The Mysterious Black Magician

Three blackbirds appeared in front of Harou and the others. At first, while they were rushing towards this area, he was doubtful of the scout's report. But when they arrived, they were greeted by a deserted place.

And evidence of battle was visible around the place.

Then they heard a loud collapsing noise in this area not long ago. They suddenly rushed here and this what greeted them.

Harou wanted to laugh. Looks like, coming here was a good choice. Not only did they avoid clashing with multiple monsters, but they also were able to meet the summoner that the scout mentioned. Looks like this person wasn't that great, to begin with.

Harou nodded with a smile..

"Do you think you can fool me?" Harou suddenly said.

"Hehehe, this Crimson might be looking down on you, Yount Sir…" Mus added.

Cinder and the others stared dagger at him. 'What a shameless bastard!' They thought.

"Why not let one of your people fly it?" Crimson replied. He knew what this person meant about it. He might be thinking that he was controlling these birds. Well, he could. But he had no intention of doing so. It's up to them if they take it or not. Regardless, they didn't have a choice.

Harou slightly narrowed his eyes. But the person in front of him was right. He then called one of his men.

"....."

With a skeptical face, his men tried to fly it slowly. Yman told them that it could be piloted the same as the Transport bird.

Harou asked him what kind of Spirit beast were those birds. They have unnatural colors. But Crimson had no intention of answering his question.

Cinder and the others were doubtful of Crimson's action. They did not expect that he would give in just because the enemies were higher in number.

However, they started to think that maybe they were overestimating him. His exhaustion at the moment was even visible to all of them. Also, fighting an opponent that was capable of thinking than killing those brainless monsters was just too big of a difference. Looks like they were the one who was overestimating themselves after they successfully wiped out the monsters in this area. These people who were surrounding them were all in the False Path level. If one thought logically, there was no chance of them winning.

They finally understood why Crimson did that.

After testing the birds, Crimson and the others were still not able to escape. Harou seemed to be a cautious person. They brought them with them to the other side of the broken bridge.

Not just that, they were tied. They noticed Mus secretly whispering to Harou about something.

Crimson and the others were surprised when everyone was staring at them with malicious intent. 

The moment they landed on the other side, Yman and the others were pushed to the ridge. 

"Bastard! What are you planning?!" Ember gnashed.

"Kuku, sorry Ember, but you won't advance to the next round. Tell me later how it felt to die in a fall! Hahaha!"

"Tsk!" Cinder clicked her tongue and anxiously glanced at Crimson. But she noticed him with a frown and baffled face. Looks like even Crimson did not expect this to happen.

"HAROOOUUU YOU BASTARD!!!" Ember roared.

However, (Thump, thump, thump…)!

Everyone was kicked and fell.

"NOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!" They shouted. 

Hehehehehehe!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Mus and the others laughed at the group of Crimson.

"That's what they get for destroying the bridge and tricking us all!" Shout Mus. "Let's go!" Everyone excitedly followed at the group of Harou. Finally, they have a bigger chance of getting additional rewards from the Empress.

Yman and the others were falling fast but the ridge seemed to be so deep as they could not see the deepest part of it.

Everyone had ashen faces as they resigned to their fate. Looks like in the end, they were still defeated.

What a turn of events.

Empress and Ella at the palace balcony were sighing heavily. Looks like luck wasn't on that person's side.

"Well, even in the real world, traitors are everywhere…" muttered the empress. "You can't just trust anyone…" she added.

Ella remained quiet. "She understood her aunt's words."

In the end, that person was defeated by a little trick.

The audiences have different reactions to what happened. Especially those who wish to change their bets to 'The Mysterious' a moment ago. At the moment they were thinking that 'good thing the betting was already close when they were about to change their favored participants.'

The old noble and the others who bet on him just sighed. There's nothing they could do. It was bad luck

that there's some traitor in the group.

Even Almina and the others did not expect this result.

The legendary welcoming squad had already readied themselves for the grand welcome for those people.

They saw in the monitor the six people. Deliberately, their silhouettes were eaten by darkness. And their unwilling yell echoed from the distance. Until they were wholly gone from the sights of all.  They could lament later like most of the dead participants. Everyone was already expecting that they would revive sooner outside the painting.

A couple of hours ago, those in the north and east successfully reunited and joined forces.

