Dark Magus Returns

Kawak had wandered off away from the rest of the group, while everyone else was waiting for his orders on what exactly to do with the large crowd of people.

Most had taken carriages or paid joint fares to get to the tournament; some had even left their funds as they had bet on contestants. It was a worrying matter for the local people more than ever.

Eventually, Kawak returned and first went to the Light Faction warriors who were looking after the crowd of people.

"The people will have whatever is owed to them given back. We shall take them to the biggest nearby city, and from there, we will pay for their costs to head back home," Kawak announced.

"Are you sure, sir? Are we not heading back to the arena?"

"That is something that we can deal with later," Kawak replied. "The tournament is over; for now, what is important is getting everyone back to where they need to be. We will sort out everything.

"After that, we will call a meeting in the grand hall with all of the Clan heads. We must hurry."

After giving those orders, the Light Faction warriors were busy gathering information from the people.

Meanwhile, Kawak went over and pulled Cicle to the side to have a separate conversation with him, giving brief eye contact with the people from the Demonic Faction.

"We will let the Demonic Faction go back to their land. I want you to escort them with the clan leaders to make sure they don't do anything," Kawak ordered.

"Are you sure that's the best thing to do?" Cicle answered. "We have them in our territory. They have nowhere to even run; we could get rid of a big part of the Demonic Faction."

"Right now, it might be best to use them. They seem genuinely shocked by this whole thing as well. In the meantime, we have to be prepared for what will happen, so fighting against them will not be a smart move."

"And what about Ricar?" Cicle asked. "Are we not going back to help him? If he loses his life, I doubt the ten elders of the Dawnblade Clan will be pleased."

"Nine," Kawak corrected him. "And sometimes sacrifices are needed. If he is strong enough, then he will live."

---

The arena stands were now completely empty, void of people since everyone had been transported, or at least nearly everyone.

Right now, in the stands themselves, hiding behind one of the walls, was none other than the infamous news spreader, Bubble.

He was sitting right up against one of the stand walls, hiding from sight. He slowly peeked his head above, allowing his eyes to get a look at the situation.

'I can't believe it. I went out to try and get more information to see if something else was going on. With my snooping, they kicked me out of the arena!' Bubble thought.

'When I heard the whole place nearly fall silent, I rushed in to find next to no one, but there are still people here. Is this fate? Has fate brought me to witness all of this?'

Now peaking, Bubble could see Raze with his white hair, the true form of the student that he also knew as the Dark Magus, the one who had gone against the Behemoth Clan, one of the strongest clans in the Demonic Faction, and now it appeared as if he had done something even crazier.

'Why am I always seeing things that I can't report on? People will think I've gone mad… although maybe not this time, since they all would have experienced it.'

Looking down on the ground, Bubble could see Amir standing next to Mantis, who was lying on the ground. His wings were spread out on the floor, and he appeared to still be breathing but wasn't moving, most likely too hurt from the fight with Ricar. Then there was Dame. Those three were clearly working together.

When looking elsewhere, there was Hannah and Ricar standing next to each other. The fighting had practically stopped with the shock of everything going on.

Then finally, there was Raze with the Crimson Crane, Alba, Anna, Cronker, and the three students. This was what made up the people currently on the arena floor. There was also Hannah, but she hadn't moved very far.

"So, that was your goal in all of this," Amir said to himself as he looked at the Light Faction members.

"I believe this is your best chance to just go and leave this place. I have had a change of plan; in times like this, it might be best to improvise. You don't want to go against us, do you?"

Ricar was observing the situation. He could tell, with his small interaction with Amir, how strong he was. Being in the middle of this, was there any purpose for them?

"Not until we get back Hannah!" Beatrix claimed.

"I don't think you're in the situation to be making demands," Dame answered.

"It's okay," Raze spoke. "There's no need for her; you can go."

Raze was quite aware that Hannah hadn't been moving because of him, and not having the Light Faction attack them from behind and owe them a favor would be nice with the mess they were to get involved in.

"I hope that with this, you will stay to your principles and not attack us or get involved in all of this," Raze said.

Hannah moved and quickly ran over to Beatrix who embraced her with a hug. The three of them soon moved back and then jumped to the stands. They didn't head away, though.

No Ricar thought with everything that might happen today, it was too important to just run away; he needed to see what was going to take place.

That was when the glass door had finally opened up, and the entirety of the Dark Faction was seen walking out, with Murkel at the front, and the students at the very back.

"I see that you have done this with some type of purpose in mind," Murkel said.

Amir was looking at all of the people behind the Dark Faction. They were some of the strongest in the entire of the Dark Faction.

Although this was easier than attacking them in the academy, it was only marginally better.

"I suppose you have been working with this student for a long time, planning behind my back. I wonder why you have decided to betray the Dark Faction," Murkel asked.

"You think I'm betraying the Dark Faction. You don't understand, and you never would. What I am doing is trying to help the whole of Pagna, and I have decided that this person is very important," Amir answered. "You wouldn't believe me if I said we weren't working together, and him coming here was a coincidence.

"In fact, you weren't even a target of mine. At least not yet. But if it comes to helping him out, someone who I believe will be a key to our society, then I will help."

Murkle then looked directly at Raze who had Anna, Cronker, and others standing by his side. His legs looked a little weak.

"So I heard what you said boy, that you wish to get rid of the Dark Faction and take it over. That was your whole plan. You are far too young to say anything like that... right now you can barely even stand, you have no idea what you're up against."

Murkel started to unleash his dark Qi, it shrouded behind him around his shoulders so dense, dark, and heavy.

That was when Raze pulled out a Qi pill, and placed it in his mouth, biting down, cracking the pill, and swallowing it whole.

"Far too young," Raze smiled. "I have no idea what I'm up against; I could say the exact same to you!"