"Did you hear?"
"About the Law-rankers? Who didn't?"
"Who do you think they were?"
"I don't know. I thought that the Monarchs were the only Law-rankers we had."
"Is there a secret third power?"
"There were over 10 Law-rankers. Doesn't that mean that this new power is more powerful than both factions?"
"What does that mean for the current status quo? Will there be a war?"
"I don't know, but it looked like the Law-rankers were fighting."
"So there's two new powers?!"
"When will they catch that Seraphina and get us the hell out of here?! I can't take it anymore!!"
Phina sat at a table in the tavern. The conversations she heard helped take her mind off of things. 'If they're busy fighting against these new powers, they won't have enough time to come after me.'
After her fight with Gargo, Phina developed a new kind of fear for fighting. A Lord that was an entire rank below her almost killed her and her entire party, yet she had the audacity to confidently go after a Royal. She would've absolutely died if she had met with such a monster.
"So, wanna talk about it now?" Pida said as he sat at the table with drinks. Although he wore a mask again, Phina could tell that he was looking at her with pity.
"...no..." Phina weakly replied as she sipped her drink. This beer was bitter, yet she found comfort in its numbing effects.
"Come on, Shira. You can't stay sulking like this." Pida smiled. "How about thi-"
"Found you, jackass." a voice interrupted Pida as a fist smacked his face, sending him flying out of his chair. It was a large man with a ponytail. He turned to the unfocused Phina and said. "This your girlfriend? She's coming with us!"
'A Beginner-rank...' Phina thought as took a sip from her beer. She readied a punch, yet when she saw his hand approach her, she retreated as fast as she could. 'What the hell?'
Her body had moved purely off instincts. 'Damn it! I'm scared of Beginner-ranks now?!'
"You aren't gonna leave me hanging here, right?" the man glared at Phina.
"Yo-" Phina paused as she noticed Pida. He was...unconscious. 'H-He's actually strong?!'
"I SAID COME HERE!!!" the man rushed Phina.
Phina screeched in fear as she unsheathed her dagger and stabbed out with it.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
"W-What the hell?" the man looked at the dagger in his stomach with shock.
"I-I'm sorry!" Phina hurriedly put her hand on his wound and pushed her Life Energy into the man.
"Whatever!! Deal's off!!" the man yelled as he pushed Phina's hand to the side and ran out of the tavern.
"W-What?" Phina looked on with shock. That's when she heard a sigh.
"Sorry. I thought fighting would get your mind off of it." Pida stood up as he dusted off his clothes.
"..." Phina looked at him with shock. "I could've killed him!!"
"But you didn't." Pida responded. "The fact that you could control if your power kills him or not is proof enough that you are way more powerful than him."
Pida walked forward as he gave Phina his beer. "Our luck was just shit. We came across a powerful species that just happened to be close to evolving. Just because you're strong, it doesn't mean that you're the strongest. But also never forget that just because you're not the strongest, it doesn't mean you're not strong."
"Whatever." Phina scoffed. She took another sip of her beer and stayed silently staring at the table. Pida giving her the time she needed. "So, what are you gonna do now?"
"I'll continue looking for my grandpa." Pida said before he ordered another beer. "What about you?"
"I...don't know. I don't have any money and that old bastard said that he'd take the corpse off our hands for a 'discounted price'. That asshole just gave me around 500 Beast Repellants and ran off." Phina sighed. "Can I go with you? I literally have no other place to go."
"I don't mind, but don't you have any family." Pida decided to probe Phina for information about the outside world.
"I don't know." Phina sighed again.
"No home?" Pida raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know." Phina grit her teeth slightly.
"Well...what's your goal?" Pida was actually just curious at this point.
"I...don't know..." Phina said with an awkward tone. She truly didn't know what to do. She was obviously missing something to complete her Lord-rank Skill with, but she had no idea what it was.
"Alright. Help me find my grandpa and I'll help you find something to do." Pida smiled behind his mask.
