to look at the four remaining guys who were still standing back, although Jayesh only got further incensed as he saw his provocative look. Stanis too could feel anger bubbling inside of him.

As for David and Caleb, both of them were standing back, waiting to see how everyone else would act…

The trio were now within striking range as they made one more peaceful notion to convince the girls.

The Indian guy, with a mocking tone in his voice, said: "Come on, why can't we just—"

He was stopped in the midst of his sentence as Jayesh was already far too furious to let this slide.

"FUCKING LAY OFF HER YOU BASTARD!"

He then began charging at the three who were now frozen. Well kind of: they were frozen but it wasn't three…

In fact, Jayesh had been a second too late to make his debut, after all the trio had forgotten that not only were the girls within striking range of them, they were also in the striking range of the girls.

The African lady, within a split second, had moved one foot forward which was followed by her spear, which shot onwards like a striking snake. The blade at the end pierced through the Indian man's face, blood now dripping down his body.

But that wasn't the end as the blade exited through the other end, before reversing its way out. It made a line of blood across the ground as it slid out, all of this happening within a single second. The trio didn't even have time to think, nevertheless react.

It was then that the remaining duo finally took in what had happened, as their hands shot to their weapons before striking them out.

<Activate Titan's Taunt>

A moment later, the two felt intense, burning desire to attack the thing behind them as they rotated their bodies. What met them wasn't a human, rather a towering, grey Giant who smashed his spiky club into Romesh's face. It went beyond disfigured as bones cracked, the man collapsing to the ground only to lie in agony as he awaited death.

Funnily enough, the African woman hadn't shown any sign of emotion so far, not even as she had pierced a head. But now her lips curled menacingly, before she let out a single word.

"Interesting", her voice was rough and sharp, exactly like her image but in direct contrast with a typical woman's. She then leapt in front of the Asian man, now only a breath away.

<Activate Dominance>

It would be too far of an understatement to say that the man broke out into fear. Instead, it was more accurate to say that, despite the burning desire he still felt to attack Jayesh, his mind still overruled that in terms of priority as he fell down to his knees in shivers, breaking down into tears and snot within moments as he began pathetically begging towards the African lady.

It was fair to say that everyone here had seen their fair share of violence and gore after passing the trials, but not a single one of them had ever faced anything as intrinsically alarming as this as they saw the man earnestly lick the ground, as he continued bawling out requests of mercy.

It showed quite clearly how the woman had been fighting all this time…

Instead of being disturbed like the rest of them, the African woman merely let out a tinkle of laughter, before violently slamming her foot into his face. She then followed it up with an overhead stab downwards, onto the now-helpless man.

Even Jayesh, who had been previously enraged, could feel his skin trembling and a weakness in his knees as the lady's ability affected him. His anger had completely dissipated after he saw the cruel demonstration in front of him; it was fair to say that he was now more scared than angry as his eyes were locked onto the African lady.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that a dropped pin would be as loud as thunder in this moment, as no one moved or talked, almost as if people had forgotten how to. It was as people came back to their senses that they began to hear the messages.

[Number of participants now alive: 19]

[Number of participants now alive: 18]

[Number of participants now alive: 17]

The African lady then tilted her head up, before locking eyes against Jayesh's. She met him with deadly, provocative eyes, although was to be disappointed as Jayesh refused the challenge.

Dispirited, she raised her spear before flicking the blood of the spearhead in an arc. She then calmly walked back to where she had been standing, careless of the multiple gazes directed at her with mixed emotions.

It felt like an eternity had passed as people finally released their breaths; such a monster was far too dangerous for them to be calm around. Within seconds, the centre of the circle had transformed: from a trio of men, to now a trio of bloody corpses with one grey-giant in the middle.

His mana finally run out, Jayesh released his transformation before walking back away from the girls, towards Stanis and the others. There was a long awkward pause before David felt like he had enough as he stepped forward.

"Alright guys, we are going to have to work together if we want to pass this trial. We can all go home after this, doesn't that sound nice?"

