"This won't be much of a challenge, now would it?" I asked, tossing this blunted sword up in the air only to catch it with my other hand "We've done one on one before. Are you really going to try again and humiliate-"

Jayden didn't let me finish and swung.

I instinctively ducked underneath his sword, but I didn't retaliate. If this was really the last time I'm going to see him or this town in general, I wanted to leave on a nice and memorable note. "Oh? My you're impatient today. You're usually so keen on bragging!"

"Can we get this over with?" Jayden growled, "There's no need to talk."

His words made it sound like he already knew he was going to lose, which surprised me.

He stepped forward with his right foot, swinging his sword upwards in an arc- possibly hoping to get underneath my guard.

I intercepted by holding my own sword out in front and a little below of me, only to push his sword outwards so he would be in a defenseless position- but I didn't strike. "Oh, but talking during a fight is fun! Since this is probably the last time I'll see you anyway before my squad and I head to the capital."

"Don't be so confident."

"Don't be so confident." I mocked his words "Even if you get through me, which is very unlikely in itself, you still need to defeat Noah."

I must have hit a sore spot, because instead of answering, Jayden swung again- this time horizontally.

Just the same as last time, I blocked it by holding my sword out- vertically, this time.

But Jayden surprised me by using the momentum of his swing to spin closer to me, digging his elbow into my stomach.

My reflexes proved useful as always because as he did so, I grabbed his arms and swept his feet out from underneath him and sent him falling face-first onto the floor. I was still holding onto his forearm and held it to his back. "Okay, I'll have to applaud you for that."

"I'm not done."

Jayden's other arm was still free, and he pushed himself to one side- forcing me to let go of his arm and get off him so our positions don't flip.

It made me wonder if this was the same boy that foolishly participated in that match the first time we met. As arrogant as he was, he had some sort of skill to back it up.

I knew this would most likely be the last time I went against someone as easy as him. When I get to the capital, there will be no doubt that I would start going against people that are the top of their own town.

I would never say it out loud, but I had a strange feeling that I would dearly miss this place when I leave.

That bothered me.
I was never supposed to stay for this long.
Was I getting attached to this place?

That was dangerous. I am the daughter of the nether, I have no right to stay in a place where I will be killed if they ever found out who I really was.

I parried away a strike and pushed him down by ramming my shoulder into his chest. I've been dozing off, my brain and body moving for me rather than actually paying attention.

With a heavy sigh, I ducked down to the ground level when Jayden swung again and tried to kick his legs out from underneath him, but he seemed to have anticipated my move and jumped over my feet.

With some improvisation, I spun to my feet and used the momentum to swing my sword to his side... but aimed higher than I'd expected.

At least the edges of my sword weren't sharpened, or Jayden would have died when my sword slammed into his chest.

I smiled and held out my hand when Jayden struggled to get up. "I win." I grinned "You did great."

"Still can't beat you." He grumbled but took my hand.

I almost laughed.
What happened to that arrogant Jayden I thought I knew?

The crowd interrupted me when I was about to answer, and swept me away in cheers and compliments.

"Amythest!" I heard Kisha shout over the noise "Hey over here! We won! We get to go to the capital!"

I could only smile.
It would be that I'm getting closer to getting caught.
Me going to the capital would be the equivalent of Notch's child stepping into the nether.

Disastrous.

My victory hype was shorter than I thought it would be when William ushered us into his office.

Noah nudged my arm with a smirk on his face "Did you purposely drag out that fight?"

I shrugged "Maybe."

"What was the point of that?"

"I don't know. Maybe because I knew it might be the last time I'll ever be able to wipe my sword with Jayden's face." My words were cheerful, but even I can tell it sounded kinda sad. 

Noah stared at me with a puzzled expression on his face. He looked like he was about to say something before Ethan jabbed his side with his elbow to bring him to attention.

William had quickly came into the room, his smile not cutting the tense mood around him in the slightest.

Why did he feel so tight despite what just happened? He should be happy that he's sending potential contributors to the capital, not as if he's sending us to our deaths.

I laughed to myself. Unless that's exactly what he's doing. It wouldn't be very far from the truth for me, huh?

"Before I start," William smiled and placed his hand on the wooden table "Congratulations! You all have made it past the first round of eliminations for the positions in the capital!"

There was some clapping from Kisha and Matthew as Ethan cheered a bit, but Theo, Noah and I stayed quiet except for a few 'yay' or 'finally'

"But unfortunately, you all have only made it past the easy part." William smiled despite the mood "I'm sure you all have some idea on how things will work from here, correct?"

Kisha nodded, sitting up straighter. "Yup. After we go to the capital, it'll be individual competitions to gain the favor of the public and catch the eyes of some individuals in the capital so they can recruit us?"

I remembered Noah's comment on how solo competitions wouldn't be happening until there were a total of 60 people left.

If each group had five to six people, that would be at least ten different groups.

But if all the different towns and cities are sending out their own representative groups, how many will there be? The groups from the big cities will be at a larger advantage since they have access to more materials and challenges, as well as some prior knowledge on what might happen.

I'm sure I wouldn't have a problem, since I grew up in the harsh guidance of the nether and the most competent fighter there.

"You're just about right." William nodded "but sooo competition's wouldn't be held until there is only sixty competitors left."

Kisha nodded "yeah, we know that. But how will all the groups be sorted and eliminated? Will it be something similar to these challenges?"

Thank goodness Kisha asks a lot of questions.

"If small towns like us have a group," Matthew frowned "how many groups will there be in total? It'll be too large of an operation to pull off properly."

"You're right," William nodded "it would be too big to pull off at once."

"Then what is the capital planning?"

"As soon as you get there via train system, there will be a system of mass eliminations to weed out the average teams." William explained, pulling out six pieces of paper from his coat pocket and handed it to each of us.

I took it and looked it over. It was a train ticket that goes to the capital. Because this particular town is so small, there was no need to build a train station here, so we'll have to ride quite a large distance to a larger settlement by a lake in the plains.

"One train would be picking up all the participants in this region." William explained "the journey to the settlement takes less than a day, but in terms on going to the capital might take a while more."

"But the train leaves in two days-" Kisha frowned "so basically we have to leave tomorrow at the latest. How much of a rush is the capital in?"

Matthew looked up from the ticket "you said there will be a mass elimination taking place." He began "what's going to happen? What's the event?"

"That, I'm not allowed to tell you." William answered, much to our disappointment. "But I'm allowed to tell you that you'll be evaluated, tested and watched much earlier than you think."

Evaluated and watched?

William made it sound like the capital was watching our behavior as some sort of test.

I wouldn't be surprised if they started before we even got to the capital. It would be a great way to see us as people and how we interact before we're in the spotlight.

Theo was reading the paper over and over again, as if that paper held the answers to all of our questions. "All the participants in the region... then we won't be the only group at that station." His expression soured "a first look at the people we're going against."

"that's right." William nodded "I'm not too sure how many groups there are in total, or how many groups your train is picking up-" his gaze fell across each of us, maintaining those few seconds of eye contact "but the race ahead will be fierce. You'll all leave tomorrow afternoon. I wish you all the best of luck."

Happy Valentine's Day y'all