Phoenix Flight

Olivia had been having the time of her life. Not only was Bruno, her best friend, back, but she was also standing in the Arcane Knight's exam area, just like they always talked about. It was perfect. Pure and simple.

She was totally fangirling also when all the captains and their vice captains came out, and Pretty Face flew through the air introducing them all. She hadn't even considered which guild she wanted to be on. As long as it wasn't Phoenix Flight, she'd be happy for the most part.

Shining Sentinels, Umbra Mortis, and Mourning Stars were likely out since they were next to impossible to get in unless you were a mighty noble and blessed with high stats and a powerful core. Oak Watchers and Hydra Storm were also hard to get into but manageable for normal people. Finally, Wandering Coin and Pantheon were the typical guilds nobody got placed into. Of those two, she'd like to join Pantheon since Myth, its leader, was kind of hot, but she'd be happy with the Wandering Coin, too.

Just as long as it wasn't Phoenix Flight…

Not even she was dumb enough to try to join that guild.

Bruno reached out and squeezed her hand as Pretty Face used her magic and summoned a construct. "Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yeah," Olivia said, right as the floor began to shake and glow rapidly. "I've been ready for a long time."

As the words left her mouth, she felt Bruno's hand be yanked away from her own, and her flesh tingled a bit. Everything felt like it was cracking, and then she felt herself spinning out of control.

Olivia squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could. She had been expecting something like this to happen.

The Knights, despite not technically working for the kingdom, basically had the full funding behind them and were able to buy crazy rare magic items or steal them from dungeons. The arena floor was one such item that would send a person into a specially created simulation. It required a lot of mana, so it was rarely used, but the throne all the captains had been sitting on allowed them to fuel their mana into the magical floor and send all the exam-takers away.

There were many different arenas and fields that the Knights would have set up, with each test being in a new location. The testing arena changed every year, as did the tests in general, but she had seen many of them. After the exams were all over, the results would be uploaded online, along with various videos of the exam that had been recorded.

Everyone in the arena would be randomly transported to a new spot, and it wouldn't matter who was standing next to you when it happened. Bruno had been to her right, but when the transportation ended, he was no longer near her.

To make matters worse for her, she wasn't alone either.

Olivia felt herself drop a bit, since she appeared a few feet off the ground, and she landed in a grassy field. There was a large lake that rested near her, and scattered through the field were various other exam takers. Many of them were like her, young and wide-eyed. A few others were older and had already drawn their weapons, looking around. Fewer still were calm and collected, not showing an ounce of worry.

"So, the tests started?" Olivia jumped a bit when she heard the voice, and she turned, finding a man standing next to her. He was looking around and looked mildly bored. He wore brown clothes that were more like robes than anything else, and at his side, a sleek-looking katana resided in the sheath. He had black spiky hair, and his eyes were dull and brown. They barely glanced at her before they looked away. "What are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know." Someone else mused. "Is a monster going to appear? There are at least twenty of us around, so maybe they'll throw a big threat at us, and we'll have to team up to take it down."

Right as everyone was debating what they should do, there was a flicker in front of all their faces. Olivia blinked as a blue-looking screen suddenly appeared before her. It was a real stat window! Or, in this case, a quest window. The kind of thing you'd see in a LitRPG or something. She was so happy to see it, she nearly squealed, but managed to keep it in somehow. Text began to appear across the screen, and she read it as fast as she could. 

'A new quest has been issued. Quest: Test of Skill. Objective: Defeat as many of your fellow participants as you can in the allotted time. Each participant is worth one point. Time: One hour. If you wish to forfeit, simply say the words 'I give up' and you will be removed from the simulation. Participants who remain unconscious for one minute or die are automatically removed from the simulation.'

Olivia felt her smile slip away instantly. "Uh oh." She should have expected something like this. It was kind of a classic way to see how strong people were. Make them fight a bunch of people and see who can take the most fodder out. Unfortunately, she was well aware of the fact that she was likely one of the fodder trash.

Instantly, the mood in the crowd changed. Muttering began to break out, and people started to look around as if they were waiting for the real quest to be issued. 

