They entered the colosseum.

"Wow.”

The first thing Maria noticed was that the entire circular floor was made out of marble and littered with people. The place had a domed roof sealing it off but it was still immensely bright. She stared at her surroundings, taking in the high rise wall that blocked them off from the spectators above. It was a massive space, and the crowds of participants seemed like a small sea as they waited.

Yet, not a second after they entered did a voice grab their attention.

“I’ll put it plainly,” It was dull and unassuming.

“I strongly recommend you all forfeit and wait for the next hunt. If you do not heed my warning, be prepared to fail the Hunt.”

Murmurs flew amongst the participants as Maria glanced to the right.

“Huh?”

A lean man stood there amidst the sea of people. His long black hair reached his shoulder, he wore only a pair of black pants that looked like it had been fashioned from patches and had been through the maws of beasts, and his upper body, bare-chested, was toned with muscles and tanned, adorned with dark markings from his upper arm to his chest and neck. His face was angular and he looked absolutely calm under the stares of the participants.

"Do you think just because you're called the strongest we'll all kneel before you, Gushin? Are we flies in your eyes or have you gone senile from your status? Do you think we'll wait 2 more years just for you?"

At that moment, another man dressed in leather gear, sword attached to his waist, walked forward and questioned with eyes that looked absolute

"Oh?" The individual in question merely said one word.

It was as if the air erupted as Maria felt, and saw, a surge of mana, pure red smoke like the devil's horn, explode from the person. It was like the atmosphere itself was twisting, vibrating, around the individual.

"What the-" The leather dressed man's legs quaked, his throat felt like it was scorching as words, struggled to come out.

A leg swung out.

It took a second, maybe, in fact, it might have been less than a second of movement.

The sound of cracking bones rang.

A scream tore through the space as the leather armored man fell limply onto the floor. His feet was twisted, bent at an angle it was never meant to as blood flew. He would have liked to do something, anything, to release himself from the situation. However, a bare feet firmly planted his head against the marble floors of the colosseum.

"What did you say?" The individual looked down on him and twisted his face against the ground.

Incoherent gargles of pain followed. He was not even allowed a chance to speak.

"A person who has yet to become an adventurer, trying to lecture me? Ridiculous." HIs eyes bore down.

An empty space had been created around the area as most people backed off. Most people.

White light shined as Maria grabbed a hold of her weapon, stepping forward.

"Maria, wait, that's-"

"Move your feet!"

The man lazily raised his eyes, locking them with those of fiery red, like the color of his radiating mana.

"How childish," He merely stared at her, maybe right through her, "Are you trying to be a hero?"

She gripped her weapon, speaking once more, "Move your feet before I move them for you."

At those words, he fully stood up. He was atleast a head taller, they were a half a meter apart, and she realized he was looking down on her. Her legs shook under the pressure of his chaotic mana, heat suffocated the air around her, and she momentarily wondered how someone could have such a wild energy.

"No." He stated.

The air whistled as she swung her weapon.

-Clink-

Her blade found itself pinned down by an index finger and a thumb, stopped before touching a tanned neck.

Eyes widened as the man raised a finger against her forehead, released her weapon, and. . .

-BANG-

. . .flicked.

Maria's body flew across the space, slamming against the wall of the colosseum.

"F*ck," Rain grabbed onto his sword and prepared to move only to stop as a black butterfly fluttered, landing on the man's body.

"I'll say it once more," He spoke, eyes moving through the vast space, "you best leave the Hunt or I'll personally break you if I meet you inside."

There was a momentary silence.

"I refuse."

Chunks of the wall smacked against the ground as a figure walked out in unsteady steps, white light surrounded her body, and her grip on her weapon had been tightened.

"I refuse," Maria said, "I refuse your damn 'warning' and I refuse to backdown again. Not only will I participate in the Hunt, I'll also win it."

Dark eyes narrowed on her shaking body.

"I suppose you haven't been beaten enough."

A clap resounded around the area as a voice boomed, "Save the fighting for the Hunt. I'll now begin the processing."

