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As if some silent signal was given, around five groups and almost as many solo contestants converge on my location, and as much as I am tempted to find a narrow chokepoint with a wall to my back so nobody can backstab me, I know it is better to be on the move when being assaulted and have a good chance of being trapped and overwhelmed, especially in such terrain with easily climbable walls.

A quick look around told me that all the pathways were being filled in with people and I would be running into the enemies’ chokepoint, which was never a good idea, so I decided if I could not escape by going around, I would go over.

I picked a dilapidated two-story building that had the wall of the second floor missing and the first floor occupied by contestants defending the passage through, but regardless, I charged them spear first.

When I closed in, the group I was charging had three shield wielders blocking my approach into the building and were backed up by two spear wielders sticking their spears out between those shields.

But before I got near the striking range of the spears, I stabbed my spear into the ground in front of me and used my extra springy spear to pole vault myself up to the second floor and run through the dilapidated structure. Once I exited out the other side, I started hopping from structure to structure.

This got me out of immediate danger, but at the same time, it made me extremely visible to everyone on the ground level.

It was then that I saw how widespread the collusion was. Around me, some groups and solo contestants actually called a time-out on their fight and started chasing me. Seriously! What the fuck did I do to deserve this? This is blatant and unfair targeting of a single participant, me!

As I kept running, I took a peek around at my pursuers and saw that almost all of them were displaying coats of arms on their armor, which meant nobles, or at least the leaders of the teams chasing me, most of the nobles were not teamed up with each other and had commoners make up the rest of their group.

I kept looking around for a spot where I could break the line of sight and launch an ambush, as I was doing so, I saw Dave and Sam off in the distance beating on a solo contestant and making short work of him.

So I decided to see if I could join up with them, we may not be an official team, but if the other groups can gang up on me, I can team up with the boys so we can cover each other’s backs. But just as I took a couple of hops in Dave and Sam’s direction, they got bum-rushed and blindsided by a group of five who were hiding nearby, and before I could do anything, Dave and Sam’s mana shield got deployed and an umpire swooped in to evacuate them from the field.

So once again, I queue up Céline Dion in my head, because I’m All By Myself in this battle.

After a few more hops, I spotted a good spot to break line of sight, but before that, I took a peek behind me to see what I was up against, and I kind of regretted doing so. Behind me were almost half the contestants jostling with each other like they wanted the first crack at me.

When I got to the spot, I got down to the ground floor and quickly ducked around a few ruined buildings, only to almost run face-first into a solo contestant who was wearing a bright red hooded surcoat over his armor. Seeing the way he was dressed, sparked an idea in my head, and I think I scared the poor lad with the smile I displayed before moving into action.

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Less than a minute later, it was I who was wearing a bright red hooded surcoat over my armor, and there was a sobbing noble kid who had his mana shield deployed, and an umpire was giving me a conflicted look as he picked up the sobbing noble kid.

“What? Nowhere in the rules say I could not disarm or disrobe my opponents before I dispatched them.” I said in a hushed voice to the umpire, he just shook his head as he jumped away with the noble kid.

The moment I made sure my armor was properly covered, I repositioned to stash my spear somewhere safe, it was too reconizable, and that was what I was avoiding at the moment.

As I slinked from cover to cover, I took out a cloth that was meant to clean my weapons and armor and used it as an impromptu face mask to obscure the bottom half of my face, hopefully, I am not recognizable at first sight.

Soon enough, the first test of my disguise is upon me as a group of five comes to the street I am in and they find me standing there with my sword in hand and ready for action, “You seen Luke Ironcrest come by around here?” one of them asks.

“I don't know, I just saw a flash of movement and was chasing it down this street when I ran into you guys.” I replied.

The leader, a noble from the looks of it, converses with his team and I pick up from one of the team members, “Sounds like the bounty is close by, do we split up and search?”

The noble brat shakes his head, and says, “No, from what I have seen and heard, Ironcrest is strong, if we split up we will not be able to take him, we will have better luck waiting for the other teams to flush him out and hopefully we can swoop in for the killing blow when the fighting starts.” the noble brat then turns to me, gives me a nod and leads his team down the street.

Well, sounds like someone put a bounty on me, and now that I got a disguise on, it is the perfect time to do some snooping and sow some chaos.

Soon, I hear more boots coming in my direction and I make myself look busy searching for the illusive Luke Ironcrest.

As I was “searching” for myself, I looked at my pursuers. As they spread out, the teams kept a safe distance and a weary eye on each. After a few minutes passed and my likeness was nowhere in sight, some of the groups got back to business and started eliminating the competition, and I thought it was time to do the same.

I wondered about, picking off some solo contestants or those who paired off, as for groups of three or more, I was rather hesitant to do so in case I was unable to finish them off fast enough and draw attention to myself.

Other than that, I was stalking some of the bigger groups and eavesdropping on their conversations in case there was any news of who placed a bounty on me, and as luck might have it, while I was hiding from a group of five that was walking by, I heard the group talking.

“Man… is this bounty even worth it? It's just a minor favor.” one of the boys said.

“Do you even know what a minor favor is? We are all commoners, so you must think about it, a noble’s definition of minor and our definition of minor are worlds apart, a noble’s minor favor could turn ours and our families' lives around for the better.” a second boy said.

“That Berkeley better be good for it, otherwise we are wasting time hunting down one target while we could be fighting and showing off.” a third boy said.

“He’s good for it, nobles cherish their name and their word almost as much as they do gold, it would do them no good tarnishing their own reputation by going back on their word, especially when that Berkeley is the house’s heir.” the second boy said as they gradually went out of my hearing range.

So… it is a fucking Berkeley that is causing me trouble, but this time it is not fucking Oswald, but his big brother that is in the last year of higher education. What was that prick’s name again? Edd something… right, Edmund.

Is he trying to get me crushed before I can show off my fighting prowess? If that's the case, fuck that guy! I am going to clear house just to spite him!