The second day of the tournament started and Memento Mori had already competed in two matches that they won and have since then become stronger as a team. The enemies were stronger than yesterday because most of the weak ones were already weeded out during the first day. But even so, Memento Mori still continued their win streak with only a bit more trouble than yesterday.

"Our next opponents are a bit troublesome. Unfortunately, even I can't hold back much against them. All of them are at the peak of B-class and I'd say they're the 'cleaners' of this competition. To remove the opponents and forfeit when the ones that hired them are about to face them. They've probably been hired from the mercenary guild for quite the price."

Kenji blinked once as he inspected the group of nine people in red cloaks.

"And not just anyone is able to hire nine B-rank mercenaries under the age of twenty for a small competition such as this, they may be even not from this kingdom. I can only think of a handful of people who could but I don't see any of them participating."

Yoko furrowed her brows.

"Then that means... they're planning to make sure a certain team doesn't win?"

"Yeah, and the chance that it's us isn't small, it's quite large in fact."

"Wait, Kenji."

Kazuki stepped forward.

"I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to target a member of the royal family let alone the crown prince just to win this competition..."

"Yeah, nobody's stupid enough to. But what if it was for a certain goal? What if us winning in this competition would be unfavorable towards someone? And are we really sure that you're the target?"

Kazuki opened his eyes wide as he realized it. That's right, nobody was stupid enough to target a member of the royal family like this but what if it wasn't him but one of the others? That means that during this match, they must protect each other like all of them were targets.

The opponents were wearing cloaks for a reason, they wouldn't need to hide themselves unless they were going to do something illegal.

"Looks like they aren't separating from each other, this works in our favor. I'd say their targets are only limited to three people, His Highness, Erina, or me. Arata, make sure you defend His Highness, I'll defend Erina."

Kenji brandished his sword and changed positions. Arata, Kei, and Date were in front. Kazuki, Kenji, and Yoko were in the middle, and the rest were at the back. The cloaked people all had their weapons hidden and their faces covered by the hoods on their cloaks.

They knew that Kenji was strong enough to handle himself, Erina prepared her rapier, and Kazuki was continuously using his full power to swing his great sword as fast as he could.

The cloaked figures whispered to each other, Kenji used his telepathy simultaneously talking to all of them. It didn't sound like much but simultaneously talking to eight people at the same time is quite the feat. It wouldn't be possible while talking normally but telepathy can help Kenji.

Haru whispered to Kenji.

"Hey, I forgot to ask but how are you using telepathy? Didn't you tell me that 'Kenji' is incapable of it?"

Kenji nodded.

"Yeah, 'Kenji' is. But Kai isn't."

Kai removed his glasses.

"But..."

Haru worriedly looked at Erina and Yoko.

"Erina already knows."

"But how?"

"Did you forget already?"

"Forget...? Ah."

"Yeah, her magic eye saw through my disguise in an instant."

Haru removed her gaze from Erina and looked at Yoko.

"But what about Yoko?"

"She never saw me using flames only. At one point, she saw me use nearly all of the elements but she doesn't know that I use flames to disguise myself."

"...Yeah but..."

"Don't worry, even if she finds out, she won't just attack me out of nowhere. Besides, I've been Kai ever since the tournament started and none of you- save for Erina, noticed."

"...Alright."

Kai looked around.

"Natsumi, the chances of you being targeted are low but not zero. You only took a fake name but didn't bother to fix the registry when you applied for school, it's easy for anyone who tries to inspect your origins to find that you're the third princess. His Highness hasn't done that yet for some reason, maybe it's fear towards me? Anyway, be sure to stay in proximity of Erina or me."

"...Erina, this, Erina, that."

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"No, nothing."

Haru turned away and went back towards the group.

"Alright, it's our turn."

"And now, we have one of the most exciting matches today! Memento Mori versus the unexpected dark horse, Snake's Fang!"

That name sounds ominous as hell when mixed with their attire.

A bead of sweat dropped down Kai's forehead.

Memento Mori stood atop the stage and brandished their weapons. The nine from Snake's Fang did the same. It was going to be a full team battle where they had to fight with all they had.

"Ready... go!"

The announcer yelled out with vigor, he was obviously excited for this batte. Memento Mori had not seen this team's fights since they rested during their battles. Even the slightest bit of fatigue could prove fatal in battle.

Arata had his spear wrapped around his arm and the shield in the other, he immediately jumped forward the moment the announcer said go. Kei and Date followed him closely.

