I am not exactly sure what was going on, but suddenly many barriers appeared around Fanmari and the announcer blocking my attacks. And before I could even get a grip on the situation, I was suddenly surrounded by many people. Each one had a sword drawn and were radiating killing intent.

“What do you all want!?” I yelled in anger. Yes, I was officially mad. I had not done anything that deserved to be targeted like this. I know I was stepping on a few toes but did I really deserve to be treated like I was some kind of huge criminal?

Seeing myself being surrounded on all sides, I extended my wings and intended to fly away up into the air, but before I could, a ten layered barrier suddenly surrounded my stage. Over thirty people of what looked to be highly skilled fighters stood in front of me.

“Faith!” I heard yelling behind me. It was Runa and Sei. It seemed they had run over. But they were trapped on the outside of the barrier. Unless someone can break the barriers, there was no way this was going to end well.-.I took a deep breath before letting it out as I watched the people edging toward me cautiously. My eyes lit up as I whispered: “Confusion mist!”

A dense fog began to fill the stage. With my actions partially hidden, I took this chance to launch my attack. With my sword drawn, I ran into the fog and quickly found my first target. My sword flew through the air but slammed into something hard, causing my hand to shake due to the vibration. I looked up to see the man smiling at me with a wide grin and a semi transparent barrier surrounding his body. At this moment, I really wanted to curse!

I quickly retreated, but as I did, a shadow formed in the fog, causing me to lean back just in time to see a cold metal blade flying over my face. I ended up doing a backflip past the person only to have to quickly stick up another barrier with three layers as a clanging sound was heard. Looked down on the ground to see a bunch of needles lying on the ground surrounding me, causing my brow to furrow even more.

While confusion mist was blocking my eyesight as well, it was at least blocking some of theirs too. I quickly buffed myself with wind rush and colossal strength. I did a few more backflips to make some distance before surrounding myself with ice wall. I have a feeling these people are trying to dry up my mana, but sadly for them, my mana was infinite!

But I also had attacks that did not use mana either. With the ice wall blocking their view of me, I took a deep breath and held back the roar that was about to come out of my mouth as a stream of fire shot forward, instantly melting the ice in front of me and shooting across the battle stage.This was no ordinary fire but pure dragonic fire breath. I turned my head left and right, filling the stage with my flames. I could hear some screams of agony as my flame hit some of the attackers. This was my first time actually using my flame breath in battle. But I had no choice. Each one of these attackers was definitely a professional, a step above a common soldier. If I did not turn it up a notch, then I would be dead for sure. One minor slip up means death for me. And I do not wish to die anytime soon.

My fire breath slowly came to an end as I looked across the stage. The fog has begun to dissipate. What was left in front of me were ten burnt corpses and a group of people hiding behind multi layered barriers. I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed that my attack was actually blocked. While I did kill a few of them, there were still too many left.

As I was contemplating my next move, my thoughts were interrupted when I heard a loud yell coming from above. “IIIIIIII ammm Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!”

<strong>*Boom!*</strong>

The stage was suddenly hit with what looked like a talking sledgehammer with ears. “Owe, my butt!”

“You idiot, I told you not to try to dive down like that!” I heard another voice, this one was male.

As the dust settled, I saw a tall rabbit girl and another beastkin, a young boy with cat ears and two tails. But now that I looked at him, it seems I have seen him before. If I am right he was the beastkin with the hood on that I saw fighting. As I was trying to figure out if these newcomers were friends or foe, the young cat boy turned and looked at me. “What are you standing around for? Hurry up and get into battle position!”

“Huh? Oh yes!” I yelled out on instinct as I got ready for battle.

“To think the Kingdom of Lodina was here.” A voice came from above this time, one I knew well. I looked up to see Sir Derek holding Sei and Runa like luggage as he dropped down from the sky. He landed so quietly on the ground that you would not think he had dropped down from up high. He dropped the two in his hands and turned to me with a big grin. “Reinforcements are here. Also, don’t worry about the others. Thurul and Gesel, along with some idiot going on about being a hero, are protecting the others. But to think half the contestants were all assassins. But now the numbers should be even by a little, no?”

“Old man from the human kingdom, can you shut your trap? We are in the middle of a battle!” The young cat boy yelled out as he glared at Sir Derek.

“Haha! I guess you are right. Now then. Let’s take out the trash, shall we?” Sir Derek suddenly pulled a huge sword out of thin air and rested it on his shoulder as he looked at the assassins in front of him. “If you wish to die, step forward. This old man will play with you all.”