I kept up with the momentum. Another, stronger presence soon entered my awareness—someone who must have noticed my first target being taken out. Using Predator’s Veil, I crept closer, both daggers held low and ready. By the time he finally reacted, it was already too late.
Striking from his blind spot, I lashed out in a single fluid motion. First was an impact to the back of the knee, then followed immediately by a precise cut across the shoulder. He collapsed, and moments later, the arena’s protection activated, disqualifying him. That was two down.
I slipped back into the chaos once more. By repeating the same method again and again, I quietly eliminated opponent after opponent, until roughly a dozen enemies had fallen without ever realizing who—or what—had taken them out.
Assassination Art has leveled up.
Basic Dagger/Knife Mastery has leveled up.
Your Dexterity has increased by 1.
Thanks to my double concealment—one from my skill, the other from my cursed coat—I was able to defeat other opponents without ever being seen or noticed. Because of that, I was almost never forced to use Lethal Strike or any other combat skills. Still, that was about to change soon enough.
From behind me, a surge of Sword Aura erupted. The pressure hit first, crawling up my spine a split second before a blade followed. I turned on instinct, crossing both daggers just in time.
Clang!
The impact rang through my arms as Erika’s blade slid off my guard, and the force behind it was far heavier than before. Even with the deflection, I was pushed back several steps, boots scraping against the cracked arena floor. So, this is the power of a Daleth-rank Sword Monarch…
“Are you the one who’s been defeating other contestants left and right?” she asked, pointing a katana straight at me.
“Why don’t you find out?” I smirked.
Although Erika was my friend, I wanted to test her strength now that she had advanced to Daleth rank—especially to see how well I would fare while wielding weapons far less familiar to me. As such, I had no intention of holding back, even if it meant risking her disqualification… or my own, most likely.
“Hmph!”
Seemingly provoked, she charged forward, her katanas flashing as she unleashed a flurry of precise strikes. With Sword Intent and Sword Aura intertwined, which acted as extensions of her will, each swing compressed the space around us, and her movements bore down on me like an insurmountable mountain.
It took everything I had just to slip back into Predator’s Veil and escape her field of vision. As my presence thinned, I quietly circled behind her, the Voidstep Dagger poised as I searched for an opening beneath her guard.
However, she just closed her eyes, as though trying to sense my presence. The moment I activated Lethal Strike at her rear, she reacted instantly. Steel met steel as she knocked my attack aside, her footwork immaculate. A counter followed at once—too fast for me to evade at such a close range.
As her blade was about to slash my face and disqualify me from the tournament, I activated Voidstep—the Voidstep Dagger’s special skill. My body slipped into a half-phased state, and in the next instant, I reappeared five meters away behind her. A faint afterimage lingered where I had been, only to be cleaved apart by her blade before it dissolved into thin air.
Clearly, daggers were the wrong weapons for this fight. Against her reach, technique, and the sheer mastery of the sword she possessed, every exchange forced me onto the defensive. I couldn’t even slip past her guard to land a hit, let alone overpower her. Even with concealment, she tracked my movements through intent alone. She truly was a monstrous genius.
“Oh? You managed to dodge that? Your movements remind me of a certain someone…She squinted her eyes at me, as though trying to pierce through my disguise.
Crap, did she catch on? No, that’s unlikely… After all, I had never shown her that I possessed a magic mask capable of altering my appearance, nor had I ever used these two daggers in front of her before.
Still, I wasn’t completely outmatched. Even with unfamiliar weapons, I could hold my ground and disengage whenever I wished. With my concealment skill active, she wouldn’t be able to pin me down so easily.
Seeing that I had no intention of attacking, Erika adjusted her stance. “Not going to sneak up on me again? Then I’m going to get serious now.”
The moment her words fell, her aura surged outward. Sword Aura and Sword Intent intertwined, no longer restrained. Killing intent flooded the space between us, cold and suffocating—far heavier than anything I had ever felt from her before. It wasn’t a reckless or wild kind of killing intent, but honed and frighteningly focused.
She truly had changed ever since the tenth scenario. Losing all members of her party had carved itself deep into her core, sharpening not just her blade, but her resolve. The air itself seemed to bow beneath her presence as she launched herself toward me.
However, before she could close the distance, a horn blared, and golden circles flared beneath the feet of the remaining contestants.
Moments later, the commentator’s voice boomed across the Grand Colosseum. “Group B, halt! The top eight have been decided!”
Erika froze mid-motion, and I lowered my daggers at the same time. She stared at me for a few seconds before turning away without a word and stepping back among the other victors.
I let out a silent sigh of relief. Had it continued, the fight would not have been easy. Particularly, not when I was limited in weapons and skills while facing her as she was now. Her combat power was no less powerful than Kaela's before her transformation.
Basic Dagger/Knife Mastery has leveled up.
