The Maze

The sun did not shine so brightly that day. Grayish clouds gather around Auroria. Giving the final part of Rite of Passage a gloomy look. A storm during an important day symbolizes a bad omen for the tigers of Auroria.

But those things did not get in the way of the crowd's cheerfulness. Chants to Zyrral roared around all Auroria. Majority wanted him to finish the Rite of Passage and become a king. The crowds seemed optimistically that they could shoo away the bad omen with their cheering.

Meanwhile Zyrral looked tense. The stress that he got after the second phase could make him get barely any sleep that night. He appreciated the support from the crowd. They lifted his spirit and made him more relaxed.

It wasn't the fear of the trial itself that weighed on him, it was the fear of failure. The cheers of the crowd, though intended to uplift him, amplified the stakes even bigger. The louder they roared, the more catastrophic a misstep would feel. Yet Zyrral understood: a king could not afford to falter under the weight of expectation. 

If not for Kilana accompanying him all night on the bed, he would be a walking zombie who lacks any energy with ridiculous amounts of anxiety..

The final match is on a place further east. Outside of Auroria, but still in the territory of the Saber Tooth Tiger tribe. An ancient circular maze was built by the ancient elders to prevent the tribe from a certain catastrophe in the past.

The maze is over 40 meters high and made from a really sturdy stone that is somewhat strange. In the record, the ancient elder built the stone from scratch. But from a closer look, there is not a single crack or something that is put by someone.

It is as if the whole stone just exists.

On the bottom of that, there were vines protruding from the underground, all the way up. Sparsely cover the stones with fresh green vines like veins. Zyrral did not believe that these slender vines were actually holding all the gigantic structures down.

The entrance itself gave off an off feeling. Zyrral can somewhat sense that the source of the gloomy storm came from this place. A potent dark power makes it so that someone will always have a feeling of dread.

The deeper inside the maze, the more potent was the dark feeling. 

Zyrral took a glimpse of a head poking on top of the maze. A tiger with a long white beard draped over its grayish mane looking down on everyone. One of the most powerful sabertooth tiger elders, Elder Flamel. He can do powerful magic [Teleportation]. Can forcefully move someone or something from a place to another place.

Zyrral concluded that Flamel was the one responsible if any of the contestants collapsed because of the maze's aura, or any other things that were not intended.

The structure of the third trial made it so that there were no crowds who could see the match. Due to the significant and magically bad the maze was.

"Attention." A loud roaring voice blasted on the top of the maze. "Congratulations to the soon-to-be adult contestant. Unfortunately for my dear cub, the final trial will be much harder than the first two."

The crowd and contestants fell silent, every ear tuned to the elder's words.. 

"In this trial, you may do whatever you wish..." Flamel paused, his words hanging ominously in the air.

The ramblings came back again after that statement. Sense of freedom began to be felt by the contestants. Hell, they can cheat if they want to.

"Except killing!"

The ramblings are even greater. Contestants said loudly to one another. Strategies formed in real time, possibilities unfolding with each passing second.

A boundary had been settled.

The golden silvered sabertooth could already think of the contestants' dark thoughts. The contestant could do anything evil to any other contestant except killing them. Sabotage, maiming, or even crippling.

But this appeared rather differently for him. His momentum from the first two trials had the potential of making a bunch of friends, or from the rude words of his, underlings that would fight for their soon-to-be king.

Zyrral could feel several contestants eyeing him.

"You will pass the trial, I mean the whole Rite of Passage, if you manage to go to the center point of the maze." Chuckled the elder sabertooth.

The final trial was different from the first two trials. The 50 contestants left are divided and put on one of the three entrances. The south, west, and entrance.The contestant that is nominated on the west entrance did not have to move from the meeting point. Unlike the south and east entrance.

Unfortunately, Zyrral got the south entrance. He thought that the south entrance was the worst of them all. Because it is situated between the east and west. The influx from both of the gates will make the route near the gate crowded.

The center point of that influx will be a potential bloodbath.

Zyrral was thinking while walking towards the south gate. Hopefully finding the simplest solution to all of this.

A bump poke his mane. A fellow sabertooth tiger of a medium build with a reddish brown fur catches Zyrral attention.

"King!" said the reddish brown tiger. "Will you take me as your companion during the trial?"

Those statements somewhat made Zyrral roll his eyes. Additionally, he had no time to do a background check on his reluctant helper. But he somewhat knew he usually greets him on a day to day basis while not frequently.

Zyrral occasionally met a lot of people in his days.

And then there was another sabertooth tiger offering Zyrral assistance. A yellowish fur sabertooth. "How about me too. Can I come?"

The soon-to-be king nodded. It did not offend Zyrral in the slightest. Even though the duo will potentially ask something in return if Zyrral managed to be king. A king however, needs all the followers he can get.

Zyrral looked again at his new companions with a look of concern. "Try to keep up okay? I had a feeling that most of the contestants will try to have a go at me at once."

Both of them looked at each other and nodded. "Understood, we will protect you."

After a while, he and 16 other contestants are standing at the south entrance. They were positioning themselves before the signal.

Looking from the outside to the gate seems like a dark smoke forcibly told you to leave before you are going crazy.

"Begin!"

Sound roared from above.

All the contestants dashed towards the gate. It looked like a pack of tigers chasing a meal on a real savannah on earth. But instead of sharing the meal, they must get the meal for themselves only.

Meanwhile some of them began attacking other tigers. And several already laid eyes on the soon-to-be king.

Zyrral meanwhile already prepared the skill [Launch] to propel himself out of the crowd. Go to a nearest corner and hide between the vine.

Not long after, the two followers catched up to him.

It was useless to keep on running from the horde behind him. [Launch] skill was only temporary and only gave you a significant boost. After that it depended on Zyrral's leg power to keep running.

He looked at his companion while slightly gasping. "I am sorry to ask you this but I will close my eyes and think. If something happens, shake my body."

They nodded in synchron.

Zyrral's anxiety began to be lifted from his body. The atmosphere got gloomier. But he now can actively fly.

[Spirit Channeling]

He controlled his spirit to go above the maze. While hoping that his main body was safely hidden amongst the vine. And also not get backstab by his own companion. Zyrral already knew the risk and went by it.