Chapter 17 - The Trials Begin Part 1

"Okay, we’re here, you lot! Mage novices and apprentices, head toward the left area outside the stadium. The clearing over there is your testing ground. Practitioners, the same on your right. Mages, you are competing with about five thousand others. Practitioners, you face about two thousand. Don’t be complacent! Mages might have more competition, but the Practitioner trials are much more difficult than any mage trial. Try not to get killed," Grey smirked and left them.

Agemo stared at the stadium before heading to the clearing on his right. Most people standing around the area were members of a martial arts sect. People from the same sect stood together and observed the competition. More than half were at the first stage of Spirit Shaman cultivation. Agemo ignored those people and sat in the stands in the clearing, waiting for all the participants to arrive and for the selection trials to start. After an hour, all two thousand participants had arrived and were seated in the stands.

A middle-aged man in a crimson robe with a gold fur scarf appeared before them with a bang, sending a cloud of dust around him. He waved his hand, and the dust vanished. The participants fell silent as the Spirit Master of the first stage spoke.

"Hello. Welcome to Korgar, the capital of the mighty kingdom of Kasara! I am the uncle of the king and a Spirit Master of the first stage. My name is Julio Kogard, and I will be your proctor. Anyone who breaks the rules will be eliminated," the man smiled, chilling the crowd as they did not expect a Spirit Master to proctor their trials.

"There are five trials. This year, we have a total of seven thousand people. Quite a lot of people this year. My sister, a Spirit Knight of the ninth stage, believes that the mages will win. Frankly, her childish thought astounds me. A Practitioner losing to a mage? Ridiculous," Julio spat.

Agemo ignored the others and Julio as he sat at the top of the stands and observed his soul lake. The red black hole had stopped and had become a red sun. This signified that he was at the mid-stage of the second stage of Spirit Shaman. Since he had red spirit energy of a demon, the demonic core at the bottom of his lake was augmenting and increasing the size of his spirit energy lake. The five left wings on the demonic core still enclosed around the foot-long demonic core, but one of the wings was uncurling.

Due to his demonic lineage, the single white wing in the bead had turned red. No one noticed it under his hood, but his hair had turned golden, just like the hair of the Great Ancestor, while his eyes had turned a lightning blue. Julio paused to stare in Agemo's direction as he felt a sudden surge of spirit energy. His eyes narrowed as he saw a youth in a hooded, dark purple robe with clouds the color of sand.

He could sense that the boy was at the middle of the second stage of Spirit Shaman, but already had a Mystic Stone in his body. Did the boy just make a breakthrough? He noticed a dim, glowing bead on a white steel chain around the boy's neck. The boy looked at Julio and hurriedly hid the bead under his shirt as he noticed it glowing. It amused Julio, and the crowd grew nervous at his sudden silence.

"Well, time to begin the trial," Julio announced. "The first trial is simple. A quarter of you will be eliminated and unable to proceed to the second trial. Here’s how it’s going to go: Four people will be randomly picked. They will fight in the clearing, and the winner gets to choose which of the three losers is eliminated. I’m sure some of you can figure out the true meaning of my words."

"Those are some cruel intentions," Agemo observed. "Four will fight, and the winner gets to decide who gets cut. People can choose to band together and let one person win. However, there is a chance they will get betrayed. There’s also the chance of being put in a 3 vs. 1 situation. It’s a choice of who you can trust and who you want eliminated."

"Two thousand at the start, and two hundred and fifty gone before the second. If I point at you, you will be in the next fight. Let’s get started," Julio shouted.

"You are up," Julio shouted as Agemo was one of the last one hundred to be picked.

He did say it was random, but most people who won were from the Kasara Kingdom. He would make the strong contestants from other countries fight the third stage Spirit Shamans from Kasara. He even had his niece, the youngest daughter of the king, defeat three people who were also third stage Spirit Shamans. Most of the strong contestants of the third and second stages were now natives of Kasara. He made sure that most of the soon-to-be two hundred and fifty losers were those from outside Kasara.

Agemo stood up and walked over to the clearing. Two of the people he was fighting were members of opposing sects. It was quite obvious by the way they were gripping their spears and glaring at each other. One wore the green and black robes of the Jade Cloud Piercer Sect, while the other wore the violet and white robes of the Violet Sundering Spear Sect. Both sects provided their disciples with Practitioner weapons, mostly spears. It was rare for sects to have their disciples wield the same type of weapon, and both sects argued over which was the best spear sect in Kasara. Most of the bloodiest battles, and almost all the deaths, were between disciples of these two sects.

"I am going to kill you!" the boy from the Jade Cloud Piercer Sect roared.

"Ha! Most of the people who won were members of my sect, you dog. Only our spear techniques can pierce the heavens!" the other boy shouted.

"I suppose you two don’t care who wins as long as you get to kill each other?" Julio asked, as if it had become a normal situation already.

"No, Spirit Master," they bowed in unison.

"Huh?" Julio frowned, shocked. "Why is that?"

"We lost too many disciples here and will settle for death matches in the tournament," the boy in the green robes said.

"We’re going to fight the one in the dark purple cloak with the third person over there. He’s also a native of Kasara. We don’t need outsiders here. Besides, we can’t risk causing enmity with the royal family. That guy is the son of His Majesty. He is the son of one of the many concubines, but he is still His Majesty’s son," the other boy agreed.

"Great," a blonde boy in brilliant crimson and orange armor laughed.

Agemo felt enraged and cracked his knuckles as he clenched his fist. Spirit force boomed from his body as he released his spirit energy. Only the male from the Violet Sundering Spear Sect was of the third stage. The other two were around the peak of the second stage.

"Begin the match!" Julio shouted, and a gong sounded behind the clearing.

Agemo didn’t bother drawing his katana and glared at the three cowards who ganged up on him. Each of them drew their spears while the prince brandished a double-handed sword. The boy at the third stage stood back as the prince and the other boy charged forward.

Agemo laughed as he dodged the spear and punched the boy in the stomach. As his hand connected, the boy lurched forward in pain, and Agemo absorbed his spirit energy, then threw him off the clearing like a ragdoll. He spat in disgust as the prince tried to slash his back, merely slapping the sword away with his tyrannical strength, causing it to fly. The prince cried out in pain as his wrists were injured in the process.

"Scum like you don’t deserve to be royalty," Agemo snarled and slapped the prince in the face. "Eat some liquid food. Solid food is too rich for such a disgrace."

The prince crashed into the stands. His face was missing some teeth, his left cheek was bruised, and his jaw was broken. The crowd couldn’t believe the strength he displayed, as he was clearly weaker in cultivation. No one cared much about the prince as he wasn’t killed and was not the son of both the king and queen. The king had many concubines and, naturally, many children.

If this were the outside world, Agemo would have absorbed all their energy. However, he only took more than half of the two boys’ spirit energy so his demonic ability would not be detected. Those two were really lucky to anger Agemo in public. They would recover in a few hours.

"You’re next. Get over here," Agemo said as he drew Rain Slayer.

"Hmph. A mere punk in the second stage wants to beat me?" the boy laughed. "Only death can befit such arrogance!"