Rise of the Young: Warriors are not made; they are forged (The Ascended Book 2)

by Bygott, Hugo C.

  Before they left the hallway, there was one portrait remaining. They had met her only once. Aiyax – Current Champion of 2016.

  Eclipse studied the portrait. Kry could tell that she wanted to challenge her.

  A spiral stairway was at the end of the hallway, and as they climbed the stairs, the cheering of the students grew louder. Sounds of fireworks and laughter could be heard as they approached an opening which led into different directions, each one appearing to be an entrance to the inner stadium. They reached one of the entrances and made their way out to a cacophony of cheering. Before them was a giant stadium. A great field the size of a football ground stretched out below. The roof above was shaped as a dome, but it was semi-opened allowing the lights to shine out brightly. A small podium stood at the center of the field, and Kry could see Yujin sitting with President Katar and other professors. They were as excited as the students.

  Eclipse was in awe, her eyes glinting with expectation, the thrill of the battle reminding her of her own competitive spirit.

  They found some empty seats nearby and waited with excitement. Not far from them, Thrace, Akira, and Inessa were sitting with many other students, waving and cheering. The mood then became even greater as students walked out onto the field below. Each student carried a big red drum, and a white cloth was strapped around their heads.

  “Taiko drums,” said Eclipse.

  Kry had never seen such big drums before. The students lowered their drums to the ground and struck the wide area of the drum with precision. The drum beats resounded throughout the stadium with euphoric energy, each drum beat creating power. Kry grew excited and began to cheer as well. The tension was increasing as the beats became faster and more powerful. The drummers then shouted with each beat, and the drumming became even faster. Students across the stadium cheered loudly. As the drumming continued, Kry looked down at Yujin and the professors. He then saw Zero sitting quietly watching the drumming. Zero then turned his head and looked directly at him.

  “Glad you’re back on your feet,” said Zero before looking away.

  Eclipse and Whisper were so enthralled with the display and the music that they were oblivious to the strange look on Kry’s face.

  The drumming stopped, and fireworks burst out into the sky. The cheering was louder than ever. Fireworks burst overhead forming different shapes and designs: dragons, bears, and wolves. The fireworks continued for some time, and then there was a final drum beat before closing to a rapturous applause by the students. The tension in the stadium was incredible.

  President Katar made his way to the podium and opened his arms wide. “Welcome to the opening ceremony of the Cube!”

  Kry had to cover his ears because the cheering was so loud.

  “This is a wonderful time to be alive! We hold the second event of the Cube this year, and let me tell you, we have some very talented students this year to fight for the right to challenge the champion of the Cube!” said Katar.

  Students cheered and then became quiet as Katar continued to speak.

  “As you know, the Cube is where all your skills will be tested. Each of the seven paths teaches you to be greater, but only the middle path, the Cube, will truly test how much you can endure. How much can you endure?” asked Katar to the roar of the crowd.

  Whisper was jumping up, waving his arms wildly as much as the students around him, while Eclipse remained seated with strict composure.

  “The Cube is a display of strength, speed, and strategy. Last term, Aiyax was crowned the champion of the Cube, and as is custom must defend her title, but who is worthy?” Katar then called Yujin. “I present to you the head trainer of the Cube and once former champion, Yujin!”

  Students shouted his name as Yujin gracefully shook Katar’s hand and moved toward the podium.

  Yujin smiled warmly at the audience and raised a fist into the air. “Who is worthy?” he shouted.

  The students cheered louder than ever.

  “The Cube is a harsh battleground where only the strongest can survive! Are you strong enough? Fast enough? Smart enough? It’s not good enough to be only one of these. You must be all of them if you wish to be the champion of the Cube!”

  Kry still could not understand where they would be fighting. They kept saying the Cube, but all that was there was an empty field.

  “Of course, many of you will have the chance to participate in the Cube when you’re ready, but the combatants for this ceremony have been selected due to their promising abilities and their present ranking in the hierarchy of students. For this reason, all the faction leaders have been selected to enter the Cube!” shouted Yujin above the hum of excitement.

