Yi Qiang watched with foreboding in his heart as an uncontrollable amount of stone tile shards flew through the air. Some were harmless, due to either their size or flight path, while others spelled a death sentence for their targets.

I can't get a rest, can I?

He had far too little Qi to do anything meaningful about the stone shards, but that didn't excuse him from any of this trouble. From how things appeared, after this whole thing was over, Yi Qiang would have to take quite a bit of heat. Even if the necromancer was accepted to have been controlling the corpses to infiltrate the competition and attack contestants(their dragon companions included), the archer still doubted those in power would let him off for the chaos of the aftermath.

He almost winced at the thought, knocking away the two shards that approached him and the Second Prince, who was just standing there, shocked by the sudden turn of events.

However, something completely unexpected appeared, a ray of hope.

Instantly, a shield appeared around every noble. Each barrier shone with a different hue and brightness, but each of them effortlessly warded off the stones directed towards it.

As for the source of these shields, Yi Qiang quickly attributed it to the runes glowing on the clothing of every noble. Enchantments, again. They really are a powerful field.

Something didn't add up, though - the facial expressions of the useless cowards did not match the appropriate reaction of one who knew the enchantments on their robe would protect them from the bombardment of earthen projectiles. They were all pale; some of the aristocrats were even shutting their eyes, and squatting down, trembling in perfect pictures of terror.

However, with the crisis averted, it didn't matter as much as the fact that the repercussions for Yi Qiang's actions would now be greatly reduced - no one was hurt, and people tended to care about what could have happened much less than what happened.

After everything subsided, the floor shards falling to the ground, silence reigned for a long moment. In fact, it looked like the room would stay silent for some more time, before a particularly young noble whispered to himself.

"What just happened?"

The shattering of the near-sacred speechlessness sparked the outrage that had been held at bay, everyone erupting into furious conversation while staring hotly at Yi Qiang. He could hear snippets of conversation.

"What power... how easily could he kill us all? I can't believe I almost died. Weirdly, my robes' inscription saved me."

"The audacity of a mere contestant! And Chosen on top! I vote we disqualify him from the competition!"

"What necromancer? He just killed someone in broad daylight and tried to hurt countless more above his stature!"

"Well... it's fairly certain the person he killed was actually a necromancer..."

Yi Qiang was pulled out of his eavesdropping by the spotting of four figures wading toward him through the crowd.

He recognized all of them easily; the three closest to him were three of the Four, while the last was likely a guard, looking to ask him questions about what had just happened. He was dressed in gleaming silver armor furnished with red cloth and held a slightly-curved sword sheath at his side as well as a bow on his back. Yi Qiang had noticed countless other guards dressed the same way patrolling the halls and keeping watch around certain areas.

The first to reach him was Ilien, grinning widely in the amiable smile Yi Qiang had already seen so many times on his face.

"Bet you've already noticed that it's not normal for those shields to activate like that. Yeah, you're welcome - I hijacked the glyphs of all their robes and triggered them. Saved those nobles' lives, and you a lot of trouble. But hey, thanks for fixing out all that necromancer stuff - nasty business. Few who aren't mages really understand how disgusting they really are. Their magic is just... ew. Couldn't do it. So hey, as far as I'm concerned, good on you - every one less necromancer in this country is so much better. Taren, though... Taren's petty. And strict. Don't be too surprised if he starts going off on you about the proper procedures, even though literally nobody was hurt. He's annoying like that."

Yi Qiang nodded.

"Thank you for the warning."

Just as Ilien was peeling away from him with his wide grin still plastered on his face, the guard reached Yi Qiang.

"Contest. I have a few questions, and if I don't like your answers, we will have to take you away to further questioning, and there will be a more thorough investigation into the events of today."

Yi Qiang nodded in consent, having long expected this.

"First, what mad you sure the man you fired at was a necromancer."

