New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

After dealing with the woman, Astaroth looked around the entire group of players and saw no other large signature like hers outside of the mage line.

'At least it was just one,' he said to himself, walking back to the front of the lines and up a few steps.

"Alright, listen up!" he shouted.

Everyone's face went back to being attentive from their previous staring at the woman who had just been humiliated.

"We are only bringing two full parties with us, which means only twenty-one of you are coming along. I won't be testing your skills for this, since we lack the time to do so. So, instead, I will be testing your willpower."

Confused looks appeared here and there before an immense pressure slammed into them, sending a few of them to their knees instantly.

As the pressure kept pressing on them, even the mages were feeling it heavily.

"Since we are going to the kingdom of Themisca, where magic is extremely prevalent, I need people who can resist magic pressure. Resisting this is less of a physical prowess than it is a mental one.

"Your task is simple. Get as close as you can to me, and the twenty-one closest of you come along. Be warned, the closer you get, the stronger the pressure will feel."

Phoenix, who was standing a few feet behind, could feel the mental pressure bearing on her, but she brushed it off easily, and stood by Astaroth's side, proving it was not an impossible task.

Rodney joined on the king's other side, demonstrating that magic was not a requirement to pass this hurdle.

Seeing this, everyone still standing started walking forward.

From the back, the woman who had lost against Astaroth was already kneeling on the ground, gasping for air. That's when she understood how far behind her peers she really was.

As time passed, more and more people stopped walking forward, as their steps suddenly felt like they weighed a ton. With their pride on the line, and the chance to follow the guild leader, some even pushed themselves until they collapsed to the ground.

No one lost consciousness, but they could hear the ones on their backs choking on the air itself like it was too thick to breathe.

But Astaroth did not abate his pressure. He watched as his mana reserves lowered steadily.

Since he was applying his mana pressure unevenly, it required a high level of control and was costing him much more mana than he expected. But it was still manageable.

With his high mana regen, he would be back to full before he even reached Themiscus.

Astaroth watched on as many of the players fell to their knees until only twenty-one remained. He was about to retract his mana presence when Phoenix grabbed his arm.

"Leave it. It's a good chance to find out which one has the most potential in the batch."

Astaroth looked at her with a raised brow but felt like she was right.

Already, the twenty-one different players were sweating bullets, and some of them had shaky legs.

Taking step after step, slowly, they progressed until they reached the stairs Astaroth was perched on. Only five steps separated them from him.

Already, most of the few remaining could tell climbing the stairs would be a monstrous challenge.

Taking a step forward, they climbed the first step. Three people fell to their knees, and only five remained.

All five of them looked at each other with a fire in their eyes. Their competitiveness flared up.

They climbed another step.

One more Player fell to his knees. Four remained.

A third step.

Two people collapsed at the end of their wits. Two remained.

Next to Astaroth, Phoenix and Rodney were starting to sweat a bit themselves, as being under this pressure was mentally exhausting. But they stood strong, trying to be an example.

A fourth step was taken.

One of the two players fell to one knee, wheezing and dripping with sweat. He was done for.

The last one could have ended things there, as she had already proven to be the best out of eighty players.

But when she looked up at Astaroth, her gaze was defiant.

In her eyes, Astaroth could see the strain she was under. He could hear her lightly moaning in pain with every step she took, and he could see her legs shaking like they were about to break.

But she wasn't quitting.

Taking one last step forward, her leg moved incredibly slowly, as she felt it was about to fall off. She screamed in both pain and rage, refusing to abandon.

Putting her right foot on the step, she kept looking at Astaroth, her eyes showing resolve, even though Astaroth could feel her slipping out of consciousness.

She raised her left foot, intent on standing on that last step before Astaroth.

When her foot reached the step, and she grinned victoriously, Astaroth watched as her eyes rolled back into her head.

Astaroth immediately let go of his mana presence, as Rodney stepped forward, catching the girl before she fell.

Phoenix was grinning, proud to see another strong-willed female player in her guild, and Astaroth burst into laughter.

"Ah ha ha ha! I like her! Talk about a strong will."

He looked at the players nearest to him, who were already trying to catch their breath, now that the pressure on their minds had retracted.

Pointing at each one of the twenty-one closest players, Astaroth smiled.

"You lot passed with flying colours. You will be joining me, Phoenix, and Commander Rodney Levine on this trip to Themiscus. Rest up. We leave in an hour."

Following his statement, Astaroth climbed back up the stairs behind him and entered the palace.

When he passed next to the Royal Guards at the door, he could hear them shaking in their armour, and sweat was dripping down their foreheads.

They were well away from him, almost as far as the furthest players, and had been affected by his test.

In the two Natives' eyes, two things became apparent.

The first one was that their king was just as much of a monster as Leon had proven to be over the last decade.

But the second was even more of a surprise.

They finally understood that the Abnormals, who had been nothing but strange in the kingdom, were not just weak-willed looneys.

Some of them had the willpower of battle-proven warriors.

And with how many of them were sprouting across the land, if they ever decided that they didn't need to bend to the established kingdoms and their leaders, they wouldn't need to.

That was unless someone even stronger than them didn't reign them in.

Somehow, the future looked even more uncertain than before, with the demon threat ever present.