Eyes turned towards the center of the space. A man had appeared next to a floating crystal ball. He had a head of brown, slightly ruffled, hair and his overall build was that of a hulk. He was dressed in simple wear of a plain white shirt, which outlined his toned muscles, and a plain brown pants.

Maria watched as her opponent scoffed and turned away from her.

Her eyes traced gold.

[Name: Gushin Mao

Strength: A

Speed: A

Mana: A

Skills: Freya's Markings (Rising)

Overall: SS]

[Freya’s Markings: Your Body is a vassal for power and container of strength. In return for channeling your mana through your body, your stats increases based on the quantity of mana being channeled at once.

Stage 1; 25% - +1 minor rank

Stage 2; 50% - +2 minor rank

Stage 3; 75% - +3 minor rank

Stage 4; 100% - +4 minor rank

This is applied to all stats.]

'What a monster,' She wiped stains of blood from her lips as her weapon disappeared in spots of light.

It was true after all, she thought, breaking into the S rank in any slate exponentially increases it in power compared to the previous breakthroughs.

Her vision shook, blurry, and her head felt like it was continually being pounded by hammers.

'This is no joke.'

She had no idea how much power he had placed into the single flick of his, but she wondered if anyone else lacking an A slate in strength could have even gotten up from that. Evidentially, the man had not purposefully held back, he merely did not expect her to be able to withstand a finger of his and get back up.

"Are you alright?" Rain asked, walking to support her.

"I'm more than alright."

Rather than pain, there was a grin upon her face. She felt something within her had riled up, revving as if to fight him—though she knew she stood no chance. ‘Odd,’ was the only way to describe it. There was no fear from facing such an overpowering foe, only the desire to sooner overshadow and step on them.

“You have a crazy expression right now. . .”

She laughed. She too thought she might be a bit loose in the head as she staggered back up and dots of white light floated from her body.

‘Crazy indeed.’

The injured man was soon supported and taken to be healed, then, another clap resounded.

"My name is O'Brien Lockhart, many of you know me as the Adventure Guild master of the Kent branch. I'll be the one in charge of this competition."

Maria stared through crowds of people as she listened. His voice was loud, too loud, it was definitely being amplified through some means.

“There are three ways to pass this year’s Hunt. One, capture or restrain the hunted by staying in physical contact with them for 10 seconds, he will always appear on the map, and will try to kick as many people out of the Hunt as possible. Two, find and kill the ‘Golden Beast’ before the Hunted does and safely return to your starting location with its Demonic Orb; remember, however, as soon as the beast is killed, the orb’s location, or the Marker its inside of, will continue to appear on the map—and the Hunted will come for that orb. Finally, defeat 5 people, take their Markers, and absorb them into your own before returning to the starting point. At least one of these conditions must be met before the next 3 nights, after this one, are over. If any rules are broken or you lose your Marker, you’re disqualified.”

The Guild Master spewed and continued on to the rules.

There was a lot of muttering and Arthur, who was looking down into the colosseum raised a brow from the stands, next to the Duke, his wife, and an expressionless Ais.

The previous years had merely been similar to the first two conditions. A race against a professional Adventurer - who was in the Hunt for some sort of benefit or another. The Adventurer had to track and kill a higher ranked beast, while the ‘Players’ had to track down and kill numerous lower ranked beasts before the Hunter was done or the time limit was over. Though, one could still try and capture the hunted.

By the looks of it, there were about 250 people participating this year. He guessed that maybe less than a quarter of them were nobles, the rest being prospective Adventurers. With the rules, if they were to follow the 3rd condition, only about 40 people stood a chance to pass.

'Well,' He thought, 'She was able to handle a flick from him. . .she'll probably do well enough.'

He sighed as he listened to the Guild Master name the Hunted as Kent's Strongest Adventurer, then proceeded to merely be an observer.

“A battle royal. . .” Rain spoke next to Maria.

She nodded, ‘How ironic.’

“The safest way seems to be finding the beast, killing it, and quickly running back; but it’s a trap.”

“How so?”

