>

>

Darkness. Everything that could be seen: Deep Darkness.

This wasn't the first time for Qing Lin to be in a situation like this. She also couldn't remember how many times she has experienced this, but she got accustomed to it. She could only sit on the cold ground, leaning her back on the wall behind her and hug her knees to feel some warmth.

"I'm tired of it all."

Almost every day, Qing Lin had to wait in this sick darkness to being chosen as a sparring partner. But in all those months - maybe even years - she never got chosen. This was also the reason why she hasn't put on her armour.

The silence in this darkness calmed her heart, and her breathing got softer.

But soon the serene silence was broken by a male voice which floated into her head and softly said; "Qing Lin, it's your turn. You have 3 seconds to prepare," in a calming tone.

"W-What? I . . . I was chosen?" she stuttered with a flustered heart.

She couldn't believe her luck. Finally, could she could stand under the sun again. She would finally feel the breeze of the wind blowing through her ocean-blue hair again. She would finally feel the sunshine on her skin. She would finally . . . leave this darkness and see the light.

The ground started grumbling and shaking. She could feel it pushing her upwards towards freedom. Suddenly Qing Lin remembered what her purpose was and why she was in this darkness.

The Nan Tian University was the best university in the city because their students are experienced in battles and especially those with killing intent. Every student of theirs had fought multiple battles where their opponents have a dense killing intent.

Because of their countless battles against such opponents, they got accustomed to it and are experts in subduing bandits and demons.

And apparently Qing Lin was such a person. Students of the Nan Tian University fight against her in order to get accustomed to Throne-Pursuers like her - the Throne of a Ruler of Hell that is.

They lock people like her into the H.I.V.E. prison and disguise them as puppets for the mock fights so that nobody notices that they are prison inmates.

"Wait…" a thought struck her and she screamed; "Wait! I haven't put my puppet-armour on yet!" in panic. If they would see that she is not a puppet but a prison inmate, then she would be executed on the spot.

The square room roared and Qing Lin was pushed inside of another square room. The darkness lightly faded and light seeped through some cracks of the stone walls into the room. In the lightly illuminated room, the petite Qing Lin struggled to put on the earth-coloured stone armour.

*clack*

With the knocking signal of the examiner that he will now open the room, Qing Lin panicked and used her ice attributed qi to form a mask instead of putting on her helmet.

*BAM!* An entire wall of the room disappeared in the ground.

Through the ice mask she could see the scenery lying before her. The radiating sun was hiding half of its beauty behind a mountain and began to set. The warmth of the sun warmed her body and the clear air smelled like fresh grass and blossoming flowers.

It was dusk.

Sadness overcame her because the sun was on its way to leave her - again. She hadn't enjoyed it enough yet. Even the sky wasn't blue anymore but painted in a fading rose-red colour. Soon the ink-black night will take over the sky.

Qing Lin stretched her arm towards the sun and tried to grasp the fleeing sunlight so that it could keep her company just a little longer. But as expected, she couldn't grasp it. Heavy-hearted she noticed the white-haired youth in battle attire who stood before her. Awakening from her daydream, Qing Lin got into her battle stance and ready to fight. Sadly, she couldn't enjoy this moment of freedom but had to fight.

"365! Forward!" the examiner commanded the white-haired teenager and left the field.

The good-looking teenager stepped towards her and moved into his battle stance. His eyes stared at her and observed her body all over. Qing Lin was feeling a little embarrassed that he was staring at her like that.

But she also couldn't help herself from staring into his eyes. His eyes were sky-blue and shimmering. Mourning to see such a sky again, she kept staring at his eyes and imaged herself under a sky the colour of his eyes.

Her beautiful daydream was torn apart by the examiner, Bai Long, screaming; "DRAW YOUR WEAPONS!!" in seriousness.

Chains were growing like flowers out from the youths sleeves. Gently, he grabbed the ends of the chains where dazzling daggers were attached to. With a flick of his wrists, the blades shot into the air like a rising star. As they reached their highest point, they came crushing down like a powerful waterfall. A brown veil of mist arose from the ground and shrouded the area.

Whispers of disdain came from the surroundings. Qing Lin felt kind of sorry for the youth. He only wanted to impress people with his skills but ended up with being looked down upon. She couldn't just let it stay like that, so she decided that she will give her all at this battle and show everyone that he isn't someone weak.

She glided her hand behind her back and reached for her beloved weapon - a dagger which she named 'Cat Claw'. It had the form of a cat's claw and a deep violet colour.

'Hmmm?… What?! I can't get it out! It's stuck too deeply in my stone armour!' Qing Lin struggled and tried her best to get it out, but it was of no use.

She knew that asking someone to help her would be shameless in a situation like this; but what else could she do? This was the only weapon she had on her, and without a weapon she couldn't make this fight look equal. If she would fight without a weapon against the boy, who wields a weapon, then it wouldn't make him look good and he would fail his exam. And Qing Lin also couldn't lose too miserably because that would only arouse suspicion.

With no other idea in her mind, she signalled with her other hand that he should be so kind and come over to help her out. But sadly, the white-haired youth seemed to have misunderstood her.

He shouted, "Is this all!? The high and mighty Owl which crushes the spirit of its opponents decided to use only one hand for that? What do you want to do? Give me a high-five with that?!"

A smile crept on his mouth and a small laughter of mockery escaped his lips. "But yeah, maybe, just maybe, you're able to defeat me with one hand. Are you sure the fight will be so easy for you that you are able to crush me?"

With those words, blades of ice formed on his forearms which looked like a pair of scythes. "Are you sure that you want to fight that way? Because maybe I am the one who crushes YOU!"

'That's not it! *sigh~~~*. I didn't mean that.' Qing Lin felt wronged and dejectedly moved her arm away from her dagger and back forward. Deeply in thought, her mind was rushing to come up with a new idea.

'Arghhh~~' Pain. It hurts! My head, it hurts!

She moved her hand towards her head and slightly placed her palm against her mask. She pushed against her mask and cooled her forehead with the cold ice-mask.

The pain didn't stop. It blossomed further and her sight became fuzzy.

'Arghhh, no. Not yet. . . not now,' she prayed in desperation. This isn't the first time that she experienced this pain. Every time the pain came, she would fall unconscious for a long time.

Distorted voices entered her ears but she couldn't understand a single thing. She kept focusing on staying awake.

'Why does it have to happen now? I am finally outside of the prison and see the endless sky. I don't want to miss this chance I got. I have the stay awake. '

Short of breath and suffering in pain, Qing Lin signalled with her other hand that she can't fight and someone should help her. Someone should come to her and help her!

A deafening voice crushed against her ears and tore her concentration apart. Her soul felt elevated as if it was leaving her body, but it wasn't.

Darkness. Again, Qing Lin was shrouded in darkness. All alone.

"I'm tired of it all."