Blademaster Ascension

26- Duels, Soaps and Shields

In the middle of nowhere, the landscape was filled with orange sand and blowing red dust. A group of teenagers were standing in a circle, each of them in full battle attire and seemingly on guard against each other. They stood in a circle, each of them facing the rest with various weapons in their hands.

In this circle, there were irregularities. Some kids stood closer together, forming a tighter formation than the rest while some stood further apart. Or more accurately, others were too wary of them to stand close to them.

One particular teen among the latter kind, seemed to be the centre of everyone's attention. He held a long narrow sword in his hand and a lackluster armour on him that lacked any threatening aura. As everyone glared at him, he spoke.

"I'm aware that each of you hold a legacy in your hands, no need to pretend otherwise. I'm also sure you're wondering who I am or why I called you here. But none of those things matter. Because all of us have the same purpose. To collect a legacy from the bunker, or steal it from someone who already has one. You may think this makes us enemies but I beg to differ. Why don't we work together to achieve our purpose? After all, our collective strength is more than enough to explore the dangerous parts of the bunker? Of course, we might leak some of our actual ability in the process but that's nothing compared to what we'll gain."

"The son of the holy king...hehe, you sure live up to your name !" A smooth and sonorous female voice came from one of the listeners, making the former boy's brows contract suddenly.

Others in the circle glanced at him stiffly before taking a step back, away from the two teens who were now glaring at each other with unconcealed rivalry.

"Do you think knowing my identity gets you in an advantageous position? You'd be wrong then, very, very, wrong," the boy sneered. However, the underlying cautious tone in his voice was apparent to all present.

The girl grinned and chose to remain silent, but that only seemed to intensify the feeling of threat emanating from her.

"While your suggestion seems very logical and attractive, we all would be partially under your control if we followed you blindly into the bunker, or more accurately, under the shadow of the holy kingdom, something I think that's beneath our dignity."

Another voice from one of the groups in the circle roused the attention of the rest. The boy who was the target of the remark gritted his teeth in anger but controlled himself in the last moment to not lash out in fury.

"There is no need for us to show our smarts and act cool and aloof this way. This is just a fuxking waste of my time, everyone's time. The reason we are gathered here is to decide whether we accept your proposition or not. So let's get this over with in the fastest way. Those in approval of the holy prince's suggestion, raise your hands," a girl who looked shy and introverted suddenly interrupted the high tension exchange between them, surprising the rest of the teens around her.

Squinting at her for a moment, most of them nodded before they either raised their hand or chose to oppose the proposition.

"One, two, three....seven, eight ! Out of sixteen present, eight in favour and eight against it, fuxk..." the girl muttered while facepalming.

"Then I have a simpler solution. Let the leaders of each side fight it out. If the holy prince wins, Then we shall follow him into the bunker, proven that he has the capital to lead us. If not, there is no need for this farce to continue. I am also curious to know how he managed to guess our identities accurately enough to invite us here. If he loses, he'll have to give us an explanation," the girl finally proposed a different method after a moment of hesitation, her eyes sizing up the holy prince and the other outstanding figures among the circle, wondering who among them would oppose the holy prince directly.