Thanatos took a deep breath seemingly trying to suppress his emotions. He looked at Finn with a cold glint in his eyes.

Seeing Thanatos releasing energy made Finn excited. He wanted to fight more than anything.

“A kid like you needs to be put in their place.” Finn’s figure disappeared in a blur and appeared right in front of Thanatos while swinging his axe right at his shoulder.

A gush of mana exploded, several large teeth appeared on the purple mist locking on to Thanatos. It was like the maws of a beast trying to devour Finn.

“Trying to look scary with those brittle bones of yours” Finn was unfazed, he had seen his fair share of unorthodox fighters. He continued to slash down.

“DIE!!”

The power was explosive it broke off large parts of the teeth, however contrary to his expectations, not everything was destroyed.

Stab! Several fangs penetrated his body. “What the hell!” Finn was taken aback, he did not expect that he couldn't break everything to pieces.

He gathered mana on his fist and punched the fangs that dug into him. The gnawing fangs were shattered and he successfully broke free albeit with injuries.

“Ahhh fuck fuck! I'm bleeding, you really did it now! You are really like a dog of the royals!” Finn spat out blood and circulated his mana to prepare for retaliation.

Thanatos spoke coldly and he made a contorted smile. “You continue running your mouth off, don't you. We’ll see how long that lasts.”

The mana concentration on the area they were fighting suddenly shot up. Although Finn felt that the situation was dangerous, he was still full of confidence.

“He’s still a kid wet behind his ears, what can actually he do to me”. Finn thought to himself.

Before Finn could even make a move countless clawing slashes filled his vision. His body was thrown off, but he was still holding his arms in front of him to prevent his vital spots to be hit. He may have been taken off guard but his battle instincts allowed him to prevent as much damage as possible.

Finn was trying to hold out till the barrage of attacks stopped. Once the obstruction cleared, he would use all his strength to dish out a lethal attack on Thanatos. After a few moments, the attacks subsided in intensity. This was what he was waiting for.

His mana level soared, and his tattoo begun emitting a light glow, however before he could attack, a loud voice resounded on the stadium.

________________________

While battles across all the sides were ensuing a loud voice rang on everyone’s ears.

“Test! Test! Hello, check! Ehem. Everyone, my name is Phaeton Andares, I’m here under the orders of the Princess. I don't have much time so I’ll get straight to the point. To the squad outside the stadium and captain Cygnus, on each of your area there’s a support pillar, its the biggest structure supporting the stadium, there’s once outside and another on the stands, so you won't miss it. We need you to destroy it as it contains the magic stones, the barrier gets its mana from those. Once it's destroyed, the barrier will automatically collapse.”

“Good luck! Phaeton out!”

________________________

On the outside of the stadium.

As the sound of Phaeton’s voice reverberated on the stadium, Marcus, Cygnus, and Demetrius all became serious. All involved parties fully understood what they had to do.

Marcus called out to his subordinates. “You all heard, let us get to it!”

Cygnus on the other hand was already trying to chip the barrier slowly. “No wonder what I'm doing isn't working, so there's a core”

He directed his gaze to the pillar and launched his attacks with the intent of destroying it in one go. A gale of wind concentrated on Cygnus’ location, at the same time Magic circles as small as a coin formed and revolved on his rapier.

Cygnus then made a stabbing stance. His body blurred and a light green line flashed toward the pillar.

‘Rapier Art- Wind Piercer’

After a few seconds, countless lines omni-directionally painted the pillars. It was a sight to behold. The pillar was ground to the ground.

“Wait for us princess.”

________________________

On the Arena.

Harken had an ugly expression as he stared at Demetrius. “Shit, the cat’s out of the bag. How did they figure it out?”

However, before he could fully grasp what was happening Demetrius launched an attack against him. A ripping slash blotted his eyes.

He instinctively put his arms to block it.

Clang!

“I have to stop this,” He thought to himself. The plan was already downhill. This probably has something to do with the kids that ran off the stadium.

“Aiden must have failed.” He gnashed his teeth in frustration.

Thin cracks suddenly crept from the sides of the arena-covered barrier. On the other side, Marcus and Cygnus have already destroyed the pillars powering the barriers resulting in a weakened state.

He contemplated on whether to continue to defend the barrier and face Demetrius or go straight for the Princess. Alas, the only possible choice was to go for the Princess, fighting Demetrius will only stall the inevitable for a short period.

Demetrius did not wait for Harken to compose himself.

Demetrius circulated his mana and redirected the majority of the power throughout his arms and sword. Harken felt an extreme sense of danger. He knew that this was a very strong attack. If he didn't block this, the barrier will definitely break and this mission might as well be over.

Harken abruptly abandoned the fight and dashed towards Finn.

