Chapter 79 - 27: Battle Royale
"A forest..." Muttered Ariel as she looked around.
Light travelled through the trees which surrounded her and reflected on to the ground.
\'Looks like we\'re all already on the island…\' Ariel thought to herself.
"Hehe... Looks like I\'m still pretty nervous..." Ariel muttered to herself when she noticed that she was slightly shaking.
She gripped her staff and took a deep breath.
"But... After everything we\'ve been through, it\'ll take more than this to scare me." She muttered as she stopped shaking.
\'Time to try that out…\' Thought Ariel as she lifted up her staff.
She closed her eyes and started to concentrate.
Suddenly, her concentration was broken by a voice which came from the air.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Today\'s host is me, Tebald Rojo!"
\'Who\'s that...?\' She wondered.
"The event today is battle royale! The top 30 to survive will pass the exam, I wish best of luck to all of your acquaintances who are taking the exam and I hope that you all enjoy the show!"
\'Show...?\' She said inwardly, feeling confused.
"Currently, there are still 100 remaining. Once again, I will be commentating on any interesting events as you watch. Enjo- Eh? Looks like 3 players just got eliminated by a single player. That was fast… Only 97 Players remain!" Said the man.
\'Could it be John..? If not, then there must be some really strong people on this island..\' Ariel thought..
"This voice is only being projected to the people currently participating. You will not be able to hear the commentator as not distract anyone. Only those watching will be able to. I will be informing you all of the count every 5 eliminations, best of luck."
\'Ah, that\'s not the man\'s voice. A woman?\' Ariel realised.
Ariel waited to see if there was anything else to be heard, but that was the end of it.
"Back to concentrating..." Muttered Ariel.
\'I\'m supposed to fake chant right... What should I say..? Hm…\' She thought to herself.
"Cake... Cake... We didn\'t have any... Because of entrance exams... Deprehendre!" Whispered Ariel.
As she said that, she did as John told her and Serena.
\'You\'ve been practising... Remember... Imagine your magic being gather in a point, compress it... And then let it burst out in the form of a wave... And focus on only detecting a person…\' Ariel remembered.
As she concentrated, her magic was compressed on the tip of her staff, then burst out in the form of a wave around her.
\'It worked! Looks like all the practice paid off!\' Ariel internally exclaimed.
Ariel looked at what was straight ahead of her. There were many lights which had humanoid shapes.
\'That must be the mana flow in a person... Deprehendre worked... I\'ve always wondered, where did John come up with these names? It sounds so familiar…\' She thought.
Ariel turned around, then noticed it. There was a light in the shape of a person hiding behind a tree behind her/
\'Uwah... That was scary…\' She thought.
"Uhm... You can come out now..." Said Ariel as she looked towards it.
As the person stepped out, the lights disappeared.
\'The spell\'s effect wore out…\' She observed.
"Tsk, you noticed me. Hey, give me your badge." Asked the guy.
Ariel looked down and noticed that her badge was already clipped on her outfit, around her chest. She looked up at him and his badge was also clipped there around the same area.
"I can\'t do that..." Said Ariel as she shook her head.
"Then, I guess I\'ll just have to force you," Said the guy as he started chanting.
\'Ventus might kill him... Then…\' Ariel analysed.
"This is a chant... they won\'t be able to tell... aeris iecit." whispered Ariel.
3 air balls were formed around her and propelled straight at him.
"Eh? You can \'silent chant\' and \'fast chant\'? Well, it\'s useless if it\'s for a weak spell," Said the guy as he stopped his chant and dodged it by leaping to the side.
"See, it\'s easy to dodg-"
The man was interrupted by a loud *Boom* and high amount of wind which burst at him and flung him straight to the tree behind him.
A thud sound was heard when the man came into contact with the tree. He laid there motionlessly.
"Ventus tormentum..." Whispered Ariel after she finished her fake chant.
\'Eh? Was that too much?\' Thought Ariel as she rushed over to him.
She checked to see how he was doing and let out a sigh of relief.
"He\'s just unconscious... Sorry, but I\'ll be taking your badge. Next time, you should talk less and focus more on the fight. Hehe, you\'re just like someone I know..." Said Ariel as she took his badge.
Once she did, a sort of loud sound was made resonated through the badge and a magic circle was formed and seemed to glow on the area where the badge was clipped.
"Eh?!… *Deep breath* I wasn\'t scared..." muttered Ariel as she nearly flung the badge away.
After that he was coated in a green light which layered over his body.
\'That green light must be because of the badge... I think it\'ll protect him, so it should be fine if I leave him here…\' Ariel reckoned.
"90 Players remain, On the lead we have a player with 5 eliminations. New rules have been formed due to players being unable to make it to the safe zone after losing their badge, either due to being immobile or unconscious."
"First rule is that after a players badge is lost, they will be automatically teleported to the nearest safe zone, the second rule is that after you take someones badge, you will no longer have to carry it, it will be registered under your badge number. After it is registered, it won\'t make a difference if someone else were to pick it up. It\'ll be a useless badge." said the voice.
��I guess that means I can leave this here…\' Thought Ariel as she put the badge on the ground next to him.
"The third rule is that the person who takes your will claim all the badges registered under your name and it will be registered under their names, and the final rule is that a number showing how many badges you have will appear under your badge number, you may continue."
After she said that, the light which coated the unconscious guy grew brighter and brighter before it teleported him.
Ariel looked at her badge and noticed a two numbers, one which was in the middle, 98 and another one which was glowing which was glowing and shower the number \'1\'.
\'One badge taken... Well, I guess it\'s time to search for those three…\' Ariel decided.
"John, Serena, Eleanor. Stay safe..." Muttered Ariel as she used deprehendre again.
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"The third rule is that the person who takes your will claim all the badges registered under your name and it will be registered under their names, and the final rule is that a number showing how many badges you have will appear under your badge number, you may continue." said the voice.
"Looks like we won\'t have to worry about carrying your badge," Said the girl.
\'Looks like I\'m surrounded... 4 even…\' Serena thought to herself.
"So what\'ll it be?" Asked the guy.
\'John said something about creating a fake chant... I guess I\'ll just use a real chant and alter it a bit. That way they won\'t be able to tell it\'s fake.\' Thought Serena.
"Animi virtute formam praebueris flammarum pluam super stulti sagittas" Whispered Serena Translation: Spirit of flames lend me your strength and form arrow which will rain down upon these fools.
"Eh, what\'s she doing?" Asked the other guy.
"She\'s \'silent chanting\' Stop her!" Said the girl.
"You heard her, go!" Said the guy.
They all rushed at Serena together, but.
"Looks like you\'ll have more to worry about" Said Serena as she pointed up
"Cra-"
"Sagitta Ignis" Translation: Fire arrows
The guy was interrupted by the 30 arrows made of pure flame which rained down on the four of them.
The arrows pierced into the sand and hit the people directly, Serena had used ventus to propel the arrows which increased their powers.
The 4 who surrounded her laid on the ground after being hit and the arrows dispersed into the air.
There was no blood, and the arrows hadn\'t pierced them.
"I-Impossible..." Muttered the girl on the ground.
"I used a blunt edge, you should be more grateful" Said Serena as she adjusted up her hat and placed her hands on her hip.