Waking up in his room, the bed next to him was completely empty. The sheets had been made by the maid yesterday and this morning they were still untouched.

'It feels quiet today.' Ray thought.

It was a strange thing for one to say, for the sound of people talking and the sound of carriages going past were heard outside. Even noise from downstairs in the restaurant was heard. But it had been a while since Ray was completely on his own, like he was today.

As soon as he woke up he checked the system to see if their names could still be seen. Whenever he checked them, his heart would thumb slightly louder, however after seeing their names it would settle down once again.

Whenever communication with the system didn't work, it would mean his other abilities often wouldn't work with them either. Ray was unable to teleport by their side, give or take mana from them. On top of being unable to send them messages.

There had been cases like this a few times before. Some of the reasons could be like so. The first being if Bliss was in trouble, the divine being. She was the creator of the system and it was partly linked. However, Ray thought this couldn't be the reason.

If it was, then his system wouldn't have worked with anyone. Yet, it was still working to send messages back to the Redwing base. He had even asked if Bliss was okay, and their response was yes.

The other thing was a lot more worrying. More so than likely it meant it was something to do with the shadow. Wherever they were, whatever they were doing, it was blocking out his abilities. Knowing this, Ray promised himself after today, he would turn this city up and down to look for them.

'Or was the saying upside down?'

But before that, he had some unfinished business to attend to.

Heading to the arena, Ray could hear and see people looking and speaking about him. It was the last day of the event so the arena made sure to promote it like crazy. After today, the arena would be used and focused on the upcoming all kingdom tournament.

Ray would get to the arena a little earlier, as the contestants were asked to beat the crowd, but today there were already a few people standing outside. Twelve to be exact, each with a different symbol on their clothing.

They were the participants of the all kingdom tournament and were the ones that had met with both Kyle and Harry in the tavern yesterday. After witnessing what happened on the screen, they came to see the possible contender in person. They also wanted to witness today's fight, seeing if they could get any information on this Nes person as well as Roki.

However, Ray hadn't noticed them at all. His head was down and he was completely focused on the task ahead of him.

Savana and Bob stood side by side. She looked at the man carefully as she was the one who had won the gold coins from Kyle, and by her side was her partner Bob, the large man with an axe on his back.

In truth, Savana had come today hoping to meet the bald-headed man from yesterday. She couldn't stop thinking about the set of skills he had displayed that day. She was sure of it, while the man in front had raw power. The other one was more skillful, he had to be the trump card the Redwing kingdom was hiding.

With his skills, he too could have entreated the tournament, but it was obvious that they chose not to, to hide him.

Disappointed that he hadn't come, she felt like all they could do was watch. After all, they would be facing this guy as well.

However, her partner, Bob, was more interested in the man in front of them.

"You looked pretty strong yesterday,

" Bob said.

"I'm hoping you can put on the same display today so we can earn some good coins!

" He chuckled.

The footsteps continued and Ray's head continued to look at the floor. He was on autopilot, taking one step at a time.

"Is he ignoring me, is there something mentally wrong with this guy?

" Bob asked, looking at the others. They didn't know what was going on either, but clearly the man was acting strange.

"Hello!

" Bob shouted, now standing in front of his path.

Suddenly, Ray felt his body hit against something large.

"Sorry,

" Ray replied, noticing it was a person, and altered his path slightly to walk around him.

'This guy!' It had only frustrated Bob more and for a large man, he quickly moved again, swirling around and appearing in front of Ray once more.

"Hey we ain't some nobodies, alright!

" Bob said.

"Not like those friends of yours.

"

"Friends?

" Ray said. For the first time, he had lifted his head and noticed all the people around him.

"Yeah, that bald-headed friend of yours. He was so sure yesterday that you were going to take on the emperor tier beast. We took every single gold coin he had.

" Bob said with a smile.

Savana could tell what Bob was trying to do, to get the person to lash out. Perhaps show some skills, but her thought was only half right.

Bob thought that if he could get the person in front of him to fight a little, he could perhaps injure or tire him out before his fight today. Then there would be a clear winner in today's event. The gold they had made yesterday could be doubled once again.

He would never have to work a day in his life and returning back to the kingdom he could live like a king.

Hearing these words, bald-headed man, Ray could only think of one person.

*BANG

A loud noise was heard, it had happened so fast no one knew what was happening, but all they could hear was a sudden scream from Bob. He had felt a huge pain in his foot.

Ray had instantly slammed down his own foot onto Bob's, causing a crater and crushing it into several pieces. He hadn't held back a single bit at all. His foot continued to stay on top of Bob's; he wasn't going to let this man go.

The next second, he pulled Bob's head down towards his own, as he was a few inches taller than himself, and he had dug his fingernails right into Bob's neck. Blood was now starting to seep from the sides.

"Tell me, where are my friends,

" Ray asked. He didn't shout these words, he spoke them softly and calmly. His eyes, they almost didn't even look alive.

Bob tried to lift his head up, he tried to move his foot but he could do neither. The only thing he could do was try to punch the man in front of him to let go with his hands free, but the second he had moved.

A searing heat could be felt on the back of his neck, and it was entering his body. It was a pain he had never felt before in his life. It was too much and he was unable to do anything.

"If you don't tell me where they are. I will boil your blood from inside out.

" Ray said, and this time his eyes were glowing red. Ray was ready to use Dragon's truth on the man to get his answer, but that's when he noticed.

He had been surrounded. All of the all kingdom tournament members were now around him with their weapons drawn.

"Let him go!

" Savana cried.

"This is too much.

" She was at a bit of a loss for words, unsure about what to actually do. She thought that maybe a fight would break out, but something had to be wrong. Bob couldn't even move. She had no clue the pain his body was feeling right now.

"We shall fight in the all kingdom tournament.

" A man said.

"There is no need for us to get physical out here.

"

"If you refuse to listen.

" Another young righteous looking blonde man said.

"Then we will have no choice but to all stop you from hurting that man. I know this isn't fair, but you attacked him out of nowhere.

"

Ray looked around and gauged all of their auras for a second. There were eleven of them, they were strong and it would be a tough fight if he was to try to take them all on here.

King tier crystal consumed

26

/100 points

Consuming the crystal a new strength was added, and he felt stronger than he was before.

"If none of you tell me where my friends are,

" Ray said.

"Then I will bury every single one of you right here.

"

He was ready to fight them all.

*****

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