Demetrius smiled underneath his helm. “Wrong choice.”

Demetrius swung his sword at the barrier.

________________________

“Finn! Finish the job now!!” Harken shouted while he was gunning straight for them.

Finn on the other hand was dumbstruck at this turn of events. He then turned to rage, he was still fighting Thanatos at this moment. When he heard this he instantly changed his target to the Princess, after all, he was a seasoned warrior.

Finn leaped and moved a distance, trying to close the gap between him and the princess. He had severely underestimated Thanatos’ power.

A cold voice sounded from afar. “You dare turn your back on me?”

Purple mist gushed out from Thanatos’ body, from it Horns emerged and at the same time the mist shot out to Finn in great speed.

Once the mist caught up to Finn, it turned into an embrace. Finn was trapped.

“Die”

Before he could even utter a sound, the horns fired off multiple energy discharges. Finn’s location was bombarded continuously. Fang and Claw slashed and pierced. Thanatos continued to attack for a while.

He then stopped and then there was a moment of silence.

As the smoke subsided, the gory remains of Finn were seen on the center of the crossfire. He was very dead. His body was burnt, full of lacerations, and some parts were completely blown off. His body was indiscernible from before.

Such ruthlessness!

This kind of firepower was not normal for a kid who hasn't even begun military training.

All spectators were dumbstruck especially Harken. He knew how strong his subordinates were, Finn and Aiden were among the battle-hardened warriors that he had.

What was more shocking was that Thanatos didn't even give Finn a chance to exhibit all his abilities.

Princess Hildegard looked at the scene in horror. She unconsciously shook, as she had never seen such a gruesome death, however this solidified her opinion on Thanatos.

“This kid is really a genius. If only he didn't have that kind of attitude, he would be a major asset” The princess thought to herself. She had decided that she would do everything she can to acquire him into the fold once they got out of this situation.

It may be risky, but it was worth it to her. She needed him.

Harken stomped the floor in anger.”That fucker got himself killed! Goddamit”. Cygnus was one thing, but a military recruit this powerful was a massive misinformation. There were too many unknown variables that came into play. Harken continued cursing inwardly.

Harken thought that there arent any chances at taking the princess at this point. Finn was dead, Aiden most likely failed to subdue the kids, as it was Phaeton’s voice on the announcement and Demetrius had already broke the barrier with the last attack.

Harken chose to abandon the barrier, but even that was already useless. It was a total failure.

Harken then thought of the possible ways to escape. “There’s no way I’m detonating myself for this.”

He then circulated his mana on his body and increasing its output. His muscles tensed and slowly hardened. His eyes wandered around the arena looking for his exit. “Its time to escape.”

A crash sounded nearby. The barrier on the right-wing collapsed. A figure was slowly revealed, it was Cygnus.

“Where are you off to? Why dont you stay a while?” Cygnus said playfully while touching his rapier.

Harken was surrounded. A knight and king’s-guard is a nasty combination, not to mentioned the other officer ranked soldiers outside. Even escaping would be very difficult.

________________________

A few minutes before Phaeton’s announcement.

Aiden’s footsteps echoed through the halls. As he arrived at a door, he lifted his gun and aimed.

A series of gunshot wounds echoed as multiple bullets pierced through the door. Aiden pushed the door open. The room was completely wrecked.

The bullets that Aiden used werent normal bullets as well. They were actually mana-filled shells which Aiden injects directly. Once shot, the mana spreads on an outward spiral direction as they are released from the casing. This a wide coverage of attack, it was destruction in confined spaces. It was impossible to dodge them.

Aiden was cautious and he wanted to disable Azrael completely before he got close. Although the bullets were stronger than normal, it wasnt lethal enough to kill a officer level soldiers.

ANNOUNCEMENT!! Test! Test! Hello, check!--

Aiden was currently chasing Azrael when the Phaeton’s messaged was sent. As he heard it his expression turned ugly.

“I was played”. He was extremely frustrated, it would seem that he was already going on the right direction in the first place, the reason he didnt go through it to the end was because he thought he was mistaken. After all a larger mana signature meant a stronger life-force.

Harken’s men have already cleared this section when the operation started so there was no reason to be any person alive. Azrael was meant to be the bait while Phaeton sent the message.

Aiden then tried to send a message to Harken using his communicator. There was no response.

“We’re in a grave situation, the barrier will most likely deactivate in a short moment, I’ll have to act fast.”

Despite Aiden’s frustration, pursuing Azrael right now no longer has a point. He needed to get to Harken’s side as soon as possible.

Aiden looked the expanse of the corridors seemingly trying to make sense if Azrael was around only to have his gaze fixed on a pillar. He went in deep contemplation.

“We could use this.”