“Let’s say we go after the beast, let’s say we did find and kill the right one, let’s say we acquire the Demonic Orb. . .we’ll be at a massive disadvantage. Not only would we be hunted down by those who want the Golden Orb, we’ll also be hunted down by those who want another Marker. Furthermore, although we can work and enter the Hunt as a team. . .it never said the orb was a shared object.”

Finally, she thought, three mechanics of the Hunt made it that much harder. (1) If you entered within 300 meters of a person, you will appear on their map. (2) You were allowed to use any means necessary to pass, as long as no rules were broken. And (3) Falling into the waters surrounding the area of the hunt would result in an automatic loss.

The boy nodded, “It’s like they’re forcing us to hunt each other.”

“Yes. However. . .”

Trying to keep in contact with Kent's Strongest Adventurer for 10 seconds? Most people had probably already threw out that idea since the earlier situation. Trying to find and kill the Golden Beast? Neither luck nor the Hunt’s mechanics were on your side.

Your best bet was fighting other ‘Players’; as if the game had been rigged to pass the least amount of people possible.

“. . .we just have to make the mechanics work for us.”

"?"

However, the announcement hadn’t finished as the Guild Master continued.

“Whoever manages to clear all 3 conditions by having the Golden Orb on hand, your Marker filled with that of 5 other people, and holding on to the Hunted for 10 seconds; will receive an Artificial Artifact.”

It was like a clap of thunder.

The stadium boiled and the people within the stage riled up.

Rain looked to his left to see the figure of Maria laughing.

"What's gotten into you?"

“Oh, nothing, I’m just thinking of capturing ‘Kent's Strongest Adventurer’ and acquiring a second Artifact.”

Rain looked her up and down.

“You’re just as crazy as your brother.”

“What? You don’t like it?”

“I can’t say I don’t,” He said, touching his sword, “My dream is to adventure this world, grow my swordsmanship, and surpass my father, a challenge like that is nothing in the face of it.”

“Oh? And here I thought you wanted to settle down and marry me at some point before, no?”

“We both know I was only messing with you. I had been curious for awhile about the so called Heaven Blessed Princess and seeing you so absolutely sure of yourself, I wanted to kick you down a bit.”

“So you’re a sadist who stares at a sleeping girl.”

He stared at her, his hand touched the hilt of the blade at his waist.

“. . .sure, let’s go with that.”

She laughed.

Truthfully, he thought she was beautiful. A person that a god must have arbitrarily tossed down onto the world. A person with power, brains, and beauty.

However. . .

Those eyes of his did not look at a normal world, and whenever he looked at her, he remembered the real reason he had been fascinated with her that day.

He blinked his eyes as a soft window appeared before him.

[Name: Rain Clover

Skills: Saint’s Eyes (U), Swordsmanship (B)]

[Saint's Eyes: The eyes of a sword saint sees all. to the mysterious powers they hold, the eyes allow the person to see the fine details within anything from stationary objects to moving individuals. Finally, restricts all inspection type skills on your person.

Green - Safe

Yellow - Caution

Red - Dangerous

Black - Escape

Purple - Worthwhile

Auxiliary; May view the skills of any human.]

That day, just before she awoke. She had momentarily been covered in a layer of black butterflies. It had took all his courage to merely remain in the same room as her, that joke, the laughing, had only been there to calm his own nerves—and he left as quickly as he could as well, with the excuse of calling Ais.

‘It wasn’t only a glitch, right?’

Now, as a teen much wiser, he wondered how that could have ever happened.

"You may now enter the portal. If you plan to work as a team, maintain physical contact with your teammates as you enter. Be aware, space rings will not function within the territory of the hunt, and. . ."

Without their noticing, a green portal had appeared in front of the crystal ball as participants filtered inside. They quickly followed through, keeping in physical contact with each other as they stepped within the swirling mana.

As the last of the participants left, the portal closed and the ball hovered into the air. Slowly, four massive screens blinked into existence, each facing a side of the colosseum.

Arthur blinked his eyes, he was seated in a special seat, and there was a personal screen at his front.

". . .let the hunt begin."