A loud sound echoed around the arena.

For a few seconds, Klaus could not believe what he was seeing. The sight he was witnessing made it feel like he was in some nightmare, but he knew that this was nothing but reality.

Rose instantly turned her face unto Klaus' chest in fear, with tears in her eyes. She could not believe what she was seeing and what was happening. Lance had his hands folded as he continued to stare at the stage in slight frustration.

All the demigods had nothing but shock in their eyes as they watched Mia's corpse fall to the ground. X had used his sidearm to blow Mia's head into pieces, instantly taking his own sister's life.

"How could he," Siren said with pain in his voice. "She had already forfeited."

He had both his palms on the headgear around his mouth and his voice sounded like he was slightly sobbing underneath. The pain was evident as all the demigods were frustrated, especially since it wasn't even a fair fight, to begin with.

"Unfortunately, the rules do not say anything about forfeiting, meaning as long as you are in the ring and still alive, you are still a battle member," XVII then announced to the demigods. "This is the information the Gods transmitted for me to relay."

This news came as a huge disappointment to the demigods. This meant that X's cruel action was candid and he was allowed to continue participating in the tournament.

"This means that X is the victor and will proceed to the next round," XVII announced briefly after.

Rose was still sobbing heavily, which was not too surprising since this was possibly the first time she, alongside a few others, witnessed such a brutal death.

Shade had a sorry look as he turned to her slightly before turning back to the scene in pain. He knew that they were supposed to expect such a thing due to the rules of the tournament, but he didn't expect it to hurt that badly. But as Shade turned his focus to Klaus, all he could see in his brother's eyes was pure anger.

Klaus was pissed.

The frustration of witnessing such a devastating murder, the pain of such a one-sided fight, but the most one was the anger from a fighter killing his sibling. These were the emotions Klaus felt as X placed his gun back into its holster.

X proceeded to walk out of the arena before the timer for the transfer to the medical facility could elapse. He then walked back to his seat before returning to his meditating pose. This made it clear that the battle meant nothing to him and that he did not need any medical help after the fight.

After a few seconds, Mia's body gradually proceeded to vanish, eventually transporting to the medical facility.

The silence was clear for a long time. Nobody knew what to say or what to do. Rose had stopped her sobbing but was still too demoralized to even do or say anything, and the same applied to everyone.

Even though it was not fair, this was how reality was. This was the verdict that everyone eventually succumbed to. Except for Klaus.

After what felt like a century of silence, Klaus suddenly got up and proceeded out of the Arena of Valor.

"Klaus?" Shade asked in confusion.

"I'm fine," Klaus responded before walking out.

Klaus walked until he arrived at the entrance of the medical facility. He got in before he proceeded to search for where Mia had been transported to. Klaus continued to search until he found a room that he assumed to be the destination of the transported fighters.

The room was spacious and had a few pods and mechanical devices operating in them. From the looks of it, it seemed that if a person is transported from the arena, their body would spawn at this location and into the pod where it would be rejuvenated and reverted to its natural state.

Klaus walked into the room before realizing that one of the pods seemed to have someone in it. The pods were horizontal and had a small opening at the top, revealing about half of their content. As he looked inside the pod, he realized Mia and after a few more seconds, the pod proceeded to open. Considering that he had not yet battled, Klaus' unfamiliarity with the room made sense. He also assumed this was where he was transported during the Cosmic League after losing to X, but could not confirm since he never gained consciousness in the facility.

Klaus moved back, attempting to give Mia space to collect her thoughts and understand what was happening. Mia gradually opened her eyes before she sat up from her lying position to see Klaus at her side.

"Oh it's you, light boy," Mia stated in a depressed tone as she attempted to exit the pod.

"I came to check up on you. Are you alright?" Klaus asked immediately before Mia got out of the pod.

Stolen novel; please report.

Mia took a second to think of what had happened before she responded to Klaus.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

This response made Klaus even more agitated. He knew that Mia was lying and it made him wonder why.

"Do you really think what he did to you would be considered fine?" Klaus then asked Mia.

"I mean, I'm still alive, aren't I? Also, I don't blame him since he had to do what needed to be done to win the game," Mia then said to Klaus with a smile on her face.

Klaus knew that she was trying her best to defend X and he wondered why. He didn't understand why she was so hung up on making him seem better than he was.

"Look. I get that you wanted to impress your brother, but I can never lie to you and say that there is an ounce of reciprocation from him. I understand your intentions, I really do. But you need to stop defending a monster like him when you know deep down that it's not worth it."

Hearing these words made tears gradually roll down Mia's eyes. It wasn't that she was unaware of this fact, but she tried so hard to believe that it was not so.

"I really tried, you know," Mia said as she continued her sobbing.

Klaus could feel the pain in her voice as she continued to cry. He then walked closer to her before placing his left arm around her and comforting her.

"I know it's not the same, but for what it's worth, I thought you were amazing," Klaus said to her.

