Chapter 14

AN: I hit a horrible author block on this chapter. I blame it on being stuck in a hospital bed and being asleep most of the time. Good news is I’m leaving today :) Hospital food sucks. I’m getting McDonalds first thing. Sorry for the short chapter, I blame being stuck on a bed and feeling extremely lazy

Facing certain defeat wasn’t anything new. Facing death was getting old. Feeling fear was something I had yet to find.

A shame since a 7 meter tall woman capable of blasting half of the floor to bits, known as the manifestation of hell, killed multiple 10 great family rankers (and ruler), just didn’t frighten me.

As I stared at the demon urging us to surrender, my mind calmly searched for solutions…or rather an explanation for this ridiculous situation.

For one, rulers weren’t supposed to administer tests for regulars themselves. They had a test director to do that and multiple test admins. Being the ruler of the 2nd floor known as the ‘Floor of tests’, Evankell should not have a shortage of rankers to administer the tests for her.

So why was she here?

Rank 60 of countless rankers. The Infernal. The demon who fought all the way up the tower and back down. Trails of charred corpses wherever she goes. Evankell was someone who constantly searched for challenging fights…and she was going to kill them? Regulars who barely entered the tower?

Ridiculous. Someone so high up, prideful, and lazy, would not do that.

‘Only about 15 of you would survive anyway’ The voice of the test admin rang in my ear.

‘Never liked Jahad anyway’ Truth…she didn’t like Jahad and his glorious empire, that was a fact.

‘Surrender, surrender now!’ Why would she emphasize that point multiple times? Purposely trying to lead us to that point.

‘That means the administrator just agreed to my test’ Even the administrator would take minutes to accept a contract regarding a sudden test. Unless…unless it was prepared in advance and only needed his confirmation.

’Land a hit on me before I kill you.’ The administrator would never accept these terms for the test. Not against a high ranker, not against Evankell. So that means…she’s lying. The pocket clearly showed a test contract was formed…but the requirements are different.

If she wasn’t lying, then we would already be dead. She’s still trying to threaten us into giving up. She has too much to lose should she break the contract by any means. She wouldn’t do anything out of bounds She’s hates Jahad…and is trying to make us surrender by a show of force.

Reasonably, this can only mean…

Lero-ro was beginning to open his mouth, his psych having been crushed under Evankell’s overwhelming presence.

“I surr—“

“We refuse. Fight us” I cut him off just in time as I bring out my trusty blade, Azurite, and hold it against an impossible foe.

I can hear Yuri exclaim but I ignore her as I take a step further.

“We choose to fight” I channel shinsu through the blade and I feel the heat recede from the metal the slightest bit. My heartbeat slows and steadies as I take my stance against fire itself. “So fight us Ms. Evankell””

…

For a moment, all was silent except for the sound of my steady beating heart. Even the flames receded as the ruler of burning hell took in my words.

… …

“Hahahaha…” A small sound of laughter rolled from the ruler’s side. “Hahahaha” … “HAHAHAHA”

A joyous sounds ripping through the vocal cords of a burning elephant was what it sounded liked. Horrible…yet reassuring.

“Heh…you pass.” The burning orb grew smaller and smaller, curling into itself until it flickered out…as if it never existed. “Looks like you have the guts to climb the tower after all. Shame…and here I thought I could continue my streak of 132 fails in a row.”

(AN: To those who expected a fight between Evankell and Pandora…you’re mental. No matter how strong Pandora is compared to regulars or even fellow princesses at the moment, it is a ridiculous notion to go up against a ranker…let alone someone leagues above that. A top 100 High Ranker…that’s endgame level)

“Wait shorty, so what was the answer?” Yuri whispered in my ear

“Courageousness kid” Evankell replied for me “And guts. Here on the floor of Tests, it’s our job to weed out those who do not have the qualities to climb the tower. Not all of you might have it, especially you pikachu, but it seems that the white haired brat has some guts”

“I don’t have guts or the aspect of courageousness. I am fearless” Guts took faith and courageousness took willpower over fear. I simply had logical deduction and my lack of fear.

“I would fail you but unfortunately, you passed regardless of how.”

“Umm…miss Evankell, doe—does that mean we can go onto the next floor?” Lero-ro sounded hopeful. Shame…the ranker said 15…it was probably going to be 15 not 3.

“Not yet I’m afraid.” Evankell said “Since your white haired brat killed everyone else, we can’t send up a group of just 3 to the next floor. You will be joining up with the previous group who are still in testing and compete with them until the final 15”

“I refuse” As I said that, once again my teammates tried to shut me off. I managed to pry Yuri’s fingers off my mouth as I restated my desires.

“Even if you are the ruler and the acting test director, you have no right to strip away what we have accomplished in our division. We have brought down the numbers from 400 to a mere 3. We deserve to pass right now if it wasn’t for the rule of 15”

It was as if the sun that went out exploded in full force again as the familiar heat scorched everything again.

“And what’s stopping me from just killing you three and be done with it, huh, brat?”

“By the contract of the administrator, you will die should you do that. Your position as Ruler and temporary test admin binds you from harming us when we are not taking a test.”

