Dark Magus Returns

There was a large amount of confusion among those from the Light Faction. They understood that a traitor or two among factions was expected when spies had to delve deep into other territories.

They had to truly become part of the clan and faction to fulfill their roles. Oftentimes, this would lead to some spies changing sides, but that hardly ever worked out. Most Pagna warriors, once knowing someone had turned on them once, felt like it could happen again at the snap of a finger, and they wouldn't last long.

What was strange here was not only were there the odd few higher-ups changing sides, but every single one of the students who had participated in the tournament looked to be turning on the Dark Faction leaders.

"It seems the Dark Faction has been having troubles of their own and has been keeping it quite a secret," Ricar stated. "Can't you tell, based on the reaction of the adults? It was almost as if they were expecting this."

Ricar was spot on with his guess. Murkel knew from the first attempt at escape that the students were no longer loyal. The only reason they were doing his bidding was through fear.

The issue was, the fear that ran through them wasn't strong enough. The look in their eyes told him that at any chance they had, they would try to take it, and it seemed as if this chance had come along.

Amir came forward again, a strike from the front. Murkel jumped back, avoiding the strange beast-like hand. Right as he jumped back, though, he felt a strong force disrupting his Qi from his side.

Lifting up his arm, loud bangs and powerful blasts of Qi were felt hitting him, one after the other. Taking a peek through his guard, he could see that it was Dame.

"You should have confirmed it with your own eyes and checked if I was really dead. You're going to regret it!" Dame claimed, as he continued to move and swing his fists through the air, keeping a distance.

It was the most important thing to do, especially considering what Amir had told him about his Qi.

As he was continuously getting hit, Murkel was able to block it with his guard just moving it about. As he moved both of his arms to the side, he heard something scraping against the ground, and when he turned around, he could see a large red X of Qi coming his way.

Quickly Murkel moved one of his hands to the two blades striking at him and grabbed onto the blades, stopping them before they could completely swing.

"I can see it in your eyes, not even your words, you show no respect, so I will show you respect today!" Alba shouted as she pushed forward with her Qi, but with a twist of his hand, the Dark Qi encased the entirety of Alba's, almost making it disappear.

Then with a slight push, she was forced off her feet and flew through the air until she crashed into the arena wall.

"Do you think just the three of you are enough?" Murkel said. "You will need everyone."

"It's okay," Amir said. "I just don't want you involved in their fight."

Amir, Dame, and Alba, who had just gotten out of the wall, a little marked up but not fully hurt, were now going up against Murkel. Although they might have needed more power to take on the principal and practically leader of the Dark Faction, the others were needed elsewhere.

---

For a while, Cronker had been observing the situation, keeping an eye on Murkel. In the corner of his eye, he was looking for the perfect situation to strike, but it just didn't appear to be happening because every time he would move forward, Akron would be in his way.

The frail old man Akron would have both of his hands behind his back, the black needles piercing on the side. What was more frightening was the devastating smile that would appear.

Right as Cronker moved forward, the old man would then swing the needle, cutting the edge of his face.

Getting frustrated, Cronker tried to step in just one step too far. Akron noticed this.

"A mistake, in the world of Pagna, one can't make mistakes!" Akron said as he followed up.

When he moved forward, though, a few daggers came from both sides. With quick, swift movements of both of his hands, he was able to deflect many of them onto the floor.

Then a third little one appeared in front of him, Tilson, one of the Dark students. He didn't have time to aim his strike because Tilson knew, despite all of the training they had gone through, there was too much of a difference between them and a middle-stage warrior.

Even if the three of them were to team up, this was no ordinary middle-stage warrior. As Tilson used everything he knew and learned all the drills in his head, he dashed forward and swung his dagger.

He could feel it connecting but noticed that it had only ripped part of the clothing and didn't touch the skin. Even taken by surprise, and with all three of them, they weren't able to put a scratch on him.

"You three are extremely talented. I didn't know there were such students in the academy," Akron said. "If I could, I would take you all in as part of the Erupting Fist Clan's special forces. You would learn a lot more with me than the fool of a teacher in front of you who makes mistakes.

"And now you will learn the mistake you made as well." Akron lifted one of the needles, and when covered with his Qi, it started to stretch out. It didn't leave his hands, he hadn't thrown it, but it extended at an incredibly fast speed as if it was thrown and was aiming right for Tilson.

"Tilson!" Violet shouted.

An arrow came through, hitting the tip of the needle and stopping it for a moment. The needle was stronger than the arrow, pushing through it, but it had given the three students of Cronker a chance to fall back to his side.

Retracting the black needle, Akron looked at who had just intervened.

"Don't you think you just made a mistake right now?" Forma claimed, already pulling back another arrow. "You just revealed something to us that we didn't know before, a trump card of sorts."

Akron still had a confident smile on his face.

"A mistake? The ones who make the most mistakes in this battle will be the losers in the end, and I make no mistakes."

Forma hopped over to Cronker's side to make sure he knew she was supporting him as well in all of this.

"We don't have special weapons created by the Dark Magus, but we are part of the Crimson Crane, and with us and your little gang there, we can at least take out this guy, right?" Forma claimed.

---

As all of this was happening, a trigger moment had occurred, and that was the actions of Tilion slamming his shield onto the floor. Doing so allowed him to unleash the stored-up Qi by Murkel, which had pushed all of the others onto the ground.

Akron and Murkel were quick to get up, as if they weren't affected at all, and continued their fight. In the meantime, the rest of the students, along with the Crimson Crane members, acted.

They acted on the order of Alba and charged forward. The students did the same, thinking that this was going to be their only chance. They were no longer holding back. As they went forward, those on the ground didn't just sit around, though.

They quickly got up off the floor and set their eyes on a target to attack. Two people in particular, the twins from the Tulip Clan, Lin and Lulu, had jumped forward, holding their fans close to them and charging against one student.

"That kid with the one eye is annoying me. Get him!" Lin shouted.

"Wait a second, why me?" Liam replied as he knew he was their target and stopped charging forward. Instead, he looked at the two of them, trying to figure out a way to get out of this.

Fighting maybe one of them, he could come up with something, but two would be nearly impossible. Looking at them, they were running across from each other, from side to side, while coming at him.

The system was analyzing and had finally come up with an answer.

[Using the half-moon block will block one of the strikes]

[It's impossible to block both of the strikes]

[There are currently no skills in the system that will allow you to avoid the situation]

'Hey, hey, hey, what are you talking about? Are you abandoning me right now at the most important part!'

Whether the system was right or not, Liam didn't know, but he trusted it as he just focused on one. It was the only thing he could do. His sword lit up, and he swung it in a half-crescent strike in the air.

It clashed against the fan and caused it to hit upward, and from his right side, he could hear a similar sound.

He turned to look and noticed a linger of light in the air, coming off from a sword, coming from a woman of all things.

"Was that the half-moon block as well?" Liam asked.

Immediately, the person known as Anna turned to him.

"You better tell me who gave you that system, and if you lie, I'll kill you myself."

Liam gulped. He thought that this woman was his ally. Wasn't she by Raze's side, and now she was threatening to kill him?

'But that move from before…and the system…how does she know?'