The gigantic underground chamber began to move again after the judge’s announcent. The brief mont of relative calm vanished almost imdiately as thousands of participants began to walk toward the central region of the colossal structure. The sound of footsteps echoed continuously through the environnt as priests rearranged magical formations near the large main platform.
Victor slowly rose from the base of the black column, observing the movent around him. Grace remained close to him for a few seconds before also beginning to walk away without saying anything more. The conversation between the two had ended naturally, without the need for a formal conclusion.
The judge waited on the elevated platform surrounded by several Valentine Family officers. Unlike before, there was no longer any attempt to turn this into a public spectacle. The man seed tired. Irritated, too.
And honestly?
Understandable.
Half of the headquarters had almost turned to ruins a few hours earlier.
Victor walked calmly through the crowd, observing the participants around him. The difference in their behavior now was absurd. No one seed excited. No one seed arrogant. The reality of the situation had finally begun to sink in.
Only twenty would pass.
That number alone was enough to shatter any illusion of safety.
As the participants finally began to gather near the main platform, the judge took a deep breath before using magical amplification again.
"Listen carefully." His voice echoed throughout the entire structure imdiately. "From this mont on, the true Ascension Ritual will begin."
Silence was instantaneous.
Victor put his hands in his pockets as he watched the man continue.
"The Ascension Area has already been fully activated." The judge spoke objectively. "You will all be individually teleported to random regions within the artificial territory."
Murmurs began imdiately.
So participants exchanged tense glances.
Others were clearly nervous.
Victor simply listened calmly.
The judge raised one hand, and several gigantic holograms reappeared above the underground chamber, once again showing the multiple bios of the Ascension Area. "As explained earlier, the territory contains multiple environnts integrated simultaneously." The man continued. "Forests, frozen regions, volcanic areas, ancient ruins, destroyed cities, subterranean territories, and contaminated zones."
The images constantly shifted above them.
Victor observed everything silently, analyzing the details.
The territory truly seed enormous.
Much larger than the original Ritual he knew.
The judge continued:
"You will have exactly twelve hours within the Ascension Area."
This ti the silence grew heavier.
Because now there was a limit.
A defined ti.
This completely changed the dynamics of survival.
"After twelve hours, the remaining survivors will be automatically removed from the territory." The judge spoke calmly. "Regardless of their situation."
Victor noticed several participants relaxing slightly upon hearing this.
Because it ant the examination wouldn’t continue indefinitely.
But then the judge continued.
"However..." His expression hardened slightly. "Surviving won’t be enough."
The tension returned imdiately.
The man then made a small gesture with his hand.
Instantly, officials began distributing small black tallic objects among the nearest participants.
Victor received one seconds later.
It was a small insignia.
Circular.
Made of dark tal.
In the center was the Valentine Family symbol engraved in deep red.
Victor observed it calmly between his fingers.
The judge continued explaining:
"Each participant will carry an official Ritual insignia."
His voice remained completely cold.
"Each insignia is worth exactly ten points."
Now the murmurs truly began.
Victor imdiately noticed the change in the atmosphere around him.
Because everyone instantly understood the aning of it.
The judge confird it soon after.
"You can kill each other." His tone was devoid of any emotion. "And you can steal the insignia of the defeated participants."
Absolute silence.
No exaggerated reaction.
No moral outrage.
Because this was a vampiric ritual.
Violence was part of the entire structure of that society.
Even so...
Hearing it officially still carried a different weight.
The judge continued speaking while observing the crowd before him.
"Participants eliminated through official surrender will keep their lives, but will automatically lose all accumulated insignia."
Victor narrowed his eyes slightly.
So that was it.
The new surrender rule existed precisely to make the Ritual more controllable without completely removing the original brutality.
Clever.
Very clever.
Because it created an illusion of choice.
But in the end, it still encouraged massacre.
"Incapacitated participants without explicit surrender will continue to be considered valid targets," the judge explained. "If you wish to abandon the Ritual, imdiately seek an official supervisor."
