Jonathan's Trial 1

Jonathan walks out to the cheering crowd. The sun high above blinds him, and he raises his hand to shield his eyes until they can adjust to the light.

Why do they have to have the waiting room so dark? Jonathan complains to himself.

“Ladies and Gentleman! The first match of the Oathbound tournament trial is about to start!” the announcer calls out.

Jonathan can feel his heart racing, pounding in his chest. There's no turning back now; he has to win this! Growing up as a street urchin, this is the only way for him to move up in the world. He has dodged the guard his entire life; he has hidden from the law, criminal organizations, and gangs his entire life, he can hide and stealth his way around his next opponent.

“Now, let's greet our next contestant!”

The gates on the other end of the arena raises, and a decrepit old man walks out, barely able to stand on his cane. The old man is but a skeleton dressed in skin. The old man protects his eyes from the light, looking all too frail.

Is this a joke?!

Anger rises as Jonathan watches the old man stumble out onto the sands.

No, this wasn't a joke; the man is already dead. He'd rather die trying to achieve greatness while he is in his Vitality Days, the days when one has grown so old their body has died of old age but is still animated by their vitality.

The old man is trying to grasp at life, for if he wins this tournament can gain immortality and age backwards to his prime, a final gambit.

“This is a match to the death!” the announcer explains. “And all matches will be for the one hundred contestants! You can choose now to forfeit and live but forever be barred from becoming an Oathbound! Do you wish to withdraw?”

“No!” Jonathan shouts and raises his daggers. The old man simply shakes his head.

“Excellent! Then on my mark!”

Jonathan [Analyze's] the old man.

Life Binder Human (Exalted), Level 452 Prism Caster, Level 346 Radiant Star

He is actually low level for someone so old, which means he reset his class to better fit being an oathbound.

Light Mage, likely specializing in laser attacks, but I should consider illusions.

As a fellow Human, Jonathan will be able to see the mana of illusions, so he isn't worried; he just needs to hide.

“Three!” the announcer counts down.

Once I won this, any previous crime I had committed will be pardoned, no matter how heinous.

Dreams of winning the final fight, of taking the oath before the Emperor, no longer will he have to live in the shadows, no longer will he have to fight every day to survive.

“Two!”

Jonathan looks up at the VIP booth, overseeing the tournament. Oathbound Jordan, the Emperor's right hand, is sitting there, watching everything going on.

“One!”

Jonathan slows his breathing and closes his eyes, ready to react faster than ever before, and focuses on the old man's soul; he doesn't need to fear retaliation here, not against the old man. Light versus shadow, which one will be faster?

“Start!”

Jonathan dived into the soul layer right as a beam of light burns the air around him.

This will only take a moment. Jonathan walks to the floating soul in front of him neither darkness nor light reigns supreme here. Whisps of ectoplasm drift around, floating on the whims of fate.

Jonathan likes it here. It is solitary and quiet as if there's nothing else in the world, and despite how close something looks, it takes a long time to traverse, in appearance, anyway. In real-time, thanks to his class abilities, only a few seconds will have passed.

Jonathan had tried attacking the soul directly once, it was successful, but the backlash was the worst thing he had ever felt, the worst pain imaginable. Ever since, Jonathan only used the soul layer to effectively teleport around or to buy time for himself.

Eventually, Jonathan gets close enough to the old man and jumps back into the normal world. The one downside to this is that he can't actually see the normal world, but at the same time, it avoids all clairvoyance except [Soul Sight] and [Sense Soul], a trade-off that has saved him numerous times by hiding and even allowing him to pass through solid objects.

Fortunately, he is well-practiced in his skill, both in timing and placement, something that relies heavily on observing and memorizing the environment around him. With his shadow Bond, Jonathan unleashes a black fog the instant he reappears in the normal world but instantly dives back into the soul layer. On more than one occasion, he has been hit by reflex when he does that. He walks to the side of the old man and jumps back into the normal again and this time delivers a strike to the old man's neck, decapitating him.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jordan quirks an eyebrow at the soul assassin, or would it be shadow assassin? He's got classes for both, but his shadow is higher level.