In a fight of this level, increasing the proficiency of skills that were still at the Basic level was remarkably easy. At this rate, I might reach the Intermediate level in Dagger/Knife Mastery by the end of the tournament, though I had no intention of staying in the tournament for that long.
I slipped away from the arena floor, blending back into the spectator seats. The noise swelled the moment I reached the stands—cheers, heated arguments, and the restless buzz of people already speculating about the next round. As I climbed the steps toward my seat, my gaze turned back to the victors still gathered below. Erika was, of course, among them.
Not far from her stood a tall red-haired man with amber eyes and a calm, grounded presence—Ronan of the Crimson Crest. I’d seen him a handful of times around Fantasia, usually surrounded by his core members, always observing more than he spoke. He didn’t carry himself like a brawler or a tyrant. If anything, he felt like the type who survived by carefully weighing risks and striking only when the odds tilted in his favor.
A little farther off stood another somewhat familiar figure that glared at Ronan, flanked by two subordinates moving in tight formation. She was the leader of Black Gale, Karina. I didn’t know her personally, but her reputation had spread quickly after Graham’s fall. She was known for being decisive, calculating, and ruthless when necessary. The fact that both she and two of her subordinates had secured spots in the top eight was something worth noting.
Speaking of which, on the way back to my seat, I noticed a wide section near the inner concourse that hadn’t been there earlier—or rather, hadn’t drawn my attention. Counters lined the area, with clerks loudly calling out odds as crowds clustered thick around floating brackets projected in midair. It was clearly a betting area.
They were no longer taking wagers on the free-for-all stage. Instead, people were already betting on the bracket stage, basing their choices on the winners of Group A and Group B. There were even wagers on who would ultimately become the commander of the Battle of Divine Will, despite the fact that the second-stage brackets hadn’t been finalized yet.
“Interesting.”
This looked like an opportunity to make easy money. Once it became clear who my friends and I would be facing, I could place my bets accordingly. More importantly, I could even bet on myself—since no one understood my true capabilities better than I did. Of course, there was a rule prohibiting contestants from betting on themselves or on their direct opponents. However, that restriction only applied to one’s registered identity. If I placed the bet using my true appearance rather than the Black Phantom identity, there would be no issue at all.
As a matter of fact, I could even rig the bets to my own advantage. If I ended up facing any of my friends, I could simply bet on them and then forfeit the match. This was why there was that rule in the first place—to prevent people from doing what I was planning. While I wasn’t short on soul coins at the moment, this presented an excellent opportunity to accumulate war funds for the Battle of Divine Will.
With that thought in mind, I waited as the next group prepared to enter the arena. When Group C was called, I immediately spotted Michelle and Tuilë among the participants. Several other leaders of Fantasia’s top factions were there as well, but even so, the two of them had no trouble securing places among the top eight once they joined forces.
Michelle’s strength after her class advancement was terrifying. With her Magic Lumberjack class fully unleashed, she turned the battlefield into her domain. Even though the other contestants intentionally targeted her since her face was well known thanks to me, she was able to handle them with ease. Thorny vines erupted from the ground in every direction, binding even Gimmel-rank divine warriors with alarming ease. She advanced nimbly, with each shot taking down an opponent, sometimes several at once, before they could even retaliate.
Tuilë was no less impressive. Her new class, Magic Gear Master, elevated her craftsmanship to an entirely new level. She deployed multiple turrets across the arena, controlling them remotely through her skills alone, no longer needing Mecha Ducks to operate them. Mana-guided turret fire tore through clustered enemies while automated constructs repositioned seamlessly under her command.
Together, they moved like a well-oiled machine. By the time the dust settled, the outcome was obvious and decisive, leaving no doubt that both Michelle and Tuilë were forces to be reckoned with in the coming rounds.
Watching from the stands, I couldn’t help but feel a quiet sense of reassurance. With allies like them, even if I knew that the Battle of Divine Will wouldn’t be easy, at least we wouldn’t be walking into it unprepared.
Soon, the commentator’s voice rang out once more, amplified by magic and carried effortlessly across the Grand Colosseum. “Group C has concluded! The top eight have been determined! Contestants, please clear the arena!”
Cheers erupted as the victors were escorted away, healers and attendants already moving in to retrieve the eliminated. The arena floor remained unrestored—cracked, scorched, and scarred by lingering traces of magic. It seemed a ruined battlefield was simply more entertaining to watch.
“Next up! Group D contestants, make your way to the arena!”
Finally, it was Group D’s turn.
My attention sharpened as the next wave of participants poured onto the arena floor. At first glance, they looked no different from the others—until I saw her. A female wolf therianthrope stood among the crowd with a fierce expression, and she was no ordinary wolf therianthrope. Silver-gray fur covered her arms and tail, catching the light as she grinned with unrestrained excitement.
“K-Kaela…?”
To my surprise, she had actually participated in the tournament.