[Trick's PoV]

THE EVENTS WENT ON SO FAST.

We alerted the Merizem team, led by Tiberion, about what we figured out. We shared with them all what we know. Therefore, Tiberion promised that they will not kill their opponent, which is the Lagos team.

Fast forward to their battles. Tiberion is joined by two of the best members of their marine military group. These are Arram and Ashur. They have been trained by King Suvann himself, and they've proven their worth and loyalty to their kingdom by protecting their home for decades. They may be old enough but they move as fast as Tiberion, as we have witnessed their battles on the first two rounds.

Arram was against Abebi, the eldest of the three sisters of the Lagos team. Unfortunately, Abebi was a hard opponent to beat, knowing that that situation is so much in favor of Arram. The dome was enclosed, which is similar to an aquarium. Arram changed his form into a merman with a sparkling tail. However, Abebi used her magic potion to poison the water. The poison that Abebi used was a mixture of venoms taken from various African snakes, so it was really deadly. However, since Arram was quick enough to move with his merman tail, he thrust his trident on Abebi's back, which brutally hurt her. Yet it was too late since the poison was spread in the water. Arram lost consciousness. Therefore, the match was announced as a draw. Both Arram and Abebi were brought to the infirmary for closer observation.

Ashur was matched with Adanna, the youngest of the three sisters. This match is terribly hard because a wrecking ball was attached to both of the fighter's feet, so they could barely move. Ashur, who showed more strength, moved faster than Adanna, but Adanna was a fast thinker. She used the wrecking ball to her advantage and hid behind it. Then, she applied magic on the wrecking ball that if someone touches it, he or she will be petrified, as in literally will turn into stone. That was what Ashur did. He was petrified, and in just moments, he turned into a statue. Adanna was about to break the statue until Jang-mi intervened. Since Ashur was not able to fight anymore, Adanna should be the winner of the match. Unfortunately, she violated one of the special instructions by putting magic, spell, or any incantation on the wrecking ball. That is why this match is decided to be a draw.

Both matches are equally intense and challenging, but this time, Tiberion is now going to fight against Dola, the middle sister, in a match that will determine the winner of this cluster battle. Beketi returns to the screen and explained the special instructions.

"Hello, wonderful fighters! It's your friendly cat, Beketi! Here are your special instructions for this round!"

The slot machine showed three faces of Beketi, which means Beketi will decide which instructions will be given in this round.

"Well… The first two battles gave us really close calls, so, I think I'm gonna make this fight even more interesting! I'm gonna choose among the special instructions in the previous rounds!" Beketi said, as it showed its choices on the screen. "For the dome slot, I choose the volcano!"

I remember this one. This was from Haru and Beam's battle. In just moments, the ring elevated and the lava suddenly gushed from the holes below.

"Not just that… I'm doubling the dome slot!" Beketi showed no mercy to the fighters with this announcement.

"Doubling? Wow. This is the first time it's happened! What is it, Beketi?" Furkan asked from the commentator area.

"I am adding the crossbows," Beketi smirked. After a while, the crossbows around the dome were aimed at the ring. "But you might say that I'm a little too harsh because I added two dome slots… Don't worry, I'm not gonna give you a time limit for this battle."

Well, that's a little thing not to worry about anymore. No more time limit, which means the fight may extend until midnight if no one gets defeated.

"Also, I will allow you both fighters to use any weapon, technique, or magic that you want. Bye-bye, power slot!" Beketi cheered.

That's nice.

"And to show how generous I am, I will remove the height of jump for the crossbows to be activated…" Beketi added.

"Does that mean they can jump higher than ten feet?" Shamil confirmed.

"Oh, definitely, they can… As the crossbows fire randomly, so…" Beketi snickered.

That's not nice.

"Well, then, since the last battle between Tiberion of Merizem and Dola of Lagos is ready… Commence!" Jang-mi signaled.

It didn't take a second before the crossbows fired. The bolts jolted immediately and flew towards the ring. Tiberion observed the bolts and he was surprised.

"What kind of bolt is this? It's flaming," Tiberion uttered.

Beketi appeared on the screen right away. "Oh, did I mention that the bolts of the crossbows do not only contain poison? There's fire, ice, poison, high voltage of power, glass, and did I already say poison? Yeah, the toxic bitch is back!"

Tiberion grunted. "I hate cats."

"I love cats!" Dola disagreed.

"Who would love a cat like that? All it gives you are tons of headache!" Tiberion yelled.

