Kyrion stood around in confusion surrounded by a group of elves clad in white garb looking at him with stoicism. Each one looked the same aside from some variations in height, age, and even gender. In one corner he saw the old man of which he shared a cell with so many years ago, and in another, there was a stern man with two swords at his hip.
They all had the same face, family? Twins? Clones? The situation felt odd, but Kyrion felt that they were all the same person. Despite having distinct personalities. The sensation buzzed in Kyrion’s head as his senses stretched seeing them all as one entity, yet each one was distinct as though they had their bodies.
“You nearly killed your target, an attack like that pushed the spells placed on you all for protection. Though this is mainly due to your opponent failing to properly enhance their body. The main issue would be the near destruction of the arena that can’t do.” The stern form stated.
“Am I disqualified?” Kyrion asked.
“Remove the veil over your core please.” The stern man demanded.
Kyrion sighed and did so. He let them see everything. No time to resist after all, not like he was hiding a big secret.
“Practitioner, middle tier, though the concentration of mana is high, along with a burgeoning amount of that power. So, Kyrion, would you agree to learn from Six?” The stern man tilted his head to an older woman, who sat on a throne of wood that was bizarrely white.
“Eh? Wait, what's going on?”
“We are discussing your role in the tournament going forward. You have shown your strength.” Answered the Elven Matriarch, her eyes boring holes into Kyrion’s soul.
“Not really. If you know who I am then you know what I’ve been avoiding.”
“You have yet to use your plant abilities openly. Along with, wind, water, earth, and space. We are aware. We also intend to inform you that Eden will survive. She is kin to a degree. It is our responsibility to take care of her while here.”
“So, just like that, I'm out of the tournament?”
“No, we're currently in a timeless zone. What happens next is up to you.”
“I was looking forward to eating…It is what it is. I used my power in anger and will see this as punishment. If I go back, it wouldn’t be right. Also, I took out a captain as well as quite a few others. The others need to shine a bit, mind if I send a message before I go?”
“Go ahead. Will you decide to learn our methods?”
“What can you offer?”
“Multi Voice casting, as well as mastery of our High Order Spells. We even have knowledge of plants and healing that you may not. As well as my myriad faces technique.”
Kyrion clicked his tongue. If these were all her yet capable of independent action, there was a chance Kyrion could use that to produce better bodies for his shards.
“High Order?”
“Elven high-order spells utilize large amounts of mana through runes and usually involve multiple people. Unless that power is used or you have a large amount of mana.”
“What's the difference between that and a large-scale ritual?”
“High Order can surpass that quite easily, and would get you booted from the world quite quickly,”
“Ah, so more things I can’t use.”
“The Restriction is removed during the event. It’s the closest thing to balance that we get.”
“Fine. I’ll learn. As for my message, inform them that I avenged Eden but used a bit too much power and have been penalized for going overboard. Also, I accept being trained by your people.”
“Oh, we’ll use our announcer for that. Are you done using your alter ego?”
Kyrion looked at his red hair and sighed. “Ah, that's also why you grabbed me. Yeah, might as well. The jig is up isn’t it.”
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“That's up to you.”
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As Max waited in a tree preparing to ambush a group of three armored that had gathered, he heard a troubling announcement.
“Due to reckless uses of greater than lethal force, Rion has been penalized and removed from the tournament. Eryia of the Undervipers will survive, but there is a chance that they won’t survive. Should her team survive this round, however, she will be penalized for using a lasting expert-tier poison on a fledgling. Remember, lethal force may get you a win but try not to go overboard. Your goal isn’t to kill but to subdue. To those who may be looking for vengeance, the one known as Eden will make recovery in time.” Meh Thod said into his microphone, which was a piece of wood with a voice-enhancing enchantment on it.
Max sighed, and suddenly three sets of armored faces stared at him. Swords raised and shields ready.
There went his ambush. “Well, I tried.”
Instead of attacking, Max jumped down with his blade raised, golden scales grew on his nose, and soon began to expand to his sideburns before going down and forming armor around his neck. “Mind coming at me one at a time?”
The three warriors came at once using no magic which was odd to the young prince. That was until he slashed the head off of one expecting the wards to kick in. Only for a wooden head to hit the ground.
“Golems?” Max barely sidestepped a blow and used its momentum to slice off its right leg before a punch that should have taken off his head seemed to barely miss.
A tingle in his head and a burning in his back caused Max to jump to the side and a trident made of water slowly withdrew from the golem’s body.
“That was close.” Max wheezed as he looked around, and felt the backlash of his magic kick in as he overused it in his duel with Sinbad. In moments his face was covered in scales as they now extended downwards. A golden helmet on his head resembling that of a dragon,
“You couldn’t just have taken that and made things easier for us?” The man with the golden birds asked.
