The arrogant kid exited in thin air from the event's atrium filled with noise from the crowd. He went to the nearest alley after seeing Markus' happy face of victory from afar and was filled with a heavy heart. He walked fast and felt self-conscious, looking left and right at every step he takes. He always looked around to see if someone is following him.
"Hey kid!" a voice called from nowhere.
The moment he heard those words, the hairs on his nape grew. He hesitantly turned around. He knew he was in trouble when he saw a silhouette sitting on top of a garbage bin, staring daggers at him. He took a step back and reached the alley wall with his heart beating fast. He tried to grab something but nothing came to his hand.
The 6-foot tall man wearing a hoodie jumped from the bin and waved his hand and said, "Yahoo~."
Kirk knew he needs to come forward but his fear kept him from walking. Even so, he hesitantly did, looking down.
"What was that all 'bout, boy?" the man grabbed his collar and raised the teen, making the scared kid hang his feet. "Weren't you suppose to win that round and move onto the next one so we can set foot on ORION, huh?!"
"I'm so sorry, sir." Kirk's voice fumbled. "I was surprised that that kid had won the Round one and..."
"No, you're not sorry." the man let go of his collar and threw him to the ground, standing beside the trembling teen. "You're supposed to pay your debt."
"I know..."
"Unless you want to go to jail."
"I'm really sorry, Sir." Kirk looked him in the eye. "I know if not because of you, the cops could have gotten me and my friends could have ended up in jail."
"Glad you know that."
"I swear I'll be useful next time."
"Ahh, we'll work your ass out."
...
The next game was held in the same place after two weeks. This time, all the winners of round one from the different parts of the city gathered in one place.
In Round Two, the Arena was set on a Jungle.
Arcane Phantom was summoned on a circle surrounded by magical rocks(encrypted rocks) that were scattered throughout the arena.
Tall trees dance in their canopy, crickets and other insects singing covertly cold air and wet humidity kiss the skin of every player who entered the arena.
"This place is magical." AP exclaimed. He hurried to hide behind a tree root and sat down. "I can't believe they still have data on what a forest, or a jungle, looks like when the earth is still not like today. They have put much attention to this detail. I can't believe they've researched this much. I can't find it though in all the books I found in the library." he picked up a beetle that crawled under his feet and stared at it with curious eyes. "I never knew I would experience this stuff once in my lifetime, really. And I guess I have said that before as well." he laughed under his breath and put the beetle back to the tree trunk.
"Anyways," he swiped his hand in the air and a holographic monitor appeared. "Where am I, Minz?"
The program showed him the map and blinked a red dot indicating his location.
"Ohh, south-west, huh," he muttered. He scanned his stats and clicked on the equipment he needed for the fight. "I guess I don't have to change my skin this time. This guy's appearance fits in a jungle. I'm a Wight, that's it."
.....
"Oh look that's him!" Cassandra exclaimed. She sat on a bleacher carrying a box of sandwiches with Dave who's having a great time finishing his popcorn.
"Marky!!" Dave replied with excitement.
"It had started before we got here." Cassandra pouted. "If you have hurried to prepare yourself, we could have gone with Marky here."
"Sorry..." Dave said. "My mom insisted I have to finish the dishes or I can't go out with you."
"Stop your excuses, idiot." Cassandra hit him on the side.
"Cassy?!?" Dave whined.
"Anyways, I hope he'll win again this time." Cassandra prayed.
"It's Round Two, right?" Dave asked.
"The higher bracket that's it." Cassandra said. "The elimination round was held on every ZONE in the city of Aurum. All the winners will then participate in the round where the Organizer had set the bracket for their fights."
"So, you're saying that Markus' enemies right now are from the different zones of Aurum?" Dave asked. "And he has the others who won with him from round one?"
"Yeah. There are 5 participants for every Zone. The top 5 winners from the round one." Cassandra replied. "The bout now from round two to the next rounds is a round-robin. They've clustered the participants from the Zones and let them fight in The Quest."