Several participants tensed upon hearing that.
Because it ant one simple thing.
If you fell defeated without being able to surrender...
It was over.
Victor almost laughed at the expressions on the faces of so nearby young vampires.
Now they were finally understanding what they had gotten themselves into.
The judge then pointed again to the holograms above.
"Artificial creatures scattered throughout the territory will also carry points," he explained. "So of them have artificial insignia integrated into their biological cores."
This imdiately caught their attention.
Victor noticed several participants beginning to ntally calculate strategies.
The judge continued:
"The more powerful the creature, the higher the score."
Now it really looked like a hunting ga.
Or rather...
A competitive slaughterhouse.
"There are exactly four main categories of creatures within the Ascension Area," the man continued as new holograms appeared above them. "Common beasts. Elite predators. Mutant entities. And territorial bosses."
The images showed grotesque monsters scattered throughout the different bios.
Victor observed everything calmly.
So creatures really did look dangerous.
Others looked like food.
The judge then hardened his expression even more.
"The territorial chiefs are worth one hundred points."
This caused an imdiate reaction.
Even more experienced participants seed tense.
One hundred points was absurd.
Equivalent to ten dead participants.
Victor noticed Jake Valentine narrowing his eyes imdiately upon hearing that.
Grace also seed to be silently analyzing the information.
Emma just kept reading while listening to everything.
Charlotte seed too emotionally devastated to process it properly.
The judge then let out a small, tired sigh before continuing.
"Only one participant will receive the second drop of Primordial Blood."
Now the silence beca truly heavy.
Because that was the main reward.
The man then concluded:
"The participant with the highest score at the end of the twelve hours."
No murmur arose this ti.
Because everyone was thinking the sa thing.
This basically guaranteed absolute conflict between the prodigies.
Survival alone wasn’t enough.
Now there was direct competition.
Victor slowly smiled slightly as he realized this.
Why, honestly?
This was finally getting interesting.
The judge began to walk slowly across the platform while continuing to explain additional details of the Ritual.
"The Ascension Area has temporary safe zones scattered throughout the territory." He spoke calmly. "However, these zones will constantly change location."
So participants imdiately seed relieved.
But Victor realized the problem right away.
Safe zones ant concentration of participants.
Concentration ant massacre.
The judge confird this soon after.
"Conflicts within the safe zones are still permitted."
That’s it.
The relief was over.
"The supervisors scattered throughout the territory will not interfere in direct combat between participants." The man continued. "Their only function will be to record eliminations and remove those who quit." Victor watched everything in silence while ntally organizing the information.
The rules were simple.
Kill.
Survive.
Collect points.
The End.
Much more honest than most vampire political systems.
The judge then made another gesture.
Large magic circles slowly began to erge beneath the main platform.
Red runes spread throughout the gigantic underground chamber as spatial energy began to distort the environnt.
The teleporters were being prepared.
The tension imdiately rose again.
Because now there was no more talking.
Nor further preparation.
It was the beginning.
Victor noticed several participants breathing more heavily as they watched the magic formations activate.
So were clearly frightened.
Others seed to be trying to maintain a confident posture.
Jake Valentine kept a serious expression.
Leon seed completely calm.
Grace just silently observed the magic circles.
Victor was honestly more worried about sothing else.
The sll.
With thousands of tense vampires inside that chamber at the sa ti, his senses were becoming irritated again.
Fear had a sll.
Anxiety too.
Everything seed absurdly intense now.
Victor partially ran a hand over his face while letting out a small, tired sigh.
"...Twelve hours, huh."
Honestly?
It seed short.
The judge then made the final announcent.
"You will be randomly teleported without any organizational pattern." He spoke coldly. "Temporary alliances are allowed."
This imdiately generated new glances among several participants.
Because now groups began to form ntally.
Victor clearly noticed this.
Idiots.
Improvised groups in that kind of environnt usually ended in swift betrayal.
Especially among vampires.
The judge then concluded:
"When the teleportation begins, the Ritual will officially begin."
