บท 3: Battle Royale

"Eunuchs are coming!" "Hide, all of you!"

Cries of terror echoed throughout the streets of Hale village.

People dressed in ragged clothes and with dirty appearances ran everywhere as white-robed, bald men followed with a measured gait.

Hundreds of squads of eunuchs were thoroughly searching every house in the Hale village for a single thing.

Boys.

Every now and then, the bald men would kick open the shabby wooden doors of the dilapidated houses and barge in without permission. They would search the house, and if a boy near the age of 16 to 24 was found, he would be immediately caught and taken along with them.

Many tried to resist, but the bald men, who were quite proficient in combat, put them to sleep without knowing what happened.

Unconscious bodies were being carried off everywhere, which further spread chaos among the villagers, causing them to panic.

In fact, the faction of eunuchs with the infamous name "Dickless Demons," under the order of the emperor, was active throughout every part of the human territory.

No one knew the exact reason for this sudden movement, but according to some rumours, it was for the upcoming selection of the new human emperor.

Many old bones of the village recalled a similar event that had taken place almost three centuries ago, where boys of the whole human territory were abducted overnight, but with time most of the details faded into oblivion.

Despite that, a single quote passed through generations: "It was a tournament of madness!"

Further proving the rumours, something strange took place this evening in the Hale village.

All the boys near the age of 16 to 24 complained about seeing golden words flashing in front of their eyes, which read.

[You have been selected as a candidate for the Tournament of Madness.]

Crouching on the corner of the street, Mars carefully watched the chaos that ensued in front of his eyes.

"I see it has begun," he muttered softly with a nod.

Boys ran everywhere, stumbling, falling, then standing again in terror, desperately trying to avoid the white-robed demons.

Some desperate mothers shielded the children behind their backs, but the Dickless demons were ruthless.

Just like every boy, Mars was also the age of sixteen.

His dirty, long black hair fell to his shoulders, framing his angular face, while vicious and intense brown eyes and a sharp nose gave him an intimidating appearance.

But unlike other boys of his age, Mars didn't show any sign of fear or nervousness; instead, his eyes were gleaming with unimaginable excitement.

Suddenly, Mars fished out a strange, rusted pendant of the distorted beast, about the size of his finger, from his linen shirt and looked at it with a slight glint.

While stroking the oddly shaped dragon a few times, Mars grinned, "Hehe, you were not lying…you didn't abandon me!"

After gazing at it for a while, Mars shoved the necklace back into the linen shirt and turned to the eunuchs with a resolute expression: "Then so be it; I will also not back down on my words!"

After saying so, Mars took a deep breath and stood up.

Then, he calmly walked to a nearby eunuch who had just knocked a boy and tapped on his back.

"Who….!" The eunuch was alarmed and turned back, only to see a skinny boy gazing at him with eyes that didn't seem appropriate for his age.

"Don't forget me!" Mars said.

The bald eunuch was slightly surprised by the boy's strange behavior, but with a lot on his mind, the white-robed man swiftly tapped Mars behind his neck, knocking him unconscious.

Mars felt the world fade into darkness as he heard the eunuch say, "Here's one, put him in the carriage."

*****

Mars felt his mind spinning; his vision was veiled by a gloomy darkness.

"Where am I…." For a moment, he couldn't comprehend the situation.

But just as the memories returned, Mars felt a shock run through his spine.

"The Tournament…." He blurted it out and tried to move around.

His hands could feel the damp floor beneath him. A horrible smell of sweat and body odour was in the air.

Despite the buzzing of his mind, Mars forcibly opened his eyelids and saw a bright flame crackling in his sight, pushing the darkness away from his surroundings.

"Ahhh…." "Where are we….!"

"What the hell is this….!"

"Where have you brought us….!"

Mars could hear shouts echoing around, and soon he saw faintly illuminated figures sitting, standing, or limping around him. He recognised some of them, they were from the Hale village.

Soon, Mars felt a lot better, and without wasting any time, he swiftly got to his feet and was surprised when he studied his environment.

Thousands of boys filled his sight; he seemed to be inside a dark hall with huge walls covering them from all sides, towering over 50 meters.

Looking around, he couldn't see any exit in sight. Some groups of boys near the wall were trying to climb, but it was simply too tall.

Then he noticed something else. Every boy in his sight was holding a meter-long blade in his hand.

Mars looked down, and sure enough, he saw a similar blade strapped to his waist.

'What is going on...?'

Huge fire lamps crackled over the walls, poorly illuminating the mass of humans crammed beneath.

To his right, Mars saw a platform extending out from the top edge of the wall with an empty throne placed on it.

"Waaaaaa… I want to go home, mommy!" Suddenly one of the boys, who seemed to be quite young, cried out, which gathered a lot of attention from the boys.

Following his lead, almost everyone started to shout.

"Hey… anyone let us out!"

"You Dickless demons... "What do you want?"

"Set us free!"

As the shouts grew among the crowd, Mars suddenly saw a figure appear on the platform along with a feminine yet authoritative voice that boomed across the hall: "Silence!"

On the platform stood a tall and muscular woman, about the age of 30.

Her lustrous dark hair was tied into a neat bun on top of her head. Her face was sharp and quite serious, with angular brows like swords and piercing blue eyes that seemed to stare through the boy's soul.

Arrogance and anger laced the lady's face, yet there was an odd charm to it too.

She had a thin waist, but her shoulders were broad. She was wearing a long black linen dress with a cut that ran through her left foot and ended dangerously close to the edge of her perky butt, showing very little yet too much of the assets behind.

Her breasts were huge, which especially seemed to be on display as the lady had crossed her arms, lifting them up a little.

Looking at the ferocious yet captivating lady, Mars made a guess: "A royalty... maybe a princess...?"

Such graceful figures were not something they would see in a village; only a princess or someone of a higher rank could have such an aura.

Following the lady's voice, a deep silence spread through the hall. Since most of the boys were quite young, they almost forgot their current situation when gazing at the beautiful lady.

Even though the boys were looking at her with shining eyes, the lady, on the other hand, inspected the crowd with utter disgust on her face, as if she were looking at cockroaches crawling in a dump.

After letting out a long sigh, the lady said in a heavy voice, "I am Princess Sofia Skinwalker, the granddaughter of Duke Grenard Skinwalker."

'This….' Listening to her name, Mars was visibly shocked.

Hale village was a small part of the duchy ruled by Duke Grenard. For the common villagers, he was similar to a king whose word was authority.

Even though Mars had expected some royals to be involved in whatever was happening, he never thought one of the granddaughters of the duke would personally visit them!

Just what was going on here?

"Under the order of the Human Emperor, we are directed to start the tournament, and I, Princess Sofia Skinwalker, have chosen you all as the candidates for being my knight!" As she said so, the lady named Sofia extended her arm, and at the same time, Mars and all the boys in the hall felt a few words flash across their eyes.

[You have been selected as a candidate for Sofia Skinwalker's knight]

[Survive the battle royale and eliminate every other candidate to achieve the title of knight!]

[The winner would form a bond with Sofia Skinwalker and would be rewarded with a dual cultivation session to obtain her bloodline spell.]