Three of the cloaked figures dashed forward, one of them slashed down with a long sword and Arata knocked it back with his shield. Using that opportunity, Kei and Date both dashed from the sides of Arata and thrust forward with their swords.

The other two cloaked figures intercepted them with daggers. Yoko appeared behind the two of the cloaked figures in that instant using the shadows as a cover, she was aiming for the throats of the two at the same time but two small bullets of light had hit both her hands; causing her to let go.

Light was the fastest attribute and the only counter to darkness. Although light magic was fast, it didn't really move at the speed of light itself. At the least, they moved only a bit under the speed of sound. The fastest record of light magic in the kingdom was only four times the speed of sound; faster than a rifle.

Although light lacked power, the overwhelming speed is its advantage. Fire had the most destructive ability, earth had the most utility, wind had insane accuracy, water was most useful for support, and darkness was the hardest to deal with because it could be used for stealth and many others that exploited the human senses.

Yoko's daggers were swallowed up by the shadows as she did multiple somersaults to get back behind Arata.

Kei and Date's deadlock continued because the powers on both sides were nearly equal, if the two cloaked figures had swords instead of daggers, the two of them would lose. Arata thrust his spear forward towards the cloaked figure with the sword.

But the moment his spear would hit, several arrows arrived which forced him to block and retreat. The cloaked figures' daggers had erupted in flames which forced Kei and Date to retreat. Kei had only retreated for a bit before charging forward with his own sword in flames too.

"[Aqua Slash]!"

Date slashed upwards with his sword and caused a wave of water and extinguished the other's flaming dagger. Although water extinguishes fire, the use for it in close combat is very limited because using water on metal would eventually cause it to rust and when the water is created by magic, even more so.

Several arrows pierced through the air from behind Arata and destroyed the arrows that had forced him to block. It was an amazing feat for arrows to destroy arrows in mid-air.

Haru was continuously taking the arrows from her quiver at a blinding speed. Both sides that had only one archer were shooting arrows that canceled each other out. It was quite the amazing sight; it was evident that both sides were extremely skilled.

It was then that three [Fireballs] soared through the air towards Erina, Haru, and Umi.

"Umi!"

"Yeah! [Water Fountain]!"

Water rose up from the floor like geysers and extinguished the flames that had just came. But Erina quickly froze the water that had just risen in an instant. Cracking sounds rang out and spikes of earth had pierced through the ice but was stopped just before it completely passed through.

"A-amazing, I didn't see that..."

"Haru!"

Kenji yelled out to Haru, she responded with a nod as they ran towards the side so that the giant wall of ice wouldn't bother Haru's backup. Although Erina could take it down, she needed a bit of time and every second was important because Arata was being cornered by the enemy's arrows.

"[Squall]!"

Kazuki raised his palm with his great sword on the other. The large gust of wind launched from Kazuki's palm and targeted the light swordsman who was keeping Yoko in check.

But just as Kazuki's attack would hit, a fireball hit the wind and scattered it. The mages that had stopped their assault on Erina and the others changed their aim.

Kazuki clicked his tongue at the fireball heading towards him. Kenji appeared next to him and destroyed it with a swing of his sword. Right now, he had to focus on protection rather than attacking.

Kenji ignited his sword and slashed several times.

"[Flame Wave]."

Multiple waves of flame headed for each of the enemies but one swordsman who had only been doing support since the match started changed his strategy. With a swing of his sword, a flood came in and forced Arata, Kei, and Date to retreat. Yoko who was dodging the light bullets heading for her was also obstructed by the water and was hit.

Kenji's flame waves were extinguished. The cloaked figures that were near to Arata, Kei, and Date knew what to do and leapt back.

But that was a mistake.

"Guh!"

"UGH!"

Kei and Date were both sent flying with light bullets to the forehead. They weren't protected because the speed of the light bullet was too fast.

Arata had kept his shield high to protect himself.

"Kenji, I'm almost out of arrows!"

"How many left?"

"About ten."

"That's more than enough, let's go."

Even though the water was still heading for everyone, Kenji crouched and with a single kick, he arrived at the nearest enemies with a sonic boom. After a second, the water he passed through split and a path was made.

Haru and Yoko had used the path that would prevent them from slowing down. All attacks were focused on Kenji now.

Spikes of earth raised from the floor in front of Kenji but with quick movements, he slashed down the tips of each of them and dodged those he couldn't slice. Next, a fireball arrived, Kenji jumped and vertically spun, he slashed down with his sword at the middle of the fireball.

