The flames surrounding Ignatia started to diminish slowly. She was considering his proposition seriously.“What do you want?” she finally asked, her voice tight with controlled fury.“Information. And alliance, maybe. Definitely not to be enemies,” Devon said while keeping Caldemor steady in his grip, stopped circling and stood in front of her. “This whole tournament is going to last three days straight, and that's seventy two hours of chaos and killing. Making new enemies on day one seems incredibly stupid to me, to be honest.”“But you attacked me first!’ Ignatia argued fiercely.“You threw a huge fireball at my building, though!” Devon countered back immediately, his voice sounded harsh now. “I was literally just hiding and trying to regroup with my people. You were the one who used violence in the first place, hello!”lIgnatia opened her mouth to argue the point, then closed it again. She looked a bit sheepish, which was shocking.“I-I… okay. That's actually fair. I thought you we

“Fine,” Devon managed to say through clenched teeth. “But I'm putting up another signal now, and only she will recognize it.”“Do it,” Williams said with a firm nod. “After that we need to secure this place. This building is too open and half the walls look ready to fall over. We need somewhere much better defensively.”“There's a cluster of buildings about two hundred meters west,” Ignatia offered helpfully, pointing without hesitation. “They looked much more intact when we passed them. Better defensible angles, and more than one escape route if things go to hell.”Ilya looked at Ignatia with suspicion, her eyes narrowed. “Why are you helping us?” she asked sharply.“Because we have an alliance now,” Ignatia replied calmly, sounding bored by the question. “And because those buildings are big enough for both our groups without us tripping on each other. Shared defense is smarter than solo, isn't it?”Williams turned to Devon, waiting for the command. “Your call, boss.”The title hung

Devon looked at Ignatia. She was considering it carefully, her brows furrowed in thoughts."What do you think?" he asked her quietly."Tactically smart," she admitted honestly. "Three champions are better than two. Fire, death, storm. We'd be balanced.""But?""But trust is a bitch in a death game."A massive explosion rocked the arena in the far distance. Devon's Sight showed another major battle erupting about two kilometers north of them. More eliminations, more groups dying fast.They didn't have time for lengthy debates right now."One condition," Devon said, looking firmly down at Seichi. "My people come first. If it's points or them, I choose them.""Same," Seichi agreed immediately. "My squad rides or dies with me.""Then we've got a deal." Devon climbed down from the roof, Ignatia following right behind him. "Show us the contract."Seichi unfurled the scroll. The terms were straightforward. No betrayal, fair point distribution, and mutual defense until the first round conclud

Devon poured more ME into maintaining the shield while gritting his teeth hard.Finally, the spell dissipated, and he dismissed the barrier before it could drain him completely.“Ignatia, can you hit them?” he called out at her from the ground.“Not through those shields,” she replied, pointing at the demons. “Break the formation first.”“I’ll do it. Keep them busy,” Seichi said, then jumped and landed right in front of the demon formation, and for a moment, everything went still.The demon lieutenant growled. “Foolish. One champion against twelve of us?”“One’s enough,” Seichi replied calmly.He moved, and it was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. His blades became arcs of blue lightning, striking faster than the eye could follow. One demon broke its shield, and the lightning struck another demon, slicing its arm.But it wasn’t only the lightning they should be wary of. Seichi’s blade pierced another one’s throat.The formation broke as the demons tried to adapt to the human

Devon watched the ten zombies shamble off toward the distant jungle biome. Part of him felt weird about sending them to their potential deaths, even though they were already dead. The other part of him was too exhausted to care.“I’m going to scout the perimeter for a bit,” Devon announced suddenly, pushing himself to his feet.“Dev, you need rest,” Williams said firmly, trying to intervene. “You look like death warmed over, no offense.”“I’ll rest when I find my sister,” Devon shot back, maybe sounding harsher than he truly intended.Before anyone could even argue with his decision, he was already moving toward the north wall. He scanned the entire arena within his range for any sign of Raline’s aura.But still nothing. Just the usual scattered signatures of other groups, wandering monsters, and the distant glow of the jungle where Valdris’s zombies were heading now.“Stubborn idiot,” he heard Ignatia mutter quietly behind him.Yeah, he was, probably. But he couldn’t just sit here do