  The tension in the stadium reached a higher level of intensity.

  “And now, let us welcome our participants, the faction leaders who will fight for the right to challenge our champion!” roared Yujin.

  The taiko drums started again as the faction leaders walked out from a passageway down below, proudly waving to the cheers of the students.

  “Ilya Babaev!” said Yujin.

  The Russian leader acknowledged his supporters in the crowd as he led the way toward the center of the field.

  “Gustav Ivarsson!”

  The European leader did not wave but turned to each part of the stadium and smiled.

  “Hendrix Lewis!”

  Hendrix, the American leader, moved his shoulders rhythmically to the beat of the drums.

  “Yuri Akiyama!”

  Yuri, from the Japanese faction, was angry, her face showing an intensity Kry had not seen before. He knew that Eclipse had beaten her in hand-to-hand combat, and the rumors of Yuri’s fury had spread around the university. She was possibly more dangerous than ever before. Yuri bowed to the crowd before joining the others.

  “Xu Li!”

  The Chinese faction leader strutted and held his head high. He looked confident and composed.

  “Sonus Surbeck!”

  Sonus had changed. He no longer showed the confidence he once had, but now his eyes were blank and devoid of emotion. The revelation in Himura’s class had humiliated him. Sonus ignored the crowd and only looked ahead.

  “Svana Valk!”

  Svana danced with a pretty smile as she was the last to leave from the passageway. Eclipse showed her displeasure when Svana waved to the crowd.

  Yujin used his hands to silence the students. After a pause, he spoke. “Now, I said all the faction leaders would be the combatants, but one more student will be added to the battle due to the potential we’ve seen.”

  The faction leaders looked at each other in confusion.

  “Please welcome our last participant! He is factionless, but tonight he will be his own faction…Abel Aegis!” shouted Yujin.

  The drumming started again, and the students cheered in delight as Abel walked out toward his other combatants. Abel did not look happy to be there.

  Students began to cheer Abel’s name from different parts of the stadium. Kry was surprised to see Abel, but Yujin was right. Abel had a profound understanding of being a User. So far, Kry had seen only a few leaders who showed some skill, but he had seen Abel consistently succeed. Abel had defeated him with ease in their own challenge, and there was more to him than the surface of his quiet persona.

  The drums stopped, and Yujin asked the crowd to be quiet. “Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the Cube!”

  The participants stood in a line in the center of the field, and then there was a rumble. The area in front of them began to open. From beneath the surface, a shimmering cage began to rise. It was enormous, taking up half the field, and the height almost reaching the ceiling. It was shaped as a cube, and then Kry realized the cage itself was made out of pure energy.

  “The Cube has risen!” shouted Yujin.

  The participants looked on with awe, knowing they would soon enter and face their greatest test. Abel did not even look at the Cube and instead had his eyes lowered.

  The Cube walls now hum
med with energy, and then a door appeared before the combatants.

  “Are you worthy?” asked Yujin.

  Each of the leaders raised an arm, acknowledging they were worthy. Abel was the only one to do nothing.

  “Before you enter, I’ll briefly go over the rules. The Cube is made out of pure energy, and there’s no escape until one winner is found victorious. There are only two ways in which you may be removed from the Cube. One, you must incapacitate your opponents before they incapacitate you. Once you have become incapacitated, the Cube will know, and you’ll be removed. Second, you can leave the Cube through your own volition. For whatever reason, the Cube will know, and you’ll be removed. Next, the fighting environment changes periodically inside. One minute, you may find yourselves in a deep jungle, in another, a desert. The environment will keep changing to test your limits. A User can fight in any environment, and a great User must understand the advantages of each terrain. To start, the Cube will begin as a burning desert!”

  The Cube hummed, and the inside began to transform into a golden desert with large dune fields. A burning heat emitted from the Cube, reaching every part of the stadium.

  “You’ll never know when the environment changes. It could happen when you’re resting, but also when you’re in combat. Always be ready!” said Yujin.

  The desert looked natural inside the Cube with mounds of sand covering the entire floor. The participants moved closer to the Cube door.

