Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

"I just asked a few of my friends to burn down your fortress and steal the flag if they could find it." Wrik said. His voice was loud enough so that everyone in the hundred metres radius could hear. "But it appears you have hidden the flag well enough, but alas for the fortress and the rest of your men.

"Now, you have no fortress or ration. One third or more of your men had been eliminated, and the rest were on the path of being eliminated." 

Before the duel had started, Wrik never really meant for to win it fairly. If he wanted to do that, then it would not only be disastrous for him, but to his friends and companions too. It would only jeopardise their hard work till now.

That was the reason Wrik made this plan. He just needed to distract Arjamith to leave his fortress with most of his elite men, and he succeeded in that, though the stakes had been bigger than Wrik had planned. But that did not matter anymore, as his plan had succeeded.

While he was battling with Arjamith, Wrik had sent three people to the fortress to deal the blow. Anton, Michelle and Jacob—the three who were best for the job. Anton with his stealth abilities and skills, Jacob with his super human sensing ability and archery, and Michelle to burn down everything. 

The direct instructions he gave them were to burn down the supply of rations and steal the flag if they found it, and then burn the entire building where they were at it. It did not matter if the people did not have a way out of them. As long as they chose to abandon the test, they would be safe. They would be teleported in an instant if they chose to abandon the test.

Michelle and Jacob were in charge of the burning while Anton was for stealing the flag, but it appeared they had failed to steal the flag or else Wrik did not have to show what he did to Arjamith. The large fellow would have found it on his own, as the flag was connected to him.

If they had the flag, it would have been easier, but Wrik had planned that too in case they could not get hold of the flag.

"Can you rise again in the test even if I let you go now?" Wrik asked the large man who was silent the entire time, looking at the burning castle.

Arjamith looked back at Wrik, gritting his teeth. The pulses on his temples were popping more than usual. He screamed in madness. "I will kill you, Outlander."

The large man rushed at Wrik, bearing the tall spear. His eyes showed the madness of murderous intention. Before in the battle, the anger and intention he showed was barely his spirit, but now the leader of the Borgeman was mad. He wanted to kill Wrik and nothing else.

But Wrik seemed to have no worry, smiled at the approaching fellow and in the next moment the mist thickened further and it was not the natural mist but the sense blinding one from Tanya.

"You are finished," Wrik announced and after a few seconds, the mist cleared. 

All the people who were standing encircling were flabbergasted, seeing the scene in front of them. Arjamith was not even able to touch Wrik before half a dozen men led by Davin appeared before him and pinned down on the ground, and that was not all. A large magic circle was placed on the ground—it frizzed Arjamith—only the head of the large man was without frost.

Clearly, the magic circle was placed even before the battle had started. Wrik only needed to bring Arjamith here and Tanya did everything else. 

The leader of the Borgemen was screaming top of his lungs and cursing at Wrik. 

But the battle was not over even though the boss was captured. The men under Arjamith brought out their spear immediately, seeing their boss being captured. They rushed where their boss was, but before that Lily came to her senses. Moreover, Wrik had other people kept in place to deal with situation like this. 

"What happened does not matter anymore. Do not let them free, Adam," Lily shouted at the other maidens and chaos rose in the mountain. They knew something big would happen, but they did not think it would unfold in this way. The duel was only a farce to call the wolf into the trap.

People from all over the mountain rushed to the centre of the chaos. It was dark, but the number of lamps present was good enough to let the people see the battle. But that was, until the mist became dense again. All the people under Arjamith turned blind with their sight and other senses being dull. Even with the mana sense, they could sense their surroundings, but the Borgemen were not so good with Mana application. With their ability, they could only sense the movement of the people. They could not even figure out if they were friends or foe.

Tanya walked from behind and joined Wrik. Her compilation was pale—all the spell and usage of the [Mist of Change] in large scale made her over-exhausted. Her sense blinding mist covered about a mile in radius while in the midst it was the thickest. 

"Are you alright?" Wrik asked stupidly even though he could see she was not alright. At least she was not on the verge of passing out like she did on the first day of the trial. "You can let go of the mist now"

Tanya nodded, but she still held onto the mist. The two of them watched the battle go. With the overwhelming advantage in the environment and numbers, the maidens and the men had the upper hand. No surprises there. The Borgemen under Arjamith were harder to deal with than any other men. Partly because their blood gives them a brutal instinct in battle. Only Lily and the maiden could stop them. 

In the end, most of Borgemen were eliminated with the Brand of Elimination, while for the slaves and other men, they were just put on with everyone else on the ground. They agreed with thier defeat with not so struggle. Most of them were after all slaves—working against their wills. Seeing their slaver was captured, they just acted tough for a while before giving up.

They would be useful later. There was no eternal friendship or rivalry here—they would work if they were instructed well. 

Apart from that, their own casualty was not small, though it was still smaller than the battle they had to collect the rations. Most of them were injured while a few chose to abandon the test. Wrik and others could do nothing for that. He had already told them they could abandon anytime if their life was on the line, but it would affect their final evaluation as well. In the end, life was more important than the final evaluation. 

As the manager of the sanctuary had said. Life comes before everything else. Only about a thousand will be chosen, but that did not mean the rest of the numbers were just a waste. They have their uses as well.

Tanya finally let go of the [Mist of Change] and the battle ended quickly after that as well. Lily told a few men to search for any party hiding and run away from the battle before turning her gaze on to Wrik and the captive, surrounded by half a dozen men. 

Apart from the head, Arjamith was amid ice. His entire body was sealed under the ice spell. The head which was free was ugly with anger and his eyes pierced Wrik among all the men here. 

Lily sighed. "You should have told me about your plan," she said to Wrik, joining him. 

"I wished to tell you, but I did not want you to break the rules of your clan." Wrik gave her a rueful smile. 

Even if he did not tell her, she had already broken the rules by just being with him. He just hoped she did not hold him in the wrongs for what he did. And that was not the entire truth. He could trust Lily and Dairyl, but what about the other Maidens? If any one of them was loud enough about the plan, all his efforts would turn into waste.

"What are you going to do to him?" she asked.

Wrik thought for a second. There was no way he could convince the beast of a man to join him after what he did. In the end, he chose to leave it to lily. "I gave him to you," Wrik said. "You can decide about him and with this I fulfilled my promise even though the path I chose was a little unscrupulous."

Saying that, he sat on the ground. He was tired, but he could not relax now. Not until he broke the seal that restricted him from the maha mana. It only had been three months since he was introduced to the mana, yet now he could not stay apart from it. It was like an addiction. Without mana, he felt so powerless. 

"I guess it does change people," Wrik said, sighing.

"What?" Tanya asked, as she did not know if he was talking about his mindset changing or something else.

"Nothing."

Now the only one left to deal with was Scythe.

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