Chapter 33

Three days and several battles later it was time for the semifinals. But they had a lot of time before the matches started, so the ladies went to go browse the stalls. Void was standing by the entrance of the coliseum and was watching them from afar. Soon Vain came over to him and said, "This really is just a waste of time." Void then said, "To you it is, but you should learn to enjoy the little things." Vain leaned against the coliseum wall and said, "Tch, how annoying. You're sounding like Veto." Veto then joined them, carrying a lot of food, and said, "Were you talking about me?" Void then said, "Somewhat, anyway what do you guys think about Rexalia?" Veto then spoke with some food in his mouth, "She's already got the hang of using her weapon. The only problem is that she's too nervous. Because of that her speed and power reduce quite a good amount." They both stare at Veto and Vain said, "Hey... don't talk with food in your mouth and how much are you planning to eat?" Veto smile and said, "It's fine, our fight is after the others." Veto then chomp down on a skewer of meat and Void laugh and said, "Let him enjoy himself Vain. It's not going to hurt him." Vain sigh and said, "Sure it won't hurt him, but it might hurt us. Cause we're the ones working hard to feed Rexalia." Veto pouted and said, "Aw... but I'm working hard as well." Vain got slightly agitated and said, "Since when?" Void soon stopped them there and said, "Anyway, Veto your wrong about Rexalia. She's not nervous, she has a fear of people."

Vain then said, "What's the difference? They're the same thing." Void laughed and said, "You always like making everything so simple. When someone's nervous they tend to make mistakes they wouldn't. If you're scared you usually tend to run away or your body starts to become weak and harder to move as you're trembling. I've been keeping a close eye on her, so I know. She's always been hanging out with us and doesn't go anywhere unless we tag along. She's like a little animal in this field of wolves and I don't blame her. She's been harassed, abused, yelled at, hated, frowned upon, and bullied all of her life. Tell me, doesn't that sounds familiar?" Vain knew what he was hinting at and said, "Yeah, she's like Luvia. She always hid behind me when we were traveling back then. Even answering phones and calling people was hard for her. After some years passed, she finally got used to our group, and we all helped her slowly build the courage she needed to talk to people. It wasn't easy as it took some more years, hopefully, Rexalia will gain some as well before we leave." 

Void cross his arms and said, "I wish it was as easy as that, but not everyone is the same. Luvia had power given to her by CT, so she didn't always feel like a burden on us. If we were to leave, there's a chance that Rexalia won't be able to cope with it, and think we're abandoning her because she's weak, just like everyone else in her world. I'm already thinking of plans that'll help her stand on her own two feet, but I'm rethinking about them million of times over. One wrong move or step and I might get her killed or break her." Vain then said something before he walked away, "Well good luck with that. I'm not good with plans, so I'll just do what I can at the spur of the moment." Veto sat down beside Void and said, "You can do it Void. We have faith in you and if you mess up somewhere that's why we're all here." Void patted his head and said, "Thanks."

They then waited at the entrance, but Veto left once he ran out of things and went to go get some snacks. Several minutes later, it was finally time to start, and the girls ran to Void. Void didn't see Rexalia and he immediately knew what happened. So he started looking for her and found her underneath the town. Seems she was dumped into a hidden dungeon under the town, through some secret stairs, and Void found some big bug monsters roaming around below. Rexalia didn't have her equipment, her mouth was gagged by a piece of white cloth, and her hands and legs were bound by rope. Void instantly told Lumia where to go, but told her not to help immediately and to instead hide somewhere close by. Lumia wanted to ask him why, but she didn't have time to waste and ran off as fast as she could. Void then told Luvia and Luxia a shop where her coat was sold and they instantly left.

Void knew where the weapon and boxes were, so he walked into the coliseum to get them back. Void stood alone on the stage and the announcer said, "What's this Void has appeared alone?" A boy with black hair and wearing the academy's clothes stood in front of him, with more students from the academy. Void looked at him and said, "I thought so. You're the king's son aren't you, Blavet Trailviet?" Blavet whistle and said, "Amazing, you're more impressive than I originally thought. Don't you think you're a wasted on that loser? Wouldn't you like to work for me instead?" Void then said, "Thanks, but as I told the head master, no thanks. I'm actually a little mad right now, so you all will end up hurt in some way before the match is over." Blavet smile and said, "Big words coming from someone who's outnumbered. Even you'll have a hard time with us since you said we'll be hurt not that we'll lose." Void took off his glasses and said, "Want to try your luck and see if five kids really can take me on?" A sense of dread soon washed over them as they look at Void's eyes, but they shook it off as they were confident they'll win.

Lumia lifted a stone block revealing the stairs into the hidden dungeon and threw the block away while running down the stairs. Once Lumia saw the bottom of the stairs, she jumped the rest of the way down and sprinted as soon as she touched the ground. Some monsters felt her coming with their seismic sensors and stood in her way. But she changed her sword into her bow and cleanly cut through the ones in front of her, before turning around and firing an arrow at the rest, clearing them out. She then stopped running, so as to not attract more of them as she makes her way towards Rexalia. Once she saw Rexalia, she hid behind a rock and watched her. Rexalia was trying hard to remove the ropes, but she was panting hard as fatigue builds. A giant praying mantis monster soon saw her, and slowly made its way towards her. Rexalia tried harder, but once it was standing above her, she gave up trying to struggle. She laid on the ground motionless and decided to accept her fate. She thought to herself that if she dies now then she won't have to burden Lumia and the others. That they wouldn't have to suffer because of her and she was happy for a brief second.