The magical energy of the chamber increased absurdly at that instant.
The circles below the floor began to rotate slowly while small spatial distortions appeared in the air.
Victor felt it imdiately.
This was high-level magic.
Far above most ordinary vampire mages.
Naturally.
Transporting thousands of people simultaneously required absurd magical control.
Victor then slowly raised his gaze to the holograms of the Ascension Area one last ti.
Dark forests.
Frozen mountains.
Destroyed ruins.
Volcanic fields.
Underground territories.
All of this now seed much less like an exam.
And much more like an artificial war carefully orchestrated by the Valentine Family.
Honestly?
Perfect.
Victor slowly smiled slightly as spatial energy began to envelop the entire gigantic underground chamber.
Because regardless of the rules...
Regardless of the monsters...
Regardless of the absurd number of participants...
The end result would remain exactly the sa.
He would stomp on everyone in that place.
The complete activation of the magic formation happened a few seconds after the judge’s final announcent. The entire gigantic underground chamber began to vibrate slowly as dozens of overlapping magic circles spun beneath the participants’ feet. The air beca heavy with spatial energy almost instantly, producing small visible distortions around the black columns scattered throughout the colossal structure.
Victor stood calmly in the middle of the crowd, observing everything.
Around him, several participants were already showing real nervousness. So tried to hide their anxiety through poorly disguised arrogance. Others reviewed weapons, techniques, or equipnt for the tenth consecutive ti as if that would help much after the teleportation.
Grace stood a few ters away in absolute silence.
Jake Valentine chatted quickly with two participants from his own faction.
Charlotte looked like she was about to vomit from nervousness.
Emma continued reading.
Victor honestly didn’t understand how that girl managed to do this in any situation.
Then the spatial energy increased brutally.
The runes scattered across the floor began to emit an intense red glow while the entire environnt seed to compress for an instant. Several participants partially lost their balance as the magical pressure reached its peak.
The judge raised his hand one last ti.
"The Ascension Ritual begins now."
And then the teleportation happened.
The world disappeared instantly.
There was no smooth transition.
No space tunnel.
No comfortable sensation.
It was like being brutally ripped from one place and thrown into another through sheer force.
Victor felt his own body undergo an absurd pressure for a fraction of a second before the surrounding environnt exploded back into existence.
CRACK.
The ground beneath his feet partially cracked the instant he landed.
Victor landed alone atop a destroyed tal structure as icy winds violently swept across the entire area.
The first thing he noticed was the cold.
Heavy.
Dry.
Cutting.
The second was the silence.
There were no voices nearby.
No imdiate movent.
Only wind.
Victor slowly raised his gaze as he surveyed the place where he had been thrown.
Ruins.
An entire city destroyed.
Partially collapsed buildings sprawled for miles as dark snow covered broken streets below the tal structure where he stood. Completely destroyed old vehicles lay scattered among mountains of frozen concrete.
The sky was a deeply sickly gray color.
No sun.
No real natural light.
Only enough cold brightness to maintain visibility.
Victor observed it silently for a few seconds.
"...Interesting."
The territory seed much larger now, seen up close.
Much more detailed, too.
It really didn’t look like a common artificial construction.
It looked like an entire piece of the world ripped away and rebuilt within that dinsion.
The wind swept through the region again as small dark snowflakes partially hit his face.
Victor then slowly put his hands in his pockets.
And smiled.
Because now...
Now he could feel everyone.
Even without fully activating his ocular ability, Victor could already perceive small presences scattered throughout the surrounding territory. So were close. Others extrely distant.
But that wasn’t enough.
So he decided to test again.
Victor breathed slowly.
And activated his eyes.
The effect was imdiate.
The colors disappeared instantly.
The entire world plunged back into that strange black and white as the entire destroyed city took on a lifeless appearance before him. The gray sky beca utterly empty. The dark snow turned into white particles falling slowly across the silent landscape.
But then ca the presences.
Thousands of them.
Victor almost laughed imdiately as his perception exploded once more across the entire territory.
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