"Urghhh... Owww... What the..." Those were the first words Soren muttered, ever since he was starting to wake up and slowly tried to get up, only to be met with a wave of burning pain on his knees. As he was getting up though, he was suddenly stopped by a hand in front of his chest that forced him to lay down, so his eyes followed the arm and saw that the owner of that hand was a masked individual with silver hair and a male voice followed:
"Don't. Your body hasn't fully recovered from the aftereffects from the injections with the troll's blood. Trying to move it, is akin to disabling it currently. Stay for a little while longer and then you can move normally."
After the masked man explained, Soren was left with no choice but to stay on the bed that he was lying on, but as he saw around, he noticed that they were surrounded by a dark forest that was being showered in moonlight from the two moons on the night sky. It didn't take long though for him to feel nervous and decided to ask with a serious expression:
"Wait, what happened? What is this place? How much time has-"
"Calm down Sky. We are still in the testing grounds, well it is more of a safe zone outside of the area of where the examination is happening. The area itself also changes with every round, so it would be normal for you to not recognize it. And not much time has passed, around a couple of hours since the end of the first round and the amount of time it took to treat your legs." The masked man answered as he looked away from Soren. As he finished his answer though, Soren slowly started to panic, as he realized the implications of the last sentence and frantically asked with a panicked expression:
"Treat my legs? Wait, what happened to my legs? Expl-"
"Relax. Your legs are fine, they just have some burn scars, but your legs are fine. They work properly, as if they had never been damaged and even made a couple of quick tests to make sure that the bones, muscles and all the other parts are fully connected and functional. Because the muscle and nerves still need a bit longer to stabilize, I would highly advise to not move your legs at all." The masked explained as he quickly silenced Soren once again. After he finished his explanation, a loud voice was suddenly heard from somewhere away from their location:
"Skyshooter has stolen Team 8's flag and put it in Team 6's pedestal. The victory for the second battle goes to Team 6."
After the announcement, light particles started appearing around the area and all the members of the two teams, as well as some other people appeared out of them. After the light particles disappeared, he got to see the status of the two teams. Team 6 was in a rather cheerful mood, rather it was only two of its members, those being Skyshooter and Golden Guardian, while Trickster didn't seem to do or say anything. As for Quarry and Hawkeye, they were bickering with each other and from they way they were bickering, he wasn't sure how long it would take for them to stop.
'Well, this is great.' Soren thought to himself with a disappointed expression, as he facepalmed himself. As he was waiting for the duo to finish their little dogfight, Fifteen suddenly grabbed everyone's attention with his next announcement:
"Alright everyone, the second round is over and we will be starting the next and final round in an hour. Also, Team 6's member Trickster, has completed his penalty and is now eligible to participate on the last round. Members Sky and Trickster, state your locations for the final round."
'Penalty? Second round? What the hell did I miss while I was out? I'll have to ask the others, right after I state a location.' Soren thought to himself, as he massaged his temples with an annoyed expression. As he was thinking to himself though, he wasn't aware that there a couple of individuals looking at him from afar.
"So, mind if you explain why I'm smelling your powers from this participant, Heiran?" One of the two individuals asked with a smug expression,as he stared at the other individual, that being Heiran and the other being Segni.
"That is none of your business, little goblin." Heiran answered with an uncaring expression, as he was looking at Soren and then the other participants.
"Please, both you and me know that this excuse never works, especially with the others. I know that you don't care to become the leader of our organization, but if you want any advice from me, you need to avoid any unnecessary trouble. Take it from this senior." Segni causally answered with a smug expression, as he pointed his thumb to himself and added:
"Anyways, just tell me what's the deal with this kid. Your powers aside, just what is up with his power discrepancy? I can feel his levels and stats just don't match the usual convention. His stats being a lot higher than his level is, adding also to the fact that he is standing his ground against participants who are on their mid 20s, some closing on the 30s, despite being in the middle of the 10s."
"Huh? Wait, what? What did you just say?" Heiran asked as his expression became serious.
"I asked about the kid himself. Like what's up with his stats not matching his level and-" Just as Segni was going to repeat his question from before, he was suddenly stopped by Heiran, who then answered with a calm and serious expression:
"Don't ask for things that don't concern you. Otherwise..."
At that moment, a cut appeared on Segni's left cheek that slowly started to drip dark green blood. After that, he moved forward on his own, without looking at Segni's expression, albeit knowing that he would probably have a perverse smile on his face. As for Segni, he couldn't help but start laugh maniacally, as he was thinking to himself with a perverse smile:
'Yes. Yes! YES! THAT IS HOW YOU SHOULD ALWAYS BE! THAT IS WHY I LOVE BEING WITH YOU! YOU... YOU... YOU TRULY ARE THE ONLY ONE TO MAKE ME FEEL ALIVE!'
As for Soren, who was currently unaware of the events happening behind his back, he decided to ask both Quarry and Hawkeye about the events that transpired while he was unconscious. Well, he would first, need to give his answer to Fifteen and second, find a way to separate these two, before asking them.
"Sky, will you provide your answer? Trickster has already provided his own answer." Fifteen asked, while looking at Soren.
"What did he answer?" Soren asked curiously.
"The Bloodstained Plains of the Kuzura War." Fifteen answered with a serious expression, while Soren shivered slightly from that answer. After he got his answer though, he decided to think for a bit, before he asked:
"Is it possible to make use of underwater locations?"
"Unless all members of both teams are of the merman race, no underwater locations will be allowed." Fifteen answered sternly.
"Fine, just put the Waterfall Woodlands or something like that. Heh..." Soren answered jokingly as he used a stage from a videogame he played on his past life. [A/N: Hope you guys can guess this little reference.]
"Huh? Waterfall Woodlands? Didn't think anyone would know of this location. So be it, you've made your choice." Fifteen answered with a rather surprised expression, before taking the coin from before and tossing it in the air and saying:
"Creator, show us your will and choose the final round's stage."