The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

The light was blinding and Isaac couldn't see for a few seconds. He blinked a few times before his eyes acclimatised and he could see the grey sky above. The sun was rising in the sky and he'd been staring directly at it, explaining the blinding light.

He tried to sit up but grimaced when he tried pushing himself up. His right arm was wounded and hurt terribly. It reminded Isaac that he had left the illusion and was back in the real world: the injuries from fighting Andreas were gone, but the wolf bite he had suffered was back.

He tried sitting up again, but nausea and dizziness attacked him. He'd lost too much blood and now it was starting to affect him.

He shut his eyes and waited for the dizziness to subside.

After he felt a little better, he looked around the clearing and saw everybody laid on their backs like he had been.

Then, movement in the corner of his eye alerted him. Somebody had walked out of the forest and towards the area they were in; it was Erik, the muscular boy Isaac had lured a wolf towards. He looked a little surprised to see Isaac awake, but his expression soon returned to indifference.

Isaac noticed he was carrying some green herbs. After Erik sat down and started eating them, Isaac realised he was incredibly hungry as well.

He followed the direction Erik appeared from and found a small area of plants springing up from the snow. He picked his own and ate them where he was before going back. On the way back, he looked for firewood but none of what he saw was dry enough, so making a spark would be impossible.

Back in the clearing, he ate some snow before unwrapping his bandaged right arm. He looked around at the people lying in the snow and undressed one of them to take his top. Isaac replaced his own ruined top with the new one, then he tore the left arm off of his old top and tied it around his wound.

After that, there was a few hours of tension. Isaac and Erik had nothing to do, so they just eyed each other cautiously.

The next one to wake up was Johan. He chatted with Isaac for a bit and Isaac told him where to forage for plants. The third trial could be another team trial so it was better if everyone was in good condition.

They had to wait 3 more hours before more people started to awaken. After talking to Johan, Isaac discovered 3 hours in real life was a day inside the illusion. That meant Johan had finished a day earlier than most people, Isaac had finished 2 day earlier than that, and Erik had finished even earlier. However, that didn't bother Isaac much.

It was the end result that was important, not the process. If he was stronger than Erik in 5 years' time, that was what was important – not who finished this trial first.

When the instructor arrived, 25 trialees had woken up including Isaac. He beckoned to them to follow and walked away wordlessly. Isaac did a quick count and found there were 32 bodies still lying in the snow. The first test had eliminated 43 out of 100, but this had killed more than half of the remainder. On this trajectory, the third trial might kill two thirds of the 25 survivors.

All of the trialees were anxious when the instructor led them to a large stone building. It wasn't tall or wide, but it seemed to stretch deep into the forest.

When the instructor pulled a lever, a section of the stone slid away to reveal an entrance. The instructor told them to enter but didn't do so himself. When they were all inside, he pulled the lever again and the entrance disappeared, trapping them.

It was dark inside the building. The narrow passage ahead of them was only illuminated by 2 flaming torches near the ceiling. There were 2 more torches at the end of the passage but that was some distance away, making the middle of the passage particularly dark.

Anybody who'd survived the first 2 trials was intelligent and calm enough to observe the surroundings before moving rashly. The building was made from grey bricks and looked quite old. In some areas the bricks were damp and moss grew on them. Judging from its appearance, the sect had been holding trials here for a long time. However, it seemed well maintained other than the moss and there were no issues or broken areas for the trialees to exploit.

They all realised they had to head down the passageway, but it wouldn't be a trial if all they needed to do was walk. No-one wanted to take unnecessary risks, so it was hours before one of them was willing to take the lead.

He walked a few steps through the corridor without any trouble and started to gain some confidence. Maybe the trial was in the next room and this corridor didn't have–

The boy didn't even have time to finish his thought. Without even realising what had happened, blood spurted from his throat and he died within seconds. The onlookers could all see his body suspended by the wire running through his neck.

Nobody had seen the almost invisible wire. It had been sharpened to perfection and left at the average person's neck height so it cut the boy's throat with no resistance. The wire was so thin and sharp that you couldn't see it in the dim light and it was only visible now because of the blood dripping from it.

Strangely, the boy's death made everyone else more confident. Now they knew what traps to expect, they all felt much more secure. A girl with a long ponytail soon walked down the passageway and approached the wire. She crouched down and slowly moved under the wire whilst looking up to see where it was.

She felt a stinging pain along her neck and quickly drew back. However, it was too late. A second wire had already ruptured her windpipe and she couldn't breathe. She gasped for air wildly but couldn't delay the inevitable, and collapsed to the ground with her eyes wide in disbelief.

If the first death had made everyone more confident, this one made everyone grimace. The wires were placed much more fiendishly than they had expected. They were in unpredictable spots and might not even be aimed at the neck. There could also be shin or torso height wires designed to injure rather than kill.

This uncertainty made everyone more cautious, and for a while nobody wanted to move again. Then, Isaac took off his coat without saying a word. He held the coat in front of him and walked forwards slowly, though he would sometimes stop and look over the coat for other traps.

After Isaac safely navigated the first 2 traps and then found 2 more with his coat strategy, others began to join him. Isaac slowed down to wait for them and let them take the lead. He stayed near the side of the group so he always had space to move or dodge, but didn't go too far back as the people ahead could obscure his vision.

They passed many more wires, including some placed diagonally or at awkward angles. Now they were near the middle of the passageway.

*Click* *Whirrrr*

The sound of gears whirring gave the group less than a second to prepare for a rain of arrows. Somebody stepping on a pressure plate had triggered a set of automatic crossbows and screams echoed in the tight passageway as arrows struck.

Only the 3 at the front had actually been killed, but the arrows had wounded many. This showed one shortcoming of the coat strategy: it was difficult to see past the coat. If you were looking over it all the time, you could get caught by a high wire. If you never looked past it, you could walk right into traps like this. You also wouldn't be able to see the arrows and avoid them.

As they continued, the wires and pressure plates grew more frequent. They managed to spot and avoid a couple of pressure plates, but it was too dark to see all of them. Fortunately, they made it to the end with only 1 more death despite a lot of injuries. The unlucky soul had lost his balance dodging an onslaught of arrows and fallen backwards onto a wire.

Compared to everyone else, Isaac was relatively unscathed. He had some cuts and scratches, but nothing deeper than half a centimetre. His thin, lithe body and excellent anticipation skills made dodging a rather simple task. His confidence in his individual abilities meant he was one of the only people who were happy when they saw the passageway fork ahead.