Standing in the cage, Alice focused her mind while peeking through some of the gaps. She noticed that the patrons are already in the arena and compared to the usual patrons, they seemed more serious.
Without an introduction, the cages were slowly raised into the arena as Alice immediately analysed their surroundings and looked to see if there was anything they could use to their advantage. High ground, cover and so on.
Similar to the round with the spider, there was tall walls surrounding the place with steps hammered into the side to allow for easy climbing while also having small wooden walls. A variety of barrels, boxes and even broken debris were placed within the arena.
"Look up." Lilia whispered as Alice glanced up and saw a large wooden board with names written on panels. Beside the names were numbers that seemed to be the money that was being betted on each of them.
"12 names… If working in groups of two, that's 5 other teams." Alice furrowed her brows. Looking at the bets, she could see that their duo was rather high up, presumably due to the fact that she had killed the spider in the last round. The same spider that killed a three Sigil Assassin.
'That also means more groups will be focusing us if they saw what happened in the arena.' Alice thought with a frown. If more teams focused on them, the chances of survival will dwindle rapidly.
'Will my Sigil even be potent enough to disarm the other groups? Would the hosts allow it? There will definitely be questions if I use the Sigil. Better save it until the last moment even if we're outnumbered.'
"Let's try set up traps once we're a little further away from the cage. I can probably hide in some debris and wait for a good chance." Lilia said as she adjusted her grips on the daggers that she had picked.
"Okay."
Right after finishing their plan of action, the doors to the cage dropped down as the two looked at each other and nodded their head.
Running to the right side, they made their way into the forest of tall walls. However, they noticed something strange upon entering the area. The walls were different compared to the fight with the spider as mechanical parts could be seen around the top and the edges. As the gears started to turn, a row of turrets were mounted at the top of certain turrets near each turn and exit.
A bad feeling surfaced in Alice's heart as she couldn't help but doubt their choice of entering this area.
"Can't go back now. If we do, there might be a group waiting for stragglers. Without the advantage of a surprise attack, it'll be more disadvantageous for us." Lilia furrowed her brows while looking up at the turrets.
She wasn't sure if she wanted to test her luck by climbing up since there's no telling what will happen if she does. They might fire on sight and that wasn't a risk Lilia wanted to take.
"I'll go on ahead and find some hiding spots. It'll be harder to take them by surprise if I'm always by your side."
Hearing this, Alice nodded her head as she watched Lilia sprint ahead. Now that she was on her own, Alice started to investigate the rubble around her. She wanted to see if there were any spare weapons or tools she could use.
Unfortunately for her, there was nothing at all.
Scratching her hair in annoyance, she started to walk towards where Lilia had ran off to. She was going to conserve her stamina where possible.
'Lilia should've had enough time to hide. I don't hear any fighting yet… Not sure if the patrons are enjoying the silence.' Alice though to herself while glancing towards the crowd. They seemed to be whispering amongst each other while pointing towards her location.
Feeling that something was wrong, Alice wanted to get away from her current location when the turrets that she had walked pass started to turn towards her location.
Widening her eyes, Alice's instincts were warning her as she immediately started to run away.
From the turrets, a wave of fire rushed out, burning the path she had just come from. With the wall of fire rushing towards her, Alice had no choice but to run.
'Are they just forcing people to meet now?' Alice thought to herself with a frown since she could see the other turrets activating as well. With several paths now cut off, she could only grit her teeth and keep running towards the fight with no other option left to her.
Turning the corner, Alice felt the surface of her skin tingle with goosebumps on the left side. Trusting her instincts, she jumped towards the right and bent her body back.
Watching a sword miss the side of her face, Alice widened her eyes and rolled back before adjusting her body so that she was back on her feet.
"Eh? I could've sworn that would've taken your head off. No matter, just means I'll have to use more effort to kill you. I don't even know how a brat like you got such a high bounty. Did you even kill that spider? Or did you just get lucky?" A guy asked with a crooked smile.
Despite being a slave, he seemed a little different than the others and had more armour on. It reminded her of the main attractions of each event.
He wore a dark red shirt and jacket that showed off his chest with a variety of belts, buckles and armour around the shoulders. A pair of leather pants and brown boots. Attached to his belt was two sheaths, one still having the sword inside while the other is in his hand. He had short brown hair and a pair of blue eyes that found interest in seeing how Alice was able to dodge his surprise attack.
'He doesn't feel as dangerous as Lars or the Assassin… Perhaps he's got less Sigils than them?' Alice thought to herself while slowly backing off. She didn't know where his partner was since this was teams of two.
"Though I suppose I can see how you could get lucky considering that you dodged my attack. But if you get lucky multiple times in a row, can it really be called luck?" The asked while slowly approaching Alice.
He had one hand on his sheathed sword, ready to pull it out at a moment's notice.
"Where your friend? Thought this was teams of two?" Alice asked as she adjusted her grip on the dagger.
Since he was most likely another Sigil bearer, it was going to be hard to outrun him.
"Hou~? Are you asking that because you want to fight us two against one, or are you asking that because you're worried that he'll sneak attack you while you fight me? Either way, it's just me around here so don't worry." He smiled while dashing towards Alice with his sword swinging down in a downward motion.
Seeing this, Alice wanted to parry the blade to the side but eventually decided against it. She was fast enough to dodge so there was no need to risk things just yet.
However, the main thing she noticed was that he was lying. His friend was around here somewhere just like how Lilia was waiting in the dark. With both sides keeping one partner hidden, it was going to be a fight of who forces the other first.
'If Lilia appears first, we'll be at a disadvantage. I need to hold my ground and try push him into a bad position. Let's try force out his Sigil powers.'
Narrowing her eyes, Alice decided to go for the initiative.
With the man missing his cleave down, she rushed in from the side and stabbed towards his armpit with her dagger. She wanted to injure his shoulder to remove the threat of him being able to dual wield.
"That's pretty vicious of you." He laughed while blocking her dagger with his sheath.
Twisting his body, he wanted to sweep Alice off her feet but she was prepared.
She had flicked her wrist upwards and the second dagger was flying towards his face while she jumped over the leg sweep.
With no other choice, the man parried her dagger with his sword and managed to dodge the attack in time.
Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Alice decided to stab towards the thigh instead.
Surprised by Alice's ruthlessness, the man stopped smiling and pulled his leg back before creating some distance between them.
"You know, I have to say I was rather confused. These underground fights are usually done with slaves that only have two Sigils. Once we win one of these fights, we'll be allowed to see the Shaman to take a bounty for a third Sigil. After that, we'll be a main attraction for the fights. Yet somehow, you and your friend were chosen for this fight despite not having a single Sigil. I underestimated you and for that, I'm sorry." The man apologized as he unsheathed his second blade.
"Clearly I'll be making a fool out of myself if I don't take this a little seriously so don't hold it against me." He narrowed his eyes. Shadows lurked around his body before converging towards his chest and forming a Sigil on his collar bone while a second Sigil formed around his eye.
'Two Sigil user!' Alice widened her eyes.
She understood that she had been sabotaged. The VIP that brought the spider must've been annoyed that she killed it after the main attraction died.
Gritting her teeth, Alice couldn't help but curse the VIP in her mind while trying to keep her focus up against this man. She had never fought another person never mind a two Sigil user. One wrong step and this was going to be her end.