"Well...this is a fresh new challenge." Beneath the gauzy white veil that covered her eyes, Nera found herself excited. In the past, illusion dummies needed to be triggered by proximity or audio cue, such as a greeting in order for them to respond to a competitor.

And such a thing only happened in the first course, within a town illusion where it would make sense. Until the fifth and last course, when a competitor was negotiating with another person, they were solo illusions. Just the competitor and the illusion.

The second course often had animals, including a few predatory ones that they had to avoid, but those illusionary predators were limited to a certain area. Once a competitor fled from that area, the predator would reset and return to its first location.

Nera thought that the limitations of the Magic Tower and their illusions were as such, but it seemed they recently took her strongly worded critique letter seriously this time and added something more of a challenge.

The low cloud cover which blocked her view of the exit checkpoint river was a pleasant surprise to increase the difficulty and interestingness of the illusion.

The illusion dummies who were likely bandits trying to rob her precious vase was unexpected, but a nice touch.

During the one versus one combat events, she held back. Even with her strength and speed limited, her formative years had been seeped in physical combat training with a general for a father and the heiress of martial legacy for a mother. Her body was trained to defend herself in the best possible way; by eliminating the threat.

And in a competitive match, she didn't want to kill anyone, so movements that were particularly fatal when implemented correctly weren't used. Most of the competitors were acquaintances, if not friends and students of hers.

But an illusion dummy was different.

She didn't have to hold back.

Her arm looped around the head of a male figure as she swept behind him. A sharp crack was heard and his head turned to an inhuman angle. His body went limp beneath him.

It was so quick, she was disappointed.

"Perhaps I have to hold back a little bit...." she muttered to herself.

Someone in the surrounding fog let out a horrified cry as they stepped out far enough to see her standing over the crumpled body of a man dressed in ragged, worn clothes and a dagger still in his belt sheath. "Martie!"

Nera's eyes narrowed and settled on the next dummy. "Interesting interpersonal reaction settings," she said. That seemed rather complicated to create within an illusion. Perhaps the Magic Tower had stepped up the quality of their production.

Nera sniffed. Still no scents fitting for a forest, though.

She darted forward, the vase comfortably in a bag strapped against her back. The illusion dummy seemed to sense her in its vicinity and raised its sword. The blade was held up, pointing in her direction as if she'd be stupid enough to run straight into it.

Nera crouched down as she ran, sweeping her right arm down and grabbing a fist full of dead leaves and soil off the forest floor. She threw it at the man's face as she approached. Though she was more than a few steps away, the flying dirt and leaves made the man step back to avoid them.

The momentary distraction was all she needed. She stepped out of the sword's path and into an angle that would be difficult to adjust to. Her forearm braced against the flat of the blade, keeping it from being pushed towards her. With some control over it, Nera stepped closer, locking her arm with the man's and then pulling back.

She threw him over her shoulder. The sound of his arm popping out of its socket at the force of the throw at a particular angle was drowned out by the heavy thud of his body and the crunch of dried leaves as he landed.

The sword was twisted from his hand and Nera weighted it. It had a good weight to it; what she'd expect from a weapon. She glanced at the man rolling and screaming in pain on the ground.

From the weight of his body when she threw him, he felt quite solid and real. Not to mention the feeling of flesh felt real, as well.

"They've improved," she couldn't help but praise the Magic Tower for finally elevating the illusion. Illusion dummies typically felt solid, but not in the way a normal human felt. It was as if they were bags of dirt. When she'd run into an illusion dummy in the first course, it didn't feel like running into a human, which would have varying weights, densities depending on muscle and fat.

She narrowed her eyes. Humans were also warm.

She looked down at the man still howling on the ground and frowned with disgust. "They didn't have to make it so you were so loud and annoying."

She raised the sword. The man's dark eyes were wide open as he saw her standing above him. His face paled and he shook his head. He held up his one good arm as his feet struggled to push him away from her. "No! No! Wait! I'm-"

Blood spurted out of his neck as his head, with gaping mouth and wide eyes, hit the ground.

The smell of iron reached her nose. Nera leaned her head forward to get a better whiff. "Oh...maybe they are working on adding scents to the illusions. That's good." She nodded, satisfied. The blood felt warm, too. Very real. "It'll be more immersive that way."

