Lance noticed some movement among the unconscious spectators. He had a short glance to us. He had a slightly surprised look on his face, maybe even admiration, but he quickly turned his focus back to Zack.

Suddenly, Zack clapped his hands. The sound echoed throughout the arena. He had a huge grin, giving me a feeling that we fell for a trap.

"Now that we have spectators, let the show begin!" Zack said. He joined his hands together in a hand shake grip. Then, he slowly pulled his hands apart and revealing two black blueish crystal balls. He cracked a smile then chanted the spell "Let the darkness wrap the beautiful world in it's warm grip, [caliginous battlefield] !" He crushed the two crystals. Then, a dark aura in the shape of a cloudy ball appeared around Zack as it quickly wrapped around him, hiding him into the screen of dull black.

Suddenly, the darkened started to spread, causing the world to get painted black. It was just like when he used [forever night]. Bruksen turned to me and said "Not again! Please no!" "Don't worry, I'll get you out as soon as possible" I tried to calm Brusken down, but I know it might be different. The darkness doesn't contain pure universal magic anymore, instead it had mixed with some soul energy. Well, not some, but there are mostly only soul energy that I could feel from this darkness. The darkness spread around us and wrapped behind us until both sides touched each other.

This time, I didn't get fully covered in darkness. I could still see Brusken and the floor of the ring, including the two contestants. Everything besides those and the seats me and Brusken were on and the few tiles below us, were covered in pure darkness. Then, there was silence.

We were trapped in a world fragment. A world fragment is essentially a world within a world. It was rare for anyone to even be able to summon one, considering how much energy and power it takes to not only create one, but to maintain it and keep it from falling apart.

This proved Zack's abilities. It's already extremely hard to maintain one the size of an tiny room, the size of a public toilet, for even a few seconds. Yet alone a quarter of the arena and also bring able to trap more than one other person. The last person I knew who was able to build a world fragment even the size of half of this was an old master. Although he was a little slow because of his age, but the power hidden under every step he took had enough strength to kill a minotaur.

A world fragment however, is different to the forever night me and the other spectators were trapped in. The major differences were the fact that the forever night was just a soul entrapment spell. Only our souls were trapped in it. Souls don't die, in basic terms. So, escaping from it wasn't hard as long as you know how to. As for a world fragment, it's a different story. It traps your physical body, so if you die here then you will seriously be properly dead. There's basically no way of escaping one without destroying the world fragment itself unless the creator allowed you to. In the end, there were only 3 ways to get out of a world fragment. Forcing or making the creator to let you go, waiting until the creator runs out of energy because the world would just break apart itself, or by summoning more power than the world fragment can hold.

The thing that broke the silence was when a darkened body, or should I say shadowy aura-ish body, of Zack walked out of the darkness. Lance's sword started to collect Mana and glow. Rose was preparing to cast a spell at a moment's notice. Brusken was fully focused on the battle. I was just excited to see the true power of this illusionist, master swordman, and flower mage.

Zack swung his hand to the two contestants. Then, multiple columns of darkness popped out from the wall of pure black behind Zack and extended towards Lance and Rose.

Rose swiftly casted [Lotus protection]. A pink lotus formed under her and the petals closed up and covered her from all sides. The dark columns wasn't able to break through the protection spell. They just dissipate as they smashed into the lotus, like a wave of fire blowing against something that can't be burned.

Lance stood in a launching position. Backside straight, head towards the enemy, one leg bent forward while another straight backwards. Both hands on his left side, holding the two beautiful and gracefully glowing blades. His right elbow crossed in front of his month while his left arm was extended straight backwards. His eyes were fully locked onto Zack's aura body, not towards the columns of darkness aiming towards him.

Suddenly, I felt a surge of magic swirling under Lance. Then, he started running. His speed was quite fast. He wasn't running in a straight line though. It was like he was a snake, crawling on the ground. His blades left a line of yellow glow in his path. As the columns approached him, he dodged some of them in graceful curves while he spun and attacked others, causing them to dissipate.

