Unsealing Emptiness

Survival Test? All the participants felt a little sense of trepidation, but they braced themselves as it was evident that they had no other choice.

“For all of those still unaware, although I doubt it, today all you have to do is to survive.”

Every time Old Gu spoke, his voice brought chills to the participants.

“Depending on my mood, I can and believe me I will shrink the size of this dome! You can hide! You can form teams! You can kill others! But your main goal is only to survive!”

His voice slowly turned sharper, bringing quite a few to hold their breath in fear.

The meaning behind his words instantly settled in everyone’s mind. All of them immediately readied themselves for all possibilities, proving that they were all capable enough with their quick reactions.

.....

Just then, Old Gu’s voice turned a little sinister, “As for how long you have to survive? Ghahaha! Survive until I am satisfied! Survive until enough of you are dead!”

Even the most indifferent of those present inside and outside the Neutral Lands were a little surprised except for Ozul and the Rank-10 Mages.

Ozul already had a guess that this old man was ruthless and wouldn’t bat an eye even if the entire continent was put on fire and turned into ashes. Meanwhile, the Rank-10 Mages had personally experienced his vicious side centuries ago!

“I think no more words are needed. You can begin!”

With that, Old Gu’s voice disappeared with a dissipating echo of another round of laughter.

The spectating experts all rose higher in the air in order to have a clear view if any large battle took place; as of now, most of them only had a general idea of their participants’ directions.

Meanwhile inside the massive dome, most of the people were all miles apart so there was danger for them now. Despite that, a few of them were worried sick.

Old Gu’s announcement clearly meant that everything was allowed in here!

People could either just hide away until enough of the people were dead or start killing others to end it quickly.

Obviously, the smarter choice would have been to hide and preserve their strength, not everyone chose this path...

****

“You d*ckhead! Come back here! The test only started a few seconds ago and you already want to fight!? Do you even know how many people there are!?” An orange-haired girl screamed from the top of a giant boulder.

The girl was trembling in rage as her shaky finger pointed towards the red-haired youth walking away from her.

The man had short red hair. He wore a rough grey shirt with torn sleeves, tightened with a black belt on his waist. The muscles on his arms were packed and just from a glance one could tell that they packed quite a punch.

From his appearances alone, no one would think that he was a Mage. Instead, everyone’s first impression was that he was a Fighter at almost Rank-10!

But they were only half right with their guesses.

“It’s kill or to be killed, Maura! You want me, the crown prince of the Leonhard Dynasty, to wait here until someone has the audacity to try to kill me?!” the red-haired man shouted back in reply and continued walking, “Follow me or stay here, you can’t stop me from leaving.”

A fire burned inside the red-haired man’s eyes as he continued forward, determined to eliminate any human being that he came across from now on.

“Mou! You know I don’t mean it like that, Berk. I know you are strong enough to kill anyone, but in this way, we will completely exhaust ourselves! What if someone comes to target us then?” Maura complained but she still followed behind Berk nonetheless.

She was the personal retainer of the crown prince of the Leonhard Dynasty and a talented individual in her own right. Since she was just a child, she had been together with Berk Leonhard. So she didn’t mind his harsh words.

“It doesn’t matter who comes to target us, the result will always be the same,” replied Berk without batting an eye.

“Really now Berk. Don’t be so overconfident. You were there when the Tournament of Egon was happening. His Majesty didn’t let us participate but we were both there to watch the battle.”

Maura vividly remembered the fight from that day, “That Ice guy and that girl with Darkness Element were stronger than any of the opponents you have ever defeated.”

“Tch! Just you wait! That twat would always give his best while fighting me but it looked as if he didn’t even try back then. I will show those two what a real lion from the Leonhard Dynasty is!”

Berk clenched his fists as he aimlessly walked towards the center. He actually hoped to stumble upon that duo in hopes of exchanging blows.

Although extremely talented, the Emperor of the Leonhard Dynasty deliberately didn’t publicize his son’s achievements. Hardly anyone outside the Leonhard Dynasty knew that the descendant of the Emperor was actually a genius.

