Turning her head, Delilah saw her tagger, Namor Stormborne.
"You were one of the humans with Sia the other day weren’t you?" Namor asked.
"What if I am?" Delilah scrutinized the merfolk prince.
"This will be even more interesting. Lets put up a good show, shall we?" Namor grinned.
At that, Delilah suddenly felt her instincts scream, and without hesitation, she drew her bowstring taut.
<Bow art: myriad bloom>
The air detonated in a roar as the arrow punched through the sound barrier as though it was paper, before splitting into a myriad of arrows that shot forward at an even more absurd speed.
For a moment, it seemed inevitable that the arrows would turn Namor into nothing more than torn shreds of flesh and blood. But that was until Namor raised both hands in a seemingly unhurried fashion, and clapped.
The moment Namor clapped towards the incoming volley of arrows, a concentrated shockwave shot forward like an invisible cannon, tearing through everything in its way, and blasting the arrows to oblivion.
The earth exploded in chaotic tremors everywhere the shockwave passed, and Delilah was blasted backwards by the concussive and concentrated shockwave.
But this Delilah was no longer the Delilah at the beginning of first year in the Astral Mystic Institute, she had come a long way.
Delilah didn’t resist the force, and instead let it carry her backwards. When it’s force was almost diminished, Delilah flipped mid air, already drawing her bowstring again even before she landed and slid across the ground.
<Bow art: myriad bloom>
She released an arrow again, but to her shock, before her arrow could even make it to the point it would divide itself into countless numbers, a concussive shockwave erupted from behind Namor, and in the same instant, he simply disappeared from his spot.
The next thing Delilah saw, Namor had reached the arrow that was supposed to be heading for him. With a slight tilt of his head, the arrow streaked past him, and he arrived before Delilah almost instantly with a grin on his face.
However, his grin was cut short as vines shot from the ground and bound his figure, and before he could react Delilah had pulled her bowstring again at point blank to his head.
Namor’s instincts flared, a spherical shockwave exploding outwards from his body, pushing Delilah skidding backwards, and tearing the vines to shreds.
Moreover, he exploded backwards as another cluster of vines surged towards him. Raising his head, he realized the vines were extended from Delilah’s fingers themselves.
A grin appeared on his face as the vines slowly retracted back to Delilah and turned into her fingers once more.
"I must say, you are rather surprising." He smiled. "For a moment I was caught off guard when those vines exploded from the ground."
Delilah watched him without saying anything. She knew Namor still wasn’t serious, that much she knew, but she felt the need to test her limits right here and now.
With a flex of her will, Vines erupted from the ground, and shot at Namor. Another clap from Namor would be enough to shatter those vines, but he didn’t do that, and instead, decided to humor the princess.
He sped away from his place, leaving nothing but an afterimage as the vines relentlessly chased after him. But it seemed Delilah wasn’t done yet as clusters of vines erupted from five more different places across the ground.
The world blurred as Namor weaved through the vines, each cluster trying to trap him. The vines were fast, incredibly so, and as much as Namor didn’t want to admit, had he still been in the Zeta- rank he would have long been caught by these vines.
Not only were the vines strong, they were also incredibly strong, tensile, and flexible. They were able to twist their way at the last second anytime Namor tried to outmaneuver them.
Seeing the vines’ failure in capturing Namor, Delilah shot towards the midst of midst of the vines, interwining with them, and seeking to join the fray herself.
She rode on one of the particularly fast bones chasing after Namor, and more vine clusters began emerging from the front of the merfolk prince. For a brief moment, Namor’s leg was even ensnared by a vine, but he managed to break free just in time for an arrow to pierce where he had been fraction of a second earlier.
The vines continued to chase after Namor, tearing everything in their paths, the earth, trees, and anything else in the way, while Delilah continued to fire her arrows, intending to pin Namor down.
The stalemate continued for a long while, before Namor decided he had had enough. With a clap, an omnidirectional shockwave spread out from his form, rippling through the world in cataclysmic tremors, tearing everything in its path, including the vines, and launching Delilah into the air.