"Well, you are my number one headache and I'm gonna defeat you now!" Dola ran really fast towards Tiberion, but she got hit by a bolt from the crossbow above. She was stunned! In just a moment, she was lying on the floor. She's awake, but she was not moving.

Tiberion brought out his trident and rotated it, so he won't be hit by any bolt. He walked towards Dola and he took him with only one hand. He was about to drop her to the boiling molten rock, until he looked at us. Fei shook his head as a signal of ceasing.

I do understand Tiberion. Two of his teammates were currently in bad shape, and this is his great chance of winning the battle. However, more to winning the battle is a mystery of danger that all of us might face if we aren't gonna do something about it.

Therefore, Tiberion threw Dola's body in the middle of the ring. He spared Dola's life, not to be killed by the K/orean organizers, but to find out the truth about the killings.

"What is he doing?" Shamil reacted.

"Is he stupid? That was his chance of beating the opponent!" Furkan uttered.

Dola finally got to her senses and stood up, but she was still in pain with that bolt that approached her leg.

"Now, do you still love that cat?" Tiberion asked.

"Why did you not throw me out of the ring?" Dola asked, confused.

Tiberion looked at Fei and Fei just did a slight nod.

"It would be boring if we don't give them a good fight. Now, hold your chin up, young lady. Fight me," Tiberion commanded.

Dola just looked at him for a while, and then she squinted her eyes. "What are you up to?"

"I'm not up to anything. I want to fight you, fair and square," Tiberion said, as he raised his arm and let the bolt hit it. A few moments later, his arm was surrounded by a big chunk of ice! He screamed at the top of his lungs and went to the lava and put his arm on it until the ice melted.

His arm was swollen and purple because of the coldness of the ice. "See, fair and square."

"I'm not buying this, but I'm gonna make you regret your decision," Dola harnessed a large power ball and blasted it towards Tiberion. What Tiberion did is he threw his trident like a javelin and it pierced the power ball and split it into different pieces that hit specifically the crossbows and exploded them. That must be the transference of power from the source, which is the power ball. Good thing that when it absorbed the trident, Tiberion has control over it, that's why he diverted the blast to all of the crossbows.

"I believe there is not a single rule that says about the disqualification of the fighter when he did some vandalism, right?" Shamil asked Furkan.

"Well, that is not mine to decide, but I think you are right," Furkan agreed.

Dola scoffed, and shook her head, "You are one stupid guy."

Then, Dola turned around and walked towards the lava and touched it using her index finger. Right after that, the lava turned into brown soil! It spread around the entire ring and suddenly, it grew different kinds of beautiful flowers.

"Fantastic," Tiberion uttered, dumbfounded with the transformation of the outside part of the ring.

"Let's proceed, shall we?" Dola then created another power ball, which is much larger than before. Tiberion made his battle stance as he held his trident tightly. They were about to attack, until…

"Wait a minute!" Beketi appeared on the screen. "I am not happy with what you are doing! I requested an interesting battle. The first two are good enough, but this one? It didn't even reach the bottom of my expectations! Those are parts of the special instructions and you did not abide by them."

"We did, but it's not in your instructions to have them destroyed," Tiberion growled.

"You filthy fish! I never—" Beketi stopped speaking when Tiberion's trident hit the big screen. A few moments later, the big screen burst into flames. Tiberion retrieved the trident right away when he raised his hand.

"Now you tell me you love cats," Tiberion told Dola.

Dola giggled, yet the entire audience was having mixed reactions about it, but most of them cheered. Maybe because Beketi, the "friendly" cat wasn't really as friendly. Then, everyone started to be quiet when Jang-mi approached the microphone.

"The council would like to send the message that if the two fighters weren't fighting and doing things consensually against the competition, they must cease the match and determine it as a draw. Fighters, the council is giving you one more chance to do what you should do. Otherwise, this match ends right now."

Dola closed his fist and the power ball disappeared. "I quit."

The entire dome was filled with a lot of indistinct chatter.

"Is that your final decision?" Jang-mi confirmed.

"Yes," Dola said with full conviction.

"What are you doing?" Tiberion asked Dola.

"I don't know what you're up to, but… I am looking forward to seeing it," Dola uttered. "Besides, another draw? Really?"

Jang-mi started announcing, "As one of the fighters quit the match, the winner of this battle is Tiberion from the Kingdom of Merizem. This means that their team advances to the next part of the competition."

"I still hate cats, though," Tiberion uttered.