"Is this some sort of joke?" Someone demanded. "Do they really just want us all to fight each other here and now? We're not bandits!"

"Yeah!" Someone said. "Knights fight monsters and enter dungeons, and sometimes enter and then fight monstrous dungeons! We shouldn't fight each other!"

"Eh. That guy kind of has a punchable face."

"What—"

Olivia cringed as she heard the sound of a fist smacking into a face. That was all it took, as it turns out, to turn the crowd into a bloodthirsty mob. Yelling broke out, and then dozens of spells were cast as everyone began to fight.

"Row Sand Shower!"

"Row Flower Seeds!"

"Row Blade Singing!"

All sorts of magical effects filled the air and blasted out as various elements rained down. It became total chaos with everyone attacking one another. Some people tried to remain out of the fighting or run away, but those who did were sniped from behind. Others banded together to gang up on other exam-takers, and more just started spamming out powerful spells like their lives depended on it. With a grim feeling, Olivia spotted a few people drop already to the ground, limp and covered in a worryingly copious amount of blood. She knew that it was all fake and these people weren't actually dead; she herself had died in a simulation dozens of times, but it was still kind of nerve-wrecking seeing so many corpses suddenly pile up on the field.

It was insane how quickly people jumped to murder to solve all their issues.

"Row Glass Barrage!"

"Row Wood Hammer!"

"Row Mushroom Soup!"

Olivia let out a squeak, and she dodged to the side as a mix of glass and wood slammed down where she was. Thinking fast, she dove behind the man in the gray clothes. He had been one of the few people who didn't instantly break out into a fight and remained calm. He barely reacted as she grabbed onto him and used him as a shield. 

Another large hammer of wood came flying forward, and the man lazily lifted his palm and held it out. "Row Steel Flesh." His skin shifted and changed, gaining a silver tint to it, and turned into solid metal right as the hammer reached him. The wood shattered on his new metal arm, and he remained standing. "How'd you know I had magic suited to defense?" The man asked casually, looking over his shoulder and down at Olivia, who kept herself perfectly behind him.

"Well, I didn't know you had magic like that," Olivia said a bit sheepishly as she glanced up at his metal hand, which he was using to block a wave of sand that launched itself at the two of them. "I could tell you were strong, though, by the way you were standing. You were either a powerhouse or someone good at acting, and I decided to roll the dice."

The man gave a sly grin. "Really now?" He brought his other hand up and swept his black hair back. "Well, miss, stay behind me and I'll keep you safe." The man said in a calm tone. "I shall be your shield—"

"Row Blood Knife." Olivia stabbed her dagger out and rammed it into the man's side. His eyes went wide in shock and pain as she pierced him in the stomach. "Sorry." She said coldly. "This is a competition, though. I didn't just dive behind you to use you as a shield. I did it because I could tell if we were to fight, you'd win, so I'm just going to take you out now, okay?" Before he could speak, her hand looped around his face, and she shoved it into his open mouth. He tried to bite down on her hand, but she had ripped some of her shirt apart and wrapped her hand in a thick bundle of cloth, stopping his teeth from going through. She wrapped her legs around him as well and pressed the hand holding the knife harder into his side while her other arm shoved itself further into his mouth.

'Davi's rules to combat. Rule one: Never play fair. Fair is for idiots, and idiots are people who die. Cheat. Go for the throat, block a mage's way of speaking, or claw at their eyes.'

Olivia felt some pain go through her as the man's knees buckled and he threw himself onto the ground, using her to cushion his fall. She remained strong, though, and coated her body in mana to boost it. He was trying to do the same, but unlike her, he was having a much harder time focusing since she was attacking not just his side but also his mouth.

If a mage couldn't focus or stay calm, then their mana wouldn't be sturdy or strong. He was stronger than her and likely had more mana, but in this situation, she was keeping her cool, and he was in full-blown panic mode.

"If you struggle, it'll hurt more." Olivia twisted her knife. "I'm not trying to kill you, just knock you out, so do me a favor and stop, okay?"