"It was a combination of multiple things. I was first tipped off a necromancer may be involved when I noticed the other fighter's unusual disregard for his pain and all the attacks he received. This suspicion was strengthened by the aura of death, barely slipping out from underneath the fighter's clothes. Then I received a message from my bonded partner, who is back in my assigned room, that another perpetrator was attacking the door with an aura of death. I linked the two together and drew the conjecture that a necromancer was controlling the two entities of which I knew existed. As for who specifically was the necromancer, I decided based on the suspicious dress, hand movements, and nervous tics."

The guard moved on, satisfied by his concise answer.

"Why did you use that much power in your attack of the necromancer?"

By now, the two other people making their way towards him had reached Yi Qiang; Elias, and Taren. Nevertheless, the archer continued in his answer unimpeded.

"As you know, mages are almost always very frail, making them susceptible to surprise attacks. As such, I was afraid of certain countermeasures impeding my instant kill, like a protection enchantment. Thus, I didn't dare to hold back - as you already know, my partner was being threatened by the necromancer, meaning speed and efficiency was of the utmost importance. If I held back and the necromancer survived, I feared my companion's fate, left alone to deal with a summon formidable enough to contend with one of the Four." Yi Qiang nodded towards Elias. "As such, I poured everything I had into the attack, to the point where I'm still only 20% of the way recovered."

The guard nodded again. "A satisfactory answer. Final question, then: why didn't you inform the guards or any of those that could help you in your efforts to stop the necromancer?"

"I was reluctant to do so for three reasons. First, I have yet to form a complete picture of almost anyone's strength," an apologetic glance was sent towards Elias, who grinned sheepishly in response, "and I had very personal stakes in this matter. As such, I trusted my skillset best, especially when handling a situation like this one. Second, I wanted to avoid alerting the necromancer, who was extremely nervous and very on-edge. As such, informing a guard or the like would have raised flags I did not want to raise. Finally, time was of the essence - the necromancer was controlling another corpse who was assaulting the door to my room, and I'm not sure who else's rooms were put into jeopardy. Thus, I wanted to stop his control of his summons as soon as possible."

The guard, looking satisfied, nodded and walked away, leaving Yi Qiang to deal with Elias and Taren.

"Hello, gentlemen. May I ask we make this brief? I wish to head back to my room - this has made me realize how much training I yet need."

Taren opened his mouth, looking as elegant as Yi Qiang had ever seen him, but Elias cut in before the swordsman had a chance to speak.

"Man, thanks for the hand! I could take him, no doubt, but I didn't really want to expose some of my cards, so it was getting annoying. If not for you, I may have exposed a little more strength than I wanted to. Thank you!"

Yi Qiang was pleasantly surprised. He was hiding strength? This will indeed be more interesting than I had guessed from that fight. A shame I wasn't able to draw it out, but it won't matter too much.

"Of course, of course. I benefited far more than you did from stopping the necromancer, anyway, so no need to thank me!"

Elias, as Yi Qiang had already suspected, was very impatient, so after performing the bare minimum, he trudged away without another word. Taren, on the other hand, had no such issues.

"I will refrain from admonishing you too much on behalf of the facts that you had a companion's life at stake here and that no one was actually hurt, but please be more careful. I'm very involved in the royal family's affairs, and as you may already know, this floor is harder and more durable than the usual stone or marble. We paid a significant amount for it, and your stunt will put a dent in the royal family's coffers - the smallest possible, but a dent nevertheless. Consider yourself fortunate we're not fining you given you stopped an infiltration into the competition, but you may not be so lucky next time. Then, I bid you farewell."

"Likewise."

Cleared of all pressing matters and with the Prince among the royalty, lightening matters, Yi Qiang was free to go to his room and train. All of this had done nothing but help him realize just how much strength he would need for the coming days.

What Yi Qiang failed to notice, however, was the shabbily-dressed, unkempt elderly man in the corner of the room, sipping from his flask of wine as he muttered to himself.

"Interesting. That boy is interesting..."