"Deal." Phina also smiled as she took off her mask for a moment and chugged the beer.
'Now that I can look at her from up close, she's quite the beauty. Too bad the reward on her head is too big to pass by.' Pida only showed his mouth as he also finished his beer.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Well? Did you find her?" Jefiri asked Legirin as he sat at a large table with all their Human-Elf-Angel Faction's Law-rankers.
"We...couldn't find her." Legirin said softly. Embarrassment was clear on the faces of all three current Monarchs.
"So, you're telling me we exposed our strength to the enemies, caught the attention of the general populace, lost a Law-ranker and we have nothing to show for it?" Faust, the Human Elder, glared at the three Monarchs in front of him.
The battle they went to fight was beyond their expectations. The enemy Faction had attacked with its Monarchs and Elders together. Rain, Bowlen and Legirin were tasked with finding Seraphina Ender while Jefiri, Faust, Denise and Ikor were tasked with holding back the seven enemies. What made it worse was that every single enemy was a Law-ranker. They were thoroughly destroyed. Ikor had sacrificed his life for them to escape, yet the three Monarchs showed no results.
"W-We apologi-"
"FUCK YOUR APOLOGY!!" Bowlen, the Human Monarch, was interrupted by Denise, his own Elder. "IF YOU WERE THERE, WE WOULD HAVE KILLED TWO OF THEIR LAW-RANKERS!"
"Enough!!" Jefiri released a little of his Aura. He then fell into thought. "I will try and level the playing field."
"How will you do that?" Faust asked with a scoff. The couple was especially ticked off. After all, Ikor died trying to save Denise.
"I'm going to ask Mysie for help." Jefiri said with a sigh.
"You're going to awaken Mysie?!" the couple asked with shock.
"Who?" Legirin asked with confusion. None of the Monarchs knew who Mysie was.
"He's someone who's very powerful. Even though he's a Demon, he has declared that this arena is a lost cause, and that all of us will die in it. So, he left us to deal with our own problems and isolated himself from the world. I believe that his abilities are second only to His Eternal Majesty. If the man was born on the outside world, not even the Generals would be his match." Jefiri explained with a hint of fear in his eyes.
"Well, wouldn't the Demons ask him first?" Rain asked.
"No. No one would ever approach him unless they had a death sentence." Faust said as he glared at Jefiri.
"Why not?" Legirin inquired.
"Because every single person that has ever approached the mountain he called home has died without fail. Law-rankers included." Denise explained with a trembling voice. She and Faust had seen their master try and approach him once. That day, they found their master's corpse ripped into five different sections by the foot of the mountain.
"I must try." Jefiri said with determination in his eyes. "Those bastards already know about my strength, they won't let me grow stronger. They'll likely try to assassinate me soon. If I gained the help of Mysie, they'll be screwed."
"Is this the end of the Human-Elf-Angel Faction?" Rain asked with sadness in her voice. She sounded like a child asking their parents if they were going to be homeless.
"Rain..." Jefiri looked at the young woman in front of him. She was the youngest Law-ranker in the room. "Yes...if I fail, it will be the end of the Human, Elf and Angel races as we know them in the Killers' Arena."
Tears started to form in Rain's eyes. As she started to sob lightly, Bowlen started to sob lightly too. Soon, the couple also started to get teary. Even Jefiri sighed and looked down helplessly. These mighty Law-rankers then started crying like children!
A single, false piece of information about Seraphina's location caused them to show their hands too early, and this single mistake had put their races on a solid path to extinction! This wasn't just their lives! It was their families, culture, people and even their ancestors efforts! All gone! From a single mistake!!
"Mysie is our last hope." Jefiri said as he sniffled. "I'll go now. Don't make any moves until then. We don't want them to know I'm gone. Buy as much time as you can. Maybe a Human, Elf or Angel will catch the girl and free us by then."
None of the people said anything as they tried to hold back their emotions.