The next morning, "What happened here...?" Rea had her eyes widened when she came out of the tent. The surrounding was in a mess, uhm no, saying it was in a mess was a lack of vocabulary, the thing was… it was total destruction and she saw the lying corpse of a seemingly high-ranking monster not far from where she was standing.

It had muddy-colored hairless skin, long muscular arms, long pointed nails, and razor-sharp long saw-like teeth. In short, it had a grotesque figure that you didn't wish to encounter at night.

Her chest could not settle as she ran in haste at the nearby tent.

"Crimson!" With a shout, she lifted the tent just to see it empty.

Rea's chest pounded stronger. A heart-rending feeling started to worry her. She glanced around and time seemed to have stopped for a second when she saw him behind her in his usual calm demeanor.

Yman blinked his eyes in wonder at the teary-eyed girl. No, it was weird to see the always composed princess be so agitated.

"What hap—", "Eh?!" He was surprised. Rea jumped into his chest and hugged him out of a sudden. He could even feel the rapid pounding of her chest.

He didn't know what happened to her but this was so comforting. The fragrance of her gives off a refreshing feeling, and even the warmth coming from her body gives off a gentle sensation.

Wait, at times like this. What would be the better response? Just then, he heard sobbing from her.

He realized that she was worried. He lifted his hands to respond to her embrace.

But right before he lifted his arms, his vision suddenly turned groggy. "Eh?" After a puzzled utterance, he lost his consciousness and fell on Rea.

"What?" After realizing what happened to him, Rea repeatedly shouted his name.

She checked whether he was breathing, she sighed in relief after knowing that he fainted only. Then, she took him inside the tent and let him rest.

He must be very exhausted.

Seeing the wreckage around her, Rea concluded that a devastating battle occurred. But how come she hadn't awoken by it? Just then, she noticed a tiny black creature on her shoulder. And it was weird that only the tents were untouched despite the chaos around her. She realized that Crimson must be trying to protect her while at the same trying not to disturb her sleep.

Why did he do that? She wanted to ask him but it was impossible in the current situation.

...

In the Human City Zone 7, the streets were more lively today. More carriages were coming and fewer of them were leaving the city. It was also apparent that most of them were coming from other cities.

On the roadsides, pedestals, establishments, and even on the street-walls, tarpaulins were everywhere to propagate the inside competition for the freshmen trainees.

It was Mayor-Chan's idea to let the competition be shown publicly. Although Principal Mar Marie tried to disagree, in the end, he yielded and agreed to the mayor. Especially that his reasoning was right at one thing, that the academy needed outside support from the bigshots in the business industry.

Right.

Even though the city is currently on the rise, the support the academy got from the municipality wasn't enough.

Therefore, to attract the bigshots from the business world and politicians, they must show it publicly.

In short, they needed sponsors.

However, this move was like a double-edged sword. If anything went wrong, it could also backfire on them. It was also the reason why the principal was skeptical about it.

The city was so busy that even though the academy faculties and municipal personnel were joining forces, they were still overwhelmed by the influx of people, who wished to watch the competition.

Inside the meeting hall for the admins of three major departments, sitting around the rectangular table was the three heads and their officials.

Mayor Chan, Principal Mar, and Chief Henderson were having a briefing. This three personnel are the admins of their respective departments.

Their meeting didn't last long and was concluded momentarily.

The municipal crew would guide the guests, and the military soldiers would take the role of city and people's security. Then the academy personnel would help out in supervising the situation and act as supports for those two departments.

Right now in the city plaza, a 30-meter radius circular stage was placed in the middle.

It was surrounded by invisible barriers to protect the citizens from getting hurt from the stray attacks.

"Bwahaha! Look at that! They are even placing a barrier! Very ambitious for a trash academy! Hahaha!"

One young man, wearing a uniform of the well-known human academy guffawed heartily.

"Haaaah—! I wonder if they have the strength to hurt their opponents…" said the second person in their while shrugging his shoulder and lifting his hands at both sides.

"Puffft!" A young female tried to repress her laughter. She had slit eyes, narrowed eyebrows, and straight scarlet hair.

"Hey, what are you guys saying? That barrier is for the safety of people!" A student who can't bear a mockery expressed his displeasure.

