Chapter 59: Chapter 59

More people were returning even though they were already behind the time. A lot were injured, and some even had strange things on their bodies. A lot were soaked in black, viscous liquid like petroleum. It was all over their bodies, making them look like black moving sculptures.

“Why are they looking like they got trapped in crude oil?” Tiana asked weakly as her brother was holding her and they were walking towards the line. She was already healing but the deep gashes weren't yet.

“That should be one of the stages. Getting trapped in this sort of liquid then fighting your way out,” Avril guessed.

“We did not pass through this stage. After fighting those eagles off, the forest just turned to normal and we simply ran through,” Verona explained.

“Maybe not everyone gets to have all the stages?” Todd asked.

“Actually, the Instructor did say everyone would go through five stages,” Avril corrected.

“Let's go stand on the line. I'm sure there would be an explanation about it,” Verona pointed out and they nodded and went to stand on the line. The contestants who raced stood on one line while the others stood on their original line.

“Now, is there anyone who is hurt beyond expectation?” the Instructor began. No one said anything, but actually, a lot of people on the racers line were hurt beyond expectation. The lucky ones were the ones who got trapped in the vine and had to be rescued by the Tournament Crew instead and talked back to the Ring.

“Okay, no one is hurt beyond expectation. Anyone dead or not yet returned?” he asked again. And yet, there was no answer. Verona looked amongst them and found out that one person was not on the line. It was that young man who had said he was not going to go through the vines but instead run around it. She looked around again to make sure he wasn't really there. And truly, he wasn't there.

“Eh, sir,” Verona spoke up and lifted her hand. The Instructor looked at her and lifted his left brow.

“Any problem, Red?” he asked.

“Someone is not on our line. I last saw him when we were supposed to undergo the first obstacle and I don't think he is out yet,” she stated.

“Really? Wow. Are you sure about this?”

Verona nodded.

“Well, let's hope the Crew find him first,” the man said. Verona furrowed her brows.

“First? What do you mean ‘first’?” she asked. He looked at her and chuckled.

“There are a lot of things in this forest, Red. The safer portion of it is used for this contest,” he answered and Verona's heart skipped a beat. That man earlier had gone out of the way of the portion for the contest. He had gone the other direction. She looked nervously at the small gate and hoped nothing would happen to him. But that instant, the gate opened and a crew member entered, dragging a man through it. Two other crew members were behind him, grabbing onto him hard. He was screaming and kicking his legs in the air, pulling his arms from their hold and shoving them left and right. Everyone looked towards them and the spectators gasped loudly.

“That your friend?” the Instructor asked while pointed at them and looking at Verona.

“Ehm, yes,” she simply replied even though he was not her friend. She didn't even know him at all but only felt worried he had not come back yet.

“Ah, the insanity region. Anyone who passes through there sees things that would make them lose their mind. Tsk tsk, too bad,” the Instructor stated then shook his head.

“Well, let's start with the evaluation!" He announced to get people's attention back to him. The insane person was taken away and the spectators looked back at the contestants.

“Now, there were five stages and each one of you must have successfully or unsuccessfully passed through them. Or, is there someone who didn't pass through all the stages but got out successfully?”

Verona and Tiana exchanged looks, Avril looked at them from her own line too. Gently, the two ladies lifted their hands and people gasped all over the Tournament Ring.

“Wow, my Lady Red,” the Instructor said with amusement in his eyes. He was calling her Red because of the natural color of her hair. She was a beautiful redhead.

“Do you happen to know why?” the assistant Instructor asked. He had just been standing quiet all the while.

“No, sir. We don't,” Tiana answered.

“Did anything spectacular happen on the way?” the first Instructor asked.

“No,” Verona answered.

“You seem to be very injured. Did the eagles cause that?” he asked Tiana.

“Yes. The eagles in the foggy and dark part of the forest.”

“You managed to fight them off even after sustaining these much injuries?”

Tiana looked at Verona who was focusing her attention on the Instructor.

“Actually, Red helped me. She came to my rescue and fought off the eagles while I was already giving up. She carried me all the way here because I was too weak to run,” Tiana explained.

“Ah ha!” the Instructor exclaimed loudly with an excited tone.

“That is it! The obstacles would never harm a selfless contestant who helps the other despite being threatened by time,” he explained and people gasped loudly again.

“You faced only two obstacles because you carried your friend here and ran with her so you both would not lose. Excellent. Super excellent. Ten extra points for you, Red.”

