As the curtain of light that swallowed Sylvester started to fade, he soon found himself all alone in an unfamiliar area and immediately inspected his surroundings.
Around him were relatively small trees that were about 3 meters in height along with rather generous distributions of shrubs and bushes and agrew thicker farther into the distance. Upon walking forward for a little bit he soon found a clearing that led to a yellow brick road that cut through all the plants.
“Yeah I expected this.” Sylvester said as he took out his ID. “We weren’t registered as one team so getting separated is inevitable.”
He then saw that there was a new icon on his ID display that said “Event map”. Upon pressing the icon, an image of a 3D map was projected from his ID.
The map showed that the custom festival area was divided into four quadrants similar to a coordinate plane and each quadrant having their own terrain.
He was currently located at the edges of the 4th quadrant called “Forest region” as indicated by an arrow pointing downwards. He then glanced on to the 3rd quadrant as a sly smile formed in his lips.
“Just as we discussed, we need to map out the 3rd quadrant first and with compass scan that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.” Sylvester said as he continued his walk, now following the yellow brick road that led his way.
There was a clock symbol located on the center of each region and from what he could gleam from the map, he was a little bit farther off from the one placed at the center of the forest region.
All of a sudden, a large question mark symbol appeared at the center of the first quadrant. Sylvester simply smiled as he promptly closed the map and returned his ID back into his pocket.
“Welp I don’t need to worry about that for now, I need to get to the clock nearest to me first.” he said as he smiled. “It’s a good thing we actually planned for this exact kind of scenario.”
As he started walking he could feel slight pulses and disturbances of mana from the distance and realized that the other participants had made their first moves.
“Well now, it seems things are off to a rather exciting start.” He then paused and looked up at the sky.
“Now then, time to put my plan in motion like a good Antagonist would.”
---
“Whoaaa!” A loud voice reverberated in the air as four figures slowly appeared from the fading curtains of light.
It was William and his three female friends dropping in together and it seems like the method of transportation caught them off guard.
“I can never get used to that!” Julia complained as she slowly regained her bearings.
“Yeah, this place is just too high level for me! We’ve been here for quite some time and I’m still getting surprised by the stuff our professors keep throwing at us.” William commented.
“Magic truly is something else isn’t it?” Mary interjected. The group of four took some time to get things straight and regain their focus.
“Alright where are we?” William asked as he looked around. They were in a strange looking area devoid of plantation. All William could see was brown, almost black, dirt and weird stone pillars that were approximately 4 meters tall.
“Just check your maps. Did you all forget we have one?” Sharn replied.
“Oh yeah, you’re right!” William and the others then took out their IDs and opened their own maps. There they saw that there were four arrows pointing down located at the 2nd quadrant, an area called the stoney region, indicating their location.
“Whoa, that name is really straightforward.” William pointed out. Suddenly a question mark appeared on their maps. The four of them became alert and immediately knew what they needed to do.
Without any hesitation, the group ran straight towards the first quadrant using mana fortification to augment their speed. While using a spell to quickly traverse great distances would be faster, they opted for this method because they wanted to save up as much mana as they can.
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This entire event would run from 10AM to 11:30AM, running for a total of one and half hours. An hour and half of potential nonstop confrontations and escapes and at most, only 3 “lives” in total. They will need all the energy they have if they plan to pull through and clinch the prize.
All of a sudden they saw an abnormally bright display high above the sky. It was a single orb of light quickly rising up and then exploding at the highest point. From there an image of a tophat was made from the green sparks that were thrown outward from the strange firecracker.
“Okay what was that?” William said as he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Mary then immediately pushed him forward.
“Who cares? don’t get distracted! Eyes on the prize!” She exclaimed.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry. Let’s go girls!” William declared as they continued to move towards the location of the treasure box.
---
“Make haste! We must not waste a single second!” A woman with blonde hair fashioned into drills commanded as she and her group fly across the sky.
