"Hello, sir. Did you see a tall girl with brown hair pass here earlier?" Zachariel asked a middle-aged man.

He thought that she must've misunderstood his intentions when he stopped her from asking questions from Cody.

"Yeah, she went to that grook gathering point earlier. Boy, don't tell me you're the one who made her cry?" The middle-aged man sternly looked at Zachariel.

"Uh, thank you, sir!" Zachariel did not want to stay another second there. That person was scary.

"Young ones today." The middle-aged man shook his head.

`Lia, where are you? I need to go back or else I'll miss Amelia's match!`

He continued to pursue Lia and became oblivious of the time.

…

"Where's Zachariel? It's almost time for Amelia and the other's matches to start."

Cody was confused.

`He can't catch up to that girl?`

"Cody, no time for that now. Let's watch the show." Edward called out.

…

Arena SE-10.

Amelia went up the platform. She wore an emerald-colored mage robe and a leather shirt and pants underneath.

"Priscilla Mason, so you're my opponent, huh?"

She was rather surprised that her opponent was another Prospect candidate.

`If I remember, she should be on Prince Kane's side. I'm going to teach this b*tch a lesson.`

"And who are you, little girl? You look like someone who lost something important, don't you?"

Amelia was infuriated when Priscilla said that.

"You!"

'Bang!'

`Wooden Spikes!`

Amelia sent out a volley of wooden spikes to Priscilla. Priscilla erected a large earth wall to block them all.

"Is this all you can do?"

She mocked Amelia.

"How dare you?!"

`Growth! Wooden Spikes!`

The wooden spikes that were stuck on the earthen wall grew in size, breaking the wall down. Amelia then sent out additional spikes to Priscilla.

Priscilla was shocked when her earthen wall was broken down. Some of the wooden spikes hit her robes, ripping a part of them open, making her mad.

She immediately retaliated with an attack of her own.

`Growth!`

Large wooden roots and branches sprouted on the ground in front of her.

"How dare you rip off the fabrics of my clothes, I'll kill you!"

`Constriction!`

Amelia was unable to defend herself against Priscilla's attacks. Priscilla tightened the constriction upon Amelia, making her groan in pain.

"You b*tch, you'll pay for what you've done!"

Priscilla hanged her up in the air.

`Wooden Spikes!`

She attacked Amelia by slowly ripping off her robes and the clothes underneath.

`Whip!`

She also used the wooden branches against Amelia.

"How does it feel Amelia?! How does it feel to be humiliated in public like this, huh?!"

Priscilla laughed madly. Her eyes became bloodshot as she craved for more.

Amelia started to break down inside.

`Brother Zachariel, where are you? Help me!`

She started to act like herself from the past where Zachariel would come over and help her whenever she got bullied by their classmates.

Tears formed in her eyes.

"No, stop this already! Please, I sur-"

Priscilla covered her mouth with a branch and resumed her activities.

"Hey guards, stop this fight!"

The spectators were worried about Amelia. Although fights were mixed up with mocking and laughter, they wouldn't stoop down low like Priscilla.

It was better to simply knock out their opponent and leave the arena, but humiliating an opponent was stepping out of the line. It was an offense and could even lead to an arrest.

"Halt! The winner is-"

The captain guard shouted and tried to stop the match but Priscilla lent a deaf ear to his announcement.

This made the captain guard angry and let out a mana outburst. A power-level equivalent to a peak-diamond level was sent out.

Priscilla and her branches were blown off. She groaned in pain as she vomited blood and passed out.

The other guards went to retrieve Amelia from falling to the ground.

"Anybody who dares to disrespect the captain guards are subject to legal punishment! Arrest this young girl!"

The captain guard shouted.

The guards cuffed Priscilla and sent her out of the arena while Amelia was sent to the recovery bed.

Her robe was mostly torn off and some skin underneath could be seen.

Her body was full of injuries and some branch marks were left on her skin.

She was still crying and softly calling out to Zachariel.

"Hey, do you hear that? She calling out a name." One of the guards heard her.

"Huh?" His partner leaned closer to Amelia's face and lent out an ear.

"Zachariel… Brother Zachariel…" Amelia's face would turn side to side at times and she would also alternately narrow her eyes.

"Zachariel?" The guard stood back up and tried to recall the name Zachariel.

"Do you think she's referring to that other Prospect candidate that the Great Schools announced a few weeks ago?"

"Probably, but I don't think he'll be here anytime soon even if we call him out. Ask for a female guard here to watch. That young girl's injuries won't be healing anytime soon."

The guard narrowed his eyes.

`This is obviously stepping out of the line. That match earlier, was it intentional or just a coincidence?`

They left the room and closed the door.

"Zachariel, where are you? Amelia needs you…" Amelia's soft whimpers resounded in the cold room.

The pain in her heart intensified. The tears in her eyes fell on the bed.

"Just where is he when I needed him the most…"

…

"Amelia and the other's matches should've ended. I wonder how it went." Zachariel talked to himself.

He had long exited the public training area and asked the people around to where Lia was. He followed their directions until he arrived at the large pathway around the schools.

1 hour had passed since then.

Solus's warm red light shone on his sweaty face. "It's been an hour now. Where the hell is she?"

"F*ck!" Zachariel shouted at the top of his lungs. Luckily, there were no people around.

He sat on one of the benches and calmed himself.

