The sky was bright yet Arthur's mood was bleak. He had spent the whole night debating which rune to buy, but he finally made a choice that was worth 20 legacy points.
"Welcome to the last day of the Runes Apprentices Cup!" Jumana coughed once before throwing her hands grandly. "Let's laugh, cry, and bleed today!"
"Let's not bleed please," Arthur muttered to himself at Jumana's ominous words. He was sitting in his room watching the announcement with Yurirl munching on his side.
"You've eaten three bags already." Arthur glanced to Yurirl that was still eating the raisins.
"I have a high metabolism."
"That's not the point."
"The first challenger has appeared today! It's Lily Green and she had already chosen her opponent. The first duel shall be between Lily Green and Abraham Galan!"
The lucky participant has chosen the son of the grandmaster, so everyone cheered for her confidence. The duel started right away as each partner took their sides. Lily's partner was a woman of tall stature that had dark skin.
She took a single card and Arthur's sense perked up at the peculiarity. It was the same rune that she has used in the ranking round, a purely magical spirit attack. However, her score wasn't that satisfactory.
A radiant aura descended the stage as mana gathered and turned into a completely ethereal form around the rune. Then a bow appeared with an arrow and it was launched at the opponent.
The partner of Abraham seemed to know what awaited him and constructed a barrier as soon as the rune was activated. However, the ethereal attacked passed the barrier and struck the partner who fell to his knees.
The mana of the partner ran wild as his screams echoed through the arena. After the barrier rune was gone, Lily's partner walked over and struck the defenseless opponent, eliminating him.
"Soul Attack." Arthur frowned. He had read about these types of runes in the library. It had the same concept as the undead parasites, as it used the ethereal form of mana to interfere with the consciousness and the user's soul.
Usually, these runes were prohibited in competitions as they had more than physical damage. However, basic runes could only result in unconsciousness for a few hours.
The crowd looked warily at the dark-skinned girl that held the runic cards. The unknown was feared and such runes were among the most feared among the public. Nonetheless, there was cheering.
"That's troublesome." Yurirl frowned.
"It is, but I think my protection can work against it." Arthur shrugged. He didn't think his protection would allow this attack to pass by. After all, it was a magical attack.
"What's the difference between your rune and Abraham's rune?"
"Well, many. Abraham's rune seems to be focused on elemental attacks more than magical attacks. Elemental attacks consist of both physical and magical aspects. For example, fire and the mana that fuels it. That's why the purely magical attacks were able to break through the barrier. Furthermore, it was mostly mana."
"What about your rune?"
"It can protect you from it." Arthur didn't explain his rune in detail. His protection rune was one of the most powerful ones he had. After all, it protected him from 'attacks.' There was nothing specified so Arthur was worries-free.
"How can you know so much about Abraham's rune without studying it?" Yurirl looked at Arthur for answers but Arthur was helpless.
"Divine sense allows you to connect to the world and feel it, right?" Arthur asked and Yurirl nodded. "I can feel the same toward runes."
Arthur chose not to lie, but he didn't say the full truth. As he looks at Runes, his eyes recognize every one of them. However, he didn't recognize the runes themselves but the alphabet the made them.
Every rune was a word. That's why you can see different runes with the same function. Why would there be different protection runes? It was simple. Their runic lines were different. The runic lines were the alphabet that only Arthur could read.
Lily's second challenge was issued, it was Leonard. However, as the spirits attack struck the hooded person, there was no effect. In the end, the dark-skinned woman lost the challenge.
Then came Lily's last challenge and it was Arthur, as a matter of course. As Arthur expected, her attack couldn't break the barrier. In the end, she lost as well. She now placed fifth, pushing Carlos and Abraham down.
Carlos's turn came and he challenged Arthur first. It was expected since he believed he could win this time.
"Same plan." Arthur handed over the runic cards to the shocked Yurirl. "Trust me."
"Arthur, I trusted you last time and I almost blew up the arena." Yurirl looked at him with a puzzled look that was too innocent for Arthur to take offense. Nonetheless, he did as he coughed in embarrassment.
"I made some changes. This time, you can go all out." Arthur had inscribed artificial fire runes this time. Thus, even if they amplified each other, the ten barriers would still be able to defend against the reflected damage.
Yurirl nodded with resolve as he grabbed the card with the conviction of a warrior. Arthur looked at him speechless.
"You're not going to die, Yurirl."
"You never know. It was nice to meet you."
Arthur looked at him departing wondering if this guy just threw a joke. He sighed and slumped in his chair as he looked at the screen.
Now that he was alone, worry began eating at his mind. Was his family safe? Can he escape from the Voldor family? What did they plan to do, if they haven't mobilized their forces?
As he was deep in thought, space twisted a few meters away from him. Arthur's sense picked up the change in mana and his dagger was already in his hand.
A hooded person appeared in front of him and Arthur attacked without hesitation. His dagger was covered in flames as it slashed toward the newcomer.
A hand blocked his attack and Arthur felt like he had struck a bottomless abyss. His strength kept traveling somewhere before the hooded person revealed his face.
"I guess you're not as stupid as you have been, Arthur."
He slowly recognized the voice, blonde hair, silver eyes, and the distinct scar across her right eye and down her cheek. His eyes widened as he hurriedly withdrew his dagger.
"Miko!" Arthur was baffled as he stood there stunned. He reached out and embraced her before he could think of whether she would like it or not, but she simply laughed and embraced him back.
"Okay, let me go now." Miko pushed him away with a smile. "Yes, yes. I missed you too. However, there are more important things at hand."
"Where have you been? I tried looking for you, but I didn't know where to start. You should've given me a name or address." Arthur was still happy about meeting her that he couldn't focus.
"One of the rules of being an assassin is to never give information, I think." She rubbed the tip of her nose as she said sarcastically. "I'm sorry that I haven't contacted you until now, but please listen to what I have to say."
"Is it about the Voldor family?" Arthur asked cautiously. Miko was one of the few that knew of his feud with Erin Voldor, so it was alright to tell her.
"You know already, huh?" Miko grinned. "You're not as helpless as I remember you to be."
"I was also stupid."
"We both were." Miko shook her head in regret. "Jin only cared about Hazel. Hazel cared about you. We failed to see that it doesn't mean Jin was an ally."
"Is he still alive?" Arthur asked after a brief pause.
"Barely. That's not important now. The Voldor family has already fallen lower than we have thought. They're using Nether beings, the Enders. You have already met them once in the Calamity Spider."
Arthur's eyes widened. He made similar guesses, but he hadn't felt any Enders around. After his breakthrough, he was more sensitive to everyone's existence. It was usually proportional to their strength, but the Ender's gave him a unique loathsome feeling even before he broke through.
The arena shook and Arthur realized that he had forgotten about Yurirl. He turned toward the screen and waited for the smoke and dust to disappear. In the end, Yurirl appeared on the stage, unharmed, while his opponent has flown out of the arena.
"Arthur Silver and Yurirl win!" The announcer's voice filled the room but Arthur couldn't feel much happiness right now.
"Look at you, being famous and all." Miko grinned at him.
"Miko, do you know what the Voldor family is going to do?" Arthur asked, interrupting her. Miko looked at him quietly and revealed what she knew.
"I don't know a lot; I came her disobeying my orders. All I know is that the Enders are coming after you using the Voldor family."