The sun rose over the blood-soaked camp, illuminating evidence of the sin and slaughter that transpired during the night.
The survivors emerged hollow-eyed, scarred, and blood-stained.
No matter how Kairo tried to downplay it in front of Mira, he was also heavily affected. If he was alone, he may have broken down already.
Despite how much he tried to rationalize it, to his brain, killing was still not natural yet. In the moment, fueled by adrenaline, he did it effortlessly, but it was only in the aftermath when his brain started thinking that it settled.
'I killed all those boys… they were just like me'.
'But they would have killed me first if I didn't kill them'.
'Dammit, stop being such a wuss!' But the thing about the brain was that, sometimes it just doesn't listen to reason.
Kairo had a cold look on his face, but inside, he was being fractured in two.
He looked at the once pristine public training ground. Now, it was nothing but a ruin. Tents were shredded, smoke still rising into the sky.
Thankfully, all the marketers always left before 10 when the lights go off, so civilians were not dragged into the night massacre.
'How many applicants died?' Kairo wondered.
At that moment, the gates of the Academy finally opened and what came out first was a familiar drone flying out. It swept overhead, doing a new headcount and then a new number was projected in the sky.
[538]
'Even number huh?' Kairo thought. 'I guess no applicant is lucky today'.
And just like that, over 500 more applicants forfeited their life after rejecting Major Pain's psychological push to leave with their lives yesterday.
Kairo did not know how he was supposed to feel about that.
At that moment, a system notification suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
DING!
~----~
[Your Strength stat has increased to E-]
[Your Intelligence stat has increased to F+]
~----~
Kairo looked at the system notification. Now that the system indicated it, he did indeed feel sturdier after all the night skirmishes. His thoughts were sharper too. And beneath it all, he felt that his predatory instinct was stronger too.
'I guess I benefited after all'.
He finally relaxed, slumping against the wall of the Academy.
"We survived". Mira muttered, almost in disbelief.
Kairo nodded. "Yes, we did".
Soon after the drone did the headcount, the instructors came back. Kairo looked at them but he saw no emotion on their faces. They all had the same impassive look that they always had on their faces, this was a job to them.
Just like yesterday, the herded the remaining 538 applicants into formation before leading them through the Blackstone gates inside the walls.
This time, they were led underground to a gigantic construct that looked like a coliseum. Staring at it, Kairo could not help his blood pressure rising.
'The legendary Santiago Bernabeu!'
This was the main arena where official combat battles inside Nexus Academy take place. In Arcanum Nexus, you could barely read 5 comic books without seeing at least two mention the Santiago Bernabeu.
The coliseum was a marvel of technology.
It had 10 different default different combat arenas that were stacked on top of each other, meaning 10 battles could be fought and officiated at a time.
Not just that, the coliseum had a crazy function to freely change the terrain for official battles. It could change the terrain to a dry desert, or a freeing tundra, literally anything.
With advanced spelltech integrated in its development, there was no difference between it and the real thing.
Also, through advanced spelltech and space magic, inside the coliseum was actually far bigger than the space it takes in reality.
The coliseum stands were already filled to the brim with tens of thousands of spectators. Some were students of Nexus Academy, most were civilians, others were nobles, and a few were scouts from major guilds in the city and beyond.
There was a different platform for esteemed figures like the nobles and guild scouts though. Floating platforms hovered overhead where they sat and would observe the spectacle from a vantage point.
Nexus Academy will only grant scholarship to the best 10 applicants out of the remaining 538, but that does not mean the others are not talented. This was exactly why scouts came in pristine suits and scholarly glasses.
Staring at the coliseum stands, Kairo took a deep breath. 'This is it'.
Major Pain was already standing at the center of the uppermost combat arena. He faced the 538 applicants that now stood before him, ignoring how tired and exhausted they looked.
He spoke bluntly. "You survived the night, congratulations. More than half of you from yesterday did not".
"Now begins the Combat Phase. No more hiding, and for the first round, no luck. Just your strength, or your weakness".
"Remember, death in the ring will not be punished. If you die, it means you were too weak".
"If you can't even protect your own life, then you don't deserve one".
He quickly glanced at his wristwatch to check the time, then he continued. "No rest between rounds. You fight until you collapse or until only 10 remain".
"If this was a real battlefield, no enemy would care about how powerful you are. If they outlast you, they win, and you die". He said coldly.
At that moment, a massive holographic screen appeared that projected names, ranks, and match pairings.
The Academy A.I projects the brackets, Red vs Blue pairings. For a few seconds, Applicants' names flashed rapidly until they slotted into opponents.
Murmurs rippled through the applicants. Some were unlucky as friends were paired against each other. On other sides, rivals were already grinning while some were fidgeting already due to the opponent that they were paired against.
Kairo quickly found his name.
[Eric Williams vs Kairo Vale – 8th batch]
Since there were only 10 combat arenas and 538 applicants will be fighting, the battles were divided into 27 batches to fit the 269 battles to be fought in the first round of the Combat Phase.
Kairo's battle was in the 8th batch, but Mira was to fight before him in the 5th batch. He tilted his head to look at her.
Mira forced a smile. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm not as weak as you think".
Kairo nodded.
Major Pain announced the final rules. "No forfeit unless you kneel and verbally concede. Once you concede, the Academy will intervene".
"Medical care only follows after the round ends. Until then, injured fighters must continue, or quit".
"Let the battle begin!"