Appalled beyond relief, the tall man was left in a daze for a moment.

“Huh?! Didn’t you just warn me about—ugh. What did I expect?”

He had so many things he wanted to say to this vexing woman in front of him, but he eventually gave up. There was basically nothing else he could do, right? Dealing with cunning snakes like her had never gone well with him.

“At least, I’m asking nicely for your consent. Besides, you mentioned you joined this tournament to have fun, right? You can have fun being my familiar. Just look at my other elemental spirits— they’re very much content with me. I happen to be a very agreeable master, you know.”

The tall man’s eyes rolled once more.

“This is exactly what you wanted from the beginning, isn’t it? Tsk! What an aggressive and greedy woman. Hmf!”

“So, what do you say? Want to become one of my familiars?”

“And what if I say no?” the tall man scoffed, and crossed his arms. “The audacity to even ask to become the master of a shadow elemental spirit, huh? You’re delusional.” His silver eyes glared mockingly at Asha. “You obviously do not understand how great my prowess is, to the point that you dare use such trickery against me. Truthfully, I can become a shadow once more and escape your sight at this very second.”

True to his words, the tall man suddenly became like mist and slowly disappeared from Asha’s sight.

“You can tell everyone of my identity for all I care but I will never be your familiar! You have gone too far human. Such arrogance will bring you nowhere! Look how powerless you have become now that you cannot see me. And what if from here, I suddenly strike you and render your vision useless for the rest of the tournament, huh? Let’s see how you can survive with that!”

“Do it,” Asha dared him confidently. “But in return, you must make a deal with me. If I manage to emerge as champion despite being blind, you will agree to become my familiar.”

“What the—you seriously have a few loose screws in your brain, huh?” the man bellowed. “You think controlling a shadow spirit is nothing but a game? Just the amount of spiritual energy I require is already beyond your capabilities, human!”

But seeing the blazing boldness in her eyes, the shadow man sighed.

“You’re that determined, huh? Hah! If that’s the case, why not? Let’s see where your arrogance can bring you.”

With that, Asha soon lost her vision. Scale-like darkness covered her eyes until she could no longer see even the tiniest bit of light. She had to reach out to the wall beside her in order to envision the space around her properly. The shadow man immediately left her side, scoffing and mumbling to himself. On the other hand, Aqua and Solum who felt what happened—a sudden disruption to their master’s flow of energy—quickly teleported to the living realm and aided Asha.

“Master, what happened?!” Solum frantically called her.

“What in Terra is this?!” Aqua gasped loudly. “What’s that in your eyes? Like a black scale covering your irises?”

“S-Should we remove it, master?”

“No, don’t,” Asha replied and shook her head. “It’s alright. I can manage. I happen to come across an unruly spirit and made a deal with him so now, I can’t see. But don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

“You call that fine? You just lost your vision! How will you continue the competition like that?” Aqua complained. “And who is this unruly spirit anyway? Let me give him a piece of my mind! Who dares treat my master like this?!”

“Oh, wow. I didn’t know you love me that much, Aqua. Thank you.”

“This is no joking matter, Asha.”

“Master… sniff. Will you really be alright?” Solum cried.”I… sniff, I think I can heal this with my powers.”

Even if Asha couldn’t see it, she could imagine how his eyes must have been bawling by that time.

“No, Solum. This is a skill only shadow elemental spirits can conjure and remove. I’m afraid even your healing powers can’t take this away from me.”

“What deal did you even make with that devious spirit? I swear if I ever see his face, I’m gonna smack him to death!”

“Quite a fine deal, if I must say. We agreed that if I win this competition being blind as I am now, he will become one of my familiars,” Asha smiled as she explained, making the two gasp at the stupidity of it all.

“What are we to do with you, Asha?” Aqua sighed and shook her head. “You’re hopeless. How many spirits are you planning to contract with, huh? Anyway, let’s go back to your quarters and rest. You’ll need a miracle for the next round.”

And so, they all went back to Asha’s quarters. Aqua and Solum guided her steps so she wouldn’t stumble until they managed to let her sit comfortably in bed. Solum created a blindfold made from the silk of plants he produced with his powers, and helped Asha tie it around her head, covering her eyes. Then, she spent the rest of the time thinking of different strategies she could use until she eventually fell asleep.

A few hours later, the second round was announced. The organizers of the event called the remaining contestants back to the arena and told them to bring the badges that were given to them earlier. No other information was hinted to them as to what the next round would be, but it wasn’t hard to speculate that it had something to do with the badges.

Some contestants received red badges, while others received blue, green, silver, and lastly, gold. It was the same colors and insignia that the five continents in Terra represented—red insignia for the dragons and beastkins of the east, green insignia for the elves and dwarves of the west, blue insignia for the fairies and sirens of the south, silver insignia to the demons and phantasms of the north, and gold insignia for the humans and their emperor located at the heart of Terra.

“There are only two things we could do with these badges,” Asha speculated when she pondered in her room a few moments prior. “It’s either we team up with those that were given the same color of badges, or we fight with them until a victor emerged.”

Just as she thought, the Master of Ceremonies soon announced the instructions for the second round and it turned out to be…

“The second part of the tournament will be… The Last Four Standing!”

The crowd went wild in excitement once again.

“In this part,” the Master of Ceremonies explained, “the remaining contestants who passed the first round will be grouped into five teams—each representing the five continents in Terra. They were given different colored badges after the first round ended and whatever color they got, will be the team they will have for this second round. However, being teammates is not necessarily good! As the name itself suggest, each member of the same team will have to battle against each other until only four of them remain! Only those four contestants in each team that manages to remain standing by the end of an hour will be able to proceed to the next round! Isn’t that exciting?!”

“Yeah!” the crowd cheered in agreement.

“And without further ado—all contestants, please gather in the arena!”

The contestants did as told, but as they stepped inside, they noticed how the arena had changed.

Five divisions were made across the arena, and strong, translucent barriers stood as a partition between them. The tiles were colored differently—all according to the five teams which meant that the divisions would be the only space they would have for the upcoming match. Suddenly, the arena seemed small for them. After all, being the magic users they were, distance against their target had always been a must.

Given this unforeseen circumstance, some of the remaining contestants contemplated how they would proceed. Should they levitate again and wait for the rest to finish subduing each other? But then again, the translucent barriers extended only a few meters to the sky. They wouldn’t be able to levitate high enough to avoid other contestants’ spells or magic. If they ever wanted to win, they would have to stay on the ground or else they would be easy prey for anyone to shoot their magic at them.

While everyone grumbled about those disadvantages they had, Asha in particular, had it much, much worse—she had to proceed with this round without her vision! Would she still be able to pass this round? Truly, it seemed like she would need a miracle for this one.