Silence reigned as the audience absorbed the sight of a Human child taking out a higher level Boss monster in a single hit. A bout of scattered cheers were quickly smothered and turned into awkward coughs. Every pair of eyes in the entire stadium were trained either on the arena itself, or the floating screen displaying the Human child with an oddly blank expression on her face.

Ailsa groaned and covered her face with her hands as Vanessa trembled with silent laughter beside her. "It ain't funny, Nessie," Ailsa grumbled, resisting the urge to curl her fingers and claw out her hair. She wasn't angry at Kira, but she was frustrated. Kira outing herself as already having ridiculous stats and ability at a low level, on top of being a Human 《 Relic 》, was going to do more than just paint a target on the child's back.

From the moment that girl popped the Boss's face off in front of everybody, she was in grave danger.

"We hafta get her outta here," Ailsa said softly, and Vanessa's laughter ceased. "She can't stay in this-"

A flicker of magic ran through the arena. Glowing magic circles appeared for a brief moment on the stone floor, followed by a massive explosion that obscured all vision inside the arena stage barrier.

Simultaneously, countless people began screaming as monsters leapt out from magic circles appearing at set intervals between the stadium seats, sharp teeth and claws and horns and tails lashing out at the previously distracted bystanders.

Ailsa equipped combat gauntlets directly from her Inventory while Vanessa immediately conjured a wall of protective brambles around the immediate vicinity, their strangling vines and sharp thorns catching a few monsters that attempted to leap toward the innocent spectators sitting nearby.

The monsters screamed pitifully as they were torn to shreds by Vanessa's merciless plants, but Vanessa's face remained impassive. Her gaze was fixed on the arena, watching the churning dust and smoke inside the barrier as though will alone could allow her to see the child still trapped within.

"I'll get Kira, you help the spectators," Ailsa said to her wife, who nodded briefly and turned to create more aggressive plant-life with a scattering of seeds from the pouch she always wore at her waist.

Vanessa was an Arena Star in her youth and she never lost her edge. She trained regularly with Ailsa, and it wasn't difficult for a woman who specialized in territory control to turn the situation around on attacking monsters. She'd be fine. The other spectators were slowly collecting their wits and starting to fight back too, Ailsa's intervention would be unnecessarily heavy-handed.

Ailsa was more worried about Kira.

She vaulted over the banister separating the audience from the arena pit, landing hard on the packed dirt. Her seat was right behind Kira's class bench area, giving her a perfect view of the pit.

Monsters didn't just appear in the stands. A few popped up around the arena stage and started stomping around like they owned the place. A large Blue Ogre was swinging its club around near the medical tent, but Kira's classmates jumped into action to fight it off together. Brigit was doing an admirable job as the tank against the higher Ranked monster, even though she kept glancing worriedly toward the barrier-locked arena stage.

Harassing the other class was a pack of Black-Horned Windwolves, working together to wear the students down while they bickered and argued about the best way to approach combat. The Elite-class students had clearly never needed to work together, and more than a few spells went off at inopportune places.

Ailsa sighed and slammed her fists into the ground, pulling out an Earth Elemental with sturdy rock armor. "Help those brats," she ordered, pointing to the class across the pit. The elemental nodded and stomped off, swinging its heavy fists in preparation for a fight.

Since Kira's class was holding their own, Ailsa turned her attention toward the damned barrier, and tapped her fists together.

Before she could hit the barrier with a charged punch, a gentle hand touched her shoulder. The mana in her arm dissipated, and Ailsa's eyes narrowed. There weren't many capable of dispelling gathered mana in such a quick and gentle manner.

The figure who blocked her was dressed all in black, with their face covered by a sheer black mask. A Shadow Guard, one of the ones meant to protect Kira.

Good job so far! "What do ye think yer doin'?" Ailsa growled. "I need ta getter outta there!"

"Bad idea," the Shadow Guard said, their voice artificially distorted into an androgynous warble. "Barrier's rigged, linked to other rune circles around the stadium."

Basically, breaking the barrier would have serious repercussions. Ailsa crossed her arms and glared at the Shadow Guard, her brows furrowed. "Then what? We sit here lookin' pretty and let the kid, me own disciple, get hurt or worse?"

The Shadow Guard pointed, and Ailsa followed their finger to see a pair of figures standing by the arena stage, shrouded in a complex spell that made it difficult to focus on them. "Working on it. Five minutes, maximum. Assuming you assist us."

Setting aside her annoyance at their attitude, Ailsa took a deep breath and nodded. "How?"

The Shadow Guard pointed again, this time toward five people weaving through the stadium crowd toward the arena pit. Their movements were coordinated, and they wore matching sets of leather armor. As they jumped down into the arena pit, the Shadow Guard lowered their arm. "Run interference," they said, then vanished in a puff of smoke.

Ailsa sighed. Shadow Guards never had any manners.