"You heinous bitch-"

Nera heard the heavy footsteps coming from behind her. She turned, still grasping the sword she'd taken with one hand. Another illusion dummy was running towards her from the fog cover with an enraged expression.

"The facial expressions for these immersive dummies are much better than the generic ones in town...." she muttered to herself. "Perhaps these ones take more energy and effort to make, so they can't be used widely yet." That was fair.

The man was screaming with his sword raised in his right hand to cut down at her. A thousand curses seemed to come out of his dirty mouth. She had to admit, the constant cursing was a bit off putting, but she supposed it was what these 'bandits' were programmed by the Magic Tower to say for realism.

Nera's sword slammed into his and parried it to the side. She adjusted her hilt and slammed it down into the man's face. His head was thrown back and Nera raised a leg to kick him in the stomach. He fell back.

Before he could push himself up or roll to the side, Nera stabbed the sword into his chest, aiming for a gap between his ribs, though she supposed in an illusion, it didn't really matter. However, habit was habit.

The man let out a heavy wheeze of air as his eyes bulged. It wasn't a scream, but more an indignant gasp of disbelief that she'd stab him. For a moment, their eyes met with just the fabric of the veil between them. She caught his shrunken pupils and noticed the absolute horror in his gaze as blood began to trickle from his mouth.

Nera pressed down further, earning her a choked hiss.

"That's surprising...." she said. "They made the bandits' faces so expressive...it's probably because they're new." She shook her head. "I hope they apply this to all their illusion dummies next time."

She pulled out the sword and heard a few clicks behind her. Her eyes went wide before she pushed herself up and rolled to the side before rolling on to her feet and running into the cloud cover.

The familiar whistles of short, but sharp, arrows cut through the air. She heard the sharp groans of the dying illusion dummy as the three arrows or darts, if she counted correctly from the sound of it, hit him after she jumped out of the way.

"She went that way!"

"Seal off her path!"

Nera continued to run until she saw a thick tree trunk. While she was fairly sure she was running in the right direction, she wanted to make sure. She paused in front of a tree and prepared to jump when a thin, narrow wooden object made a whizzing sound embedded itself into the trunk of the tree she was about to grab on to.

She narrowed her eyes as her lips pulled down. "I see...." She should've been deep enough in the fog that they wouldn't be able to see her, but if they could get a shot that close…. "The dummies aren't affected by the fog."

In a way, it made sense. Why else would those bandits run towards her so confidently and seem to know where she was for long enough to follow her?

Nera sneered and grabbed the arrow with one hand, using it to pull her up so she could grab another branch. She climbed into the tree, allowing its branches and leaves to cover her when she got high enough to take another look around.

As expected, she was still running in the correct direction, and the river wasn't far. The long, winding river was quite large, and the competitors were told to jump into it to finish the course.

Another arrow let out a whistle and Nera leaned back and raised one hand. Two little arrows went past her head while her hand grabbed the third before it could hit her. She snapped it in two. Projectile weapons were a pain when she was unarmed and at long distance.

She'd either have to close distance to get to them, which meant dodging any projectile attacks while she did so, try to out run to get to the river and conclude the course, or turn the tables and hunt them instead.

Nera drew her lips inward and bit them. On one hand, she wanted to stay and see what the illusion dummies could do. On the other hand, this was still a timed event and she'd already broken the rules and got zero points for the first, knocking her out of her usual placing.

It looked like she had no choice. Nera readjusted the sword she'd carried up with her and then threw it like a spear into the fog below. Someone let out a yell of pain.

"I thought she couldn't see us! Ah! Dammit, it hurts!"

She couldn't see them, but she could guess where they were. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to finish then.

"Focus on the game, Nera...." She let out a heavy sigh and instead of jumping or climbing down, she ran down the branch. The tree shook with each step she took. As she neared the end of the thick branch, which had tapered out, she jumped on to the branch of another tree.

"She's in the trees!"

"Shoot her!" Several more whistling sounds came and missed Nera as she ignored the illusion dummies and continued to make her way towards the river.

"She's too fast!"

"Of course, I'm going fast. Pausing equals death." Nera almost wanted to roll her eyes. It seemed common sense wasn't a trait the illusion dummies were programmed with.

