Today was the day of the elimination round of the Grand Tournament. A lot of students were preparing themselves for this tournament.

"Souta, we're going out. We will come to institute later." Brando said to Souta. He was going out to market with Bryan and Cl.u.s.ter to buy something. Also, Cl.u.s.ter wanted to play outside so they came with her.

"Okay, I'll wait for you there so protect her." Souta nodded at him. He agreed to them to bring her out. He was sure that she was getting bored playing in this building. Well, she will come to the institute later so that they could watch the elimination round.

"Don't worry, Bryan and I are pretty strong. We will not let anything happen to her." Brando said as he smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, I will protect Cl.u.s.ter." Bryan nodded.

Souta glanced at her who was beside the two and said, "Cl.u.s.ter, don't leave their sight."

"Okay, I'll behave." Cl.u.s.ter said as she raised both of her hands in the air.

"We'll go now. See you later, Souta, Lumilia, and Lynn." Brando said to them as he turned around.

"Bye-bye Brother Souta, Sister Lynn, Sister Mila!" Cl.u.s.ter waved her hands before she followed Brando.

"Bye!" Lumilia waved her hand with a smile on her face.

"See you later, Cl.u.s.ter!" Lynn said to her.

The three left the room leaving Lumilia, Lynn, and Souta in the office room. Alice and Yujin were downstairs looking at the new members in their legion. They were counting the quest that the members completed to see if they fill the quota. While Jeanne and Wako were already in the institute.

Souta looked at Lumilia and asked, "Are you going to stay here?"

"Yes, I will not participate in the elimination round as I have a lot of things to do here," Lumilia replied to him in a gentle tone. "I'll go there later and watch the elimination round."

"I see..." Souta nodded and he turned to Lynn.

"Um... I'm going to help Mila here." Lynn said with a fl.u.s.tered look.

Souta smiled before he shook his head.

"What's wrong, Souta?" Lumilia asked him as she slightly tilted her head.

"Nothing..." Souta replied to her and he closed his eyes. In the past few days, he trained with everyone so he was quite confident in the Grand Tournament.

"I'll prepare some coffee for you," Lumilia said as she looked at his table and saw that he didn't have a coffee. She, no, everyone in their group knew that Souta liked drinking coffee when he was relaxing.

"I-I'll help too..." Lynn said while stuttering.

Souta opened one of his eyes and said, "I'll look forward to it."

Lumilia and Lynn left the room to brew some coffee for him.

'I think your overall power is enough to place you in the top 10 of the Ladro Institute.' Saya's voice sounded in his head.

"Yeah, I think too. My skills have grown stronger because of our training. Not just me, the others also grow stronger. Their speed of growth surpassed my expectations." Souta replied to her as he stared at the ceiling.

'Ufufu... Don't worry about it. I still haven't taught you my powerful skill set. You should focus on your current skills and when I saw that your strength is enough I will pass it to you.' Saya replied to him.

"That's reassuring..." Souta smiled lightly.

...

"Brother Brando! I want to eat that!" Cl.u.s.ter said as she tugged Brando's sleeve while pointing at one of the stalls on the street that was selling street food.

"...Fine, I'll buy one for you," Brando said as he walked towards the stall with her.

"I want one too..." Bryan said as he walked beside them.

Brando looked at Bryan with a blank expression and said, "Oi! You have a lot of money, right? Use your money!"

"Ah...? But I will use it to repair my purple-grade armor. I will also use it to buy some purple-grade artifacts." Bryan said.

"Damn! YOU HAVE A LOT OF MONEY! Five copper coins wouldn't do that much as you have more than a thousand platinum coins!" Brando said loudly with an angry looked.

"O-Okay..." Bryan could only agree to him.

The three tour around the city and they did everything that Cl.u.s.ter wants. They tried all kinds of foods and snacks in the city. They also went to the playground and some tourist spots in this city. Cl.u.s.ter rarely experienced it so they spoiled her today.

"What's that place?" Cl.u.s.ter said as she pointed at the street with different colors of light.

"That's..." Brando was hesitating if he should answer her or not.

"Ah, that's Red Light District. Souta always go there." Bryan simply answered her question.

"Ah, Souta always go there!! What the- even though he had those girls in the legion?!" Brando couldn't believe what he heard from Bryan.

"Um... Brother Souta always goes there? Then, let's go. I want to see what kind of place Brother Souta always goes to." Cl.u.s.ter said to them with a smile on her face.

"NO! WE WILL NOT GO THERE!" Brando shouted and he looked at Bryan, "It's your fault, Bryan! Souta will kill us if he knew this! Damn! I don't want to die!"

...

Souta went to the Adventurers Guild after he drinks the coffee that Lumilia and Lynn prepared for him.

A lot of students were registering to the elimination round of the Grand Tournament to test their skills. They were not expecting to win the tournament at all. They just wanted to see how far they could go with their current skills and spells.

Souta went to the faculty and found Teacher Bargan.

"Teacher, where's Yanagi?" He asked Bargan.

"Yanagi? She's in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Why are you looking for her?" Bargan answered and asked him?

"Well, I just want her to complete some quest in the legion," Souta replied to him.

"Okay, I'll notify her once I go there," Bargan assured him.

"Thanks." Souta thanked him before he turned around and left the faculty room.

The bas.e.m.e.nt of the Institute. The Institute forbid anyone to go in that place except for Yanagi. That place was her home and confinement area after all. She was confined there every time she does something that could bring trouble to the institute.

Because of her personality, the principal didn't let her live in the dorm along with other students. There was a case in the past where she beat everyone that was living in the dorm.

Yanagi Shina was the principal's adopted daughter. The principal found her hears ago in living in the dungeon full of monsters alone. She didn't even know the common language of humans and demis as she lived her life inside the dungeon.

When she first met the principal, she tried to kill him just like how she killed the monsters that were living in the dungeon. But the principal was stronger than her so she couldn't kill him. That way, the principal discovered her potential and talent so he took her. He taught different things to her including the common language of humans and demis.

He was also the one that gave her the name Yanagi Shina. He named her after his unborn daughter that died along with her wife.

Souta went to the arena and he heard a loud sound of the bell. The sound of bell rung across the entire Ladros City.

"Hmm...?" Souta frowned as he was familiar with this sound. This signal was the signal when monster tide appeared in the outskirts of the city.

"A monster tide appearing at this time is quite bad...!"

Suddenly, several powerful explosions shook the entire Ladro City. The eruptions of flame pillars broke the joyful atmosphere of the city. It was so sudden that it made everyone stunned.

BOOM!

A monster tide appeared and now several powerful explosions occurred across the city. Just what did it mean?

In the future when people looked back at the history of the world, they will find that this day was the last day of peaceful life before the flames of war swallowed everything.

The 12th of May, 2038th year of the Three Sun Calendar, marked this day as the beginning of the war in the whole world between the Three Great Countries and the forces of the Three Bringers of Calamity. It was known throughout the world as the Dawn of Chaos.

The day was filled with joy and happiness but no one knew about the calamity that will hit the entire kingdom and surely, the entire world.

On this fateful day, countless people will die without knowing how they died. The tallest structures in the city that once stood tall will be reduced to rubbles. The proud buildings of Ladro Institute will be razed to the ground along with the body of the students which all over the place.

This was also the day when the countless powerful factions noticed the extreme potential of the Dark Oculus Legion.

The Dawn of Chaos...