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n“Am I this scary?” Nick asked after waiting for over 30 seconds in the middle of the arena.

nNaturally, nobody answered him.

nThere was just silence.

nNick looked around the arena but couldn’t find anyone.

nThey were definitely good at staying hidden.

nWithout access to most of his abilities, Nick really was out of his element here.

nFighting a Hero was already hard enough with his abilities.

n“Is it so hard to believe that I would actually do something like this?” Nick asked. “Do you think this has to be some kind of trap?”

nYet, nobody did anything.

n“I already killed one guy, and that was several minutes ago. Before the arena compressed like this,” Nick spoke evenly. “Most likely, the arena compressed after half of the contestants were killed.”

n“So, there are probably four left, including me.”

nNaturally, nobody answered him, which was funny since there was no doubt that Nick was heard by every single combatant in the arena.

n“Are you circling around me?” Nick asked. “Are you guys all trying to search for each other first?”

n“The first person that attacks me opens themselves up to an attack from the others, and nobody wants to go first.”

n“You can kill me, but you will be next. Is that it?” Nick asked.

nNo answer.

n“Alright, let’s switch things up,” Nick said. “The first person I see will be my ally, and we will kill the other two. After that, we can fight each other. How does that sound?”

nSilence.

nNick couldn’t tell what the combatants were thinking about.

nMost likely, they were all stalking around Nick.

nThey all knew that everyone else had to be close to this place as well, and they were probably circling Nick, trying to find each other first.

n“That includes the one that gets attacked first, by the way,” Nick said evenly. “If I see a battle starting, I will jump to the aid of the attacked one.”

nSilence.

nThere was no change in Nick’s surroundings, but this sentence had to have an effect.

nNow, stalking and attacking somebody else was a bad idea.

nThe female Hero was a bit perplexed by Nick as she snuck around his general area.

nThis was a very strange Specter.

nNick looked around.

nDing.

nAt that moment, Nick saw a tiny red light appearing for just a moment.

n“Found my partner,” Nick said.

nWHOOOM!

nThen, Nick exploded with light and jumped towards the red light.

nSadly, Nick’s ability didn’t activate since he couldn’t blind the Maw, but he was sure that he had blinded the Heroes.

nNick arrived almost instantly at the place where he had seen the red light.

nOn top of the fleshy column, Nick’s eyes saw a short message written in blood.

nMAN SPEAR ALLY!

nBANG!

nNick kicked the message, destroying it.

n“I got your message,” Nick said.

nNick didn’t see any movement, but he was sure that the other Heroes were currently scrambling.

nAfter getting blinded, they were most likely running around, trying to get the drop on one of the others.

nYet, nothing seemingly changed.

nBut that couldn’t be further from the truth.

nFrom the most dangerous position, Nick had moved to the safest.

nThe other Heroes knew that Nick now had an ally.

nAdditionally, Nick secretly had another Ally, the female Hero.

nIf there were truly only four people left, Nick would be allied with two of them.

nThen, it was time to get back to waiting.

nEarlier, Nick had been in the most danger, but now, he was in the least danger.

nOnly one enemy was not Nick’s ally, and that person knew that Nick’s ally would attack them if they attacked Nick.

nThis meant that Nick could walk around without needing to hide.

nHe was safe.

nFor the moment.

nBANG!

nSomeone had just attacked somebody else.

nThis was the signal for the final battle!

nNaturally, everyone immediately went to that place.

nNick noticed a figure splitting into several Maws.

nSomeone had just attacked the female Hero’s flesh clone.

nBy the looks of things, her clone had been killed by a spear.

nNick immediately found the attacker.

nIt was a naked man holding a spear surrounded by darkness.

nIn an instant, their eyes met.

nTheir gazes only conveyed a single word.

nAlly.

nNick’s hands moved.

nTwo of his fingers moved over his eyes while his other hand gestured for the guy to approach.

nThe man understood.

nWHOOOM!

nNick exploded into light.

nMeanwhile, the man closed his eyes and jumped towards Nick.

nAt that moment, Nick saw a black glint a bit behind the man.

nNick saw the female Hero from earlier.

nNick jumped towards the man with the spear.