Every so often, she'd hear the arrows and feel the slight movement of air as one almost brushed her. It was a very particular detail that she didn't think the Magic Tower would pay attention to, but it was good for realism. Her heart was almost racing with some excitement.

As she neared the river, she didn't bother climbing down. She made her way to a tree that branched over the water and walked over.

"Stop!" The two illusion dummies had reached the river banks, panting and with small crossbows in their hands.

They aimed at her.

Beneath her veil, Nera raised a brow.

She stood on the edge of a branch that was already curving down towards the water at the weight of Nera. She put one hand behind her to check her vase. Finding it secure and untouched, she then moved her arms out and taunted the bandits.

They let out frustrated cries and several whistles were heard as the arrows were fired. Nera stepped back.

Her body plummeted into the river as she lifted both hands and gave them a rude, mocking gesture just as she hit the water.

A moment later, it was as if she blinked, and Nera found herself landing feet first into a patch of soft grass and dirt. The bright, unobscured sunlight hit her, and the familiar screams of an audience waiting for any chance to see a competitor appear filled her ears.

Two courses down. Three to go.

Nera chuckled to herself as she moved her bag forward to check on the vase. The dead leaves she'd used to pad the bag were gone.

Nera nodded to herself and took a deep breath to relax and prepare for the next course that would open up after her rest period.

She raised a hand to brush some hair out of her face when she caught the dark spots on her sleeves. Her eyes narrowed as she brought her right arm up to her nose.

Her head almost snapped back as she frowned. Iron.

Nera's other left hand moved over several spots of dark red on her pale sleeves. They were kind of damp. Her eyes narrowed as one thought went through her mind.

The blood should've disappeared.

When she left the course, anything that was part of the course, from the dead leaves to grass and mud stains, to the river water that should've drenched her when she fell into it, should've disappeared. She was dry as a bone with no mud on her hands.

Just blood on her sleeves from when she killed those illusion dummies.

Her chest rose and fell with a heavy breath as she raised her head and looked up. She couldn't ignore the very real possibility that the bandits she thought were illusion dummies where real people.

Which brought up an even more alarming question: why were there real people in an illusion?

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A small ding sounded, indicating that her next course was about to open and to get ready. Nera turned around and faced forward. She pushed up her blood spotted sleeves to her elbows before adjusting her bag.

Why were there real people?

Did everyone else get real people in their illusions?

Did the Magic Tower know?

She grit her teeth. If they were real people, were they trying to kill her? The sword she had taken and used was certainly real.

Her eyes narrowed as the last ding sounded and she stepped into the next illusion. It seemed that she'd have to be more careful going forward.

As soon as she put her foot down, she felt the loose earth beneath her give way. Her eyes widened, not expecting to step on to loose dirt as soon as she entered. Nera reached out to feel for something to grab on to and managed to get ahold of some rock. Her hands adjusted, wedging her fingers into cracks against the rock as the ground gave way beneath her.

"This is new, too...." She almost wasn't sure if she was in the correct illusion.

The third course was part way up a mountain. She had to climb up with her vase to reach the peak. Upon reaching the peak, that course would be completed and she'd be ejected from the illusion. This was what happened in previous years and what they had been told earlier that week.

However, usually when they entered the third course, they were on a ledge or a piece of flat ground with a good portion of mountain below them and a difficult, but short climb, to the peak above them. She had landed on loose dirt and almost tumbled down.

Nera frowned as the cold wind whipped past her face and cut her skin. This was the first time it was night, too.

The sky was clear and for some reason, she could still see despite the few stars and lack of moon, but everything was darker, as if tinted with indigo. She couldn't see out into the distance and things melted into each other.

After what happened in the last course, she began to wonder if this was only happening to her or to everyone else. When they had the post-mortem after the competition, they'd discuss, but she hoped that her fellow competitors didn't have to face those living humans hunting them in the previous course.

While unfair, she'd rather they hunted her alone.

With the vase strapped to her back, she kept her chest and stomach against the face of the mountain. One hand wedged itself into a crack in the rock face with one foot doing the same while her other hand moved along the surface to feel for another ledge, crack, or out cropping to help her climb.

The mountain side wasn't a sheer drop, but it was close. The angle was so steep that if she slipped, she'd slide down. There weren't any of the normal rocks of ledges she'd usually use to help her climb up the mountain. Points similar to the one she was one didn't make up the entire mountain, at least not previously.