“Cheeky brat”

“Please read the job description next time Ms. Evankell”

“How about another test, right now?”

“I highly doubt that administrator will accept that. We have already proven our qualities. He will not allow you the excuse to kill us. Now if you will, please send us up…or give us a clear and unfair advantage should we be required to join with the previous group”

“And why should I do that?”

“Because if I remember clearly Miss Evankell, we broke no rules and simply abided by the recommendations of reducing numbers to increase our chance of passing. It was your test admin that did not check on our numbers and thus brought us into this position”

Evankell gritted her teeth, clearly not enjoying being outwitted by a child…but who cares. As long as I never meet her again, there was little to no chance of being burned by her infernal flames of hell.

After a few long moments which seemed to drag on much longer than necessary…

“Fine”

The smallest widening of my lips showed, smiling truly for once, again. With my hand behind me, I felt Yuri give me a small high five as Lero look at me with (a bit of fear) and affirmation. Thankfully it seemed like even the mighty Evankell valued his job more than his pride over a small skirmish with regulars.

“I’ll allow you to live for today. Your team will receive full points before the tests even begin. That’s pretty much guaranteeing your pass unless you screw it all up.” She sneered while putting extra emphasis on her allowance.

I was wise enough to nod my head in acceptance before leaving through the now-open door. High rankers were still scary…a little.

… …

“What were you thinking?!! You could have gotten us killed!” Exclaimed Yuri

“Well, I didn’t. If she would have tried that, I would have filed a complaint to the administrator as my last act of life and she knew that.”

“You’re mental”

“At least I’m not an idiot sandbag.” With that, our squabble started again as Hero sat in the corner of the empty room just sighing at our antics. It was only a day and yet at the rate we were cursing each other out…it felt like weeks at the least.

“So…ummm…what now” Lero asked. “I mean as long as we don’t score near the last in the following tests, we’re pretty much guaranteed to pass. Right?”

I thought about it for a moment but while that was true, Evankell and thus her administrators weren’t people to make the test easy for us. They would be raising the stakes to try and kill us or at least drop the numbers for the following tests. In that case…the best strategy was…

“Process of eliminati—umph! Yuri!” Sandbag proceeded to jump onto me, pushing me down before into a mount position before raining blows on me.

“You still haven’t learned your lesson have you, you fucking psychomaniac!”

What? I just stated the facts!

“You’re the type of person to set 20 alarm clocks off at five minute intervals and hide them in other people’s homes!” Yuri exclaimed.

Ouch, that hurts…but that’s a good idea

“You probably spill tomato juice in shopping malls and leave a trail to an occupied bathroom stall!”

I should probably use that on her if we actually become a team.

“Wow…hey Yuri, that’s pure evil. I feel hurt”

“That’s you!”

“Hey hey now. We’re going to be a team so um…why don’t we all calm down a bit?” Lero pulled Yuri off of me before trying to defuse the situation.

“Shut up Pikachu!”

*sigh* great team dynamics I guess…

… …

The following day the three of them, her, Yuri, and Lero Ro, were lead to an open area where they had the (un)fortunate time to mingle with the team that came before them. As per usual, small fights broke out which resulted in broken arms and mouths…but it wasn’t as if the admins could do anything to us.

Planning ahead, Yuri and I decided to strictly stick only to taunting and ignoring instead of attacking first. Self-defense was allowed according to the rules so the process of elimination was going well when the test admin had to come and break us apart.

“Alright now, listen up! Especially the new group, my new source of a headache” jeez, he didn’t need to point it out like that “ Because we already have a bit too many of you, we’ll be culling the numbers just a bit. Which means no slaughtering or any actions that resembles a genocide!” The admin stated looking directly into my eyes.

The lighthouses behind him glowed as they showed a new field in which we would be playing a game. An artificial colossus golden pyramid was formed in the middle of the field and a small platform on the top.

“Rules are simple” The cleared his throat before continuing. “The final person to be standing on the platform at the end of the 30 minutes passes this floor regardless of what they do. No more tests, no more annoying tasks…however…they person defending their position as King may not kill anyone.”

Yuri and I immediately looked at each other before trying to sign each other to give up and a mix of swear words.

You give up

No you

Albino monkey

Sandbag

… …

1 hour later

Dodging under Yuri’s (devastating) punch, I swept underneath her legs before giving her a slight push. I reveled in the look of shock and betrayal as she slowly began falling backwards…backwards off the pyramid.

Risking a look behind me, there was only 3 seconds left. As Yuri’s foothold on the top slipped as she began to skid off the mountainous slope all the while looking me dead in the eye. I stared right back at her with glee in my eye.

That was a definite one up on her. 1v1 and I won.

The timer buzzed signaling the end as I was declared the winner. No more bullshit tests. No more stupid instructions for the rest of this floor. I planned on just resting and training on my own in my provided room while waiting for the rest (as in Yuri and Lero) to finish off whatever they had.

If only things were that easy

AN: Help needed desperately to stop serious addiction to Italian food. I’m missing my Italian roommate’s food so much that I’ve begun to explore into the abyss called ‘Italian Cusine’. I may or may not have filled an entire cupboard dedicated to just Italian spices.