"How''s the situation going?" he asked as he watched Evelyn in the sky, arms raised, while the clouds were reced by crimson mes, and from them fellrge quantities of fire...


    "Besides the extreme heat in this ce..." Beatrice squinted her eyes, looking at the sea of ashes where they stood. She could clearly remember how just a few minutes ago, this ce was filled with trees, nts, and more, all consumed by Evelyn''s mes. She turned her gaze... "Lazy star... quite a curious nickname, don''t you think?" she muttered to herself.


    Dani also looked at Evelyn. "It''s incredible how much mana she has in her... The nickname ''Lazy Star'' was one she gave herself. The reason is simple: she''s alwayszy, but when she gets angry, her body shines like a light, like a star, basically."


    "Well, you know, I heard the ss was eliminated just minutes after our attack," Beatricemented casually. Dani raised an eyebrow: "By ss Five?" she guessed.


    "Indeed," Adrian adjusted his sses. "They''re just rumors, but from what I understand, they tried to betray ss Five when they found out we were on our way. But the ss leader, who was hiding, was eliminated by young Ariel." Stay connected through empire


    "So, ss 2..." Elias hesitated for a moment, "Will now be ss 4?" He stood with his mouth open. "Luckily, Arthur is with Leslie... or is it the opposite?" He got confused again...


    "Well, it doesn''t matter!" Olivia stared at Elias and shook her head. "Either way, we don''t need to worry about Arthur. He''s in good hands..." Olivia pointed at Evelyn. "After all, Leslie has the same mental power as Evelyn... I''d love to have one like that," she murmured to herself at the end.


    "But the strangest thing is that ss 2''s g was handed over to Lisa, the strategist of ss 4..." Beatrice frowned. "I can''t understand the reasons, but I must do my part. Goodbye!" With those words, her body disappeared in a green sh.


    "Do you have any idea why?" Dani was still speechless at Elias'' actions. With a g in his possession, they could easily get ss 4''s and reach first ce in the rankings, even surpassing ss 1...


    "I suppose they had some kind of agreement, but doesn''t it seem strange?" Adrian looked around, besides the sea of ashes. "On our way here, we didn''t find a single demon... In fact, just before Evelyn started, there was absolutely nothing around. Even going further in some parts, it seemed like there were no demons, as if they had been hunted down to exhaustion..."


    "Now that you mention it..." Dani thought to herself. It was true that they encountered few, or in some cases none, of those creatures. The forest was supposed to be full of them for the event. "Are you saying that ss 4 took care of killing demons on behalf of ss 5?" she asked.


    "That might be the case, but as I said, this is just a theory," Adrian nodded. "I believe that in every group where ss 3 was divided, one of its members was from ss 5. So, when ss 4 captured a demon, the ss 5 member would kill it." He shrugged. "It''s the only way I can think of how they did things. Obviously, it''s much moreplicated, but also effective."


    "But even so, the points given by demons don''tpensate for anything," Dani said incredulously. "Unless..." She fell silent for a few moments. "Unless ss 4 voluntarily hands over the g to ss 5... and in addition to the points they gained from killing demons, they''d have the g''s points, which would far surpass ours..."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "If that''s the case... they have more points than us right now," Olivia said grimly.


    "Impressive, don''t you think?" Adrian adjusted his sses. "Student Ariel certainly has a sharp mind."


    "But for this to work..." Dani was about to speak again, but: "ss Four has been eliminated," Beatrice''s voice came from behind. She looked everyone in the eye for a few moments. "Student Ariel wants to speak with us," she finally said.


    Dani remained silent. The ss 4 g was in that young man''s hands... now only ss 1 and ss 5 remained. She took a deep breath. "What do you all think?" she asked, somewhat nervous... for a very simple reason.


    "What else can we do? We''ve already lost..." Adrian adjusted his sses. "It would be interesting to speak with him."


    "What do you mean?" Elias'' body trembled a little.


    "Just tell him yes..." Dani sighed to herself. She looked at Elias and shook her head. "You''ll understand in a few minutes..." she said weakly.


    "I suppose you''ve already figured it out," a different voice from theirs sounded from the front, right behind Beatrice.


    Dani turned to look at the young man. He walked forward with calm steps, and curiously nced at all her friends... he smiled sweetly. "Thank you for conveying my message," he said as he looked at Beatrice.


    "Don''t do that, it''s quite creepy," Beatrice stayed still... "I''m sorry about that," young Ariel apologized with a small bow.


    Dani frowned. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked, a little irritated.


    The young man smiled slightly. "Oh, it''s nothing. I just wanted to tell you that the game is over, but before that..." He nced at Evelyn. "Can you tell her to stop? It''s way too hot here," he said, pulling out a cloth to wipe the sweat from his forehead.


    "Why should we?" Dani asked. "Oh,e on, you must have figured it out by now. The game is over. In exactly thirty seconds, the one holding my ss'' g will leave the five-kilometer range. The game is over. No, hehehe," the young man chuckled.


    "You''ve lost."


    As soon as he said those words, the sky split in two...


    [First Event Ended!]


    [Winner of the first event: ss 5: Happiness, with a total of 1700 points]


    "I told you, didn''t I? You lost the game." With thosest words, Dani watched as the entire ce crumbled...