Charles's gaze, a flicker of genuine impatience in his eyes. He addressed the frozen mages as if they were nothing more than a minor annoyance. "Gentlemen, do you wish to finish this? You see, I've had to close my book on a rather precarious cliffhanger. I am quite tempted to finish this and get back to my reading."

In a quiet clearing elsewhere in the forest, Khara, one of the caped figures, stood over a grim scene. He held a man aloft by his throat, his cloak billowing faintly in the breeze. Three more people lay unconscious on the ground near his feet, while a single remaining man stood defiantly with a sword in his hand.

"Let my teammate go!" the man with the sword screamed.

With a cold, indifferent gaze, Khara crushed the neck of the man he was holding. With a sickening crunch, the body went limp, and Khara tossed it aside like a discarded toy. "Weak."

The man with the sword charged in a desperate fury, swinging his weapon toward Khara's face. But Khara simply ducked and, in a fluid motion, landed a punch to the man's stomach that knocked the air from his lungs with a wet gasp. The man collapsed to his knees, struggling for breath, his face a mix of shock and terror.

Khara stood over the fallen man, the silhouette of his cloak a dark shadow. He bent down, grabbed the man by his hair, and yanked his head up. "All of you are weak," Khara sneered, his voice a low, contemptuous murmur. He delivered a final, powerful punch to the man's head, knocking him out instantly.

With his work complete, Khara calmly pressed his device to each of the unconscious mages’ devices, systematically stealing their points. He was about to stride away when his own device pinged with a message from Adheera.

"Khara, we have some news," Adheera's voice cut through the silence. "The Twilight... he can use lightning."

A flicker of shock, a rarity for Khara, crossed his face. "What? A Twilight using Lightning? How is that even possible?"

"I was as shocked as you were when the information came through," Adheera replied, his voice filled with a similar disbelief.
"It's an impossibility. The Ashijiki Clan were the very reason the Lightning Spirit stopped blessing people centuries ago. How could one of them obtain it?" said Khara.

"I don't have the answer," Adheera conceded. "But HE has been informed of the development. Forget about finding whether the Twilight is an imposter or not. This news will definitely make HIM show up at the arena."

Khara put his device away, his mind racing. The impossible had just happened. This tournament was about to become far more interesting.

Meanwhile, in a different part of the forest, Karna and his team were walking through the quiet woods, searching for more points. Kenta, his eyes fixed on the radar on his wrist, was intently checking for nearby competitors.

As the team passed a thicket of bushes, Fumiko noticed a patch of vibrant, beautiful flowers. "Wow, look at those flowers! Aren't they gorgeous?"

Karna, ever the showman, immediately perked up. He rushed toward the bushes, his face beaming with enthusiasm. "I'll get them for you, my princess!"

He dove into the bushes headfirst, causing them to shake wildly. Then, the movement abruptly stopped. The team watched in silence, their expressions a mix of curiosity and concern. Suddenly, Karna burst from the bushes and sprinted toward them in sheer terror, screaming, "A dangerous creature is coming this way! Run for your lives!"

A single, small honeybee buzzed calmly in his wake.

Reiko sighed heavily, a look of profound exasperation on her face. "He's at it again. Ugh!"

Fumiko blinked in confusion. "What's wrong? Why is he running so scared?"

"He's afraid of bugs," Reiko explained, slightly embarrassed by the truth.

Fumiko gasped. "You're kidding!"

Kenta’s face tightened in anger. "That idiot. We need to follow him. We can't have him running into an enemy team while screaming like a lunatic."

Tenko and his teammates smirked as they watched the commotion. Seeing their chance, Tenko sprang into action. He appeared instantly beside the running Karna and delivered a swift, precise karate chop to the back of his neck. Karna's eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

One of Tenko's teammates quickly tied Karna up, while the others remained hidden. Kenta and the rest of his team, alerted by Karna's radar signal, arrived at the scene just moments later. They found Tenko standing confidently next to the tied-up Karna, a smug grin on his face.

