If the giant platform were to be hosting a concert, the stage at that moment, would have been in the middle. With each passing minute, wailing people burst into smoke. Only four groups were still standing, yet none of those around them tried to help.

None of the elves got caught up in this struggle, so their members stayed out of it. As for the humans and dwarves, they were too afraid of becoming targets. As long as they kept their distance, the pixies would not bother the stronger looking spectators.

While they sat back and watched, Alric’s team was on the verge of collapse. Everyone lost way too much blood, and the pixies were relentless in their attacks.

“Stop!” Timofey shouted almost jumping out of the boy’s pajamas. However, both he and his magic were a millisecond too late. With a crazy smile and desperate eyes, Alric broke their completed block in two.

‘Rules and friendships are meant to be broken.’ The youth was aware that his logic was faulty, that of all the possible implications of these words, breaking his block was unlikely to be one of them.

Even so, what choice did he have? To wait quietly until everyone, including himself, died? To throw Timofey towards the enemy and hope he was their long lost prince with ultimate authority? In desperate situations, even the most improbable solutions were worthy of a try. And, to everyone's surprise, it looked like his ridiculous idea was about to pay off.

“Bingo,” Alric muttered upon checking the contents of the block. Its green glow was now gone, and inside one of the hollow pieces, a ring with strange patterns was revealed. It looked like a tiny horned snake had coiled around itself over a dozen times.

‘Is this the key?’ the youth wondered while putting on the ring. He half hoped finding it would end the round. Unfortunately, no announcement was heard, and the pixies’ attacks only became more aggressive.

“Third squad, retrieve the ring!” commanded the platoon’s leader. Because Alric had found this round’s token, their group became an even bigger target than before. Not only the pixies, but now, even the other species were thinking about stepping in.

[Choose ability:

Shield rank 1. Poison rank 1. Speed increase rank 1]

As soon as the ring touched Alric’s finger, a simple message appeared before his eyes. His cautious mind wanted to examine each option, but there were half a dozen pixies about to cut him short.

‘I pick shield!’ he shouted inside his mind while focusing on the writing.

A second later, an invisible dome similar to the barrier that was blocking the sky appeared around his circle. Several pixies smashed into it, while two broke through.

“Kill them!” yelled Rachel while turning to strike. Unfortunately, her teammates were still worried about the outside enemies.

One of the pixies took advantage of their slow reaction and slit a dwarf’ neck. The other tried to kill a human only to be intercepted by Rachel’s fist.

“We’re inside a barrier,” she cried while trying to dodge a furious counter from the first one. Unfortunately, there was little room for movement, and the dwarf’s half dead body fell towards her.

One frantic second later, a long cut appeared on her abdomen. The girl barely held in a scream. Out of instinct, she used her arms to cover at least some of the area, and collapsed on the ground.

Though late, the remaining human and dwarf were finally turning around having understood their situation. However, by the time they could intervene, the remaining pixie was already struck down by someone else.

“Ouch!” Alric winced after hitting the dome along with the tiny warrior.

“Quite whining,” scowled Timofey.

If not for his wind magic blocking the enemy’s path, the youth wouldn’t have had a throat left to cry with. Would saving this human capable of finding the tournament’s tokens pay off more than his species obtaining one of them?

‘Comrades, if I’m wrong, I will follow you.’

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Sadly, this was not the time to mourn the dead. More than 10 pixies were now attacking the dome with more joining in with each passing second.

“Alric, for how long can you maintain this barrier?”

The youth was unfamiliar with mana, but he did sense something pooling inside the tiny snake’s head.

“Maybe… five minutes?” The pool was draining, but there was no way to tell how long it would last.

Suddenly, something hit the barrier with much greater force than anything the pixies could muster. An elf joined in on the attack. Worse yet, his friends and the dwarves weren’t that far behind.

“Why aren’t the others helping?” asked Flinn. Unfortunately, none of the other circles had survived. As for the humans who did not take part in this conflict, they did not seem eager to join it now.

Losing the ring would put humanity at a disadvantage. But, what hope did they have of protecting it during this mess?

In that moment, it seemed like the entire platform’s attention was on Alric and his friends. Dozens of limbs were striking their barrier to the point where the people inside could barely be seen. However, despite all of this, Amon Grigori was looking elsewhere.

A bit closer to the elven statue, a lone dwarf was running for his life. His allies were killed some time ago, and the surrounding humans and elves were unwilling to help. Unfortunately for him, dwarves were the minority in this area, making them prime targets for the pixies.

“Argh!” As another cut was added to his already shredded limbs, he could no longer use them to protect his head.

Even so, the pixies did not immediately kill him. As if playing with their food, they continued to slowly cut away at his body until the poor man burst into smoke.

“Cease all fighting!” In that moment, the thundering voice of Amon Grigori threatened to render the entire platform deaf. “Matriarchs and Overlords, Enchantresses and Warriors, since the last contestant to not find a partner has just been eliminated, I declare the second round of the Species Tournament over!

While these words hit everyone’s ears, Alric’s battered barrier finally broke apart. His tiny group was surrounded by a horde of people from all different species. Three elves towered over them and more than 20 pixies were trying to squeeze through. Fortunately, they were a couple of seconds too late.

“Congratulations to the winners!” Amon continued. “Unfortunately, there are still some losers among us.”

Suddenly, hundreds of people started popping all around the platform. Even some of the pixies which attacked Alric’s group disappeared into white smoke.

“Wait!” someone shouted from the crowd. “Ashley had a green block. She completed her task!”

“And yet, where is her partner? Those who lose their other half at any point during our tournament will not be advancing to the next round!”

Within the mist of smoke, numerous green and yellow blocks were joining the carpet of abandoned red ones. For once, Alric felt grateful to have been paired up with Tim.

Unfortunately, this feeling was immediately drowned by something else. His comrades were bleeding to death, and Rachel already lost her consciousness.

“Wake up!” cried Finn while taking hold of her shoulders.

“Don’t shake her.” The youth struggled not to shout. He took off his blouse and pressed it on the wound.

‘God damnit,’ he cursed in frustration. The more he strained, the more smoke poured out of his arms and mixed with the one released by Rachel. ‘Why?’ Overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness, the boy’s hands began to shake while his eyes turned wet.

The people who tried to kill Alric earlier were now watching him with pity. They didn’t help but they didn’t attack either. Though everyone eyed his ring with interest, they knew better than to cause problems during Amon's speech.

“With this, we conclude today’s episode of the Species Tournament! Tune in next time to see our contestants upgrade their strength, develop new abilities, and prepare for the second round!”

Suddenly, light enveloped the crowd including Alric and his party. The youth lifted his eyes towards Amon Grigori, but the demon’s sadistic smile didn’t reveal anything. In one moment, a little over 600.000 beings covered most of the tournament’s platform. In the next, only green, yellow, and red blocks remained.