Arthur asked Reece to find Emma and the rest, although he expected him to be unable to. After all, Reece never met them. To his amazement, Reece agreed and left Arthur's pocket and headed somewhere along the forest atop the cliff. Before he left, he told Arthur that he saw them with him in the teleportation hall.
Arthur kept running atop the cliff and could see two persuing him from behind while three did the same from below. After a few minutes of pursuit, one of the three below was eliminated.
'Yeah, follow me. Hunt me down in the Forest of Traps.' Arthur laughed to himself as he avoided another rune. An owl flew over his head and glided toward the forest. Arthur had a hunch this was Reece since it had cooed at him as it flew by.
It seems the elimination of one of them brought sense to their mind, or maybe fear, as they decided to stop their pursuit. Arthur, however, didn't keep running.
As he got a better view of the sky now, he saw the platform they were on earlier and the flying stands besieging it. He could faintly, maybe he was imagining it, hear the cheers of the crowd above.
'I need Tyrin eliminated,' Arthur guessed he was being watched by the crowd, but he couldn't stop at simply snatching the cube. After all, Tyrin tried to harm him, take his weapon, and still planned to compromise countless lives including his mother and brother.
The two that had been following him seemed to realize he had stopped, glaring at him from a long-distance away. Unlike Arthur who was able to run freely, with little focus on avoiding the runes, they were at risk of always being eliminated and had to traverse the ground as if they were playing hopscotch.
It was admirable that they managed to get here, but he knew they had already activated some runes. Rather then knew, he 'felt' the activation.
"Oh, don't glare at me like that." Arthur shrugged, but the two seemed to call out their mana as if they were going to use their abilities. Arthur wouldn't allow them. He sent several Bladeless Wind Slashes at them, a skill he got at the trial.
After a couple of minutes, pitiful was the least you could say about their state. They tried to evade the slashes and the runes, but Arthur was ruthless against them. In his defense, Arthur did so because they were helping Tyrin, so they probably had something to do with the attack on the Yalveran Union.
Really, it was all self-defense.
"You bastard, come here and fight me!" One of the two bellowed, his clothes ragged revealing superficial wounds underneath. The other was of an equal pitiful state as several wounds covered his body.
Arthur wanted to say he was sorry, but knew it would anger them to death. Instead of trying to throw them off with the wind slashes, he decided to use something of impactful effect. Like boulders.
It was purely self-defense; for the public good. Arthur eased his guilt using these words as he eliminated the two by throwing boulders at them. After he did so, he looked down and found Tyrin and the white hood trembling with rage.
He grinned. In their eyes, Arthur saw the terror of something incomprehensible. Terror of something they couldn't wrap their senses around. If this was a normal environment, they would probably outpower Arthur. However, here…
'How is he able to walk freely like this?' Arthur expected them to wonder. He wouldn't allow them to think this for too long, as he started sending boulder their way too using his Earth Manipulation skill.
The white hood stepped forward and clapped his hands together. His hand turned a hazy glow as he slashed the boulders apart easily.
"Is this all you've got? Throwing rocks?!" He roared and slashed a couple more boulders. A smirk emerged on his face seeming to realize how futile Arthur's effort was.
'Pff, idiot!' Arthur laughed when the white hood slashed the last boulder. He frowned when he heard Arthur laughing, but the realization was that something was amiss came too late. His body began to disappear as the teleportation runes activated on the ring, he was eliminated.
Arthur had kept the boulders with runes on them for this guy, and now there was only Tyrin and him left beside the cliff. Arthur turned toward him and his beautiful face was contorted by fear. Without saying anything further, Arthur descended the cliff in pursuit.
It took a while for him to do so, as he couldn't climb down and allow himself to be an easy target. He had to run atop the cliff until it started going downhill. He had his Detection rune activated as he kept tabs on Tyrin fumbling through the forest, running.
It was a long-distance when he was able to enter the forest, but he was not worried as he again started running after Tyrin. He might not be a match to Tyrin or the Ender, but all he needed was to eliminate Tyrin out of the competition.
The forest became a blur as he tried to tear through it, but the distance was long and Tyrin was also running. It was Arthur's turn to be confused about how Tyrin was able to run without being eliminated. However, it was still incomparable to Arthur, so he was able to catch up.
When he did, he understood what was going on. As Tyrin moved through the forest, a black miasma covered his feet. It ate away the runes before he could activate them, making him able to traverse the forest.
However, Arthur would never let him run away. He prepared himself to use a few bladeless slashes as he saw Tyrin suddenly stop and look in a certain direction. Arthur could feel the blackness underneath him twist and turn in that direction.
Looking in that direction, Arthur realized there was another black box. However, it was being carried by an ape. As if it had discovered a certain delicacy, the ape was biting on the box trying to eat it.
Tyrin began to run fanatically toward the ape, almost tripping himself. The black mist underneath him was getting thinner and Arthur realized it couldn't last for long. He bolted after him in an attempt to stop him.
The ape looked at Tyrin, Arthur, and the ominous darkness swirling within. Unlike what Arthur had expected, and much to his liking, the ape turned around and ran.
The three kept running, one after the other, each for a different reason. One was running for revenge and stop a possible calamity. The other to pass the trial and get rid of the evil-spirit hunting it down. As for the third, it was simply looking for lunch before being hunted by a terrifying blackness.
***
"The troublemaker! No, let's call him Ghost!" The host's sound was booming, and the crowd cheered while some booed. "Ladies and gentlemen, this year's competition is far more exciting than the last!" The chaos and zeal shook the stands.
The host commented as the giant hologram showed a golden hood fleeing atop a cliff. He did things no one would think of, eliminating others, running after them, and being relentless in taking them down.
There were no rules against grabbing the box and fleeing since no sane person would do it. After all, who could be so confident in running in a place filled with runes and traps? This made this contestant's endeavors controversial. Some cheered for his ability while others booed for his character.
There were many holograms in the air, some showing how a few cautiously walked through the forest, others of people fighting over a box, and lastly of a golden hood running after another golden hood, led by an ape carrying a box. Since the ring was the one responsible for the teleportation, other creatures were able to grab the box.
The crowd was excited, even if not everyone liked his actions. A lot of them didn't, since they thought it was cheating to do this and a bit vile. The ones who cheered did so because they were awestruck by his ability to evade the runes, since they have already seen how many of the contestants were eliminated.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please calm down. I know many of you have different opinions about the events, but you must understand that no rules have been broken." The host said after wiping his face, receiving instructions from a person he couldn't even dream of talking to.
"Even though his actions are a bit… mischievous, his ability is outstanding. His discerning eye of runes is, as our dear judges concluded, is second to none.
"The Runes Apprentices Cup is not only about how much one studied or how much talent a person had. It's about how to deal with challenges, how to perform under pressure, and how to bend the world into a shape you desire!"