End of phase 2
"Phase Two: Complete."
"Congratulations to the teams who endured."
Top Performers as of Phase Two ranking—"
1st – Team 12
2nd – Team 18
3rd – Team 14
4th – Team 17
5th – Team 23
"A total of 100 teams have survived Phase Two."
"Phase Three will commence shortly. Recovery time: 10 minutes. Prepare yourselves."
"Fuck, why did they only give ten minutes?" Sergey snarled, stomping his foot on the cracked stone floor of the war chamber.
Mana flickered low in the air like a dying flame.
"How are we going to recover our mana in this?" he shouted, voice sharp with panic and frustration.
Smith, leaning against a broken table, wiped sweat from his brow. "Hey Sergey… what about the plan of attacking the other teams?"
"What about it?" Sergey barked.
Smith hesitated. "I mean, shouldn't we go on the offensive while we still can?"
"No," Sergey snapped. "No 'buts,' Smith. Defending our core is more important now."
The tension in the room was suffocating. Their kingdom core, the heart of their base, pulsed weakly with protective magic — a clear sign it wouldn't last long without active defense. Phase 3 was moments away, and this time, it wasn't just the monsters they'd have to survive — it was everyone.
Smith opened his mouth to protest again, but before he could, the massive chamber door creaked open with a groan.
In stepped a woman draped in a midnight cloak, her steps precise, her silver eyes scanning the room like a hawk. Behind her walked a tall man clad in silver-blue armor, his gaze calm but calculating.
Sergey's hand twitched toward his weapon. "Who the hell are—"
"We're not here to fight," the woman said, raising her hand. "At least not you — not yet."
Smith straightened. "Wait… you're Lyra. Team 23."
"And he's Daniel. Team 19," Sergey muttered, narrowing his eyes. "You're both still standing?"
Daniel smirked. "We're more than just standing. We're leading."
Sergey looked confused. "Leading what?"
Lyra stepped forward and dropped a small glowing disc onto the war table. It pulsed once — and dozens of team insignias lit up on its surface.
"Fifty teams," she said coldly. "That's how many are with us."
Smith gasped. "Fifty?!"
"Half the arena," Daniel said. "And we're not just numbers. We've gathered one hundred Awakeners — the highest-ranked combatants alive in this arena."
Sergey's face twisted in disbelief. "That's insane. Why would they follow you?"
Lyra's voice dropped into something colder than ice. "Because they understand the game changed the moment Phase 3 was announced. We're not just defending anymore. We're surviving a war."
Daniel added, "We're attacking the strongest teams before they can form their own alliances or create god-tier defenses. Team 12, Team 14, Team 18 — they all fall tonight."
"And us?" Sergey asked.
"You're out of mana," Lyra said bluntly. "So you won't be attacking. You'll defend — smartly. Use traps. Illusions. Fake core locations. Make it hard for anyone to take your base."
"Why help us?" Smith asked cautiously.
Daniel shrugged. "We're not helping. We're using you. You hold the front line. Distract the chaos. Stall the ones trying to sneak in from the cracks. Buy us time."
Sergey stood silent. His team was exhausted. Their mana was gone. The core was barely alive. Alone, they'd be slaughtered. But this… this could work.
Lyra turned to leave, her voice like a dagger in the dark. "You've got five minutes. Decide. Align with us or become another obstacle."
Daniel gave a sharp nod. "We eliminate the threats. You hold the line. And when the field is clear — we'll see who still belongs on it."
The heavy door creaked closed behind them.
For a moment, there was only the rumble of distant roars and flickers of unstable magic.
Smith looked at Sergey, his voice low. "We're out of options."
Sergey stared at the glowing disc — at the 50 team insignias shining like a beacon of survival and danger.
Then he nodded once.
"Tell the team to set traps around the core. Illusions, decoys — everything we've got left. We don't fight… we delay."
Smith's eyes lit up. "We're accepting?"
Sergey looked toward the moonlight outside. "We're not dying here today. Let the monsters come. Let the others fight. We'll survive."
Meanwhile
Moonlight sliced through the cracks above, casting ghostly silver lines across Team 14's chamber. Their kingdom core glowed faintly, like a candle slowly burning out.
Nyx stood quietly near the core, arms folded, his black hair shimmering with a faint indigo sheen. His brown eyes were calm, unreadable. The tension in the room wasn't from fear — it was the weight of decisions waiting to be made.
"We need to consider an alliance," Georgina said, pacing back and forth. Her long white coat drifted behind her, her expression tight. "Phase 3 isn't just monsters anymore."