This made Mia's eyes widen in admiration. Klaus' confidence mixed with his genuine persona made Mia feel a lot better after everything that had happened. She felt that he was doing a very good job of making her feel better.

Mia then smiled at him before wiping her tears and replying to him.

" You keep complimenting me like that and I might just end up falling for you," she jokingly said.

Klaus then reciprocated the smile after noticing she was feeling better. He also suggested that she take a bit more time to collect herself before returning to the arena which she did, with him remaining to console her. And after a few minutes, they decided to return to the Arena of Valor.

Upon returning to the arena, a few demigods rushed at Mia upon her sight.

"Are you okay, Mia?" Quinn asked in concern.

Mia nodded her head and smiled. Quinn then turned to Klaus before commenting on his actions.

"Running out was very risky, Klaus. You know you could've been disqualified, right?"

Klaus sighed before Mia decided to cut in, choosing to defend him.

"Well, it was worth it. He really helped me get over what happened," Mia said.

"So Klaus helped you?" Quinn asked in surprise.

Mia turned to Klaus before turning back to Mia and smiling.

"Yeah. Seeing him helped a lot," Mia said as she started getting flushed.

Quinn raised an eyebrow in confusion as to why Mia was so passionate about Klaus. A thought then popped into her head before she shook her head in realization.

CONVERSATION

Quinn: Every girl just unintentionally falls for you, don't they, Klaus?

Mia: W-What? That's not what I said.

Klaus did not have any reaction to this statement as he knew that commenting or saying anything about it would just prolong the already ridiculous topic so he kept the same face he always did.

Ace: I mean, can you blame him? The dude's unspoken charisma is crazy.

Quinn: Still, it doesn't mean every girl around him would fall for him.

Mia: I mean, aren't you a girl too?

Link: I doubt that.

Quinn: Oh, shut up. And it's like I'm probably the only one who has the mental fortitude to withstand his charms.

Link: So you agree that he's charming (displaying a smirking face on his mask)?

Quinn: Aaaand I'm done talking.

Link laughed after the response which caused a few others to do so as well. Even though she was still feeling a bit down, Mia still found joy in the moment.

Mia turned her face to X as she stared at him for a brief moment. He remained in his meditating position with his eyes closed, ignoring everything that was happening at that moment, which meant that she couldn't say anything to him.

"One day, I will change your mind about me," Mia then thought to herself before returning her attention to Quinn and the others.

After a short conversation period, XVII finally walked back ahead of the demigods to announce the next battle.

"I will now announce the next battle," XVII said before commencing. "The next battle is... Ace Falcon vs Riley Greene."

Ace and Riley heard their names as they proceeded to the entrance of the battlefield. The two fighters walked into the arena as they stood ahead of each other, awaiting the commencement of their fight.

Riley had a smirk on her face, seemingly confident in her skill. She seemed like she had faith in winning the battle that was to occur. But as confident as she was, her expression was still bested by her opponent, Ace.

Ace's expression while on the battlefield felt like he was not in one. The smile he had on his face was similar to the usual smile he had on which always matched his persona. Ace was always a bright and happy person regardless of the situation, but this time, his expression was noticeably more than usual.

"I'm guessing you're just as pumped as I am to fight," Riley said to Ace.

"You have no idea," Ace responded before moving to position, awaiting the alarm.

Silence filled the battlefield as both fighters patiently waited for the bell. And as the alarm finally rang, something strange happened.

Immediately the alarm rang, Riley felt a tap beside her. This caused her to put her intended forward rush to a halt and turn to see what was going on and who it was. And to her surprise, Ace was standing right beside her, tapping her shoulder and looking down.

"Damn, you came prepared," Ace said.

This action confused Riley for almost a full second as she turned her head back to where Ace was and noticed his absence, before realizing that her opponent had already made his way to her. Upon noticing this, Riley jumped to the side, away from Ace, noticing that he had a clear chance to eliminate her from the game instantly.

As Riley moved sideways, she then put what Ace had said in thought.

"What did he mean by that?" Riley thought.

As she turned her head down, she noticed some daggers and other small sharp objects on the ground.

"Y'know, considering we just recently found out about the killing rule, you still brought so many weapons, right?" Ace commented, implying that the weapons on the floor were Riley's.

Riley realized this statement as her eyes widened. She then used her palms to tap around her body, seemingly searching for something. But she did not seem to find it as she dropped her arms and stood in surprise.

"You disarmed me completely, didn't you?" Riley asked Ace with a forced smile on her face.

Ace's smile grew upon noticing that Riley had finally realized what was going on.

"Unbelievable," Klaus commented at the spectator's area. "He disarmed her before the alarm could even complete."

"Wow," Rose exclaimed. "How the heck did he do that?"

"I don't know," Klaus continued. "But there's one thing that's for sure."

"Ace is about five times faster than he ever was."