Jetta stabbed Melisa in the abdomen, she squeezed her blade, but Melisa stabbed her back. She cried in pain as the rusted blade ran through her.

Genuine fear had started to grow in her mind, she had stabbed, hacked and done everything she could to make sure that Melisa stayed back, but it was all in vain. It was like she was already dead and was just running on pure hatred.

Melisa kicked her as she tried to pull her knife, but it didn't come off, Melisa stepped on her stomach and pulled her blade, Jetta screamed as blood flowed from her. She had to make a run for it, she thought as she turned to run, but Melisa grabbed her hair, pulling her back.

She stumbled on the ground from Melissa's sudden pull, she felt her head being lifted with her hair as Melisa slammed her head on the ground, again and again. So she had lost count, her sense of balance, and she was slowly losing consciousness.

“I told you I would take your useless head” Melisa called out, her voice was hoarse, she was not in a good shape either, she had enough strength to drag Jetta to a stump from a fallen tree that had been cut off.

“Any last words?” Melisa asked.

“Yes, go fuck yourself” Jetta replied as she pulled an arrow from her quiver, but before she could even react, Melissa's rusted blade dropped on her neck.

She cried in pain as the blade cut deep into her, she felt Melisa pull out the blade and the sound of the blade cutting the air told her that Melissa had swung again, this time the blade hit even deeper.

By the time Melisa was done with her awful decapitation, Jetta was already dead. Her head laid separated from her body. Her limbs lost strength as she fell over, using the sword as a walking stick, she slowly rose to her feet, she walked back to grab the horn that Jetta had dropped along with her bag.

She grabbed the horn which have now lost it shine, it looked black with the cravings turning red. She slid Jetta's bag over her shoulder and placed both horns inside, and slowly made her way out of the forest.

“It has been thirty minutes since the last bell toll” Ethan told Ivo, he simply sat down flirting with one of the ladies beside him that was dying for his attention.

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“Ivo” he called about to pull him by the shoulder, but he remembered the incident in the room and pulled his hand back, from the corner of his eye he could see catylen walking down towards them.

“Oh shit, Ivo, Ivo seriously” he said shaking him as he turned to him with an annoyed look and then back at the lady. Catylen was already standing in front of them, she realized that she had been standing unnoticed by her fiancé, she cleared her throat to draw his attention.

Ivo turned to her, he grabbed the lady’s hand who sat beside him and kissed it. Ethan knew one thing for sure, He never touched the ladies or anyone in particular, he had only touched him once, that was when they first met and when he did, Ethan could see his eyes grow unfocused like he was somewhere else.

“Catylen” Ivo called out. “I haven't seen you in a while” he added.

“While you were busy flirting around, I had to take my time to recover from my trauma from being ambushed. Not once did you visit me.”

“Oh my apologies, I have been really busy” Ivo replied as he grabbed her hand, rubbing her fingers. “So, do you need something?”

“I want to go home—”

The groans from the crowd drew their attention as Ivo turned to see where the commotion was coming from, he could see Melisa bartered and blooded. She dragged herself slowly toward the examiner.

No one moved to help her, no one tried. The other flag bearer simple avoided her in an attempt to either submit their prize or walk away from the examiners table.

Ivo sighed, his heart burned. He was angry, until catylen cried out that he realized that he was squeezing her hand.

“I'm so sorry” he said letting go of her hand, he turned to Ethan and then her again.

He stood up, “How about we continue this conversation another time” he said but not to her, it was the lady he was flirting with.

Catylen gasped and moved back as Ivo turned to Ethan again, “can you help her?” He asked. Ethan turned to Melisa who was clearly dying and then Ivo.

“You owe me now” he said as they both walked away.

Elvira watched as Melisa crawled her way to the examiner, she was not going to make it. Anger and joy filled her heart, how did she manage to defeat Jetta? But that didn't matter she had ordered the other flag bearers to not help Melisa, or they would have to face her. She was pretty sure that they didn't want to face her.

A figure walked through the gate, no two of them, she couldn't tell yet who they were. They dressed too clean to be flag bearers, they didn't belong there. One of them was oddly familiar, the figure turned to her as she jumped out of her seat.

“Impossible” she called out.

She could hear the king laughing out loud. “Finally, the wolf bears his fangs?” He called out. Ivo threw her a smile and turned back.

He took off his jacket wrapping it around her, this caused more chaos than him walking. What he did was a sign that he has taken Melisa into his family, and she was fit to bear his name.

“Help her” he told Ethan

“Why me?” Ethan asked.

“I have a king to meet” he replied and began to walk towards the king's stand.

“Show off” Ethan said under his breath as he helped the unconscious Melisa throwing his arm over his shoulder pulling her toward the examiner.