I went numb to my surroundings; I could no longer see or hear. All I could do was wait in a strange state. An impending state, a feeling that I didn't mind. A sensation of peace, but how long would that peace last before the storm arrived?

Not long enough...

I regained my senses as I felt my foot slam onto the floor. My body felt like it had been hit by a lightning strike. I could feel currents surge through my body, causing me slight tingles. Forcing my eyes open, I gaped at the male elf, now only an arm's length away from him.

The male elf gradually turned his head to me. He moved his arm, getting ready to strike.

Ignoring my thoughts, I reached out to him, slashing my hand through his neck. As my hand penetrated the boy, he dissipated into a white mist.

The female elf's initial attack missed me, creating a loud boom in the vicinity, but despite that noise, everyone was quiet.

"Why?" The long-haired female said, pushing the human down to the ground. She stepped forward, looking at my armband. "Why is a prey?"

"The answer is simple," I said, remaining a neutral expression. Pointing at the long-haired elf, I slightly tugged my lips upwards. I stepped forward and whispered. "Link."

My lightning nails went through the female, causing her the same fate as her teammate.

I was expecting retaliation from the last elf, but she seemed too stunned to speak. She stared at me, resting her arms at her sides.

I held my head in discomfort, shaking it ever so slightly. The effects of the link caused me pain, but it could have been worse. The discomfort from singular links was nothing compared to the multi-links.

Stepping forward, I closed my eyes and sliced her throat as I did with her teammates.

"T-t-t-thank you," a feminine voice stuttered.

I turned my body and tried scratching my head, but I caused myself to bleed. Shaking my head, I recalled my left hand's lightning. I placed my left hand on my self-inflicted wound. Getting closer to the girl, I looked away and then back at her. "I forgot about you."

She beamed as her eyes sparkled. "Thank you!"

"No," I whispered, shaking my head. "You can't thank me."

"Huh," the girl smirked, laughing on the ground. She continued smiling, trying to wave my response off as a joke. "You're part of the prey, and you took out those others just for me!"

With a straight mouth, I examined her neck. "Bye." I reached my left hand to her neck and pushed through.

The girl shifted her body, falling to the left on the floor.

My hand pierced through her right shoulder. The parts my hand pierced slowly dissipated into mist. But even with a hole in her shoulder, the girl was still not fully mist.

"STOP," she yelled, looking at me. "You can't do that to a girl!"

Stepping on her leg, I forced more power onto it, making sure she couldn't escape. I crouched onto the floor, gaping the predator in the eyes. "Unfortunately for you, I consider myself an advocate for female rights." I punctured her neck, turning her into white mist. "After all, we all are equal."

The area around was in ruins. The fire from the elven magic extended further while the dirt floor was riddled with footmarks and holes.

Shaking my right hand in the air, I contracted my lightning nails. Kneeling on the floor, I tried to sense Ash's presence, but I couldn't. Even if I knew where he was, my sense of magic wasn't good enough to detect him.

Not wasting any more time, I stood up and opened my eyes. I located Ash's hideout, staring down at it. 'How should I get him out?' I slammed my hand on the ground. But to no avail, Ash didn't come out. 'I guess knocking on his door like a kind guest won't do...'

Time was of the essence. I was standing in a lure of curiosity, and It wouldn't be long until more predators came.

I tapped my foot on Ash's hideout, thinking of a way to get him out. Placing my left hand on my head, I rubbed my head, looking down at the floor. 'How?'

Eruptions, explosions, you name it. Noises were becoming more prevalent, and they were growing closer.

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. Placing my hand on the ground, I opened my eyes. 'Ambient spheres are everywhere. In water, fire, air, so why not the ground.'

Time was of the essence, I understood that, but I had no choice but to be a slave of fortune.

Taking a deep breath, I clenched my teeth. I placed my right hand in the air, bringing it down to the floor, but I stopped, looking behind me. "Who's there!"

No one offered a reply, and all I could hear were the countless sounds of other magics.

I opened my mouth, getting ready to talk again, but I stopped halfway, refocusing on getting Ash out. Placing my hand on the ground, I didn't care much anymore.

I just wanted to leave the area.