Letisia and her group of followers rushed to the treasure’s location. The moment they entered the border of the 1st quadrant they noticed that the entire area was nothing more than a large stretch of sand dunes.
While maintaining flight the group saw what the clock symbol on the map was presenting. It was just as expected but at the same time, a little disappointing.
It was just a normal digital clock, lazily attached to a 3 meter tall black post. It stood out like a sore thumb from the uniformly desert environment.
Letisia however thought this was intentional in order for the participants to immediately recognize it from a distance, after all it is a crucial part of the event since it shows the time, and time is what will determine victory in the end.
The group then shifted directions and headed northward and felt multiple fluctuations of mana up ahead.
“Everyone, let’s land now. The battle is up ahead! Get ready. We will claim victory!” Letisia declared.
“Yes lady Letisia!” The rest of her group replied.
Once they landed they then saw multiple colored explosions suddenly sweeping and stirring the sand in front of them as people can be seen being blown away.
Most of them immediately recovered but some were already tangled up in the chains created by the “traitor barrier” when it broke.
As the wind and dust start to clear, a scene of chaos lay in front of Letisia.
A messy slurry spell casts and chants sending a variety of spells over to multiple sides, painting an abstract picture of chaos using multiple shades of sparks and explosions that littered the battlefield.
Screams and desperate grunts melded into one as people charged into one another. There were even sounds of clashing metal as there were a few magic knights mixed into the fray.
Letisia continued to observe the unfolding battle and noticed a black box floating at the middle of the carnage. Immediately she realized it was the random treasure box, the most important item of this entire bonanza.
“Quick! Let us charge in and take the box! Push through everyone that tries to stop you!” She commanded her group but before they could take action a volley of translucent energy vaguely shaped into spears were heading towards their position.
Letisia didn’t hesitate and immediately acted to defend herself and her group from the incoming attack. Quickly gathering mana she then raised her hand up in the sky.
“Force Prism!” She shouted and then an eight sided irregular geometric shape started to take form. It was a see through barrier that looked almost like it was made out of glass.
The spears broke upon contact with Letisia's barrier, not even able to leave a single scratch.
“Hmph, what a weak and pathetic attack!” She said while scoffing.
Soon a group of three men revealed themselves as they charged towards her position at great speed.
“Don’t falter! Charge! Take the treasure box!” The leader of the group shouted.
“It doesn’t matter if they belong to the Clarentum inquisitors! We can prove right now that we are far stronger than these high and mighty arrogant ticks!” He continued to shout.
Letisia however looked on to the incoming group with disdain.
“Huh, these weaklings seem to want to lose that badly! Do they really think the great Letisia will fall to these plebeians?” She declared as she started to gather mana, but she was interrupted by one of her followers.
“Please my lady, let me!” A tall man with black hair and fair complexion offered as he unsheathed his weapon, revealing a two handed long sword.
“Oh how generous of you Josef. Go ahead, make an example of these fools!” She said as she looked back focused on the battlefield in front of the treasure.
“You dare look down on us!? Don’t mock me!” The leader screamed.
“Weaklings like you do not have the right to be our opponent, the opponent of the Clarentum inquisitors! Know your place!” Josef yelled.
He then placed his free hand on the ground gathering mana.
“Sand trap!” He suddenly exclaimed as a vortex of sand appeared underneath the feet of the incoming attackers. They were quickly immobilized as their feet sunk into the sand as if being held in an iron grip.
Josef however did not waste any second as he prepared for his next move. He no longer gathered mana this time since he was going to use something he learned in class; chain casting.
“triple clone!” He exclaimed and soon three copies of himself split from his body and immediately charged the immobilized group.
The three tried to retaliate but were unable to gather mana and cast a spell on time ensuring their defeat. The three copies of Josef slashed at the bodies of his enemies and the traitor barrier broke as their figures were sent flying back with the force of the blow.
“I told you didn’t I? Know your place!” Josef said in a cold tone as he turned his back towards the fallen foes.