Meera didn't know what to expect, but she was not expecting the ground to fall into darkness and the skies to be covered with dark storm clouds. Next, what happened was an attack on all fronts—from below, above the ground, and the sky.

Dirik thrust his Shadowsteal sword into the ground, and an enlarged copy of the blade burst out of the ground where everyone was standing. Meera jumped aside in time, but the blade did nick her foot. Thankfully, her armor protected her, and she didn't take any damage.

All the others successfully avoided the Shade's attack with minimal damage, aside from Tekton, who roared, his skin glowing with a certain pinkish glow. As Dirik's shadow sword jutted out of the ground. He jumped back and cut the shadow blade in half.

Pallas erected a shield below him and slid off the shadow sword as if he were a roller-skater. Of course, the scariest response came from Lexa, who disintegrated the shadow blade coming for her by blasting it with a lightning bolt.

Then chaos ensued.

Meera activated the Chameleon effect of her armor and blended into a column, hoping no one had seen her. But she had a feeling Dirik could still feel her presence. Thankfully, he was too engaged with Tekton to focus on her. Even Dirik had made lots of progress since she last saw him. He had reached over level 300.

[Shade – Level 304]

Meera couldn't help being jealous of the Shade's progress. But none of this would have been possible if he hadn't found her that night. She would never have found the queen or met the Wardens if not for him. But not telling her his real name left a bad taste in her mouth.

On the other side of the arena, the other four Wardens fought each other. Lexa was the heavy hitter. She attacked everyone with bolts from her fingers while she stirred up a storm overhead. Meera wanted to run to the shade of the tree, but it wasn't dark enough yet that her Shroud of Shadows would make her completely invisible. She had also avoided a direct conflict so far. It would be ideal if she could avoid the fight altogether and only fight the last man standing.

Despite Lexa's bolts and Zona's arrows, the most feral of them all was Melas. He roared as he jumped from opponent to opponent, denting Pallas's shields and pushing Lexa back. Even Zona's arrows couldn't do much to him. By now, Meera knew very well what it was like fighting this captain of the Wardens. He might have had a lower level than his peers, but that didn't mean he was any less formidable.

[Colossus Warden – Level 321]

The only other person besides Meera who stayed out of the fighting was Brison. He sat with his feet up in the spectator's booth, which must've been reserved for VIPs as it was the only place with a solid roof. He was eating grapes like an emperor of old and winked at Meera.

He can see me from there. She shook her head, chalked it up to the refraction of the light, and turned her attention to the fighting. In just that instant that she had focused on Brison, Tekton, and Dirik had disengaged from each other and thrown themselves into the fray.

The most impressive was the one who scared Meera the most. Zona dodged and ducked blows like a master martial artist while at the same time returning fire with her arrows. Even Pallas wasn't safe from her arrows, but then again, he didn't need any security. Her arrows broke on his shields as they floated around him like a protective armor. However, the punishment they took from Melas' fists was evident enough.

Lexa cried out as she was launched Meera's way, cradling her bloody arm. From her fights with the Stormweaver, Meera knew that her defense was shit. She quietly pulled off her level 2 chakram. Lexa rolled to a stop and stood in a fury.

It was Dirik who had hit her. Her blood dripped from his dark sword. Lexa had her back turned to Meera, and she was about to cut her head off when she noticed the clouds crackling and thundering above.

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It would be best if she could damage them a bit before she's off the playing field.

Lexa roared, and Heaven's Wrath exploded from the clouds. Lightning rained down on the other Wardens while Meera was safe. The others tried to dodge as best as they could. Meera wasn't concerned about them. Her target stood open.

Meera's Mirrorstrike Vision showed Lexa's weak points. They glowed red. Her Warden's armor covered most of her vital organs, but the armor did not concern her chakrams. Her vital organs glowed a slight shade of red, but the unprotected neck glowed a deep red. Meera knew what to aim for.

She launched her level 2 chakram.

Her chakram whistled through the air. Lexa turned at the last moment. Her eyes widened, and she ducked, but she was too slow. Meera's divine weapon went just above her eyebrows and cut her brain in two.

