Gonna live this life as the Heroine Villianess

🌊 Chapter 8 🌊

Tournament day. There only 20 of them left. It was kind of shocking, how they had started out with 1000 contestants, and over the course of 10 years, almost all of them had been killed. Today, 9 more would die. The rest would survive, and live on. But today... it would be a bit different. Wren tightened her grip on Ajax's hand as she stared at the vast ocean in front of them.  The arena would be a small island, far out into the sea. They would have to race towards it, because behind them, walls of untamable flames would follow, courtesy of advanced alchemy.

"Whatever you do..." She shifted her head towards him. "Do what it takes to come back to me alive." Not survive. Come back to me. Well, she would. Wren hadn't spent all those hours training for nothing. She would have to hold back, though. She couldn't act like the slave auction back then, and risk the safety of everyone in a 5 mile radius.

5

Wren took a deep breath and gave Ajax a sad, reassuring smile. A flicker of worry flashed across his face.

4

She let him go.

3

Two steps away.

2

Five steps now.

1

With the sound of the buzzer, Wren jerked to life.

~ 🌊 ~

Wren couldn't help but gasp as the contestant beside her was yanked down into the watery abyss by the tentacles of some unknown monster. One down, and it hadn't even been 5 minutes yet. She winced, but kept her head steady as she forced the water around her to propel her forwards towards the island. It was nothing much to look at, and wasn't nearly as perfect as Ajax's but it worked. That was all that mattered. She forced herself higher than the other components, each of which slowly making their way to the arena. Out of the three contestants who didn't have a vision, only one survived- they were swimming, surprisingly, and doing rather well. They had quite a bit of speed in the water. Their triumph would be short lived, however, when Scaramouche noticed this and shot a bolt of lightning at the water, electrocuting the contestant. She silently said a quick prayer in her mind for the unfortunate soul as she watched the body sink underneath the waves. Scara twisted around, as if noticing her for the first time. For a moment, they stared at each other. Wren slid back a bit, readying herself to dodge any upcoming attacks- but none ever came. Scara gave her a grim nod and turned away, following Signora on her makeshift ice bridge. Perhaps the two had finally reached a consensus and created an alliance of sorts.

The second Wren's feet made contact with the hard stone of the arena, she bolted for the nooks and crannies hidden in the caves. It was best to wait until the other's reached the island. A while away, she could hear Ajax's battle cry as he threw himself into battle. Bless his soul, she thought as she watched another contestant pull themselves onto the shore, pant for a moment, and run off. She inched further back, startling when her hand made contact with a cool material other than stone. A box? Ah. Excitement bubbled up in her chest. Ajax had told her that for the final battle, he had heard the seniors talking about how chests filled with certain materials; potions, weapons, artifacts- would be positioned around the arena. This must have been one of them. She yanked it towards her and ripped it open with a clumsy mind blade, the contains clinking to the floor in front of her.

It was yet another box, but this one was engraved with runes. She had hit the jackpot. Mystery boxes. Whatever you wanted, all you had to do was think about it, and it would appear inside. Somehow, Wren knew exactly what she needed. Smooth, metallic gray surface. Pointed pieces of short silver, lined in a neat roll in a intricate cartridge. Wren quivered as she brushed her hand over the top of the shotgun.  In her previous life, her other solace had been attending carnival games. She had been banned because she had almost emptied out all the stalls. Good times. One of the benefits of this was that she had developed a deadly aim, and it helped that the guns at the carnival were never the best quality. That meant a normal gun must be easier, right?