  “Now, you may enter!” shouted Yujin.

  One by one the faction leaders entered, but Abel waited for a moment, reluctant to enter. Finally, he stepped inside. The Cube door shut behind him, and the fight was on.

  Chapter 12 – The Cube

  The fighting started immediately. Everyone raised their barriers and moved across the sandy desert to escape the onslaught of fireballs, lightning bolts, and ice shards. Sand was blown into the air as energy blasts rippled across the terrain. The barriers were holding as the participants hurried to gain a favorable position against the others. Fireballs exploded as Sonus flung them from his hands with no concern for the safety of even himself. Sonus was confident his expanding barrier would hold against the other elements being hurled back at him.

  The crowd cheered as the participants battled. Eclipse watched with a heightened interest, studying their techniques and trying to find any weakness which she could exploit in a future fight. Whisper was enthralled with the chaos inside the Cube and jumped up and down with excitement. However, Kry had his attention on only one combatant, who remained calm despite the energy exploding all around him: Abel.

  All across the stadium, factions chanted their leader’s name, hoping their one would be victorious.

  Sand spurted in the air as great bolts of lightning struck nearby. Svana moved with agility, directing her attacks on anyone close enough.

  Faction leaders were now breaking apart and spreading out across the terrain. In one part of the Cube, Ilya and Yuri were fighting savagely against each other near a mountain of sand. Yuri fired shards of ice from her hands which Ilya deflected with his barrier, and then he returned his own attacks filled with the elements of earth—stones as large as a car being hurled back toward her. Yuri snarled and pulled out a single katana which was slung by her waist. She cut the stones with ease as she tried to close in on Ilya who intensified his attacks, but Yuri was possessed by a demon as she cried out and swung her katana swiftly across his barrier. Ilya was forced to the ground and quickly turned his whole body to stone as his barrier collapsed. Yuri’s katana merely dented Ilya’s hardened skin.

  The students roared loudly at the display. Kry had never seen anyone change themselves like that, but then he remembered Geminae who had turned herself into fire and ice.

  In another part of the Cube, Hendrix was fighting Gustav. Hendrix focused on his combat abilities more than his elemental as he moved closer, kicking and punching in all directions as Gustav was pushed back trying to maintain his own barrier. Suddenly, the desert around them vanished and in its place was a snowstorm, a blizzard so powerful that the hardened snow smashed against their barriers. Gustav used the change in the terrain to regain his lost tempo and expanded his barrier, knocking Hendrix to the ground.

  Yujin grabbed the microphone. “The fight is on! Every terrain can be your end! The real test of a User is how well you can adapt!”

  Hendrix quickly got back to his feet, and he and Gustav traded words with each other before moving like lightning in the midst of the blizzard, both attacking each other remorselessly.

  “Who do you think will win?” asked Eclipse.

  Kry had no idea as he saw the display of greatness by them all—things which he had never seen before. There was an art hidden in the fighting which spoke to him and made him want to be a part of the Cube. He wondered if he would have such a chance. “Your guess is as good as mine,” he replied. “Who do you think?”

  Eclipse had seen slight weaknesses in them all: their foot movements, the way they carried their weapons, and their lack of control over their emotions. They were all factors which would hold them back in an eventual fight with Aiyax. “I’ll tell you after the fight if I’m right.”

  “As long as Sonus doesn’t win, I’ll be happy!” said Whisper.

  A great blast of fire erupted within the Cube, the energy wall vibrating violently as the shockwave of the impact jolted the whole stadium. A giant fireball had exploded near Yuri and Ilya, both of them barely escaping from the burning heat. Sonus was stalking them, continuing to use his raw power to overwhelm them with his fireballs, and next to him was Svana who blasted bolts of lightning in tandem with Sonus’s fireballs. The fire and lightning enmeshed, and the explosions launched Yuri and Ilya across the ground through the blizzard. Vapors of water rose up as the fire evaporated the snow around them. Even Ilya’s hardened skin was not able to save him as Sonus and Svana knocked him down again. A flash of light shot up into the air, and Ilya was thrown out of the Cube.

