Olive was more nervous than she cared to admit. The crowd roared all around her and the members of Phoenix Circle as the three of them made their way back out on to the arena floor. It hadn’t been all that long since the melee rounds had ended, though she’d had more than enough time to recover what little energy she’d spent. She just hadn’t been expecting to be called up in the literal first normal round of the tournament. And against the Kererus Coalition, no less. Olive could feel sweat prickling against her palms and her heart pounding furiously in her chest. “Nerves again?” Elias guessed as the three of them arrived upon the arena and came to a stop a few paces away from the edge. “Yeah,” Olive said. “This is just a whole lot more attention focused on me than I’m used to. It’s really unnerving. I don’t think I’m built for tournaments . Dungeons are way better.” “We actually rather like the attention,” Elias said with a sheepish chuckle. “It makes me feel alive, you know? And Maeve has always been a performer. I wish she could perform to the full extent of her abilities… but I don’t think that’ll ever be happening in the Kingdom of Lian.” Olive nearly asked why before she remembered that Maeve wasn’t a human. She was a monster. Even though the three of them had spent so much time together practicing for the tournament, that fact continued to slip from Olive’s mind. It was getting harder and harder for her to even keep a distinction between monster and human so much as enemy and ally. Maeve didn’t speak, but aside from that, she acted just like anyone else did. The same was true for Lillia. She’d have included Madiv in that assessment as well, but truth be told, the vampire was definitely a bit odd. Olive was pretty sure that had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he was a vampire and more to do with the fact that he himself was just weird. The Adventurer’s Guild really slipped one over all of us, didn’t they? I just wish I knew why. I don’t get what the purpose of any of this is… but I suppose that doesn’t matter right now. “It’ll be fast,” Elias said. “We’ll want to decide the fight in the first exchange of blows. Remember. Cover Maeve. Strike back when they try to retreat.” Olive nodded. She didn’t have any more attention to waste on speaking. Her gaze was completely focused on the trio of assassins on the arena across from her. She kept her sword at the ready, taking up Maeve’s right flank while Elias covered the left. The assassins burst into motion, sprinting across the battlefield. Their hands were clenched as if they each held something round within them. Olive’s eyes narrowed. She recognized those. “They’ve got bombs that will make a bright flash of light when they get nearby,” Olive warned. “Don’t’ get caught off guard.” Maeve’s fingers strummed through the air and a comforting note echoed out. It wrapped around Olive like a warm blanket. She didn’t get a chance to ask what kind of buff Maeve had just applied. No more than a second after the last word had left Olive’s mouth, the assassins hurled the items in their hands. There were three brilliant flashes — but for some reason, the light was muted. Olive squinted to keep it from blinding her, but instead of an explosion of white swallowing her vision, there was only a dim pop. All three of the assassins lunged as one. They drew slender blades from somewhere on their wrapped bodies and thrust them for Maeve, each coming from a different angle. The attack was blindingly fast and clearly practiced. If Olive had actually been blinded, it would have been nearly impossible to stop it from going off. Even a moment of distraction would have been enough for them to kill Maeve — and there was no doubt that they were aiming for exactly that. Their swords were headed straight for her vital points. They were treating this like an assassination mission, not a tournament. But Olive wasn’t blinded. She was barely even startled. Her sword sliced up through the air, slamming up into one of the blades and ripping it from the assassin’s grip. She didn’t stop moving as she drove her shoulder into his chest, cracking the bones of his ribcage with a loud crunch and continuing her swing up into another assassin’s blade. The second weapon spun free with a ringing clang. Elias’ crossed daggers met the third sword, blocking it from its mark just inches before it could reach Maeve’s heart. A flicker of shock passed through the eyes — the only uncovered part of the assassin before her. They hadn’t been expecting their attack to be thwarted so decisively. There was no doubt in Olive’s mind that they’d disengage and attempt to attack again from a different angle, continuing the process until they managed to kill Maeve. Her arms moved before her mind had even finished processing all of that information. Magic poured through her body and raced down her hands into the blade held tightly in her grip. [Hundredfold Sword] was devastatingly effective at carving through just about anything in its path, but the ability had another use. The immense force she could put into the sword could also let her change its direction far faster than any normal strike could ever hope to move. She brought her sword, which was well above her shoulder after knocking the second sword away from Maeve, straight back down in a blur of silvered metal. Olive swung it straight into the side of the assassin’s neck. There was an instant of silence, where even the roar of the crowd faded into a dull buzz in the distance. All that remained was Olive and the assassin standing before her. The look of shock in their eyes was the last thing they ever felt.