Capítulo 9: Staircase

The man wearing the robe shouted, his voice slicing through the chaos and noise of the clearing, "Every team member, kill those who are too old and knock out those who look less than 25!"

Panic seized Ivar as he tightened his grip on the sword."Aria, run away!" Ivar shouted, his voice cracking under the weight of the robed man's sheer presence.

"You are quite brave kid." The robed man remarked as he disappeared from his current position appeared in front of Aira and knocked her out.

Ivar's eyes widened. He couldn't even see the man moving! It appeared as if the man had teleported!

Ivar and Cohen locked eyes as they both swung their swords towards the robed man. But the man didn't even bat them an eye as he once again appeared beside the older people near the campfire and flicked his finger at their forehead.

Splurt!-Splurt!-

"Blame your parents for birthing you too early to survive today."He sneered. Blood, bones, and brain matter sprayed grotesquely across the campfire, painting the earth in a macabre mosaic of death. The primal screams of death drown out every last bit of hope.

Some of the mixture landed on the face and body of Ivar as his green eyes were engulfed by the redness of blood. They stood trembling, their sword barely steady in their grip

"You bastard! How dare you kill those innocent people!" Cohen roared, his voice breaking as he lunged towards the robed man.

The man caught Cohen's sword with a single hand, effortlessly crushing it into worthless shards of metal. "Not bad, kid. You've got some spirit"..

Ivar charged at the man, his sword poised for a desperate vertical strike. But just as he raised his weapon, an unbearable pain seized his chest, and he crumpled, screaming in agony.

"Hmm? What's this? A heart attack? I thought you were brave at first, what a shame-" The man was suddenly interrupted by pieces of a broken sword attacking him from behind.

The man finally unsheathed his sword and slashed backward obliterating the pieces of the sword to nothing. The man turned to face Cohen while Ivar was behind him clutching his chest.

"Was that an ability kid?" He locked eyes with Cohen.

Cohen on the other hand was sweating intensely. His voice trembled as he spoke. 'If I say anything wrong, that man will kill me.'

"I awakened this to punish bastards like you!" Cohen screamed in the face of the man.

The man hearing the reply remained silent for a while until, "Hahahahahaha! Great! This is great! Kid, you don't know your own value."

In an instant, he appeared in front of Cohen knocking him out with perfect precision.

The robed man turned back to Ivar—who was still clutching his chest with one hand and staring intensely at the man with his sword in the other hand.

"Hmmm, I have my suspicions about you kid."The man murmured, in a thoughtful tone." A kid like you shouldn't be having a heart attack."

The man appeared behind Ivar in a flash and put his palm against Ivar's back. Before Ivar could react, The man simultaneously knocked out Ivar.

The man had a pleasant expression as he laughed once again for a while and sat in one of the logs, "If that white-haired kid hadn't appeared today, I would have been a lot happier seeing your situation kid."

***

Ivar felt the pain in his neck as he slowly opened his eyes. He couldn't move his legs and arms. He looked around the dark and long chamber he was in. Seeing Aira and Cohen still alive, He exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Looks like I woke up faster than others." Ivar dragged himself up to the corner of the metal chamber as he leaned onto the walls to get the proper view of the rectangular closed chamber.

"That's weird. There were only about 50 people in our caravan and most of them were killed. Then why are there still around 50 people in this chamber? All of them look quite young too." Ivar noted.

Ivar stood up, barely, with the wall as the support. He took small steps around the chamber, searching for a familiar face. But he didn't find it.

"Aiden…" He released a long breath and looked at the knocked-out body of Aira, "Thomas… Both of them aren't here."

"Those demon sect people…" Ivar paused for a while still looking at Aira's body, "They will probably kill her if she starts rebelling. I don't know why they have kidnapped us but I will try my best to keep myself safe."

BOOM-

Ivar suddenly felt a shock wave spread through the bottom of the container.

'They are placing us down somewhere? I better pretend to sleep.' Ivar went back to the place where he woke up and laid down—still looking at the door.

SCREEECH-

The metal door at the front screeched as it was opened by a woman with brown hair wearing the robe of the demon sect. She glanced over everyone in the container and said.

"52 people commander. No irregularity noted." She shouted towards her left.

"Good job everyone. No irregularity you said? Are you sure someone isn't already awake?" It was a familiar voice to Ivar's ears. Hearing the man's questioning, Ivar started to panic imagining his ending.

"N-no commander. It doesn't look like it." The woman, now flustered, stated.

"Did you stutter? Did I train someone to stutter?" The commander's haughty voice sounded.

"No commander!!" The woman once again shouted.

"Good. Now let me take a look." The commander, the one who knocked out Ivar, glanced at the room and immediately started walking inside.

He stooped near Ivar and said, "Hmmm, Looks like everyone is still knocked out". The girl looked visibly relieved.

Ivar felt a slight moment of relief as he once again tried his best to remain calm and lower his heart rate.

"Is what I would have said if I had slacked on observation training." He picked up Ivar from the ground and continued "I will slap you with all my power if you don't stop pretending kid."

Ivar immediately opened his eyes and stuttered, "I am awake! I am sorry! I was just pretending."

"Good… I expected this much from you." The man smiled lightly. As the man wasn't wearing a mask anymore Ivar got a good look at the man's face.

The girl on the other hand had her face painted with despair. "Observation training?"

The man locked eyes with the girl and said, "Yes. You will have to do observation training for a week. You had made multiple mistakes throughout this course of the mission. You will also not get credit for anything you did in this mission."

"But-but I was…" The commander cut her off before the girl could continue, "It's the commander for you. Someone take her away to the facility."

The commander walked out of the metal box and threw Ivar on the ground.

"Leader of the saber tooth team, You and your team member will note the names and ages of all the 52 kids after they wake up. If they don't wake up until dusk then kill them and if they are over the age of 20, you know what to do."

"As for the team Toucan and Pelican, You will deliver the goods in another chamber to the lord first elder. You know the procedure already so I won't explain." The commander professionally ordered the teams still with his overbearing tone.

""Yes commander!"" More than half of the demon sect people dispersed carrying the second chamber which when Ivar looked closely at was leaking blood.

A man wearing the demon sect robes came forward, bowed, and said, "Commander, we will now carry the kids to the hall."

"Do it. But don't carry this kid. He will walk." The commander cut the chains binding Ivar.

The man nodded and started carrying the people inside the chamber along with his team members.

Ivar's eyes followed the fan as he went towards a staircase leading up a mountain.

"A mountain…? Do I have to walk to the top of that?" Ivar questioned himself.

Ivar looked at the surroundings. He had been dropped off at the base of a mountain the areas near the staircase and the staircase were made out of clean stone. At the start of the staircase, there were two pillars with a flag.

The flag was adorned by a single red eye, the way the eye was woven in the fabric made it look lifelike.

"Hey kid, If you manage to climb that mountain, you will get a robe like mine with the logo." The commander talked to Ivar.