The man with piercings on his ears raised an eyebrow towards him.

"Who is this filler?"

Hehe!

"Isn't he an idiot sandwich?"

Haha!

"Hey, Mr. Security, sir there is a lost sandwich here!"

BWAHAHA!!!

The group laughs at him.

The student who couldn't bear a mockery gnashed his teeth. "Harley, don't mind them. Let these fools laugh in their heart's content! Later, they will eat their words," said the female student who was concerned at the student who couldn't bear a mockery.

"Heh!!!" The female with slit eyes scoffed at them. "Well, what can we expect of a bottom feeder academy. They are full of garbage, fufufu. Even their magicians are garbage."

"What! Take it back, Hoe! You're not even comparable to Miss Almina's fingertips! Fueh!" Harley spat. On the other hand, the girl with him tried to drag him away as she felt a bad aura oozing from the girl in front of them.

"H-Hoe?!" The slit-eyed girl repeated in a ghastly face.

"Harley, that's enough! Don't you see their uniforms?"

"Why do I care about their—-, ha? Wait, they are from..."

"....."

"Yep. They are from the Academy of Zone 20!!! The 9th place academy in last year's competition!"

"What—!!!"

Suddenly, the temperature rose around them.

"Uh-oh. This idiot sandwich is done for."

"Yes, he's done for."

The other guy shook his head and smirked at the two students who were wearing the academy uniform of Zone 7.

A second later, a mini-explosion erupted. Later on, two students were reported to have been injured. The reasons were hated arguments. The offender was someone from a well-known academy. They were under investigation but were released shortly.

"Fufufu, as expected of garbage academy, they have no balls!" Said the female with slit eyes.

But then,

"Ack!" She bumped into someone while they were walking back towards the plaza. The group stopped immediately because the female staggered and fell on her butt. Unfortunately, there was muddy water where she fell.

And it splattered all over her.

"Damn you!" She spat and glared irritably at the person who bumped her. But she knitted her brows when she noticed the person had suspicious attire. Two of them were veiled in a piece of cloth from head to toe.

"Oh sorry, I didn't see you," the person said and turned around. Based on the person's voice, a young man was behind the cloth. "I knew it, you are still not fine," the other person with him said in a low voice. It was the voice of a female. "No, I'm fine, really. Just a little sleepy," Said the man. "Hmph!"

Seeing their nonchalant behavior, "Hey you!" The slit-eyed girl called out in a shout and rose-up, then she summoned mana onto her hand then formed it into a fire. However, the two continued walking without minding her

Some people around started to notice the commotion.

"What is that?"

"Eh? Someone's quarreling again?"

"Call the securities!"

"Wait! Don't call yet! It's a commercial before the competition!"

People magically gathered in an instance.

The temperature rose up to such a degree that could burn everyone's skin. Especially those who have low resistance against fire.

"S-strong!"

"Wait, look! Isn't she wearing an academy uniform of Zone 20?"

"What?! That academy who took the 9th spot last year?!"

"Yes, yes!"

"Awesome!"

"Who is the person who caused her hostility?"

"Maybe they are…" the person pointed to the two figures, walking leisurely, without minding the commotions behind him.

"Damn, they looked suspicious. In any case, hide your children."

"What the-! It was futile. He made the slit-eyed girl from the Zone-20 academy mad at him." Whispered the man with a pair of eyeglasses.

Just then, the mana on her hand ablaze, forming into a vermillion fire.

'Fufu, another victim of Miss Vermi.'

'As expected of a trash City, there are no normal people here.'

'If you wanted to show your sorry, at least do a dogeza in front of Miss Vermi.'

The guys with the slit-eyed girl known as Vermi said their comments behind their mouths.

The last person shook his head while thinking, "what a shitty city."

"Vermillion Haze!!!" She shouted. It was the bigger and stronger version of what she shot to the other students a while ago.

Her irritations got on her head. That person only said his sorry then walked as nothing had happened.

The vermillion-colored flame spiraled towards the person's back. A haughty grin was visible on her face.

The people around shouted, "watch out!!!" But it was already too late. The flame was fired.

However, all of them were astounded.

"What the!!!"

"What happened?"

"Where does the flame go?"

The vermillion flame disappeared like nothing was there in the first place.