CHAPTER 14- ACADEMY ENTRANCE EXAM

Brik. He had to fight Brik. X didn't want to do it, but he had to fight him. And he had to win, in order to stop Brik from becoming a crazy maniac. He would even risk his life for his only friend, and to fulfill Uncle Ken's last words that were lost to the winds. Chanting this as a mantra, X walked through the side entrance of the Coliseum and into the armory one last time. He glanced around, trying to find any non-flammable weapon. Maybe even a scrap of metal. As he kept searching, he laid his eyes upon the first weapon he had taken, a butcher's hatchet, this one being made out of wood. Out of a sense of compulsion, he stretched his arms and grabbed the handle of the weapon. And strode out of the armory, into the arena, no longer afraid of the crowd. After all, he had much greater things to worry about.

Dusan Sinclair Rubeus screamed out loud, his voice oozing with artificial excitement

'Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you all to the finals of this year's Academy Entrance Exam. This battle will decide which of these two students is the greatest this year and will instill a sense of competition in the children. So, let the finals begin.'

X walked out into the sunlit center of the Coliseum, and to his surprise, there were no people in the audience. Overnight, the seats in the arena had all been removed, and not a single person was there, sitting or standing.

Across the Coliseum, Brik walked towards the arena, pure bloodlust emanating from his muscular body. X could feel the immense anger, barely held back. The length of his dark hair had increased over the few days, shaggy black hair that partially covered his eyes. Dark circles were visible over his eyes even with this much difference between them. His veins were enlarged to the point of bursting.

As he entered the arena, X couldn't help but feel disturbed. As the Tower Master announced the beginning of the battle, X was sure he could hear a muffled voice. But he did not have enough time on his hands to bother about that, because Brik was rushing towards so fast, X was not sure if he could catch up, even with Fire Escape.

X took a step to his right, turning his body around, and right in front of him, Brik materialized, claws unsheathed, tearing apart the stone floor. His eyes flashed black, pupils enlarged, covering his entire eyes.

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This guy! Kill. Brik raged out, unable to handle the sight of his old friend. His blond hair swayed as he moved away, his face morphed with fear. Brik lashed out with his claws, unable to hold back his wrath.

His pure-white bone claws whizzed through the air, tearing apart everything in its path. Brik slashed at X, and he dodged by a hair's length, the sleeve of his tunic getting ripped apart by the claw. The shield started to break from that momentary attack, and for the first time since Uncle Ken's death, Brik smiled. At least he got to kill the person responsible for his death. At that moment, he decided to stop holding back. If X was to die, Brik would do his best to kill him. Brik started extending his claws, and rushed, aiming for X's throat.

Brik's claws grew. They grew longer, while the tip was as sharp as before. And it kept extending, while Brik attacked X. A swipe of his hands, and the place where X was was now ripped apart, the dirt below the stone floor now visible beneath the numerous cracks. As a stream of flame, X appeared behind his friend, and transformed back, swiping with his burning wooden hatchet.

The sound of the weapon was heard through the air, and the weapon zoomed closer to Brik's upper back. Just when the hatchet connected with the shield, the flames on the weapon burning bright, a white bone claw appeared, stretching like a whip, its tip sharper than a sword, its base extending from the knuckles on Brik's right hand. Brik turned his face more than 90 degrees and stared at X, a black aura emanating from his eyes.

'Why did you hold me back? Why?'

His eyes started to tear up, but his voice remained hard and cold, a deep voice of sorrow that sent shivers down X's back. Yet there was anger, now unrestrained, as Brik barked out the words he had pondered over for a long time. He turned around, pushing away X with the extended Whip-like claws. X bounced off the ground, the hatchet having burnt to ashes. Brik raised his hand, retracting his claws back into its non-flexible form, before sending it down, a whip that would have torn him apart. X rolled away from the attack, barely dodging the full force of the attack. The bones in his arms shattered under that attack, the shield having broken completely.

X stood up, holding his broken arm. Stumbling forward, he looked up to Dusan Sinclair Rubeus. The Headmaster looked panicky, sweat dripping down from his face. He was straining himself for reasons X couldn't find, but it took so much effort that he stopped floating and fell down with a thud. X could feel a sudden change all around him. When he glanced around, he saw that there were people in the Coliseum, and the seats were still there. Illusions. Struggling to get to his feet, Dusan Sinclair Rubeus spoke in his normal voice without the amplification magic.