Lexa's brain fell out of her skull before the two fell to the ground. It was rather gruesome, but that was not what stopped the fighting. It was the gong that reverberated through the arena. Meera couldn't see where it was. A moment later, Lexa's body disappeared and appeared beside Brison. She was fine and absolutely livid.

"Meera, you coward," she yelled. "You couldn't fucking fight me fairly, could you? Too scared, you fucking chicken. Midiea's chosen." She spat on the ground and went on to curse her some more. Apparently, being the first one to die brought her much shame and anger. Thankfully, she didn't have time to see where Meera was, or she feared that Lexa would have revealed her location.

The others only fueled the fires of her anger by laughing at her outburst while Meera was sweating in her armor.

"I'm going to blast you into so many pieces that it's going to take Brison a week to put you back together," Lexa finished.

"Okay, that's enough," Brison said, pulling her down. "Relax, I'm sure she'll be the next one out."

The others looked around where the chakram had come from, but it was Zona who figured it out. She aimed an arrow directly at Meera, but thankfully, Melas was on her. He punched her hard enough to send her flying straight into the arena's edge. She smashed into the marble hard enough to crack it.

Please don't get up. Meera prayed.

But like always, her prayers were not answered, as Zona pushed herself out of the hole and simultaneously launched two arrows at Melas. Melas jumped for her, inadvertently, buying Meera enough time to change her hiding position, but before that, she needed more darkness.

Thankfully, Lexa's storm clouds hadn't dissipated when she went down. Meera started preparing another Heaven's Wrath. The skill needed a well of Mana. The only other skill that took that much Mana was Inferno Storm. Despite their low levels, both were the most damaging in her arsenal. Mirror Blast did more damage than either of them in close proximity, thanks to her high Mirror Affinity, but these were great for area of effect damage.

The clouds darkened overhead, and thunder roared in the sky, making more than a few look upwards in confusion. Then, naturally, their eyes turned to the pissed-off Stormweaver.

"Don't look to me. It's that fucking thief," Lexa barked.

Pallas howled with laughter. "Oh, ho! She stole your trump move." He laughed some more while Lexa turned the shade of a tomato.

Then lightning fell once more.

Everyone started dodging and trying to get out of the way, but Meera did get a few good hits on everyone aside from Zona. Meera was sure by now that she had a skill like Mirrorstrike Vision that let her see through more than just her eyes.

As the others dodged the lightning bolts. Meera activated Shroud of Shadows and dashed for the tree. While she did, she activated her armor's effect and basted out tiny mirrors all over the arena to give her enough jump points for her Mirror Step, which was supposed to have gotten faster, but she had yet to test it out. But Dirik's darkness on the ground swallowed them all. Meera had to bite back a few choice words.

She reached the tree's shade and shut off Heaven's Wrath. The damage she had done to the arena was surreal. The part of the arena where she had concentrated her bolts was nothing more than a crater.

The person who had taken the most hits was Melas. Since he never wore any armor, he was an easy target to do massive damage, but the only problem was his highly leveled Iron Skin skill.

His skin supported many minor degree burns, some bruises, and scrapes, but overall, he was fine. Zona had hardly taken any damage at all, and neither had her boyfriend, who had taken refuge in a small dome that was dented and surprisingly melted, with the metal dripping inwards in many places.

Meera frowned at first, but then she remembered that this was not out of the ordinary as lightning was electricity at a much higher voltage.

"Where is she?" Tekton roared. His armor was black and melted in several places.

Meera had half a mind to give them another lightning shower, but Melas jumped high into the air and clapped upwards. It sent a shockwave and such intense wind pressure that even on the ground, Meera felt the shockwave. The tree's foliage rocked in the wind, with several branches breaking and falling on Meera.

The clouds vanished, and sunlight shone down on them.

Meera was safe in the shade as she was practically invisible still. That was until Lexa shot an arrow directly at Meera. She dropped to the ground, and the arrow hit the tree behind her with such force that the tree was ripped off its roots and sailed through the air, where it exploded, raining splinters and leaves on everyone.

"There she is." Tekton smiled viciously.

Then, everyone charged her as one.