Exclamations filled the Ring and Tiana looked at Verona with a bright smile. Verona was surprised but she didn't show it on her face.

“Thank you,” she simply said then looked over at Avril who was so happy.

“For every contestant who got in on time, ten points awarded. For those who failed, no points and would have to work hard in the other challenges in order to meet up. For our Red here, you already have twenty points to ball with.”

“I think we've learned two lessons with this first challenge,” the second Instructor spoke up.

“Yes, number one—do not try to dodge problems that are facing you. Solve them instead, because the results of the former can become even more fatal than when you try to solve them and fail. Our insane friend has first hand experience with that.”

“And second,” said the assistant Instructor, “It's good to be selfless and kind. Now everyone, back to your cabins to clean up. Be back here in thirty minutes.”

And so, the contestants all left the Ring to clean up and get ready for the second phase.

“Twenty points, bagged!" Avril exclaimed excitedly as she hugged Verona.

“Yeah, yeah. Don't embarrass me now by acting like a five year old,” she nagged at Avril and pushed her away. Avril laughed and stood straight.

“You are such a bore,” she teased and they laughed as they walked back to the cabin. They met Ñiraka and her partner talking by a corner. Avril realized that they didn't participate in this challenge. She wanted to say something to Verona but realized she would have already known what was on her mind. So she didn't say anything. Ñiraka saw them passing by and she glared at them, particularly Avril. Each time she saw her, her heart twisted and a surge of hate raked through her blood streams. Her father had contributed a lot to this new level of hate. It had been ages since he got angry with her and hit her that way. And Avril made that happen again.

“I will so make you pay,” she muttered to herself after the girls had walked quite a distance.

“Mi lady, what do you suggest we do?" Her partner asked. She was a hired fighter and was being paid to be Ñiraka's partner. This way, Ñiraka had higher chances of winning the Tournament.

“Whatever opportunity we have to fight her in any challenge, we would do it without looking at the rules,” she answered.

Chapter 94

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Thirty minutes later and the contestants were back at the field. There were two smaller rings set up, square with bouncy ropes woven around all the four sides. It was just like a human wrestling ring. After all the contestants had settled, the Instructor began.

“This phase is a bit more easy for you all. No giant eagles who want to pull your eyes out. All you have to do is simply pick a paper from this basket here and you would wrestle against the person who picked the same content of the paper.”

He pointed at the baskets and instructed for them to form two lines again. This time, male and female as they were two different categories.

They each picked a white paper and a number was written on it.

“Numbers 1-10 on the male category, into the ring.”

The first ten men walked into the ring. Todd was part of them.

“Numbers 1-10 on the female category, into the second ring.”

Avril turned to Verona.

“Wish me luck,” she said.

“Whatever happens, hit the females on their sides,” Verona whispered and she nodded. That was a secret method of weakening females that Verona taught her.

Avril ran into the ring with nine other females. She was number 3 so she had to fight now. She was a bit nervous, but her courage was more. The ring was wide enough to contain all the fighting by the ten of them. She looked at all the faces and didn't recognize anyone at all.

“The rule is for you to throw out your opponents from the ring. If you happen to fall on the dusty floor, then you're out. Now take your positions.”

Everyone stood in their comfortable stance, ready to just fight. Since they were ten, each had a fighting partner to begin with.

They all waited patiently in silence, and then the bell rang. They screamed and attacked the opponent, kicking, punching, blowing, dragging, kneeing and all those forms of causing pain to people. Avril's own first partner was a girl twice her size. She had thick black hair which was in a very tight bun on her head, with no stray strands at all. Avril received a blow from her and just knew she had done a mistake by not switching partners with someone else.

“Yugh!” the lady groaned as she kicked Avril across to the other side of the ring, making her hit two fighting pairs. The big lady began to walk towards her and she decided to just dodge her. Avril began to fight with one of the ladies she had just hit, turning in the air and giving her a hard kick against the face. She thought the big lady would fight with someone else, but no, her large arm landed on Avril's shoulder and she pulled her up from the floor. She punched her tummy twice then let her fall to the ground. Avril sprang up immediately, hit the lady with her elbow on her neck and she fell back a little. Two ladies were already outside the ring, on the dusty ground and we're disqualified. Avril ran to the other side, began to fight against someone else and succeeded in throwing her out of the ring. The spectators were cheering as they watched the fights from the two rings.

