Of the remaining eight hundred or so participants, around three hundred remained. Sequencee and Leticia were relieved when they heard their number being called. Those that didn’t manage to make it through left groaning in tears.

“From the mage category, many of them are elves,” Leticia commented.

“Yeah.”

Conversely, there were many humans from the group which went for the physical assessment test. Of course, there were beastkins few and far between.

The remaining three hundred participants were brought to a large round hall which was comparable to the previous Sage’s Hall. A premier colosseum with tens of thousands of seats lining the outer ring over many floors.

The participants warily observed one another as they followed the staff to the center of the field.

Sequencee and Leticia stuck close, keeping a distance from the main crowd.

Round three was a simple test of endurance. From the earlier announcement, golems will be created in the hundreds by a team of academy students alongside teachers to take on all participants in the ring. The last standing 400 participants will be allowed to advance to the fourth round.

However..

“All participants please take note! Due to the unexpectedly low number of participants who have passed into the third round, we will be entering directly into the fourth.”

A staff member who stood inside the control room announced.

“Fourth?”

“What? Nobody told me about this?!”

“Ah well, that’s great. We’re getting to the meat of things.”

“What’s round four again?”

“It’s a mystery round, they said?”

Suddenly the surrounding mana began to spike, the sound of a generator could be heard. All participating members started to glow in distinct red or blues. A gold force field could be seen beginning to form around the entire field of the colosseum.

“What is this?”

“Wow, this is kinda cool.”

“Is this..”

“We’re divided into teams?”

“All participants please move to the designated sides depending on your colour!” the speaker blared.

“Sequencee I..” Leticia trembled.

“Looks like we’re in different teams huh?”

Sequencee was glowing in blue, Leticia was in red.

‘Is this going to be something like capture the flag?’

Leticia clenched her fist as her face scrunched into pronounced contours.

‘We’re enemies? T-There’s no way I can possibly beat him.. no way..’

“I..”

“You can do it.”

Leticia raised her head to face him. An expression as if he were looking at a troubled child.

“Don’t give up just yet.”

“R-Right.. you too..”

“I know.”

The two of them went to their respective sides of the colosseum.

There were exactly one hundred participants glowing in red, and the remaining two hundred were in blue.

“Those that have been marked as red are judged to be the top 100 among all remaining contenders. They have been specially selected by the judges in the previous round, fifty from the mages, another fifty from the fighters. Their performance has granted them a leg up in this round.”

‘Wow, so Leticia is in the top 50 in our batch of mages huh?’

“The rules for the special round are as follows. Those who are in red are the hunters, those that are in blue are defenders. To win, the hunter must either remove the sticker from one member of the opposing team, or knock him or her out. There is no need to hold back in this as a great barrier has been casted to teleport anyone who is severely inside this field outside. We have a team of priests and priestess on site to tend to the wounds.”

‘Seriously?’

“Those that are from the defender team, you can increase your odds of winning by knocking out anyone from the hunters. They will be sent out of the field but you are not granted a win. So please don’t think that you’ll be awarded even if you acquire many stickers from the hunter team. The stickers only matter to the defenders, the hunters can continue to hunt even without the stickers. I repeat, the hunters are not disqualified if their sticker is gone.”

‘So those from the red team do have a leg up on this one.’

“There are 289 participants in total, the match will end when only 200 participants remain. A grace period of 5 minutes is given to both teams to formulate a strategy with one another. Anyone who tries to attack at this time will be disqualified immediately. I wish everyone good luck.”

‘Based on the number of participants here, there are only 89 spots available for the red team. So the red team isn’t only competing against us, but against themselves. On the other hand, we from the blue team can focus on keeping as many people alive as possible.’

“So what’s our plan?”

“Is there any rule that says we can’t set up ice walls or stone walls or something?”

“Everyone please listen up! I will take command of those that wish to be under me! I have a plan to fend off against the hunters! United we stand, divided we fall!

‘Another thing to take note of is how the red team is stronger than the blue team. So if that’s the case then it’s likely that there will be inevitable losses on our side.’

Those from the side of the defenders began to create bulwarks or set traps. Fighters organized themselves in the front while the mages stood at the back.

“Hey! Why is it that the mages get protection from us! Isn’t that unfair?!”

“That’s right! Why should we risk our chances for them?”

“Hah?! We can’t possibly use our spells without a vanguard!”

“Hold on, hold on. We’ll do our best to defend everyone alright?”

“Look, it’s not like we mages have it easy either. The hunter mages will most launch aerial barrages at us. The unlucky one will likely be wiped out.”

‘There is a marginal error of 11 here. So if 12 red team members are disqualified, there will be more than 200 participants after the end. Or did they judge that it’s unlikely 12 people from the red team will be disqualified? They’re the elites after all..’

“One minute left. Both sides please be ready for the flare signal which will start the match.”

Sequencee who stood alone at the rim of the ring looked at the two teams. The red team who was near the divider line with mages at the rear already preparing spells, and the blue team who had crude forts made of rock and ice.

‘Leticia has to be in the top 89 among the top to stand a chance.. no. If there is someone from the red team who kills multiple members from the blue team, then the chances will worsen. The emcee didn’t say anything like you can’t kill more than one person.’

Sequencee looked at the red team and tried to search for Leticia.

“Ten seconds! Five, four, three..”

‘She’swhere?’

“Two, one!”

