Sonya was shocked and surprised. Why were these idiots helping her? Even after she had not stood by their side in either of the rounds. She would have expected help from those strange aliens more but from these people. 

"The hell are you giving us that look for?" Nicole snarled at the lady, "You have screwed over my brother and me time and time again. For that, no one but he has the right to decide your fate."

"What the lady said." Johnny jumped in on the conversation before snapping the neck of the four-armed creature, "Don't think of it as social service. It's just that we can't let you die until you have paid your debts to the man."

Sonya didn't know what to say. Their brother, Arnold, would most certainly kill her if he got the chance, she knew that much. But for now, she was happy that she got a shot at retribution. There was no way she was going down without putting up a fight first, and with Nicole and Johnny backing her up... there was no way she was going to die before killing the three backstabbers. 

Tecla immediately noticed the shift in Sonya's attitude. She knew Sonya was coming for the kill and if the aliens they had just surrendered themselves to didn't aid them, they had no chance against Sonya on their own. However, it seemed the aliens were having a bad time of their own.

Nicole was turning their heads to dust, with just a sweep of her hand. While Johnny was enraged as if someone had killed the dog his dead wife gave him after her death. You know, like a gift from the beyond. They have been fighting against Vassals and Paladins, but against their teamwork, none of them stood a chance. 

"Fck! Give me some buffs now!" Tecla yelled at Skya who immediately went to work, but before she could complete her incantations, a throwing knife got buried within her shoulder blade.

It wasn't the first time Sonya was fighting against them. They had run combat simulations multiple times and they had not been able to defeat her even once. She was the one who had assembled the team and one could say she knew them better than they know themselves, including their weaknesses.

This was no different than any simulation they had fought, only this time, Sonya was about to kill them for real. While Tecla and Skya were ready to fight, Rico just stood there. He knew fighting back after betraying a friend was the ultimate disrespectful thing to do. But he was still debating what he should do? Fight for the memories of his fallen brother, or die and join him in the afterlife?

"There are worse ways to die, right?" Rico mumbled before smiling, "I guess, I'm fortunate to die by my friend's hands rather than some unknown creature..."

Saying so, he forced himself between just as Sonya was about to strike Tecla down. His crimson blood splashed all over her as he slumped down on the ground. Life was slowly slipping out of his body, but his mind was finally at peace. 

"Rico!" Sonya gasped and fell next to him completely ignoring Tecla and Skya, "You fcking moron! Why did you do that!?"

"I... knew you wouldn't... do it yourself..." He smiled as tears flow down Sonya's cheeks, "Also, I promised to pick up your slack... didn't I? I just did that... Now I can go and join Mica. But you... don't you dare die here... is that clear?"

Skya and Tecla were not at all affected by what happened to Rico. In fact, for them, it was the perfect opportunity to end Sonya while she had her guard down. Skya quickly healed the wound on her shoulder and gave Tecla the buff which converted all her defence points into strength. 

As she was now, just one strike from Tecla was enough to squash the head of a vassal like a watermelon under a hydraulic press. But with her defence gone, it was the same for her. That was the fact, Skya was going to exploit as soon as Tecla finished Sonya off.

'This is it...' Skya thought to herself before using another spell to buff herself up, 'Tecla would kill Sonya and as soon as she became a vassal, I'll kill her. That way, I would get rid of this pathetic group and also become a vassal... hehehe.'

Tecla was completely unaware of Skya's evil plan. She was thought Skya was her true companion. When she was just a snake. In Tecla's mind, Skya's plan was still afresh. Skya would help her kill a vassal so that Tecla would become a vassal as well, and after that Tecla was going to help Skya to kill some other vassal and that way both of them would become Vassals.  Little did Tecla know, Skya was going to kill a vassal alright, but it was going to be her. 

Tecla raised her shield to kill Sonya in one swift attack, but just as she was about to do that, a bullet hole was made into her chest. However, she wasn't the only one with a hole... Skya had one too, in her head. Both of them were shot down with a single bullet.

'I hate those who do me wrong.' Arnold thought as Talos' attack killed Skya and Tecla on the spot, 'But more than that, I hate those who stab their friends in the back.' 

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[ PROGRESS ] : 

• 5/10 Paladins killed

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'I'll deal with Sonya later,' Arnold turned his gaze away from her, 'I have to complete the quest first.'

Arnold knew the chaos in the Arena wouldn't last forever. Contestants were being swatted down at an alarming rate and most of them were Paladins. Also, once only a dozen or so of them remained, it would be difficult for Arnold to have them killed. Thus he needed to take as much advantage of the chaos as he could right then.

He could always take care of the other matters later. He told Tiamut to keep an eye on Nicole and Johnny just in case they needed help, while he and Talos dealt with the quest.