Without warning, two magic spheres flew in from both sides of the forest. Kenta swiftly raised a magic barrier, blocking the attacks. As Tenko's teammates emerged from their hiding spots, their smirks widened.

"Impressive," Tenko said, a mocking tone in his voice. "Blocking a surprise attack like that. But without your lightning user, you don't stand a chance against us."

On the ground, Karna's eyes subtly opened just a sliver, revealing he had been pretending to be unconscious.

Kenta didn't hesitate. He fired a water sphere at Tenko and his team. Its slow, deliberate speed drew mocking laughter from one of Tenko's teammates.

"That's your big move?" the teammate sneered. "Pathetic!"

The mage picked up a stone and hurled it at the sphere, causing it to burst. Water splashed over Tenko and his teammates, drenching them.

With a final, triumphant shout from the ground, "Alright!" Karna unleashed a powerful lightning strike. The electricity instantly conducted through the water, electrocuting Tenko's team. They all collapsed, knocked out by the shock.

Tenko, still conscious but completely paralyzed, struggled to speak. "How...?" His eyes widened in disbelief as he glanced toward Karna, then lost consciousness. His final thought was one of utter shock: How did the weak Twilight withstand that hit? That was a blow strong enough to take out an average D-rank mage… and yet, he is unfazed.

Suddenly, the honeybee from earlier reappeared.

Still tied up, Karna scrambled to his feet and sprinted out of the clearing screaming, "It's back! Someone save me!" with the honeybee buzzing in hot pursuit.

Kenta gritted his teeth, a vein throbbing on his forehead. "That idiot! When I catch him, he's done for. We can deal with the points later—let's go!"

The team eventually caught Karna, gave him a light beating, untied him, and headed back to collect their hard-earned points.
After the team had finished collecting the points from their defeated opponents, Fumiko’s curiosity got the better of her.

“Kenta,” she said, her voice filled with wonder, “you blocked those surprise attacks as if you knew exactly where they were coming from. How did you do that?”

Kenta gave a faint, satisfied smile. “I knew where they were. We all did.”

Gyoda, who was busy patting his own shoulder for a job well done, grinned smugly. “We can use Zone.”

Fumiko’s eyes widened in surprise. "Zone? So... you can use all kinds of magic huh?"

Gyoda just gave a slow, self-satisfied nod, a quiet "Hmm" on his lips.

A sudden, massive shadow fell over the forest as a colossal airship, its surface polished to a mirror sheen, glided silently through the clouds. From the ground, contestants looked up, their faces a mix of surprise and fear.

One contestant, his eyes wide and a thin sheen of sweat on his brow, mutters to his teammate, "Oi... what's an airship from the Kyofu Clan doing here?" He swallows hard, his gaze fixed on the vessel. "I thought those were only used by the first two generations of their clan."

His teammate, equally stunned, watches in silent shock as the airship hovers motionlessly above the arena. Emblazoned on its side in bold, imposing letters is the name: KYOFU.

The airship floated alone, a beacon of opulence and power. It stood out completely from the rest, with no other vessel daring to come close to its space. Its golden, streamlined hull shimmered in the sunlight, the name Kyofu etched elegantly into its side. This was no mere observation deck but a majestic vessel of polished metal and glass, its design so sleek and imposing that it seemed to belong to a different world entirely. From its spacious, well-appointed viewing deck, the events below were not just a spectacle but a private show, a reflection of the man who commanded it.

Inside the airship, an oppressive silence reigns. Through a one-way glass panel, a lone figure sits in a grand, throne-like chair. He is only a dark silhouette against the light, his features obscured by shadow. His gaze is fixed intently on the arena below, lingering on Karna and his team. This is Mawang Kyofu, the man the examiner previously referred to as HIM.

Nearby, Hatake, the examiner, stands with a respectfully bowed head, his posture entirely submissive. "Mawang-sama," he begins, his voice cautious and humble, "if I may be so bold, why would a figure as esteemed as yourself be interested in a mere Twilight?"

Mawang offers no reply. His piercing eyes remain locked on the group below. The silence that fills the air is heavy with unasked questions and untold power.