The shrill of the speakers, a red flare was sent into the sky.

A deafening silence ruled for a second which lasted an eternity.

Until the ground began to rumble. Shouts that tore through the air, magic projectiles were sent flying like giant artillery on both fronts.

A war was taking place– Sequencee was reminded of those times in the barony. The hell flames alighting the houses, the monsters that swarmed the city, the choking smell of blood and smoke–

“I hate this.”

He took quick steps forwards as he pranced around the edge of the battlefield.

Many defenders chose to hold fort. Fighters against fighters, mages against mages. That was because mages from the red team knew that they stood no chance against fighters from the blue team. The blue team was actually holding well against the red team.

And then suddenly, the world dimmed.

Just then a white beam passed above his head from across the field. The white beam smashed into the barrier and from there it drew a line across half the colosseum. Those that were on the higher levels of the fort disappeared, stone and ice crumbled.

Almost 10 mages from the blue team were wiped out at once.

‘That’s one hell of a spell.. I need to make sure Leticia makes it past this.’

Fighters who notice Sequencee away from the rest of the group quickly approached. Mages that saw that realized that it was their chance for an easy kill– but they would hurt their team fighters– which totally didn’t matter to them as they were competing against each other anyways! A flurry of hail fire quickly rained upon Sequencee and the fighters rushed towards him like boars.

He combined it with a simple rock pelt made from the vibrating onyx from the ground and shot it towards the incoming fighters.

But they dodged just as it was about to hit even without the need for sight.

‘Their instincts really.’

Sequencee clicked his tongue and rushed forward.

One of the fighter's image blurred and appeared beside him. The other finger was clad in some mysterious light and threw a slash filled with mana.

[Illusion Magic: Universal Haze]

Sequencee slipped past the two fighters and defended against the hailfire above him with barrier magic. The two fighters left confused were quickly scorched.

As the hailfire didn’t work, the mage quickly changed to an earth spell with her staff.

The earth beneath Seuqencee crumbled– but nothing happened.

Actually, something did happen, a wall was erected behind Sequencee which would help buy him some time from the two fighters that were trying to recover from their confusion.

“Eh what?” The mage gasped. She then quickly threw a tornado– Sequencee rushed right into it.

He came out the other side and swung his spear– the mage flashed into light and disappeared.

An aura was felt behind him and he quickly swung his spear backwards charged with wind magic– a huge explosion resounded between them and Sequencee was sent flying backwards from the impact.

‘Teleportation magic!’

Sequencee dragged against the ground a couple meters and found himself near the center of the field. A counter floated above.

/

{Hunters remaining: 66

Hunters won: 34

Total left on field: 241}

/

‘Not good. Where’s Leticia?’

He swept a glance across the battlefield and found a familiar looking girl near one of the forts.

‘She’s hasn’t gotten one yet. Will she do alright?’

“Oi!”

“Damn it.

A thick barrier formed between him and the sword. Sparks flickered as the blade dragged against the barrier of mana.

“Wow, you’re strong ain’t ya?” The burly man quickly retreated and tried to slam his halberd down again.

A strong current flow, Sequencee had difficulty keeping up with his speed–

[Illusion Magic: Universal Haze]

“Oh?”

So the only thing to counter that was to disturb their senses.

The way Sequencee used it was to project faint images of himself somewhere around him to make it seem as if he was leaving afterimages or appendages.

And also to create fake rock bullet spells hidden under explosive seeds pelts.

BOOOM!!

Hunters remaining: 65

Sequencee quickly got up and ran towards Leticia. He noticed how the defense there was thinning and blue team fighters were closing in on her.

As good as she was as a mage, she hadn’t trained in kinetic vision like Seuqencee did.

‘Damn it. They say the red team has the advantage? That’s a lie.’

He was nearing her when earth pelts surrounded him and the groundhook. A colossal rock arm sprouted from the ground and swung toward Sequencee.

He stomped on the ground, the arm was deflected by an obelisk that shot up, both collided to create an explosion of rock. Most of it was defected by the magic with a barrier.

The mage teleported behind him– he turned behind and created a bulwark. It trembled loudly.

{Total left on field: 203}

He turned back around to ind Leticia’s figure who–

“Leti..!”

Sequencee quickly shot out a shockwave to counter the incoming flame bullets that aimed towards her–

The surface of the onyx bulwark behind him quickly warped into the shape of the spike and shot at him from behind while a rain of fireballs appeared above him– this time, the hailflames accelerated down with greater speed.

Leticia nearby who noticed how a rain of flame was going to hit her raised her hands and created a wind river to sweep the hail of fire towards the nearest blue target– Sequencee.

The spike penetrated the magic barrier surrounding Sequencee.

Sequencee quickly twisted his body but couldn’t avoid a deep gashed on his right arm.

“Eh?!”

Leticia who realized it too late had already diverted the flames in his direction.

Both the onyx spikes and flames had been enchanted with anti-magic. The normal method to deal with a mage who constantly holes himself up with a barrier is to wear down the user’s mana. But in this case, anti-magic had been coated directly onto the magic. A spell combo this was rare even among high mages as it required one to balance contrasting concepts with extreme precision. It was like keeping a fire burning in the rain.

With attacks coming from him in all directions, Sequencee was hit directly by the flames and exploded. He disappeared leaving white particles, the sticker on Leticia’s chest lit up in green.

“Match ended!! All participants please stop fighting!”