The opponent is upon Adrian before he even knows it, stabbing at his heart with his right dagger. Adrian barely manages to block it with the middle of his sword, the screech of metal against metal cringing him, but the man aims to stab with his left dagger.

  Quickly assessing the situation, Adrian throws off his right hand, ducks and hits the man in the stomach with the hilt of his sword, sending him tumbling back.

  Adrian tries to take advantage of it, but his footing is off, and before he could correct himself, the man has balanced himself. For a second there a lull falls in the fight, both of them gauging and re-calibrating their opponents after the first move.

  Adrian thinks that getting to talk with the other guy for a while could’ve been fun, but unfortunately, he doesn’t have the time for it. The clock is ticking, and it’s already at 26.

  This time Adrian moves, his footwork more methodical and slow than the fast lunge of the man, but with both hands gripping the sword, Adrian goes for a downward slash at the opponent, who successfully parries his strike, but Adrian quickly changes his grip and convert it into a much weaker diagonal slash.

  That hit, but unfortunately, it doesn’t do much except stagger the man and give him some sore arm.

  Adrian wants to go for another, but suddenly the man throws his dagger at him. Surprised, Adrian isn’t able to successfully evade the strike in time, causing a cut across his arm. Still reeling with surprise, he doesn't notice when the man has covered the distance and is going for a slash of his own at his head.

  It is a moment of panic when Adrian arches his head back, regretting the next instant at how open it leaves his torso. His opponent obviously makes use of it and drives his elbow into it, this time sending Adrian to the ground.

  Adrian focuses, and before the man could take advantage of his bad position, kicks him in his groin and with an arm still on his blade, drives it into his stomach.

  The man takes a few steps back, groaning and hurt. Blood flows out of his mouth, and Adrian is sure that this is his win. He checks the clock, and there is still 24 minutes left. He has done it. He has finished the fight without losing anyt-

  The man smiles. With redshot eyes and blood still flowing between his lips, he smiles, and then, he runs.

  For a long moment, Adrian stands there dumbfounded at what has happened. His mind, still occupied with the fight, doesn’t understand what happened. Until it does. And then Adrian chases.

  This motherfucker! Who is so petty!? And so starts a game of chase where Adrian tries to kill the man in front of him, while the other guy tries to run away and survive until the timer goes down.

  It’s a foolish dream on part of the man in question, as he too surely realises. He’s hurt, tired, and bleeding. He will never be able to run for the next 24 or so minutes, but for the man already dying, inconveniencing his killer even a bit is enough.

  “Goddamit, stop! I’ll build a statue for you when I get out, stop already!” Adrian shouts, but the man adamantly refuses to even answer. Adrian has been the one with higher strength in their earlier clash, but he was not the one with greater speed.

  How can someone be so petty and stubborn!? Adrian rages in his mind.

  “I thought the Tower favours death and blood! Come here, lemme offer the Tower some more!” Adrian yells.

  “It surely doesn’t want my blood. I even have blood cancer. It’ll only taste bad!” The man yells back with a laugh.

  “You liar!”

  It takes his opponent another 5 minutes before he finally goes down. Tired and bleeding, his steps can no longer carry him and he finally collapses.

  “Ha-ha…ha that was kinda fun,” The man says in between gasps as he lays flat, looking at the pissed off face of Adrian above him.

  Adrian doesn’t know what to say. He silently looks at the remaining Sacrifices still floating overhead, where the red one and the green one are missing.

  “Was it really necessary?” Adrian asks.

  “No-no it was not. But it was fun. You should-should try it someday,” The man says.

  “I don’t plan on dying,”

  “Sure.”

  Adrian doesn’t listen to him any more, driving his blade through his heart and twisting it a few times just to make sure he is dead. When the Tower comes back to congratulate him on his win, Adrian couldn’t find it in him to be too happy. There is only one consolation though.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Congratulations! You have completed your second test! (1/3)

  You can choose one of the Sacrifices from your opponent. Do not ask for more, should even the one become unavailable.

  Enjoy your rest, or fight for more.

  The choice is yours!

  The Sacrifices float towards him, and first he pockets his own. He is happy that at least it isn’t the Spirit Wyrm which got destroyed. Next comes the choice.

  Adrian is still pissed, but there is a choice to be made here. The obvious answer feels like the blue one, as it is the highest rarity one there, but he also has to think if it’ll match with his current Sacrifices.

  Dream could pair well with Spirit Wyrm. Both of them rely on the Mystic stat. Dream could also give me restoration benefits; Sleep skill.

