CHAPTER 22: Elogian

[The Elogian Era was the time when Dwarven technology was rose to fame. Before then, all the races were rather crude when it came to their living conditions and war methods, but with the advent of Dwarven technology, all that changed.

In the beginning, the dwarves had only invented a small number of things, but their creations revolutionized the entire world. As more and more time passed, their creations got more and more sophisticated and the other races even started to develop their own things.

This made the Elogian Era the 'Age of Development' for all. The people of the time invented things beyond our imagination, things that would shock all who saw it today, truly wondrous, magical creations.

Sadly, we have lost many of these creations due to the disaster that struck the entire world at large. We can't find exactly what happened, but after that period, the world fell back into its previous state with classical technology being brought back and used actively.

Over time, the technological aspect of the world had recovered, but not to the same extent as it was before. From the artifacts we've recovered in the past we've seen exactly how advanced they were and it's safe to say that the things we use and say, 'it's the latest tech', when compared to them makes us look like monkeys.......Excerpt from: TECHNOLOGIES OF THE PAST]

[George's POV]

I watched closely as Carter and Josephine exchanged blows with each other. Looking at their movements and judgment, I knew within my heart that if I was to face off against any one of them, I would lose badly, and if it was a life or death battle, I would die without a doubt.

Seeing Josephine stay on the ground for a while, Professor A raised his hand and announced the winner.

"Subject Carter wins the match."

Josephine's group rushed onto the mat and helped her off while Carter walked back to Alex's side.

Professor A looked around and exclaimed.

"That was disappointing. How can your group be so weak? That move that Carter used is something that is considered as one of the basics for everyone to learn. Yet, it took so much out of him to use it once. Even more shocking is the fact that he is the only one here who's able to do it."

He spat on the ground.

"Well, I guess it's to be expected. The reason you ended up here is because of your uselessness. I can't wait till you fight the other groups, then you'll truly see how useless you guys are."

I looked at Professor A curiously, with a bit of fear in my eyes.

What could he mean? He's always called us useless, but is he saying we're useless even compared to the other groups?

I looked at the ground and shuddered a little.

If so, the fight club isn't going to be easy.

Stuck in my own thoughts, my fears spiraled deeper and deeper until I realized something.

If Carter and Josephine, two of the best at fighting out of all of us, are disappointing when compared to the other groups, what about me, someone who's average?

A sense of despair started to shroud my mind.

He said if you lose two consecutive times, you'll be killed by your opponent in your next match if you lose.

As I worked it out, I realized something important.

I don't stand a chance. I definitely do not stand a chance.

Sweat started to flow down my back.

What do I do?

Can I somehow get out of it? Should I make myself sick? No, it's definitely not going to work.

Eventually, I had to forcefully calm myself down and then looked back up. The spectacle that greeted me was a one-sided thrashing of someone by Alex.

I had noticed this before personally, but Alex was someone who enjoyed to hurt and torture people. He had even been doing it before he came here.

That belief of mine was further solidified by the way Alex was toying with his opponent so as to maximize the pain he felt.

He had him pinned down to the ground and was hitting him with soft strikes on one part of his body alone again and again, not stopping until that part was badly bruised and only then would he move on to the next part.

He repeated this action over and over again until his opponent was begging for mercy. The person even admitted defeat many times.

I looked towards Professor A.

Why isn't he calling out the winner yet? It's pretty obvious .

Eventually, I guess Professor A decided it was enough, so he called out Alex the winner.

Alex walked off with a smile on his face.

Psycho. He really is a psycho.

"George and Amanda."

I watched to see who would be next, so imagine my surprise when Professor A called out my name.

"What?"

I stood there on the spot, trying to process the information.

Amanda walked onto the mat. She was as pretty as ever.

"Are you not coming, Subject George?"

Amanda spoke to me. I shook myself and walked up.

"Sorry."

I apologized and made my way to the mat.

When I made it there, Professor A said we should begin immediately.

"You know what to do. Begin fighting."

I looked towards Amanda as I got into my fighting stance.

I don't really think she should be too hard to beat, even for me. I've seen her fighting before, and it's nothing special.

She still is very pretty to look at, though. Even though I'm supposed to be fighting her, I can't help but to be a little dazed looking directly at her.

I was so dazed, I didn't really notice she hit my head until I was on the ground.

What? I rolled to the side but was too slow in trying to get up so she was able to kick my head.

Why is she so quick to attack?

Amid her onslaught of attacks, I was able to get back up and distance myself with time.

Why is she so tenacious? I gazed at her from a distance, trying to find a gap I could exploit. But there was none. After a bit of stalking, I saw a gap in her defense, but there was something off about it, like it was created intentionally.

However, I still took the chance and attacked that gap. What followed was something that was very weird. It was like her she suddenly got a lot worse than before, making it easier for me to fight her.

Eventually I won, but the win felt forced, like she was holding back. As I left the mat, I looked back at Amanda and her figure couldn't help but feel a lot more mysterious in my eyes.

Maybe I'm just imagining it? I shook my head and walked off to be met Alistair's congratulations.