Chapter 190: Chapter 172.1 : Event Concludes

‘Oh, only twenty-three left, whoa, I might actually win this thing,’ Skye mused as he glanced up.

Gun in hand, the air Mimic strode through the forest leisurely, without an iota of tension in his body.

His laxness wasn’t to be misunderstood though.

While he was among the handful of students who had experience playing paintball, he was far from an expert marksman. And as for physical capabilities, the likes of Lane and Ralf could run circles around him, literally. Skill and physical prowess; Skye didn’t count on these things. Rather, it was his luck that he banked on.

Just as there were people who were dealt terrible starting hands to play life with, there were those who were dealt terrific starting hands. The latter was much fewer, but those people existed. Those who fell up, lucked out and were blessed with everything under the sun.

Skye believed himself to be one such person…and for good reasons. He was born into incredible wealth, spoiled rotten, had a loving family, had good lucks, was intelligent, and unlocked a legendary psionic class, practically guaranteeing an elite powerhouse status in the near future.

To him, life was on easy mode. He had never met a person luckier than himself. Things had always seemed to work out for him. The last twenty minutes of the Event had only been further evidence of this notion. Five people had fallen to his bullets, and not just any five either. He had taken out both the Noblest Noble Leonard Reeves and Vorusu, people among the favourites to win the Event.

As Skye recalled their ‘demise’, he couldn’t help but snicker to himself.

When he came upon them, the pair had been engaged in a fierce wrestle on the ground. Like coiling snakes, they struggled to free themselves while also preventing the other from grabbing the guns which lay nearby. It was an intense contest, spanning minutes already, worthy of an action movie’s final fight. Sweat, dirt and determination were painted thick on both students’ faces as they marshalled everything they had to defeat their fellow student.

And then came Skye. He strode in casually, flashed a cheeky grin then put them down with more bullets than necessary.

When the pair finally acknowledged the fact that they had been ‘killed’ by Skye, their faces scrunched up into an expression even the air Mimic couldn’t afford.

Their souls seemed to escape their bodies as they suddenly fell limp. Losing to the pampered scion devastated them even worse than their losses yesterday. They fell into silence, the type of silence where one considers their life choices.

Remembering their faces, Skye was sent into a bend as laughter overcame him.

‘Aaa, glorious, I have to see the recording of that when this is over.’

After collecting himself by a tree, he continued onward. ‘I managed to down those two, I wonder if I could do the same to Ralf…no doubt, he’s still kicking somewhere. If I’m lucky, he’ll be entangled as well, ah, we should have made arrangements. Lane would be the perfect person to do the job. Charlotte, Yuki and Violet would be the meat shields tanking the initial fire, Lane would charge in and wrap him up, and then I’d finish the job with a snazzy one-liner while winking at the camera…a shame. Guess, I’ll have best him the old fashion way…bang bang,’ Skye took aim and did two half squeezes as he imagined Ralf being struck by his bullets.

The air Mimic’s imagination went wild, picturing Ralf’s bitter expression as he dramatically fell to the ground while silently mouthing the words, ‘why brother’ towards him. Skye smiled at the images streaming through his head. His mental self brought the tip of his barrel close and blew before saying, ‘Nothing personal brother’, and watched as Ralf’s sorrow-filled eyes slowly closed.

‘Ahaha, that would be quite something.’

Drifting along, Skye’s imagination continued working its magic, creating more and more contrived scenarios, all ending in his victory.

While these thoughts dominated his mind, Skye didn’t actually have any strong feelings about defeating Ralf or winning the Event. He had played up his support back in the classroom but he didn’t care too much.

He had never been competitive, believing that his twin sister had soaked up all that spirit from him while in the womb. Still, while he didn’t have a strong desire for victory, he still liked to win, and more importantly, liked to look cool. The desire was the only thing he ever put effort into. To impress himself and others, especially the fairer sex was a passive goal of his.

You are reading story The Silver Path at novel35.com

Besting Ralf, the current person to beat would be a cool feat but Skye wouldn’t get all sweaty about it. He had already accrued enough cool points to tide him over so even if he was eliminated right now, he would be content. He, an unenhanced, unskilled, scion had managed to take out five people, with two of them being front runners. He was satisfied with his performance; it was more than enough to brag about.