`I busted myself this day.`

He missed Amelia's match, and he also made Lia hate her.

`Lia must've already returned to her dorm, and the seniors must've already left the public training area.`

He stood back up and was about to go to the commercial area when he heard a muffled sound nearby.

`Hmm? A muffled sound? Also, a bit feminine! Don't tell me it's Lia?!`

The nearby leaves ruffled.

`Who's there? Are they kidnappers or something? Oh no, that person's life might be in danger!`

He wanted to call the guards, but the deserted pathway made that option not viable.

`They might get away by the moment I have called the guards. It looks like I'll have to check it out. Don't want to waste any time here.`

He casted shadow steps and also camouflaged himself by clinging in the shadows of the trees.

`A narrow path. This is far away from the dormitories. What's going on here?`

If he remembered correctly, there should be no smaller paths that branched out from the large pathways unless a dormitory area was nearby.

`Is this a trap? What insane person would set up a trap inside the city?`

He observed his surroundings.

`There are no patrolling guards here. Are they slacking or maybe it's an unlucky coincidence they're not here now?`

The muffled sounds continued.

`It's in the northeast, inside the woods.`

He flexibly closed in on to the source of the muffled sound. His eyes had a tinge of green shade in them.

`I can still clearly even though it's a bit dark. What's going on?`

The light from Solus shouldn't be this bright that would allow him to see clearly.

`It's close.`

The muffled sounds became louder.

"Hey, is she really the girl that Prince Kane wanted?" A soft voice resounded inside the woods.

There were five masked people stationed around a girl. She was wide awake and groaned as she tried to move around while being restricted by a rope on her hands and legs.

The person who asked had a thin figure.

`Prince Kane? That bastard is trying to kidnap her? Is it to mess with me?`

Zachariel narrowed his eyes.

"Of course, she is. Why? You think I'm blind and deaf?" A burly figure replied angrily in a low voice. She was very close to the girl.

"No, but why are we waiting around here? Shouldn't we have returned to Prince Kane by now?"

"You idiot, of course, we'd have to wait until the carriage is here. What, you want the guards to see you carrying a girl like that in broad daylight?"

"I'm just asking, no need to be so angry. The guards have already been bribed, right?"

"Stop asking stupid questions and stand on guard. We don't want anybody to be near here."

`There's something wrong here.`

Zachariel couldn't put into words the peculiar feeling in his heart. His mind told him that there's no way Prince Kane would be this careless, given that he was part of the royal family.

Also, if these people were professional abductors, they had failed miserably on their mission.

`Anyway, I'll think about it later. Let's save that girl first.`

He observed the five people while he crouched on top of a tree branch.

"Damn, she's the active type eh?" One of the guys looked at her with lust in his eyes.

"Hey, stop that. Keep your eyes out. Also, knock her out." His accomplice reprimanded while ordered the burly guy to put the girl to sleep.

`I don't know what their power level is. The best I could do is to grab her and escape as fast as I can. I hope there's no formation array here.`

A leaf rustled.

"Hmm? Who's there?" The thin figure looked to his left. He sent out his wind mana essence and checked the area.

As they were busy trying to figure out what had happened…

`Dark Light`

The light vanished and the five people were blinded.

"F*ck, the girl!"

`Mana Force Outburst!`

The thin figure let out a strong attack and immediately canceled the spell. They saw Zachariel taking the girl away ahead of them.

"Bring that b*tch and that f*cker back!"

The five of them chased him. However, they didn't dare attack unless they wanted to be found out by the Imperium guards who were patrolling on the other side.

"How fast! I'm a peak platinum-level and I can't catch up with him?" The thin figure complained.

Zachariel didn't waste time looking back at them. He just casted propulsion every time he landed on the ground.

He also covered his and the girl's body with dark mana essence, making them look like a peculiar dark mist figure.

`So it's Lia. Damn it, she almost lost her life today!`

He didn't dare to think what might've happened if the abductors were able to send Lia back to Prince Kane.

`Faster!`

He pushed himself to the limits, arriving in the other large pathway after 2 minutes. Some people saw a black mist with a very strange figure flew from one end of the pathway to the other in less than 2 seconds.

"Hey, call the guards! Something's wrong here!"

The crowd immediately went after the black mist.

"Stop right there!"

Unfortunately, Zachariel was too fast for them.

`Another pathway and there are no people here!`

He immediately absorbed back the dark mana essences covering him and Lia, and went to a nearby bench, pretending to look like couples spending their time outside.

The ropes in her body were long absorbed by the dark mana essences.

He put her head in his arms while he took out the recorder and played with it.

The crowd who chased him arrived.

"Hey kid, did you see any black mist pass through here?" An old man asked him.

"No sir, I was just playing with this recorder in my hands." Zachariel scratched his head.

"Okay, thank you. Let's go."

They continued their wild goose chase while the culprit sat peacefully on the bench.

`They didn't come after me. Good, let's wait here for Lia to wake up. I'll ask her what happened earlier.`

…

Back on the area where Zachariel saw Lia earlier.

The five abductors stood like a tree, frozen in place. They suddenly started to crack and turned into dust.

A tall figure with black hair and a joker-like mask on their face walked out. His glowing large red eyes looked at the ground below.

"Interesting."

His demonic-like voice reverberated on the area and he vanished into the air.