"Here I come Noah!" Shane yelled, holding a glowing mana sphere in his palm, dashing towards Noah, who had pulled his shield in front, ready to take Shane's attack.

For the last two days, the two of them cultivated inside the tower and got themselves familiar with their newfound powers through the duels in the training room.

Shane had already reached the second circle, almost on the verge of getting to third circle. Noah familiarized himself with his dragon form and also tried new dragon spells, trying to perfect them.

Luke and Ruby were exploring the realm, trying to hunt the beasts and collect as much points as they could.

Shane was covered whole in a dark blue armor with a glowing crystal at the chest of the armor, sending mana throughout. His face and head were completely protected with a metal helmet, with only his eyes visible, and his hair growing long and frizzy, fluttering in the air with his fast movements.

This was Shane's draconic form, similar to the spirit form Vikasa. But, since he had awakened to dragon mana, the limitation of attaining the spirit form at the fourth circle was of no use.

The mana sphere struck right at the center of Noah's shield.

"You have improved Shane. But it's still weak!" Noah smirked at Shane and swung his hammer straight towards his head.

Mana thrust outwards like a beam from Shane's boots as he immediately rushed back, missing the hammer just by an inch.

Stormbreaker stood with his hands behind his back, watching the two of them. Just then his brows arched up, he immediately waved his hand and a door appeared at the side.

Luke and Ruby walked in through the door and stood beside him.

"Was it fruitful this time?" Stormbreaker asked with a smile.

"Yes senior. We found it. Can you check?" Luke said. He pulled out a crimson cryo lily from his dimensional ring and passed it to Stormbreaker.

He took the flower in his hand and started inspecting it carefully. After a few glances he shook his head, looked up towards Luke and passed the flower back towards him.

"It's made by someone too."

Luke and Ruby were not that surprised. They expected it already. But the confusion rose more for them. They couldn't think of any reason for the endless nights people to go to such lengths.

Just then the talismans of all four of them started glowing.

"I think it's time." Luke said. The talismans were glowing since the time limit of a month had come to an end now, the tournament was about to be over.

Shane and Noah stopped their duel. Shane removed his draconic form and Noah's shield and hammer morphed back into the ring. The two of them then walked near the others.

"it's time for us to go back now senior. Thank you for taking care of us all this time. We'll never be able repay the favor you've bestowed on us." Luke said in a genuine tone.

"Thank you senior." All four of them bowed towards Stormbreaker for one last time.

Stormbreaker sighed helplessly. No matter how much he explains, they never stop thanking him. He had given up and just graciously accepted their heartfelt gratitude.

"I hope all your dreams come true. And may the heaven benders really bend the heavens one day." Stormbreaker said with a wide smile.

"Thank you senior." They all laughed at Stormbreaker's words. But also resolving themselves to make his words come true.

The talismans started burning up and floated in front of them. Mana rushed out and engulfed the four of them.

"Thank you once again senior. We'll come to meet again so…" Before Luke could finish his words, the talismans burned completely and the four of them vanished from their spots.

"I leave the fate of the dragons and the mortal realm upon your shoulders, young ones. I hope you become strong enough to really be, the heaven benders." Stormbreaker said, as he released a deep sigh in helplessness and uncertainty of the future.

*****

Vorthane, Cahill and other nobles were sitting on the stage. The soldiers had surrounded the whole central plaza with the center empty. There was a numbing silence in the area. All of them waited with their focus on the empty center.

A team of almost ten wizards were at the periphery of the circular empty plaza. Mana was flowing out of their hands as a runic circle was present on the floor.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOSH!

One by one the participants of the tournament started appearing in the empty space. The space started filling up they appeared in teams of fours, fives and some of threes. Luke and the others also appeared together. They then saw Adriana and Raven's teams appear after them.

After a few minutes, the frequency lessened and ultimately no new teams were appearing. The empty space was now filled with nearly 160 to 170 people.

Though there were more than hundred young participants present in the plaza, all the nobles, the soldiers, the organizers, the various delegations of the countries the teams were from and even the participants themselves were shocked.

The starting number of participants were more than 400, comprising the 100 teams. But there were less than 200 people left now. more than half of them were not present. There was only one answer to this, they all had died inside.

"Where is my team? Why are they not back?" One delegation head from one of the kingdom cities stood up as he exclaimed, seeing his team missing.

"My team is not here too!"

"What the hell happened to my child? Where is he?"

"My daughters!! Where are they?"

Chaos spread as one by one, the delegation heads from the cities of the kingdom that had come to participate with their teams, started yelling and screaming seeing their team members missing. They rushed towards the other participants, hoping to get answers from them.

The soldiers immediately sprung into action, stopping them from approaching the participants in the center of the plaza.

"Noah. Stop those two. They're trying to run." Luke said, pointing at two participants that were slowly trying to slip out within the chaos.

Mana rushed to Noah's feet as he vanished from the spot. Leaving a trail in his path, Noah appeared right in front of the two.

"Where are you two running off to?" Noah smirked, the hammer and shield appeared in his hands.

The two of them were shocked. Their eyes opened wide. In a hurry, one of them immediately pulled his sword out.

"No, you fool!" The leader among the two tried to stop the other one, but it was too late. He had already rushed at Noah, slashing his sword.

CLANK!!

The sharp sound of the sword hitting Noah's shield reverberated in the surrounding, garnering everyone's attention towards them. All those people shouting and screaming went silent, shocked at two participants suddenly clashing with their weapons.

Noah pushed his shield upwards as the heretic lost his balance and his grip on the sword loosened and flew back. After awakening, Noah's raw strength had skyrocketed. He was a fifth circle mage, his strength wasn't to be underestimated now.

Seeing him loose his balance, Noah threw his shield forward. The shield spinning fast rushed and struck at his belly, throwing him off to the distance.

Seeing Noah defenseless without the shield, the leader rushed at him with his sword. Noah crouched down, the sword slashed past above him. He spun on his heel as the hammer swung above added with the momentum from the spin and struck right on the leader's face.

The hit fell hard. Two of the leader's teeth flew out as his body sprung up in the air, head falling hard on the floor.

Within a few second Noah had neutralized the two of them, making them unable to move. He caught the spinning shield that came back.

Retrieving his weapons back, he then morphed them back into the ring. He then pulled the leader up and held both his hands behind the back and pushed him forward, making him stand at the empty space in the center.

Shane brought the second one as the two of them now stood in front of everyone. Silence spread in the area, no one was saying anything when Luke opened his mouth, bringing everybody's attention towards him.

"These two are the one responsible for all the participants missing right now. They had two more members with them, who killed themselves when we tried to catch them." Luke's said in a loud voice. His words falling on each and every one of their ears present there.

"They lured the other participants towards a pond filled with cryo lilies. But instead of obtaining the lilies, they all were eaten by an Azure serpent these bastards were trying to evolve."

"But how is that possible? Who are these two?" Someone from the crowd asked skeptically.

"They are members of a ruthless and the most evil organization in the continent, the society of endless nights."

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