I tried shocking the floor with minimal lightning, but it was ineffective. I needed another method, and the only method that seemed reasonable was with magic spheres.

I concentrated on the floor, trying to locate a sphere near Ash's hideout, but I couldn't. I simply couldn't find a sphere in the ground.

But that's when it clicked. Of course, I couldn't.

Of course, I couldn't. After all, I wasn't naturally a mage. I just acted like one...

So, I'd need to act like one by manipulating my senses. I needed to alter my peripheral to see the magic in the ground. All magic could be sensed, but with different levels of mana inserted. For regular mages, the magic sensation was probably intuitive. But for me, I needed to control the input and output levels.

I was too complacent with just seeing a mage's mana and the spheres in the air.

Changing the levels of mana entering and exiting, I created a burning sensation in my body, but an opportunity was developed. Be it for a second, I saw a glimpse of an ambient sphere.

Even if a minuscule amount of lightning hit Ash, he would realize something was amiss.

Pointing at the ground, I re-concentrated and allowed my body to burn up, focusing to a point where I disconnected myself from my surroundings. I glimpsed a sphere, not thinking much more of it. "LINK!"

A small line of lightning pierced the floor, causing a minute hole through it, but it didn't cause any reaction to Ash. At the moment, I really considered just using a large amount of magic and bashing it through the ground, but Ash would probably get hurt by it.

"Damn it, Ash," I clicked my tongue, pointing at the ground and re-doing my focusing process. "LINK!"

Another minuscule hole bore the ground, but still, Ash wasn't budging. I performed my technique two more times until I physically could no longer. The burning sensation etched my eyes, and the burn flared to my arm, causing a hellish sensation.

I sat on the floor, nearing my mouth to one of the small holes. "ASH! Get out of there!"

The ground started to rumble, almost like a tremor. The ground I resided on began cracking as a muddied male came out.

I stood up, looking at the dirt-riddled dwarf. "About time..."

"Why are you on the floor? Shouldn't you be on the tree?" Ash said, wide-eyed, glancing at the area. He opened his mouth, turning his head to me. "What happened here?"

I ignored Ash because the explosions and noise got closer. Quickly pointing my hand at an area, I cleared my throat. "We need to move."

Ash followed me as we both entered a bushy area. The bushes were abnormally long and spiky, but we still pushed through.

I used my arm to deflect the spiky leaves, allowing me to pave my way through. I stopped and looked back at Ash. "Some predators came and found your hideout, so I had to take care of them."

"That's why you weren't on the tree," Ash said, looking up at me. "But where were the predators, and why were you on the ground?"

"I took care of the predators, and as for me being on the floor... I had to stay on the ground to use my magic to get you out."

Ash narrowed his eyes, tilting his head. "What magic?"

"Don't worry about it." I clicked my tongue, looking forward. "If it wasn't for my magic, why did you get out?"

"We only had twenty minutes left, so I assumed Allura would be back..." Ash said, adding. "Shouldn't we wait for Allura?"

I looked at my armband, noticing we only had fifteen minutes left. Turning my head to the area we once hid, I whispered. "Probably, but I have a gut feeling telling me to keep moving."

We marched through the risky area, getting cut, but no blood was shed.

After a few minutes, we stopped, looking at each other. We both knew something was wrong.

Ash narrowed his eyes, looking forward. "I swear we just passed this area."

"I was about to say," I replied, examining the bushes around us. "It's almost like we're just moving without getting anywhere." I turned around, walking back to our original area. "We should have gotten out of this bush area by now."

"Yeah," Ash nodded, following me as we walked backward.

Not even a minute later, we arrived back at our original area.

We both looked at each other, but we remained quiet.

We weren't speechless because we got nowhere, but because of another fact. That fact was the area in front of us.

What we thought was our original area spasmed in flashes of white and black mist. Every second showed a different area with a flash following.

After a plethora of flashes, we were transported to a new location. That location was a playground with an abandoned building.

"Why are we here," I asked Ash, looking around. But before he could respond, a buzz echoed in our ears.

I held my right ear, wincing at the buzz. The buzz turned into a deep voice. "Ahem, I hope you all are having a delightful day."

