Whatever happened at the formation prelims, has spread like wildfire. Sam's performance has gone above and beyond whatever expectations the elders held for the participants. Not only did he create it fast, he also made the formation last so well, that even when the table broke, the part of the slab within the circle didnt even have a single scratch on it.

That is the gist of the report that was sent to all the academy teams by the spies who are disguised as spectators in the arena.

And the report went even before Sam left the grounds of Thor academy group.

After the prelims are over, Sam met with the Gambler academy group. A lot of people are still participating in various competitions. So, after informing Chorus and Dove, Sam decided to go back to the Inn.

There is nothing interesting going on at the moment.

As soon as he stepped out of the Thor academy gate though, he sensed something. *SWOOSH*

An attacker came out of nowhere. That person wore a black robe and cloak covering himself. A bunch of inscriptions are glowing on his body and mask, giving him an obscure look.

They are doing their job very well, which is to conceal his shape and form.

Sam's eyes glowed with energy vision and at the same time, he channeled his Raiju bloodline as he dodged the attack.

He stepped back on to the steps of the academy and looked at the attacker with a frown.

The other party is a peak stage second grader.

That is all Sam knew at first glance.

He immediately activated lightning fusion. He also took out both of his hand guns.

*SWOOSH*

The dagger came at him at an incredible speed. Sam kicked the ground and used the utmost speed he could muster in his fusion form to dodge it.

*BANG* *BANG*

He shot twice, the attacker dodged both of those bullets and looked at Sam, who is hovering in the air.

Sam's mind is running at a speed of million miles per second. Even with energy vision, it is hard to figure who this guy is.

The mask and the cloak are actually distorting the figure of the person. At this moment, Sam couldnt estimate, how tall he is, if he is lean or bulky, or even his skin tone and race.

The only thing he is sure of is that he is a participant in the solo combat and he is sure of it because of the token that glowed green on his chest.

*SWISH* *SWOOSH*

*BANG* Two more swings and Sam took a hit. For some reason he didnt use his guns to make the other party dodge nor did he dodge it himself. He just blocked it with both of his arms.

After he took the hit though, Sam had an expression of revelation. He became confident immediately and started shooting.

*BANG* *BANG* BANG*

One bullet after another were shot at the guy. A scene very familiar to the gambler academy students played at the school gate. The scene in which Sam played around with a peak stage cultivator with just his guns.

For the next few moments, the attacker was unable to even close the gap between himself and Sam.

"FUCK

"

He cursed and left.

Sam didn't chase after him. Instead, he deactivated his fusion form and looked around. By now, there are many spectators watching him. After the first attack, he attracted a lot of attention.

He looked around for a moment using his energy vision. After ensuring that no one is nearby, he deactivated the fusion form. He took off on harbinger to reach the Paradise inn.

As soon as he entered his floor and walk to his room through the corridor.

*SNIFF* *SNIFF*

Sam sniffed lightly and a smile appeared. He walked to the door and noticed that the defensive formation he left was tripped, but it didn't work for some reason.

He took out his handgun and…

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

Blasted it through the door.

*BOOM*

The whole room started burning and the flames aren't even red, orange or gold. Rather they are all of some dark purple color.

*COUGH* *COUGH*

*BANG* *BANG*

He could hear the loud coughs and the banging sound from inside.

*COUGH*

Then the coughing sound closed in. The windows are tightly shut with the formations. They are set there to ensure the windows won't break or open. The formation at the door on the other hand… it was set as a trap to capture the person that enters.

Even though the formation at the door seemed to have failed, but the formation at the windows stayed intact.

A young man stumbled through the door as he tried to take deep breaths. He felt suffocated. The poisonous flames are burning all over his body and there was not an ounce of clean air inside. With the windows intact, the only way out for both the smoke and this guy is the main door, that Sam just blasted open.

*GASP*

As the young man took a deep breath, Sam aimed the gun at his forehead, in the point blank range.

*BOOM*

Before he could speak, the bullet exploded his brain. The whole head didn't explode, instead only the front part of the skull and the brain exploded. The bullet wasn't strong enough to explode the whole thing. However, it did the deep.

