"What was that?"
A sudden blinding flash caused Alex to open his eyes again, only to find himself no longer at the castle.
Instead, he was surrounded by skyscrapers and parked cars everywhere, the ones that looked awfully familiar to the one back on Earth.
From the sewer drain on the street to even the street lamp, it almost looked like some sort of prank being played.
But the moment he cast a small flame in his hand, he realized he was still in the fantasy world.
Suddenly, a loud explosion could be heard echoing down the streets, as if someone just cast an upper-level spell.
"God damn, I need to find somewhere to hide."
Alex quickly started running into one of the offices, only to find it empty inside.
He didn't care much about it, though, running straight through the building to get as far away from the noise as possible.
After what felt like a safe distance, he finally stopped as he examined his surroundings again.
Once again, it was just another part of the city he had vague memories of, with all the street signs in English.
The more he walked down the street, the more familiar he felt, as if he had walked the same path before.
Out of nowhere, he could hear something being thrown at him, causing him to duck instantly.
He couldn't see what it was, as he had no time to check besides running straight into a nearby house.
Closing the door and peeking through the peephole, he could finally see a man outside, seemingly preparing another spell.
"Shit!"
Alex immediately stepped as far away from the door as possible before casting a fireball of his own.
The moment the door exploded into pieces, he immediately launched the half-finished fireball right toward the exit.
Seeing the outside empty, Alex decided to scan the outside with his mana.
To his surprise, the man who stood outside was gone, with the only trace being the burnt mark on the ground.
More importantly, he could see a counter in the corner of his eyes stating one kill.
"Hew... Almost got eliminated at the start."
After doubling-checking by stepping outside, Alex quickly scouted the surrounding area to make sure no one was nearby.
Then he proceeded to go inside another house, letting more time pass as explosions could be occasionally heard nearby.
The ground even shook several times, indicating the battle in the city was becoming more severe.
Still, he remained in place, not moving a single bit, as he knew the best strategy for a higher placement was to hide.
Even though Katherine had never told him about the kill counter, he didn't try to raise it to see if something would happen.
"How long is this going to take?"
Alex wondered as more and more explosions could be heard, with even skyscrapers collapsing in the distance.
Suddenly, several people appeared out of nowhere, causing him to dunk underneath the window.
"Please don't see me..."
Alex prayed as he could hear magic being cast toward various buildings, with loud collapsing sounds.
All of them ignored him, as his innocent child's look, on top of walking alone, didn't give them any sense of threat.
A few of the groups even offered him to join, but Alex shook his head and walked off, staying as far away from them as possible.
Only after walking for another block did he finally encounter someone who looked familiar.
But it wasn't Katherine or any of his family relatives.
Instead, it was Luna and Evelyn walking together alone in the streets, with no one else around them.
"Alex!"
"Evelyn! Luna!"
The three hugged as they found a bit of peace in seeing each other still alive in the competition.
"Alex, how did you join this competition? I thought you were going back to your hometown."
Evelyn curiously asked as the three of them separated from each other.
"Well, it's a long story... But my grandparent's hometown turned out to be in Regina."
"That explains it... Wait, is Sophia and Mary here too?"
"They should be. But I haven't found them anywhere yet so far... Have you guys found the person you are looking for yet?"
"Nope. We couldn't find our dad or mom... I was lucky to find Luna just around the corner from where I teleported in."
"That's pretty lucky..." Alex murmured as he turned around to check his surroundings.
It was all rows of apartments or shops nearby, with nothing inside through the windows.
"You want to work together? We can fight together instead of fighting alone."
Alex thought for a second, then nodded in agreement.
"Sure."
As the three of them began walking down, trying to find their relatives, they were met with a group of mages just right around the corner.
Within seconds, the situation became tense as both sides were low-level mage, with the highest one seemingly being mage level two.
They looked just as young as them, but they had almost over twenty people together compared to the three of them.
"Where are you guys from? Do you have any status or anyone behind you?"
One of the mages in the other group questioned as they began to cast their spell.
It was clear they intended to eliminate the smaller groups for their higher placement.
"Wait, wait, wait. My dad is a teacher who works in the capital," Luna said out loud, trying to deter them from attacking.
"That just makes me want to eliminate you three even more——"
"Wait, we're from Regina as well. We just go to school in the capital." Evelyn explained, trying to de-escalate the situation.
"Is that your last words? Well, say goodbye now."
The leader of that group launched his fireball towards the three of them, causing all of their spell to be launched as well.
Just as the three of them raised their barrier in a desperate attempt, a person covered with a black robe suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Get lost."