“Us?” It took Max a second to realize he was outnumbered. Especially if they had a golem used nearby.
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By sheer coincidence, Tiffany had managed to eliminate two of the armored spirit masters using hit-and-run guerrilla tactics. Leading her enemies into traps and swiftly removing them. However, when the sky turned red, she decided to shift light about and fade from human sight. From there she began to run around in search of the youngest members of her team.
The announcement of Eden’s condition set a fire within her, for most people here taking out a fledgling was quick and painless. No one in their right mind would use poison and an expert tier one. She was a child as well, who would go all out against her.
Tiffany stopped as she spotted Bastion trip and fall over an extended root. The boy got up, wiped away a few tears, and moved forward only to be surrounded by two of the cloth-covered warriors. Only before she could act, the boy stared right at her and shook his head. Most would have seen it as panic and an attempt to run, but the motion was sobering.
Maybe he planned an ambush. She sensed no one she recognized, but as one held Bastion by his neck, there was a shift in the brush nearby as an obsidian-skinned orc pounced at the other cloth-wearing individual, managing to take him down before he could scream. The thud alerted the man holding Bastion.
“Hmm?” Bastion wrapped his gloved hand around the man’s wrist while he was distracted and the man popped like a bubble.
As the two warriors were eliminated four more orcs moved out of the brush confirming that the group of six had been working together with Bastion acting as bait.
Tiffany sighed as she walked forward and shook her head. “Whose idea was it to be bait?”
“Well everyone seems to think I’m easy to take out and going for grabs, or really bad sneak attacks. Sure they use magic, but aside from Stalking Puma, none are good enough to get past my senses. The orcs helped out when I was getting attacked by a bunch of stone men in armor.”
“Stone golem knights. It appears our opponents have a few golem users. The armored people we saw were just carrying equipment into battle.” Stated a female orc with light blue skin and gray hair.
“Ah, that isn’t good. So Song was using the armor as a way to hide who was who?” Tiffany scowled.
“Correct. I say we stay close, and make our way to camp.” Answered the black-skinned orc.
“How did you find each other so fast?”
“This is orcish survival training, only we fight each other a lot less. Mostly hunting and not losing people. Usually last months.”
“I see. Where is the one with four arms?”
“Clark is working with Bugs, and Katanas, to find others. We now head to camp. Only one is missing now.”
“What about Uriel's team?”
“Eliminated I suspect. Got bested by monsters, the healer was gravely injured, and they skimped on training. Not durable or adaptable. Easy prey, no fangs or claws.” Shadow Puna stated.
“How did they even get this far?”
“Marduk. Isn't it obvious? His death or kidnapping has gravely weakened his team.”
“Ah. Let's head back then. I assume you can find Volain?”
“Easy enough.” Shadow Puna led the way.
Bastion dusted himself off and put on a carefree smile.
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For the first time, since coming with Kyrion and Ander she wondered what she did to end up with those two when this world had perfectly sane individuals. Well mostly sane, and intelligent.
The gray-skinned four-armed orc wielded a strange four-segmented staff that made a clicking sound as it amplified momentum when swug. Reminiscent of a thunderstorm. Said orc was much more intelligent than his build suggested, showing himself to be quite knowledgeable of how to counter magic and golems.
Hel, despite her clear animosity towards Chiyo, was more or less the person in charge after Kyrion went and threw a meteor at somebody. As though he was trying to destroy the planet.
Hel suddenly stopped walking, then turned east before running off. “I found the young ma–pri– I found Max. He’s being surrounded.”
“By who?”
“Marshal, wooden golems and their master, and a wind user. We won’t be able to beat them with just the three of us, and Max isn’t strong enough.”
Chiyo sighed, “Then run back and contact the others. Yaclack? Can you call your captain and catch up? I’m not quite sure of my strength yet.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hel asked as Chiyo dashed forward.
“And she’s gone.” Hel gave chase, as the orc jumped into the air and then began pounding on his chest with two ends of his segmented staff while the other two hands pounded on his stomach.
“It's Dinner time!”
The air became strangely light as though all the moisture in the forest was drawn in that direction. Causing a few flowers to wilt in response, an ominous aura pressed down on the forest as something itching for a fight was given permission.
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“At this rate, we’ll be done before the meat gets cooked.”
“If you're worried about that, I’ll just finish cooking on the outside. You could also demand payment from Rion in the form of snacks.”
“I was looking forward to Meat Fire.” Volain inhaled, stripping the moisture from everything in front of him, causing the forest to wilt as plants were denied the water they needed. While monsters began to dry out. After a solid thirty seconds of inhaling. Volain swallowed a solidified bead and entered a sprinters stance.
In the blink of an eye, he was gone as a blast of water piece through trees and boulders and continued further for some distance as Volain propelled himself forward at a high speed destroying everything in his way.