"... How do you know the places where the monsters would be?"
Lillian gave a small hum at the noblewoman's question.
How was she going to get herself out of this situation now?
She rubbed her chin and came up with an excuse.
"It's simple really. I just did some research on possible locations the tournament would use. There's not much to it."
Lillian shrugged, speaking in a casual tone that seemed to have satisfied Charlotte's curiosity, even if it was just for a bit.
"I see... Well, then... What's next? Will we move to another place and break open a boulder again?"
Lillian shook her head, "Nah. We'll begin moving towards the centre."
She then turned her eyes down towards Norman, "Are you still tired, or can you run?"
At her words, Norman rose up to his feet. He stretched for a moment and gave back a firm response:
"I will be fine. It was just a mere temporary block in my mind that I had rid myself off."
"... Right... Could you create another way out of this cage?"
Once exiting the cage, they hastily made their way towards the centre.
In the middle of their journey, Charlotte asked another one of her curious questions.
"The plan was to just stay on the Eastern side of the forest. What's the sudden change? Or was this always the plan and you just held it back?"
Twisting her head back at the noblewoman, Lillian answered:
"The plan was to rack up enough points to where the chances of us losing would lessen. But that was only step one of the plan."
Turning her head back to the front, her eyes caught sight of the base of the mountain far ahead. As the thought of increasing her speed passed through her mind, she slowed down.
The two around her noticed this and slowed down as well.
"Why are we stopping?" Charlotte asked, noticing Lillian's gaze was deadset on looking above them.
Lillian looked through the canopies of the trees, keenly watching as a black "dot" high in the sky was... Falling towards them?
"Hm... Let's back away from this spot."
Charlotte, having noticed the incoming dot, yelled hurriedly, "You think!?"
The two ladies then dashed back, leaving behind Norman, who stared at the approaching unidentified object barreling towards them.
With a snort and a push of his glasses, he said, raising his arm, "Why run when you can block it?"
The ground beneath him then shook as a half wall of metal rose from it.
However... Norman didn't look particularly satisfied with the unfinished wall as he gave a sigh, "It seems I've run out of mana. What misfortune."
The mysterious dot then crashed through the canopies of the trees, causing a rain of leaves to slowly glide down.
Snapping through the large branches, the surprising sight of a heavily wounded large bird appeared.
Its brown wings were in shambles, and its yellow beak was cracked and torn.
Its body was also splattered with blood, leaves sticking to it like glue, and sharp bones stuck out of its chest.
Just before Norman was to be crushed under this falling avian, Lillian flicked her hand out, shooting a powerful blast of water at the falling monster.
Norman ducked and raised his arms over his head, feeling the drops of water splashing over his body and watching as the bird was moved off course.
THUB! THUB! THUB!
The bird was several times off the ground, now drenched in water alongside its blood.
It gave a few uncomfortable twitches before completely going still.
It was dead.
Norman then stiffened once he felt a hand land on his shoulder.
Looking back, he found Lillian smiling at him wryly.
"Acting cool is fine and welcomed. But be sure you can without any consequences first..."
"I... Thank you for your wisdom." Norman nodded in an understanding manner.
Lillian nodded and pointed back to Charlotte with her thumb, "You should hide behind her for now. It seems the second step of my plan has chosen to meet us instead."
Charlotte watched as Norman moved towards her. She then raised an eyebrow at what Lillian said:
"Step two...? What do you mean it has chosen to meet us?"
Just before Lillian could get a chance to respond, she heard a loud groan coming from the corpse of the bird.
Shifting her attention back, she watched as the body of the bird stretched and moved a bit. As though something was wriggling inside of it.
Her curiosity then peaked once she watched an arm tear through the side of it—covered in a sleeve of blood.
The arm then sunk inside and disappeared.
A millisecond later, fingers wrapped around the edges of the hole, pulling and pushing it wider. Eventually, it was wide enough for a man to crawl out of.
Short white glistening hair dyed in scarlet red, a handsome face with red eyes, and a white uniform that was unfortunately ruined by the blood he had crawled out of.
The young man then looked down at the corpse of the bird, smirking.
He slicked back his hair and muttered in a casual tone as though it was an everyday thing for him.
"What a fun joyride... Not an ideal one, but fun no less..."
He then noticed a small audience a few metres away from him. His eyes narrowed at their uniform and their unfamiliar faces. His lips curled up more into a grin.
"Oh? An audience of my descent? And ones of the opposing team, no less."
After getting a much stabler footing on the bird's side, he placed his left foot back, moving it behind his right.
He then placed one arm behind his back and one around his chest before taking a bow.
In a stylish manner and flamboyant tone, he greeted his audience.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Cicillian Parrot."
He then raised his head, locking eyes with Lillian before adding:
"And I am going to need all of you to surrender yourselves and drop dead."