  But the temptation to use a Human Sacrifice is certainly there. I can get shapeshifting skills, and also camouflage, and maybe emotional manipulation as well.

  There is a misconception about Human Sacrifices. Human Sacrifices do not come from humans, but rather from beasts who pretend to be humans; either through shapeshifting, body snatching, or replicating dna. There are also beasts who have learned to play with the emotions and memories of humans, which can also lead to the Sacrifice.

  Those are all skills which are very interesting and it’s obvious why this guy was going for this particular set.

  For someone so petty, shapeshifting and putting others to sleep must be the best combo with his dagger skills. Plus some extra regen benefits with the life element.

  It takes him the better part of the next five minutes, struggling with his own indecision, before he finally takes the blue one, and goes back to the train.

  Entering the train, he finds that most of the ones who went for the special test are already back, except maybe a few. The environment in the train is pretty much back to the normal and chatty one he had seen when he first got here.

  Special tests are risky not just for the test takers, but also for the ones who are not taking it. It has been seen so many times, when someone would take more than 20 minutes to finish the test, lose 2 Sacrifices, and their motivation to take part in another.

  This leads to fights between the passengers. Strong bullying the weak or those who only wish to have a utility class and aren’t quite as prepared as the fighter types.

  But seeing how almost everyone is already back, the tension has naturally been lifted. There is a very high chance that there will be no fighting in this compartment, and if someone starts it, the others could very easily stop them. Adrian too sighs in relief at that, and goes to find Ji-a, who is talking to the androgynous one.

  “Oh hey, you done?” Ji-a asks.

  “Yep, do you think I can borrow you for some help?” Adrian asks and looks at the other person.

  “You don’t have to ask me, please. I’m Mark, by the way,” Mark, the androgynous one, says as she brings her hand over for a shake. Adrian grips it tightly, and says, “I’m Adrian, nice to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you too!”

  “Do you really need me now? I was having a very interesting conversation with Mark right now,” Ji-a groans and slumps. Adrian simply shows her his bleeding arm, and that brings her into focus.

  She still complains, but gets up nonetheless.

  Back at his seat, Adrian brings out the medicine kit he has, and gives it to Ji-a who starts working on his wound. Obviously, this involved him undressing in front of everyone. At least his figure isn’t bad. Adrian still felt just a little shy.

  “Not too deep… not too deep,” Ji-a sings as she applies disinfectant on the wound, and starts to wrap a bandage around it.

  “How did your fight go? I don’t even see a weapon on you,” Adrian says.

  “Eh, it was fine. The guy was too stupid. I cut his ankle before he even knew it,” She shrugs.

  “How did you cut his ankle again? Still don’t see a weapon,”

  “Trade secret.” She winks and proceeds to not explain anything anymore.

  “There you go! You’re all done now.” She pats the wound for extra measure, sending a jolt of pain through his arm, and then asks over his glare, “What about you? What took you so long? You must’ve lost a Sacrifice as well,”

  “Ugh, don’t even remind me about it. There was this guy, whom I had almost defeated. But then he started to run! He ran from me until the clock crossed the 20 minute mark,” Adrian sighs as he iterates the story.

  Ji-a explodes into laughter. She only stops after Adrian poked her in the stomach. A bit too hard maybe.

  “Yea yea, I’m sorry. Gosh! I’ve heard it happening, but wow. That’s why you always go for the leg. Do you understand? Always go for the leg. And the arms next. Wow, that certainly made my day,” She continues to chuckle for the next few minutes as Adrian focuses outside, away from the annoying woman.

  The train starts moving again after a few minutes. Three people never returned. The environment in the train stays jovial though, except for the one girl who came back after the 20 mins mark.

  Adrian takes the time before the next test to get some snacks and fill himself after all that blood loss. Unfortunately, compared to what Ji-a said about not needing food during the whole time, she still takes a few bites out of his food in the name of ‘curiosity’.

  Adrian lets her. He had packed enough food to last him more than the entire test, so he isn’t really concerned.

  That leads to the twins behind him to also ask for some, in exchange for their own. Theirs look like some sort of chicken dish, so obviously Adrian is interested. He promptly agrees, not knowing what this will lead to.

  20 minutes later, the compartment is having a small potluck where everyone gathered their food in a small circle on the ground, having a mini party. Even those who hadn’t brought any food are invited.

  In this crucible of blood and metal, this is the way a bunch of 16 year olds find to relax and enjoy life a little. After all, what better dinner than one under such a fantastical setting?

  Adrian finds himself wishing, if only Martin was here.

  The wound is still fresh, but he hopes that he is on the way to some healing and perhaps one day, even closure.

  #