Prey Run; Predators Hunt

"This pair should fit." The guy said, handing me a pair of knight gauntlets.

I put it on and noticed that it only covered half of my forearms whereas my personal gauntlets covered the entire forearm. There was a lot more metal on it, making it heavier than I would have preferred but I should be fine. I had a rough idea of the average skill level of the other participants.

My personal pair of gauntlets had fabric around my wrists which allowed more flexibility. These gauntlets though, were padded to the brim with metal which would inhibit my flexibility. My gauntlets were kind of like bracers, except there was metal that covered the back of my hands as well as my knuckles. It was optimal for both defense and offense which was what I loved about gauntlets. Punching someone with them would hurt just as bad as brass knuckles except it was much easier to handle. It also had extra augmented functions that could be activated, like forming spikes on the knuckles.

"Once the gates open, the tournament will officially begin. Remember to have your identification card on you at all times because we will not be held accountable for any accidental deaths. If any of you take fatal blows, the card will teleport you back to the waiting room. And magic is obviously banned." Said one of the administrators just before opening the gates.

With the flick of a lever, I heard the sound of chains falling on the ground as well as the raising of the portcullis. There were a hundred people in this tournament and only one could be the winner. Although the third and second place also got prizes, it couldn't be compared to first place. In my dream, I made it to second place so that meant that there was someone in this tournament who was better than me. I will need to be on the lookout.

As everyone else ran off, I noticed the only people left were me, the administrator and some guy with outrageously long blonde hair.

Seeing my eyes on him, he flashed a simple smile toward me before walking out into the jungle as if it was a simple stroll to him.

Cringing from that strange interaction, I just let out a sigh before running off like everyone else.

—Side Character Z's PoV—

"He's out." Said one of us.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked, making sure everyone else was ready.

"Of course. Today, that bastard will pay."

"Yeah."

"Never have I not been ready."

Everyone replied in their own ways but it all conveyed a similar hatred toward that piece of sh*t.

We were a group of ten so our ambush should work.

"On my count, we attack." I said.

Everyone nodded, but their attention was still on the handsome blonde guy. It wasn't that they were captivated by his features, but they were watching with the eyes of a vulture eyeing its prey from above.

"GOOO!" With that single word, everyone leapt off of the tree branch and attacked him.

As my sword was about to stab him in the head, I saw a meticulous yet nonchalant grin on his face.

Did he already know we were going to ambush him beforehand? But that was impossible.

As the tip of my sword touched his forehead, he suddenly disappeared from my vision and I ended up falling on the ground.

"Ahhh, you bastard!" I heard a shout from behind.

Looking back, there was a glamorous rainbow sword stabbed into one of my guys. After making sure it was stabbed in deep, he nudged it in a bit more before pulling it out in one swell stroke.

"AHHHHHH!" As one of my subordinates screamed, a bubble wrapped around him and he soon disappeared.

"You motherf*cker!!! I'll kill you!!!" Shouted another one of my guys, running straight at him with a dagger.

"Motherf*cker? How cruel, but I suppose you are right. She wasn't that good to be completely honest." He said, now without a smile but a blank expression.

"Youuuuu!" Before he could even start a stabbing motion, there was already a sword stabbed through his head, probably destroying his brain as well.

Pulling it out, the rainbow sword was now stained in the bright red tomato sauce of one of my men. "A shame really, now my precious gift was stained."

Even if he was healed, direct damage like that to the brain will definitely cause problems.

'I'll avenge you.' I vowed in my heart as I watched the bubble wrap around him and disappear.

"Do you all truly think you can defeat me?" He said, watching us with emotionless eyes.

"Even if you guys did eliminate me, I am the prince you know. Is this how you treat royalty?" He continued.

One other guy went in but was only met with the dissimulation of his head from his body. The bubble quickly encased him and put him back together in front of our eyes before blinking out of existence.

"So what if I slept with your girl, your sister, or your mothers. It was mutual. They consented to it yet here you all are. How annoying." The prince said face palming as if it wasn't his fault.

"F*ck you, y-you... You playboy."

"How dare you, you insolent piece of sh*t!"

We all started shouting all the profanity we knew when he mentioned our motives behind the ambush.

"You all do know that I will remember your faces right?" He said calmly in response to our agitation.

Hearing that, some of my guys started to tremble and grovel on the ground upon the sudden realization. F*ck, did these guys only just realize? I only brought the with me because I thought they knew of the consequences for attacking royalty. We couldn't kill him either way since he was a prince so the most we could've done was obstruct his chance of winning the Martial Championship and ruin his reputation. F*ck.

"Good, now kill yourselves. Well, you won't actually die but you guys understand what I mean, right?" He said with a face of delight. Was this b*tch having fun off of this. Unforgivable... It was unforgivable.

"Don't do it, we still have a chance!" I shouted to my guys but it was too late. They all already slit their throats and bubbles were now teleporting them away, one by one.

"F*ck." I couldn't help but cuss.

"Oh, if it isn't the son of that whatchamacallit house. I thought a noble like you would act more noble-like. I guess I was wrong." He mocked.

This piece of sh*t couldn't even remember the family of my sister that he raped.

"You know, I could charge you including your relatives and friends with treason if I really wanted to." He said.

"Besides, your sister enjoyed it. It's sad and disappointing but she should have known that as a prince, her unrequited love will stay unrequited." He said this bullsh*t again.

"You say that, yet you took advantage of her to release your sexual urges." I said with my blood boiling as I continued to run the image of my beloved sister being ravaged in his hands.

"Oh? Quite the dirty one aren't you? Are you envious? You do know that incest is a punishable crime right?" He said with a smirk like that of a demon.

—Daniel's PoV—

'This is pretty interesting.' I thought while watching the scene of a guy talking a couple people into suicide on the tablet.

Aldous mentioned something about the prince being strong so chances were, this guy was the first prince. Sad thing I couldn't hear the conversations but from what I saw of his sword handling, he was really skilled. Now that I thought of it, I wonder if that worked.

'Appraise him.'

... Nothing appeared like I had expected.

I watched as he talked to the last guy with bloodshot eyes that looked like they would pop out any second now. After a couple seconds of talking, the guy threw his sword at the prince like a dart and rushed at him like a bull.

The prince simply sidestepped the flying sword and killed him off with a simple stab through the chest.

I watched the guy as he moved his mouth trying to mutter something. It looked like he was saying, "No... It can't be" in disbelief since that was the perfect facial expression for such a clichéd line.

In the first place, it was stupid of them to fight him one by one. They should have all attacked at once since even I would have trouble with defending against attacks from ten different directions, not that I couldn't.

Strangely enough, I felt that the ten man ambush was some type of personal affair. It didn't make sense for people to group up when the tournament was all about fighting to the last man standing.

Was I reading too much into it? Did it have something to do with the recently gained observation skill?

'I wonder what Rachel's doing.'