Unseen Human (Exalted), level 392 Shadow Thief, level 302 Soul Assassin

, clearly someone who's lived a life of crime, and it shows how good he is since he's never been caught. No matter who he was, though, he either dies in this tournament or is reborn as an Oathbound, loyal to the Emperor and the Empire.

It is very common for these types of people to try the tournaments, they've got nothing to lose after all, but Jordan would rather have one of the lesser races win the tournament. It's rare for a lesser race to join, hoping to be the first Non-Human Oathbound, but due to them being lesser, none has ever won before.

It will do wonders for the empire if a lesser race were to rise up and join ranks in the greater races, they can help bring civilization to many other savage and primitive tribes, a symbol of hope that they too can, with hard work and dedication, become a greater race, even a legendary being.

The body of the old man is carried away. Jordan has nothing but respect for him; he lived a long life and chose his own way to die. The old man knew he was going to die in the tournament. Only one can win, but that doesn't mean that everyone will not die in the end. The reason why there has been no new Oathbound is not winning over ninety-nine other people; it's fighting the cursed being after. A Pained One, a weak cursed being, but that's to be expected from the amount of Miasma absorbed.

The shadow assassin won't win, not against a soulless being, almost no one does, only the one-in-a-million like all the Oathbound before can succeed, the Emperor only wants the best of the best.

Jordan watches the next series of matches, not finding one talent among them; sure, there had been two more people with interesting classes or combination of classes like the shadow assassin, but not one will survive; they either do not have the talent, or the experience needed to win.

The most heart-crushing match is a child who had just made it to level two hundred. Probably felt the power boost of a class evolution, the new Grand tier class, and thought he was strong enough. It's a common tale but one that almost always ends tragically; only once was a child able to become an Oathbound. Children are always encouraged to withdraw, and they even don't suffer the normal consequences either, that of being forbidden to join the Oathbound later in life.

Only two lesser races joined the tournaments, a Fylox, and a Klar; naturally, both being born in the Minor tier didn't stand a chance, a shame since the Fylox had managed to climb her way to the Grand tier as an adventurer. The Klar, on the other hand... well, they aren't the smartest people around, and this one only managed to reach the adept tier.

Jordan sighs. Much like children, they are given many chances to withdraw; it's such a shame to lose lesser races with high potential to climb their way to the greater tiers like Heroic and Exalted.

Jordan only spots one person who managed to smuggle in a magic item a small, thin, glass ring, almost imperceptible. There's always at least one cheater, and if they are up against anyone with potential, he will intervene, but in this case, it's not so he let it slide; after all, the cheater will die to someone better anyway, and if not... then he will find out just how strong an Oathbound really is.

If a cheater is to make it to the top twelve, then they will instead be matched with an Oathbound and be made an example for anyone who wishes to cheat.

Soon the day ends, and the contestants return to their quarters, half of them gone.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jonathan has survived the first round, but there are more needs to live through. In the cafeteria, no one talks to each other. Why bother making friends when everyone here will die, except one? He could go into one of the other blocks where a different group of one hundred fights; one of them will survive, but pretty much the same logic applies; you have a one in a hundred chance of making friends with the surviving person. Instead, everyone is eyeing each other, trying to gauge how well they will go up against them. Jonathan, too is [Analyzing] everyone he can and formulating plans for each one in case he is matched up with them.

The huge mountainous man over there looks tough, hard to reach certain vital areas like the neck. While Vitality will keep an arm moving, bleeding out is a good way to lose a lot of vitality. The hardest foes are the regenerators, like that huge man. Jonathan will have to kill them in one hit, pierce the brain and leave the dagger in, then try to chop the head off as they won't die from a simple hit to the head.

Jonathan retires to his cot after maintaining his weapons and armor, quickly falling asleep. In the morning, he wakes up by trumpets blaring in the room.

“Get ready! The tournaments will be starting in an hour!” a servant shouts.

Jonathan hears the man above his cot grumbling about being woken up but pays no mind to it. He keeps quiet and simply prepares for his second day in the tournament. He's going to win this; there's no doubt about that; he can't afford to doubt himself.