The six rings became a river of blood. The clanging of swords and the whooshing of elements through the air filled the arena. No order: all the six rings were locked in a bloody massacre with the participants attacking randomly. Everyone wanted to kill the person closest to them, and the next. They wanted to be the last standing.

This continued for the next five minutes before Armad suddenly stopped. This won't work. He thought. He needed to win in the shortest time possible and there were just too many opponents. Taking them down one-by-one wasn't going to work. He could create a massive lightning bolt and crush the ring, but there was no guarantee his opponents wouldn't just dodge it. And if he accidentally destroyed the entire ring, he would be disqualify him. Dance of Uncertainty, though deadly, was only useful against a single opponent. Lightning Flash and Meditation were already out. His last option was the Yellow Dance but that wasn't feasible as well. Not that he didn't want to, but he couldn't.

Luckily, his one week training on the deserted island didn't go unrewarded. He had gained longevity from killing magical beasts and from his Meditation. But his greatest gain came from an unusual phenomenon, the same unusual phenomenon that cost him his Miyura. Armad opened his tabs.

You have gained 2.2 years from killing Dordor x 54; goblins x 88; Wraiths x 3.

You have gained 0.1 year from Meditation.

You have absorbed 10 years from four mages nearby.

Armad didn't know how he got that ten years. Ideally, whenever he replicated someone's longevity using his Miyura, it would only last for a minute. This time he retained some of it. It might be because of the explosion or something the others did incidentally. But he felt it had to do with the Miyura.

Lightning Elementalist has leveled up to level 55

Lightning Elementalist has leveled up to level 56

Lightning Elementalist has leveled up to level 57

Lightning Elementalist has leveled up to level 58

Lightning Elementalist has leveled up to level 59

Lightning Elementalist has leveled up to level 60

Lightning Elementalist has leveled up to level 61

Lightning Elementalist has leveled up to level 62

Lightning Elementalist has leveled up to level 63

Lightning Elementalist has leveled up to level 64

Lightning Elementalist has leveled up to level 65

Lightning Elementalist has leveled up to level 66

By reaching level 65, you have gained one more spell slot.

Dance of Uncertainty has reached level 6 : to summon this Sword you need to weave a hand sign and a chant, but you have mastered the Sword well enough to omit the hand sign. Chanting will become significantly easier.

Meditation has reached level 7

Lightning Flash has reached level 5

Lightning Bolt has reached level 10

Lightning Bolt has reached level 11: to use this spell you need a hand sign and a chant, but you have mastered the spell well enough to omit both.

By reaching reaching level 11, you can select a variation of the spell in exchange for your slot.

Check available variations? Y/N?

Armad hit yes.

1) Lightning Field: transform your lightning bolt into a shield around your body.

+11 constitution (+1/lv)

2) Lightning Shock: transform your lightning bolt into tiny invisible bolts that can be absorbed by the body. Absorbed bolt will have negative effect on other people.

+14 strength (+1/lv)

+1 constitution (+1/5 levels)

The options came during his training, but he couldn't decide. Djinns offered super strength, super speed and super defense. Since he didn't want to rely on his Djinn, he needed spells that would rise his speed, strength and defense. Lightning Flash gave super speed, Lightning Shock gave super strength and Lightning Field gave super defense. All options were equally important, but he needed the negative effects of Lightning Shock to win the battle royal.

Unlike new spells which had to be learned gradually, spell variations could be activated instantly.

You have activated Lightning Shock.

+14 strength

+1 constitution

NB: attributes effect will remain as long as the spell is active.

But Armad wasn't the only mage thinking about this. On each of the remaining rings, there were people thinking the same thing. At the same time Armad activated his spell, on block C, another young mage lifted his spear with the same intention as Armad.

On block D, another mage lifted his scythe.

On block E, another mage weaved a sign which caused a ring of fire to surround him.

On block F, there was a female mage who had somehow defeated half of her block without lifting a finger.

On block A, there was one mage who did nothing. He didn't weave any sign, he didn't chant any spell and he didn't summon any sword. In fact, he returned his unsheathed sword to its Hidden Scabbard. This made the nearby gladiators to attack him. But he did nothing to defend himself. He seemed to have given up. Or so they thought.

These six mages and several others with the same mindset completed their incantations. They hoped their spells would exceed that of any other mage on their block.

Because of the ruckus on the rings, few noticed what they were doing. Everyone was desperately trying to win their freedom. If you lose, you would be losing more than just your life. Your wife would become someone else's slave and your daughter would be sold for a price of a meal. That was why the battle was so intense. Some of them had formed groups and were helping each other out. But that wouldn't save them. Only the strong will win and only the strong will survive.

