65 Legends of the Underworld (1/2)

Now it was time for the Legends of the Underworld event. Riyku had been pushing himself for this day so that way he could keep his vow. All of the students were seated and waiting for Instructor Rina to come into the room. The tension was high because they all knew what today was. Of course, it was not just Riyku who was the only one to training and studying. All of the class, including Astraia, had been doing the same. Attention shifted towards the door the moment Instructor Rina made her way in. A smile upon her face as she turned towards her class.

”Good morning everyone! As you all know, today is the day of the Legends of the Underworld. As such we will waste no time in getting started. Before we port, let me go over what you should all expect. This year they decided to go with something short and simple. War.” Everyone seemed too shocked to speak when Instructor Rina said that War was going to be the event.

Instructor Rina could see the surprise on her classes' faces so she decided to enlighten them with more information before someone would attempt to ask questions. ”Now, now. I know what you are all thinking. War!? Really!? Well, that is just a simple way of putting it. Since there are plenty of Netherworlds out there, they decided to keep it short and sweet. There will be multiple Wars going on, but each War will consist of three Netherworlds. Each War will take place in a land that has no wildlife, or populace. So there is no need to worry about an outside attack. Many of the Overlords have purchased a planet or two to be used for this event. So there may be multiple Wars on a Netherworld, but there are precautions used to make sure Wars do not interfere with each other.” It seemed the confusion started to clear out. Everyone was starting to understand what was going on and could predict what was going to happen. ”Are there any questions?” Instructor Rina would ask, to give others the floor to place their questions. One of the students rose their hand, ”Are we going to be ported into the event or to an assemble hall of some kind?”

”The details will be provided once we get there; however, from what I can tell it will be a Capture the Flag and Defend your base type of battle. Since we are porting directly into our base.” Instructor Rina would answer. One more question seemed to come out, and this time it came from Riyku.

”Will anyone actually die from this?”

All attention shifted towards Riyku when he spoke up, but shifted back towards Instructor Rina who smiled softly and shook her head. ”No. The Netherworlds have an effect called 'Port home'. If you die on the field you will be ported back here where you can watch on a magic screen what goes on. No one will actually die from this. You have my word.” The answer Instructor Rina gave seemed to ease some of the tension that had built up. However, Riyku still could not grasp it. If people did not die during the event, why were they to die during the Overlord Selection and why was Instructor Rina not talking about it? He wanted to ask her, but it seemed that was a wrap. Instructor Rina was already starting the porting process. A class-wide magic circle appeared on the flooring much like when his previous Instructor ported them to the mountainside. Only this time they were ported to another land.

Upon the fading of such a blinding light, they were all set in a small obsidian stone hut where a black flag waved proudly in the middle. There was only one door which was in front of them. Interestingly enough, Instructor Rina was nowhere to be found, which left a majority of the students in confusion. Astraia could see this and spoke up, ”The Instructor is probably back in the classroom. We were most likely the only ones who ported here and this is most likely our base. Let's just wait for instruction.” Astraia's tone of voice seemed to quell the confusion and everyone settled down. Riyku decided to take a place beside Astraia. ”Good job.” He told her which drew her attention towards him with a smile. ”Just doing what I can. Anyway... what was that question about? You are not thinking of relying too heavily on the Contracted Entity, are you?” Her expression shifted when she asked that question.

Riyku would sigh lightly and shake his head. ”I have no plans on that. I just wanted to make sure that no one would get hurt. Still... something bothers me. If someone dies they are ported home, right? What about their injuries? Are they healed when they get back?” Riyku seemed to still have his worries on the matter and Astraia could see that; however, before she could get out another word an authoritative voice echoed throughout the hut.

”Welcome, Students of the Underworld. Welcome to the Legends of the Underworld. Our yearly event to determine the top ten Netherworlds in all of the Underworld. I will be brief. This year we will be going with a War Battle. It will be three teams in a battle royal. There are two ways of winning the War. Either eliminate all other teams or steal their flags. Once a flag is stolen it must be brought back to your base and placed near your flag. You can not capture a flag if your flag is stolen, so be sure to have someone on guard. With that said, there are no rules. Do as you please. The event will begin in the next thirty minutes, so prepare. Good luck to you all and may Hades and Lucifer guide you.”

The voice seemed to finish and everyone looked at each other. ”Teams? As in each school right? So does that mean we are going against two other schools?” Someone spoke up.

”So it is ten against ten against ten, right?” Another would add-in.

”Yeah, I believe so. But who should stay here and who should we send out?” Someone else added in.

Everyone fell silent in thought and began looking at each other. Riyku would step forward. ”I will go take all of the flags. Can you all stay here and guard ours?” This was a bold claim. To go out alone and take the flags himself. He had his reasons of course. He wanted to make sure no one from his side would be selected for the Overlord Selection. If what Skeith had said was true... he did not want to fight them or watch them get killed by anyone else. This also went for Astraia. He knew just how strong she was, and he knew that she would end up being one of the candidates to be selected. If he could deny her any spotlight then...

”Nope.”

A voice perched forth. It was Astraia who had rebuttal his decision. ”You charging head in to fight against how many people? Nope. I will not accept this unless I am allowed to come with you.” Everyone had shifted their attention from Riyku towards Astraia. He would bite his inner cheek when she spoke up. ”Well... Umm... we need people to defend our flag. The more the better.” Riyku would retort.

”And? Our class isn't weak. They can handle it.” Astraia would comment.

”Still, I insist. With you here, we will never lose our flag.” Riyku would reply.