1.19.

Of the remaining eight hundred or so participants, around three hundred remained. Sequencee and Leticia were relieved when they heard their number being called. Those that didn't manage to make it through left groaning in tears.

The remaining three hundred participants were brought to a large round hall which was comparable to the previous Sage's Hall. A premier colosseum with tens of thousands of seats lining the outer ring over many floors.

The participants warily observed one another as they followed the staff to the center of the field.

Sequencee and Leticia stuck close, keeping a distance from the main crowd.

Round three was a simple test of endurance. From the earlier announcement, golems will be created in the hundreds by a team of academy students alongside teachers to take on all participants in the ring. The last standing 400 participants will be allowed to advance to the fourth round.

However..

"All participants please take note! Due to the unexpectedly low number of participants who have passed into the third round, we will be entering directly into the fourth."

A staff member who stood inside the control room announced.

"Fourth?"

"Ah well, that's great. We're getting to the meat of things."

"What's round four again?"

"It's a mystery round, they said?"

Suddenly the surrounding mana began to spike, and the sound of a generator could be heard. All participating members started to glow in distinct reds or blues. A gold force field could be seen beginning to form around the entire field of the Colosseum.

"What is this?"

"Wow, this is kinda cool."

"Is this.."

"We're divided into teams?"

"All participants please move to the designated sides depending on your colour!" the speaker blared.

"Sequencee I.." Leticia trembled.

"Looks like we're in different teams huh?"

Sequencee was glowing in blue, Leticia was in red.

Leticia clenched her fist.

'We're enemies? T-There's no way I can possibly beat him.. no way..'

"I.."

"You can do it."

Leticia raised her head to face him. An expression as if he were looking at a troubled child.

"Don't give up just yet."

"R-Right.. you too.."

"I know."

The two of them went to their respective sides of the Colosseum.

Exactly one hundred participants were glowing in red, and the remaining two hundred were in blue.

"Those that have been marked as red are judged to be the top 100 among all remaining contenders. They have been specially selected by the judges in the previous round, fifty from the mages, and another fifty from the fighters. Their performance has granted them a leg up in this round."

'Wow, so Leticia is in the top 50 in our batch of mages huh?'

"The rules for the special round are as follows. Those who are in red are the hunters, and those that are in blue are the defenders. To win, the hunter must either remove the sticker from one member of the opposing team or knock him or her out. There is no need to hold back in this as a barrier has been cast to teleport anyone who is severely inside this field outside. We have a team of priests and priestess on site to tend to the wounds."

"Those that are from the defender team, you can increase your odds of winning by knocking out anyone from the hunters. They will be sent out of the field but you are not granted a win. So please don't think that you'll be awarded even if you acquire many stickers from the hunter team. The stickers only matter to the defenders, the hunters can continue to hunt even without the stickers. I repeat, the hunters are not disqualified if their sticker is gone."

'So those from the red team do have a leg up on this one.'

"There are 289 participants in total, the match will end when only 200 participants remain. A grace period of 5 minutes is given to both teams to formulate a strategy with one another. Anyone who tries to attack at this time will be disqualified immediately. I wish everyone good luck."

'Based on the number of participants here, there are only 89 spots available for the red team. So the red team isn't only competing against us, but against themselves. On the other hand, we from the blue team can focus on keeping as many people alive as possible.'

"So what's our plan?"

"Is there any rule that says we can't set up ice walls or stone walls or something?"

"Everyone please listen up! I will take command of those that wish to be under me! I have a plan to fend off the hunters!"

'Another thing to take note of is how the red team is stronger than the blue team. So if that's the case then it's likely that there will be inevitable losses on our side.'

Those from the side of the defenders began to create bulwarks or set traps. Fighters organized themselves in the front while the mages stood at the back.

"Hey! Why is it that the mages get protection from us! Isn't that unfair?!"

"That's right! Why should we risk our chances for them?"

"Hah?! We can't possibly use our spells without a vanguard!"

"Hold on, hold on. We'll do our best to defend everyone alright?"

"Look, it's not like we mages have it easy either. The hunter mages will most launch aerial barrages at us. The unlucky one will likely be wiped out."

'There is a marginal error of 11 here. So if 12 red team members are disqualified, there will be more than 200 participants after the end. Or did they judge that it's unlikely 12 people from the red team will be disqualified? They're the elites after all..'

"One minute left. Both sides please be ready for the flare signal which will start the match."

Sequencee who stood alone at the rim of the ring looked at the two teams. The red team who was near the divider line with mages at the rear already preparing spells, and the blue team who had crude forts made of rock and ice.

