Lost Origins: SS Ranked Awakening-Chapter 84: Gillard

Four Days later.....

Challenge Arena

"Haaaa!!"

"Yesss!! Crush em!!"

BANG

"Ugh!!"

The deafening cheers and roars of the crowd filled the entire space accompanied with the groans and sounds of pain coming from the contestants currently entangled in a fight against each other.

In the waiting room, a few meters below the arena, Kieran sat in silence with the other participants, the air reeking of sweat and tension.

The only sound accompanying them being that of the crowd from above and the subtle vibrations caused by the impact of the fights.

Around him was a slightly surprising sight. Sabrina, Ruby, Jordan, Ethan, Liam, Derrick, Richard, a white haired guy he faintly recognized and other recruits of the second stage were present, each on a seat maintaining the dead silence and tense atmosphere of the room.

Contrary to Kieran’s expectations after receiving the text from leora saying that the Thera were about to make their move, none of them had actually fought in the past four days and all waited till today, the last day of the ten day challenge session.

By now, most of the other mid rank8ng battles had ended. By mid rank, Kieran meant those in the ranks, 59 to 21.

As for the top twenty, there was barely any movement outside one of them successfully defending their position when someone was crazy enough to challenge them.

Even that only happened twice and Kieran had to admit the strength of those in the top 20. Every single one of their opponents had been defeated in a single, seemingly light strike.

There wasn’t even a chance for them to show any of their abilities. They were literally shrouded in a thick cover of shadow.

Back to his current situation, Kieran looked around, glancing at the faces of the recruits around him.

Most bore serious expressions, others were clearly nervous, the sweat trailing down their neck despite the nice air conditioning and the rubbing of their palms, an evident testament to their fear.

On the other end, there were some relaxed looking figures like Ethan, Richard, the white haired recruit and Derrick who seemed like he was only here because he had been asked to take part, silently pushing up his glasses.

There were also other people he had never seen before; from later stages and they seemed more confident, having done this before.

’Hmm’

He rubbed his fingers across his chin, thinking of the unique situation he was in, while watching the live fights which were coming to an end, on the holographic display.

Once all the battles had ended and the participants left were carried off the stage, a new set of names appeared and Kieran narrowed his eyes, paying keen attention, but his name was absent from the list. He couldn’t even recognize anyone’s name on the list.

Before he could think further on it, the rustling of clothes was heard from his side as some of the later stage recruits stood up and made their way out to their respective stages.

His eyes followed their exiting figures before switching back to the holographic screen.

The room was now less crowded, it wouldn’t be long before it was one of their turns to go up there and fight.

He calmed himself, tracing his fingers along the body of his scythe.

After watching for a while, he slowly lost interest in the battle above, withdrawing his senses from the surroundings completely, the steady rising and falling of his chest along with his closed eyes made it seem like he was asleep.

Few minutes later, another set of beeps was heard from the room, signalling that it was their turn to fight.

Kieran looked up to see who it was this time, since he hadn’t heard any sound from his watch.

Getting to their feet in a relaxed fashion were Ethan, the white haired recruit and one of the nervous recruits who constantly rubbed his palms against each other, his wyes flying across the room.

Looking at the list, Kieran was able to spot the opponent of Ethan, the only one he could identify amongst the three of them who had just stepped out.

It was a rank 84 recruit called Gillard.

His rank reminded keiarn of the one who placed just above him and his fight against the 73rd ranker.

He tightened his grip as memories of the fight that day flashed vividly across his mind. That fifht couldn’t even be called one. It was singly an exhibition, a declaration from Kael to another person that whisked to challenge him.

It was a wonder why such a person would want to remain in the bottom rankings. Speaking of which, that reminded him of Jake who seemed to have gone into hiding after the loss.

Kieran’s brows furrowed lightly as he stole a glance at Ruby, the closest person to Jake that he knew right now. So far, all the actions he had made were off, completely out of character.

Kieran next his head back, having made his decision. He would speak to Ruby when he got the chance to and see if he could be of help in any way, considering that they didn’t she didn’t try to lie to him and keep him outside their business.

"Ahhhhh!!"

"Yhhh!!"

The cheers of the crowd erupted once more, seeing the new batch of fighters appear above.

Kieran tilted his head slightly wondering to himself why the arena had been constructed in such a way, that the cheers and struggles from above could reach them here.

’Psychological tactic?"

He considered the possibility. The camp might have decided to put them through a mental battle before the actual fight even started.

Those who had succumbed to their fear like those had quivered at the cheers of the crowds and the grunts of pain from above; kieran glanced at some of the recruits, they were bound to lose.

’Sad what staying amongst crazy people can do to you!’

The thought flashed across his mind before he was absorbed by the fight that was about to start, his attention on Ethan. The recruit who had once confronted him for reasons he still didn’t understand till today.

From the corner, Sabrina’s eyes were also trained on Ethan’s holographic figure, her blue orbs bearing some conflict which quickly faded away with a blink.

On the stage stood Ethan with the same trademark mischievous smile on his face, looking like he was here to cause some trouble and leave with his hands tucked in his pocket.

His opponent, Gillard, just happened to be one of those on the list of possible opponents he could face that Leora and compiled and sent to him.

So, he had quite some amount of information on him, and trustworthy at that, considering that it was coming from Leora. This was a fact that kieran hated to admit.

Gillard didn’t really stand out much. His track record wasn’t that pretty either, filled with a series of defeats after trying to challenge those stronger than him. What was funny though was how he never challenged the person directly above him, always taking huge leaps when it came to sending challenges.

Fortunately for him, his record when it came to defending his title was very different, successfully defeating anyone who had coveted his position. He had taken his fare share of losses, but he had always balanced back in a very short time, faking back his place.

He was the kind of person recruits in the second stage could fight comfortably and lose without feeling like they didn’t have the chance to even make a move.

"Then why..."

Kieran muttered, his narrowed eyes focused on the holographic image in front of him.

He was pretty sure that Ethan, being of noble lineage, knew everything he had just thought about and he would also know that while Gollard was the definition of a "fair" opponent, he was in no way going to be easy to defeat.

Then why?!!

Why did Kieran get the feeling from what he was currently seeing that this wasn’t going to be a fair fight.

Ethan was too relaxed. That could just be a part of him, but that didn’t explain the tense and serious expression on Gillard’s face. It felt like he was the second stage recruit and jot the other way around.

"I’ll be in your hands senior."

Ethan offered a bow with a wider smile on his face. Meanwhile, Gillard had his lips pressed into thin lines, ignoring Ethan’s words, getting into a stance as the countdown for the battle to begin was nearing its end.

’Fucking snake!’

Gillard thought observing Ethan’s face.

He didn’t know why, but there was something about this second year recruit that unnerved him deeply. He had been doing this longer than he could remember. The challenge system had become a part of his routine.

And yet, all his stacked up experience was telling him right now was to be on the lookout. He couldn’t underestimate the recruit in front of him. Just because he was in the second stage.

Having reached this point, the countdown finally cooked zero and the contestants moved towards each other, their battle cries drowned beneath the cheers of the crowd.