Oblivion's Throne-Chapter 117: The Hunt

Orion didn't move for a long time.

The more he understood, the more the illusion cracked. The Confederacy was built for one thing: survival at any cost.

When humanity stood at the edge of extinction, democracy had simply been discarded, like a tool no longer useful.

Orion had always known the Confederacy was strict. Even he who had grown in one of the most powerful Archon families, grew up with filtered news, monitored lessons, clearance restrictions on everything from library archives to planetary maps. But he thought it was about order. About control in the name of progress.

Now he knew better.

The Confederacy didn't censor because it feared dissent. It censored because it didn't have time for debate. When you're backed into a corner by extinction, you don't run a vote. You issue commands.

The war had demanded it.

And calling it "The War" felt wrong now. As if one word could carry everything that had happened. One word for the death of nearly two hundred billion. One word for the fall of planets, the screaming colonies, and the endless children that were sacrificed.

That truth hit harder than anything else. They didn't rise from the ashes victorious. They were dragged out of the rubble while still burning.

He shut the console off, exhaling sharply, his mind still racing to process everything.

A soft chime interrupted his thoughts. His wrist-com flickered to life, displaying a message:

Visit freewёbnoνel.com for the best novel reading experience.

[Final Phase Commencing in 48 Hours]

[Hide and Seek]

[Rules of Engagement:]

[1. Objective: Candidates must reach the extraction point before time runs out. Each person is assigned one target to Seek and one target to Hide from. You can attack the target you are assigned to Seek, however if you were touched by the target you are assigned to hide from you are to be eliminated.]

[2. Elimination Methods: Candidates can disable others through kills (combat) or strategical elimination (traps, environment).]

[3. Time Limit: 24 hours. The candidates who didn't reach the extraction point face elimination due to overtime.]

[The entire event will be televised, with real-time commentary, drone coverage, and audience interaction.]

The next two days passed in a blur.

Then, forty-eight hours later, Orion's wrist-com pulsed again announcing the start of the phase.

He moved fast.

The first hour was chaos. Orion kept avoiding open terrain, never staying in one place long enough to be spotted. He stayed off the main roads and made use of elevation. He was probably the fastest and strongest, but he was not delusional enough to think that he could take out a team when he is cornered.

However the amount of unfair advantages Orion had were simply too much, not only could he since near presences with his **「Predatory Awareness」**, he also had **「Tyrradic Hearing」** and **「Stygareth's Olfaction」.**

He soon smelled the scent of three candidates tried to tail him near a ravine, Orion was surprised when he realized that he knew who those people were. They were from the confederacy, although Orion didn't feel any sense of kinship he didn't think they would go out of their way to tail him especially knowing that the main goal of the phase was to reach the extraction point first.

He suspected that the people tailing him somehow formed a party with the person who was assigned to Seek him but he had no bases for that assumption so he moved in his way for his Seek target himself to eliminate him.

Orion wasn't in a rush knowing that if he sped up he could probably reach the extraction point in two hours at his top speed but he was hesitant to go all out, he was still even keeping his promise to Varun by using his left hand and only using a sword, which he was not used to handle.

By the third hour, Orion could sense thirteen more presences converging on his way.

It started with two scouts spotted him crossing a destroyed bridge after he shook away the three people tailing him. They didn't engage—just relayed his position. Then more followed. Coordinating.

"Orion Reyes had been spotted."

They didn't think they could beat him alone.

So they didn't try.

He reached the target after thirty minutes. After testing Kieran's modified swordsmanship that he was trying to replicate to fit his style Orion decided to end him since he sensed there were more people gathering.

He crouched near a tree and checked motion tracker on his wrist-com.

Sixty pings.

All closing in.

He didn't even need the HUD to guess who was leading them.

The formation was too organized. The flanking units moved with timing, pushing him toward the center. They weren't just trying to eliminate him—they were funneling him. Herding him like prey.

Orion was genuinely amused as he climbed the nearest ridge.

When he reached the top, he saw them.

An entire platoon's worth of candidates fanning out across the lower valley. At the head of the formation was a familiar figure. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Walking like he already owned the place.

Ares Petrosyan.

So that's what this was.

Ares had been humiliated during Orion's birthday, beaten in the trials. He'd gone from the Confederacy's golden boy to a background name. And now, with nothing but brute force left to win by, he was crawling back into relevance the only way he knew how—by trying to crush the one person who had outshined him.

Orion felt no anger rise in his chest—only amusement.

They really thought this was going to work.

He could hear them shouting, spreading out to cut off his path. Some climbed the gnarled trees, others weaved between thick undergrowth, blades drawn and eyes scanning. Ares hadn't just rallied them—he had convinced them Orion was beatable.

That mistake was going to cost them.

Orion moved swiftly through the trees, his footsteps light against the damp forest floor. The HUD flickered slightly showing the total number to be sixty four.

Sixty four to one. He liked those odds. However Orion wanted to keep them guessing.

His first strike was silent. A lone candidate stepped too far ahead, barely registering Orion's movement before a clean cut across his chest forced elimination. Orion caught the falling body, lowering it into the ferns before vanishing into the fog.

They thought they were hunting him.

He led them deeper, across unstable terrain where tangled roots and shifting soil forced them into tight formations. The canopy above twisted the light into scattered beams, making shadows dance unpredictably. When a group of five drew too close, Orion struck.

His sword cut through the first before the second even reacted. The third tried to block, but Orion's blade slipped under his defense, carving through his ribs. The last two hesitated. Orion didn't.

Fifty-four left.

Orion wiped his blade clean against his sleeve.

Ares was leading the rest straight to him.

That arrogance was his greatest weakness.

A flicker of movement—then three figures burst from the foliage. Orion moved instantly.

His sword met the first attacker mid-swing, redirecting the blade downward before stepping past him in one fluid motion. The second came in from the left—a quick thrust that Orion sidestepped, catching his opponent's wrist and twisting. A sharp cry, a snapped elbow, then another body hit the ground.

The third tried to backpedal. Orion didn't let him.

A single step forward, a clean slash across the chest—eliminated.

Fifty-one left.

The forest erupted. Ares had spotted him.