  “Ilya is defeated!” shouted Yujin. The crowd booed at the cooperation shown by Svana and Sonus.

  “Svana is as bad as Sonus. Let me in there!” shouted Eclipse, not realizing she was allowing her emotions to take control of her. The atmosphere and the fighting brought out all the raw emotions.

  Kry thought nothing would be able to penetrate Ilya’s rocky skin, but Sonus’s fire was too much to bear.

  Yuri was now alone, trying to defend herself against Sonus and Svana. She used her katana to deflect the oncoming energy and tried to close the distance to strike, but the onslaught was too much as Sonus and Svana blinked all around her, overwhelming her with attacks from every direction. Another flash of light burst into the air as Yuri was thrown from the Cube.

  “Yuri is out!” said Yujin.

  There were more disagreeing shouts from the crowd, many expressing their displeasure at the unfairness.

  “This is the Cube! Anything goes! You must adapt or fall!” Yujin’s voice was commanding.

  The lack of order in the Cube was unnerving to Kry. At this rate, Sonus and Svana would be the last two remaining.

  In one corner of the Cube, Abel had been careful to avoid the fighting, moving away from the sounds of explosions and keeping his distance, but another was following him like a panther, stalking him as if he were prey. Abel turned just in time as Xu blinked behind him. Xu was ferocious in his attacks, forcing Abel to fight in close quarters knowing that Abel was well versed in the elements. Xu wielded a double-ended spear, each end as sharp as a katana. Abel’s two-level barrier offered him some space to move around Xu’s attacks, but rather than striking back, Abel continued only to defend himself.

  There was another explosion from the center of the Cube. Hendrix and Gustav were spinning in a wind of storm, both fighting in the eye and too concentrated on each other that they neither heard nor saw the impending attack that Sonus and Svana were planning. Sonus launched a ball of fire between Hendrix and Gustav, forcing them apart and throwing them u
p into the air. Svana shot bolts of lightning at them so fast and so precisely that even the strengthened barriers of Hendrix and Gustav were not enough to keep them safe. Taken unaware, Hendrix and Gustav fell to the ground writhing in pain. Two flashes of light shot upward into the sky just as the Cube changed again. The white snow vanished, and a bright field of green took its place together with gale-force winds.

  “Hendrix and Gustav are out!” shouted Yujin. “Always be on your guard! No matter who you’re fighting!”

  Yujin’s words were too late for Hendrix and Gustav who now joined Yuri and Ilya as victims of the alliance between Sonus and Svana.

  The gale-force winds swept across the Cube, and Sonus and Svana struggled to move ahead to find the others.

  “I don’t think I can take this anymore,” said Whisper. “It’s not fair!”

  “There’s nothing we can do. We just have to hope Xu or Abel can beat them,” said Kry. Xu had defeated Sonus in mind chess, but he was not sure if the same outcome would happen in the Cube. Abel, on the other hand, was mysterious and unpredictable, but he might have the best chance.

  Sonus and Svana spoke to each other, pointing across the field to where Xu and Abel were fighting. They pushed against the powerful winds, slowly making their way toward them.

  Xu grew angry that Abel was not retaliating. Abel seemed only concerned with defending himself. He maintained his two-level barrier, evading Xu’s dangerous movements and strikes.

  “Four combatants remain! Who will win the right to fight the champion?” shouted Yujin.

  The Chinese students shouted Xu’s name loudly, drowning out the other chants. Even Whisper joined in, dragged in by the enjoyment of it all.

  Abel blinked away and raised his hands. Xu was already charging toward him with his next attack, but as he was about to strike, Xu blinked backward just in time as a fireball exploded between them. Abel and Xu were unharmed as both had avoided the sudden attack, and this time rather than continuing their attacks on each other, they stood as one. Sonus and Svana appeared with disgruntled looks for having missed their targets. The gale-force winds ended, and a thunderstorm began with a huge downpour of rain, flooding the ground and applying extreme pressure on their barriers.