As the steel of Catia's blade is shining around Niki's neck the only thing the group could do is stand there feeling completely baffled and furious at the same time. Nathan didn't know what to think right now since he has been tricked by a woman because he let his guard down. Joey is the first to break the silence.

"Fuck, shouldn't have trusted the guild."

Joey readies his fist as he has a plan on how he could get Niki out of this situation but it will be his first time trying something like this. As Joey goes to start executing his plan, Tanner puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Not quite, I know what is going on and it does not involve the guild."

"What do you mean?" asked Joey.

"I do not know what kind of magic it is, but the people we are fighting right now seem to actually be some sort of doll. I noticed it earlier when I saw one of them shift into their original form. Someone might be controlling them from a distance away."

"So that means if I stick a knife in Catia's head, it won't actually kill the real Catia?"

An inferno of rage seemed to be swirling around Nathan as he made this remark and Tanner gave him a nod. As Tanner finished his nod, three knives have already struck the head of Catia's doll. It lets go of Niki and falls lifelessly to the ground. Niki runs over to Tanner and gives him a massive hug.

"I can't believe you figured it out! I was gonna say that one of the four commanders could use doll magic and he is testing our skills right now but you said it before I could!"

Niki is basically jumping for joy since Tanner found out about the dolls and he just gives her a small smile of appreciation. Joey lets out a sigh and puts his hand on Nathan's shoulder to try to help calm him down and Bree is focusing on her soul to see how much mana she has left.

"YOU FOOLS! YOU THINK YOU COULD BEAT ME SO EASILY!?"

The once innocent-looking Catia shot upwards from her lifeless position on the ground and is now standing. Her voice is that of a man's and she has a maniacal look on her face.

"Looks like I'll have to use my secret techniques."

The manly sounding Catia is then struck by four ice spikes all over her body and then is punched by Joey who is using "Physical Explosion". The doll is completely obliterated and Joey's punch causes a V-shaped crater to form. With his fist smoking from the impact, Joey laughs and makes a smart remark.

"Your 'secret techniques' obviously suck."

The only one to laugh at this is Tanner since everyone else is cringing. Joey turns around and gives them all a confused look.

"What? Was it something I said?" Joey asked.

"Wellllll, it's just you looked so awesome blowing the doll away but you ruined the mood with a sentence that was worse than the 'secret techniques'." Tanner said in return.

Nathan just continued to cringe and let out a painful sigh as the puns would not stop even though considering the situation they were just in. He can tell that his friends are trying to lighten up the mood for him and he appreciates their gestures. Nathan turns and looks at Tanner.

"Well, what now?" he asked.

Tanner stood there for a moment with his chin in his hand. He gave a little shrug as he came up with his only answer.

"I guess find whoever made the dolls, kick his ass, and leave?"

As Tanner said this, someone bumped into him. A man with a long beard and old rags as clothes tells Tanner to 'Move it' as he walks by. Nathan looks around and sees people, lots of them. The aura of the separate dimension is now gone and they seem to be free of whoever was trying to kill them. He also looks to sees if the bodies are still there but they seem to have disappeared. Everyone let out a breath of relief as the nightmare they had to endure is now over. No one knows what time it is now but they do know their matches will begin soon so both groups split up into their teams and leave for the arena.

Nathan is mentally exhausted and has a massive headache. Tanner notices this and tries to watch what he says as he cannot understand what is going through his best friends mind right now. They continue to jog throughout the streets, bobbing and weaving with Niki in tow. She is complaining about how fast they are running but they ignore her anyway, they didn't want to miss their match. As they reach the entrance to the battle contestants rooms, they find out their fight is in 5 minutes. Glad that they made it, Nathan, Tanner, and Niki take the extra time they are given to take a minute to relax.

About 2 minutes pass and there is a knocking on the door. Tanner is having idle chat with Niki so Nathan decides to go answer it. He opens the door to see a familiar cat-eared, gentle-faced girl on the other side. When seeing Nathan, Catia's ears perk up and she gives him a smile. Knowing that it was only a doll before, Nathan still can't the image of Catia trying to kill Niki out of his head. He closes his eyes and shakes his head to try and rid himself of it and it works for the moment.