"How many clusters are there?" Dave asked.
"My brother said that there are 3 clusters of Zones after the elimination round." Cassandra replied.
"So, Markus is one of the participants from the 8 zones that are fighting here in SeaMall?"
"Yeah..." Cassandra said. "8 zones are clustered, that means there are 3 groups that are fighting today."
"And the winners will be decided by?"
"By whose Zone has the highest cumulative points after the game. 2 zones will be picked in this round to proceed to the next one." Cassandra explained.
"So, 6 zones will be fighting in the round three." Dave said. "And, what about the remaining 1 Zone?"
"C'mon Dave, that's the seeded group." Cassandra poked his head. "That's Zone 1, where the ORION is. Of course, they don't need to take part in these lowly games, they're the unbeatable champs."
"If they fight with the Zone in mind, why are they not teaming up?" Dave asked again as if he didn't hear what Cassy just said.
"Huh.." Cassandra turned and looked towards the gamers in the atrium. She took a deep breath and said sarcastically, "You think they will work along with a person they don't even know? Or perhaps, will they work along with the person they've been fighting in ROA for loots and other stuff, like dungeon records and all?"
"No." Dave answered in a straight face. He saw that his friend is starting to get irritated with all his asking.
"That's it." Cassandra said, throwing her hands in the air. "They've only teamed up because of the Zoning, by Name only, but internally, they want to win alone."
"Ohh, I see." Dave said. "How did you know that? I guess that was not explained in the flyer."
"My brother told me that last night, idiot." Cassandra grinned and snatched the popcorn from Dave. Her friend whined. "Anyway, the top 2 zones that will win the bracket after 2 more games will fight against the team from Zone 1, and that FINALS will be held in Orion itself."
"Woah!" Dave exclaimed. "That was amazing. So, if Markus will win the next 2 games, including today, he'll be able to go to Orion? So as we?"
"That's what I'm saying he has to win." Cassandra rolled her eyes.
"Super!!" Dave exclaimed. The two laughed discreetly.
"Is that kid for real?" a man exclaimed behind them.
The two kids were surprised and they looked behind to see what was happening.
"I bet he's just there because of his parents. What can a kid do in a Beta testing tournament? HILARIOUS." the man continued saying.
"And look at his account name, pretty lame right?" his friend said in reply.
Cassandra started to look annoyed, so as Dave.
"Arcane Phantom? Huh! Not suited for a kid like him."
"You think I should change my Account name, too?"
"And what are you thinking?"
"Audacious Arcane Phantom?!"
"That's hilarious!!"
The two people talking behind them laughed out loud.
Cassandra glared at them but Dave held her wrist.
"They just don't know who Marky is, Cass," Dave said. "They'll eat their words when the game ends."
"Hey kid, what are you glaring at?!" the man in his early 20's said to Cassandra when they've noticed that the kids are listening to their conversation.
She knew Dave had warned her and those people are already adults so she just looked away.
"Cocky brat." the man said and they changed seat. They've sat nearer the cordoned area.
"Bleah!!" Cassandra rolled her eyes.
"Hey Cass, look!" Dave pointed on the screen and they saw Markus chasing a Brawler.
....
"Stop running and just die already!" Arcane Phantom exclaimed.
"Shut up, you cocky Kid!" the brawler used his foot to pivot his immediate turn and threw a punch, clashing with AP.
AP received the punch with his two weapons and was thrown off hitting a tree trunk.
"You're not half-bad Mr. Wise Man. You're pretty enthusiastic." Arcane Phantom said. He shook his head and raised his weapons, preparing to attack. "But, your life meter tells me otherwise!"
He knew that Mr. Wise Man would only last for 3 more hits because his life has gone to the red zone after their exchange of blows.
"Shut it up, you kid!" Mr. WM gathered his last mana and threw his last Ulti skill.