Zack didn't look surprised. He just stared at him. Brusken, on the other hand, was watching in awe. He told me that Lance was using one of his special moves, which is named [twin dragons' dance]. The name does fit the skill. Two twin blades moving as graceful as dragons while leaving behind two twin yellow glowing tails as aftereffects.

Suddenly, another surge of magic started swirling around Zack. Although the feel of the magic is different compared to Lance, it is still a huge surge. It felt like soul magic.

Rose probably felt the surge too. The last of the columns coming to her just smashed into her spell and dissipated. So, she quickly summon [Ivy Web]. Green vines extended like a web around Rose in all directions. Small red leaves and bigger green leaves gathered in patches of threes are scattered around the vines, with occasional white flowers and berries pop up here and there, indicating these are poison ivy vines.

Lance ran until he reached about ten steps away from Zack. Then, he launched himself into the air. I actually felt a faint aura of two dragons around Lance. Two magnificent and holy aura of dragons following his swords. He graceful flew towards Lance in a straight line.

During his flight, I noticed he had his arms crossed in front of his face. His blades kinda represented ears of a dragon. His two arms formed an X shape in front of his face.

Zack did not move an inch. He stood there staring at Lance. I guessed this is because he knows that Lance can't hurt him, as that wasn't his body. He held up his right hand towards the incoming Lance, fist closed. As Lance inched closer, he opened his fist. A shield then appeared between him and Lance.

Lance smashed right into the shield. However, he was still in the rocketing state. The faint aura can still be felt. He was probably trying to push his way through the shield. After a second or two, he realised it was useless. Suddenly, I felt a huge aura gathering in Lance's blades. Lance then said something at the end of his lips. It was faint, but I heard [Twin Dragon's...]

Lance suddenly gave a little shout "SLASH!!"

The immense aura got even stronger. It felt like Ghork all over again. Time seemed to have slowed down too. The light coming from Lance's dual blades brighten up the darkness, like the rays of sunlight breaking through the thick wall of dark clouds after a heavy downpour. It felt like the world around me was breaking apart. Or rather, more like the world fragment Zack created was falling apart.

Brusken was mesmerized by the power. Well, not only him, to be honest. I was absolutely taken away by the power Lance can gather in those two blades.

The world was on the brink of falling apart when it suddenly fixed itself. It was most likely Zack reinforcing the world. After that, time seemed to have returned to normal.

Lance released the power he gathered in the swords in a terrifying double slash. The slash was in a sort of X shape, creating a power aura made out of pure energy. It held the immense yellow glow from the blades.

The extreme power cut through the shield like it was cheesecake. Then the attack continued in it's path after slicing through the shield towards Zack's aura-ish body. Zack did not dodge and was slashed into 4. The body quickly dissipated. The X then reached the ground and causing the ground to shake as it kicked dust into the sky and left an X on the ground.

All a sudden, another body of Zack's appeared in the darkness behind Lance. This time, it looked like it was Zack's real body. Zack placed his hands in front of him and above him, along the middle of his body and fists open. His right hand was more or less directly above his head while his left hand was in front of his mouth. The position of his left looked like someone about to drink a cup of water. Then, he closed his fists and a big hammer started to form. An extremely long warhammer with a huge head, to be exact. It was made out of pure energy and magic just like Zack's aura-ish body before.

"Yahhhh!" Zack shouted as he swung the hammer. I didn't think Zack would be the type of have a warshout, but I guess I was wrong.

Multiple more war hammers appeared around Lance. They were swinging at Lance from all sides. The same goes for Rose. Although the real Zack wasn't attacking her directly, the hammers still spawned around her.

Rose quickly casted [Lotus protection]. From the view of it, it worked and defended her from the attack. The hammers dispersed after it hit the lotus aura and more hammers formed behind.

