Unsealing Emptiness

While everyone eyed each other suspiciously, they were right in the middle of everyone.

Blaze and Raven could take care of themselves but the same couldn’t be said for the man with sickly appearances named Zier.

One look around him and Zier immediately understood that he was the weakest one here.

“Fuck me sideways...”

. . .

Although no one could follow Ozul and the Sovereign’s fight, they could see that they were on roughly the same level.

.....

Except for the Rank-10 Mages outside the barriers, no one had ever seen a battle of Rank-10 individuals before, but compared to battles of Rank-9 Mages, this could go on for months!

Even if the barrier shrank at the rate of a turtle, it would still take less than two days to shrink the area to the point where they would inevitably become casualties in Ozul and the Sovereign’s fight.

Taking all of this into account, everyone realized that the only sure way to leave this place alive was to have 8 more people die as soon as possible.

Without a doubt, the remaining survivors had gained enough experience to be free of even the slightest apprehension. It was either others or them.

Finding themselves in the middle of this conflict, Raven glanced at Blaze after which both comically stared at Zier and sighed at the same time. Ozul did say that this man had saved their lives...

“GHA! I was waiting for this!” came a shout from a man with a savage appearance.

“Sh*t! Does he not even care about me!?” murmured Maura from behind as she couldn’t stop Berk from running off on his own.

Defeating these two ‘stars’ of the previous tournament was his first step into setting up a name for himself.

Feeling the burning Mana rapidly approaching them from the side, the duo couldn’t help but sharply turn their heads towards what now looked like a ball of fire the size of a man shooting right at them.

Blaze wasted no moment as he raged his Mana laced with the highest quality of Ice Element this continent had ever seen against the ‘ball of fire’.

The hot and icy cold Mana collided with each other first with the clear victory of the Ice Element.

The chilly breeze that followed right after was the only proof that was needed.

That breeze seemed to be a signal of some sorts as Mana fluctuations rose from all over the area. Everyone simultaneously joined the fray to save their own lives... by killing others.

-7 Left-

A whisper followed its way in the barrier and all over the Neutral City with the sharp winds, reaching all ears.

The girl standing next to another suddenly had blood coming from her nostrils before she threw up blood and fell on the ground. Behind her, the other girl glanced at the corpse coldly and murmured, “It was either you or me.”

. . .

Outside the barrier, the guardians of those still alive inside the barrier spectated this abrupt battle anxiously.

On the other hand, those who had already confirmed that their participant had died were more interested in the battle of Ozul and the Rank-10 Beast.

“Sooner or later that boy is going to lose,” an old man gave his opinion as he sagely stroked his white beard.

“Want to make a bet?”

The old man was quickly going to agree but just when he noticed who had spoken, he immediately forced his mouth shut.

It was Alver Ashin, the current head of the Ashin family. Although the old man was also a Rank-9 Mage, his status couldn’t be compared with that of Alver’s, so he had to give him some face.

“What makes you so sure, Alver? Surely even you know that Rank-10 Mages can never hope to defeat a Beast of the same Rank alone.”

The old man had noticed the confident glint flashing past Alver’s eyes, so he couldn’t help but be curious.

“Look again, old man. Seems like age is finally catching up to you,” was the reply he received.

Rather than becoming enraged, the old man ignored the obvious taunt and returned his attention to the battle, only to become even more perplexed.

The others also looked confusedly at Alver. All except for the three Rank-10 Mages and only a few other Mages.

“You’re well aware of how destructive a fight between Rank-9 Mages can be. Look at them; a battle between something beyond our grasp, “Alver hinted, and almost everyone’s eyes widened as realization dawned on them one by one.

“He is correct. Even if it had been a fight between Rank-9 Mages, this entire area would have been engulfed in flames, but a battle between Rank-10 entities is this peaceful?”

“What a monster that man is! To be able to steer a Rank-10 Beast away from others while dealing with an onslaught of attacks...”

Unlike before, now many outside the barrier started feeling a little grateful to this mysterious leader of the Three-Eyed Strangers.