'Brik is... The victor of the contest '

Brikbstood unmoving. It seemed like he was struggling to move his body, and in that moment of peace, X got ready to use all the power he could muster to pacify him. He let off his broken arm with a stifled scream, got in position, and started heating up his body. Then Brij started moving, his anger towards X, making him go berserk. The Tower Master yelped in pain, as Brik forcefully took a step forward, then another. It seemed like the Headmaster was trying to control Brik's shield to stop him, so Brik damaged himself to break the shield.

Brik launched himself towards X, and X replied with all the power he could muster, his head starting to hurt from the pain.

'Fire Escape'

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Brik slashed with his bone claws, now extended up to the usual length. His unrestrained strength was so high, he broke the floor just by landing. In his mind, the only thing that existed was anger. No other emotion, no other thought. Pure anger ran through his nerves, as launched a flurry of attacks on his enemy. Blood flowed from his arm, from the spots where he cut himself to break the shield. He did not feel pain, after all.

He jumped to the place where had stood a second ago, the temperature constantly rising, as a jet of flames appeared behind him. His body moved on its own, as Brik tried to kill the person who was responsible for Uncle Ken's death. He swiped his claws, and it went through the flame. X reappeared, and the sight of him made Brik furious.

'ANSWER ME. WHY?

Brik roared to X, stabbing the air, as X jumped out of the way and punched him in the gut. Brik did not even flinch as first hit him, scorching his body. A wave of flames emanated from his body, heating up the surroundings. Brik swiped his claws over and over again, changing the length of the attacks, attacking a stream if flames that kept buzzing around him.

Brik landed a punch on X's back, ripping apart muscles. X screamed out loud, falling to the ground. Brik relished the scream, his anger subsiding as he saw his opponent fall down, almost dead. Still, he had not gotten a reply to his question.

'What? Why did you have to kill him? If we both had worked together with him, we could have killed all the demons, and let him live. What did you want him dead?'

X crawled away from him, struggling to lift himself up. Seeing him not react to his questions, Brik's anger rose, and with a roar, he kicked X down. X fell down, clattering through the steps which he had climbed to enter the competition. Multiple minor scrapes and wounds that he had gained during the battle started bleeding profusely, and he screamed in pain as he fell, the muscles on his back ripping apart even more. And finally, after all of this, X opened his mouth to answer his question

'You are talking about saving Uncle Ken, but why are you trying to forget his last words?'

His last words. What were his last words? Brik raged out, going berserk. His sight turned red, the veins in his body expanding to allow the infinite flow of rage. And Brik did not remember what happened next.

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Uncle Ken was a hard topic for X to handle, but for Brik, it was too much. On realizing that he had forgotten Uncle Ken's last words, something changes about Brik. He stopped yelling at X, and for a moment he stopped moving completely. X thought that the Headmaster had managed to stop him, but then he roared a guttural roar that X had never heard. Except for the time when Uncle Ken died. Brik rushed at X, multiple times faster than before. X could barely even react, as his claws scraped through his chest, spilling blood onto the floor. Then, holding him in a chokehold, Brik raised his fist, claw extended. X's head almost burst with pain, which he had been feeling since the beginning of the battle. X closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, hoping that someone would stop Brik, and save him.

Pink. All that X saw was pink. Pink flowers fell down from a pink sky, landing on the sea that reflected the pink light. It was a soft shade of the color, smooth and serene. X felt immense peace that he had never felt before. His head stopped hurting, and so did all the wounds he had accumulated during the battle. His back was intact, his chest did not have a deep slash on it. Moreover, the feeling of dread that he had been feeling since the competition, the nervousness, and the anxiety, all of it disappeared. X felt better than ever, he felt like he belonged here. In this pink landscape, he felt like he was at home, more so than the village, and Rosenberg. The only place that felt closer to him than this would have been the cave with the lavafall.