Nyx responded without turning. "Alliances are temporary. Loyalty isn't part of the game — survival is. And we've done that without help."
Georgina stopped, facing him. "Not for long. You saw what happened to Team 9. They didn't even last ten minutes once the other teams turned on them."
Before Nyx could respond, a knock echoed at the chamber doors — firm, controlled.
Nyx's posture straightened slightly. "We're not expecting visitors."
The heavy door opened.
In stepped a tall, composed figure with a panther-like beast trailing behind him. His blue hair was pulled back, and his battlewear bore signs of precision and discipline. There was no doubt who it was.
"Davis Eisenworth," Georgina said, surprised. "Team 18."
"I come with an offer," Davis said calmly. "And a warning."
Nyx raised an eyebrow. "Talk."
"There are two major alliances now," Davis began. "One led by Lyra and Daniel — nearly fifty teams under their banner. The other was formed by—" he hesitated slightly, "—Feldine."
Georgina blinked. "Feldine wanted to make an alliance?"
"That's… unlike him," Nyx added, voice lower.
Davis gave a dry laugh, almost bitter. "Yeah. It surprised me too. He's arrogant, narcissistic, cruel, manipulative — you name it. But he's powerful. And more than that… he's got a vision. He's not wrong."
Georgina's expression shifted from confusion to disbelief. "Wait— you're saying he's the one behind Team 18's rise? I always thought it was you leading."
Davis looked away briefly. "That's what most people thought."
Silence followed. The weight of the truth settled heavily.
"That fucking vampire," Georgina muttered under her breath.
Nyx said nothing, but his gaze darkened slightly. He'd always suspected there was more to Feldine — the way Team 18 carved through opposition wasn't something that could be explained by beast taming alone.
Davis continued. "Feldine wants to crush Team 12. Arthur and Julian are isolated. That makes them vulnerable, but only if the right force hits them first."
"And he thinks he's that force?" Nyx asked.
"He knows he is," Davis said grimly. "I've seen what he's capable of when he's serious. The monsters in Phase 3 are nothing compared to what Feldine can do."
Nyx's voice was even. "So where do we come in?"
"I'm offering you protection," Davis said. "A 9th Mana Circuit beast, stationed here — Veritha. One of you stays to defend your core. The other joins the strike team."
"Why us?" Georgina asked. "You've already got half the field."
"Because Nyx is smart," Davis replied. "And you," he looked at Georgina, "are efficient. Fast, tactical. That's what we need on the flanking teams while Feldine handles the front."
Nyx was quiet for a moment. Then he turned to Georgina.
"You should go."
She blinked. "You're sure?"
"I'll hold the core," Nyx said. "We've defended it this far. One more threat doesn't change the outcome."
Heavy footsteps echoed as a monstrous shadow stepped into the chamber. Veritha — a towering obsidian-armored bear — padded in with glowing eyes and a low rumble that echoed like distant thunder.
"She'll guard the core like it's her own," Davis said. "You'll be safe here."
Georgina secured her gauntlet and stepped beside Davis.
"I never thought I'd be working with that bloodsucker," she muttered.
"You're not alone," Davis said. "But we don't get to pick the war — only how we fight it."
Nyx placed a hand on the glowing core as they left, the pulse of mana steady beneath his fingers.
This time, he didn't whisper anything.
He simply waited.
...................
The room thrummed with quiet energy, the kingdom core at its center glowing like a sleeping dragon's eye. Team 12 sat in silence, surrounded by stillness — the kind that came before a storm.
Leona paced angrily across the floor, fists clenched. "Why the fuck is Daniel proposing alliances to crush the outliers? If we don't accept, we might get crushed ourselves!"
Ron looked up from his blade, calm as ever. "Leona, relax. He's doing nothing wrong. He's just playing the game. We are too."
Across the room, Julian sat with his back against the wall, resting against his spear. His eyes were closed as he absorbed mana from the air, deep in meditation. After a moment, he opened them, sensing the ticking clock in his mind.
"Three minutes remain," he said softly.
He looked across the chamber. "Hey Arthur… did you seriously fall asleep meditating again?"
Far away in a dim corner, where the air was thick with mana, a young man sat with legs crossed and arms resting calmly on his knees. His black hair was streaked with faint crimson lines, and he looked like a statue — perfectly still, carved from purpose itself.
Arthur opened his eyes.