“Wasn’t he previously one of the youngest Rank-9 Mages? He’s scarier than the Beast he’s fighting, “another person remarked. It reminded everyone how careless they had been because they weren’t even aware that an individual far exceeding the Rank-10 Mages was always right in front of them.

Those who weren’t exactly on friendly terms with the Three-Eyed Strangers were the most worried. After all, while their efforts had been futile, they had still tried to suppress the rising organization in the past.

All the people affiliated with the Church of Light were the most worried. The look on Lammert’s face, as if he’d swallowed a frog, was enough for them to realize they couldn’t rely on him any longer.

They were desperate because no one knew what that man would do if he defeated that Rank-10 Beast. It wasn’t out of the question for him to consider taking over the entire continent!

For now, though, nothing was certain...

. . .

Inside the barrier, while most of the people were out for each other’s blood, very few were able to calm their nerves and control their emotions.

Fear of death hadn’t made everyone irrational.

Behind a small slope stood the unsightly appearance of a man and a woman. Their battle scars were recent and one could make a guess that even though they were well and alive, that previous battle hadn’t ended how they wanted.

The woman in question was Sarah, the daughter of the late Emperor Luthien of the Silverbird Kingdom while the man beside her was Aakal from the Mercenary Guild!

It was only them here. Irene who was with Sarah and Cort who had come with Aakal were nowhere to be seen.

“You have to focus here. What’s done is done,” consoled Aakal as he held Sarah’s hand tightly.

His own eyes betrayed his masking emotions, making it apparent that he wasn’t much better off than Sarah.

Although Sarah had a lot to say, and she even parted her lips to say something but in the end, she wasn’t able to utter a single word. It was as if something had stuck in her throat and she just couldn’t get it out no matter what.

A few moments later, she resolutely nodded her head and was ready to face the current predicament.

Glancing at that firm hand, it was only yesterday when Irene and she had stumbled upon these two men. And now Irene was no longer with her, but this total stranger was able to comfort her to this extent.

She didn’t know why but she felt confident in dealing with this situation even though everything had turned upside down in a single day.

-6 Left-

Another whisper followed the winds as a man was pierced right through his abdomen by two men at the same time!

He didn’t even have the time to scream his lungs out in pain when an electric bolt had charred his head off right after!

This bone-chilling scene was only noticed by the spectators outside the barrier; everyone inside had no leisure time to express their horror at the cruel sight.

The new announcement only added to the fire. People were now more eager than ever to kill anyone they could!

Chaos raged on both ends of the barrier.

On this side, people fought like Beasts, and on the other side, the Beast fought with emotions and techniques more similar to humans. This created an ironic picture of reality only for a single old man to admire from high above the ground.

Ozul and the Sovereign kept trading blows after blows but there was no clear victor. Even Old Gu couldn’t tell who would win if they were given enough time.

After the initial wound, the Sovereign was already at a slight disadvantage, but Ozul still had it hard because he had to make sure that their battle didn’t move all the way over to the other corner.

He didn’t care about the rest, but Raven and Blaze were both there. He couldn’t just let them die.

With both of them being at a disadvantage, they were back to square one. No one seemed to have an upper hand for now.

“Gha! ”

Another torrent of fire shot from the Sovereign’s tail; aimed directly at Ozul.

Ozul was forced to retreat not before he attacked from the side.

‘I can keep this up for months... the only problem is that she can do the same.’

He sighed in his heart as he glanced around him to look for some opportunity.

The Sovereign didn’t leave a single opening in her defense after the first initial exchanges. She was a genius in this regard to have adapted so quickly to his unusual pattern.

Now she didn’t rely on her Mana sensing abilities to predict his attack, any other Beast would have kept trying and ended up only getting enraged and losing control over the frustration.

Just then, Ozul’s eyes landed on something that made him almost pause midair which would have been fine if there wasn’t a Rank-10 Beast coming for his light the moment he let his guard down!

‘And of course, she is watching the show...’

Ozul was sure he had just seen Jinx watching his fight with her ever-indifferent attitude.

-5 Left-

.....