Scarlet

After another hour and ten or so minutes, enough time for a break and the rest of the sixth round battles, we all find ourselves sent back to the center of the stadium again, but this time we’re on a large tower sticking out of the mist. And we’re not alone as there are four other towers, each with the other teams all sticking out of the mist what must be three kilometers away from each other, with the five towers standing in a pentagon formation.

Almost immediately, the crowd begins to shout, their voices echoing out over the entire field as Scott begins to float down from the commentator’s booth to half midair at the center of the stadium.

The man raises a fist into the air and the crowd grows even louder in volume, only for his voice to overshadow them as he shouts, “Is everyone ready for the finals!!!” and is met by an incredible roar from the audience before he can even finish speaking. “Then let. Us. Begin!!!!”

The towers we’re on all suddenly expand a bit to resemble the towers we’ve been fighting in during the tournament, then the mist beneath us clears to reveal a large forest with a massive clearing in between each of the towers, making a wide open area for us to fight and go between towers. Meanwhile the outer edges where the stage is filled with forests is a perfect place to sneak attack others.

“This round will have different rules!” Scott shouts, his voice echoing through the arena despite the slowly fading view of the stadium itself and the dimming sounds of the crowd. “Unlike the other rounds, all you have to do for this one is survive. You do not have to destroy the other tower cores or even kill any other students. The last team with even a single member surviving at the end will be the winner. And before you go thinking you can just abandon your tower, your core counts as an instant loss if it is broken, just like the other rounds!”

So it’s not really much different at all. Just slightly adjusted to fit five teams instead of one.

“Now, begin!!” he shouts again, making a pressure that I didn’t even realize was here vanish as I stumble slightly in surprise.

Looks like they were keeping us locked in place as he explained that.

“Scarlet,” Michael says, bringing my attention to him, “keep us updated on anyone who may be approaching the tower, alright?” Then after seeing me nod my head, he turns to Belle and says, “Belle, would it be possible to put a ward on each of the entryways? A simple one to block entry. It doesn’t have to be that powerful. Just strong enough to hold the enemies for, say, ten seconds?”

Belle nods as well, and I quickly realize that Michael has a plan.

“What’s the plan?” I ask, but he just says, “Wait a minute, I need to prepare things first. Then I’ll explain.”

I raise a brow, only to shrug.

Let’s see how this plan works.

The Forest in the Arena

Jordan was never very good at making friends. The only thing he felt he was good at was staying out of sight. And while his team disagreed with that line of thinking, they did at least agree that he was great at staying out of sight.

But now he can’t help but wonder if he will actually be able to stay out of sight during this particular mission.

Or out of earshot…

Jordan shakes his head at the thought, continuing through the forest with his shadow magic covering his tracks, his sounds, his smells, and anything else that could be used to find him. Nothing short of a Class II Guardian or demon should be able to hear him, much less see him now.

Or at least, that’s what Jordan hopes as he sprints through the trees in the direction of the tower belonging to the Lion’s Heart team.

The only reason Jordan is even here is because Ace – the captain of his team – can’t seem to bring himself to believe that the Scarlet Wolf really has two Tier A capabilities. And that even if she did, he’s still certain that she won’t be able to find Jordan until he’s already in their tower.

If he’s wrong, I swear I’m going to wring his neck in his sleep.

After Jordan reaches the tower, he frowns slightly at the ward covering the entrance. He then goes around the tower, only to find a similar ward at every other entrance before looking up at a window that isn’t warded but is also sitting over a dozen meters above the ground.

Looks like Ace was at least right in that they weren’t able to prepare any detection traps. This team just isn’t set up to deal with a stealth focused adversary when their wolf isn’t able to detect them.

Jordan jumps onto the wall, shadows still covering his movements in the dead of night that the final round is set place in as he climbs up to the window and jumps through, barely avoiding being caught by one of the Last Stand team members – a girl he believed went by the title of Inferno.

The man manages to keep his cool and sprint up the stairs of the tower while narrowing his eyes slightly, wondering why it’s slightly hard to see here. But he puts that to the back of his mind as he runs. And eventually he reaches the fourth floor of the tower, which is laid out in a large circular room.

There he finds the Druid summoning several creatures with his magic, and for a single instant, Jordan considers assassinating the man here and now. But he eventually decides against it on account of being caught by the wolf if he were to try.

He slowly makes his way around the room, gradually feeling a little bit tired while doing so.

Why do I feel so sluggish…

Jordan shakes his head at the thought, pushing through anyways with the thought of not wanting to be caught driving him onwards.

Until he makes it to the top of the stairs at the fifth floor and finds his head beginning to droop with strange tingling sensations running across his skin, making him finally realize that something’s wrong. And right after he realizes it, he hears a snapping sound – like someone had just snapped their fingers – following which a burning sensation runs across his skin, many parts of it currently starting to flake off and turn black. But to make matters worse, the blood revealed beneath starts to visibly bubble, and he can’t help but let out a blood curdling scream of pain as he falls onto his knees, his magic no longer covering him.

And only seconds later, without even looking up, he senses a presence stop right in front of him.

Damned Ace…

Then everything goes black, the last thing he manages to see being the sight of a familiar wolf eared girl as she raises him by the neck before crushing his neck.