In his mind, he calmly noted:
"Thanks to mana regeneration, I've recovered over 95%. That's enough to crush anything Phase 3 throws at us."
Without a word, he stood and walked toward the center, where the others waited.
"Everyone," he said, voice crisp and low, "what's your mana levels?"
Rodin looked up first. "Thanks to Julian's control, we barely used much in Phase 2. All of us are above 50%. Jace is at 60%."
Arthur nodded and turned to Julian. "You?"
"Seventy," Julian answered.
"Good," Arthur thought. "Good to have master who can manages energy like an A.I."
He glanced at the team. All of them were armed, steady, composed. No weak links.
Arthur crossed his arms. "From what I've gathered, all the other major teams have formed alliances."
Sera looked up from where she was polishing her bow. "Yeah. I scouted earlier. Davis and Feldine have teamed up — even Team 14 joined them. Lyra and Daniel have their own alliance, and Team 19 follows them."
Arthur nodded. "So it's official. The battlefield is split into two sides… and we're the only ones not picking one."
Julian leaned back. "What's the plan then, Arthur? Two minutes left."
Arthur's lips curled into a small, confident smirk.
"Simple," he said. "We defend our core… and we kill everyone who comes."
...............
Far from the battlefield, beyond the chaos of mana storms and kingdom cores, a hidden chamber floated within the central combat zone — a suspended platform reserved only for those who ruled the tournament from above.
Three figures sat upon blackened thrones, their auras crackling like untamed lightning. The chamber was silent, but the air was thick with power — the kind that could bend the laws of reality with a single word.
Lord Curtain Wisenworth, a high-ranking Awakened of the Seventh Circle, stroked his thick white beard with satisfaction. His voice boomed like thunder when he laughed.
"Hahaha! Good plan, Davis. Bold, calculated. Just the kind of chaos I enjoy."
Seated beside him, a pale man with snow-white hair and crimson-lined black eyes watched with a reserved smirk. His expression rarely changed — but tonight, he allowed himself the pleasure of pride.
Lord Dante Sagnius, also of the Seventh Circle. A vampire whose name alone once turned battlefields cold.
He spoke, his voice low, like velvet soaked in blood.
"Well, the plan wasn't just Davis's. My nephew had a hand in it too."
Curtain's brow lifted. "Feldine?"
Dante chuckled darkly. "Of course. That bloodsucker may be narcissistic, but when it comes to war… he knows exactly where to cut."
Curtain scoffed. "I always thought that brat was just riding on Davis's coattails. Guess I was wrong."
Dante didn't reply. He didn't need to. The gleam in his eyes said everything — Feldine was dangerous, and worse, smart.
Across from them, seated between their thrones, was a woman who radiated an aura far beyond theirs. Her golden eyes shimmered like suns behind storm clouds, and her long black hair flowed as though caught in a current of starlight.
Tower Master Rubina.
She sat in silence, her hands folded atop her lap, watching the battles unfold through the floating projections before her. Her beauty was ethereal — a presence so powerful, even elves once knelt before her.
Dante turned to her with mock politeness, though his tone held curiosity.
"So, Tower Master… what do you think? Your son's doing well with that kid Reinhart , but now without any alliance . Can his team really survive Phase 3?"
Curtain grinned. "Survive? Don't joke. With this many alliances forming, with Team 14, 18 all drawing blades and blood… They are done for."
Both men chuckled. Cold, dismissive laughter that echoed through the chamber.
But the moment Rubina let out a quiet "Hmm." — everything changed.
Her golden gaze narrowed.
The pressure in the chamber shifted like a collapsing star. In a blink, the air became unbreathable, crushing down on them like a mountain of divine wrath.
Curtain froze. Dante's confident smirk vanished.
They both tried to speak — but their words choked in their throats. The space around them trembled as Rubina's mana coiled like a serpent, ready to strike.
"I don't care about your opinions," she said coldly. Her voice wasn't loud — it didn't need to be. It commanded the very mana around them.
"My son is not just powerful. He inherited his father's brilliance. He sees further than either of you ever did. So just watch. Watch how he crushes your alliances. Watch how your children bleed for underestimating him."
Silence.
The pressure vanished, just as suddenly as it had come.
Curtain gasped quietly, wiping cold sweat from his neck. Dante, expression tense, looked away, forcing himself to breathe normally.
Neither said another word.
But in their hearts, they now remembered something they'd long tried to forget:
Rubina's son wasn't just another player in the game. He was a king in waiting.
And kings didn't follow the rules.
They rewrote them.