The Conspiracy of the Elites

A year finally passed, as the anticipated and dreaded elimination round began. During Clark’s time training in the ship, he forfeited making friends as 99.9% of them were going to die by the time the tournament is over, if not 100% of them. Despite this, he became closer to 2 people than all the others, they could not be considered bosom friends, but they were close. They were a boy and a girl, Emily and Henry.

“Clark, I know you’ll probably blast through this elimination phase,” Emily said in a part joking and sad tone. Unlike Clark, who was a field agent, she was a soldier who served in her country’s fleet. She fought hard when they were attacked, but she could only watch helplessly as her country’s fleet was destroyed and annexed.

Most of her friends were already dead, Henry was her only friend, who was also a 2nd rank high-grade soldier that survived. Emily and Henry knew that there was a very high chance that they would die, during this elimination phase. They felt sad at the same time feeling relief, as they didn’t really feel any drive to live further on this cursed world again.

You’ll never understand a person’s life until you live through his/her experiences, this age of exotics and technology is a blessing to some few people, but it’s a curse and nightmare to countless other people.

Clark didn’t have any right here, as a captured gladiator also. There life or death, was completely in their hands. He just encouraged them to try their best, while also preparing himself for any worst-case scenario. He was good, but he was definitely not the best 2nd rank high-grade soldier in the ship.

“Fortunately, 5 soldiers will be allowed to qualify for the main tournament, but my opponents for this phase will be random. I could even meet the best soldier on my first fight, which is going to be very nightmarish, if I’m that unlucky”. Clark thought to himself, as he returned to training.

Later in the day, the organization didn’t waste time as the battle fixtures were finally randomized. Clark quickly went to check his fixture, for the year.

The Stranded Dragon’s battle fixture for the year.

Fight 1: The Stranded Dragon vs The Mad man.

Fight 2: The Stranded Dragon vs Scorpion or Excalibur.

Fight 3: The Stranded Dragon vs The Elephant’s gaze or The Trickster.

Fight 4: The Stranded Dragon vs The Killer or The Racoon.

Fight 5: The Stranded Dragon vs The Emperor or Ragnarok.

Clark’s gaze froze, as he stared at his last battle fixture. He was going to fight either The Emperor or Ragnarok, he was 100% sure that he would face The Emperor at last, as he was the one widely recognized as the best in training.

He was not afraid of him, but he clearly recognized that this guy was stronger than he was. “I guess I’ll just have to train harder,” he said, as he clenched his fists. This was the worst-case scenario, that he dreaded.

The fixtures were written as him vs Scorpion or Excalibur, because these 2 will have a battle, before the winner will meet him. The winner will then become his opponent. The Killer in his third fixture was also going to be a difficult opponent, but he was sure that, he had a better chance of winning.

As Clark went back to train, Emily and Henry repeatedly sympathized with him, due to his fight fixture. He just nodded to acknowledge them. The Emperor was indeed powerful, but in a competition like this, there is no absolute win nor loss. “It is not over, until it is over,” he thought.

The elimination first battle will start tomorrow, but his fight with The Mad man was in a month’s time. He returned, to do his daily training routine, he pushed himself till he was completely exhausted and all his muscles were aching all over, before going to rest.

The first battle fixture of the year started, and they all went to spectate. All the people in the other ships, watched either through a remote projection in their ship or by coming directly to their ship to spectate live. This fight was between a man, whose ring name was The Blood fighter, and a woman whose ring name was The Bounty killer.

The man wielded a pair of reinforced steel sabers as his weapon, while the woman wielded a spear also made from reinforced steel, as her weapon. A huge cage was constructed in the ship, by the organization for the battles. It was just like hell in a cage, organized in wrestling matches of the last century. They both quickly entered as the cage doors closed.

The battle quickly began, as they both came closer while circling each other. Boom!! The man moved first as the air parted with a huge sound, because of his speed. The woman reacted fast, as she readied herself immediately separating her legs to form a defensive stance.

Whoosh!! The Blood fighter slashed forward with his 2 sabers, combined with the momentum from his speed, the force of the slash was simply monstrous. The Bounty killer didn’t bother to dodge, as she leapt back quickly before decisively executing her battle art, “The Blurry spear”.

Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! The sound of her spear stabbing, swinging and metal clashes reverberated as the woman’s spear blurred, leaving afterimages behind. This battle art clearly aimed at speed, so you had to have a very high hand speed just to learn it. Ptui!! Ptui!! The Blood fighter started receiving injuries, as he struggled to follow the Bounty killer’s fast movements and tempo. There was a saying that, speed could beat the hardest force and I guess the woman was proving it now.

This was a battle without any exotic armor, so it was not following the usual route of wearing down your opponent’s armor’s durability first. This was a battle of skill, a battle where the disparity between soldiers will be more exposed.

The Blood fighter was not prepared to go down so easily, as he also started executing his battle art, “The Blood rage”. This battle art, as its name implied was derived after a lengthy examination of an exobeast’s rage phenomenon. It followed a set of principles, and it could increase brute strength significantly when used. The Blood fighter’s blows, clearly became almost twice as strong and forceful as the battle started becoming even again.

Despite this, the bounty killer still firmly held the upper hand, as she controlled the battle’s trajectory.

The battle became heated, as they both became bloodied all over. The Bounty killer was becoming exhausted but she persevered, the blood fighter finally made a mistake as he missed his footing.

Ptui!! The Bounty killer didn’t miss this opportunity, as she lunged forward with her spear stabbing him on the chest. Whoosh!! Ptui!! As soon as she stabbed, they both stiffened as the woman’s eyes widened in horror. Clark shook his head, as the woman’s head rolled down from her neck.

At the last moment, the Blood fighter slashed with speed faster than his normal one, which removed her head with one slash. “You see, these fights were simply too unpredictable to rely only on skill,” Clark muttered to himself in resignation.

The Blood fighter played dirty, as he was hiding his real speed before he suddenly erupted at the last moment. The spectators cheered as the first battle of the year ended, The Blood fighter quickly went for treatment, as his injuries were not light.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate. If you love this book, please leave your power stones behind to support it.]