Chapter 12: The End of The Battle Royale

The end of the Battle Royale occurred in the opposite way to how it started. A vast rippling in the sky above the battlefield began, shimmering like the surface of a lake. There was no sensation of movement, but somehow the stands were getting closer and larger, and the circumference of the battlefield was clearly shrinking. Magic was so impossibly cool.

As we got higher and higher I could hear the cheering of the crowds return, clearly they had enjoyed the show that we had all put on for them. As we rose up, portals flickered into being across the battlefield. Considering one didn't bother appearing over me, I surmised that they were likely scooping up the members of the tournament who had been defeated or were currently incapacitated.

Before long the mountain I had stood on had flickered out of existence and the trees of the forest had melted back into the ground. We stood, once more, in front of the girl on her platform and the audience surrounding us. While 100 of us had dropped into the battlefield, it now looked like only 16 of us remained. If the requirements on joining the Guard were this strict, it was no wonder they were struggling against the supposed Null space invaders.

"Welcome back Initiates!" The green-eyed girl all but shouted while a wide smile played across her face. "One hundred of you entered the Battle Royale, and now only 16 remain! Clearly, none of you were content with just taking out one opponent, because I have to be honest that is way lower than any of us were expecting."

"Either way, the Initiates we have going through to the next round are as follows:

Wolsoff, Klatissi, Xyalla, Akash, Ke'Zuc, Ustrato, Kathura, Yr'Arl, Vadton, The Urstnir of Nadpid, Trsourian, Convis, Borock, Boledo, Thiss, and finally Jacob Lyre!"

Each name had got a massive round of applause, that was until she came to my own. When she said my name the entire coliseum fell silent, as if someone had simply turned off the audio. I was beginning to get the idea that Human's weren't just a people that had messed with Akash's species in this universe, they seemed to be universally hated across the board. I'd have to work hard to separate my reputation from that of the humans who had already served to tarnish it.

<Yeah, the human race has done a lot of bad. They came over from a neighbouring galaxy, looked like they were going to be all nice and friendly at first, and then started razing entire star systems to the ground. If it weren't for the Null Space lot, your kind would be right at the top of the list,> BB explained, I'd have to pick his brain about that further in the future.

"We won't be going into the one on ones just yet, our competitors have had a gruelling set of battles, so we'll be sending them back to their accommodation to get some much needed rest before reconvening here tomorrow!" She explained, "So, to all of you watching in the audience and nineteen billion of you watching at home, we'll see you next time!"

Yet another set of portals flickered into being below each and every contestant there, swallowing each of us up. My own portal deposited me back in the room that I had started the day in, no more than three hours ago. It felt more like a week.

I allowed myself to collapse back onto my bed and sunk into the mattress. My body wasn't tired, even though I had done all of that fighting. My muscles felt fine, and my mind was clear, I probably didn't need this rest at all.

<Yeah, that was from the levelling up and the job switch. Whenever you level up your stats will all reset to their maximum's.>

That seemed equal parts absolutely broken and incredibly useful.

I let my eyes flutter closed. It had been a crazy day. A new world, magical superpowers, and a whole bunch of aliens, I wasn't sure I would be able to take it if things got any crazier. I needed to space my crazy out, I couldn't be having it all occur at exactly the same time.

Then the door knocked.

I ignored it.

The door knocked again, harder this time.

I ignored it a little bit more, wasn't this meant to be rest time?

The door opened.

I sat up like a shot and instinctively pushed BB deep down into synchro mode, my corona shield was up in moments and dangerous flickers of manna flew across my fingers. The girl with the green eyes and pointed ears merely raised an eyebrow at me from where she was standing in my doorway.

"Yeah," she said, "You may be powerful, but I doubt you'd last five seconds against me."

"I'm willing to put tha-"

"I'm not here to fight you Jacob Lyre, why is it that humanity always reaches for a weapon before talking things out, anyway?" She said, with her hands up defensively.

I let the corona shield drop and the energy dissipate, there was no way that someone so high up in the Guard would go out of their way to attack a Guild initiate in their own quarters, even if they were a human like me.

"I was just startled, that's all," I explained, "Someone barging into your room out of nowhere isn't a thing that's usually tolerated in human culture. We quite like our privacy."

"Well in that case, may I come in? I don't imagine you'll want the rest of the initiates to hear our conversation," she said, already closing the door behind her. "Because we really do need to have a talk, don't we Jacob."

"Do we?" I swallowed hard and sat back down at the end of my bed. I had wondered how the entities in the void had managed to get me into this world. I had wondered if I had replaced someone else, or if I had just appeared here out of nowhere. Now, it seemed, whatever method my arrival had taken may about to have some serious consequences.