GUARDIAN OF THE END

"Before proceeding to the finals, we will hold the match for the third position. We will then hold a thirty minutes break before the finals." Zilan announced as Andrew and Amber's previous opponent ended in the arena below.

Jason and Amber were left in the box with their respective families. The two didn't even get the time to exchange a look as their families started talking to them.

"You fought well," Issac smiled while sitting beside Jason. "Now you just have to beat that girl and you will be the winner."

"I know." Jason replied firmly as he stared down at the arena to see Andrew fighting fiercely with his opponent.

He felt his blood pumping too as he wanted to be in the arena again and fighting. "Though there is one thing that you have to do in the next round," Risa whispered and exchanged a glance with Issac. "Jason, you have to make use of your thunder element in the finals."

"Huh?" Jason blinked, wondering whether he had heard the right words. "Didn't you say that I had to hide my powers?"

"That's what we said earlier but after holding a discussion with the heads of the other three families, I found out that all four of the families have a prodigy this year. That girl, Amber, will also use her magma element. Ariana told us that." Issac explained.

Risa nodded in agreement. "All four of the families are trying to show that this time around, we have a few prodigies too. We have to do this so that the nobles know that you kids are powerful too and have to be taken seriously."

"Ok, I will use my thunder element in the finals. Though my control over it is still not good, I think I can control it for a few minutes." Jason replied, his gaze shifting back to the match.

A surprising scene awaited him. Amber's opponent from the last round was suddenly throwing icicles at Andrew and the temperature below had fallen extremely low.

Andrew continuously used his fire element to counter the attacks yet it was clear that the icicles being thrown by the boy were different from normal ice.

"His name is Zeke Anvilone," Issac stated, noticing Jason's eyes closely following Zeke's movements. "He and Amber were supposed to use their compound elements in the last fight but both of them used their weaker set of elements instead."

"I wonder what the fight would've been like then." Jason muttered as he knew that Zeke had already won the bronze prize.

His attacks and strategy combined with his element was way too much for someone like Andrew to handle. He only had his fire element to rely on and it didn't do him any good.

Zeke had also realized this long ago and was instead trying out the limitations of his powers if they were used in a very small amount.

'This should be enough for not.' Jason thought as he saw Zeke suddenly changing his pace. The ice mage launched in the air with the help of his wind element before raising his arm towards Andrew.

Zeke barely whispered the name of his next attack but due to the system, Jason was able to clearly hear it.

[ "Icicle barrage." ]

Hundreds of icicles suddenly shot from Zeke's palm and zoomed towards Andrew. However, Andrew didn't look as though he had lost his fighting spirit.

Amber's twin raised both of his hands towards up and unleashed a huge wall of fire. Jason had a feeling that he was using all of his mana just to create a stable wall of fire.

The first dozen or so icicles melted after passing inside the wall of fire. Andrew looked a bit happy at this but it was clear that he would be the one loosing in the end.

He was only able to maintain the fire wall for a few more seconds before it started to shrink.

"I abstain." Andrew sighed as he vanquished the fire wall and let himself get teleported back to the box.

Jason nodded in approval since he would've also dome the same thing if he had been Andrew's place. It was important for a person to know when they had to back down from something.

Everyone inside the coliseum started moving as it was time for the thirty minutes break. Even those sitting in the nobility rows or the glass box had stood up as they went to do some important stufff.

The glass box still had more than half of the original amount of people inside, including the entire Syrward family.

None of them had anything to do or at least that's what they thought. Issac had been calmly sitting in his seat and talking to his friends when he felt a small twinge of electric current up his spine.

"Excuse me but I have to go find Ray now. I will be back soon." Issac excused himself as he stood up and exited the glass box without saying anything to anyone.

Only Risa and Jason felt a bit suspicious about Issac's behavior.

"Grandma, where is uncle Ray currently?" Jason asked curiously as he remembered that he hadn't seen Ray even before entering the box.

"Ray went to the Kamizel forest upon Brian's request. He went there to see whether we can find anymore bandits and such." Risa replied with a shrug before smiling. "Jason, do you want to eat something sweet?"

