Illusion Magic?

"Someone is here! And this presence...It's very strong." The cold voice had no more of its past childishness but it turned alert and cautious.

"Hmm.."

"The final match of the day is here." Max announced his voice echoing even amongst the loud cheer of the beast men.

"Please take your position Trev and Ryan."

Two beast men entered the arena, the two finalist who survived all the matches. They stood in front if each other their power leaking through their body.

"They are still this powerful after fighting for the whole day?" The spectator beast men muttered as they looked at the arena in anticipation. The matches were getting heated more and more. No one had a chance to blink their eyes.

All this time Trev and Ryan had been fighting while conserving their strength for the final match. That just showed how confident they were in their power and skills.

"Are you ready?" Max gulped down the saliva in his throat. He was getting goose bumps. As a man who had been fighting all his life and sparring with his good brothers and comrades he looked forward to the matches of these two beast men who he had been eying since the beginning.

Both of them looked at each other and did not speak anything. No one showed any fluctuation in their emotions. They were observing each and every action of their opponent for instance the movement of their eyes, their breathe, their heartbeat and their slight movements.

(*Reference: Trev is the beast man who used sword in his fight at the preliminary round and Ryan is the beast man who had a shield and monstrous strength in the first match. You can refer back to the chapter before.)

'My what a concentration.' Max looked amused at the two contestants.

"Start."

As soon as the word left his mouth, in the blink of both of them disappeared.

"Whoa.." The whole crowd gasped in surprise at what they just witnessed but they immediately quieted down afraid they will miss something.

'Clank..'

A loud, sharp and crisp sound of metal striking emitted as soon as they disappeared. Both of them were in center of the arena, Trev had his sword unscathed and Ryan blocked the attack with his shield. Without further delay they both jumped back to their original position.

Countless strikes were heard within just few seconds. Not more than one minute had passed but it was already making everyone's heart beat in excitement.

Looking at this exciting scene from the top of hill, a sad thought came to her mind but she quickly warded it off as she sat in the shadows watching the events unfold.

"Aren't you sad? They are fighting for your position after all."

"Nah…I don't care about that stupid post anyway. I am more interested in this newcomer..Ohoho..I smell blood lust in air." The cold voice snarled as it sat deep inside a dark space, its eyes glowing golden.

"Hmmm…"She replied nonchalantly.

"Hey! Why do you only hmm now-a-days? At least speak back to me." It shouted in anger. It was hoping for more of an exciting response.

Silence...

…

Back to the arena..

Trev was comparatively faster than Ryan in the matter of speed since he only carried a sword with him and combined with his wolf ability he easily surpassed the other beast man.

'Huff huff huff…' Ryan gasped for air as he took deep breathes but he did not let down his guard down even for a second. Sharpening his sense he focused on only one thing: The movement of air, the slight fluctuation in their flow and speed.

'If I can't locate him with my eyes, I will just predict his movement by listening to his steps.' His heart was thumping loudly and with each passing moment it was beating even loudly. 'Even my adrenaline is pumping in today.' He grinned and waited for the right moment to exchange the blows.

'This can't go on any longer.' Trev was reaching his limit. The day had been a truly busy and tiring now and each part, each cell in his body was crying out to him for rest. Even though he had trained his mind and soul going through harsh training, he could not ignore the tiredness he was feeling at this last match.

"There you are!" Ryan growled as he directed his punch towards his right side. "Heh!" Trev swiftly changed his position and flew up in the air launching a straight blade attack from the top.

"As expected." Ryan growled in excitement. He was ready for another attack from Trev because he knew that Trev would try to end the match anytime soon. Right now he was ready for any attack.

He raised his shield covering his head. "Arghhhhhh. Come Trev. It's either my shield or your blade today."

"Don't cry later cry baby." Trev smirked through his fangs.

....

..Everything happened in a flash..

Drip…Drip..

Blood splattered down on the ground, coloring the ground red.

"Ehhh??" Ryan looked at his stomach, a sword had gone through his stomach avoiding the important organs. In other words there was no fatal injury but that did not mean it was not serious at the same time.

