Light engulfed everyone on the field. Once it faded Miko found himself alone.

“Oi, what’s the meaning of this?”

(Because your branch has additional players you’ve been given some restrictions. One of which is the separation of your team. All of you were thrown into random dimensions to fend for yourself.)

Alec’s voice reverberated across the land.

“So we’re put at a disadvantage from the start huh? Alright, any other restrictions I should know about?”

(Just one, your soldiers are scattered across the dimensions. You’ll need to find them to control them.)

“So the advantage that I had before is completely gone?”

Miko nodded.

“That’s fine by me.”

(Good luck.)

“Yeah yeah.”

“I’m surprised, Alec.”

In the stands, Alec was overseeing the competition with the rest of his generation. The eldest of triplet daughters, Slyvia looked at him with a raised brow.

“I thought that you would make things easier for Miko but it seems like you’re doing everything to ensure he loses. Is it because you want Renatus to win?”

“Don’t be stupid. If Ren wins it should be using his own strength.”

Alec smirked.

“Miko went against my expectations and chose to try and take the throne now. Being a good cousin I wish to help stand out.”

“So you just want his victory to look even more spectacular if it happens?”

“Well, that’s part of it.”

(I don’t think victory is Miko’s only aim for this competition. There’s no need to organize this competition if his goal is to become Clan Leader. There are better ways to get achievements….His goal is something else.)

“Say, Slyvia. You’re the smartest of our generation after me. If you remove Clan Leader, what do you think Miko’s goal for gathering all the clan’s youths and pit them against each other like this?”

“I don’t like that you openly stated that you’re smarter than me, but whatever.”

Slyvia turned her attention to the monitor displaying Miko. She looked at him for a while before her eyes slowly widened.

“Looks like you’ve thought of the same thing I did.”

Alec grinned at her. Meanwhile, Miko was surveying his surroundings. The area was covered in a blank of snow. The air was thin and footing was elevated.

(I’m on a snow mountain?)

He turned his head to the sky.

(There should be monitors scattered across the stadium showing everyone’s situation. Since I’m the hot topic I’m sure I’m being watched the most. I’m also the person the others want to defeat the most….In other words, there should be several enemies searching for my location. The same should apply to my allies.)

“So even if I stay put the action will come to me.”

He smirked.

“However, I prefer to be the hunter and not the hunted.”

Wings grew from his back and he took to the skies.

“Well, if everyone is looking for me there’s bound to be clashes on the way. It’ll be fun to see them crush each other as well.”

He flopped his wings and disappeared into the distance.

Elsewhere, a confrontation was happening between the Secundus branch and the Quintus Branches. The Secundus Branch’s representative Rin stood in front of the Quintus representative Ashur. It was already a face-off between representatives!

“You’re alone? Where’re your teammates?”

Rin asked.

“I can ask you the same thing.”

Ashur answered with a grin.

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

Rin drew his silver sword and pointed it at Ashur.

“I’ll just beat you and hurry up and find Miko so that we can fight.”

“Miko? That’s my prey.”

Ashur tapped his claw on his face before pointing at Rin.

“But don’t worry, you’re also my prey!”

He charged towards Rin like a wild beast.

“Well, I guess I wanted to cut you down too.”

He pulled his black blade that was covered in golden devils. He charged forward and the two were quickly in each other’s strike zone. Rin swung his sword while Ashur swung his claws. Sparks flew as the two clashed. Rin pulled back his sword and swung it again. Ashur parried it with his long claws and took a step inward. He thrust his claws to rip out Rin’s neck. Rin moved his head to the side and evaded it. He jumped back and covered his sword in a red aura.

“Demolition Arts: Broken Valley!”

The scenery around Ashur changed to a valley filled with destroyed rocks and greenery.

“Huh?”

Cracks appeared on his body as if he was made of glass. The scenery faded away and he was blown away with blood spraying out of his body.

“Guh?!”

He looked at his broken body and discovered that he was covered in crack-shaped wounds. He fell on the ground twitching like he was experiencing a seizure.

“So that’s Rouge’s Demolition Arts? It’s as brutal as I heard.”

Momo mumbled.