Even the Emperor was shocked when he was informed that Old Gu had appeared in front of Berk out of nowhere to inform him that he was chosen.

Berk had the choice to refuse, but this was the moment he had been waiting for all his life!

He was sheltered all these years, but he never wanted to remain caged in the Leonhard Dynasty. All Berk wanted to do was get out in the world and show his might to everyone!

And this was the stage he had been dreaming of since his childhood.

“Anyway, this will never end if everyone keeps hiding. Didn’t you hear the old man? Someone has to start killing people to decrease the numbers. And I have never backed from any fight,” Berk alluded with a wild smirk on his face as he tried to contain his excited Mana so others won’t sense him first and run away.

Behind him, Maura shook his head sideways, pitying the unfortunate souls they would stumble upon.

But she wasn’t going to stop him. She wasn’t kind-hearted herself and knew it was kill or be killed, just as Berk had said.

****

In another area of the Neutral Lands, a lady with bright red hair walked together with another lady similar to her age but having blonde hair tied in a ponytail.

If not for their completely distinct appearances, one would think that they were sisters.

“Princess, what do you think we should do? It’s obviously not safe here,” the red-haired lady spoke with a stern face.

The reply came from an angelic voice that would have melted any man’s heart, “How many times have I told you not to call me princess, Irene? I am no longer a princess. I have a name, call me by my name!”

Despite being two grown up women, these ladies still looked as if they were merely 19 years old teenagers. Alas, the maturity in their eyes deceived their youthful appearances.

“I... Okay, I will call you Sarah then... though it feels so strange,” muttered Irene with creased eyebrows. She was no longer the spoiled granddaughter of Rufus Staroak, but a talented Mage who was also chosen by Old Gu.

Together with her was the princess of the now fallen Silverbird Kingdom. She was also the innocent girl who was friends with Clara, the daughter of Archbishop Lammert.

But years had passed and she also wasn’t the naive girl anymore. After her father’s death, most of her family had abandoned her and it was Rufus who came to her aid when she was lost.

Even while old, Rufus, with his strength, easily fought against all those who wanted to harm her but he was regretfully not able to protect her innocence.

With the help of Rufus, Sarah tried her best to get strong so she wouldn’t need anyone else’s help and the results were shocking! Even Rufus was surprised to see that the fragile princess of the palace was also such a genius when she put her everything into it.

Even when she was previously weaker than Irene, Sarah quickly surpassed her and proved that the blood of Emperor Luthien ran in her veins.

Coincidentally, she was also chosen to participate in this test by Old Gu.

Rufus had come to see Sarah as her own granddaughter as well. So, he wanted to stop both Irene and Sarah from taking part in this, but they refused to listen.

Irene was adamant in taking part while Sarah also wanted to gain more experience.

“It’s obvious what we are going to do Irene. Even though we are strong, you have to know that all others also must be talented in one way or another. That old man wouldn’t have chosen just about anyone,” Sarah calmly explained as they walked through the forest.

“Fighting is inevitable. Even if it’s peaceful right now, there will be chaos later. We can’t hide forever, but we should first find a better place than this. It will be hard to fight in this place.”

Irene kept nodding her head in agreement while listening to Sarah assess their situation.

They were currently in the middle of a packed forest which wasn’t suitable to either of their fighting styles. One could easily sneak up to them anytime if they weren’t careful enough.

“We should avoid fighting as much as possible,” reminded Sarah as her firm eyes kept staring forward. She wasn’t afraid to fight but wanted to conserve her strength as much as possible until the end.

What she didn’t expect was that the man who had killed her father was also one of the participants.

This was the case for most people. Even most of the spectators outside the shield dome weren’t aware that the leader of the Three-Eyed Strangers was among the chosen ones.

It wasn’t their fault, no one knew the actual age of Ozul and they never expected that Old Gu would even choose a Rank-9 Mage.

As Sarah and Irene advanced forward, they failed to notice the presence of another group of people only a few miles away from them...