"B-But How?" Trev was still above him or wait was he? He hurriedly looked up to see Trev slowly fading away in the air until he completely disappeared.

"Wait..H-How?" Ryan coughed out blood. He felt weak on his legs. Unable to support his body and the heavy shield he fell on the ground kneeling clutching his stomach.

In one swoop, Trev pulled out the sword.

"Hisss…"Ryan tightened his brows in pain.

The whole arena was drowned in silence. No one had expected this to be the outcome. No one had idea who would win but they were still not prepared for this type of outcome.

"T-The winner is Trev." Max himself stuttered when he announced the winner of the match. They were fighting and Ryan suddenly punched the air looked up and waited still but Trev was right in front of him all the while.

The crowd was too shocked to react to the announcement. The silence was the only thing that responded back to Max.

"The Winner is TREV." Max yelled again, this time his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Guess It's really over." The crowd came back to their sense after his second announcement. One after another the beast man started to cheer and hoot.

The whole ground turned into a massive cheer sound within a few seconds. That cheer was for the winner, the top contestant for the post of chief tribe: their leader.

Rubia who was bored the whole day was considerably invested in the last match. Looking at the outcome she smirked.

'As expected.' Rubia was sore sitting the whole day. She stood up and was about to walk somewhere.

"My lady, where are you going?" The wolf attendant that was assigned to her asked cautiously.

"Don't worry" She patted her head lovingly since that girl reminded her of her little sister. "I won't do anything bad okay?" She winked at the little girl who blushed almost immediately.

"Hmm..Okay." She returned her with a sunny smile. Rubia ribbed her fluffy hair before walking away.

Inside the arena..

"T-Tell M-e what just happ-pened.." Ryan coughed up another mouthful of blood. He was not a sore loser. He knew he lost because he was not good enough. But he wanted to know how.

"Illusion magic." Trev calmly answered him as he sat beside him on the ground signaling the health staffs to come back a little later.

"Il-lusion magic?" Ryan widened his eyes in surprise. "A trick?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Wasn't that almost as same as cheating?

As if hearing his thoughts a voice answered. "No, in war and fight there is no such thing as fair and cheating." Rubia walked towards them her in her usual charisma. The staffs made a way for her.

"You!!" Ryan snarled. "Grrrrrr….."

He had hated Rubia the moment she took control of the wolf tribe. He was against the idea of letting someone else control the wolf tribe. He was even more disgusted at her when she used her authority to train the soldiers at her will. He was one of few wolf among those who did not accept her and ditched the training.

"Trev!!!Don't T-Tell me…you." He yelled making him cough out blood again.

"Take it easy man. You don't want to die, right?" Trev looked at the man, his face tired.

"I know you are all about power and strength. But you should know the enemy you meet won't only be exactly what you expect or only with one attributes or similar to you." Rubia crouched down looking at the injured man. She extended her hand on his wound, a light emitting from her hand.

"Hey what are you trying to do?" Ryan looked at Rubia in horror.

"Stop over reacting in everything Ryan. She is not as bad as you think she is and I have learnt that when she trained us even though it was for only one week." Trev comforted Ryan letting Rubia proceed to heal his wound.

"There is one thing I have learned as a leader of fox tribe." Rubia spoke. "It is to never underestimate your opponents and be skilled in anything and everything. The opponent you face won't always be in your favor."

"Its better to be know anything no matter how unimportant it seems."

Ryan did not speak anything as he felt his injury heal slowly. He felt tired and with the warm light pouring in his stomach he drifted into a sleep.

"Take him for further checkup." Rubia commanded to the staffs.

"Thank you my lady." Trev tried standing up but fell down on the ground. He was also dead tired.

"Don't worry about that." Rubia signaled other staffs to help Trev to the medical tent. "You did well."

She smiled at the man who was drifting into sleep on the stretcher. That was when she finally sensed a powerful presence.

"Rubia you feel that??" Max looked at Rubia who also seemed to be staring somewhere far.

"That....."

"I can sense that but why do I feel there is another energy, similar to my sisters?" Rubia turned to look at Max, her eyes full of tears.

"Your sister??"