He sported a jolly smile before continuing on.

"Let me see to that wound, I can fix you up in a jiffy!"

It was almost like the past was being repeated as all gazes were now on David, no one willing to believe he actually was doing this.

David seemed to innocently notice his error as he dropped his weapon down next to him, before exaggeratingly motioning to the African lady that he had nothing in his hands.

"Don't worry, I've got plenty of practice in healthcare. Besides I'd rather not be on the receiving end of that spear!"

He forced out a joke as he moved closer to the girls. Caleb decided to join him, only to meet the African lady's inquisitive gaze as she noticed that he still held onto his weapon. Unlike the others, he stared at her straight on, before smiling and claiming, "Don't worry, we're a team."

Stanis could swear that he saw the African lady half-smile at that…

A few minutes later, David was done with some rough bandaging around the Asian girl's foot as he once again stood up. Seeing as he was the most agreeable person here, he decided to step up as the leader as he motioned everyone close.

"We can't be a team without even knowing namesguys. How about we all introduce ourselves?

I'll go first, I'm David, born and bred in the U.S.A". He then did his trademark-innocent smile, before motioning to Caleb.

"Hey guys. I'm Caleb, from the U.S just like David."

This carried onwards around the circle.

"I'm Stanis. Nice to meet you all".

"My name is Jayesh, a pleasure to make your acquaintance".

The Asian girl shyly went next, "I'm Lucy, thanks for helping me", followed by the blonde girl "Hi, I'm Sarah", and finally the star of the show,

"I am Orena".

It wasn't the greatest start, but certainly a step in the right direction as the mood went from beyond-chilly to bearable.

David was all smiles as he then began walking deeper into the forest. "I think it's this way guys!"

The rest followed, although with great caution at where they stepped, and more importantly, who was behind them.

It was as they were walking that the messages came.

[Number of participants now alive: 16]

One more step.

[Number of participants now alive: 15]

[Number of participants now alive: 14]

A few more steps.

[Number of participants now alive: 13]

[Number of participants now alive: 12]

Everyone paused as they waited for the messages to end.

[Number of participants now alive: 11]

[Number of participants now alive: 10]

[You have 10 more minutes remaining. If you are alive by the end of that, you have passed.

Number of participants now alive: 9]

They remained standing at the spot, happy at the notion of passing without doing much, but also far too paranoid to sit down and relax due in the company of strangers. There was also the fact that nearly all of the opposing team had killed themselves within a few seconds, further worsening the mood.

There was only one minute remaining as the last message came.

[Number of participants now alive: 8]

Nothing else occurred after that, as the final message all had been waiting for then appeared.

[Well done Humans, you have passed the final trial, and thus the tutorial. You will now be transported back to your home planet.

We hope you had a great experience in our tutorial!]

[Now a message from the host: "Well done Humans, at least those of you who have made it so far. I said you would return home, and that you will do. Just a note to say that your home will no longer be what you remember it being.

Each team will be placed into random groups, and scattered over a small selection of Land. Your planet will now be more like the tutorial, just with a lot more freedom, although that comes at the cost of massively increased danger.

The reason why we placed you in this, what some may call, a cruel trial is to weed out the weakest. Your planet will no longer be the same again, and I, as your sponsor, wholeheartedly hope that you will all survive on your planet having experienced the true reality of life.

Good Luck!"]

Stanis once again felt a sting across his body, before finding himself back in the starting place, the area with no floor, no sky, no air, no nothing. But this time it wasn't just him, instead, it was also everyone else from the trial he had just passed.

He finally got to see the only person from the opposing team. It was a white, tall and muscular male. His body was wide and his jawline sharp. The man had cold, grey eyes that evaluated everyone from his team with great scrutiny.

Naturally, as the sole survivor of his group, he had blood all over his clothes and skin. Although interestingly enough, he had no cuts or injuries on himself…

And then Stanis lost consciousness. The next time he would be awake would be back on Earth, back on Land and most importantly back Home. Well, what was left of it anyway…