Ash rubbed his temple, wide-eyed. "It's the Headmaster."

"Many found it quite unfair being eliminated before the time ended. So, we decided to be nice." The Headmaster paused, almost as he waited for a standing ovation. "Any group that has been eliminated will garner the chance to regain their opportunity back into the tournament, but they have to earn it."

After a moment of pause, the Headmaster continued. "Each team has been generated to a new area. However, you may see one or both of your teammates not with you. That simply means they were too far. Or they're already eliminated."

"Allura's probably too far," I whispered.

Ash nodded, focusing on the Headmaster.

"A fully eliminated team will spawn, be it a predator or prey team. They will now bear a purple armband. If the purple team eliminates the team they spawn near, then the purple team will gain that team's color and right to play in the tournament. If the blue or red team beats the purple team, then they continue the tournament. But if both teams fail to eliminate the other by ten minutes, both shall be taken out!" The Headmaster exclaimed.

"Yo Ash. Over there," I pointed at three bodies of mist forming.

The mist formed what looked like two humans and a Khausfallian. And just like the Headmaster said, they all wore purple armbands.

Before the bodies fully developed, the Headmaster chuckled. "Just because everyone is having so much fun, we'll be adding more time!"

I gaped at my armband, now set back to thirty minutes.

"Stop daydreaming," Ash poked me, pointing at the developed individuals. "We have guests."

'I'll just end this like I did last time,' I thought, elongating my nails with lightning. I knew small talk and letting the enemies prepare would only disadvantage us.

"Link," I whispered, stepping forward, linking to the Khausfallian.

Before the Khausfallian male could even step forward, I impaled my hand through his stomach, causing him to fall onto the floor. I pounced on him, slashing his neck and finishing him off.

Like a wild animal, I remained pounced on the floor. I gaped at the other two: a female and a male human.

The Khausfallian teammate already launched attacks at me, forcing me to do another link, but...

I couldn't! My link wasn't working, leaving me with no options. All I could do was gape at the attacks as my legs trembled in pain.

Ash ran towards me, creating a barrier around me. He partially blocked the attacks coming from the purple members. One of the attacks made it through, burning my arm.

I could hear clashes as I stayed in a boxed barrier, and all I could do was remain pounced on the ground. Remained pounced until my sensations came back.

Breathing heavily, I stood up, forming lightning on my hand. I struck one side of Ash's barrier, breaking it.

Ash defended himself as the purple members launched forays of magic.

I walked through the collapsing barrier, limping my way to the others. I shouldn't have hastily gone to the enemy, but it worked last time. It was a risk I was willing to pay, and I guess, this time, the price was hefty.

My leg charred in a sensation of hell, far worse than any type of magic I had been hit by so far. I could only clench my teeth as my veins protruded from my neck.

Trekking my way forward, I ignored the pain, remembering one important fact. I wasn't playing a game, nor was I trying to enjoy myself. All the work I currently did was for my family... for myself.

Breathing in and out, I sanded my teeth. Reaching my hand to the sky, I lowered it to the purple members. One of the purple members was significant feet away from the other, so I decided to focus on the one further from Ash.

The purple members were too busy to notice me, so I took advantage of that, preparing my attack.

After a few seconds, the purple member went through an ambient sphere.

"Link," I yelled, creating a baseball-sized sphere of lightning and launching it at the opponent. The sphere penetrated the opponent's head, turning him into a mist.

I fell to the ground, holding my arm in agony and sprawling on the floor. I only performed singular links the whole event, and I still felt adverse effects.

I couldn't have helped but think Tehla was right. I should haven't used linkages...

I placed my head on the floor and held my arm in brutal pain. Trying to not think of the pain, I stared at Ash. My eyes became watery, but I continued ignoring the pain, focusing on Ash.

My pain was secondary. Ash succeeding was more important.

Ash realized the bombardments of the attack became less, but so did the other purple teammate.

"You bastard," the purple member said, looking back at me in an angered state.

I couldn't help but laugh through the pain as I slammed my hand onto the floor. "You just noticed?"

The female twitched her eye and ran to me.

Ash followed her, yelling. "Not so fast!"