Chapter 235: The Scorched Run
[Arena.]
The colossal stadium was a cauldron of noise. High above the stands, suspended on a levitating platform of solid light, the flamboyant commentator Davy, opened his mouth:
"Wow! That was a good round!!" Davy said with a small smile, his magically enhanced voice reverberating all over the arena, shaking the very banners of the Sword, Dragon, and Eagle Empires.
"Ok everyone, our contestants made it to the second round! So now, I will explain the rules!" He continued, his voice echoing through the spatial relays, reaching the students waiting in the designated drop zones in the southern region.
"First rule!! Anyone above level 249 can’t participate in this round!!" He said, throwing his hand out dramatically.
".....?!!"
His words struck the arena like a physical blow, instantly shocking the whole Audience. In the history of the system, level caps were rarely enforced mid-tournament.
"What is this?" A man yelled in disbelief from the Sword Empire’s seating block, slamming his fist against the railing.
"Yes!! This isn’t the first glory flag competition, then why did the rules changed this round?!" A woman added, her voice shrill with indignation.
In the VIP section, a seasoned veteran narrowed his eyes at the holographic readouts. "There seems to be more to this," the old man muttered with a frown, sensing the political maneuvers behind the sudden intervention.
"Calm down everyone! We are just making things fair for the other students!!!" Davy yelled, increasing the energy input to his voice, his words washing over the crowd and silencing the whole Arena.
Above him, the huge screen lit up. It replayed a terrifying, compressed montage of the first round’s anomalies: first, it showed the exact moment Mirabella wiped out the colossal monster tide on the hill with devastating ease, and then it cut to Jessica, eyes glowing with energy, as she summoned a Beast and wiped out one-third of a dense forest in a single attack.
"These two students are simply too overpowered!! If these two join the second round, do you think the other students will stand a chance?!!" He yelled again, pointing at the frozen images of the two girls.
SILENCE...
The truth of the images hung heavily in the air. No matter how the audience thinks about it, the commentator’s words held undeniable meaning. The scaling was broken. If Mirabella and Jessica joined the second round, it would be too chaotic, a localized apocalypse. A whole team might even get wiped out by the sheer collateral damage—by ’the team,’ everyone knew they were referring to the Eagle Academy’s students, who lacked such monstrous outliers and had already lost one member.
Davy nodded at their collective silence, satisfied that the logic had landed. "This is why this first rule is added," he said, and seeing no further violent disagreement from the audience, he continued:
"As for the second rule, the teams aren’t allowed to use any weapons, you are only allowed to use your skills and abilities!! You aren’t allowed to draw any weapon." He added.
In the Audience, Regina leaned back and frowned: ’These rules seems to be targeted on all the students from the sword and dragon academies... The competition board must have noticed all their legendary class weapons, so this rule was added. But each of them are allowed to use their abilities.’ She brushed a strand of hair from her face and chuckled lightly, her mind already calculating the odds:
’Mirabella can’t join this round, but Hitachi is more than enough,’ she smiled, confident in Hitachi’s inherent abilities that didn’t rely strictly on the steel in his hand.
"Now, for the third rule..." Davy’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper that somehow echoed everywhere. "The first student who dropped their flag at the finish line wins... Doing this gives more points."
He paused, letting the holographic screen project the point multipliers.
"Take note students, If you take down a student from any academy, you gain 20% of their total points which was made in the first round! If you take down the whole team of five, you gain 100% of all their points!"
"...?!"
A collective gasp went up. This wasn’t just a race; it was a sanctioned hunt.
"Oh!! Remember, there will be traps on the way, so be careful. Remember, you can also die in the round, so protect yourselves and struck your flags on the finish line!! Good luck!!!" He said, with a final, booming cheer.
Behind him, the massive screen turned pitch dark, absorbing the light, then lit up again in a blinding flash of yellow, showing a sprawling, sun-baked desert.
____
[Southern Region - Hell Desert.]
The academies’ students moved their gaze on their surroundings. They were stranded in a wasteland of shifting, jagged dunes. It was the Hell Desert, a high-level zone known for spontaneous energy-storms and hidden sand-krakens. As far as the eyes could see, there was only sand baking under a merciless, oversized sun.
Mirabella, completely unfazed by the temperature, stared at the floating holographic sign hovering before them. It was an ethereal blue arrow, rigidly pointing ahead into the distortion of the heat waves.
"Seems you guys will be going ahead," she said, her voice calm as she accepted her forced benching, looking over her shoulder at her team.
"Captain, who will take your place?" Hitachi asked, turning his head toward Mirabella. Even without his celestial eyes, his spiritual perception felt the gap her absence would leave in their formation.
"Carl will take my place," Mirabella answered without hesitation.
Her declaration caused the group to turn towards Carl. The young assassin blinked, the weight of the responsibility suddenly crashing onto his shoulders. He didn’t have the raw stats of the others, but his newly acquired Soul-Wind Daggers and his agility made him the perfect flag-bearer in a weaponless sprint.
Mirabella opened her palm, and a pulse of light materialized. The physical team flag appeared, its fabric hanging limp in the still, hot air.
"Carl will lead the way, Hitachi, Kent, Austin and Rose; four of you will defend him... Understand?" Mirabella instructed, her tone brooking no argument. She was weaving a protective shell of raw power around their runner.
The four nodded their heads in understanding, shifting into a diamond formation around Carl, their stances lowering as they prepared to rely purely on their internal energy reserves and skill trees.
"Remember, this isn’t a one vs one battle. If you are itching for that battle, wait still the fourth round... This round is a team match, so work as a team." She turned around, staring at the blurry, heat-hazed horizon where the finish line supposedly lay.
"Don’t think about attacking, just keep running ahead still you reach the finish round..." She looked up, her eyes locking onto the massive, fiery numbers of the system timer projecting in the sky.
[Ten seconds More.]
"Five of you, get ready," she commanded.
She gracefully moved out of the way, retreating to the designated safe zone, standing with the other benched or lower-level members: Aurelia, Precious, David, and Casey.
They all watched the timer, the tension pulling taut like a bowstring. The numbers ticked down, echoing in their minds.
Three.
Two.
One.
And the moment it reached Zero, the five shot forward like rockets. Kicking up massive plumes of scorched sand, they ran into the desert with insane speed, their silhouettes quickly shrinking against the vastness of the dunes.
"Will they win?" Casey asked worriedly, her hands clasped tightly together as she watched them vanish into the heat distortion.
"We can only hope," Mirabella answered her, her eyes narrowed as she scanned the distant sands for any sign of a trap.
The four bench-warmers looked at one another, the reality of the death-match rules settling over them, and swallowed fearfully.