Chapter 208: The Last Day
By the time the third day arrived, the Ashen Crown Hunting Grounds no longer resembled the controlled wilderness the organizers had prepared.
It looked like a war zone.
Entire sections of the forest had been flattened.
Trees had been reduced to splinters. Cliffs had been carved apart by abilities. Rivers had changed course. Monster nests had been destroyed, and the artificial terrain had suffered enough damage that several of the environmental systems had already shut themselves down.
The scoreboard hovering above the central arena flickered.
[CITY B QUALIFIERS]
[Remaining Time: 04:17:36]
[Active Participants:]
[Erovile Academy - 8]
[Ironvale Academy - 7]
[Gravemont Academy - 6]
[Silverlake Academy - 7]
[Saint Meridian Academy - 8]
[Ravencrest Academy - 6]
[Aurelia Heights Academy - 7]
The numbers had changed considerably, but the important part wasn’t the numbers. It was where everyone was.
For the first two days, the academies had moved independently. They had completed objectives, captured territories, collected monster cores, destroyed rival supply caches, and occasionally clashed with one another.
But by the beginning of the final day, something had changed. The remaining objectives had converged.
All seven academies had received the same final notification, and all seven had been directed toward the same location: the Crownheart.
It was a massive structure located at the exact center of the Ashen Crown Hunting Grounds. The organizers had deliberately placed it there. They wanted a conclusion, and they were about to get one.
***
The first academy to arrive was Ironvale.
Seven students emerged from the forest, battered and exhausted. Their armor was scratched; two students had blood running down their faces. Their leader looked toward the massive stone structure.
"Finally."
Then he stopped. Someone was already there: Erovile.
Wilson Vance stepped from between the trees. His blue eyes immediately swept across the battlefield.
"Well." He sighed. "So everyone received the same objective."
A voice came from behind him.
"Looks like it."
Gravemont. Then Silverlake, Saint Meridian, and then Ravencrest. And lastly, Aurelia, who had stayed under the radar for so long that everyone forgot they even existed.
Within minutes, the entire remaining tournament had gathered in one location.
The tension was suffocating.
One of the Aurelia Heights students slowly looked around.
"So..." His hand tightened around his weapon. "Who wants to start?"
Several students immediately became nervous. Wilson remained silent. His eyes were focused on the Crownheart.
Ironvale’s leader raised his weapon.
"And who’s going in first?"
Silence. Nobody wanted to be the first, because everyone understood the problem. Whoever entered first would become the target of everyone else.
A Saint Meridian student suddenly raised a hand.
"I have a proposal."
Everyone looked at him.
"We cooperate."
One of the Aurelia Heights students immediately shook his head.
"No."
The Saint Meridian student blinked.
"You didn’t even hear..."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because we’re competitors."
The Aurelia student pointed toward the Crownheart.
"And we’re standing around staring at each other instead of fighting."
A few students exchanged glances. Someone laughed. It came from Ravencrest, a quiet student with a black mask covering the lower half of his face.
"He’s right."
Everyone turned toward him. He slowly drew his weapon.
"If we cooperate, someone will betray the others eventually." His eyes narrowed. "So let’s skip the pretending."
The atmosphere changed.
Wilson’s expression became serious. Ironvale’s students lowered their stances. Aurelia Heights spread out. Silverlake’s ranged fighters moved backward.
Saint Meridian immediately formed a defensive formation. Gravemont’s heavier fighters raised their weapons. The Ravencrest student smiled beneath his mask.
"Now we’re talking."
BOOOOOOM!
The entire battlefield exploded. The first clash happened between Ironvale and Gravemont. A massive hammer swung through the air.
WHAM!
An Ironvale student blocked with his shield. The impact pushed him several meters backward. Another Ironvale fighter immediately attacked from the side.
CLANG!
His sword struck the Gravemont student’s armor. The Gravemont fighter grunted and retaliated with an elbow.
BOOM!
The Ironvale student stumbled. A second attack came, then a third. Ironvale’s formation immediately shifted.
One student stepped between them, while another attacked the exposed flank, and a third covered their retreat. They weren’t simply fighting. They were coordinating.
Across the battlefield, Silverlake had begun targeting Ravencrest. Several arrows and condensed energy projectiles flew through the trees.
A Ravencrest student disappeared into the shadows, while another appeared behind a Silverlake fighter.
SLASH!
The Silverlake student barely blocked.
"Behind you!"
A teammate fired.
The Ravencrest attacker vanished before the projectile struck. The battlefield was becoming increasingly chaotic.
Saint Meridian attempted to maintain their formation, using defensive and healing abilities to keep their members alive, but Aurelia Heights immediately noticed.
"They’re supporting everyone."
One of their students pointed.
"Break Saint Meridian first."
The Aurelia team changed direction. Their attack hit the Saint Meridian formation like a hammer.
BOOOOOOM!
A defensive barrier shattered. A healer was thrown backward.
"Protect the support!"
Saint Meridian immediately tightened their formation. The battle escalated. Abilities illuminated the forest. The ground shook continuously.
Observation drones struggled to keep up. Some were destroyed, while others retreated to higher altitudes. The commentators watching from outside had stopped talking normally.
They were shouting.
"IRONVALE HAS BROKEN THROUGH!"
"RAVENCREST IS ATTACKING SILVERLAKE!"
"AURELIA HEIGHTS HAS ENGAGED SAINT MERIDIAN!"
"GRAVEMONT IS PUSHING TOWARD THE CROWNHEART!"
The camera suddenly shook.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
A massive explosion swallowed part of the battlefield. When the dust cleared, Wilson Vance emerged. His uniform was torn, and blood ran down one side of his face, but his eyes remained calm.
An Ironvale student stood several meters away, breathing heavily. Wilson looked toward him.
"You’ve improved."
The Ironvale student tightened his grip.
"So have you."
They charged again.
CLANG!
Their weapons collided. Wilson twisted; the Ironvale student blocked. Wilson stepped forward, throwing another strike; the Ironvale student barely avoided it.
BOOM!
A shockwave separated them, causing both of them to slide backward. Wilson suddenly stopped. His expression changed. Something was wrong.
He looked toward the Crownheart.
"What?"
Several other students noticed. The Crownheart was trembling, like something underneath it was breathing.
THUMP!
Everyone felt it. The battlefield slowed.
THUMP!
Another pulse. The massive stone structure trembled. An Aurelia Heights student slowly lowered his weapon.
"Did you feel that?"
Wilson’s eyes narrowed.
"Everyone..."
Nobody listened.
THUMP!!!
The entire hunting ground shook. Every monster still alive inside the artificial wilderness suddenly stopped. Every student froze. The organizers watching from the control room stood up simultaneously.
One technician stared at his monitor.
"That’s impossible."
The director turned.
"What?"
"The containment system."
"What about it?"
"It’s activating."
The director’s face went pale.
"We didn’t activate anything."
Silence. Another technician slowly turned toward him.
"Sir..."
The screen displayed a warning.
[CONTAINMENT PROTOCOL: FAILED]
[SUBJECT STATUS: ACTIVE]
[CLASSIFICATION: RESTRICTED]
[THREAT LEVEL: UNDEFINED]
The director stared. His face lost all color.
"Shut it down."
"We can’t."
"Why?"
The technician swallowed.
"Because it isn’t responding to the system anymore."