Lance didn't try to defend. He instead dashed towards Zack. His blades once again started to glow, indicating he was inserting magic into it. Zack swung his warhammer directly at Lance.

Lance stared at the incoming hammer and did not seemed to have any intentions of dodging or slowing down. With the hammer basically one second away from hitting him, he jumped into the air and did a graceful 360° spin. The warhammer dispersed into thin air. The other warhammers missed him and hit the ground. They left cracks on the ground and then dispersed. The spin also left a yellow glowing tail aftereffect just like Lance's twin dragon's dance.

Zack then jumped backwards and summoned another warhammer. This time, no extra warhammers formed around Lance, but the barrage on Rose continued. Rose was still in her protection spell and defending agaisnt the non-stop hammer barrage. Lance dashed towards Zack once again and slashed at the incoming hammer. Zack jumped backwards and summoned another hammer. They continued on like this for a little while. The whole time, there was a grin on Zack's face. It made me wondered why.

Then, I noticed something. Those warhammers aren't just illusions. It's true that they dissipate upon touching something, but the true power is never just that. If that's the case, how would a illusionist ever win?

Usually, an illusionist act more like an assassin. They would normally use illusions to get closer to the target and finish them off as soon as possible. But, Zack doesn't seem to be doing that. He looked like he's just playing around, or maybe there's something hidden.

It wasn't long before I noticed it. Lance.... He seemed to be getting weaker and weaker. The power of Rose's lotus protection too. It's starting to fade away. I could see Rose in a kneeling position on the ground, probably from getting attacked so much

Then, Zack announced. "Alright, let's end this!!" He then started chanting. "Souls are the building blocks of life, the glue of the world, and the energy that keeps everything together. Let me show you, the power of souls, [Soul Ascension]!"

Suddenly, I felt a gust of soul energy gathering in Zack. Then, Zack just dashed towards Lance at super speed, probably at faster speeds than Ghork. Then, the world turned slow-mo. The fear and surprise in Lance's face. The proud smile of Zack. The total shock on Brusken, and not to mention, the excitement within me.

Zack punched Lance in the stomach. Then, I felt a strange sensation. A sensation of fear... I guess. But, the fear wasn't from me. This could only mean one thing, Zack is burning the soul energy as fuel. The pain and horror carried by the souls pulled from the soul entrapment spell were the things left over from burning off a part of a soul. I could feel it all.... The terror and stress the spectators were facing under [Forever Night]

Zack's punch made Lance ended up flying into the darkness. Lance left a trail of soul energy behind him. Just like that, Lance was gone. Most likely Zack punched him out of the world fragment.

Now onto the last person. Zack gathered another gust of soul energy. Then, he dashed towards Rose. Rose wasn't doing much the whole time, so I was curious to see what she can do to defend against it.

Looking at Rose, she was tired. Probably because her soul was slowly drained from so many soul attacks.

Rose struggle to stand up. With the last bit of energy she had, Rose responded by giving her right hand a little kiss. I was confused. Brusken was extremely excited. He probably noticed my confusion, so he poked me and said frantically "She's using her ultimate skill !!!!"

He was right. Rose then raised her right hand straight up. Then, she chanted "Leaves are my power, stems are my bones. So lush yet so beautiful, I bring to you, [Rose's beauty]!"

A massive aura gathered. It formed a shape of a huge rose around Rose. Then, the rose bloomed and the darkness around us broke apart. Warm sunshine lighted the world. The dark world was replaced with a lush field. I found myself sitting next to Brusken on the soft green grass, on a slightly taller area, most likely a hill. In front of us are Rose and Zack, at a slightly lower elevation. Rose got her energy back. Zack was staring at Rose, and had some disappointment inside him, probably from not defeating her before she could use her spell.

It was another world fragment.... And this time, I can't see the end of it..... These people really are too powerful... I'm serious, why didn't Alduin just ask them to save the world instead?