X felt the power he could not comprehend, infinite in amount. He felt like he was a pearl on a pearl necklace, receiving the string from this place, and sending it down. Below him, he could feel the presence of countless people, a lot of whom were receiving the string from him. What the string was, X did not know, but he was sure there was something. Taking another deep breath, X opened his eyes, and for a moment, the pink color lasted. And it did not dim. X could see everything clearly, Brik standing in front of him, the blood on the shattered floor, Dusan Sinclair Rubeus standing in the arena, arms raised his face a mask of concentration. But X felt absolutely nothing. The injury on his back, and chest and the pain that had almost drowned him a few moments ago were all gone. And more importantly, the fear had gone with it. X opened his mouth, and as Brik sent his first forward, claws nearing his torn chest, X breathed words silently, word that rolled of his tongue like he had told them for centuries

'Immortal Tree'

One moment, X was about to die. The next, he appeared behind his friend, and all of his injuries completely healed. With a light tap on Brik's shoulder with the back of his hand, X sent him flying into the wall. The same wall Brik had cornered X on. The same wall X had crashed on.

With another roar, Brik rushed forward, attacking X with a flurry of attacks. A swipe of his hand. A punch with his claws extended. A whip from the flexible whip form of his claws. Powerful attacks that would have killed X even if it just grazed him.

Dusan Sinclair Rubeus gasped in surprise. The contest always takes a toll on his abilities, most of which are used to support other knights in battle, which was the reason he got to reach the position of Tower Master. But never had a student managed to escape the shield by hurting himself. And never was a student strong enough to fight against the shield, but Brik had managed to do it. Honestly, Brik would be stronger than Aqua, and even the Dragon Knight when he started his journey in the academy. So how did not a single attack of his hit X?

X weaved through the barrage of attacks, not even breaking a sweat dodging attacks he could never have dodged before. His body seemed to move on its own, his head tilting away as a claw came rushing forward. X raised his leg and landed a powerful kick on Brik's gut, one so strong it sent him flying into the sky. Taking a step back, X looked up, staring at his friend, as he went up, and came falling down. At the last moment, X caught his tunic, stopping the fall. Strength flowed through X's veins, and his reflexes were almost omniscient. How this happened, X had no idea, but he finally understood what that pink place was. It was a vision of his past, similar to the one with the cave, and the giant monster, and the waterfall. 

As he held Brik, he could feel the string again, reaching out from beyond the sky, connecting to X, and from X, it moved to Brik. Setting him down on the ground, X climbed the remnants of the flight of stairs that were almost completely shattered by the fight. X felt light, like a predator ready to leap on its prey. Climbing on top, he looked at Brik, the Tower Master, and the audience, and he could feel something. Something connecting all of them. The string, going from him, and connecting all of them. What that meant, X had no idea, but for the moment, all he knew was that he had survived, and he had saved Brik. 

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Brik opened his eyes. After the eternity of plain red, the sight of the destroyed arena was a welcome sight. His stomach was sore and heavily bruised, his shoulders steamed and his muscles screamed in pain, but Brik was happy to finally be able to feel something. His temper had settled. He tried to move, but his body could not handle the stress. Brik had been pushing it to the end in order to get his revenge on the person who had done absolutely nothing.

Raising his head, Brik looked up, onto the arena. At that time, the Headmaster made an announcement, and Brik could only hear two words. "X" and "victory". Looking up, he saw his old friend, the person he considered responsible for the death of his father figure. X was standing tall, stained in blood, without a single bruise on his body. The blood that was splattered all over him had started to evaporate in the heat, and when Brik raised his head up slightly more, he looked at X right in his glowing pink eyes.

Brik could feel the power flowing from X, especially from those eyes. It was like a bug, looking at a fearsome dragon. Brik felt extremely small and insignificant and felt a sudden urge to pray to X, although he knew that most of the knights present in the audience, and the Tower Master, were all stronger than him. Brik stared straight into those eyes, radiating pin energy. X stared back. Brik finally remembered the last words of his fallen father figure, Uncle Ken. The words he had muttered while being ripped apart, lost to the winds. As he looked at the only other person who knew those words, Brik smiled, mentally reciting those words.

'Live, Brik. Live, and protect the world. Knowing you was the greatest joy...'

Brik's eyes closed on their own, and as they did, he saw his only friend collapse from exhaustion. And they both fell into oblivion.

ps.Thank you for sticking around for so long. I hope this book has been an enjoyable read so far. If you have any ideas about what happens next, please do comment, since this is the end of basically the introduction arc. My posting schedule will become even worse since i will be preoccupied, but I will try my best to post consistenly.