Fight [ 1 ]

[ Ascension Realm - Fortress 45 - Time Elapsed ( 25 minutes ) ]

A desolate landscape devoid of life, not a speck of green can be seen. It was a land of jagged rocks and dust, with the occasional ravine splitting the earth. As the dry wind swept through, gusts of dust erupt in a torrent of waves.

Like a dense fog the scorching haze of the three blazing suns enveloped the barren biome. It was a truly harsh environment.

And in such a place a purple vortex came into existence. From it, three figures were expelled. Crashing straight onto the blistered ground, Kai fell straight onto his back.

He felt the full force of Sammi's impressive tackle, almost losing his breath. Still he kept his hold on Sia's hand, he didn't let go. Which in turn had caused her to fall alongside the two.

"Ugh…"

"Fuck!"

Sia and Kai groaned from the pain. Sammi, who had fallen atop of Kai and Sia, not feeling much of the impact, sat up from her cushioned landing.

She was still in a panicked state as not even five seconds had passed since she was enshrouded by darkness trying to save her friends. Bracing herself for impact, she had closed her eyes. 

Her mind was in chaos, but noticing that nothing was happening to her, she quickly opened them, only to be met with a sight that made her dismay.

They were no longer on the packed sidewalk of the bustling city of New York. Instead what she saw was a barren land of dry and coarse earth. Surrounding this seemingly endless wasteland were curved mountains pointing towards the same direction, the center of this unknown land.

As she trailed the direction of where they were pointing, two holographic panels obscured her vision. Immediately, memories of what happened a mere 5 minutes ago surged to the forefront of her mind.

These holographic panels looked exactly the same except that they were blue rather than red. But the color didn't matter to Sammi. All these holographic panels were fear inducing as they held nothing but bad news. Her mind went blank.

Those same panels appeared before Kai and Sia. Then in the next instance the melodically robotic voice once again resounded in their minds.

[ Welcome to the Ascension Realm ]┎ 

- You have been transported to the 45th Heavenly Fortress. 

- To complete the Ascension Trial, you must complete 3 Tasks. 

 ┛

[ Task 1 ]

┎ 

In 60 seconds, monsters will spawn around you and your team. Defeat the monsters and absorb their life essence.

- Life essence will be rewarded to the team that dealt the last blow to the monster.

- Life essence will be distributed evenly throughout the team at the end of each wave of monsters.

- Life essence will be converted into mana and awaken your physique.

Either survive 100 waves or reach the Fortress City at the center of the Heavenly Fortress.

- Waves end once all monsters are killed.

- Each wave will last 6 minutes and will start regardless of the completion of the previous wave.

- If the task is completed via reaching the Fortress City, the monsters will keep spawning until the completion of either the 100th wave or Task 2.

The number of spawned monsters is dependent on the size of the team.

- Teams with less than 10 members: 

 >> 2 monsters will spawn for every corresponding member. Every subsequent round the number of monsters will increase by 1.

- Teams with 10 to 99 members:

 >> 4 monsters will spawn for every corresponding member. Every subsequent round the number of monsters will increase by 2.

- Teams with 100 or more members:

 >> 10 monsters will spawn for every corresponding member. Every subsequent round the number of monsters will increase by 5.

- Monsters will continue to spawn for dead team members.

 >> Remaining monsters will attack the Fortress City.

You may bring up your task details by thinking about Task 1 with the intent to see this information.

┛

After the melodically robotic voice spoke the first sentence of Task 1 another smaller panel appeared.

[ Time Remaining ( 60 Seconds) ]

It was a timer. As the voice continued to speak on the details of Task 1, the seconds ticked down. Upon hearing that, Kai hurried to his feet, finally letting go of Sia's hand to gently push the dazed Sammi off of him. He massaged the right side of his body to lessen the pain and discomfort he felt.

'Uh… feels like a fractured rib…'

Even with his minor injury, he got into a fighting stance. He knew that he couldn't digest all the information right now, especially with the sharp pain in his side taking most of his attention. So he readied himself to react to anything, one legged stand in hand. 

Sia too got up from the ground and started to survey her surroundings. It looked like a fusion between the humid atmosphere of the Sahara Desert and the terrain of the Grand Canyon without any signs of vegetation. In simpler terms a barren wasteland.

It was truly a land devoid of life. She could not see any plants, not even dead ones. Then her eyes met Kai's who had also been looking around. He gave her a signal, directing her gaze to his makeshift baton. 

"Looks like we gotta fight, do you have anything to fight with?"

Sia was quick on the uptake and understood what he meant. In fact, she had already gotten the basic gist of what the first task entailed. She moved a few feet away to give Kai and herself some room to maneuver. Based on the Task 1 panel that she skimmed, multiple monsters were going to spawn.

"Yeah I do, but it wouldn't be too good if we get overcrowded…"

Then Sia took off her single strap purse and readied herself to swing it like a chained mace when the time arose.

Kai nodded and took a step forward in front of Sammi, steadying his foothold. Both he and Sia were keeping an eye out on the timer. Their breathing became calm as their concentration reached an extreme.