The illumination from the building and street lights lit the area with not a single soul in sight. It felt barren like the ruins we walked through outside. Hiding was my best bet if I want to reach the thirty-minute mark. I got wrapped up in everything else that I forgot to ask what I’d be up against.

I entered one of the many surrounding buildings and climbed the stairs to the second to last floor. The building was one of the taller ones and the wide office styled windows provided a good vantage point against whatever it was that I’d be fighting.

Roughly ten minutes passed and not a single threat showed itself. Anxiety built up the longer things were silent. Suddenly, a roaring tremor shook the entire building. I freaked out and thought the building was collapsing but noticed debris flying in the air along the outskirts of the city.

The windows continued to rumble and I retreated to the centermost part of the structure, scared that the glass may shatter into a million pieces. Instead of hiding in the deepest darkest hole possible, my curiosity flung me to the rooftop. Peering my head out from behind the roof’s doorway, the city outskirts were littered in flames and destruction. Explosions erupted closer by the second and a shining light formed in the middle of the night sky, not far from the building.

‘Oh, crap!’

Cursing inwardly once I realized the light in the sky was the cause of the explosions. A person shooting magic beams into everything in sight. Next on his agenda was my building. A light beam fired into the side of the structure causing my legs to buckle. I was afraid to go back inside with a high chance of being buried alive but also didn’t want to be stuck on the roof to die from the fall itself.

“Stop!” I ran towards the center of the roof and shouted as loud as possible. Either way, both options were horrible, at least this was worth a shot.

Oh, did that actually work? The large figure hovered closer to the rooftop and his facial features for some odd reason were blurred, leaving behind a creepy faceless entity.

I stepped unconsciously backward the moment another similar faceless one appeared out of nowhere next to the large floating guy. Then a loud boom from behind caught my attention with now another faceless appearing. The opponent flanking me had electricity sparking off their body.

Those two were the fastest to arrive, following several others arriving through various means of magic. Flight, teleportation, and super speed among others.

‘This is impossible, there’s no way in hell I can survive for another twenty odd minutes.’ I counted twelve in my immediate vicinity with more on their distant way most likely.

Large faceless made his first move and the next moment looked like a race to see who could slaughter me first. A beam of light exploded outwards from large faceless and plummeted down onto the rooftop veering directly in my direction. The structure split in half, followed by the mix of magic the other faceless beings unleashed forth.

My only option was to bolt to the railing’s edge, even then their magic followed like a homing device. Without thinking anymore I dove off the side of the building, forty floors from death. Luckily all my belongings came with me into the ring and I used my daggers to catch onto the side of the building. They sparked across the concrete, but my slow descent was cut short as I pushed away from the building to dislodge the daggers and continue my plummet.

The corner of my eye caught sight of the electric speedster running diagonally across the side of the building aiming as if to mow right on through. The speedster followed suit pushing off the building to align back into a head-on collision, despite my strained efforts. My legs frantically searched through the air for any footing after being helplessly stuck in this situation.

The electricity magic surged throughout my body from the point of impact. My tendons, skin, and hair felt like they were being evaporated from my body. Even with my magical resistance the surface of my skin started to char along with what felt like my blood was being boiled. Surprisingly enough I didn’t explode upon impact. Twenty meters behind was our destination, straight into the side of another building. The pain was all consuming as my mind gave way to darkness.

This sensation of overflowing power, I’ve experienced it before in the coliseum. Time warped as if frozen, with dark miasma flooding every fiber of surrounding space. The moment I gained consciousness the scene unfolding flooded in as if remembering a dream. Not what I was expecting since last time I awoke to nothing but Eris left standing.

The faceless speedster was assaulted by the endless stream of shadow magic. The darkness consumed the speedster as their electricity magic fizzled out together with their body, disintegrating to ash. Further back, the large faceless along with the others in the air above were up next. The other assailants fared better after witnessing one of their own die, by amplifying their magic levels to the maximum.

The large faceless turned into a condensed ball of blinding light as another that attempted teleporting away stood motionless before being erased from existence. I thought that maybe they were weaker than the others, but instead realized he tried teleporting away and failed. Anyone that tried to flee instead of standing their ground turned to dust.

From what I could tell, the dark miasma was spreading throughout the length of the shadow zone created from my magic. A limit or range so to speak on my magic’s authority. Anyone within the initial shadow zone was as if paused in time and lost all use of travel powers. Without the option of fleeing, meant that you had to survive the encroaching miasma head on.

I continued watching the spectacle above as my body steadily hovered to the streets below. Those that chose to defend had their barriers pumped full of magic. The barriers had distinguished forms from the area my miasma could not enter. On contact, each barrier melted away as if high-grade acid was poured all over. Varying by magical power some quickly died and others went through a constant cycle of regenerating barriers.

My feet touched ground and not even the surrounding structures were exempt from the dark miasma. The outer layer of concrete and metal eroded into fine powder, leaving the structure without the chance to come crashing down. The main difference from last time at the arena was the floor beneath my feet stayed untouched along with my daggers and belongings. Maybe from my current state of consciousness but it felt like the dark miasma was controlled to a certain extent. Roughly three soccer fields out in all directions were flattened into thin air. I could see the innards of buildings left standing like taking a hot knife to butter.

The sky overhead illuminated yet continued being engulfed in my magic. The large faceless wielding light magic flew closer as his magic protected him in a ball of blinding light. The light formed a condensed aura outlining his large frame. It looked like that was his method of defense against harmful magic. His hand rose with a reenactment of earlier followed by a light beam erupting outwards. Strangely though the power of his beam attack diminished greatly. The speed was the same but it held the power of a wet noodle slapping against my body.

The faceless attempted again as if to recalculate their power output and this time the force of impact was enough to shake my body albeit lightly. It was during his fourth attack the feeling in my hands returned and I was able to loosen my grip on the daggers. I still wasn’t able to control my shadow magic at all, but at least I could move my body again. The upcoming fifth beam attack continued to charge longer than the others. I willed my being with all my strength to dodge sideways, barely avoiding the beam in time.

I was done being helpless and before he could charge up another attack I shot forth into the air, aiming to plunge my daggers directly into his chest. I noticed the disappearance of aura at the location of the stab wound. The aura of light wore off enough for the dark miasma to fully engulf and disintegrate him.

Things were silent as the darkness gradually seeped back into my body. I grabbed at my chest as a biting sharp pain gradually mellowed out. I took a seat in the middle of the street, trying to control my breathing and the pounding migraine. I glanced around at the destruction and wondered about what these trials were based on. There was silence throughout the destroyed city as I waited for the thirty minutes to expire and for the trial to come to an end.