Blood flowed on the ground and heads flew in the air. But, it was as if the people being killed weren't human beings, the audience cheered madly as their heroes won. Nobody gave a damn about the dead.

As the rest of the participants desperately tried to survive, those six mages completed their preparations, whatever that was.

Armad weaved the hand sign and called the spell, almost at the same time with the others. Tiny, almost invisible dots of lightning, arose from his body and spread across the rings. It mixed with the dark clouds from the mage on block A, the runic light from block C, the reddish flame from block E and the violet glow from block F. All of these colors joined together to give a dark maroon color that encompassed all rings and blinded everyone.

Later, the audience saw the rings. Each ring had only one participant.

On block A, there was a young man holding a very long sword, even longer than him. His robe had turned dark red from all the fighting. He was fair with a short, silver hair. His eyes were filled with so much hatred and anger, as if he was the embodiment of rage. This young man had no facial creases, probably because he hadn't smile for months. His muscles looked like marbles, as if he was a robot. The other participants on the block had stabbed themselves with their weapons. Their eyes had fear as they laid dead on the ground. This young man was Tyren O. Bayajidda. Aka Tyren of the rebellion.

Block A glowed with twenty-nine seconds, indicating Tyren had completed his battle royal in the said time.

On block B, Armad stood over his rivals. There was no any sign of death or destruction, but all the participants knelt down on their knees, their spirits broken and their heads lowered. The block glowed with thirty-two seconds - three seconds after Tyren.

On block C, the last man standing held a red spear. He looked aggrieved, but not half as much as Tyren. He had no beard or mustache but he'd a long red hair. His fallen opponents had turned completely bluish, the dark ones had become darker. His block showed thirty-two seconds, the same as Armad's.

On block D, the participants had been thrown out of the ring as if they had been swept by a broom. The last man standing was Déniz Bizaya. He had a beardy face and eyebrows that touched each other. His block showed thirty seconds - one second after Tyren.

On block E, the fallen mages were still crying in agony as their bodies literally burned. The entire block was engulfed in several pillars of flame that went as high as forty feet. The worst part was these people couldn't even move. Something inside the flame had glued them to the ground. They couldn't even surrender. The block showed twenty-nine seconds - the same as Tyren.

On the last block, a beautiful young lady stood over the unconscious bodies of her opponents. You could say this woman had the most clean victory, but her timer showed thirty-two seconds, just like Armad's and Niyashi's.

Armad immediately recognized this woman. She was Nostalgia Nára. The same woman who saved him from the fallen city of Bayajidda but tried to kill him afterward. Since she was there, it was likely the other two sword worshippers were also there. Armad gritted his teeth. He needed to deal with them before it was too late.

The audience couldn't speak. The commentator was struck speechless for the first time in his life. This was the first time in the history of the competition something like this had ever happened.

"What. Just. Happened?!" Ghalee gasped. He calmed his breathing down. "Just who do they think they are? Alright, I know, they are the Invincible Six - leaders of the next generation."

Ghalee drew a sharp breath. Tyren, Amuru and Bizaya had successfully won their semifinals tickets, but Armad, Nostalgia and Niyashi had the same score, so he still needed to take two out.

Amid his confusion, he saw an envoy from Sisiya entering the arena. Armad immediately recognized the other two sword worshippers that had tried to kill him from the envoy. What exactly was going on? Why did Nostalgia came to the competition alone? Why was the envoy from Sisiya late? These were some of the questions in the minds of the audience. But Armad just wanted to know if these sword worshippers wanted to blow up the secret during the Jinzidal. If that happened...

Aish and the Dukes fought for supremacy, and the sword worshippers were now added to the mix. Armad had a premonition that things were about to get really bad.

Armad's status

Name: Armad Wilberforce

Race: Human

Longevity: 66 years 3 days

Life energy: 66 (13.2/min)

Stamina: 40 (1/min)

Dexterity: 4

Strength: 3

Agility: 3

Constitution: 2

Vitality: 4

Willpower: 10

Charisma: 1.5

Classification tab

Class: Lightning Elementalist lv 66

Djinn: Lightning-Type (dormant)

Spell slots : 5 (0 free)

1] Lightning Flash lv 5

2] Lightning Bolt lv 11

3] Meditation lv 7

4] Lightning Shock lv 1

5] Saif Iqra

Sword slots : 3 (0 free)

1] Dance of Uncertainty lv 5

2] Yellow Dance lv 1

3] Saif Iqra