The man struggled some more and gagged. He tried reaching for his sword, but he kept fumbling. His metal hand balled up, and he punched back, attempting to slam it into her head, but he was blindly swinging, and she was able to move her head out of the way and avoid it. She let go of the knife she was holding and brought her arm all the way around to where his neck was and forced her wrist into his throat.

'Davi's rules to combat. Rule two: Choking people out is pretty effective for beating them. They'll go into a state of pure panic and forget how to fight properly. You can apply pressure to their neck, and eventually, they'll black out if you do it for long enough. Just make sure you don't do it for too long. Trust me, I found that out the hard way.'

The man tried again to hit her, but again she avoided his strike by moving her head to the other side. She was on the ground, and he was perfectly on top of her, which also kept her safe from the barrage of spells that were flying out. Soon enough, his thrashing began to slow to a crawl, and then it stopped entirely.

'You've gained one point!' The blue box appeared, but she quickly sent it away.

Olivia stayed there and kept her wrist pressed into his throat for a few more seconds until she was sure that he wasn't faking. Slowly, she pulled her hand out of his mouth. It was covered in his saliva, and he had managed to finally bite through most of the wrapping and into her hand, spilling her blood, but she hadn't even noticed. She gently rolled him off of her, and she pulled the knife out of his gut.

He wasn't dead, and she had made sure her knife didn't pierce any of his wounds. Pretty Face had said it was okay to kill, but she was hoping that was just part of the test, and leaving your victims alive would be viewed more honorably.

"Sorry again, but I really need to win." Olivia stood back up and let out a soft sigh. "Whatever it takes." She promised herself. She couldn't end up like Garon or the others who failed and lost all hope. Then she suddenly noticed something. The fighting had stopped. "Huh?" Olivia looked around and found everyone was staring at her in stunned silence.

"D-Did she fucking stab that guy? That looked so brutal."

"That was so lethal? What if she killed him?"

"What's with that mana coming off of her… It's so tight. Like a snake is wrapping around me."

"Look at that creepy smile and the pleased way she looks."

"She's a blood magic user? How did she even get a win?"

Olivia took a hesitant step back. She knew what was about to come. "We need to take her out." Someone said.

"Yeah. She doesn't play fair!"

"Get her!"

"Oh boy." Olivia winced and raised her knife, but it wouldn't matter. She could only cast two more spells before she was down, so she'd need to make her knife last, but with how many people there were around her, there was no way she'd be able to take them all down. At least fourteen exam-takers, all wielding weapons or wands, were about to attack her. "I guess I should have seen this coming."

"Row Glass Spear!"

"Row Wood Falcon!"

"Row Sand Bullet!"

The attacks all launched, but before any of them reached her, a figure suddenly appeared before her. It was a girl in a red, black, and gold martial arts uniform who also had brownish-red hair and bright green eyes. It took Olivia a moment to realize that she was looking at Ken Yuan, the girl she had bumped into earlier and the one Ash had been freaking out about.

Ken struck out with her palm and didn't even bother with a spell. Her body lit up with a bright orange glow, and her palm shattered a wooden falcon that had been blasting toward her. Not even a second later, she twisted her body and kicked up with her leg, sending a sharp gust of wind out that sliced a bullet made of sand in two. It hadn't been wind magic that she used; she just kicked that hard. Lastly, her other hand lifted up, and she caught a long glass spear out of the air.

The people in the crowd all froze in shock, but Ken wasn't done. She twirled the spear around her as if it were some sort of quarterstaff, and she blitzed forward with inhuman speed. Olivia's eyes stung just trying to watch it, and she was forced to pour some mana into her eyes in order to keep up. The others were all hopelessly outclassed as Ken smashed the glass weapon into kneecaps or shoulders, hard enough to crack bone and tear skin.

Those people had been the lucky ones also, as when the weapon broke, Ken started to beat the people down with her bare hands. She wasn't punching, though. Instead, she would launch out a palm strike, ramming her hand forward and twisting it. The force of the attack was the same as Davi's mighty punches, lifting the people up off the ground and ripping through clothing or flesh. Ribs were shattered, and limbs were snapped as Ken danced forward.

