“OoOooh, loOk at this one! It tries to fight!”

One of the creatures exclaimed as it came out of the forest, walking toward Villin.

It was then that Villin could see the creature. It was only one meter tall with grey skin. Its belly reached all the way up, connecting to its chin. The eyes were blood-red and only small patches of brown hair were on its skull.

Its legs were short and deformed while veins could be seen all over its disgusting body. As for clothing, there was nothing but some dirty rags, perhaps years ago these were proper clothes but now they barely covered a thing.

The creature approached him with its hunched back and looked Villin in the eye. Seeing the creature from this close, Villin found forming thoughts to be even more difficult. He could do nothing but stare as the creature bend over and grabbed the wand he had dropped, throwing it aside.

“He looks even better up close! TIME TO EAT!” the male creature said as he hunched forward even further until its face was but a few centimeters from Villin’s.

“PATIENT! They need spices! We have prepared for this long, so looong, so we do it well!” Another one of these creatures came from the woods, a female one this time.

In response, the male let out a series of wails again causing the two humans closeby to begin screaming again in full force as they felt their sanity take a hit.

It was in this way that they fainted, only to wake up in a situation that was even worse.

----------

“So what now? We no longer have vision on them how do we discern when a winner has been decided?”

“Well, I know for a fact Leonardo wouldn’t kill unnecessarily and Theodore assured us Villin was probably the same, we should wait until they get back in sight.”

“Oh please, how would they know how to even get back in sight. Hell, they might think they are supposed to kill the other one when they don’t get sent back! We need to get someone on that island to supervise!”

“Oh really? Then who would you send? Is there anyone here who is truly impartial? And don’t say Kalob, you know fully well he has to stay here.”

Kayley got more and more nervous as she heard two runemasters’ argument. She wasn’t sure what was going on but ever since professor Crumb made what seemed like an off-hand comment in the first round in the competition the runemasters seemed to have split into two sides. Those who previously seemed to get along so well suddenly distanced themselves from each other and now they were in a heated discussion.

One group wanted to go and send someone to the island to supervise, make sure they would know when a winner came out on top.

The other group, which included both professor Crumb and Granolf seemed to be against this. They reasoned that fights like this cannot be interfered with. If someone dies then that is simply how it is, there was no need to avoid what would happen, whatever that was.

Kayley was confused at this standpoint but didn’t really know enough to discuss the matter.

As for the other duels, the only one that came up was Ruby’s competition, but unlike Villin and Leonardo Ruby’s opponent was still in sight, this gave them clear sight on any potential fights.

After discussing for a couple of hours the two sides had finally come to a compromise, one that neither seemed to be fully satisfied with but accepted nonetheless.

A few of the runemasters here had magic eyes with them, the runemasters capable of doing so would enhance their range and speed, then the magic eyes would be sent to the island. Thanks to the high-tier enchantments the magic eyes would be capable of arriving in an hour.

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At this time in a cave on the aforementioned island:

Villin finally came to with a searing headache. Before even opening his eyes he noticed multiple things. The weight from his backpack was gone and his shoulders and feet were hurting like hell. He could feel pieces of sharp rock pierced straight through them. He barely managed to stop himself from screaming out loud as the pain finally caught up to him.

Other than this problem that was pretty severe, Villin felt dizzy, he seemed to be hanging upside down.

Once he opened his eyes, the situation quickly became clear. He was hanging on an upside-down cross in the middle of a large cave. Nails made out of stone pierced his hands and feet keeping him in place. Additionally roped bound his arms, legs, and neck making sure he couldn’t escape.

Just a few meters in front of him a large campfire was burning. He could feel the heat of the black fire licking his face, he was a lot too close for comfort.

Just to the right of him was Leonardo, he was similarly hung up, the only difference being that he was still knocked out.

Villin shook his head a few times trying to clear his mind as he tried to properly recall what happened earlier “Argh!”

As soon as he thought of the ‘voices’ of the two creatures he got a searing headache again and he couldn’t help but exclaim.

Immediately after his exclamation footsteps came from outside of the cave “oH! They woke up!”

“HahahaHA, yes they did!”

Hearing the voices again Villin only barely managed to stay quiet, trying to force his thoughts into line. Unluckily, Leonardo wasn’t so lucky. The voices had woken him up with a scream and he instantly began squirming causing the wounds in his feet and shoulders to become larger.

“oH? This one tries to escape!”

Villin looked through squinted eyes. He saw the male creature walk up to the screaming boy and use the large wooden club in his hand to silence him.

As soon as the creature hit Leonardo with the club, he became silent. Whether he was alive or not was unknown but a dent could clearly be seen on his forehead.

Villin’s breathing unwillingly quickened, he was going to die here.