Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis - Chapter 141

Shin fought like crazy. His sword lurched, twisting among many opponents to find its way to pierce in the chest of one. Sweats formed and evaporated as mana colour warped as his sword moved.

He withdrew half a step as two more slaves approached him, one with a mace, one with a huge hammer. Their eyes were vacant and docile as they charged, commanding their mana powered weapon. Shin cursed inside and released the waves he was condensing to lurch up a few metres in the air.

Shin swallowed a breath, jerking his sword back, still hanging in the air. He swung violently as he came down, throwing the two slaves dozens of metres away as they collided against the barricade of the ship.

This is really not a standoff. Even though he had already killed half a dozen of the slaves already, they were at a disadvantage. These slaves take 2 to 5 minutes to resurrect, while if one of them die he only vanishes after a minute or so. Probably failure in the test, he reckoned, but the important part was that it can’t go on like this.

Many of the participants already noticed that, but they still fight like crazy. Like who would give up their life on some half-assed guesses?

Even if he killed a dozen of the slaves, they were losing. Shin did not like how easy it felt when he was killing. Even though these slaves will resurrect, he can’t rest the feeling that he was killing them and that is too callously.

A thorn-like sword shoved on his back, and Shin yelped in pain. Before he could finish the one with the thorn, a few invocation spells charged at him, fireball, wind cutter, and some acid spell. Shin cursed again, as his mind rushed into a fast manoeuvre to dodge. He swept his sword downwards as a sharp force of waves ran, severing the lower limbs of the thorn wielder.

‘The isn’t going anywhere,’ he thought and found were still over fifty of the slaves fighting and moreover, the superiors were yet to come. While he came to find Gaivan and his team were nowhere to be found, most likely ran away finding a path. Well, Shin can’t blame them. They just took the opportunity presented to them. Even though Gaivan charged his men first, he was the first to withdraw to, probably changed ship, taking most of his force.

Shin lurched in the air again, to have a proper look at the fight. Leroy was barely keeping up, but he was fighting fast and swift. As for Ronin, that guy was nowhere to be seen, probably running away. Or hiding somewhere. That dude could not use Mana, yet he was damn frightening at times. Shin knew nothing about how he does it, but he was happy as long as they were on the same team.

Moreover, since they were bound by the spirit of the oath, he will not likely run away without getting what he wanted from him.

“Shin,” Leroy called from the sides. “We have to withdraw. There are only a dozen remains.”

Shin gritted his teeth, but agreed. “Where should we go then?”

Leroy pointed at the water.

“We should withdraw for some time while preparing for the next plan,” he said again. The ones which were killed in the beginning were starting to wake up again, while many bodies already vanished. There is really no option to win here. Right, it is only a Trial, he thought, and that thought seemed to relieve him to some portion.

He did not know why the trial was so damn hard from the beginning, but that thought comforted him. Perhaps Ileana was alright. Even being eliminated from the trial was a good choice for her, rather than suffer all this.

Ignoring the wounds on his body, the blood seething from his back, the weak limbs that just wanted to rest, Shin make way to jump into the water.

Leroy was the first one to jump as he was close by. He dived fifty metres easily into the deep sea. Shin took a deep breath and looked at the battlefield again. Few of the participants were still fighting, encircled by the slaves. There was no way for them to run away. Perhaps he could help them, but that would mean he would have chances to get collared again.

Shin very much dreaded that.

Gritting his teeth, thinking it is only a trial, He rose in the air to jump into the water.

. . .

The sun seemed to rise quicker, as Inari awoke herself from the meditation to look at the brilliant light rising slowly. This was nothing like the night. Who would imagine this place was like a nightmare in the dark, yet like nothing during the day?

It was like all was only an illusion. But unfortunately, according to this mysterious boy, that kind of event will continue to happen every night, and it was only the beginning.

She opened her eyes to find Elior was in the same position as before. He had eaten that weird shaped mushroom last night and his training varied from three kinds. The most were the mundane meditation and visualisation which he wasted most time on. While the least was on how he revolved his armament defence around the body, it was more of an instinct training. She has done that in her clan as well.

It was the most efficient way to get rudimentary control over your armament defence while doing something else, like fighting someone. Armament defence may look hard on the surface, but it’s a very delicate thing. With just a single blow, it could render all the defence useless or deficient in another place if not learned correctly.

Whereas the third kind was not something easy either. He actually uses the heavy water and its mana negating features to train his mana. Of course, it’s an available option as the more he uses mana in the water, the sharper his techniques will get. But it was damn hard, and she even saw him struggling.

It seemed one of the reasons why he was not running for the island in the first place. He wanted to train in that water, hunt those weirdly shaped sea monsters for their core, and sleep.

Such one minded fellow, she thought, looking at him. Though he found him weird on more occasions. Sighing, she looked in the direction of the island again.

It was still as small as she remembered. The Island was the singularity in the thousands layer of the realm – according to Elior. It was the place where the Trial will end, but he did not seem even a bit interested in the trial, or he knows it won’t end anytime soon.

Inari let out a frustrated grunt. She has too little information. These trials were not a ground for the devarians and pure-blooded devarians could not even participate in these trials. Only because of the human blood she had, did she get to enter here.

Initially, she thought it would be a good break from her everyday things. She did not have to get all the frowns of her clansmen, nor did she have to worry about the loathing look they gave her. And most importantly, her sister. Ellora was a damn good sister, a type of elder sister she did not deserve.

But sometimes, she just wanted to run away. The trial came like that. Even Ellora agreed it would be a good opportunity for her, and she could tell stories about it to her later.

But by no means, did Inari think it would come as a disaster. ‘Perhaps, it is the way for the humans,’ she thought, looking at the youth in meditations. She remembers how much he trained just in a day. Yes, she does train, but she did not have to do that much with her blessing in mana and body.

‘Humans do not have that luxury, so they have to take every opportunity they have,’ she thought. ‘Perhaps that’s how Roy became so powerful. He stays among humans. Perhaps the disownment was a good thing for him.’

She still remembers that day like a vivid dream. She would have died, if Leroy just left her to her fate, but instead, he saved her, and in the process accidentally killed a pure-blooded devarians. That was his crime, and her too.

In such cases, she should not have any way to live, nor was Leroy. If went as the regulations of the clans, then the two of them would have been executed, but her elder sister intervened. Even though Ellora was not in the high seats of the clan, her blood was one of the most potent and with some other prospect, she was not aware of Ellora managed to keep her alive, and Leroy was only banished from the clan for his lifetime.

Inari knows nothing about how he went to the lower world, only heard it from her sister before dragging her into the trial.

The two of them were two tragic cases of the string of fate.