Verona who was outside quickly noticed that the big lady wasn't after Avril to throw her out of the ring, but to actually beat the living daylights out of her. She watched as she sneakily grabbed Avril from behind, lifted her up by her throat then threw her hard on the floor of the ring. She knelt down over her and began to punch her face repeatedly. People noticed what was happening and gasps filled the place. Verona got really scared. She looked beside her nervously and saw Ñiraka looking at the unfolding scene with a smile. That was when Verona realized the big lady was Ñiraka's partner they had just passed by thirty minutes ago.

“Oh my God," she muttered and looked back at Avril who was receiving the beating of her life. It was quite obvious that she was being targeted. Verona didn't know what to do. She couldn't interfere because it was against the rules.

The big lady stood still as she watched Avril gasping for breath while holding the ropes for support. Her cheek was reddened already, her left eyes was bleeding and she had a few cuts here and there. She looked at the big lady and smiled.

“Is that...is that all you've got?” she asked with a smug voice. That seemed to anger her and she groaned and waged towards Avril, planning to kick her out of the ring now. Avril stood in that position watching, waiting for her to come and kick her out. But the very instance that her huge legs were coming to hit her, she moved from the position, turned and pulled the two ropes she was holding to open widely and the big lady unknowingly passed through it. She yelped as she grabbed the ropes while she was about to touch the ground. Avril stood above her in the ring, smiled then kicked her large face with her feet so hard that she had to let go of the ropes and fall to the ground. The crowd cheered loudly, like they were only watching the fight between them. The bell rang that instant and the rest of the fights ended. Whoever remained would go to the next stage. Only four people remained in Avril's ring. Verona looked at Avril proudly and ran to her as she stepped down from the ring.

“Oh my God,” she exclaimed and hugged her friend.

“Who was that woman? She wanted to simply kill me,” Avril asked immediately. Verona looked at the direction of the woman who was shamefully walking towards Ñiraka. She was already out of the contest they paid her to make Ñiraka win. And Ñiraka hadn't even entered any challenge yet.

“Ñiraka?” Avril asked with surprise.

“You are thinking what I'm thinking. Good,” Verona whispered. She then held Avril and they walked back to the line.

“Congratulations to the winners of this phase. Ten more points awarded. Tomorrow, you would go further and I hope you don't go home like some of our friends are tonight. Well, good luck everyone. Today's session is over.”

People began to disperse and Verona began to walk Avril towards the exit that led to their cabins. She was limping so they could not walk fast. They walked in silence and reached the exit. Immediately they passed through it, three men were standing there and smirking at them. They stopped and stared at the men who obviously were not a part of the contest.

“Pretty women. Hello,” one said and they began to walk towards them. Verona sighed and looked around. All the contestants had already passed and they were left back because they couldn't walk fast.

“Just ignore them and let's go,” Avril stated and they took steps forward. But the man in front grabbed Verona's hair and yanked her away from Avril, making Avril fall to the ground.

“Hey!" Verona yelled and punched him in the face. But two other men held her from behind and pulled her to the wall.

“Get off me!” she ordered but they pinned her face to the wall. The two men held her firmly and she could not free herself despite the struggle.

Two more men walked to Avril on the floor. The first one grabbed her face and pinned her cheeks tightly. She winced and kicked against him but the other one kicked her hard on her thighs and tummy which were already sore with pain from the former beating. He held her hands behind her back so she wouldn't hit his friend.

“I saw how beautiful you were earlier. Can't believe they ruined your face,” the first man drawled.

“But I'm sure they didn't ruin down there, did they?” he whispered and bent down. He placed his hand on her chest and held the rim of her shirt.

“Get off!” Avril barked and struggled but he laughed.

“Come on, just a peek. A little peek, baby,” he said and pulled back the shirt to reveal her cleavage. But he didn't even have enough time to look when he felt a terrible pain behind his head. His brain shifted and he saw the world double. He staggered and fell down, but stood up almost immediately to see who hit him.

“How dare you!” He screamed at the person but froze to see who was standing there. Even his friends froze and couldn't even move from their positions where they held the girls.

“P-prince... Prince Dakar,” the man stuttered. Dakar stood there with a terrible frown on his face. One that could make the devil pee on himself.

“I don't appreciate it when any woman is s£xually harassed. Not to talk of my own woman...being s£xually harassed,” he drawled in a deep, low voice that sounded dangerous on its own.