‘Who to go for,’ the air Mimic switched topics, considering whom to aim his ‘gun’ at. ‘ Elena? Definitely not. Illuya? She’s a sweetheart…but that Vorusu is a nuisance. Dealing with him is a pain, and after today, even more so. Emma? Now, we’re talking. Small and petite, soft-spoken and adorable…in other words, perfect. I should trade a few words after this. Something more substantial will have to wait another day though, maybe sometime tomorrow, we don’t have anything scheduled after al- ah?

Skye’s thoughts were suddenly derailed as he caught something - no someone up ahead. ‘No way…there’s no way…’ Repeating internally, he picked up his pace and rushed over to the vexing sight in question.

Arriving before it, he stared at the motionless eyes-shut Ralf with widened eyes. ‘They…actually got him,’ Skye thought in disbelief as he captured his classmate’s ‘corpse’ lying against a tree, red blotches painting his white shirt until it resembled a polka dots design.

‘Whoa, they really meant to kill him. They even took his coat.’ Glancing around, Skye could see many paint stains littering the grounds. ‘They must have sprayed and prayed and got lucky,’ he thought, rationalising his classmate’s defeat. ‘Whoever did this must be over the moon with themselves. Wonder who it was…Lane? No, I doubt he’d be this messy. Regardless,’ Skye clenched his fist, ‘they’ll pay dearly for this.’

“Brother, may your soul rest in peace. I don’t know which monster took you, but by my name, I swear, I’ll avenge you…no matter what,” Skye pledged seriously, wearing a solemn expression and even placing his fist against his chest.

“Farewell brother, may our souls meet in the Great Aether.” The air Mimic’s gaze lingered on Ralf a few seconds more before breaking character. He turned and strode off, wearing a relieved smile on his face.

‘Aaa, with Ralf out, I might actually win this now…now, where to go - ah?!’ Skye let out a whelp at the sudden sensation. Once the stinging pain passed, shock filled the youth as he put two and two together.

He turned with stiff motions and met with a smirking Ralf, eyes open with his gun aimed at Skye. The air Mimic stared at the other in bafflement, puzzled by the seemingly illegal action. Skye’s gaze shifted to the trees to one of the Assistants to understand how to proceed, only for her, to use her Psi to spell out ‘Valid death’.

He was incredulous at the judgement. He shifted his sights back to Ralf to point his hurt look at, but the other took no damage from it, having already returned to playing dead. Failing, the air Mimic spent some brain power to make sense of the judgement.

‘I see, so that’s how it is. Those were self-inflicted so they didn’t count. Damn, I knew there was no way someone could take you out. I should have just shot you…aaah, I had the perfect chance too.’

After lamenting his actions, Skye dropped down, making his fall as dramatic as possible, even stretching out his hand towards Ralf’s direction. Down and out, he shut his eyes and silently prayed that others befell a similar fate.

‘Don’t let it just be me, that would be so lame. Come one come all, follow my voice…over here…over here…’

Skye’s voice didn’t reach any of his fellow students, however, it did reach the heavens. The heavens heard his prayer and granted it as they usually did, and very quickly, the air Mimic’s feelings of being wronged were swept away and replaced by glee and schadenfreude as Ralf’s ploy claimed more and more victims. Three of the five victims had, upon catching sight of Ralf’s fallen figure, taunted and mocked him, only to then be shot seconds later.

Seeing their expressions collapse in the aftermath was a treat for the air Mimic. Skye’s figure wriggled on the dirt like a slug that had been sprinkled with salt, as he desperately contained his giggles at the unfolding ‘comedy’.

Ralf’s other victims weren’t as jovial about the affair and made attempts to ruin the tactic, but the Assistants' timely warnings quickly restrained them.

Meanwhile, Ralf was smitten. His second-ever massacre brought great delight and even greater anticipation as he wondered who would enter his wicked web next.

***

You can find story with these keywords: The Silver Path, Read The Silver Path, The Silver Path novel, The Silver Path book, The Silver Path story, The Silver Path full, The Silver Path Latest Chapter