[The first round of this competition is finally over. All members who won will now get a marking on their hand.]
The announcement rang loudly around the clearing, indicating that the first round was over. All those who had lost their slip were eliminated. And most of them had a bitter heart at their unfair expulsion from the competition.
"What? How is this possible? I still have my slip with me-"
The man in front of Keith was no exception. He was bitter and resentful as he looked around for his slip of paper. But no matter how hard he tried; he could not find it. All because he never had it in the first place.
Amelia took this chance and ended up bonking the buff man in front of her. He went unconscious in a matter of seconds and his body collapsed at Amelia's feet.
"Phew, now that is something that I took care of. Noah, shall we head toward the 'Cross Arena' now? I have a feeling that is where Sara would have headed too as well."
Keith shook his head as he heard Amelia's worried voice. It seems she had not realized who the real problem was all this time.
Unlike Keith, Amelia's image of Sara had not been broken by the attackers and Keith doubted that she would listen to his words.
"Alright. That is the logical thing to do. Hopefully, no one will have a reason to attack us outright now."
Keith was not worried about being attacked but he was concerned about having 29 other powerful people in the same place as him.
Just because he had managed to get through the first round somehow did not mean that others were just as lucky as him. Most of the others had gotten into the top 32 by their abilities and powers.
The due headed toward the 'Cross Arena' as fast as they could. But they were still not the first ones to reach the place. The clearing was full of people avoiding each other's eyes and their body language was tense.
However, even in this setting, Amelia was able to spot Sara.
"Sara, over here. Are you alright? No one gave you a hard time, right?"
Amelia asked as she kneeled in front of Sara. Most of the participants ignored her weird behavior, not willing to lose brain power thinking over what she was doing. But many were looking at Amelia with interest as well.
'Well, Amelia is beautiful and looks fragile. No wonder people are doubtful of her abilities.'
Keith also had eyes checking him out but his lack of aura made people lose interest in him fast. People were certainly thinking of him as a small fry.
[Uhm, testing this mike. So, everyone, can you hear me? I welcome you all to the next round of the tournament and congratulations to all of you who have made it to the second round.
But before we start, I would like to address an issue that occurred during the first round.
You see, only 32 of you were supposed to make it across the first round, but somehow the number ended up being 33. A weird thing, right? So, it is obvious what happened - one of you cheated.]
Keith jolted in surprise at the announcement and so did everyone else.
They quickly took out their yellow slip and had a look at it. Keith did the same and realized that the small yellow slip had a weird mana signature on it. It would be impossible to replicate by someone.
[Now I know what you all are thinking about - how did this happen? But I am not lying. Look at your screen, it does have 33 dots on it. So, I would like for the cheater to step up. If not, then we will have to eliminate the cheater all on our own.]
The faceless person spoke up in front of the crown. Its unnerving and featureless black face caused everyone to become scared. They all looked at each other with an uncomfortable expression.
Ultimately, someone pointed toward the center of the clearing with a confident expression.
"It is you, right? You are the imposter since you had no party member with you. You somehow managed to cheat your way through, right?"
"What-? When did I-? I did not cheat. And how can we know that it is not one of your party members who did not cheat? Do not try and paint me as a cheater."
The accused person yelled back with a justified voice. But the damage has already been done. The angry man got even angrier and a fight could break out at any moment.
"Oi judge, I do not know what happened but this man in the clearing is the cheater. We all agree so can you just throw him out and we can all be done after that?"
The person who had accused the loner yelled at the featureless man. The judge smiled at being addressed but his smile held no humor.
It gave Keith goosebumps just looking at the unnerving expression on that featureless face. He wanted to look away but the fear of the unknown would not let him look away.
"Now, I clearly remembered asking the cheater to step out on their own, not to get accused by anyone else. Since no one stepped out on their own, it is up to me to choose someone at random and eliminate them."
The judge made a call and everyone was suddenly nervous to be chosen. No one knew who the cheater was, or if there even was a cheater.
The faceless man looked at everyone but Keith tensed up as soon as that face turned toward him. He had a feeling that the presence of the judge's gaze lasted a little longer on him but Keith also knew he was not a cheater.
Ultimately, the judge raised his hand and the ground broke down beneath one of the persons far away from Keith.
Before anyone knew it, the man had been swallowed by the earth and would never be seen again.
The dead man's party members looked shocked at the sudden death at their party. The female looked especially devastated as she looked up at the judge.
"W-Why did you do that? He had been with us since the beginning and he never cheated. His yellow slip was a genuine one and I would know. I picked it up myself when this competition started."
The female sounded hysterical and denied the justice that had been served. Somehow, Keith was inclined to believe this female. He had a feeling she was speaking the truth about her partner not being a betrayer.
Everyone looked at the faceless judge floating in the sky above their head. The judge did not say anything but he just smiled his innocent smile.
Finally, the pressure of everyone's gaze got to the judge and he tilted his head toward the side as he looked down.
"Oh, I knew that man was innocent all along but that was not why he died. I told you - if no one stepped up to confess then I will eliminate one of you randomly. I never said I would eliminate the cheater."
The judge was confused and everyone was shocked at the easy-going nature of this judge.
Despite the clarification, the person who had just lost her beloved could not take it anymore. Anger and resentment boiled inside her heart and she suddenly held a knife in her hand.
"How dare you! I will not let you live your life. I shall kill you right here and now to serve as justice for killing my partner."
The angry woman ended up lashing out. Her knife was like lightning as it moved through the air. She had used her speed skill and was about to impale the person in front of her when something weird happened.
She felt her knife go through her skin and bone and her hands were even wet. But her shoulder was the one thing screaming in hot pain. The sensation of something being buried in her shoulder was very vivid and painful.
'What? I am sure I knifed the judge. Then why am I feeling all this pain? Where did things go wrong with me?'
The woman thought as she raised her hand. Her shoulder was bleeding quite heavily.
"Ah, I did not mean to harm you but you left me with no other choice. Next time, maybe you should form a strategy before attacking me. You are also lucky that I cannot kill you or it will drop our numbers. Now, why do not you rest for the time being."
The angry woman felt her eyes drop but she fought the drowsiness she was feeling. She did not want sleep, she wanted revenge.
But despite her wishes, sleep came and everyone watched as the angry woman collapsed.
The judge picked her unconscious body up and looked at everyone else. An announcement was coming.