The young man died and the next moment, the obscurity created by the black clothes disappeared. It was an artefact. It masked the young man's body size, face and height. But it didn't mask his skill set which Sam identified with his hub knowledge and it also didn't mask his scent, which Sam caught with his Raiju Bloodline.

Sam crouched down to take the artefact…

*BOOM*

A loud explosion came from the other side of the room. Someone attacked the window, but the formation discs blocked the attacks.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

The explosive sounds didn't stop. They are attacking the other side relentlessly. But that is not the only thing.

Sam looked at the other end of the corridor.

*BANG* *CRASH*

The sound of wall breaking and glass crashing following by door breaking. He saw a woman run out of a room and abruptly halt her momentum on the other side. She held a sword. A rapier to be precise and started running at Sam while swinging it wildly.

*SWOOSH* *KEEN*

The sword keen and the sword rays both reached Sam within no time. Even before she managed to reach him.

Sam kicked the ground and jumped into the burning room. He hoped the attacks missed him, but they brushed past him. Barely. His token which didn't even turn yellow for just a few moments, turned back to green.

Sam's face turned cold. Even if he is beaten to death, he wouldn't believe that this was not deliberate. He is being targeted. But by whom? And for why?

Sam did expect some heat from the other participants. After all, many people still believed that he is related to hub and a lot of academies and their elders, particularly the corrupt ones have a bone to pick with him.

However, he did believe that the competition takes precendence over their grudges and they wouldn't worry about dealing with him directly like this. After all, they need his memories. Simply killing him won't bring them anything.

For that, the competition, at least this preliminary one is not an ideal place. So, he assumed that there would be some safety at least.

But it seems like someone is a bit desperate.

*SWOOSH*

The woman with the rapier arrived at the room. However, she noticed the poisonous gases and cut open the wall directly, letting out as she held her breath. The wall in the corridor was also cut to let the poison sweep quickly.

The banging on the walls stopped. But Sam could sense that they are still there. The moment he finished her, they will attack once again and even if the windows hold up, the walls wouldn't.

Sam thought for a moment, made a decision.

He put away one of the handguns and took out a hammer.

*DING* *CRASH*

A single direct hit on the floor. The whole floor cracked in a fraction of a second, before it crumbled down.

Sam let himself fall along with it. The woman was caught off guard and fell along with it. By the time she retook control of her body, Sam already made his move.

Earth element surged through his body. The rubble of the floor which was still falling suddenly stopped before it all gathered at one point. With that woman as the center.

*CRASH*

Sam could feel her energy still surging through her blade as she tried to break through. He gritted his teeth and increased the pressure. Her superior cultivation is making it hard to keep her like that.

Sam threw his hand gun into the air and took out a pack of cards from his storage.

"I haven't had a chance to test these things yet. Hope they would work.

"

He muttered to himself and threw the whole pact at the same them. All the cards combined moved like a giant snake as it moved around the huge ball of earth and stone locking the opponent.

The gun landed back in Sam's hand.

He aimed at one of the cards, changed the bullet. It is now an attack bullet. An attack that he captured from a Peak stage Second grader in the hub. An attack called Inferno Snake.

A twisting inferno that takes the form of the snake and burned the opponent from skin to bone.

*BOOM*

The bullet turned into inferno snake as it clashed with one of the cards.

The next moment, all the cards glowed and all the Spiritual energy in the surroundings disappeared. It almost created a spiritual energy void in the one kilometer radius.

All the cards glowed red with flames as they burned and from those flames, inferno snakes came out.

It all happened within two seconds. Sam immediately took out Harbinger and landed on it.

His head is aching with the stress on his mental energy. A massive dent in his spiritual energy reserves. However, the attack is worth it.

*BOOM*

All the snakes crashed into the ball of stones within which the woman just struggled and managed to come out of.

An explosion of flames that enveloped everything within the radius of few hundred meters.

Sam bled from his nose, but harbinger took that as a cue and…

*SWOOSH*

He disappeared from that point like a flash.