'Leticia has to be in the top 89 among the top to stand a chance.. no. If there is someone from the red team who kills multiple members from the blue team, then the chances will worsen. The emcee didn't say anything like you can't kill more than one person.'

Sequencee looked at the red team and tried to search for Leticia.

"Ten seconds! Five, four, three.."

'Where is she?'

"Two, one!"

With the shrieking of the speakers, a red flare was sent into the sky.

A deafening silence ruled for a second.

Until the ground began to rumble. Fighting spirits soared through the air, and magic projectiles sent flying like giant artillery on both fronts.

A war was taking place–

"I hate this."

He took quick steps forwards as he pranced around the edge of the battlefield.

Many defenders chose to hold fort. Fighters against fighters, mages against mages. That was because mages from the red team knew that they stood no chance against fighters from the blue team. The blue team was actually holding well against the red team.

And then suddenly, the world dimmed.

Just then a white beam passed above his head from across the field. The white beam smashed into the barrier and from there it drew a line across half the Colosseum. Those that were on the higher levels of the fort disappeared, stone and ice crumbled.

Almost 10 mages from the blue team were wiped out at once.

'That's one hell of a spell.. I need to make sure Leticia makes it past this.'

Fighters who notice Sequencee away from the rest of the group quickly approach. Mages that saw that realized that it was their chance for an easy kill– but they would hurt their team fighters– which totally didn't matter to them as they were competing against each other anyways! A flurry of hail fire quickly rained upon Sequencee and the fighters rushed towards him like boars.

He combined it with a simple rock pelt made from the vibrating onyx from the ground and shot it towards the incoming fighters.

But they dodged just as it was about to hit even without the need for sight.

'Their instincts really.'

Sequencee clicked his tongue and rushed forward.

One fighter appeared beside him. The other fighter, clad in some mysterious light a distant away, threw a knife towards him.

[Illusion Magic: Universal Haze]

Sequencee slipped past both of them.

And without a pause, hailfire rained upon him. Sequencee conjured a barrier.

He noticed the mage who tried to ambush him. An earth spell was charged with her staff.

The ground beneath Seuqencee crumbled–

Sequencee kicked the ground with his feet and canceled her attack. The counter-reaction created a rock explosion behind Sequencee instead of its original intention of restraining him.

"Eh, what?" The mage gasped.

Sequencee contrived a spear of ice and slashed– the mage flashed into light and disappeared.

An aura was felt behind him and he quickly swung his spear backwards– a huge explosion resounded between them and Sequencee was sent flying backwards from the impact.

Sequencee dragged against the ground a couple meters and found himself near the center of the field. A counter floated above.

/

{Hunters remaining: 66

Hunters won: 34

Total left on field: 241}

/

'Not good. Where's Leticia?'

He swept a glance across the battlefield and found the familiar-looking girl near one of the forts.

'She hasn't gotten one yet. Will she do alright?'

Shinngg!!

"Damn it."

A thick barrier formed between him and the sword. Sparks flickered as the blade dragged against the barrier of mana.

"Wow, you're strong ain't ya?"

The burly man quickly retreated and tried to slam his halberd down again.

A strong current flowed.

[Illusion Magic: Universal Haze]

"Oh?"

Faint images of himself projected at random as if he was leaving afterimages or appendages. Using illusion magic to disturb their senses, gave space for Sequencee to make up for some of his inadequacies.

And also to create fake rock bullet spells hidden under explosive seeds pelts.

BOOOM!!

Hunters remaining: 65

Sequencee ended the fight with his win and ran towards Leticia. The defense was thinning, forcing the blue team fighters to close in.

As good as she was as a mage, she hadn't trained in kinetic vision.

"Leti..!"

A rain of fireballs appeared above him–

Those same hailflames were coming down towards Leticia.

At the same time, earth pelts surrounded him and the ground shook. A colossal rock arm sprouted from the ground and swung toward Sequencee.

Leticia raised her hands and created a wind river to sweep the hail of fire towards the nearest blue target– Sequencee.

The rock arm was deflected by a pillar Sequencee raised from the ground. They crumbled into pieces of coarse gravel.

{Total left on field: 203}

"Eh?!"

Leticia who realized it too late had already diverted the flames in his direction.

The fragment of rocks had been combined with sulfur. When the flames touched it, it reacted, creating an explosion. Sequencee was hit directly by the impact. He disappeared leaving white particles, the sticker on Leticia's chest lit up in green.

"Match ended!! All participants please stop fighting!"