That grin indicated that he was the one who was in control of those daggers. Iliana scanned the faces of her opponents, each one was staring at the male who controlled those daggers. She could not read them, they were hiding their emotions well.

For those who had the ability to attack from long range, the moment the light turned red was a golden opportunity. For those who had to close the distance, this was going to be a challenge.

The members from the ten families that were here spectating the competition nodded their head in approval. Sometimes using brute force was not always necessary, it just took a little thinking to take control of a situation.

Iliana watched those two daggers hovering in the air, they did not fly to another target but just stayed there. Either the guy was choosing who his next victim would be or he was planning something else.

Time drifted by and the light changed from red to green. At that moment, the male who was controlling the daggers was attacked from all sides.

There were only a few students that chose not to attack him and one of them was Iliana. She watched as he was beaten and gave a faint smile. He made himself a target by exposing he was the one who attacked. None of the melee fighters would stand to have him around any longer.

For those that could also attack from long range, a new idea came into their head.

Iliana held the hilt of her sword, she started thinking about whether she should use it.

Two meters away from her was a red-haired young male, she could close the distance quickly and attack him. Her plan was to stay away from the other competitors until the numbers dropped a bit.

With everyone being so cautious they all maintained a bit of distance from each other. No one wanted to be caught off guard and be in movement motion right when the light changed colors.

If things continued this way, the match would only be drawn out.

Swiftly looking him over, she saw that the red-haired young males gaze was focused in the opposite direction. Iliana was not hiding her presence, so why did he feel she was not a threat?

While she found it strange she took this opening he gave her and attacked. Iliana moved fast and approached him from behind. The moment she was three feet away he snapped his head in her direction. A look of shock emerged on his face as he tried to jump back.

There was no weapon in his hand and he was already in the air. Iliana grabbed his foot stopping him from going back any further. She threw him down to the ground and hit him with the hilt of her sword.

With a loud thud she withdrew her sword. One was down but there was still many more to go.

As she was about to move once more the lights changed from green to yellow. Once again it was a minute faster than before.

None of the students moved a muscle as no one felt it was safe. The yellow light lingered on for a few. One second past, then ten, soon thirty seconds went by and the yellow light finally changed to red.

Before the yellow light changed to red in almost an instant. It gave the students enough time to stop themselves from moving, but this time it lasted longer. This match started to become confusing. You could not trust any of the lights as they were not bound by a certain amount of time.

What if next time the light was yellow for a whole two minutes? Who would dare stay still for two minutes? It would be risky, but one needed to move.

While Iliana stood in place she felt a change in the air. Black smoke started to swirl around next to a young lady with curly brown hair. Her locks dropped down to her shoulders and her skin was smooth.

Out of the black smoke emerged a white tiger. Its fur made it blend in with the snow while those azure blue eyes captivated the ladies. The tiger roared as it showed its two large fangs.

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Looking at the lady who summoned it, the white tiger seemed to read her mind.

It charged at the person closest to it. With its mouth wide open the white tiger was ready to take a large bite out of the young male. Just as he was about to dodge the attack of the white tiger he realized that the light was still red.

He had to stop all his movement or else he'd be disqualified.

The little bunny ignored the white tiger as if it did not exist in the first place. The rules said that the students could not move, it did not include their summons.

Looking at the white tiger and those two large fangs the young male swallowed hard. If not for the fact that he couldn't move he would have tore this little kitten into pieces. Sadly, this game was cruel and forced him to stop at such a crucial moment.

"ARGH! I'm not dealing with this!"

The young man roared as he took out his weapon and cut the white tiger. His movements were quick, the tiger did not know what happened in that split second. Its body vanished in smoke.

The little bunny snapped its head and looked at the young male. Wasting no time at all the bunny changed forms. Charging straight at the male, the bunny was planning on eliminating him.

However, the young male was not going to be eliminated so quickly. He was prepared for the assault by the bunny.

"Bring it on!"

The young male roared again as the muscles in his arms tensed up. He gripped his weapon tight while he got ready for the collision. With a loud bang, the transformed bunny head-butted the young man's weapon.

Gritting his teeth he held on as he was pushed back. The bunny had more power in its body than he previously imagined. Before he knew it, he was sliding on the ground. His center of gravity was thrown off causing him to crash into the ground.

The transformed bunny continued its onslaught of attacks not giving the young man a chance to breathe. It did not stop until the young man was frozen in place with his eyes wide open.

Being victorious as it was the bunny was not happy at all. Instead of changing back into its small cute form it stayed in this form.

That student dared to attack it while it was dishing out his punishment. Due to that little incident, the bunny was highly upset refusing to transform back.

All of the competitors stared at the bunny hard. Each one praying it would change back but their prayers would never be answered.

In this form the bunny was not as cute, it looked more beastly. While it roamed close to the competitors it gave them chills.

Iliana clutched her sword tightly. She felt something amiss. Her eyes locked onto a young woman.

The young woman's eyes seemed to say, 'you're mines'. Iliana saw cracks appear in the snow. The cracks were heading in her direction, clearly some sort of attack.

Iliana's brain started calculating different outcomes. She couldn't move or else she'd be eliminated.

Clicking her tongue Iliana's eye's seemed to contain a purple light.

Boom!

A purple bolt of lightning struck from the sky. Its target was the same woman that stared at Iliana.

The bolt of lightning hit her body causing the young woman to collapse. If Iliana didn't hold back her strength the young woman would be burnt to a crisp.

Shortly following that strike the light changed from red to green. As much as everyone was stunned by Iliana's display of strength, they had to win this match.

The transformed bunny was standing still in the middle of all the students. It was perfectly surrounded. There was no one left standing still each and every one of them dashed straight for the transformed bunny.

Illiana was no exception.

"Iliana end it already, there's no need to conserve your strength!"

Alicia yelled out.

Iliana glanced in Alica's direction and gave a nod with her head. She too thought that this match was going on longer than necessary.

She paused as she drew her sword. The sword seemed to glisten as she pointed it towards the bunny.

Closing her eyes she took a deep breath. Her heart, her mind, and body became one with her sword.

☆☆☆☆☆

Nick felt a vibration at his side as he glanced down. It was his sword, it seemed to be crying out. Nick grabbed it.

He felt these vibrations before but never paid much attention to them due to the fact that they only lasted a moment. Yet this time the vibrations didn't stop.

'What's this?'

Nick couldn't help but wonder why his sword was reacting the way it was.

Nick felt a surge of essence coming from the stage. Iliana was covered in a white light. Nick squinted his eyes as he saw her mumbling some words.

The sky darkened as clouds covered the sun. A large gust of wind emerged from thin air.

The wind caused the snow on the ground to be swept up. The entire stage was covered in a whirlwind. The snow wind round and round as thunder roared in the sky.

Boom!

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

This chapter took me a while to create. I had a form of writer's block (sort of) where I couldn't write out my thoughts even though I knew what I wanted to happen. A few weeks ago I decided to write a new series to help me get back into that 'writers mode' and it helped a bit. There are roughly 3 chapters left of this volume which I'm hoping to finish very soon. The next few volumes will be short. (I believe that long volumes are not for me. Best get straight to what I want and make the chapters a bit longer.) Volume 4 will explore relationships (friend/family/lovers), organizations (their goals), a bit of war, and goals moving forward.

What I want to do moving forward is expand on my characters a bit more and the world.

(This is just a small warning, if a couple appears within the main cast that does not mean they will stay together for the entire series. Relationships don't work that way, especially not in high school.)