The tournament was about to begin, all warriors around the colosseum prepare their gears and warm-up their bodies till ready.
Akira was no exception. His heart pounded, not with fear, but with exhilaration. The thirst for combat burned in him, each beat echoing with restless anticipation.
Some warriors muttered prayers. Others swallowed hard.
In a blink, the competitors were transported to an island. But this was no ordinary island. It was a place stripped of time and life, lush with endless greenery yet eerily hollow, like a world carved out of another dimension.
The rules were simple: conquest. Teams of three would carve their way through the island's dangers, defeating the mobs that prowled its depths. Out of five teams, only three would survive as victors.
"Phew… I'm sensing powerful energy everywhere," Faeil muttered, eyes darting around.
A bead of sweat slid down Akira's cheek. His danger sense had triggered. The creatures lurking within the island were unlike anything he had faced—able to conceal their killing intent so perfectly that only his Keen Instinct skill revealed their presence.
"This island…" Faeil's voice lowered. "It's programmed. All of this."
"Programmed?"
"Yep. Courtesy of Sir Senku, our beloved chief of the Soldiers. He created this entire imaginary battlefield. Technology's terrifying, isn't it?"
Akira was stunned. This world felt as real as the day he had registered as a warrior, yet now he grasped the genius behind its creation.
"Wait—where's Anna?" Faeil asked, glancing around.
"There!" Akira pointed. Anna strolled off alone, utterly unconcerned. "Hey, Anna!" he called.
She didn't answer. His shouting only seemed to irritate her further.
"You expect me to team up? I don't need either of you," she snapped, her voice sharp with arrogance.
Akira's brow twitched. "Ego's fine, but we're facing enemies just as strong as us—maybe stronger. If we don't work together, we're done for."
"Ignorant fool." She shot him a glare. "If I say I can do this alone, it's because I can. I don't need your help. And I definitely don't need his."
"Hi," Faeil said cheerfully, waving.
"Shut up!" Anna barked, marching on without looking back.
Akira sighed, resting both hands on his hips. "Tch. I've dealt with stubborn allies before, but she's even more reckless than I thought."
"Let her go," Faeil advised, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I'm confident our icy princess can handle herself. They say solo fighters often clash with teams anyway. Best we don't get in her way."
"Anyways, have you wrapped your head around our situation?" Faeil asked, glancing at Akira. "We need to find monsters—bigger, stronger, nastier ones. That's how we earn points. Conquer the area, maybe even hunt down other warriors. But warriors…" he shrugged, "…aren't exactly easy prey."
Akira narrowed his eyes. "I'm sensing a lot of oddities here. Monsters unlike anything I've fought before." His nose twitched as he sniffed the air.
"Wait, don't tell me—since you're a blood magic user, is it that vampire thing?" Faeil leaned in, eyes sparkling with curiosity. "So you can track them by scent? Ooh! Do you get stronger if you drink blood?"
Akira rubbed the back of his neck. "Not really. My skills don't line up neatly with my main ability. I can summon weapons, heighten my senses, do a few other… random things."
"Ah, so you're a special type." Faeil grinned. "Glad to have someone versatile on the team."
In the world of warriors, those with many abilities were known as special types. But Akira's case went beyond that. There were five known categories of system users:
Normal Type – Users with standard access to the system's main ability and basic skills, drawn from common sources.
Special Type – Users who possessed multiple skills, often able to stretch their main ability beyond its usual limits. Awaken & Evolve could easily be obtained through this.
Divine Type – A rare category where the system itself wasn't inherited or learned but innate. These powers often broke natural limits, though some could also be awakened under extraordinary circumstances.
Artificial Type – The rarest of all, created through advanced technology rather than bloodline or fate. Only one was known to exist: the general of the Blood Hound squad.
Lineage Type – A system inherited directly from one's parents. Unique in that their system holoboards couldn't be displayed to others, no matter the method—only verified through PSD authorities.
And among these, Akira's power… didn't quite fit anywhere.
"The wind's getting stronger. Careful," Faeil warned, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the hollow forest.
Akira already knew. His danger sense kept flaring, but weakly—these beasts exuded almost no killing intent, as if they were programmed to slaughter without emotion.
A flicker of movement caught his eye.
Faeil reacted instantly. His bow materialized in his hands, an arrow nocked in a blink. A glowing orb of condensed wind energy formed at the arrow's tip, stirring the leaves into a violent spiral around him. With a sharp release, he loosed the shot. The arrow streaked forward, exploding in a blast that tore through the trees, splintering trunks and scattering debris.
But amid the chaos, Akira caught it—a scent, sharp and primal. A predator. A tiger.
"Above you!" Akira shouted.
The beast lunged from the canopy with a thunderous snarl. Faeil couldn't draw another arrow in time.
Akira moved. His scythe flashed, carving across the tiger's chest and blasting it back with sheer force. Before the beast could recover, Akira spun his weapon, slamming the back of the blade against its skull in a decisive, stunning blow.
The forest fell silent, save for the echo of the strike.
"Nice save. Dropping a beast like that nets us about a thousand points," Faeil said with a grin.
"A thousand? That low?" Akira blinked in disbelief.
"Of course, dummy. There are way bigger fish out here. That thing's barely worth a snack to a seasoned warrior." Faeil chuckled, clearly amused.
Akira's expression darkened. "I'm more concerned about Anna."
"She'll be fine."
Anna was more than fine. While Akira and Faeil dealt with scraps, she waged war alone.
The forest around her was a graveyard of ice. Trees stood frozen mid-sway, crystalline statues glistening under the pale light. Beasts—once predators—were locked in shards of frost, their bodies shattering the moment they hit the ground.
And the warriors unfortunate enough to cross her path? They fared no better. Their movements slowed, then stopped entirely as creeping frost consumed them, encasing their bodies in glacial prisons.
By the time silence fell, Anna's holoboard displayed the result: 530,000 points in a single sweep. Each beast slain added to her tally—but it was the warrior she defeated that spiked her score, worth a staggering a hundred thousand points alone.
She barely even broke a sweat.