The joined forces of most of the experts from great families had successfully destroyed the gate. And sooner, wiped out the monsters in the area. With a united force of Roman, Hilion, Gilion, Gath, White Leo Knights, and the other participants, the battle became a one-sided massacre. Everyone outside the painting was cheering heavily while they were killing the enemies left and right.

Especially when the monsters came charging to Roman. They turned to dust in no time. His high ranking Spirit Beast behind him was like a deity guarding him against any harm.

(Woosh woosh woosh!)

Some arrows let loose towards Roman, but he was shielded by Lightning Mayhem. From its huge mouth, electrifying charges were fired to the incoming arrows. 

The arrows broke into tiny pieces.

Seeing it, Hilion and the others could only gasp at Roman's domineering power. However, they too could not let themselves be outdone by him. They needed to show their powers too.

The excitement of the audience boomed into the sky as their cheers could shake heaven and earth.

As expected, the Skeleton Elder was the only one that gave them a headache, though, in the end, they managed to kill it. 

After a short rest, they immediately rushed towards the bridge.

The battle was truly a sight to behold.

The group of Jura and Nicholas were the first to arrive at the castle. Two of their men were cursing because of the wounds they'd got from those trailing red lights a while ago.

Luckily, both of them had high regeneration abilities.

The wall protecting the castle wasn't heavily guarded. But the group of Jura didn't go for a head-on confrontation. They flew above the castle garden. 

Actually, at the castle entrance, they noticed two towering demonic statues. And they have felt a strong fluctuation of magical energy from them. It was the reason they chose the garden as their landing point.

Although it was a garden, the plants on it were no ordinary plants. They were Flesh-Eating plants!

Jura noticed it beforehand. But compared to the two towering statues in the entrance, these plants have lower magical energy fluctuations within them.

"Jura was indeed a cunning one…" Hannah in the audience podium commented.

Before landing, they bombarded the garden with magical attacks. The simple-looking plants turned into wild monsters when they perceived the incoming danger.

Some tiny plants scuttered away using their stems and little branches and trunks as feet and arms, while the bigger one tried to reach the group of Jura using their vines.

Whipping and piercing the air, but Jura and the others who currently in full transformation mode using their Artefacts evaded the attacks.

One of his friends, "Hahahahaha!" Laughed heartily at the pitiful giant monster plant.

Its monstrous mouth that full of razor-sharp fangs were drooling like a hungry predator.

From the hand of transformed Jura, a javelin transpired into a golden javelin. A second after he threw it, AAAAAARRRG!!! It was followed by a piercing sound.

The javelin impaled one of its roots.

"Nicholas!" He shouted.

"Okaaaaayy!!!"

WREEEENNNNGGG!!! Like a comet, two dense magical energies were shot towards it.

Then.

BOOOMMMMM!!! The explosion shook the entire garden.

Woosh! A wind blows the surrounding smoke from the explosion.

They saw the plant barely alive with a big hole on its head.

"I will finish it!" One of Jura's friends shouted in excitement, then flew hastily.

"No! Kage!" Jura's warning came late as Kage's figure shot towards the grieving enemy. The other two of their friends follow close behind. Everyone wanted to last hit it. For 'coolness points' of course. After all, they knew that at this moment, the other members of the Student Council were staring at them. Their crushes would probably notice them when they did a cool finishing move to the monster.

However, their supposed to be cool finishing moves, became their nightmare.

WASSSAAAAAAAAKKKK! From the mouth of the giant flesh-eating plant, a cloud of poisonous gasses were shot everywhere.

Kage who was already near it took the poisonous gas. He suddenly felt weak and dizzy then dropped to the ground.

(X_X) ooOO((goodbye my love…)) his last thought. A tear trailed down to the ground.

Then,

Thump!

Tsuk! Tsuk! Tsuk!

After he fell, the root protruded from the ground and formed like spikes. It pierced its body a couple of times until he became light particles.

(In memory of Kage… rip) the garden suddenly became solemn.

One girl in the audience shouted his name. She looked sexy and beautiful. (Spoiler alert!) In truth, she wasn't a 'she'.

The audiences outside the painting didn't know where to look as another battle was happening in the wall area.

It was the group of Harou and Mus. The joined forces of other experts were following behind.