The Conspiracy of the Elites

Clark and the others waited for about 30 minutes, which was ridiculously long for someone who said he would soon be here. No one complained though, as they waited patiently.

Click!! The door finally opened, as a person dressed in a suit entered the house. Closely following him were 5 other men, they clung to him like a shadow. Clark was silent as he observed the newcomer, while his thoughts ran unrestrainedly. He quickly cleared his thoughts as he stood up with the other gladiators, the Captain was already standing.

“Good day General,” the Captain greeted, with a salute accompanying the greeting.

“Good day General,” they also greeted in unison, as the General quickly arrived at their front. He kept silent, as he sternly scrutinized them with his eyes for about 20 seconds before he finally broke the silence.

“Good, I like all your attitudes,” he finally said with a smile. He no longer wasted time, as he went directly to the point.

“I know you were probably gotten through dubious means, but I advise you to put any resentment behind you and fight diligently. I’ll personally deal with any gladiator that slacks, and I know you don’t want to mess with me”.

“During this remaining 2 months, all of you should try as much as possible to improve your strength, I want victories when the tournament starts”.

After saying some other words to them, he called the Captain aside to discuss. After another 30 minutes, his business was finally finished as he left with his 5 followers.

Emily slumped down on the sofa, as soon as the General left. They were not afraid of him, but as a higher-ranked high-grade soldier, his presence alone was intimidating and suppressive. They were sure that he also toned it up a bit paired with his intimidating words, to act as a show of strength to them.

The captain came back shortly, after escorting the General out. “Gladiators up, you heard the General, he does not want any defeat, only victories”.

They didn’t have too much of a reaction to his words, but they still stood up as they looked for the designated arena to train.

After about 3 years with this fleet, he was finally going to be free. After they finished the tournament battles, they would be released. Clark’s mind started drifting home again, but he suppressed it as his main goal now was to win all the battles, before thinking of anything else.

…

Bam!! Bam!! Bam!! Clark’s spear danced furiously around, as it slashed, cutting down all the simulated targets. This is the accuracy simulated battleground, it is a virtual training battleground.

The simulated opponents have the strength of normal soldiers, but the sheer number of opponents was the problem. He killed the soldiers very swiftly with his teammates, as they made sure to maintain their formation.

Boom!! The Emperor suddenly charged forward, as he cleared a small path in the middle of this horde of soldiers. Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! They already practiced this strategy countless times, due to the momentum from his charge, the surrounding simulated soldiers lost their footing, swaying like headless sheep.

They took them as the headless sheep they were, as they massacred all the surrounding soldiers. Emily moved just like a phantom, as she moved around the edges slicing the opponents apart with her dual light swords. She killed just like a reaper of lives.

Whoosh!! Whoosh!! Mark complimented her maneuver from the side with his exquisite swordsmanship, his sword kept slashing and stabbing everywhere as he already established his position as the anchor of their team.

Aurora is the real name of the eagle queen. Her loner battle style has changed significantly, as she integrated more into the team. With her pair of daggers, she was a terror on any kind of battlefield.

As Emily cleared the edges, she followed her eerily like a ghost or better still a silent assassin, as her daggers stabbed left and right in a frenzy. Everywhere these 2 ladies passed, was turned into a terrain of blood and disaster as they massacred.

They already formed a strategy for their team battles, Arthur is the main aggressive attacker who helps them in breaking enemy formations. Mark is their anchor, or better still he is their tower of defense. If the going gets too tough, his responsibility was to try and stabilize the situation again.

Emily is the harassment master, as her battle art can help her harass and disrupt their opponent’s tempo. Also, she is the fastest gladiator in the team, and her speed can complement Arthur’s charge to better break their opponent team’s formation.

Aurora is like a helper to them, as her main job is to help any team member who is in a dangerous situation. She is also their secret assassin, as she is very proficient in short burst battles of speed and power.

Well, Clark himself is the ace gladiator of the team. The Captain ordered him to reserve his strength during the first battles so that they can surprise the stronger teams with it, during the semi-finals or finals. This team formation was the best they could ever ask for, and they were very satisfied with it.