"Hey Catia, what's up?"

"I just had a break from the Guild and wanted to wish you good luck in your next match!"

Nathan gives Catia a weak smile to show appreciation for her gesture.

"Thanks."

Catia's face goes from bright and happy to slightly dim and confused. She can tell something is bothering Nathan as he is usually always glad to see her but today seems to be different.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing, anyways our match will be starting. Thank you for the wish of good luck."

Nathan closes the door as Catia goes to say something to him. Slightly distraught, Catia's tail starts to flick side to side as she seemed to be expecting something from Nathan but was shut down.

Back with Joey and Bree, they had shown up for their match but found out that their opponents got severely hurt in their last match and they would have to wait a while for them to be healed. With this being the case, they both decide they will go and watch Team Turncoat's match until they are told theirs is ready. They manage to receive a seat moderately close to the battlefield and they have arrived just as the two teams are being introduced. Tanner and Nathan's opponents are what looks like a samurai and a witch.

Wondering how they will approach this situation, Joey watches the fight closely as he feels he needs to study his best friends attack patterns so they all can fight better together. Tanner stands there, shield and sword ready while Nathan seems disinterested and looks like he is pretty depressed. The witch decides to make the first move and begins to chant something. A massive circle appears at the feet of the two that seems to been forming some sort of foreign language within. Seeing that this is probably a powerful spell due to the size, Joey begins to wonder how his friends can possibly handle this.

Down on the battlefield, Tanner looks at the fire circle and then looks at Nathan.

"I've seen this spell in one of the books I read. It is a powerful firestorm the follows its targets. We got about 15 seconds before it casts and it is hard to get away from it."

"Well if that's the case, I'll stand right here, go ahead and get out of the circle and take care of the samurai looking guy. I got this bitch..... I mean witch."

Nathan is staring into the eyes of the witch with his one red eye. The witch doesn't seem to be intimidated as she continues on with the spell. Nathan could stop her but that would take effort, and he doesn't feel the greatest right now. Tanner has already run out of the circle and it seems the samurai was waiting for this as he charges at Tanner. As the writing in the circle begins to form faster and faster, Nathan is waiting for the perfect moment to leave, and if he doesn't shake it off then this witch is dying with him.

The witch is starting to look more and more perplexed as Nathan doesn't look worried about her spell.

'Ignorant child, you will die if you continue this facade.'

The sound of metal clashing echoes throughout the arena as the samurai attacks Tanner at great speeds but he blocks them all. The witch finally finishes the spell and fire begins to form at Nathan's feet. She is giving him one final chance to move as she doesn't want the fight to end so easily but he just laughs slightly at her hesitation. Becoming a little angry at this, the witch snaps her fingers and an inferno of flames burst into the air. The magic circle summoned a tornado that circulated fire through it and whatever was inside was burnt to a crisp. The woman put a little extra mana into it to make sure that Nathan is dead and when the fire disappeared, he was nowhere in sight. Satisfied with her work, she turns her attention to her partner and is baffled at what she sees. The samurai lays on the ground, sword and face mask shattered. His nose is bleeding and seems to be broken as he remains unconscious on the floor. Knowing that her partner has never lost before, the witch decides to get revenge and begins to cast another spell.

Back in the stands, Joey is already getting up to leave. Bree looks at him and is perplexed by this.

"Where are you going?"

"Tanner and Nathan have already won so there is nothing more to see."

"You don't know tha-."

Bree is cut off by the cheering of the audience and horns blaring. She quickly looks down to the battlefield to see Nathan standing over the witches body. His short sword is stabbed into her back but not anywhere vital so she will surely live but for the moment she seems to be immobile. Tanner gives Nathan a smile and Nathan gives Tanner a smirk back. They are on their way to winning this tournament with ease.