The morning air in Class 1-C's training hall hung heavy with sweat and tension. Instructor Mei paced across the mats, her sharp gaze never leaving the sixteen students before her. Beside her stood Professor Liang, stroking his graying beard, the faint amusement in his eyes a contrast to Mei's unyielding presence.
"Two weeks," Mei said. Her voice crackled like a whip. "That is how long you have before the Tianxia Tournament begins. And let me make something straight—out there, you will not be fighting only each other. You will be fighting seniors, competitors from a different class, and the truth that not everyone who goes in will come out with his pride in his hands."
Liang went on, "The academy educates heroes, not children. What you show in the tournament will set you for the next several years. Take it as your life at stake."
And then the training exercises began.
The training was relentless. Mornings were reserved for stamina runs across the academy's sprawling fields, afternoons for combat exercises, and nights for strategy simulations.
Lian pushed himself to quivering legs. His webs snapped against rock targets, faster and tighter than ever. He worked at weaving them in complex designs, perfecting the ability to develop tiered snares without losing momentum. His danger sense spasmed too often at first, hammering him with the anxiety of constant repetition—but with Chen beside him, banter even as his calloused flesh soaked up blow after blow, he discovered a cadence.
"Come on, Lian!" Chen laughed, bracing as Daiki's sonic burst hit him square in the chest. "You won't beat Rui by hiding behind strings all day!"
Lian smirked weakly, firing off a strand that latched onto Chen's shoulder. With a sharp tug, he pulled Chen off balance and sent him tumbling.
"Who's hiding now?" Lian said, for once letting himself joke back.
Mei clapped her hands. "Faster. Better. You won't have time to think on the stage of the tournament, so practice until your reflexes take precedence over everything else!"
Xia trained down the corridor, sparks crackling along her arms as she trained lightning strikes on target to precision. Lian caught her eye once or twice. She nodded wordlessly in approval, and he nodded too, an unspoken promise of respect.
What hit Lian most, however, was the silence of Rui.
The erstwhile boisterous rival toiled alone, wind blades slicing through targets with precision. He dismissed Chen's jokes, dismissed Xia's competitive grins, dismissed even Lian. His blows sharpened day by day, the floor etched by insensible slashes of air. There was a killer's satisfaction in his eyes, as if the isolation itself fired him.
Not once in those fourteen days did Rui utter a word to them. And though no one would take responsibility, the space felt awkward.
As soon as the two weeks came to an end, the day of the tournament dawned. The campus buzzed with a hysteria Lian had never encountered. Flags of all kinds hung from the colossal arena of Tianxia Academy. Students of all years occupied the stands, teachers in official attire, and a massive projection screen rose above the stadium to project the event.
Lian stood shoulder to shoulder with his colleagues, in his academy attire. His palms were slick with sweat.
The whispers stopped with the emergence of a towering figure on stage.
Tianxia Academy's Headmaster, a giant of a man with silver locks unkempt as a wild mane and robes adorned with dragons, raised his hand. His standing was sufficient to quiet the audience.
"Tianxia students," his voice boomed, echoing across the stadium, "today is the start of the crucible that will fire our future champions. The tournament is not merely a test of strength, but of will, of strategy, and of determination. For greatness is not tested in ease—greatness is tested by fire!"
The audience gasped in unison.
The Headmaster's eyes narrowed as he continued. "Your first test will be a qualifier. All the contestants, first to third year, will find themselves in a mock tropical environment. Scattered at random over the landscape are flags. To continue, you will have to retrieve a minimum of seven of these flags and return them to the base area reserved for that purpose. Only the first sixteen students to make it through will advance."
A thrill of expectation coursed through the contestants.
"There are no loyalties," the Headmaster stated, his voice snapping. "You can fight, steal, lie. There are no rules but this: surrender the flags, or be annihilated. Remember—power is nothing without will."
The stadium erupted into yelling.
With the declaration's end, Lian's chest tightened. All for himself… no Xia, no Chen. Only me. His danger sense buzzed faintly, a ghost threat of the coming bloodbath.
Chen tapped on his back. "Don't worry, bro. Just take a flag and go. I'll save you a place at the end." He grinned wide, but Lian caught the flicker of nervousness behind his friend's face.
Xia walked past, electricity only tingling at her fingertips. "Don't freeze out there, Lian. This isn't the jungle anymore. If you tarry, someone will wrestle those flags from your grasp before you can even blink."
Lian swallowed. "I'll manage."
Then his eyes drifted to Rui, standing apart from them as always. Rui's smirk was sharp, almost predatory. His arms crossed, the faint shimmer of wind twisting around his fingers.
"Here," Rui snarled, but loud enough so that the people around him could hear, "the weak are culled. No friends. No helping one another along. Only strength." His eyes flickered away for a moment in Lian's direction, then to the side, as if Lian was not even worth speaking of.
Lian finally realized that Rui was not afraid of this test—he was enjoying it.
The buzzer rang. Platforms rose, and every student emerged onto a glowing circle. The arena thrummed as the simulation went live.
The tropical world coalesced around them—lively green forests, rumble of waterfalls, screech of unseen animals in the leafy canopy. And beyond, the glint of flags planted into the earth.
Lian clenched his fists.
No teams. No net. Just me… and everyone else.
And somewhere across the simulation, Rui's grin widened as the wind coiled around him like a predator ready to strike.