The Institute for Mianite Arts

Chapter 74: Jazlyn's Mid-Purge: A Failure

I still felt uneasy, but I would have to push those feelings aside if I was going to do well in the purge today. My fighting skills would have to return to normal, as well as my leadership skills. Fears outside of the game must be temporarily forgotten.

I stood in front of the Dianitees, talking strategy as I always did before the purge. "This time," I explained, "we're going to wait. The beginning is always chaos, and the player count is usually reduced to half in the first 5 minutes. After that, we'll face less encounters, and it's easier to team up. Got it?" The Dianitees nodded in understanding, and I stood up and pulled out my sword. "Then let's go, Team Dianite!"

Alyssa and I spawned together at the base of the mountain. We had our swords drawn, but we stayed away from the bloodbath that always followed the initial spawn. We needed to stay alive this purge, since we couldn't respawn into it again. After a few minutes, the fighting began to die down, and I nodded to Alyssa. She nodded back, and we crept silently into the center of the arena.

Unfortunately, Mianite was winning, but Dianite was in second place. All three Specials, Jordan, Tucker, and Tom, were still in the fight. "Jazlyn, over there," Alyssa whispered, pointing toward a Mianitee who was standing in plain sight. "You can attack her first, and I'll sneak up from behind."

"Okay." I leapt out from my hiding spot and charged at the Mianitee, my sword held protectively in front of my face. She instinctively swung, but I was able to dodge it. The tip of my sword grazed the side of her face, and blood spilled out. Just as she said she would, Alyssa ran from behind and stabbed the Mianitee in the back. Before she could turn around and attack Alyssa, I sliced my blade through her neck, effectively killing her. I was confident that Alyssa and I could even out the score.

Just as the Mianitee toppled to the ground, there was a yell from nearby. Alyssa and I ducked into hiding once more, and saw Tucker and Tom battling. We just caught the end of the fight, in which Tom killed Tucker. Mianite had no Special now. This purge belonged to Team Dianite.

"What's the score now?" Alyssa asked, coming out from her hiding spot and brushing her hair behind her ears. Even covered in dirt and blood, she managed to look gorgeous. Not an easy feat.

"We're winning," Tom said with a grin. "Although Mianite and Ianite aren't too far behind. I'd worry about Team Ianite, if I were you, since Mianite doesn't have a Special anymore."

"Got it," I said. "Let's go, Alyssa." Tom waved goodbye, and I dashed out into the field to find an Ianitee to fight.

"Is that Jordan over there?" Alyssa whispered, fear and excitement clear in her voice. It was, in fact, Ianite's Special, but I wasn't sure if the two of us could take this guy on. I saw two Dianitees nearby, and motioned for them to come closer.

"I need you two to help us fight Jordan," I whispered to them. "If we kill him, Ianite will have a lot less of a chance, alright? Four people can take on one person, no matter how good he is at fighting."

"Sounds great!" one of them said, and the other nodded with equal enthusiasm. They held out their weapons, a dagger and a cleaver, and dashed toward Sparklez.

"Whoa!" he cried out, desperately swinging at both of them. Alyssa and I leaped into the fight after them, and Jordan was suddenly overwhelmed. Unfortunately, he managed to kill one of the Dianitees very quickly, leaving the three of us to kill him alone.

"I don't think so, Sparkly Pants!" Alyssa giggled, swinging at his stomach. She did a lot of damage, but he was still far from dead. Sparklez went to swing at her, but I immediately put the flat part of my sword in front of her to block the attack. He diverted his attention to the other Dianite, who was already weakened. One hit took her out as well. With our teammates gone, I jumped in the air to slash at his neck, the most vulnerable part of a player's body. That hit killed him for real, and he vanished into the air.

"Ianite's still winning," Alyssa said gravely. "And I'm hurt." She showed me a place on her side where Sparklez had hit her.

"We can still take the game back," I said. "But I'll try to get you to somewhere safer."

Somewhere safer was a lot farther than I anticipated. Jake, a Mianitee who I knew for his arrogance and fighting skills, jumped out from seemingly nowhere, killing Alyssa in one hit. He swung at me as well, but, filled with rage, I killed him first. Nobody would take Alyssa's life and remain alive!

Suddenly, an arrow hit her in the back. I spun around, furious, to find an Ianitee named Izzy shooting at her. She had been teamed with this girl a few purges ago, but the alliance was long over. I ran at her in an desperate attempt to get another kill, but I only got one hit on her before I was taken out.

Not my purge, I guess.

"How did Ianite win?" I gasped when I reappeared in the control room. To my surprise, I saw both Iain and Alyssa glaring at me.

"I was killed by Lucas!" he yelled, infuriated. Alyssa's fingernails dug into the desk next to her out of anger.

"Lucas killed you?" I gasped. "Why?"

"I hurt his girlfriend! An Ianitee! That's what I was supposed to do, right? He killed me for it!" Iain yelled.

"That's not okay," I answered firmly. "I'll go talk to him. This needs to end now."

"Lucas, how could you possibly think that was an acceptable thing to do?" I was on the verge of screaming at him. Did he take nothing seriously?

"Nobody hurts Lucy and gets away with it. I don't care who they are, and I don't care what you have to say about it!" he shot back, staring daggers at me.

"Well, you should! Did that one week suspension mean nothing to you?" I was appalled at how he could care so little.

"Lucy means more to me than any of you!" He rolled his eyes and walked away. "Now leave me alone. I don't need you to keep lecturing me about the choices I'm making. I'm capable of thinking, thank you."

With that, he left. I was all alone, once again, to stand and wonder how terrible of a leader I must be if this is what the Dianitees thought of my decisions.

Why did I have to be such a failure?

Did all of you guys submit your drawings for our contest? We received three lovely submissions, and we're going to announce the winners soon if there are no more!