“It’s the arts he created years ago, which gained him the nickname the Walking Apocalypse. Its destructive power is said to rival the Five Supreme Swords Arts of Wakoku.”

Kirika’s eyes were lit up.

“It’s strong alright but it’ll take more than that to take down Ashur.”

Al-Shura watched his brother lay on the ground with an amused expression.

“Argh!”

With cracking sounds coming from his body Ashur slowly got to his feet.

“That hurt dammit!…. But it’s not enough!”

“?!”

A disturbing aura engulfed the area.

“I’m still breathing. It’s not nearly enough to make me enjoy the feeling of death!”

A dark-purple aura burst out from within Ashur as he rose to his feet. Signs of distortion could be seen in the space around him. Rin calmly tightened the grip of his sword.

“You’re releasing your Chaotic Vita already?”

A grin slowly appeared on his face.

“That’s it. This wouldn’t be fun if we don’t really cut loose.”

“Rin….don't die on me okay?”

Ashur spoke with a strangely calm tone.

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

Ashur rushed towards Rin like a chaotic storm. Rin and thrust his sword at his head. However, his sword went right through Ashur.

“An Afterimage?”

Ashur slammed his palm on Rin’s chest and twisted it.

“Guh?!”

Rin felt a heavy blow to his organs and forcibly swallowed the blood that was escaping through his mouth. He pulled his sheath from his waist and used it to hit Ashur under the chin.

*Boom!*

An explosion hit Ashur's defenseless chin.

“That won’t work!”

“?!”

However, Ashur’s burnt face emerged from the smoke immediately after. Ashur hit Rin with a headbutt and forced him to step back. He followed up with a slash to his face. Rin jumped back to escape it.

(Ashur and Krul have the highest regeneration abilities because of their Celestial Bodies. If that’s the case…)

“Then what about this?!”

A red light appeared under his feet as he started running.

With every step, he took the rocks exploded like landmines.

“Demolition Arts: Exploding Steps!”

Rin’s speed skyrocketed as he popped up in front of Ashur.

“Haah~!”

With a roar, he swung his sword and slashed Ashur across his torso. He hit him with his sheath from the opposite direction. He repeated this combo in reverse. Moving at lightning speed, Rin hit and slashed Ashur countless times in a few seconds. He spun his sword around and stabbed Ashur with the handle. A deep red light covered Ashur’s entire body.

“Demolition Arts: Total Destruction!”

A huge explosion devoured Ashur as the entire area shook. Rin held his sheath and sword with his breath a bit heavy. He watched as the smoke dissipated, and saw Ashur laying on the ground. His entire body was burnt and black like coal, as smoke came off him.

“Not enough.”

“?!”

Ashur sprung to his feet and spoke with smoke coming out of his mouth.

“It’s not enough to defeat me!”

“Now this is ridiculous.”

“Ashur is harder to kill than a monster cockroach. Maybe because it’s his dream to die in a glorified battle, fate decided to be cruel and grant him an extremely durably body even for our clan’s standards.”

His sister, Alesia spoke with a soft voice.

“However, what makes him so hard to defeat is the fact that he doesn’t fear death but instead welcomes it. Meaning, he has nothing to lose.”

“Hahaha!”

Rin suddenly burst out laughing.

“This is how it should be.”

His eyes sharpened.

“Let’s take this up a level.”

At that moment, the field started trembling.

“What the?”

Miko who was flying through the sky heard a rumbling sound. A bright light flashed in the distance and headed towards him. The light turned everything it came in contact with to dust.

“Is that?”

He readied himself to face it, but the scenery changed and he was teleported away from it. He next found himself in a desert.

“The field randomly changed?”

He silently looked in the distance as he remembered that light. A smile crept onto his face.

“For a pacifist, you sure seemed eager.”

At this time, Krul stood by himself with a wry smile.

“I almost had him too. Well, it’s a long battle. I’m sure there will be more chances.”

He smiled and walked away looking for his next target. Meanwhile, Rin silently sheathed his sword and clicked his tongue after being teleported away from his opponent.

“Just when it was about to get good too.”

His body flickered and he disappeared from where he stood.