Inside the temple.

Many were eliminated and only a few were left.

Out of these few, only a handful of them was able to reach inside the temple.

As they walked inside the temple under the dark, chilly creepy nights combined with the eerie silence of the temple, they felt that something was amiss inside.

They felt as if they are walking into a trap set by their fate which will seal their life but even after this, they have to go inside and take the crystals.

Their honour and pride of thier houses were on the line and they cannot afford to lose here.

Briana Perre was the youngest daughter of Count Perre. She was leading a team of five inside the temple.

Briana was a mage and was only good at offensive magic. But she was neither adept in close range fights nor was good at wielding any weapons.

But she is quite good at managing a team and had good leadership skills.

She made a deal with these five to form a team and divide the gains.

Out of five, Lora a good friend of hers and was a tanker and the duo were in perfect sync.

With the five-man team, their chances of victory were quite good.

They walked along the corridor of the temple after passing through several pathways, they seemed to arrive at the centre of the temple which had a huge space.

"All of keep your guard up. Don't lose focus even for a moment?" Briana commanded.

Everyone who followed behind her nodded and raised their weapons.

The space was dimly lit and Briana was using her magic to form a small sphere of light which illuminated their path.

Kwang!Kwang!Kwang!

"Kuakkk."As Briana stepped ahead, she heard a loud yell and she turned back to see three of her teammates have disappeared.

The two remaining took a step back in fear.

Briana chanted some spells and fired here and there in a frenzied manner, wishing for her attack to be lucky enough to hit the enemies but none of her attacks made a hit.

BANG!

A silhouette appeared out of the dark and punched one of her teammates with a strong force that was enough for her to get eliminated.

" Crazy!"Briana shouted.

"Why don't you show yourself?"Briana shouted in horror.

" Briana, let's leave, I don't think that we can fight the enemy," Lora spoke standing beside Briana.

Briana bit her lips, she didn't want to fail and get eliminated even after coming so close to her goals.

Just as they were contemplating what to do, they heard faint footsteps.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

Briana raised the sphere of light which illuminated the figure.

Out of the dark, a boy walked and seeing the frightened looks of the two girls in front of him, he smiled.

"Kurkkkkkkkk!"

His laugh sounded like the sound of screeching of metal that reverberated across the whole area.

"Wilson!" Both Briana and Lora shouted at the same time.

"Wilson, did you eliminate my team?" Briana asked.

Wilson didn't speak anything and smirked

Briana was relieved for a moment seeing Wilson, as she and Wilson used to get along quite well but seeing him madly smiling at her, she felt a chill down the spine.

She felt as if the person before her isn't Wilson but someone else.

Before Lora and Briana could speak any more words, Wilson leapt toward them and swung the sword.

Briana panicked and fired a spell.

BOOM!

A small blast occurred and Wilson took a step back.

Seeing the opportunity, Briana pulled Lora to the side and tried to run.

She thought if Wilson got the crystal first and qualified for the next round, she could come back and take the crystal but Wilson didn't let them escape.

And seeing them turning their back on him, he swung his swords at them.

CLANG!

Sound metal colliding reverberates as Lora turned back and used the shield to defend but she was blown away by the attack along with Briana who tried to support her.

Briana and Lora coughed a few drops of blood and wiped off the blood from their lips.

Briana looked at Wilson's eyes which seemed to be filled with nothing but madness and thought, he had gone mad due to letting himself loose.

Wilson seems to lost himself and was drunk on fighting others.

"Lora, I don't think we can leave. He is in a battle frenzied state and will attack anything that his eyes will fall on. We are both at the peak of the 2-Star stage and he is in the early 3-Star stage. Perhaps if we fight and can use some tricks, I think we can win." Briana spoke as her will to fight and being back Wilson to his sense burnt.

She wasn't willing to give up after reaching here, without putting in a good fight.

Briana chanted the spells and aimed at Wilson.

Wilson dodged the attack and was about to charge at Briana when Lora attacked him with her shield.

Wilson parried the attacks and kicked her but she was able to defend it by using the shield but the force of the blow made her take a few steps back.

Wilson was about to swing a sword when an orange coloured projectile hit him and blasted him away.

Briana saw this was their chance, she cast multiple spells at Wilson.

BOOM...BOOM.BOOM.BOOM...BOOM

Small chains of explosions took place and both Briana and Lora rejoiced but their happiness didn't last long.

With mad laughter, Wilson burst through the magical bombardment bearing the full brunt of the attack with his body.

"What the hell!"

"Why is he not affected by the spell?"

Both Briana and Lora screamed at the same time.

As Briana looked at Wilson tearing off her magic like nothing and allowing the blow tl hit him, she noticed the armour Wilson was wearing and frowned.

The armour looked like a higher grade armour which may be the reason, her magic attacks were not dealing much damage.

And she was correct, to Wilson, it felt just like tickling when Briana's spells hit him.

It was too weak to even put a dent in his armour.

Briana fired more spells and Lora raised her sword and shield to take on Wilson.

Briana saw that her spells didn't slow Wilson down and she created a huge magical shield before Lora and both of them braced for the impact.

Wilson stomped on the ground and leapt high and came on top of his prey, descending on Briana and Lora, he slashed his greatsword at them.

BOOM

The newly deployed magical shield was shattered and scratches started to appear on it.

Wilson roared madly and applied more force on it, a strong pressure burst forth from his body and his eye became bloodshot and his veins started to bulge as he again heard the faint whisper of someone.

"You can do it, come one, you can do it, try a little harder, Destroy them so that they can become my food, hahaha."

Wilson's body responded to the command of the whisper on its own and the veins on his hands bulged as he put more strength on them.

CRACK!CRACK

Both the magical shield and metallic shield of Lora were crushed by the impact of Wilson's strength.

Lora and Briana's slender bodies staggered and felt pain as if their bodies were pierced with sharp iron.

Both of them were blasted off some distance and collapsed. In the end, they fell into one of their knees and spurted blood.

Wilson grinned, with his lips curved upwards as he tightened his grip on his sword to give the final blow.

Raising his sword, he swung to eliminate them.

"Nooooooooooooo!" Lora and Briana screamed closing their eyes to prepare for the worst.

Cleeeeeeeeeeng!

As he swung his sword and it was about to descend, his sword was struck by five blades that appeared out of nowhere.

The blades glowed in crimson colour and accurately deflected the sword that was about to hit them.

Both Briana and Lora opened their eyes and were astonished to see that they were saved.

"Oh, God! Someone saved us" Briana exclaimed with joy.

They looked back to see a boy with Golden eyes appearing out of nowhere and standing before them.

Briana looked at the boy and stuttered to speak.

"Aren't you Lucas?"

"What are doing here?" Briana asked.

Lucas frowned on hearing the question and thought 'Is she shocked that I was able to reach here or something else.'

"I am also here for the same reason as you, to collect the crystal and qualify for the next round," Lucas spoke with an amused tone.

Briana blinked and put down her head in embarrassment, thinking about the silly question she asked before but she shook her head and looked at Lucas and spoke"Lucas, we need to get out of here, there is something wrong with Wilson and with your strength, you can't take on him."

She was about to say a few more words but Lucas grabbed Briana and Lora's collars and pulled them and threw them back.

Both of their astonished about what Lucas was doing but Lucas without looking back reacted quickly and raised his left fist and clenched it hard and punched.

BOOM

A loud noise echoed like thunder and a frightening burst of pressure erupted as Lucas's punch met with Wilson's punch who leapt and punched at him.

Both Lora and Briana were forced to take a few steps back by the collision of the two punches and felt a huge and suffocating pressure enveloping them.