All in all, it took her less than four seconds to knock out the entire crowd of people.

'You've gained fourteen points!' The blue box chirped as it appeared in front of Ken's face. 'You now have thirty-nine points! You are currently in fifth place.'

"I guess I should hurry and catch up." Ken reasoned with an amused look. "The last group of fodder trash I fought, I took my time dodging around them until they were all so weak I could wipe them out. This trash was even worse, though. I feel so gross knowing my flesh touched theirs. Still, it wasn't a total waste, though." Olivia became nervous when Ken's head suddenly snapped in her direction. "After all. Amongst the trash, I found a diamond."

Olivia let out a small chuckle, and she held her knife at her side. "Yeah. I kind of figured you weren't coming to my rescue. You want to fight, right?"

Ken's grin just grew, and the aura around her blazed to life. "My chi is overflowing! I feel like I'm on fire. I don't know what it is, but your chi has got me really excited. I haven't seen anything like this since old man Feng!"

"Chi? Oh right, you guys call mana that, don't you?" Olivia knelt down next to the man she had knocked out, and she sliced her knife out. She cut his belt off and removed the sword he had just, in time, as a moment later, he flickered and disappeared, being dragged out of the simulation. Calmly, she tucked her wand back into her shirt but kept the knife spell going. It would keep eating away at her mana, but this way she wouldn't have to recast it. She drew the katana and stood back up, awkwardly holding it. "So I guess if we fight, this will be like a battle between mana and chi, right?"

"I prefer chi versus mana myself." Ken snickered. "But yes. As usual, chi is going to win."

Magic didn't just have different names depending on where you were in the world; it also had other ways of being used. Rossum still had mana, though they called it 'chi', and they still performed spells, which they called 'techniques'. Just like a mage, they could use chi to boost themselves to godly heights significantly. Because of this, one might think that mana and chi were one and the same, but with different names, yet that wasn't actually true.

The way the people used chi was different from how the people of Estiria used mana. Somehow, Rossum's people, perhaps because of the lifestyle they lived or the way they trained, were able to refine their chi and do things with it that mana simply couldn't do, as well as naturally draw chi in by focusing and meditating. The thing that made the people of Rossum stand out the most, though, was their connection to the spirit realm. A mage could learn how to draw mana in from the air, like Ash could, but Rossum's people, and only Rossum's people, held a unique connection to a special realm that they alone could tap into.

Martial Cultivators were very dangerous, and often, Knights didn't engage with them, since the Cultivators were constantly improving, drawing in more power, and developing new techniques or stronger spirits.

The Yuan family were the first Martial Cultivators and could even trace their ancestry back to the elves. All members of the Yuan family were trained since birth to be brutal killers, able to kill a fully armed man with just their bare hands.

And Olivia was about to fight one…

"So why do you want to fight me exactly?" Olivia asked, holding the sword up in an awkward way. It was heavy and a bit painful for her wrists. Blood sword spells were always too expensive, so she had never actually held a real sword before, despite how iconic and cool they were. The closest she ever came was her blood-scythe, which was a spell she created herself.

"Your chi is speaking to me," Ken said casually, and the girl began to walk forward slowly. "It's practically begging me to beat your ass."

"I doubt it's saying that." Olivia snorted. Ken was still walking toward her, and the girl had her guard down. "I do have to ask, though, why you—Sneak attack!" Olivia lunged forward and swung the sword down as hard as she could, right into Ken's shoulder. The weapon bounced off of Ken and didn't even cut her flesh. "Well, that's not good."

Ken casually slammed her palm out and rammed it into Olivia's stomach. Olivia felt her eyes bulge, and the strike was so intense she nearly vomited. This was despite the fact that she covered her stomach in mana. 

The force of the attack launched her off her feet, and the next thing Olivia knew, she was crashing down into the lake. The cold water consumed her, and her body remained motionless as she began to sink.