The Gods' Decree

There are a few occasions where life seems to take a standstill. When a person becomes so stunned by what they have seen that they start contemplating their very existence. Nothing seems to make sense.

This was one of those occasions. It was thought there might be a dark horse or two. This was indeed proven above and beyond with the previous four members of squad Malgrey, but this- this was absurd.

Once again squad Malgrey made the news. The question that might have come to mind was how did they accomplish this?

Yet that was not the question asked by the ma.s.ses. What they truly needed to discern, who was this Niesha?

For most this was the first time they had ever heard of this individual. Yet in sparkling gold letters, her name was proclaimed at the apex of the rankings.

Not only was she at the summit. But faces became twisted as though having a stroke when seeing the number of marker points gained.

In comparison to her nearest rival Rafael in second, the points difference was like day to night.

Rival? With the contrast in points that was simply putting glitter on Rafael"s name. His points tallied was more than doubled.

This disparity was unbelievable. It was so shocking that not a word was uttered even after a whole three minutes were pa.s.sed.

Even the few elders gathered had lost that lofty demeanor they once conveyed. They knew that this meant inside the forest she was basically a tyrant with no equal. This only can be accomplished by a true genius.

After his shock state, the most senior elder Zen presently had a look of glee on his face. 

"I must acquire this prodigy as my own." He thought. Hurriedly Elder Zen ensured to press on his communicator.

Zen might not be the best elder but if he were to get her to acknowledge him as master before any other elder. Well, she was bounded to him no matter who dared to protest.

"Give me all the information you have on a Niesha Oregi." Elder Zen order within his transmitter to the person at the other end.

Still, he was a bit anxious after the call. Yet slowly grew in confidence knowing that he was one of the first on the scene.

Within the sect, all elders are not created equally with some having more clout than others.

Clout came with strength. Zen was close to the peak of the Lord Realm which in terms of average strength wasn"t that bad. He was powerful but unless one was at the cusp of the martial king realm this was negligible.

The best prodigies were always taken by those on the verge of entering such a realm. Yet this girl flew under the radar.

This was an opportunity that came once in a lifetime. Thus he had to grasp it while he could.

Soon he got the response he eagerly antic.i.p.ated, "Lord Elder sorry to keep you waiting. Niesha Oregi..."

The voice at the other end of the line went on into detail specifying all the information they had on Niesha"s background. With each word spoken the smile on his face continued to mount.

She was perfect. Someone from a lowly clan barely recognizable on the map of the Fu Province.

With just his t.i.tle, he could entice her into pledging allegiance to him. Would she dare refuse an elder? It was engraved in each disciple to submit before their elder.

This was perhaps the wrong way to commence a master-disciple relations.h.i.+p. But in time he could work to fix this gap created by his own doing.

As Zen thought of the bounties to be gained with such a prodigy as his own. The next words uttered from the voice at the other end caused him to frown.

"Neisha Oregi is the disciple of Elder Dalia." With that, the transmission ended.

"Dalia[1]?! One of the grand elder"s new personal disciples." He could only shake his head. It seems all along this prodigy was in the sights of another.

Another who just by being accepted by the grand elder had more clout than he could ever imagine.

???????

Unaware of what unfolded behind them three disciples rushed through the ma.s.ses before the rankings were known. Being that it was so noisy they had no means to use the transmitter as needed.

They were Luke, Cameron, and Lovren that were previously eliminated. Sweat profusely ran from their bodies as they gasped for breath. yet they care, not one bit.

Eventually, the noise has seized for some reason and they were able to finally make a call.

"...A bit early to be calling don"t you think?" The voice uttered at the other end while yawning. 

"Taf you and May need to get your a.s.ses over here. Everyone is in danger. You"re their only hope."

An out of breath Lovren hurried with evident worry in his voice. He and Luke were given the details of what transpired once they regained consciousness by Cameron. Having heard the details of the threats by Eto"o they were mortified,

 Truly fearful for the lives of their compatriots. So they ensured to make haste. The three had sprinted all night uncaring of their tired and worn-out legs. [2]

Still, Taf on the other side was quite composed,

" Calm down and tell me what happened."

"Calm down!

Calm down!

This is all your fault. If you hadn"t caused trouble everything would have been quite fine."

Lovren exploded when hearing Taf"s words. He truly was outraged when continuing his cursing,

"You knew what kind of characters those Barkers were and you cared not one bit. The least you could have done is accompany us. No, you had to be all cool you selfish b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

Fuming Lovren now had a vein protruding on his forehead. He had no qualms whatsoever telling Taf a piece of his mind.

No matter how Cameron and Luke tried to tell him it was enough. He then heard,

"Are you done? Turn around idiot."

Huh!

The three slowly turned around and what they saw made their legs wobbly. Previously they didn"t care about the rankings whatsoever as other things took priority.

"Neisha!"

The three simultaneously shouted. In their surprise, they didn"t even realize the other members of the squad within the top twenty.

Perhaps the most shocked was Lovren and Luke. They had known Niesha their entire lives, acknowledging within the clan she was the darling.

This is one of the reasons Lovren always sought to b.u.t.t-heads with her. He hated seeing himself as inferior and in the clan, all others felt this way in Niesha"s presence.

Yet when they arrived in the Dark Abylis Sect everything changed. With its sheer size, it dwarfed the Oregi clan thousand times over. At every corner, there was a genius more dazzling than the next.

So Niesha was no longer as omnipotent as they thought. The spotlight which hovered over her previously was no more. She became milder and from their view resolved to this fact.

How could they have been this wrong?

While caught in a trance Luke and Lovren nearly jumped in fright as someone suddenly found himself between the two.

When they looked they saw a youth with dreads smiling. His arms rested around the two"s shoulders who were on the same height.

"See there was no need for my presence. You already had your guardian angel."

He casually smiled, but out of the two Lovren found Taf"s arm crus.h.i.+ng his neck as he struggled to breathe.

"Now what did you call me?" Taf questioned while the smile remained on his face still not removing his arm.

Lovren continued to struggle and when Taf saw his point was made he finally remove his arm which caused Lovren to gasp for air-

Cough!

Cough!

"Jerk!" Lovren shouted but still ensured to keep his distance from Taf. Shortly afterward they heard May with laughter in her voice,

"Boys will be boys, right? I am glad you all made it out safe." She then looked to the board before uttering to Taf,

"Look at that huh. Guess I won again brute." May smirked when seeing the marker points beside Niesha"s name.

"You had inside information. So this is void." Taf there an then refused to acknowledge his defeat as he awkwardly smiled.

May responded with her tongue poked out," ...Says the loser."

"You guys seem to have gone through h.e.l.l. Take this pouch and enjoy yourself for a bit. View it as a peace treaty."

Seeing the bruises on Luke and Lovren, Taf then handed Cameron a pouch as he chuckled. 

While Taf and May rekindled their friends.h.i.+p with the three.

In the distance, there was a man staring at them with potent hatred. This was Darwin. Yet by his appearance, anyone who knew him would be shocked at his transformation.

No longer was his clothes neatly pressed and seamed from end to end. Presently they were crumpled and stained. His hair which would be the envy of any woman prior was now disheveled and unkempt.

The unpolished Darwin looked up into the sky as he cried out with all the hatred in his heart,

"G.o.ds up above. I care not for markers, nor glory. all that I desire is his agonizing death. When I am done he will pray for the day vultures feast on his decaying corpse..."

Unedited Version

To be continued...

[1] May"s fake elder name

[2] Ok so the question posed would be, why didn"t Niesha and the others contact the three to tell them they were safe? Well within the forest the transmitters are only allowed a few meters. This was another of the restrictions.