"Un!"

"Then let's go eat something."

***

As soon as Issac left the coliseum, he rushed back towards the Bloodthorn mansion. His body wasn't visible for even a second as he reached the mansion in a matter of seconds.

"Karna…" Issac muttered as he saw the shepherd of Duphia standing in front of him in his young form. "I thought that you were joking about being here."

"I wouldn't joke about something that important." Karna pointed out yet Issac didn't look convinced. Karna thought about saying something in his favor but quickly dismissed the thought. "We don't have the time to talk about that right now."

"I know. Also, are you sure that it's Kerwin who has come here to talk with Zilan and that the demons have sent someone as their representative too?" Issac inquired, his eyes turning serious.

"I saw the demi-human carriage myself and after lurking around the royal palace created here, I am ninety percent sure that the demons sent someone too." Karna confirmed as Issac fell in deep thought.

He knew that the demi-humans and the demons could've only sent a representative if something wrong was happening or if they wanted to gather something.

Issac knew that his theory sounded far fetched and unbelievable, he had a feeling that the two parties would try to capture Nora and Jason too.

Or he could be completely wrong and they were here to talk about their kingdom's relationships or something.

"Let's go and see whether they are talking with Zilan currently." Issac replied after thinking for a long time. "Tell me you kept track of the demi-human carriage and its residents."

"What do you think of me as?" Karna grumbled, making Issac grin.

"I think of you as my friend. A lifelong friend." He declared as Karna could only shake his head and sigh.

"Let's just go. You take us around the important parts of the city and I will make sure that we aren't captured."

"Sounds like a plan." Issac grinned before placing a hand on Karna's shoulder. "Be prepared for an extremely fast ride."

Issac then activated his thunder element and in the blink of an eye, the two of them vanished from the spot.

The first place Issac wanted to check was the royal palace built in Troyalias. It wasn't used by the king of the kingdom as it was Zilan's palace.

Zilan's palace was barely an attraction of the city due to the arena situated in the middle of the city, though it was built well.

Perhaps it was wrong to call the entire structure as a palace since it was designed in such a way that it could be used as a stronghold in case of an attack.

Five tall towers around half the height of the coliseum surrounded the palace, all of them painted red and white and connected by towering walls made of black stone. The walls don't have a single opening, neither in the form of a hole or a window.

A huge gate with colossal red metal doors guards the only entrance to the palace followed by a posting of guards standing all around it as well as on the guard posts created on the towers.

The houses of the wealthiest, most influential, strongest as well as the most intelligent humans surrounded these walls.

"This reminds me of the castles we ransacked in the past." Karna muttered as the two of the suddenly appeared inside the walls.

Karna then used his skills to prevent the two of them from being seen by the guards. They then looked at the real palace in the distance which was much smaller as compared to the walls.

Zilan had designed it specifically while keeping defenses and a strategical building in mind. That was one of the qualities of the prime minister that Issac liked, he didn't waste money on useless things.

'If only he could be the king.' Issac sighed aloud before the two of them got closer to the palace.

Entering it was mostly impossible, even for high level mages. The security, which included sensory type mages, were active throughout the palace.

Even Issac wouldn't have dared to enter the palace if he didn't have Karna with him.

"We will take a look around the palace in less than five minutes. If we don't find anyone, we go back to the coliseum and search there." Issac explained the plan before the two of them went to the back of the palace.

They found one of the backdoors in the palace which was used by the servants.

Security was present there too but Issac's speed and Karna's abilities allowed the duo to easily bypass the security.

The duo then roamed around the palace for a few minutes and checked almost every important room known to them.

Though they had a few unfortunate encounters, one happening inside a bedroom where two lovers were embracing each other, Issac and Karna managed to complete their search.

"I guess we are going to the coliseum now." Karna muttered as they suddenly appeared at the walls surrounding the palace.

They hadn't found anything inside the palace which could only mean that the three parties were gathered at the coliseum.

"Indeed." Issac then shot out towards the coliseum, determined to hear the discussion.

'I hope that we hear an important discussion…' Karna sighed as he was dragged away by Issac, his lifelong friend…