Kira groaned, coughing out a mouthful of dust and dirt. The remains of a haphazard stone wall, created with 【 Earthshape 】 in the moment she sensed danger, covered her body along with shards of debris from the arena floor. Her ears were ringing, and she felt like she'd been hit by a truck, but Kira was no stranger to pain. She grit her teeth and shook her body free of rubble, staggering to her feet.

Smoke and dust swirled around the arena, limiting visibility in a way that seemed unnatural in how well it blocked everything from view. Kira couldn't see far past her nose, leaving her feeling isolated and apprehensive. She settled into a defensive stance, crouching low with her elbows tucked in to her sides, and waited.

Something attacked the arena. Nothing happened for the other matches, so Kira guessed the target... Was probably her, and not the other guy. Especially with everything Mister Karl and Ailsa were saying about her being some sort of special human, and how everyone knowing about it would put her in danger. So then-

The ground beneath her bare feet hummed, and her right foot tingled. Kira quickly stepped to the left, narrowly avoiding a flash of silver that tore her sleeve. Her heart leapt into her throat, and she stumbled back just in time to dodge a slash aimed at eye-level.

Someone was trying to kill her.

Someone was really trying to kill her!

Her shoulders shook. Whether from fear, laughter, or barely suppressed rage, Kira couldn't tell. Her chest ached from the knot of complicated emotions churning within her, and hot tears stung her eyes while blurring her vision. Not that it mattered, she couldn't see anyway.

Someone she didn't even know wanted her dead just for existing.

Kira stumbled as she moved to avoid another attack, relying on the sensations coming from the ground to detect movement. The blade nicked her arm, and the sticky feeling of blood followed an odd burning pain. It'd been a long time since she'd been cut by a blade, and it brought back all sorts of memories she'd rather leave buried in the darkest corner of her heart.

Her breath came in short gasps as she ducked under another horizontal slash, the blade shearing through the messy bun she usually wore. Locks of blonde hair fell around her shoulders thanks to the impromptu haircut, but she didn't have the presence of mind to be annoyed.

Whoever it was moved fast. Kira didn't have time to use 【 Earthshape 】, and throwing out blind rocks in the hope it would hit something just left her open for attack.

She was helpless.

Another slash, and another. The attacks were speeding up, and Kira had to keep feeling her way around without her vision in order to avoid the flickering silver blade. She relied on the ground vibrations as well as her own intuition, but her lack of experience in lethal combat slowed her down.

Before long her arms and legs were smeared with blood from countless cuts, and even her face bore a few unlucky marks. Her shirt was torn to shreds, but the mercurial bismuth she kept under her clothes kept her modesty while protecting her torso.

She was slowing down. Though she was no stranger to pain, the countless small injuries combined with the stress of facing a lethal and terrifying situation caused Kira's exhaustion to pile up much faster than usual.

How long had they been fighting?

Why wasn't anyone helping her yet?

Did they abandon her? Did they decide she was more trouble than she was worth, after all?

Maybe...

Maybe it would be easier if she just...

A hand grabbed her wrist, and pulled her away in time to completely dodge another vicious attack just as Kira's shoulders sagged in resigned defeat.

She found herself face-to-face with a cloaked stranger wearing a smooth wooden mask. She could just barely see it, and the crimson eyes behind the eye holes, because the person held her close enough for her nose to touch the mask.

The eyes had a cat-like sheen to them, she noticed in a moment of mental clarity. Then the person tugged on her arm, leading her forward a few steps just in time to dodge that damned silver blade. Another tug, and Kira found herself spinning in a circle on one leg to dodge again, the blade completely missing any part of her body.

The stranger pulled her around in a circle, gently yet firmly tugging on one arm or the other to get her body to move with expert timing. It was like an awkward dance, but one with lethal consequences should she or her new partner fail in their steps.

Something like a warm, gentle breeze brushed past Kira's face, easing her fatigue and bringing clarity to her mind. The stranger's eyes glittered. Kira gave a brief, thankful smile, before she was spun around again into a dancer's twirl.

Step, step, turn.

Step, step, spin.

Over and over, and over again.

Then suddenly, her partner stopped. They took her hand, dipped into a bow, and...

Vanished.

In the same moment the air cleared, and Ailsa's fist smashed into the face of the referee standing just behind Kira. The ref sailed across the arena, landing with a crash in the arms of a waiting earth elemental who squeezed her tight.

"Are ye alright?!" Ailsa asked, her expression more frantic than anything Kira had ever seen on the usually cheerful Dwarf. Brigit and Ribbon were hopping onto the stage too, rushing over at top speed. "I'm so sorry lass, we tried ta hurry-"

Tears overflowed, and Kira couldn't stop herself from sinking to the floor in relief. Heedless of the audience watching Kira broke down into sobs, covering her face with her hands.

They didn't abandon her after all.