Seeing their spell being completely blocked, the group of mages immediately turned and fled in the opposite direction.
"Thank you so much! How can we call you?" Evelyn asked.
As the twins stared in disbelief at the figure before them, Alex recognized the person immediately, even from behind.
"Hi there," the figure said warmly before turning around, revealing a woman with a smile.
"I'm Alex's mom... You are Evelyn and Luna, right?"
Both girls quickly nodded as they remembered seeing Katherine one time when visiting Sophia's home.
"Mom, have you found Sophia and Mary yet?" Alex urgently asked, looking extremely worried for the other two.
"You're the only one missing... You two want to go with us?" Katherine asked, looking back at the two girls.
"Sure!"
The two quickly accepted Katherine's offer, and she cast a flight spell, lifting them into the air.
All three of the kids got scared for a second before calming back down as they leaned into the sky next to Katherine.
"Is this what flying feels like?" Luna nervously murmured as they began moving in a direction.
They could all see the building right beneath them, with lower-level mages fighting each other with various spells.
After flying for a bit, the four of them finally descended back down to the ground.
"Alex! Evelyn! Luna!"
Sophia and Mary both excitedly ran over to the three of them before hugging them.
"How did you guys join this competition?" Mary curiously asked as they finally separated.
"You forgot our hometown is at Regina?" Evelyn reminded.
"Oh, right. How could I forget about that——"
"Ahem, who are these two kids?"
Fredrick interrupted, asking as he and Ava both walked over to Katherine, with Amelia and Luqing following right behind.
"They are Sophia's classmates."
"I see... Well, nice to meet you. I'm Alex's grandpa——"
"Y-You're the Duke!"
Evelyn nervously pointed her finger at Fredrick before quickly moving her finger back down as both girls were in shock.
"Yes, I'm the Duke. Are you two from Regina?" Fredrick asked, his usual serious face seemingly having disappeared.
Both of them nodded, which made Fredrick a little happy for some reason.
"That's good... Be a good friend to Sophia. You won't regret it."
As Fredrick turned his attention back to Katherine, his face was back to being serious.
"Katherine, have you found anywhere safe to hide in the city?"
"No... I couldn't find somewhere that could hide us from the emperor's archmage scan."
"Shit... Luqing, can you bring the five kids somewhere else?"
"Yes, my lord——"
As soon as they finished talking, a group of mages suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Fredrick! How long have we not seen each other?"
A man, seemingly in his early thirties with his small mustache and beard, asked as he descended along with his other mages.
As the five of them stared at the cracked floor where all their spell had landed, they all turned to each other for a second.
"They are probably just eliminated, right?" The senior-looking mage suggested.
"Yeah. Mission accomplished."
---
Meanwhile, the five kids were still running away with Luqing, going as fast as they could.
Just as they stopped to catch a short break, a light suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Please do not run away. It makes it difficult for me to fulfill the emperor's task."
To all five kid's surprise, they were somehow back to where they were standing earlier.
Within seconds, Luqing immediately raised her sword, standing before all of them despite having no chance of winning.
"Mr.Archmage, you wouldn't go so low as to beat a bunch of kids, right?" Luqing questioned.
"Of course not. But the emperor's son wants a battle... How about just have one of you step up?"
Suddenly, Luqing was forcefully moved aside before being put into a chair, leaving the five kids standing together.
"Which one of you volunteer to fight?"
One of the boys standing near the archmage stepped up, throwing his robe aside.
Without any hesitation, Evelyn stepped forward before they could discuss.
"I'll fight him."
"Very well. I'll prepare the arena——"
With a snap of the finger, the fabric of reality seemed to be breaking as a black hole appeared.
But it was quickly shut down before it could bring anything out, leading to nothing happening.
"Shit... Ahem, well, you two just fight here instead."
This time, an invisible barrier appeared, blocking anyone from entering inside besides Evelyn and the boy.
"What's your name?" The boy questioned.
"My name is Evelyn. Can I ask what your name is, my Highness?"
Evelyn respectfully bowed down a little before getting back up, her face showing zero fear as she prepared to fight the boy.
"My name is Azir... Please make sure you give it your all——"
As the boy finished talking, he immediately cast a fireball right towards Evelyn's face.
But she was already prepared, casting a rock barrier of her own that blocked the explosion completely.
With the first wave of attack finished, Azir didn't seem to be in a hurry to attack again.
Still, Evelyn wasn't going to lower her barrier as she seemed to be casting a spell of her own underneath it.
The moment the rock barrier dropped, Evelyn immediately launched her spell right at Azir.
But to her surprise, he dodged the wind blade easily despite the fact that it was almost invisible to the naked eye.
"How?" Luna asked in shock, as the wind blade was so fast she couldn't even catch it with her eyes.
"That was a pretty nice combo. But not fast enough."
Azir complimented, seemingly very relaxed, as Evelyn started to look a little nervous.
"Take this then!"
This time, hundreds of small projectiles appeared at the same time, all being launched right at Azir.
Alex could immediately tell it was some sort of wind blade, but it was much smaller than normal.