The Mysterious Black Magician

The others already asked him the same question. Why was everyone curious about it? It wasn't like there was something special between him and Almina. 

He was about to reply, but, "Brother, Princess, here I made some drinks!" His sister came with a tray. On it were glasses filled with colorful juice.

"Ah, did I intrude at the wrong time?" Yana asked suspiciously upon noticing her brother and the princess was staring at each other. The princess had a slight red on her face though.

"What are you thinking? Of course not," Yman said in his usual casual tone. "Thanks for it," he added while taking two glasses. He handed Rea the other one. Yana smiled. "I, I see. Good work for today, bro!" She said to her brother while brimming with a smile..

With a slight redness on her face, "He's right. Uh, Yana, call me like the way you called me before," Rea insisted.

"Eh? I-is it fine?" Yana asked shyly.

"Mhm! I preferred it, and besides, it also helps us if you call me that way."

Yana remembered her circumstances. "Okay, Miss Rea!"

Yman smiled at them. 

<Woah! Everyone, look!>

Suddenly Sistela shouted. Under the veil of night, reflected in their eyes the rare phenomena, the meteor shower.

Everyone was looking at it in awe.

In other places, some people were taking a video using their devices. 

The small animals in the woods glanced at it. And the insects on the leaves and branches looked up.

No matter what species, this rare phenomenon was a sight to behold and took every living thing's attention.

Yman took his new MTMD. It was an expensive one and had the highest Megapixels in all the recording devices that were currently invented.

However, before he began capturing it, his MTMD rang. It was an email. When he checked on the sender, his brows knitted. 'That anonymous again?' He thought this person already gave up sending messages to him.

Yman opened it and noticed that it wasn't just a message. It was a video of the meteor shower just now. Also, the video captured the place below. Yman slightly widened his eyes. He knew those buildings.

It was from this city! So, whoever this anonymous was, this person lived in this city.

At the end of the video, there was a cute message [Good luck with tomorrow's competition. (Heart emoji) (Thumbsup) (You can do it! Gif)]

Yman chuckled.

Almina just finished sending a video clip. She wanted to ask him what he was currently doing. But she had a feeling that he was resting by now. Of all the matches this morning, only his match was so intense and a close call. She believed Yman was so spent. Better not disturb him further.

She stared at her device and smiled. She was about to close it, but suddenly, it made a tone.

Bling!

Almina opened it casually. After all, around this time, there were only her party members who would contact her.

But after Almina saw the sender.

From: (heart)[MYman](heart)

Ba-dum! Ba-dum! Ba-dum! The loud noise coming from her chest almost stunned her for a second. She clumsily opened the message, "Kyah!" She almost dropped it. Almina holds it with both hands.

[It's a beautiful night... (Wink!)]

Although the message was so simple, Almina blushed and hugged the device while letting her body fall on the bed. "Hehe…" she giggled.

The next morning, the third elimination round started at the usual time.

There were only 75 participants left. So the competition most likely was more worth watching than yesterday's matches. Everyone was already in their seats. Even Rea and Yana were in their usual seats along with the audience.

If there was something unusual in today's round, it would be— today was livelier than the past days.

Many people were watching and the seats were fully occupied.

Oooohhhh!!

A thunderous cheer resounded in the arena when two participants walked on the stage.

After the signal to allow the start of the match, the two participants did not waste time and took their weapons.

Both participants were using the same weapons, the daggers. Then they clashed in the middle of the stage.

Each of them performed well. And used their fast-paced attack. Sending combinations of techniques while avoiding their opponent's attack at hairsbreadth.

But it didn't take long when one came out dominating the fight. Until the other one could not retaliate anymore and was defeated after receiving an attack coming from both sides.

The student raised his hand with a wide grin.

The next who came on stage was Chloe. Yman and the others said their good luck.

However, Chloe wasn't so lucky. Her opponent was a student from section A. The scout in Almina's party.

Almina had to cheer on both of them. She didn't want to become biased. Especially that Chloe was a friend of Yman. Also, there were several times that they were acquainted, especially when their parties went on a team exploration.

Chloe's enemy was Jami, a member of Almina's party, and took the role of scout.

When the two arrived at the center of the stage they bowed to each other.

"P-Please take care of me, Miss Jam!" Said Chloe nervously.

"Let's have an exciting battle, Chloe," replied Jami.

She knew that even though Chloe was a little awkward, her talent in wielding a magic-based pistol was top-notch. So, she had to be careful. Also, according to her insight, Chloe was only a level below her.

Although she looked clumsy and shy, she was the most dedicated person in terms of training. But it seemed like no one had noticed it.

For Jami, Chloe was one of the most mysterious students in the Academy.

After coming in the middle of the stage, each of them wielded their best weapons and used their best armor in the form of artefacts.

An artefact was a piece of equipment mostly in the form of a ring, pendant, or any small accessories.

An artefact was more convenient to carry. You just needed to activate it and it would automatically attach to your body. One of the best examples of it was the armor in the form of a ring. Although it was a ring, once it was activated it turned to armor and automatically wrapped your body to form a set of armor.

Most artefacts looked the same, but it was easy to distinguish them from real accessories and spatial rings. 

The real artefact wasn't the ring/pendant itself but the small stone on it. It is also known as a magic stone.

Though, there were many kinds of artefacts. And this accessory type was just another type.

Regardless, back to the match. After the signal, Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! 

Chloe took the initiative; she fired consecutive shots at Jami. Her hand was so quick.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Another round of bullets flew. A speed-type Jami could only retreat and dodge. Not only that, but the speed of Chloe's shots also increased.

Oooooh!!!

The audience started cheering once again. But it was still early to judge the battle.

However, Jami found herself trapped. She was surrounded by a purple vortex! Never she imagined that Chloe was capable of doing it.

Even Yman was surprised by it. Last time, Chloe was only capable of shooting with her magic-based pistol and using a low-level purple shockwave. Yet now, she was even capable of trapping a speed-type opponent.

It wasn't easy to do it. Especially that her opponent wasn't a weak opponent based on how Yman sees it.

By the density and amount of mana Jami was releasing every time she used a leap to avoid a critical spot, Yman could guess that Jami was a higher level than those two before. And even higher than Chloe.

Perhaps she was at level 8. Two levels below a False Path realm. Once she reached level 10, it was also the start of her journey in a False Path realm. Then it was followed by 1-star False Path, 2-star False Path, 3-star False Path, and so on. Until he reached the highest star in the False Path realm. Then it continued to the Real Path realm.

Meanwhile, Jami found herself in a tight spot.

"Miss Jami! Fight!" Shouted Dianne, one of their party members.

"Fight! Fight!"

The others also cheered!

"Chloe fight!"

"Fight! Fight!"

Bob's party members did not lose in cheering.

At the tip of Chloe's pistol, mana was gathering in spherical form.

"Spherical bomb?" Yman whispered upon seeing it. 

"Yman, do you mean the mass destruction attack?" Almina, beside him, asked upon hearing his whisper. 

"Yeah, but I think it wasn't that one," he said. On second glance, it wasn't the Spherical Bomb he knew. It wasn't only gathering a mass of energy, but also absorbing the lights around it. 

Yman wasn't surprised that Almina also knew about the spherical bomb, after all, the first user of that skill was an Amulet. One of the founders of the Seeker's Association. Almina's grand-grandparents. Yman only knew this much. Well, it was recorded in the book.

"Photon Blast!"

After the mana-sphere at the tip of Chloe's pistol grew as big as the volleyball ball, she fired it.

A purple mass of destructive energy was shot like a meteor towards the trap Jami.