Arthur sprinted across the uneven terrain and leapt from branch to branch like a shadow. It had been five minutes since he’d left Fiora’s disqualified team behind, and finally noticed his team ahead.

He stopped at the edge of a clearing. Below, his teammates were in the middle of a fight against a pack of wolves, at least a dozen of them. Most of them were early D-Rank but three were peak D-Rank beasts.

He didn’t intervene, he didn’t need to.

Finn zipped across the field like a blur, using wind-enhanced movement technique to avoid incoming claws while slashing with blades of compressed air. Sophia stayed at the edge, sending shockwaves of wind bursts to disorient the wolves’ formation.

Eva was on the frontline, using thick vines and earth spikes to slow them down, while Natalya froze several of them in their tracks. Leon stood in the center, his body surrounded with light, shielding the others while punching away wolves that got too close with glowing fists.

Within two minutes, the fight was over.

The last wolf collapsed with a groan, as the team stepped forward to collect the points from the subdued beasts using their tokens, Arthur dropped silently into the clearing in front of them.

Thud.

Finn was the first to react.

“Yo! Arthur!” he grinned, waving casually. “I thought you forgot we existed, man!”

Arthur replied with a faint smile. “Hello to you too.”

He looked around the group, his eyes scanning everyone for injuries before settling on Eva and Leon. “Were you guys attacked by any teams?”

Eva blinked at the question, clearly surprised. “You were attacked too?” she asked.

Arthur nodded. “Yeah, two groups were following me and tried to attack.”

“Tried,” Finn echoed with a grin. “Lemme guess. Didn’t work out too well for them?”

Arthur gave a small shrug. “Let’s just say they won’t be collecting any more points in this tournament.”

Leon’s expression grew serious. “It’s Damien Raventhal. We got jumped too, it wasn’t random, he’s clearly targeting our academy. He seems to want revenge for what happened in the previous tournament.”

Arthur murmured. “I figured so.”

Arthur paused for a second and continued, “We should stick together from now on.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. After what they’d been through, no one needed convincing.

With their team restored, they moved as one. They resumed their hunting, but with a more casual pace now, since they were already ahead of other teams in terms of points.

Whenever they encountered some other teams, they kept their guard up. One group tried to ambush them. But they didn’t last five minutes before being wrapped in vines, encased in ice, or punched into unconsciousness.

Arthur didn’t even need to fight that time, he was quite surprised at his team’s growth.

The rest of the ten-hour round passed steadily, and as the sun began to dip behind the trees, a tournament staff arrived in front of them.

A young man in blue robes appeared hovering above the trees. “Time is up,” he called, his voice magically amplified. “Follow me.”

Their team followed the staff as he guided them out of the forest. They passed through a massive gate of the stone wall that surrounded the forest. Once through, the team found themselves back in the massive open field where the King’s Advisor had delivered his speech earlier that morning.

A few teams were already there. Some looked battered, exhausted, and some appeared victorious.

After that they saw other teams arrive there one by one. As the last team arrived, Arthur scanned the field. “There should’ve been two hundred teams,” he muttered. “But I’m only counting around one-fifty. It seems many other teams also got disqualified.”

Leon nodded grimly. “Yeah. Guess it’s easier to eliminate competition than to collect a huge amount of points.”

Finn scoffed, “Humph, despicable. If they’ve got the capability, why not play fair?”

Just then, from the opposite side of the field, the teams from the senior year division began to arrive.

They walked with a different air about them. Their uniforms were a little more worn, and their expressions calmer. Many of them carried large weapons slung across their backs, or wore intricate magic tools on their arms and belts.

“They’re strong…” Natalya murmured.

“Yeah,” Sophia agreed, eyes narrowing. “These guys aren’t pushovers.”

Arthur didn’t say anything, but his eyes followed one group in particular, a tall boy with red hair, flanked by two mages, an archer, a swordswoman, and a few others all of whom radiated power.

…

The field buzzed with the conversations among different groups, everyone already knew their position in the tournament through their rank displayed on the token. Some even openly admitted their rank and basking in the glory and adoration of others.

Arthur stood with his team at one corner, his eyes fixed on one group in particular.

Damien Raventhal had just entered the field.

His presence was impossible to miss. Clad in obsidian black robes lined with silver runes, the tall red-haired young man walked like he owned the place. His expression was blank, bordering on bored, but his eyes shone with arrogant confidence, his team following behind him.

As they passed Arthur’s group, Damien paused mid-step.

