Sophie had fallen into Alec's trap during the very first round simply because she hadn't fully understood the true extent of his abilities.
Seeing the helpless look on her face, Caius finally felt somewhat satisfied.
With a mocking sneer, he said, "When it's time for your punishment, I'll personally allow Jane to carry it out. You really ought to experience what it feels like to burn."
Sophie knew there was no point arguing with him. Rather than wasting time protesting, she would be better off figuring out how to win the match. She had already offended Caius anyway. The more she spoke, the more opportunities she'd give him to make things difficult for her.
One after another, the prey departed from the starting point and scattered into the forest. Jane was the last to leave. Her expression remained cold and composed as she stared silently into the distance.
Although Jane never once looked directly at Sophie, Sophie somehow felt that she was expressing concern in her own way.
After a brief hesitation, Sophie stepped close enough to whisper into Jane's ear.
"Jane, could you and Alec try not to get caught too early?"
Jane glanced sideways at her before giving a small nod.
Moments later, she disappeared into another corner of the forest.
"Is everyone ready?"
Ever dutiful, Chino performed his role as referee and asked the customary question. In truth, there was nothing to prepare. They were simply waiting for the prey to gain enough distance before the hunt officially began.
In terms of team distribution, this round looked remarkably similar to the first.
Among the four ten-point players, Jane and Alec effectively belonged to Felix's side from the very beginning, meaning the strongest ally Sophie could realistically recruit was Demetri. And if she wanted to secure more than forty-five points...
Caius would once again become the deciding factor.
But Sophie couldn't base her entire strategy on the hope that the opposing team simply failed to find him.
Her greatest advantage lay elsewhere.
Time.
There was an unavoidable delay between being prey and becoming a hunter.
During the first round, she and Demetri had lost because Alec had been given the longest window to prepare his traps before anyone could interfere.
This time, however, Felix would be the one using a Gift.
And Felix couldn't set traps.
As long as she used that difference in timing properly, victory was still possible.
That was precisely why she had asked Jane and Alec to avoid being captured for as long as possible.
Once both sides confirmed they were ready, Chino officially announced the beginning of the third round.
Sophie immediately picked a direction and sprinted toward her first objective.
Demetri.
She had to recruit Demetri.
The forest stretched endlessly in every direction. As she raced through it, Sophie tried to imitate the method Demetri had taught her.
Find the signature inside the mind. That signature is probably connected to the person's Gift.
She concentrated on sensing the presence of the other vampires throughout the forest. Her superior newborn speed and physical strength allowed her to overtake several ordinary guards in quick succession.
But the so-called "signatures" remained frustratingly vague.
Not this one... Next... Still not right... Wait!
She recognized one of the guards Jane had brought along.
A female vampire.
Someone she had met several times before.
"Has anyone ever told you that you resemble a butterfly?"
The woman looked puzzled and admitted no one had ever said such a thing.
Sophie immediately placed a red tag on her.
Capturing ordinary guards did little to help her overall strategy, but beginning with that female vampire, she finally understood what Demetri had meant by a person's unique signature.
Among everyone here, Demetri was one of the people she knew best.
She forced herself to recall everything about him.
Demetri is incredibly fast... his tracking is unbelievably precise... He's practically an automatic navigation system.
Somewhere in the southwestern section of the forest...
One rapidly moving figure perfectly matched Demetri's distinctive signature.
Without another glance at the dense cluster of nearby targets, Sophie immediately changed course and dashed toward him.
She flew across the crowns of countless ancient trees. As the distance between them steadily closed, the route inside her mind seemed to sharpen with astonishing clarity. It was no longer merely a flat mental map.
It had transformed into a fully three-dimensional path.
"Demetri!" Sophie shouted at the top of her lungs. "I found you!"
The gray-cloaked figure ahead instantly accelerated.
Clearly, Demetri had absolutely no intention of letting himself be caught by her.
From his perspective, joining Alec and Jane's team offered far better odds of victory.
Besides...
Sophie had already offended Caius.
If Caius decided to bend the rules again and somehow declared their team the losers at the very end...
Then both Demetri and Sophie would end up enduring Jane's pain illusion together.
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