9.9.7. CHAPTER 3: Race

The gates rolled upwards revealing a massive arena. The walls of the arena were not particularly tall but rather solid and thick. Connected to the walls were firm iron nets over 20,000 meters tall which separated the battleground from the crowd on the other side.The arena was vast but at the center stood a massive wall over 700m tall. The loud voice of the commentator rang out “Welcome, Once again to the greatest show you’d ever witness. The pinnacle of excitement and danger. The stage of creativity. THE HEART” The crowd bellowed in return, obviously brimming with excitement.“The first trial consists of a race among the opponents. pretty simple right? Those who make it to the wall…….alive earns the right to participate in the second trial. Those who don’t….. well, let’s just say things won’t be soo pretty” the commentator finishes with a grin. ”well, may the trails begins “ 9.9.7 hastily glanced around the arena. It looked pretty similar to how it was the last time hee was here but he knew better than that.. the arena never stayed the same…For whatever reason, the arena was always changing as well as the trails but this did seem pretty modest compared to the others.. he just had to find the underlying loopholes in this soo called friendly race…. A buzz resounded through the halls signifying the start of the race The crowd cheered loudly. Banging there fists against the iron nets and yelling loudly……. But nothing happened. No one moved, instead they stared cautiously at the arena. The walls, the floor, the net, everything within or around it. Experience had thought them quite a lot. But unfortunately, the host of the events was not such a patient person that he’d let them come up with a plan or at least gain complete understanding of their surroundings.“Oh. That was unexpected.” The commentator said. His eyes lit in sadistic excitement “I was going to let you’ll proceed on your own but what can I say.. you are all lame. Cannonry, let’s give them a little surprise” A huge grating sound was heard from behind them…. The metal cages behind them suddenly riddled with deadly spikes.. slowly, made its way closer to them…Wide eyed, the group stared at the rolling abomination, they had 2 choices. Either they stayed still within the edge and eventually get poked to death by the approaching spikes or they head out into the vast expanse of the arena with zero knowledge of what exactly existed out there.It wasn’t much of a choice. Humans rarely stood still with death approaching. It was probably one of the most primitive yet non negotiable traits of a human.Taking a deep breath, 9.9.7 took the first step and a moment later the others followed joining in a full sprint towards the giant wall at the center of the arena. With the spikes closing in on them from behind they ran. The crowd roared in approval finally glad to witness some action.9.9.7 gazed around, desperate to find some clue as to what the trail entails. He caught the eyes of a fellow runner who smiled weakly staring at 9.9.7..“Well. This isn’t soo bad” the runner saidA second later an arrow drifted from one end of the hall to the other piercing through the skull of another runnner.. his eyes widened in shock before slowly collapsing to the floor.The others stopped in their tracks , the runner who just spoke paled at the sight of the body, the truth finally dawning on them.. this wasnt just any race..It was an obstacle race.Before they could fully articulate their thoughts, a scream resounded at the back of the group. Behind them a wall hammer had swung by smashing into one of the runners.. he was flung sideways colliding with the wall on the far end of the arena…….. and that was it.The crowd roared in excitement applauding the scene before them.He wasn’t moving.He really wasn’t.However, there was really no time to contemplate.Arrows, war hammers, spikes, just what else was out there..The burly one 8.2.1 continued his sprint towards the wall at the <a class="tc-blue" href="https://center.he" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">center.he </a> was distressed……and that was never a good idea in the HEART.soon after spikes shut out from beneath the stone floor piercing through a foot.8.2.1 groaned in pain collapsing on the stone floor.Apprehension filled the runners but as usual they had no choice. They were going to die anyway. It was either the gate or the spikes or hammers or even themselves. You would think they’d embrace the peaceful solace of death at this point. No. They weren’t ready to die yet.. or maybe it was just too pathetic to die yet.. they took of once more towards the wall. 20 minutes into the race, 9.9.7 was not particularly in a good position but altogether his position was not the worst.. out of the 20 participants, 14 remained himself included. more than half of these fourteen were either poisoned by arrows, bleeding profusely, missing a limb or two or just simply broken..He just had a few fractures here and there and was losing a lot of blood. He was being careful but a tad too careful. The spiky metal gates were rapidly closing in on him. just a few more minutes. Just a few more minutes and I’ll be at the wall.However, 9.9.7 was not the only one behind 8.2.1 was right beside him commanding the wimp from the room to carry him to the wall.. he really didn’t know what he was saying but he had a general idea of the situation.There was no time to be extra careful.He raced across the arena narrowly avoiding hammers and spikes..This was it. The wall was reachable. It was possible.All that remained was the last leg of the race. just when victory was in sight,something else happened In front of them spikes rose from beneath the surface. But unlike the others these were huge leaving no space for any form of passage. The spikes were-“Oho” the jovial voice of the commentator cut in “looks like the group has encountered our little treasure.. how do you like it eh? eh? Let’s have a word from our engineer as he tells us a bit about these spikes”The mike is passed to a middle aged man who seemed to be lacking a lot of sleep "Bio-forged steel. I grew them like crystals. each giant spike is one solid piece, the smaller spikes are stress fractures i encouraged to grow outward. Due to this design, I call it “THE JAW” It wasn't a floor of spikes. It was a forest. Each main spike stood as tall as a man — six feet of black iron, as wide as a water tank at the base, so thick you couldn't wrap your arms around it. And it wasn't smooth. Hundreds of smaller, needle-like spikes grew out of it in every direction, like thorns on a cactus, like a rusted anthill made of blades. And there wasn't one. There were dozens. Packed so tight shoulder-to-shoulder that no light passed between them. No room to step, no room to fall, no room to breathe. A sudden feeling of melancholy fell upon the group as they stared at the abomination in front of them. Like that wasn’t enough, a choked sound was heard behind them. The wimp who had been forced to carry 8.2.1 seemed to be choking back tears.“Why? He sobbed “just why??Leaning on him 8.2.1 growled “shut up fool”The wimp was not having it. Tears ran down his face mixing with the blood and sweat. His hands formed a fist as veins protruded from beneath his skin. Various emotions evident on his face.. fear, anger, pain, hatred. All these seemed to fuel his boldness.Red light began burning beneath his <a class="tc-blue" href="https://skin.His" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">skin.His </a> veins protruding and glowing a bright red color. ScorchinHeat rising into the atmosphere. Well would you look at that?The wimp was a frayed all along.

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