AP evaded to the left and rolled beneath the tall grass. When he peeked to see the result of the attack, we were surprised.
"If that hit me..." he swallowed his saliva. "... I could have died. 'Coz that blow just made a huge way clearing the trees and rocks for 10 meters far. Just how much mana would that attack need?"
AP saw the brawler losing his footing, almost dropping dead because of his life shortage.
"I can't waste a kill." AP said and sent his weapon flying, stabbing the weakened brawler. "Phew, that was close."
A bang echoed the arena signaling a fallen player.
.....
"Way to go, Markus!! That's Arcane Phantom for you, jerks!" Cassandra exclaimed.
"Hey Cassy, you're being too loud." Dave grabbed her lips to cover it.
"Am I?"
"Yes." Dave signaled her to look around and she saw everyone staring at them, others whispering.
"Oh, sorry."
.....
Arcane Phantom ran in the other direction when he saw the approach of the Brawler's companions.
"That's bad." He whispered to himself and immediately hid under a fallen tree trunk. "I thought players will not team up in this game? So why are they grouping to gang up on me? Not that I can't take all of them." he looked at his life meter and sighed. "I can take the Three of them on if this life of mine would just turn Green." he swiped his arm in the air and his monitor appeared. "Guess, I have to use my healing potions."
...
"Hahaha!" the man laughed in critic. "That kid hid like a coward and healed himself."
"But, that's the right thing to do." His friend said.
"I mean, he could have fought and died. He's just a kid. How come he knew how to do such things as hiding and healing?"
"Maybe, he's got more than a cocky account name."
The two exchanged looks and sighed.
....
When he maxed his life, he ran over the trunk and swung his swords, clashing with his pursuers, and dealt huge damage to them.
"Damn you, little brat!" Their assassin blurted and charged towards him.
He defended with his weapon and timed his activation of the Mask, stunning his opponents.
He charged his weapon with his mana and sighted a lane of attack. When the three entered his lane, he gripped his weapons tight and activated his skill.
"Phantom DASH!" he exclaimed and dashed between them for a split second a massive weapon cuts in the air inside his lane of attack. His mana reached the halfway line but his opponents were left to the ground. "No matter what, I'll just have to stick to winning," AP muttered.
Three bangs echoed.
.....
The crowd was surprised by the Arcane Phantom's attack that some of them booed those who criticized the kid.
.....
Arcane Phantom took a deep breath and felt a slight quake under his feet.
"I never used my algorithm, so why is the ground shaking?" he said under his breath.
Then he saw a huge crowd running towards him.
"Oi, oi.. Don't you think this is just an overkill?" he exclaimed. "You're ganging up on a kid!!!" he turned around and started to ran away from them.
Some really ran fast and a knight caught up to him. He thought that he might receive an attack but the Knight just neglected him.
He was confused.
He ran towards a moldy rock and hid behind, waiting for someone to get by.
In a moment, a beaten Swordsman ran past the rock so he snatched him and made him sat beside him.
"Hey." AP said.
"What are you doing? You have to run!" the swordsman whose account name is SwriftBender.
"Run for what?" AP asked.
"For your life, idiot," SB said and tried to escape for AP's grip. But AP just grabbed him back down.
"Tell me what happened?"
"An idiot just challenged the Blurb boss and lost," SB said.
"If he lost, why are we running away from it. Shouldn't we steal the loot?" AP replied.
"Someone just did that is why the boss is self-detonating. We need to get as far from here and save our asses."
"It's a game bug, huh."
"A huge bug." SB said in worry. "I've heard from the outside that when you die with that boss' explosion, you'll end up a Templar."
"WHAT?!?!?" Arcane Phantom stood up and looked around. "Then let's go run away from here!"
The two of them ran for 8 seconds and the boss just burst in the middle of the jungle, leaving traces of nothing behind.
The next thing he knew, he has won.