Trevor blinked, shield forgotten. "James, man, that's not-"

"Shut it!" James clapped, scaring Trevor shut. The kid yelped, stumbling back.

Emma stood, bow half-drawn. "What the hell's this? We're a team.

"Team?" James's grin split wide, demonic now, eyes gleaming with madness. "You were my discipline. My followers. But you forgot who built this."

He raised his arms, and the sky darkened, clouds boiling unnaturally. Lightning struck down, not at Nova, but at Galileo. The mage barely raised his staff before the bolt hit, his body covered in fire. He screamed once, then crumpled, his staff destroyed, turned into dust.

"James!" Col yelled, axe up, charging like a bull.

But James was faster, another strike, precise, punching through Col's chest mid-swing. The big man gasped, axe dropping as he clutched the hole, eyes wide in shock. He hit his knees, then his face. Then gone.

Emma loosed her arrow, but James batted it aside with a thunderclap, the shockwave slamming her back. She hit a rock-hard, bow-splintering. "You bastard," she wheezed, fumbling for a dagger.

James walked over casually, like stepping on a bug. "You always whined about the shots I missed. Here, perfect aim." A bolt to the throat, silencing her forever. She twitched once, then still.

Trevor froze, his shield trembling. "Boss... why? I followed you. Always."

James tilted his head, almost sad. "Yeah, kid. You did." The final bolt took him through the shield, melting metal and flesh in a flash. Trevor toppled, eyes accusing even in death.

The survivors stared in horror. Zane blurred forward, his fists flying, aimed at James, but James's storm wall repelled him, slamming him into the dirt unconscious.

Michael iced the air, shards flying; James laughed, vaporizing them to steam. Adam lunged, claws raking, James sidestepped, a thunder fist cracking his jaw, sending him sprawling.

Elesch rifted behind him, rapier thrusting, but James matched eyes, spinning, as his bolt grazed her arm. She dropped cursing slurs at him.

Nova stood last, his daggers drawn. His face was pale, but his eyes were burning. The core in his pocket ignited, red and black, like destruction unchained, syncing with his abilities.

Fury boiled in him, hot and vast, drowning thought. His vision tunneled, his rage knocking his senses aside, as the sheer volume of madness and chaos that echoed through him weakened everyone on the battlefield.

"James," he growled.

James grinned wider, more demonically. "Your turn, hero. Revenge feels good. Now apply it."

Nova's eyes ignited, one blazing red, the other midnight black. The core in his pocket rattled; even he was rattled. His godhood was affecting the way he felt, his divinities coming forth. Destruction and chaos spread like wildfire as he closed his eyes.

"How is he able to summon lightning? Wasn't his ability something else?" Elesch inquired.

Zane mentioned something interesting that left both her and Adam in shock. He replied, his voice low and scared of the dark aura radiating from Nova: "James is a special type of Adventurer or Player. According to the Circle of Pillars, you should, techinally, only have one ability, since there is only one Circle of Pillars, but when someone passes through the second evolution, there is a chance that they can awaken another ability, and embed another Circle of Pillars on their other hand. In other words, James has been storing this secret from us this entire time."

Elesch lunged forward using her sword martial arts to cut through James, but he was just so fast. She wasn't even able to compete, not at the stage she was at currently. She yelped as Adam joined her.

Zane helped Michael; they had secretly brought two yellow mana crystals and absorbed one to fully recover themselves, then Zane blurred forward, handed the other ones to Adam and Elesch, while Nova stayed still, his daggers clenched in his hands, his eyes shut.

Elesch lunged back, enough for Zane to give her the crystal. After everyone was done, a crowd of Adventurers gathered. They were shocked by the deaths of four of the American members. When someone technically "dies," they have a short chance of being resurrected.

It happened with the Irish members; some were able to come back, while others stayed down. It was a chemical that the scientist found in Beastaria and realized the amazing properties and the ways that this new element worked. It truly baffled the scientists, and since guilds have so much influence, it was easy for guilds to gain these chemicals to have a chance of being resurrected.

But it had to be done in seven minutes. When the Irish team was down, some were able to be revived since they had the formula given to them in those seven minutes; others had passed away.

---

Around the world, people were in disbelief. Even the Irish, who had been done dirty, were in disbelief, and Marcus was fuming. He entered through the portal in the spectator box, arguing with the Tournament committee to let him through, though they didn't agree, so he just broke the box.

As soon as he hit the ground, he felt a shiver down his spine. Something even Kai and everyone else felt radiating from Nova. That core that was pulsing and rattling, the noise screeching in some people's ears, was reacting violently to his emotions that he was currently feeling.

Even in the North Reach, Cain and Hana were undoubtedly disgusted with James. They were completely naked on the bed, and had turned on the TV just to see the tournament, and were baffled.

Even though Cain was like James, he wasn't as cold-hearted and wouldn't just kill people without a cause and effect. And knowing that had a condition for all this, starting with TNT, which Hana knew about, he wasn't like James, not even in a million years.

---

Elesch and Adam lunged at him, but he used his ability to mitigate their attacks midair, colliding with each other, then slamming them to the ground hard, with Elesch sprawled on the ground with blood trickling from her head. Adam rushed over slowly, but Zane had prepared for this, and with Michael's help, they stopped the bleeding temporarily.

Marcus joined the conversation, but James's minions had spawned in, creating a transparent barrier around him and the quintet, blocking all the other Adventurers that were trying to enter to stop James's madness, with even Marcus not being able to get through, even though he was in his third evolution, summoning an Oblivion Spire.

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