He looked toward them, recognition with a flicker of surprise flashing across his face.

“Well… well…” he said slowly, turning fully toward them. “Aren’t you all resilient little cockroaches?”

Arthur remained silent, staring at him without expression.

Damien’s brows lowered. “You’re not supposed to be here,” he said flatly, “How are you not disqualified?”

Arthur shrugged. “Some pests tried.” He tilted his head slightly. “We eliminated them instead.”

Damien’s face twitched.

“You…!” he gritted his teeth, voice tightening with restrained fury, but Arthur raised a brow calmly.

Leon took half a step forward, his aura subtly rising, but Arthur gave him a brief glance, indicating he can handle this.

Damien restrained his anger and a smile tugged at his lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I underestimated you, you guys are really better than those pathetic seniors of yours,” he said. “Don’t worry though, I won’t make the same mistake twice.”

“If you have the guts,” Arthur replied. “Why don’t you come at me yourself.”

Damien’s eyes narrowed, and suddenly, pressure erupted from his body.

A wave of mana flared out from his body, thick with aggression. His teammates straightened as well, the archer’s fingers twitching toward his bowstring. The swordswoman’s hand slid to the hilt of her blade.

Arthur didn’t budge, his expression didn’t change. Instead, a pulse of invisible energy rippled around him, a telekinetic hold locking onto Damien like an unseen clamp.

The moment it touched him, Damien’s expression stiffened. His shoulders tensed, and his breath started to hitch, as he took a step back.

The pressure from both of them clashed and made the grass beneath their feet flattened, and the gravel to tremble.

…

A few moments ago.

Around the field, conversations had started to quieten as Damien and Arthur clashed with each other.

“Wait… is that Damien Raventhal?” a student near the edge of the crowd whispered to his teammate, his eyes wide.

“Yeah, the duke’s son, the one who almost became Champion last tournament.”

“Didn’t he get imprisoned for beating someone to death?” another added in a hushed tone.

A few senior year students leaned closer, sensing the rising tension between the two groups.

“Who’s the guy in front of him?” a third-year from a different academy asked, frowning as he studied Arthur.

“Not sure,” someone answered. “I think he’s from Velcrest Academy. The student who died at Damien’s hands was also a student of the same academy.”

“Oh, that explains the conflict.” one scoffed. “But there’s no way a rookie should be able to stand up to Damien like that…”

The words died in his throat as Damien released his aura… and Arthur didn’t move an inch.

“…What the hell?”

“Why isn’t he affected?” someone gasped.

Then, before the spectators could even process the tension, a new pressure flooded the space. It wasn’t flashy but was invisible and suffocating.

Students around watched in awe, as they saw Damien stagger back, his stance briefly faltering under the crushing grip of Arthur’s invisible hold.

“Did Damien… just lose the clash?” a fourth-year student who was from the same academy as Damien said, sounding like he was witnessing something absurd.

“I’ve never seen anyone make Damien back off like that.” another commented.

Even a few instructors, standing along the perimeter with arms folded, raised their brows.

One muttered under his breath, “Now this is getting interesting…Well, we should stop this now before it gets messy.” And walked towards Arthur and Damien.

…

Finn blinked. “Uhhh… should we be worried?”

“Nope,” Leon muttered. “Just… don’t move.”

Arthur tightened the telekinetic grip around Damien, and his body was subtly pressed down.

The swordswoman behind him, sensing something was wrong, drew her blade halfway from its sheath.

Arthur’s eyes flicked toward her.

But before anything else could happen…

“HEY!” a sharp voice rang out across the field.

Everyone turned as a staff member in blue robes strode quickly toward them.

His eyes narrowed as he approached. “What’s going on over there? This isn’t a place for you to cause trouble!”

The moment the staff appeared, Arthur released his hold on Damien.

The moment the pressure vanished, Damien straightened with a gasp, exhaling slowly and glaring at Arthur with eyes full of malice.

“Hmph,” he said coldly. “This isn’t over.”

Damien stared at him for a long moment… then turned, his cloak billowing behind him as he walked away. His team followed him, the swordswoman still glancing back with narrowed eyes.

As the staff member returned to what he was doing after giving them a warning, Finn leaned toward Arthur and snickered, “Man, that was so satisfying to watch.”

Leon snorted. “He did not expect that outcome.”

Eva walked up beside him. “That was reckless.” she said, but there was no reprimand in her tone.

Arthur shrugged. “I already warned him, now it depends on him what he will do.”

And just like that, the tension passed.

***

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