——With one foot forward to step into the office, Kira finally arrived late in the afternoon. “——Have they arrived yet?!”Rushing in with her rugged breathing, Kira held into the rails of the stairs. At the office desks, there were three people who she could see. Evan, Saeko, and Hina who was busy playing games on their laptop.All three of them looked at Kira as soon as she spoke except Hina looking back at her laptop after. The office was almost complete once again, but one person was missing.“Where is Kurumi?”She was the first one that Kira had wanted to talk to. She was the most versatile mage in them, and thus, her knowledge about the issue at hand would be vital for it.“She went upstairs. To the training room. The usual, I guess?”Saeko and Evan only looked at each other as they worked on a couple of documents beside each other's desks, the one who would respond to Kira was Hina who was still preoccupied with her games. “What about the twin? Did they leave their room yet?”
——Back in Magi's room, there was only one source of light in his room. A light that projected multiple red screens, a succession of failures.“There's nothing. We've simulated everything, but nothing works.”Falling back to his bed, Magi covered his eyes with his arms, exhausted. His face was distinguished with disappointment, seeing how there was no solution to a problem.[These are only simulations. Although we've done over a million of them, this could only mean that your chances are but one over more than a million.]Violet, who observed the simulations closely could only reassure their impossibility. There was no way that their Fusion could happen with stability, nor even prevent it from happening in the worst-case scenario. “So, is this God's saying that it happened because of a coincidence?”As Magi slowly proceeded to accept its impossibility, there was no other choice but to express his frustration by saying something ambiguous. [Do you believe in God, Magi-san?]However, V
“Defending yourself will do nothing!”Repeatedly striking Cian as he tried to block and dodge both of her melees and ranged magic attacks, Kurumi was continuously creating new ways to attack him.Each attack was embued with a different element, fortified by the earth, hastened by wind, sharpened by fire, and frozen by ice. Being limited to one element had brought Cian at a disadvantage, he was both fightings seemingly superior fire magic, and with Ice also on her roster of attacks, she would easily block it with such.He wanted to fight back there was no situation where he could unless he had his pistols, everything would be different. “Did your brother teach you that? To think too much?!”However, just as Cian fell into a trance in his thoughts, he became distracted and allowed Kurumi to slip in a kick from below and between his arms, knocking his chin up. He hardened himself at that moment and so he wasn't immediately knocked out, but it was certain that he was concussed after hi
20 years ago, Teresa had found twins in front of her family's orphanage. They were newly born, and they were also newly abandoned. However, there was a letter inside their baskets, each containing a name that seems to be their name. Their parents weren't as cruel to leave them without a name and a comfy basket, to begin with. It might only mean that they were in danger, that's why they left them somewhere they could describe as safe.At first, Teresa closed the door on them. There were already too many mouths to feed, and the organizations forcing them to keep the children without providing anything but a scarce budget were all limited.She leaned before the door, but soon enough, their cries would be heard through the door, and that was enough for Teresa to change her mind. “Tch! I can't believe this!”There was no way that one of the organizations sent them here. There were no escorts, nor anyone at all. They were just abandoned there. Without a choice, Teresa had reluctantly
——Five hours prior to the tournament starting, the participants were just called to enter the colosseum for preparations. There were a lot of participants that arrived. There were clearly parties that had the same uniform and color schemes to match identities, and as if it was something like a concert, they were all caring about the appearances that made them unique from the others.“Did we really have to don these suits?”Complaining about their getup, Cian who had just arrived pulled on the collar of the tight suit, uncomfortable with his clothes. It was a black suit with a red tie, and to fit such clothes, there was a top hat that was added as if it was the industrial period. “It's only for appearances. You just have to stick with it for a bit. Look at Magi, he's enjoying the clothes.”“——Nonsense. I'm merely admiring how well-made these are. Appearances are important for our objective anyways.”As Kira tried to bear with Cian's nagging, she would point out how Magi would conti
——Moments before the start of the tournament, Magi and Cian's group was guided to a different room. With their belongings checked through a Digitalizer Clearance Device, or DCD, each was then allowed inside the said room.It was an empty room, but below them was a visible magic circle. “First Round is elimination. Eliminate all the other participants until the whole number of participants is down to 300! Friendly fire is allowed in this stage, so good luck, and may your group survive this round.”The guide that led them to the room would salute and bow before them, explaining the rules before they would be sent to the arena. “——Elimination?”The first to ask this was Cian. Out of all the people in the group, it was the twins who were yet to fully understand the tournament. “Yes. It's the first stage where the weak are easily picked off. As long as we stick together and push through the hordes of participants, we can win without any of us getting eliminated.”Kira would face Cian a
“Keep it up! We don't have to be into the offense. Let's keep this at our pace.”“Y-Yeah...”As Kira shouted out to encourage her team, the vanguards were starting to get tired. Magi and Cian were always sent out to take care of anyone that attempted to break their formation, and with that setup, they were practically unbeatable. However, their stamina was not unlimited. Evan can only heal injuries that they would gain over time but not their stamina. “I'll go and substitute for them.”“No. Stay here. I'll go and be the vanguard for now. We need someone who will protect Saeko and Evan.”Right now, Saeko and Evan were the most useful yet weakest in the group. Saeko's abilities were reserved for someone whose magic they cannot counter, while Evan was their warding eye that lets them have a good insight against an enemy. As Kira stepped out to replace Magi and Cian, Vincent would also step out. “You two, get back and get some rest. We still have a lot of participants to take down i
“With only almost less than a hundred remaining participants to be eliminated, the battle has been happening for two hours now! Right now, five groups have been able to maintain their members intact!”Screaming to increase the excitement within the audience of the Colosseum, the host threw in his hands and extended them to cast a spell that spewed bright colors. The end was nearing for the stage and with less than a hundred, it would only take half an hour to be eliminated. “But as we can see, The Red Trackers have seemed to come to a truce with our new contestants, the Hexes! However, it wasn't only them who had teamed up. The Black Skulls have also teamed up with the Vipers! Were they anticipating such an event to happen?!”His words were fast as time became still inside those four groups. The other remaining participants were still fighting against each other in hopes to survive among the hundred. They had already given up on fighting against the groups that seemed too powerful