I could see him on the other side of the hall standing paralyzed and gazing at his name as though it were a foreign tongue.

His uniform was dirty with mud, and had a patch over the cheek, but his eyes shone with a bright dawn light. He had done it.

He had made his first actual stride out of the shadows. I nodded subtly, almost imperceptibly. A gratitude, grateful, tearful smile was flashed on his face in response.

The responses of my competitors were more vocal. Eric, who had won the second place with a narrow triumph, appeared to be enraged.

His plan of overwhelming force had been found inferior to my dull efficiency. He gave me a poisonous look over the hall, not at Leon but at me. He clarified it by saying that this was not the end.

Leon was calmer, yet there was undisputed tension in his facial expressions. He was beaten by the speed of Eric and my strategy and became third. To a Lionheart it was an open insult.

He looked me in the face, a whirl of aggravated indignation and jealousy in the steel-blue eyes, yet a trace of respect that was grudging.

The heels of Evelyn Whitehound stepped softly to the center of the hall and she commanded with ease the silence.

Our thirty-two qualifiers, congratulations, she said. Her voice was fine, yet there was a touch to it that promised no repose.

You have demonstrated your personal strength. A commendable feat. But a solitary fighter of the game is a solitary fighter of the game who dies a solitary fighter of the game.

The screen changed, names of the 32 best swirling like autumn leaves and changing back to new patterns.

Next trial will be the Labyrinth of Echoes, you are going to be divided into eight four-member teams, and this time there is a serious threat of being killed.

The system has automatically balanced these teams according to your performance. It will challenge your cooperation skills, your leadership abilities and your stamina when you have to work with teammates who are not your friends.

There was a trace of sadistic entertainment in the word balanced. We had an idea of what that would entail: the strongest and the weakest would be matched, which would form dysfunctional, volatile teams.

The new teams appeared on the screen. I went through the list, and my stomach was tightening when I discovered my name.

[Team 4]

Michael Wilson (Rank 1)

Alex Vonstel (Rank 32)

Seraphina Croft (Rank 31, Archer, Class B)

Kaelen Vance (Rank 29, Healer, Class B)

I held my my chuckle at seeing names on my team. It was worse than I expected.

The system had not only assigned me the lowest-ranked qualifier- it had assigned me the three lowest-ranked finalists.

Alex was manageable; his tenacity was a sword. Seraphina was an arrogant and disdainful noble of a small house. Kaelen had crippling performance anxiety, a healer who tended to freeze in a stressful situation.

This was not a team, it was a powder keg with a short fuse.

On the other side of the hall other teams were formed. Leon combined with Selena and Chris a power, strategy, and defense dream team.

Aiden was out with Lyra and Elara, a high-risk, high-reward trio. Eric was in company with Petric and two of the pompous nobles of his side.

Before the labyrinth had begun, their pod would probably be turned into a nest of vipers.

A knowing, predatory smile came to the lips of Evelyn.

The monsters will not be your biggest problem in the labyrinth, she said, glancing around us all, and staying on me a fraction of a second too long.

"It will be each other. The trial begins in one hour. Take this time to familiarize with each other. Good luck."

The intermission of an hour seemed an hour of opposites. A silence and efficient huddle was going on in the team of Leon, and their noble breeding made communication smooth and courteous.

Aiden and Lyra had already quarrelled, and their words were hot and yet weirdly fruitful about the flanking as against the frontal onslaughts.

The initial meeting in my personal team was not so fruitful.

I met Alex in our team, Team 4. He resembled a dog, who had just been relieved at making the team, and was now terrified at the consequences of being paired with me.

"Brother Michael, "he stuttered, bowing himself out. "I....I will give my level best not to detain you and I swear it."

"No, you will not, Alex", I said, and patted him on the shoulder. His will power was his biggest asset.

"You earned your spot. Only look at what you have done in the arena: survival. Be our shield."

His eyes opened and some fear was flicked off with pride. "Yes, sir!"

At this moment our two other teammates came. Seraphina Croft came in a stiff, arrogant, walk, as though the ground ought to be grateful that she should stand upon it. She was tall, she was sharp-featured, and her eyes appeared permanently drawn up in contempt.

She had a bow which was a masterpiece of magic wood and silver. Not as a tool but a royal scepter she carried it.

Her eyes moved across Alex, and she sneered, and lingered on Kaelen with scornful eyes, and then looked at me.

So, she said, in a clipped cold voice.

I am paired with the well-known bum, a C-grade charity case, and a curer who appears to be on the verge of going unconscious at the very sight of being standing here. How utterly wonderful."

Kaelen Vance, the healer, jumped like he had been struck. He was a small lad, of large, anxious eyes, which darted about, in case a monster should at any moment jump out of the shadows.

His simple wooden staff was in his hand, as a drowning man has a piece of driftwood. I-I will do my best, he said in a low voice only we could hardly hear it.

Scoffed Seraphina, a sound of utter, pure, unadulterated contempt.

"See that you do. I am not going to allow my eventual rank to be dragged in the mud by having to be burdened with incompetent teammates.

The air grew frigid. His new-found confidence faded away, and Alex looked down at his feet. Kaelen appeared as though he were about to cry.

I stood between them, and my face was calm, but my eyes as hard as frozen steel. "That's enough, Seraphina."

Her eyebrows were upraised, and she turned to me.

"Excuse me?"

"In the labyrinth, we are a team...," I said,

" ...and there was no mistaking it, "as I said it in a low and firm voice.

" Your rank, your bloodline, your pride, are all as nothing there. "

"What matters is survival. One way or another, we work together, or we fail together. And I do not mean of failing. "

She looked at me long, and tense, evidently not accustomed to be spoken with such bald authority, by anybody.

Her pride was a bastion, yet something in my eyes was like the cold certitude of a leader who had already seen the face of death and which intimidated her.

At last she gave a tongue-tsuck and turned her back with a shake of her head. "Fine. But don't expect me to babysit."

"I don't," I replied smoothly.

"I expect you to do your job. We have you as our eyes and our long-range support. Thou shalt clear our path And keep our backs."

"Kaelen," I said, with a slight change of voice, addressing the shaking healer.

"You are our lifeline. It is your duty to hold us on our feet. Can you do that?"

He gazed at me with his great eyes, his whole body full of terror, and yet a ray of hope in despair. He nodded with a single head nod in jerky motion.

"Y‑Yes."

"Good. Alex," I said, turning to him. "You're the frontline with me. It is your job is be the tank for us we will dealt the damages "

Then I observed every reaction and I said." SO.. Everyone Strick to own job and with this we do far better than others."

Alex sat up and a grim determination took the place of the fear in his eyes. "I will."

At last I glanced at each separately, and I lowered my voice to a near whisper, but with a responsibility like that of a commander on the eve of battle.

"I don't care about your fears. I don't care about your pride. You will hear me in that dungeon. You will do my bidding without a question. And you will have trust in your teammates to get their work done. Is that clear?"

Kaelen and Alex nodded immediately, their faces set with a newfound resolve. Seraphina hesitated, and her pride clashed with the irresistible reason and sheer strength of will that I emitted.

After a tense, silent battle with herself, she gave a stiff, almost imperceptible nod.

"Clear."

"Good," I said, turning to my VR pod and there was a small, threatening smile on my lips.

Then we will demonstrate to them what the 'misfits team' can do.

(To be Continue)

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