Everyone nervously watched the big screens as the numbers increased. The shift in the top five was obvious and the competition couldn’t be any more cutthroat.

People gathered in different cities looking at the image screens to witness the usually tense conclusion of the hunting competition.

It had been three days since the competition started. Most of them had stayed awake during this period waiting to witness history.

With two hours remaining, the rankings had suddenly become a huge mess.

"Do you think they can catch up..." someone asked, eyeing the rankings.

[Atheline Sunblade, 50,064 points, rank 1]

[Yander Blackburn 34,690 points, rank 2.]

[Igrad Neill, 31,504 points, rank 3]

[Caius Therlner 31,495 points, rank 4]

[Cassian Renault, 31,409 points, rank 5]

There was a huge gap between the first and the second. It was the largest they had ever seen since the competition began.

While the score had been okay most of the time, it had shot up by more than fifteen thousand points at once leaving everyone confused about what in the world the top rank had killed to warrant such a huge kill point boost.

"He’s dominating the games when we’ve only seen two instances of him fighting and it was pre-recorded..." a dark elf commented, shivering at the thought of his money going down the drain.

As much as they loved all the free food and games, this was something that most of them had heavily invested in. Bets.

Those who had chosen Atheline could be distinguished from the crowd just by their expression.

They all wanted to see the action at the top but the screen had gone dark in there side. They weren’t satisfied with Atheline killing a high-level monster in one shot, they weren’t satisfied in seeing Igrad burn a whole tide of beasts, they weren’t satisfied in seeing Caius and Yander slice through beasts like cutting vegetables.

They weren’t satisfied with anything. But at the moment, they could only be left with their thoughts.

"I knew his highness could do it, I trust our queen enough to know he won’t choose someone useless," one of them muttered, but it was loud enough, clearly deliberate, for those who hadn’t chosen Atheline to hear.

The regret was starting to swoop in.

"There are still two hours left," someone piped in.

A ripple of laughter spread through the crowd.

"And who do you think will top his highness?"

The words were said in pure mockery.

"Igrad Neill, the flame prince. He is the rising star among humans. "

"Ptff... as if, his highness will crush that skull of his," someone piped in, a high elf this time.

The human who had gone quiet but the curl of his fist said otherwise. They were in another kingdom’s territory, so he couldn’t act unruly.

On the screen, a scene unfolded taking all their attention. It was the very action and blood that everyone craved.

"Aaaaah...!"

On the screen, five men were caught in a trap of what appeared to be a wall of Earth. Inside was a group of high-level monsters circling them.

Three more were already dead, their bodies shredded into pieces. Everyone knew who had created the trap.

"Aah.. its lady Cristina again she’s so beautiful."

She was a strong contender but with the presence of the top ten, victory was a distant memory. She sat on a high branch, feet swinging while she flipped her hair as if she knew it was her turn on the screen.

Below her, she gave what the viewers wanted. Blood and gore. Since she was beautiful, she was being hunted by men everywhere and she seemed to enjoy feeding them to the monsters. It was the classical prey turned predator.

They all needed something like this.

Anything happening during the event inside the Spitting Harrows was allowed. Everything was legal. Killing others was not punishable, even if you were caught. Because there could be many reasons for it: either you were trying to stop the person from getting more kills or you were being hunted.

That’s it.

They needed more action-filled scenes with blood and gore.

"I guess we’ll never see some good kills this year..." before he could finish a roar came from the crowd.

Everyone stood up. On the screen, huge spears of fire, covered half the sky but that wasn’t all ice arrows dominated the sky above the Spitting harrows.

At that point, the screen went dark.

"What happened....!"

"Bring back the images!..."

Everyone knew exactly where it was, the centre of the forest. And they were all going to miss it.

.

.

.

Three people stood in a small clearing near the centre of the Spitting harrows, weapons drawn. One of them was the top-ranked beastkin Amerula sindah, next to him just as tense stood Sandy Glaris.

Before them stood Igrad, a calm but cold smile on his lips.

"What do you want," Sandy asked coldly.

Igrad stared at her for a moment before his smile widened.

"Nothing, I just need your cooperation on something," he said, his tone low and mysterious, " especially since you miss Sandy you’re quite famous for doing anything in exchange for sufficient pay?"

Sandy wasn’t having it.

"Tell me what it is first then I’ll consider it."

The man in front of her was exerting pure violent pressure, it was as though she wasn’t being given a choice but the illusion of it.

Igrad ignored her and turned to Amerula who seemed not to care about anything but the tension was still there.

"What do you think? I’ll give you whatever you want"

Amerula was quiet for a moment then his gaze lifted and met.

"I do not wish to involve myself in your squabbling but..." he touched one of his tails, "I wish to become a nine-tailed fox..."

"Only that, the protector will be pleased to hear that. "

Amerula sauntered towards him and came to a stop a step away from him.

"And what do you require me to do?"

His head tilted slightly sideways, while his eyes narrowed assuming a harmless position.

"I just need you to help me kill someone, what happens in the Spitting Harrows stays in the Spitting Harrows."

"Oh, really. Who is it?"

"Atheline Sunblade."