A Bug In Fate

Every head in the stands turned at once.

The tense excitement that had built around the arena broke apart in an instant, replaced by confused murmurs as people twisted in their seats, searching for where the voice had come from.

"Wait, what did he say?"

"Did someone just say the city’s under attack?"

"That’s not part of the tournament, is it?"

Near the main gate, a man stood catching his breath, one hand braced against the archway. He wore city guard armor, dented in places, with a long scratch running across the chest plate, as if something had clawed at it recently.

It was the same man who had once pointed Alden in the right direction during his very first guild mission.

"The city is under attack!" he shouted again, louder this time, his voice cracking from the strain. "Monsters have broken through the eastern wall! The guards are already fighting them off, but we need every fighter we can get!"

The murmurs in the stands turned into full noise. Some people stood up from their seats, grabbing their things. Others just sat there, frozen, unsure if they’d heard right.

"The eastern wall? Isn’t that near the merchant district?"

"Is this some kind of joke? Part of the tournament?"

"He doesn’t look like he’s joking. Look at his armor."

The officials near the entrance were already moving, gathering around the guard, their expressions shifting from confusion to alarm as they exchanged rushed words with him.

Alice, floating in the air, could tell from the urgency in the guard’s voice that the situation was serious. Her voice rang out across the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please stay calm. Those who can’t fight, remain here. I’m asking all adventurers, hunters, and fighters to head straight to the eastern gate," she said in a calm tone, her gaze sweeping over the crowd as some people grabbed their weapons and started moving.

"The tournament will be halted. We can’t just sit here while the city is under attack."

People in the arena nodded at her words. Her ability to control a crowd really was impressive.

Meanwhile, inside the VIP room, the rulers sat there as if nothing were happening.

"Why aren’t you going? I can sense the monsters aren’t small in number," the ruler of Blackwood City said, glancing at Ravenhold’s ruler.

The man smiled, meeting his eyes before answering.

"I’m not worried about the monsters. The city has more than enough people to handle them, and cultivators from your city are already there too. That should be more than enough," he said, pausing as his gaze drifted toward the sky.

"Well... if someone at our level shows up, that’s a different story."

Meanwhile, the cultivators from all five cities who had come to Ravenhold for the tournament were already gathered at the gate, where the guard, still catching his breath, stood waiting.

They asked him a few general questions before dashing forward toward the eastern city gate.

Alice and her four classmates followed close behind. All five of them were Metamorphosis realm cultivators, so their help could prove essential in the coming battle.

In total, there were twenty-one Metamorphosis realm cultivators in the arena, including the five students from the central continent, and all of them were now moving toward the city gate.

Back on the ground, Alden and the other four participants stood frozen in confusion. After everything they’d fought through, how could the tournament just... stop?

To them, it felt unfair, but who ever said life was fair? Shaking his head, Alden glanced at the other participants, smiled, and said,

"Hehe, we’re quite unlucky, huh?" he said in an amused tone.

The others looked at him with strange expressions but stayed silent, unsure of what to even say.

*The city is under attack, for fuck’s sake. Why is he so relaxed?*

Alden either didn’t notice their questioning looks or simply didn’t bother addressing them. He glanced at them as a breeze blew past, swaying his blue hair.

"Well, seems like the final round’s been halted, so I’ll get going too," he said, already turning toward the exit.

A voice suddenly called out from behind him, making him glance back. It was Liam.

"Where are you going?" he asked, already feeling a bad premonition.

Alden looked at him and chuckled softly.

"Where else? To the city gate, of course." He turned back around and kept walking, leaving a few speechless faces behind him.

"Isn’t he exhausted? I mean, he killed more than half the monsters using his affinity. Shouldn’t his mana be running low?" Elara muttered, watching the man disappear into the crowd near the exit.

"Where did he even come from? I’m from Ravenhold too, but I’ve never seen him before," Liam mumbled quietly.

Meanwhile, Alden moved through the streets of Ravenhold with efficiency, weaving around the crowd. His expression stayed calm, though a light of curiosity flickered in his eyes.

*I wonder what teacher’s doing,* he thought, smiling at the idea.

For all he knew, she could just flick a finger and crush every monster out there without even standing up. That thought alone was enough to keep the corner of his mouth tugged upward as he walked.

As he got closer to the gate, he could feel the tension building around him. The number of people on the streets had thinned, most having abandoned their shops and errands to flee toward the city center instead. Doors were left half-open, carts abandoned mid-street, a few stray belongings scattered across the cobblestones as if dropped in the middle of a hurried escape. The city that had felt so alive just an hour ago now felt hollow, holding its breath.

A few moments later, the city gate came into view, and he narrowed his eyes. The scene before him was anything but peaceful.

The cultivators who had left the arena earlier, along with others who’d heard news of the attack, were gathered at the gate, their formations loose but purposeful, shouting coordinates and warnings back and forth over the noise.

Spells and elemental attacks surged forward, crashing against whatever lay beyond the wall, flashes of fire and lightning briefly lighting up the darkening sky.

For a moment, it almost seemed like the situation wasn’t as dire as he’d expected, like they’d already pushed the horde back outside the city walls. But that thought lasted only until he got close enough to look past the gate himself.

His eyes widened slightly, and his steps came to a halt.

For a second, he actually questioned whether what he was seeing was real, because he’d never witnessed anything like it before, not in any mission, not in any report, not even in the stories older hunters liked to exaggerate over drinks.

Outside the gate, monsters were charging at the city wall, hurling attack after attack in an attempt to break through and unleash chaos on the city beyond. The ground itself seemed to tremble under the weight of their combined advance, dust rising in thick clouds with every collision against the wall.

But what caught him off guard wasn’t their ferocity, or the bloodlust burning in their eyes.

It was the sheer number of them. The scale of it was almost impossible to process at a glance, stretching so far into the distance that the horde seemed to blur into the horizon itself.

Still, if he had to guess.

*Seventy thousand? No, more than that. Maybe closer to eighty-five thousand.*

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