n“Follow,” Nick ordered with a whisper just loud enough for the man to hear.

nThe man clenched his right hand around his spear nervously.

nNick was dangerously close right now, and he was jumping past him.

nFrom such a distance, any attack could be fatal.

nThe man had to make a split-second decision.

nIn the end, he decided against attacking Nick.

nAnd then…

nNick flew past the man.

nThe man’s nerves calmed down.

nHe had gambled correctly!

nThe man turned around and flew after Nick, who was chasing seemingly nothing.

nAfter several turns, the man finally saw the shadow Nick was running after.

nThe man overtook Nick and closed in on the shadow.

nBANG!

nHe attacked, and the shadow expanded before evading to the side.

nThis was obviously some kind of ability that the female Hero could use.

nAt that moment, Nick arrived in front of the shadow.

nNick’s right arm flickered for just an instant.

nAnd then, he stabbed forward with his right hand.

nTwo daggers came out of the shadow and blocked Nick’s blade, but the power still threw the owner of the daggers to the side.

nNaturally, Nick had warned her about his upcoming attack.

nTo every onlooker, it looked like Nick had thrown the attacker into the distance.

nEveryone believed that Nick was an Initial Hero, and they could also see his impressive body.

nReceiving an attack from somebody like that had to be brutal.

nBANG!

nA gunshot!

nA fourth person had appeared, and they had shot a gun at the man with the spear.

nHowever, the man with the spear had been prepared, and before the bullet could hit him, a maw appeared between him and the bullet.

nThe bullet was swallowed, and some Zephyx left the man’s body.

nNaturally, since there were only four people left, the last person realized that if they didn’t intervene, the spear man and Nick would kill the dagger woman.

nThen, it would be two versus one.

nSo, he had to intervene right now and help the dagger woman against her two attackers.

n“You deal with him! I deal with the daggers!” Nick shouted to the spear man.

n“Don’t drag me down!” the man with the spear shouted back.

nNick hadn’t stopped charging after the female Hero.

nNick and the female Hero exchanged a short glance.

nThere was one more thing that the two of them knew that the others didn’t.

nThe female Hero moved her fingers rapidly to convey a message to Nick.

n‘Buy time,’ Nick thought.

nThe fact that they were allies was not the only secret.

nThe female Hero moved her fingers rapidly to convey a message to Nick.

n‘Buy time,’ Nick thought.

nThat was what the gestures meant.

nHowever, Nick could tell what the actual message was.

nNick quickly reached the female Hero and attacked her with his blades again, throwing her in the distance.

nHis attack looked brutal, but it wasn’t that bad.

nThe female Hero could deal with this.

nAs the female Hero flew back, her eyes looked back at Nick.

nAt that moment, Nick saw an urgent glint in the female Hero’s eyes, and he knew what was about to happen.

nBANG!

nA long sword entered the back of Nick’s head and came out of the front.

nHis entire brain was scrambled yet again.

nA fifth combatant!

nCRK!

nAt that moment, Nick turned around, destroying a huge part of his head, and wrapped his arms and legs around the attacker behind him.

nThe eyes of the attacker opened wide in shock.

nHow?!

nHe should be dead!

nHe destroyed his head!

nSHING!

nThe next moment, a dagger entered the man’s forehead.

nTheir plan had worked.

nThe secret that the two of them knew was that there had to be a fifth person here.

nAfter all, Nick was a Specter and didn’t count as a combatant.

nSo, there were four humans and a Specter.

nNaturally, when the last person saw four people in front of him, he realized that he was in the best position right now since nobody believed he would be there.

nOriginally, he planned on staying hidden.

nBut then, he had seen the subtle gestures that the female Hero performed to communicate with Nick.

nThis guy was actually a secret ally to the female Hero!

nAt that moment, the man realized that he would have to fight a team, no matter who won!

nHe saw that Nick was the key and realized that he had to get rid of him.

nOnly then would it become a free-for-all again.

nAnd that was exactly what Nick and the female Hero had planned.

nAfter all, why would the female Hero purposefully use gestures to communicate when she could just transmit commands to Nick via voice message?

nIt was to show that she was Nick’s ally to the last person.

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