Sacred Arts

43. Recruitment Process Begins

All one hundred participants sat in place with their legs crossed. Four pillars shined with a purple dazzling light and shot a beam of light toward the center of the Colosseum. All four beams met in the center, over everyone's heads and in a moment a purple misty-like dome appeared, separating the participants from the spectators. "Remember those who free themselves within twenty-four hours pass and those who don't fail," the ref announced. "You may all begin," the ref declared.

Immediately after the ref's announcement, it's as though the effects of the purple dome made everyone fall under its spell. Amon dozed off and woke up somewhere he felt was familiar. "Where am I?" Amon asked himself curiously as he walked around. "There was a great battle here," Amon speculated as he looked around and saw rubble. Amon walked for quite some time, and he began to smell a coppery-iron-like smell.

Amon's face began to twist and turn at the horrible odor. "Blood!" "I smell blood," Amon muttered as his face twisted and turned. "How much blood could cause such a powerful odor," Amon said angrily. Amon continued to walk and out of nowhere a figure stopped in front of him and blocked his path. "Who are you?" Amon asked the mysterious person. Amon recieved no response. Suddenly, the mysterious figure brought out a long sword and charged at Amon.

"What did I do?" Amon asked loudly as he backed away to evade the slash. The mysterious person just kept attacking. "I don't want to fight you, I just want to know where I am," Amon pleaded anxiously. Right after Amon spoke those words, the mysterious person dropped their long sword. Amon sighed with relief, thinking the mysterious person had finally come to reason. A dark aura began to emerge from deep within the mysterious person.

The energy was so evil it made all the hair on Amon's body stand up, and he got cold chills. "What are you?" Amon asked, as fear began to envelope his heart. The aura around the mysterious person intensified greatly, forcing Amon a few feet backwards. "What power!" Amon choked. A fang-like longsword with a red aura materialized in the hand of the mysterious being and an even more powerful aura was released. The energy was so great that it knocked Amon back dozens of feet through a few walls of the surrounding area.

"Alright!" "Enough!" Amon yelled as he let out his aura. The mysterious person walked menacingly toward Amon. "Raiso!" Amon yelled as his spear materialized in his hand. The mysterious person roared as it charged at Amon with great speed. Both warriors clashed and the force of the mysterious person was strong enough to knock Amon back with even more force than before. Amon and the mysterious person clashed for quite some time each time Amon was knocked to a new part of the area he had woken up in.

Amon was knocked into what looked to once be a courtyard. "Is this?" Amon managed to say as he rose to his feet panting heavily. Before he could say anything else, the mysterious person launched their sword at him as though it were a spear. Amon managed to evade but the force of the sword digging into the ground forced Amon back a few more feet. "Why am I here?" Amon roared furiously. "This is no joke!" He roared as his aura surged due to his anger.

"You finally recognize this place," the mysterious person spoke in a deep raspy voice. "Maybe this will also jog your memory," the mysterious person said as he snapped his fingers. The moment he snapped his fingers fire blazed all around them and pools of blood with bodies in the center began to appear everywhere. "No!" "Everyone!" Amon yelled as his eyes began to fill with tears. Amon fell to his knees as he looked all around him in horror. The mysterious person circled Amon and continued to taunt him.

"You weren't able to save any of them," the mysterious person said. "And now you return with no knowledge of what to do or even who did it," the person mocked. "Pitiful, very pitiful," the mysterious person said. "You are utterly useless, even your second home was destroyed," the person continued. "The only thing that waits for you is death!" The person said menacingly as it charged at Amon, hoping to take advantage of his vulnerability. "No!" Amon said as his aura was so strong it repelled the mysterious persons attack. Tears ran down Amon's face as he made his way to his feet.

"You are wrong!" Amon roared furiously. "This isn't real!" He continued as his aura grew even more. He grabbed his spear "Raiso" and charged at the mysterious person once more. This time they were evenly matched, with Amon beginning to overpower the dark person. Amon's aura began to grow more and more as the battle continued. On the outside, the spectators could sense Amon's aura growing. "That kid is breaking through," a spectator commented.

"Amazing," the king said with a grin. "That shouldn't be possible unless he specializes in illusionary arts or has a bloodline that does," the king added. Back inside the illusion, Amon was beginning to land decisive blows. Amon managed to knock the mysterious person onto the floor and pin the tip of his spear against their throat. "Take off your hood, so I can see your face," Amon ordered his opponent. A few moments had passed and Amon repeated himself. "Take off your hood!" he roared.

The mysterious person laughed and did what Amon ordered. Amon's face fell as he stood there shocked at what he had seen. Or in this case, who he saw. "How is this possible?" Amon asked. "I am you, and that's all you need to know for now," Amon's doppelgänger said as he pushed Amon back and stood up. "Here you've earned this," the doppelgänger said as he threw Amon the sword he had used. Amon caught the sword and felt the evil energy emanating from it. He hurried and put it away as he felt that it began to corrupt him.

The evil doppelgänger walked away before Amon could say anything and Amon opened his eyes. The moment Amon opened his eyes he saw that no one else had woken up yet, so he decided to go back into the illusionary world so that he could cultivate the power of illusions. Before he closed his eyes, he saw that he still had about fourteen hours left, which meant that it took him a total of ten hours to break free of the illusion. "I'm not sure what I experienced, but I did gain a new weapon, and it seems that it is leagues above my spear in terms of power," Amon thought to himself as he began to cultivate the power of illusions.
Amon spent another eight hours cultivating the power of illusions until he woke back up to complete the first part of the tournament.

Amon noticed that he was the eleventh person to wake up. Hours passed, and more participants began to wake up one after another. Finally, there were only ten minutes left, and there was still a total of fifteen people that were still asleep. More time passed, four people woke up. With only one minute left, there were still eleven people that hadn't woken up yet. Thirty seconds left, twenty seconds left, and ten seconds left. Finally, another person opened their eyes. Ten seconds had passed and the first part of the tournament had ended.

"Congratulations, ninety of you have managed to wake up within the time limit," the ref announced. "The top three participants were Nico Wilson, Daisy Williams, and Mark Anderson," the ref continued. "Nico managed to break the record for the fastest time making it out of the world of illusions," the ref said amazed. "His time was fourteen hours," the ref said grinning. "Wow," someone in the crowd said. "The record before that was sixteen hours," another person remarked. Little did everyone know, Amon was really in first place, and he had beaten the record by waking up within ten hours.

Amon didn't care enough to correct anyone about the facts though. With ninety people passing the first test, that meant ten people were eliminated. "The next test will begin in ten hours," the ref announced. "All of you may get some rest," the ref continued.