For a fleeting moment, the princess was unconscious mid air, but a firm hold on her shoulder, jolted her back to the realm of the conscious.
"You lose." Namor’s voice whispered from behind her ears.
The hold on her shoulder vanished almost instantly, and along with it, Namor himself.
Delilah steadied herself as she fell towards the ground, her air steps technique working on tandem with the boots Anastasia had given her before the start of the first phase.
Delilah slowed down as she stepped on the air as if it were solid ground.
As if a coincidence, the moment her boots touched the ground, the voice returned.
"THE THIRD ROUND IS HERE BY OVER, AND ALONG WITH IT, THE THIRD PHASE. A TOTAL OF 42 PARTICIPANTS HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED AS OPPOSED TO THE ORIGINAL 36 INTENDED.
BUT WORRY NOT, THE LAST SIX TO BE ELIMINATED WOULD BE GRANTED A PASS INTO THE THIRD PHASE TO COMPLETE THE ORIGINAL 64 INTENDED."
The youths weren’t surprised hearing that, it was near impossible for the exact number to be eliminated.
"NOW FOR THE FOURTH AND FINAL PHASE OF THE COMPETITION..." The voice paused, letting all the youths’ attention turn to it.
"THE FINAL PHASE IS SIMPLY A TOURNAMENT, SIMPLE AS THAT. A ONE VS ONE FACE OFF WHERE THE MATCHES WOULD CONTINUE, UNTIL WE HAVE OUR CHAMPION."
The moment the voice finished speaking, a bright white light enveloped the youths all across the pocket realm, and a moment later, they disappeared.
The bright light then pooled them into the same space, a massive semi-circle stadium that floated the sky. Each youth seated in a seat.
The moment the youths realized where they were, some of them stood up in anger, looking for others whom they had encountered in the game of tag.
Ivis especially, was looking for Damon, and not long after he sighted him. Such was the case for Mayura, Rose and Anastasia, each for different reasons.
Sensing their gazes on him, Damon waved at Ivis with a mocking smile, while he winked at the three princesses.
Just as Ivis and a few others were about to initiate an attack, the voice e intervened.
"JUST TO BE CLEAR, IT’S FORBIDDEN TO ATTACK ANYONE ON THIS PLACE. YOU ATTACK ANYONE, YOU ARE DISQUALIFIED, AND YOUR OPPONENT WOULD AUTOMATICALLY QUALIFY FOR THE NEXT ROUND."
"Tsk, I would have dealt with that bastard." Ivis clicked his to hue in quiet frustration.
"So you’ve also met that vile human." Mayura muttered as she walked up to Ivis.
"I did." Ivis nodded. "He managed to tag me, and I couldn’t even lay a hand on him. He is one of the two Zeta+ ranked along with that arrogant demon, and his ability is similar to yours."
"I noticed that when we met during the sphere challenge." Mayura said in agreement. "I tried to kill him right then and there, but my attack just passed through him."
Ivis and Mayura weren’t the only ones pissed off at someone. There was Isolde who was also glaring at a certain someone.
"Why is that demon princess glaring at us?" Aric asked Dion.
"How should I know, we just got here, didn’t we?" Dion denied.
"Se is glaring at you though, what did you do to her? Don’t tell me you tried to flirt with her, or asked her on a date?"
"..."
Dion froze for a moment. "What nonsense are you spouting? Why would I ask her out on a date?"
"Your hesitation tell me more than your mouth did." Aric shook his head in amazement. He couldn’t believe Dion had dared to ask the princess of another race on a date.
On the other hand, Damon was facing the glaring gaze of Anastasia, and the confused gaze of Rose.
"Why are you two looking at that idiot? Isn’t he the same guy who asked you two for a dance?" Delilah said, approaching the two.
"He tried to touch me."
"He refused to tag me."
Anastasia and Rose spoke simultaneously and respectively.
"...What..."
**********
Thanks for your support everyone, if you want to read ahead, there are now five advanced privileged Chapters on webnovel, so you are more than welcome.
Your gift is the motivation to my creation! Cheer me up.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter