4 The Battle At Hand (1/2)

With an earth shaking shout, she managed to silence the entire square. Taku had thought that he was used to seeing the Gutu do extraordinary things, but to him this was just too ridiculous Her voice had caused a slight tremor, and frightened countless children within the square.

”If that was her ability, then she is very frightening! If that wasn't her ability and she did that through sheer force, then she is even more frightening!”

”My name is General Maka. I will be explaining where you are and what you will be doing for the next few years of your insignificant lives.

Here your names do not matter, it matters not what tribe you came from, it matters not what clan you hail from, it matters not how talented you think you are, at the end of the day, in this city, only the survivors are strong!

After a year, half of you would be dead, and after another year half of those remaining will also die, this trend will continue for four years until your training is complete and your abilities have truly been awakened!”

At that moment Taku thought of how children from earth would react. He had no doubt that there would be children crying for their parents, despairing wails and even those who would wet themselves, not to mention how many ten year olds on Earth had no true understanding of what death truly was. How many children would be able to comprehend the fact that they would have a 'one out of sixteen' chance to live?

The Gutu from Taku's perspective were truly frightening not only because their bodies were as steady as rocks, but also because their minds were and unbreakable as steel. As far as he could remember Taku had never seen a sentient Gutu child cry. From the moment Gutu children are born, they already have an incredible resolve to live, and it showed in their daily life when they hunted for food or fought.

Now Taku was seeing this resolve in its truest of forms. Not only did the children around him know death, they experienced it on a daily basis.

Taku judged that the majority of children within this crowd were taken from towns and villages due to both their crude behavior and simple clothing. He knew from experience that living in such places was a feat unto itself as one would be close to the jaws of death everyday.

These children definitely understood death and knew what came with it, yet as far as Taku could see, not a single trace of fear could be seen. All he could see was a flame that had been lit within the eyes of all the children here. They had all come here seeking strength, for to them there was nothing as valuable as power! Even though they knew the majority of them would die, it did nothing to dim the embers that had already started growing in their little eyes.

Taku marveled at the sheer sight of such blatant disregard of death, he didn't know whether or not to call it courage, all he knew was that he had to survive, and he was willing to do what he had to do in order to do so. He had already died once, and he was not planning to do so again.

Maka nodded in approval when she saw the desired effect, ”All of you will be brutally trained to bring out the best of your capabilities. The Elephant Foot Guard are on a scale the likes none of you can even imagine, and we have plenty of duties, but none are more important than the quelling of wild beasts! During your time here, you will battle countless beasts time and time again, for it is only through shedding the blood of your enemy will you prove yourself, and it is only through treading the gates of death will you bring out your true potential!

You have all gone through a basic awakening, but that is nothing, you have barely scratched the potential of what you can really do. Observe.”

Immediately after saying these words, Maka raised her hand. Taku was curious as to what she would do, only for his head to smash into the ground. Suddenly from nowhere his entire body felt like it weighed ten times more than it usually did, Taku felt like he was holding a mountain on his shoulders. It took all of his strength to lift his face and look forward, only to see the same thing. Hundreds of thousands of children were lying flat on the ground, struggling to get up just like he was.

Wait? Could it be that everyone is feeling the same thing?

Taku's thoughts only needed a few seconds to come to a swift conclusion.

This is the ability to control gravity!

Indeed Maka's innate ability was the ability to manipulate gravity. What shocked Taku the most was not necessarily the ability itself, but rather the range it had. One must know that this square had the capacity to host over a million people and was filled to the brim, yet with a single movement from her hand she was able to make it impossible for everyone within the square to kneel. The only people who seemed unaffected where the soldiers behind her. Taku wondered just how her ability worked, whether it changed the gravity in a specific area, or whether it was target specific. He was thinking that perhaps she had intentionally chosen to shelter the soldiers behind her from her ability, unfortunately, he was wrong.

”Everyone within this entire city center is subject to my power, yet as you can see the warriors behind me are completely unfazed. Why? Because they are true warriors who have been baptized by the flames of thousands of battles and have had their true abilities awakened!”

Every warrior behind her stood up from their chair and walked toward her. They walked in a manner so smooth you would think there was nothing different at all. Some were even having a nice chat behind Maka. Taku even saw one reading a scroll as if nothing at all had happened.

”This is a city where warriors are made and weaklings fall! This is a city were titans rise and the meek become their stepping stones! This is a city that will either bring you glory, or it will be your demise. Train till the point where you near death, fight with every ounce of your being and pray to your ancestors, and perhaps maybe in six years you will be standing here with us! Welcome to Madhara!”

The soldier who had been reading a scroll then stepped forward. She was a tall and extremely beautiful woman, seemingly also in her late teens. Unlike Maka who's body was extremely bodacious, this woman was very slim. Her body was well-proportioned and she had intelligent eyes. It was as if her eyes could see right through the children who were gathered on this day.

”General Shaya will now send you directly to your first battlefield. Your mission is to fight continuously without stopping until at least half of you are dead. You are advised to use the weapons provided for you and the battlefield, survival of this trial will be considered a pass. You may begin!”

Maka's gravity ability disappeared, allowing the children to regain control of their bodies. Taku got up and sighed in relief, only remember what had just been said.

”Eh? Send us directly to our first battlefield?”

At first these words didn't register much in Taku's mind, but he couldn't help but feel like something was about to happen. When he looked up, he saw the most incredible thing he had ever seen since coming to this world.

General Shaya had sent a hand forward, and a small tornado materialized withing her palm, but as the second went by, the tornado got larger and larger, carrying the bodies of all those around with it, Taku was at the edges, so he was one of the last to be carried by the tornado, and he was also one of the few who truly got to see its sheer immensity.

It was hundreds of meters tall and seemed to be even more meters wide, it grew by the second, pulling in children by the hundreds. Never in this life would Taku have expected to see such a thing. The tornado itself was one thing, but the fact that it had been created by someone was another.

Once he was in the tornado, Taku lost his sense of direction and his sense of time. He, like the thousands of other children within, were being hurtled around and incredibly high speeds, often bumping or ramming into each other. Taku lost count of how many times he had rammed into someone else, and he didn't care, because the despair he felt at being treated like this overshadowed everything else.

By the time the spinning stopped, Taku had long since lost his sense of balance, thus it took him quite some time to get up. To his surprise, they were no longer within the city, they were now in an open grassland plain. Another thing that surprised Taku that he was the first person to wake up as far as his eyes could see.