"Silence!"
Suddenly, the sky started changing color, with the archmage's body illuminating a blinding light.
All of the spells on the other side had vanished, along with the archmage and the emperor's barrier.
All three of the kids could feel their mana being suppressed to their bodies, unable to exert outward at all.
"You all really think you can beat an archmage?" The emperor laughed as he drew out a sword.
The other groups started to panic as all of them seemed unable to cast anything at all, either.
With the emperor walking closer and closer, the groups of mages started to scatter all over the place.
A few stayed, casting an elemental sword of their own in an attempt to fight back.
Yet, despite the numbers advantage, they were no match to the emperor as a clean slash and stab killed them off one by one.
The five of them on the rubble could see the elemental sword would instantly disappear when their hands were cut off.
"You all stay back here."
Within a blink of an eye, Meiya disappeared before appearing to be standing right behind the archmage.
The archmage's head was cleanly cut off, much to their surprise, as usually their body would have vanished.
Meiya instantly noticed something was off as well after seeing her kill count not increasing.
She instantly jumped away before the dead body exploded out of nowhere.
All of the mages were shocked. Even the emperor himself stopped for a second to look at what was happening behind him.
"I had been waiting for you."
As the archmage reappeared from another spot, the bright light was now gone.
Everyone could feel their mana was now back in control, being able to cast spells.
Within seconds, the archmage and the emperor were blasted with spells as they both raised their barrier at the last second.
"Professor! What the hell was that?" The emperor yelled in anger as if he didn't expect the sudden change.
"Sorry, my emperor. I will make it up to you after this fight is over."
The archmage didn't bother protecting the emperor as he turned his attention over to Meiya, who had been standing afar.
"Outsider, what business do you have here?" The archmage questioned as the emperor's barrier was now on the verge of breaking.
"I'm just here to fulfill someone's request. You aren't going to protect your emperor?"
With a snap of a finger, a portal appeared right behind the emperor before being instantly sealed back up.
"Shit!"
The archmage started to panic a little as his teleportation didn't work at all.
"You all are going to regret this!"
As the emperor's barrier shattered, a kill count was eventually added to the few remaining mages who ran fast enough.
"You six, are you really going to fight me rather than an outsider?" The archmage questioned.
Meiya immediately realized what the archmage was trying to do, causing her to strike first as she disappeared.
A Qi wave, much faster than the wind, rapidly flew towards where the archmage stood as it hid itself inside the dust.
Nobody could see what was inside until the dust had all vanished.
To their surprise, there was a clear wound on the archmage's army, indicating the blade had hit him.
Meiya didn't give him any time to rest either as she cast even more Qi waves right at the archmage.
They could see the archmage panicking as he cast more and more barriers, trying to block it.
But every single one of them was being cut through like butter, with him eventually being hit by the last few.
Without even saying a word, his body disappeared as Meiya's kill count finally got one added.
Meanwhile, the six archmages had eliminated Luqing with a massive focus fire a long time ago.
They, for some reason, chose to watch the whole time despite being able to help.
"You all won."
Before Meiya could eliminate them to revenge Luqing, their bodies disappeared as if they had chosen to leave the competition.
Awkward silence appeared between Meiya and the three kids as they realized they had technically eliminated her daughter indirectly.
"I'm sorry I——"
As Alex tried to apologize, Meiya didn't seem mad at all over their decision or her daughter's choice.
To their surprise, her body vanished, leaving the three kids to be the only ones remaining.
"Win for us!"
Within seconds, Sophia and Mary both looked at each other before vanishing together.
Only Alex remained as he stood alone on the rubble, despite him wanting to give the win to someone else.
"Hey, Guardian, am I supposed to eliminate myself, or are you going to announce the winner?"
Alex asked as he looked up at the sky, waiting for someone to answer. But after a while, there was no answer.
For a second, a chill traveled down his spine, thinking that there was actually someone still in the competition.
Just like how he hid in the tunnels, there was an extremely high chance of someone being underneath all the rubbles who had not been eliminated.
"Shit... Is anyone out there? Let's have a duel to determine the winner."
Despite the yelling, not a single living person emerged anywhere besides the wind blowing dust all over the place.
Just as Alex thought that he needed to eliminate himself to win, a portal suddenly appeared from the sky.
"Congratulations, Alex. You won this year's competition. Please eliminate yourself to claim the award."
Alex didn't waste any time, as he imagined himself leaving the competition, causing light to appear in front of him.
He could see his body turning into small parts, almost like pieces of puzzles being broken apart.
---
When Alex could see again, he found himself in a little house, sitting on a chair next to a coffee table.
Everything looked so familiar, yet as he tried to remember the exact details of the house he was in, nothing came up.
The kettle on the coffee table looked so real, as the sounds of boiling water could be heard.
It reminded him of one he had used in the past, but he couldn't remember who taught him how to use it or who once brought him a kettle.