Mark already stabilized his position as the Captain of the team. During this time together, they already grew to become good friends. According to legends, good friends are made during a battle or war, and they already proved it.

The accuracy training continued, but 3 of his teammates already died so the situation was not looking good. Mark defended tightly, as his hand speed erupted completely. Pu! Pu! Whoosh!! Clark’s spear stabbed, slashed, and hacked repeatedly as a soldier died to it, another following after in rapid succession.

He also received injuries every second, he gritted his teeth as he endured the pain while trying to maximize their kill count before they died. Boom!! He did the last slash across with his spear, killing 3 soldiers in the process as he finally fell dead from exhaustion.

He could not wake up immediately, as the virtual simulation is as close to reality as possible. The pain and the feeling of dying alone can give normal soldiers a trauma, that they can never recover from. His body must be stabilized before he is allowed to wake up.

He felt weak all over, as he lied down on the nutrition cabin. Energy recovery injections were injected into his body through the cabin, as he stood up 2 minutes later.

A minute later, Mark also stood up as the battle already ended. He killed 2 additional soldiers before dying, after Clark’s death. As soon as he stood up, they all tacitly glanced at Arthur as they tried to stifle their laughter.

“Hey, don’t look at me. You guys also make mistakes at times,” Arthur quickly protested, with his trademark serious face on.

“Hahaha!!” They all erupted with laughter, as they gathered to check their scores this round. During this battle, they were all exhausted but they still persevered, trying to milk out their whole potential.

Arthur did not allow this though, as he slipped up, making a mistake that led to their death. Despite the mistake, they were happy as they were sure that they broke their existing record.

“Sabertooth, show us the results,” Mark demanded. Sabertooth is the name, they gave to the house’s A.I. A screen quickly materialized, showing their results.

Team Battle Evaluation:

Total no. of kills: 2225 Endurance: 87% Attack power: 85%

Attack speed: 89% Teamwork: 72:

Individual Battle Evaluation:

#1st- The stranded dragon: Attack power: 96% Attack speed: 83% Endurance: 83% Decision making: 85%

#2nd- Jian Wushaung: Attack power: 82% Attack speed: 81% Endurance: 85% Decision making: 86%

#3rd- The Emperor: Attack power: 88% Attack speed: 80% Endurance: 78% Decision making: 79%

#4th- The flexible master: Attack power: 80% Attack speed: 91% Endurance: 70% Decision making: 80%

#5th- The eagle queen: Attack power: 85% Attack speed: 82% Endurance: 62% Decision making: 75%

“Hahaha!!” Mark suddenly started laughing joyfully, as soon as the result was shown. “I improved, I’m now the 2nd best. Oh man, what a good feeling”.

Everybody knew he was just joking, as this was just one training session, but they all still tacitly turned to glance at Arthur. On seeing his expression, and his slightly twitching eyebrows, they erupted into another fit of laughter.

This guy was just like this, always trying to be the best, but they were already used to him.

After all the laughing, they finally calmed down, as they carefully went through the evaluations. Mark improved in his endurance and decision-making again, they just sighed in resignation as talent is of various types and degrees.

The team evaluation indicated that they improved a lot, which was another great boon to them. They improved in endurance by 2%, attack power by 3%, in attack speed by 2%, and in team-work by a whopping 5%.

Clark felt lucky to be enjoying this treatment, despite going through it as a captive. You can never see this type of A. I that can evaluate 2nd rank high-grade soldiers’ strength like this, in any other parts of the world except the big 5 and some few organizations.

The Captain came in to say a few words of motivation to them, before leaving. They continued their training shortly after, as improving their strength as a team was their priority at the moment.

Clark’s training was more intense, as he was training on improving his strengths in a team, and also his strength for the individual battles. Unlike the others, he was competing in 2 tournaments.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it. My brother's laptop developed some problems today, that's why the release today was this delayed. But it's been resolved, if I can finish editing the last chapter on time, I'll publish it. Please, be patient with me.]