PHASE 21 - CAN I TAKE A BREAK!?

The Labyrinth Garden. As said in the briefing before the tournament, this will be our battlegrounds in this free-for-all match. When all Gate Guardian participants opened the Gate towards the Yami counterpart of this maze, we got randomly scattered to different parts of this field.

Tall brown walls of four meters in height surround me. There are three ways in which I can take, one to the left, one to the right, and on my front. I can’t see anybody here in this area, though I feel a lot of prana signatures around me. Those thick walls are the only thing that’s separating me from the battlefield.

In this fight, grouping with my allies would be the most advantageous scenario.

I look upwards and concluded that I can just parkour-jump until I reach the top of the wall and scan for my friends. There’s no ceiling in this maze at all since the dark skies and the blood moon is visible.

Crash! The wall beside me collapsed! Inside the thick smoke, I saw a Gate Guardian being launched away by a flame-type spell! It’s not the only noise either! The maze was filled with war cries, screams, spell castings, and crumbling debris noises!

Luckily, I prevented myself to shriek. I have to focus on avoiding an unnecessary fight! If my Gate Plate attached on my chest gets hit, it would be all over!

I leaped and ricocheted between walls until I manage to land on top of the labyrinth wall.

And that’s when I realized that it was a completely wrong idea to climb up. Now some Gate Guardians below had their eyes fixated on me!

“!!!”

“!!!”

“!!!”

“Eeeek!” Now I failed to contain my expression! I ran like a circus clown balancing on a rope, barely avoiding the wind drill, ice rocket, and flame ball that was chasing me!

“You can’t escape me!” One female Gate Guardian dressing as a cowgirl said as she swung a green lasso towards me! “!!!”

“Ah!”

My waist was completely constricted, and the woman proceeded to pull me down! My body crashed on the floor, with a loud impact!

When I opened my eyes, the proud smile of the woman greeted me. Her face drifted closer to mine as she arrogantly proclaimed her win. “Oh, you think that you can escape me? Too bad, I-”

Bam. I made a swift jab straight to the cowgirl’s chest, triggering her Gate Plate. She forgot to restrain my arm, so I grabbed this opportunity instead.

Suddenly, the Gate Plate exploded and clothed the woman’s whole body with white light!

“W-Why you-” The cowgirl groaned.

There was a dazzling light.

When the flash faded, the cowgirl is no longer here, not even a trace. It really looks like the Gate Plate opens up an emergency Gate to transport the wielder back to the Earth Realm. I should be careful not to get hit on the chest.

I remove the rope tying my waist, but then-

“!!!”

Three flame dragons swirled to my direction, and I have no choice but to tumble back in order to evade the attack! The ground shatters, making rocks and dust fly around the air.

“I see. So you are a shrine maiden from Heightsburg, correct?”

It was a tall well-endowed woman wearing a white wedding gown. From the looks of her face, she’s probably at her forties. Her golden eyes are sparkling with interest as she gazes upon me from head to toe, and it’s giving me a chill on my spine.

“By the way, I’m Esperia.” She lent out her hand.

She looks quite friendly, so I gave the courtesy to take her hand. “H-Hello. I’m Tiara.”

But just before we could touch each other’s hands, a swift swish interrupted us! It’s a flying arrow towards her Gate Plate! In the nick of time, she caught the arrow with her hand and snapped it with her electrifying fingers!

“Tsk!” The sniping bowman said. When the crimson moon’s light revealed the assassin’s face, I was glad that it was my ally.

“M-Mister Kristoff!” I was glad that I finally found my teammate!

“Tiara, get away from her, fast!” Kristoff yelled with a troubled look.

“Eh!?”

Swoom! I almost got slapped in the face by a static karate chop! Good thing I have great reflexes! I managed to duck and then dodge the consecutive assaults by dashing backward. That was so close!

“Sigh. I thought I had you.” Esperia said.

All of a sudden, three arrows darted, but she spun and tumbled backward like a gymnast to evade those projectiles. She can move freely with that wedding dress!

“I hope we advance to the next round and fight each other. Adieu!” The weird woman raised her frilled long skirt until he covered his whole body, making herself a human-sized white rose bulb.

Then, the bulb popped out of existence, only leaving a large hole in the soil. She must have dug and created a tunnel on her own.

Kristoff rushed to my position and proceeded to scold me. “That kindness of yours is the most troublesome. You ought not to trust anyone in a battle royale... except your teammates of course.”

“Ahaha… I’m sorry about that, Mister Kristoff.” I scratched my head.

Blam!

The walls blasted, and somebody made an appearance again. Why is there another explosion? Can I take a break just for a second!?

But… I’m glad it wasn’t another enemy. It was a cute pink-haired girl in black maid dress who has this moving drill-tipped tail attached on her back. It was our teammate Emily!

“Oh, Emily. I see you’re still in the game.” Kristoff said. “Have you met the others?”

“No. And I don’t want to.” Emily said in a pissed manner. Normally, she would act jollily, so I’m quite worried since this is the first time I saw her like that. Maybe she’s on her period.

I became a lot more worried when she made a cold glare at me.

“Oh, you’re here. Tiara.”

“H-Hello… Emily…”

<>

Suddenly, more enemies popped up. There are six Gate Guardians who appeared to be wearing acolyte’s robe and they surrounded us, blocking all our way out of this situation.

“It’s the Aether Crusade!” One of the acolytes shouted. “We have to eliminate them early! They will pose a problem if they managed to pass for the second round!”

“We have to fight through this!” Kristoff said.

“R-Right!” I answered.

“You guys are done now!” One of the acolytes said, and his other groupmates revealed their flintlock pistol-type weapons! Without wasting any second, they cast all their spells in their arsenal! “! , ! , !”

“!!!” I formed my fists into an X and a hologram dome materialized that protected us all from incoming attacks! When the spells are finally neutralized by my shield, I disabled it for my allies to attack!

Kristoff is an expert, as he didn’t even bother to use a spell to eliminate our opponents. He just unleashed three arrows that hit three Gate Plates, which banished the three acolytes from this dimension.

Emily also didn’t waste her saliva and prana to eliminate the others. She surged forward with a speed of a shinobi and kicked the acolyte’s chest, and then her drill tail smacked the other one.

I was exhausted due to me casting , but I’m agile and powerful enough to dash to the remaining enemy and eliminate him by making a swift jab straight to the Gate Plate on his chest.

“Noooo!” The acolytes screamed before having his body transported back to Earth Realm.

“Well, that was easy.” Kristoff smirked.

Huff...Puff…

I sat on the ground to catch air. I need a few seconds to recover my strength. I really need to take a break.

But-

Swoosh! Suddenly, a swift stab made its way to the air just beside my ear!

When I looked up, it was my teammate, Emily. The cute maid hid her eyes with her pink bangs and uttered a threatening sentence with such a soft voice.

“Tiara Hikari… I know you’re my teammate… But I want you to fight me…”

She raised her head. Her menacing cold glare is now locked unto my eyes.