Chapter 17-Combat invitations (2)

Chapter 17: 17-Combat invitations (2)

"When has vampire society ever cared about fairness?"

The words struck Maisa harder than expected. It was similar to human society, too. Fairness was advertised on paper but never practised in real life.

The real world was more cruel; the strong survive and make the rules while the weak suffer through the rules the strong make that favours the strong and is disadvantageous to the weak.

"This time, blackbloods students issued the challenge. They’re second only to whitebloods, and their blood alone is poisonous to bluebloods, mixedbloods, and redbloods. They’re naturally hundreds..." She paused. "No... thousands of times stronger, faster, and they’re experienced... not to mention that they are ruthless."

Maisa swallowed. She had a bad feeling about the twist in her guts. Her hunter instincts told her that it was a warning she shouldn’t ignore.

"So... one Blackblood against one redblood is already unfair," Sapphire said grimly. "But today?" She shook her head. "Four blackbloods boys challenged one redblood."

Maisa stopped walking. "Four?"

"Yes!" Sapphire looked genuinely angry. "And worse... the idiot accepted. Can you believe that?."

Maisa frowned. "Wouldn’t refusing be smarter?" She thought at least the vampire would have the brains to see that the fights wasn’t in their favour and made a run for it.

"Of course!"

Sapphire almost shouted. "Everyone refuses those challenges! It’s common sense! No Redblood voluntarily walks into an execution."

She sighed deeply. "I don’t know what that fool was thinking." She resumed walking and pulling Maisa along with her. "Four against one isn’t combat. It’s a public killing."

Maisa silently touched the folded black cards inside her notebook. Her heartbeat became strangely uneven.

Soon, the arena finally came into view, and it was enormous. Far larger than she’d imagined it would be.

A massive circular stadium carved entirely from black stone stretched beneath the open night sky. Towering terraces rose around the combat platform, each section marked with the colours of the five bloodlines.

It was divided into seat sections by colour, white, black, blue, crimson, and dark red seats. Students filled every section, and the atmosphere buzzed with excitement.

Some students were placing bets while others laughed eagerly. Several redblood students looked nervous, and mixedbloods whispered among themselves . Whitebloods, blackbloods, and bluebloods remained indifferent like the redblood whose life was in danger was worth less than the dirt on their shoes.

High above, Professor Primrose stood upon the referee’s platform. Her long dark robes fluttered gently in the evening breeze. Silver spectacles rested neatly upon her nose as she calmly observed the restless crowd.

Her reputation alone silenced anyone foolish enough to misbehave.

Inside the arena, four blackblood boys already waited.

Fenwick was tall with broad-shouldered. His arms were folded confidently across his chest. A cruel grin never left his face.

Beside him stood Brylle. He was leaner and sharp-eyed. He lazily spun a combat knife around one finger before a supervising professor confiscated it with a cold glare.

Joam cracked his knuckles one by one, rolling his neck while grinning toward the entrance.

The last was Zaden. He didn’t smile or show off like the others. He simply stood silently with hands behind his back, watching the entrance like a predator waiting for prey.

Sapphire quietly muttered, "Poor girl..."

Maisa couldn’t look away. Something felt terribly wrong with the arrangements and most especially with the cards she found on her desk.

Professor Primrose stepped forward. Her amplified voice echoed throughout the entire arena. "The combat challenge shall now commence."

Instant silence followed her words as the students were on cue, waiting for further announcements.

"The challengers are as follows..." She opened a scroll and called out the names. "Fenwick Dorne, Brylle Voss, Joam Calder, and Zaden Blackthorn."

The four Blackbloods stepped forward together. Cheers erupted from the Blackblood section. The students screamed their names with joy.

Professor Primrose continued. "The challenged party is..." She lowered her gaze to the scroll. "Maisa Loven."

Everything stopped. The world, time, the cheers, all of it came to a halt. Sapphire froze in place. With all the speech she had given Maisa about the fight and unfairness and calling the redblood an idiot, it turned out that the idiot was her new roommate.

"What?" Maisa’s blood ran cold. "No... I didn’t..."

Professor Primrose repeated calmly. "Maisa Loven, we await your entrance."

Sapphire slowly turned toward Maisa. Her eyes dropped to the black cards still clutched tightly in Maisa’s trembling hands. Recognition struck instantly.

"The cards..." Her face turned pale.

"Those weren’t welcome to the academy messages?" Maisa asked and stared back blankly.

Sapphire snatched one from her hands. Her eyes widened. "You accepted the challenge."

Maisa’s breathing stopped. "Me? Accepted...what?"

"You placed your hand on them, Maisa!" She stretched out Maisa’s name as though disappointed that she made such a basic suicidal mistake.

"I...I only opened them..."

"The enchantment activates through direct touch!" Sapphire cried. "Oh no... Oh no, no, no..."

Realization crashed over Maisa like a tidal wave. She hadn’t opened mysterious letters at all. She had unknowingly accepted four official combat challenges.

Around them, other students had begun whispering.

"Where is she?"

"Why isn’t the redblood coming?"

"Maybe she ran away. I would."

Professor Primrose spoke once more. "Maisa Loven. this is your final summons. If you fail to appear... you will automatically forfeit."

Fenwick laughed loudly enough for everyone to hear. "I told you. The new vampire is a coward that won’t show."

Brylle smirked. "She’s probably crying in the dormitory."

Laughter echoed throughout the blackblood section. They were happy to see a redblood knowing her place and having a chance to rub mud on a redblood first thing in the night.

Sapphire grabbed Maisa’s shoulders. "You can’t go."

Maisa stood frozen. "I..."

"You’ll die."

"I..."

"They’ll kill you. You’re not only new, you vareky know how to control your vampire skills... they will end you out there."

Maisa remained soeechless. Her knees weakened. Her breathing became shallow. The challenge was clearly a setup, someone stirring trouble for her.

She had survived vampire hunters, she had survived becoming a vampire and he had survived hiding her identity for the first day at the academy only to accidentally sign her own death warrant on her very first night of class.

Far above in the crowd, four separate hearts lurched painfully at her panic. Varitreya’s fingers tightened around the stone railing until cracks spread beneath them. Addessa’s crimson eyes narrowed dangerously, Lumi slowly closed the book in her hands, and Zolani instinctively stood.

All four stared toward the arena entrance where Maisa remained rooted in place.

The bond pulsed violently. The four of them exchanged glances but said nothing. Yet every heartbeat echoed with the exact same terrifying realization.

Their mate had just been challenged to a fight she could never hope to survive, and they had no idea what that meant for the rest of them.