BOOM

The fireball exploded and the spike of earth that had been hidden within was sliced in half along with the fireball. Immediately after Kenji landed, two people intercepted him. The one who had been occupied by Arata and the water swordsman.

The two swordsmen slashed down, Kenji held his sword sideways and placed his hand on the other edge of his sword to receive the force.

Then, Kenji moved sideways, forcing the earth swordsman on his left to lose his balance. Then, with simple movements, he redirected the water swordsman's sword and crouched; a sweep of his legs sent the two falling downwards.

"The Royal Guard's counter against multiple enemies."

Kazuki said with furrowed brows. Arata, Umi, and Erina who were near him displayed shock to his words. Kei and Date's foreheads were bleeding and was being treated by Umi, they had suffered minor head trauma.

Kenji placed his leg above the two who were still in the air and sent his leg crashing down on their abdomen.

BOOM

The two enemies were buried in the floor just from that attack. But Kenji had no time to rest, soon the light swordsman attacked him. Yoko appeared right next to Kenji and blocked the light swordsman with her daggers that had been retrieved earlier from the shadows.

Haru used a single arrow to force the light swordsman to retreat, Kenji brushed past Yoko and the swordsman and headed straight for the mages. But in the instant that he saw his enemies, a bad premonition arrived and he turned back.

Ever since the start of the battle, there were only eight enemies. Two mages of fire and earth, two rogues with fire, three swordsmen with light, water, and earth, and one archer with wind. But when the match started, there were nine people.

Kenji used [Soul Call] as fast as he could and when it reacted, he knew he wouldn't make it.

"Erina!"

Kenji roared her name, Erina turned towards Kenji's direction just as someone appeared from under the shadow of the ice wall she had made. With Kenji's call, Erina was able to react and use her rapier to block the dark rogue's dagger. But it was too late, Erina felt her mind pulse in pain and her vision swayed. There was a tiny graze on her shoulder.

Poison.

Erina knew what had happened but she couldn't afford to let the rogue free. Her vision blurred and just as she was about to pass out, Kenji appeared and kneed the rogue's back which sent him flying outside the ring; body stuck in the wall and blood dripping.

Kenji held Erina in his arms. Pale skin, ragged breath, swaying vision, he was certain that she was poisoned.

Kenji placed a hand on Erina's shoulder.

"[Heal]!"

Erina's face was still pale but the wound disappeared.

"[Purify]!"

Erina's pale face didn't change, Yoko who saw that scene was knocked back by the light swordsman and was forced to retreat with Haru. Kazuki went behind Kenji to defend him, Umi helped with healing, Arata ran for Yoko and Haru to defend them. Kei and Date who had just recovered were keeping Kenji safe.

The crowd was in an uproar.

"M-match canceled! Memento Mori wins! Snake's Fang has been disqualified for the use of life-threatening poison! Guards!"

Guards burst out from the doors of the side of the arena and secured the rogue who had been sent flying to the wall and surrounded the stage.

Kenji who had Erina in his arms stopped healing her and gave her to Umi.

"Keep healing her, as long as you continue, it won't be life-threatening."

"Kenji...?"

Umi timidly asked Kenji whose eyes were the very expression of rage, she couldn't speak anymore. Yoko and Haru had just arrived and went to Erina's side.

"Everyone, pull back."

Kenji stood up, his voice was so cold that it sent chills down everyone's spine.

Kenji gripped his sword so hard that it broke, then he walked slowly towards the eight cloaked figures. He placed a hand on his pendant and what appeared in his hands was a scythe, it was a scythe larger than Kenji himself.

"[Empyrean Flames]."

Kenji who had made a bit of distance with Memento Mori had his left arm ignite in golden flames.

Kenji held out his hand towards the rogue who was in the wall and pulled him towards himself with [Telekinesis]. The rogue's face was held in Kenji's hand and cracking sounds could be heard.

"Oi! Let us handle this!"

The guards who had surrounded the ring warned Kenji.

"Shut up."

Even though he wasn't shouting, everyone heard him loud and clear. But instead of getting angry, the guards began to tremble.

Kenji's left arm that was wrapped in flames surprisingly didn't burn the rogue but when Kenji focused his gaze on the rogue, the golden flames ignited and the rogue screamed in pain. Everybody was frozen in fear, Kenji burned the man until he turned into charcoal black but kept his body.

Then, Kenji threw the man with huge force towards the other cloaked figures; they were knocked back.

Golden flames ignited all around Kenji.

"Come at me with the resolve to die, you bastards."