Dark Magus Returns

Chapter 359  The Winning Side

Ricktor was a little stunned at this sudden change of heart, although at the same time, not so much. Although he and the other main disciples couldn't exactly call themselves friends, they had been in similar situations since the Academy started, so they regularly talked amongst each other.

Their positions were above the rest, so they knew how each other felt. That was why Ricktor never thought something like this would quite occur. However, what he didn't see was what had happened while he was passed out, and the fact that Lisa and Sherry had both walked past their seclusion room.

"Do you really think it's a smart idea, going against me?" Ricktor said, almost giving them a second chance to reconsider their positions.

"Do you really want to act all high and mighty with the position you are in right now?" Lisa asked. "You guys, all of you saw these guys like beasts, yet you seemed to forget that they are students just like us. They have been put into the same situation as us as well. They are human beings who you can talk to, so that's what we decided to do."

"And in your haste, you decided to work together with them in order to get rid of us?" Ricktor asked. "And what's your plan after that, to just battle it out against yourselves?"

"Shut up!" Sherry immediately shouted back. "We are just doing what our clans asked of us! They said that we would get through this. And we saw you going ahead talking to the others; we knew you were planning to team up with them, but where does that leave us? You know that Raze will be picked for the martial arts tournament unless we get rid of him and his friends. Yet now you're working for them? All we have decided to do is join the side that is most likely going to win; we're on the winning side!"

"And we could say the same to you," Lisa added. "When this is all over, what was your plan? We still have to get rid of each other after this; you think it will be all over after this."

Ricktor looked around at the other Red Headbands, the ones that were fighting on the side of Simyon and the others. They were helping each other. He understood those close to Raze helping each other, but why had the other Red Headbands changed their way of thinking? The only thing he could think of was if they were promised a way out of here, promised a way to still live when this assessment is over.

Thinking this, Ricktor smiled to himself as he lifted his wooden sword, pointing it at the two girls.

"Do you really think you've joined the winning side? If you truly believe that, then you guys have been blinded by your own arrogance this whole time. Us main disciples are not the strongest ones in this place!"

Not talking anymore, Ricktor charged forward and swung his sword down. Sherry quickly came in to intercept as she swung her fan down toward the sword. The moment the two collided, she felt like her feet were going to buckle; the ground beneath her feet was breaking as she struggled to push back.

'How is he so strong? I knew Ricktor was always stronger than us, but... it feels like he's gotten even stronger.'

Just then, Lisa came in, leaping to the side to attack, and another student had come from the other side. Ricktor avoided them both, but his legs stumbled a bit.

'Crap, I still haven't fully recovered myself, and even the toll of not eating, it's starting to affect me a bit as well,' Ricktor thought.

Elsewhere, the others were having great trouble themselves. Safa was struggling. Her hands were weakening as well due to the lack of food. She had also been using a lot of her magical power, and in doing so, she hadn't been able to recover as much Qi as she had done with the others. But she did have one thing on her, and that was the statue.

'No, I can't use the statue. I can feel it, even through this fight, although my Qi is emptied, with us forced to use it in this situation, I can feel our dantian; it's breaking, it's growing stronger, we can do this!'

It wasn't just Safa; Liam and Simyon could feel it as well, and it was the same for Tinson and his friends. All of them were fighting with their life on the line, pushing their bodies to the limit, forcing them into a survival state. They were swinging wildly, getting hit, but drawing whatever power they had, and they could feel their bodies cracking down more and more.

'This is it; everyone is doing it. Those other students there are close to reaching the third stage, and as for Safa and the others, within not a day of reaching the third stage, they were close to the fourth stage.'contemporary romance

'Although this assessment is cruel and forces the minds and bodies of these teenagers to go through extreme things, the one saving grace is how quickly they have managed to evolve in all of this.'

Unfortunately, though, this was true for both sides. Mada was dealing with the two Red Headband students as well as two of the attackers; there were four on him. Due to him feeling weak, he was unable to properly perform his clan's techniques, and all he was able to do was defend.

Right as he went to block a kick from one of the students, he felt his whole body get hit back and crash into the wall.

'There's black smoke coming off their body; have the Red Headband students broken through to the next stage... this is not looking good, this is not looking good at all.'

Mada was looking around for help, but everyone was struggling, mostly because of the lack of energy. It was frustrating them even more. If only they had eaten, then maybe even then their bodies would now have the energy to break through and help them out, but it felt like there was nothing they could do.

One of the students jumped up and thrust their sword toward Mada's head. He moved to the side, avoiding the hit, then spun around another student. As he turned, he received another kick to the stomach. He skidded across the floor in pain; his legs wouldn't stop skidding across the ground until he eventually stopped and fell onto his knees.

He was now away from the wall, away from the others, and away from his safety net, and he could see two others coming right for him.

'Darn it... darn it! Should I have stayed with the others rather than close to Ricktor? Did I make a mistake?' Mada thought.

He tried getting up, but his whole body was shaking, not from the pain, but just the lack of energy completely. He needed to pick up his sword; he needed to strike.

'Just one hit, if I just could deliver one hit at full strength, I would take these two down, in a single blow!'

Mada screamed this in his head, and right in front of his eyes, he saw a sword slash across their chest; the top of the two students' bodies fell to the ground; they were defeated, killed in an instant.

Mada looked at his own hand, but it hadn't moved; he hadn't picked up his sword, and with a wooden sword, he would have never been able to do such a thing.

"I'm ready," a voice said to Mada's right, and light steps were made as a figure walked past him.

"I'm ready to get rid of the ones that forced us all into this situation."

Turning his head, Mada could see it.

'Raze... you've returned, and the power around you, it's causing my whole body to shiver.'

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