"Stop talking nonsense!" snapped the man beside her with a loud voice. The three of them are Wan Lie, Xue Ning, and Ju Xian.

"No. I'm serious," said the girl, rubbing her face.

​​

"How if they were which is among us?" she lamented with a completely terrified expression.

"I want to go home!" she shouted in frustration then turned toward the entrance of the moon pavilion.

"Hey. Wait. Where are you going?"

"I want to go home. I don't...I don't want to live here anymore. I want to go home," she cried again in a loud cry.

"Hey, wake up, there are no black witches in this world," said the man who had a bandage on his head.

"No. No. This...this message was written in blood," she moaned louder.

"I also heard that the guards of the royal prison of dungeon died last night," said one of the men again.

The woman ruffled her hair.

"Even the guards died at their hands. The wizard exists, what if this blood belongs to the guards?" she raved.

"I WANT TO GO HOME, I WANT TO GO HOME, LET ME GO HOME ..." she shouted again, getting more and more frustrated.

"HEY AWARE," snapped the man next to her as he shook the woman's body.

"Why do you think the Forbidden Forest is a territory that everyone fears? Huh?" replied the woman again snapped with a voice that was already hoarse.

"NOW I KNOW, IT'S BECAUSE OF WITCHS ARE REAL!!!" she shouted furiously.

"LET ME GO HOME," the woman was getting hysterical.

"We'd better take her in," said the man with the bandage on his head.

While the other man just nodded and brought the woman back into the moon pavilion while uttering some words that might calm her down a bit.

The three of them were Wan Lie, Xue Ning, and Ju Xian.

.

.

.

"Aren't they participants from the Hunter Village?" one asked after seeing how messed up the woman was due to a message similar to the one they got.

"That's right, they are participants from the Hunter Village," replied another confirming.

"The Hunter Village is so close to the Zu royal forest and it is directly adjacent to the forbidden forest."

Hearing this, everyone fell silent. Except for those who came from other kingdoms and had no idea what kind of place the forbidden forest was.

After the departure of the three people, panic occurred again. Some of them looked as frightened as Xue Ning had while others just looked normal.

"I have indeed heard from our predecessors, that in fact, we are not alone in this world but I don't know if this is a myth or fact, because no one has ever seen a creature other than a human," someone who seemed to be of noble descent spoke up. He was standing alone, leaning against a towering maple tree right beside the entrance of the moon pavilion.

"That's right, Master. I've also heard of such things," said another confirmed.

"But no one has ever seen them, isn't this enough proof that they're not real?" said a woman who joined the crowd.

"What if I told them they just don't have an interest in us so they don't show up?"

Everyone who heard this was stunned. Just that simple sentence and everyone's mind became doubtful.

"Never mind they're not real at all don't spread unreasonable terror," said another in a loud voice. Suddenly the sound of a man's scream caught everyone's attention, not far from them, someone fell to the ground, then flew back into the air with cuts that kept appearing on his body, tearing the clothes he was wearing, black smoke with a very foul smell immediately filled his body, and seconds later, his body exploded in the air creating a shower of blood that instantly splattered everyone's skin and clothes.

The fishy smell of blood instantly filled the area, rushing into everyone's senses of smell. Feelings of nausea and vomiting are unavoidable.

Everything happened in an instant, in front of everyone's eyes. They didn't even know what was going on, and the life of one of them had already been lost. Even the man's organs were destroyed, leaving everyone's skin instantly pale.

"Look! Are you going to say that this was caused by a natural accident?" shouted a woman. She was a participant who came from the Hunter Village.

"Hey wait!" shouted a man after the woman.

"No, let me go. Let me go home," the woman shouted, avoiding the pursuit of the two men who had followed her since earlier.

"That's the work of a witch," she shouted again awakening everyone.

Everyone's eyes reflex scanned their surroundings.

Glancing and suspicious of each other, thinking that the mastermind behind the man's death was among them.

Some even ran into the moon pavilion and then reappeared with their luggage. Joined in doing the same with Miss Hunter who was none other than Xue Ning.

And finally panic and chaos ensued.

Not to be left behind, those who did not believe in the existence of witches before, are now competing to leave the moon pavilion.

However, all their efforts were in vain. Several soldiers and bodyguards arrived and prevented them from going any further.

For a moment there was a struggle between the participants and the royal soldiers. Things got messy.

Several guards immediately ran to report the incident in the moon pavilion to the king.

The battle continued until the commander of the kingdom came to defuse and stop everything.

Just a few minutes, and it happened again.

"Everyone, calm down!" shouted the Commander.

However, no matter how loud the man shouted, no one cared.

He then reached into his trouser pocket and took something there.

Seconds later, it fired a flare and immediately red lightning shot up against gravity. It was a signal for the royal soldiers to immediately move towards the origin of the beacon.

It didn't take long and a rumbling sound to be heard, and the next second hundreds of soldiers had gathered around the Moon Pavilion.

And it managed to stop everyone's movement.

"One person. Can anyone explain what's going on here?" shouted the Commander scanning everyone who filled the entire area around the moon pavilion.

A young man then came forward and explained everything that happened, he also showed the message he received this morning along with the discussion about witches a while ago.

The commander listened to everything without missing a beat. Now and then his brow furrowed as if he was digesting everything the man said.

"Is that all?" he asked again.

Everyone who heard the commander-in-chief's voice nodded in unison.

"Alright, for everyone's safety, you guys go back to your rooms. No one is allowed to leave the moon pavilion even a single step until the next order, the palace servants will still deliver food three times a day," said the royal commander in a loud and firm voice, piercing into everyone's eardrums.

"But, commander..."

"I don't accept rejection."

"And whoever is caught leaving the moon pavilion, it will be considered an intruder of the palace."

The commander-in-chief could have stopped the chaos earlier, but he wasn't sure if he wouldn't resort to violence, because many of the participants also came from other kingdoms.

And to stop the chaos without any bloodshed, he is forced to use the royal soldiers to bully and stop everyone's actions.