Before tears streamed down her face and she started crying. She hated life so much that she wanted to kill herself because she had no friends, no family, no one to love her, no one to miss her, and nothing to live for. But now that she's met Lumia, Void, Luxia, Veto, Luvia, and Vain, she wants to live. If she dies they'll cry for her and miss her, so she tried harder to remove the ropes. The mantis saw her struggling like a helpless prey and placed his sharp blade arms down beside her. Picking her up, before opening its mouth, and bringing Rexalia closer. But before a part of her could enter the mouth, Lumia jumped out of hiding and shoved her hand into its stomach. Then activates devour, absorbing the monster into herself, before quickly turning her hand back to normal, and catching Rexalia. Lumia hugged her and said, "I'm sorry Lia, we got separated because of the crowd and I didn't notice you were missing. If only I was paying attention this wouldn't happen. I'm so sorry, are you hurt anywhere?" Lumia untied the cloth so she can talk and cut the ropes with her sword. Rexalia hugged Lumia tightly and Lumia embraced her back. Soon a roach monster appeared and Lumia took care of it with her arrows. Lumia then carries Rexalia in a princess carry and said, "Well let's get out of here before something else interrupts us."

Back at the coliseum, the same time Lumia found Rexalia, Void gently knocked away the gunblade Blavet's was using, then grabbed his wrist, and started twisting his arm, which were all done with only his left hand. Blavet was in pain and his teammates rush to aid him. Two of them fired fireballs at Void and he created a green barrier stretching it to encompass the arena. The barrier cancels the magic they used and when they tried to use magic again they couldn't. Void then said, "I activated my null barrier. This barrier allows me to nullify anything I want inside it and it also repels anyone I want. Meaning if I wanted to I could instantly win right now, but then I wouldn't be proving a point. I just used it to show you that you angered the wrong person." Void then cancel the barrier and the mages fired more fireballs at him. Void reach his other hand out and negated the magic. Soon the two warriors were in range and swung their swords at him. Void swung his hand and broke their weapons, before backhanding them out of the ring. He then struck Blavet's elbow, breaking his arm, before punching him towards the mages, and sending them out of bounds.

Once he was declared the winner, he jumped out of the ring, and Blavet's personal knights were lifting him away to go get treated. But Void stopped them and said, "Give me back Rexalia's belongings." The knights were scared and Blavet said, "Huh... what belongings? Last time I checked everything on me, belongs to me. So get out of the way!" Void cracked his knuckles and said, "Oh... is that so? You would dare steal and then make a lie to cover it? Should I break the rest of your bones to teach you a lesson?" Void came closer to him and all of the knights stepped away. Blavet smiled and said, "If you touch me, I can get you disqualified and have my father's army destroy you and your precious Rexalia. Are you telling me you can beat an army much less the kingdom?" Void lifted him by the collar with both hands and said, "You don't know how bad I really want to smash you under my foot. All the dirty, thieving, rotten, and soulless people like you make me feel like being an assassin was worth it." Void gripped his collar harder, choking him slightly before Void let him go, and he walked away with his knights. As Blavet walked away, he smiled, and said, "You made the right decision. We wouldn't want anything bad to happen to your precious Rexalia when you're not looking."

Void knew that he couldn't harm him if he did and they all left he would've hurt Rexalia to no end. If he had killed Blavet, then the king would wage war on him, if he killed the king then the people will wage war on him, and if he killed all of them Rexalia would be all alone. Not to mention, one wrong step and the world becomes Rexalia's enemy also he'll sadden Luvia as well. Despite being the strongest in the group he was powerless to do anything about the current situation.

Vain then sink into the shadows and followed after them. Vain wrapped the knights and Blavet in a blanket of shadow and dragged them to his territory. The color of the surrounding walls of the coliseum turned to black, gray, and white. Vain walked toward Blavet's group and he said, "S-Stand back unless you want Rexalia to suffer." Vain activated his full power, wearing his shining black armor, and said, "If you think that's a threat better try again. That might work on softies, but I'm not exactly a good person. Though Void can actually kill if the people he's protecting aren't hostages. Anyway, I'm just like you so I'll do whatever I want, whenever I want, and however I want with no care to who I hurt. That's my version and your version of the world no rules, no right or wrong, and only the beastly need to feed off each other."

Vain stood still and starts devouring the air around him. Making a draft that started pulling Blavet's group towards him, Vain's shadow beings then seeped out of the walls and took Rexalia's gear from Blavet. Before disappearing back into the walls with the items, while Blavet's group was pulled towards Vain and being completely devoured into his body. Vain then recreated Blavet and his group from the shadows and said, "Return home and act like nothing has happened." Their dark bodies and clothes regain their color and they said, "As you wish master." They disappear into the darkness and returned back into the original world. Vain then came out of the shadows as well and made his way to the arena. Veto saw him coming and said, "What took you so long? You know everyone was waiting for ten minutes." Vain then said, "Tch, I spent too much time talking. I had business to take care of. Besides ten minutes won't kill you."