There were three or four lengths along the mountain where the rocky incline they would traverse over became too steep and they'd have to climb and crawl up the mountain instead of hiking.

Nera let out a low breath and swung her body in order to reach another hold point. Was the entire mountain going to be like this? Even with her stamina and strength, it was exhausting as it simply was not the type of physical activity she was used to.

The precariousness of the climb also slowed her down.

In previous courses, she could walk. Now, it seemed as if she was crawling up the side of a mountain. A small part of her couldn't help but be irritated at this.

She'd climbed up mountains before. There were plenty of places to hike and climb around West Wind Abbey. She'd taken Enroshan up several times at his insistence. The first few times, he was struggling. It was a bit amusing to watch him try to keep a smile and reassure her that he was fine and that the climb was not tiring in the least, but then he needed to stop to catch his breath and whimper when he looked over his shoulder, down a cliff.

She didn't know why he wanted to do something like climbing up a mountain considering how they met, but he seemed to want to get used to it. Slowly, he was able to keep up with her. During their last 'casual hike', it was Enroshan who was up ahead and offered her his hand to help her up.

She could still remember the pride and joy in his face as he held out his hand, as if eager to finally be the one to pull her up. She'd rolled her eyes, but still took his hand. She swore he giggled as he pulled her and brought her close.

"See?" he said with that cheeky smile. "I can learn to be dependable for you."

Then Soraya yelled at him to stop holding up the line and move. For a normal human, Soraya was exceptionally athletic and surpassed Enroshan. Soraya never did understand why she was attracted to a 'delicate scholar' when it was well known Nera found bigger, stronger men attractive in the past.

Nera snorted to herself. "Well...at least he was bigger where it mattered." His heart and mind. Also, his face was nice to look at.

She briefly wondered if the three of them raced, who would reach the peak first. Considering Soraya's reckless competitiveness, probably her, so long as there wasn't an accident.

As Nera moved her feet around, searching for a foothold, she ignored the wind. Like any mountain top, there was a fair amount of wind and cold air from the elevation. Still no smells, but she could feel the cold. It actually wasn't as cold as it could've been and she wasn't sure if that was on purpose or a weak point.

She found her foothold at knee level and used it to push herself up. When she was secure at three points, she used the fourth to search for another holding spot. It was a slow method, but it was safe.

Then she heard a faint screech in the distance. Nera pulled herself up again and cocked her head to the side, turning an ear towards where the sound had come from. Was that the wind?

The screech sounded again and her eyes widened.

That was not the wind.

"Dragons?" she whispered under her breath as her eyes narrowed. "They have dragons now?"

The screech sounded again, closer this time. Nera frowned. These weren't real dragons, they were illusion dummies like the townsfolk. Had they been real, Nera would've understood their sounds immediately. To a normal person, the screeches may have sounded legitimate, but to her, it was gibberish.

And while illusion dummies weren't real, they were created to feel real. If they attacked her, she would feel any pain from the attack. To her understanding, and from Ash's study of the current illusion system, any injuries incurred would disappear once she'd exited from the illusion.

However, the feelings she'd felt and the physiological reactions she had to the illusion were very real and could very much affect her health.

In her first year, one of the competitors slipped and fell off the mountain in the third course. Her body didn't have any real physical injury from the fall once they ended the illusion, but the impact of the fall was still in her head, which triggered a response to the perceived pain.

The competitor was in a state of shock and was so shaken, she couldn't continue.

In comparison, one of her student competitors broke his arm in the illusion and cradled it around until he exited. Upon stepping out, he was fine.

As long as the illusion caused it, physically one was fine upon leaving. Perhaps not mentally, though.

And if something real in the illusion attacked, then the consequence would also be real.

Nera took a deep breath and continued the slow and steady climb to the top. She could hear the flapping wings and the screeches behind her, but they didn't seem to come closer. Perhaps it was just for creating a tense mood to add pressure on the competitor?

A gust of wind came from above and she looked up. She felt the mountain tremble beneath her as something ran against the mound side. A nonsensical screech filled the air before the low rumble of falling rocks came.

Swearing, Nera reached back for her vase. She hadn't found anything to use as padding since she arrived. There was simply nothing else around except for rocks, and rocks didn't make the best padding.

The vase was tucked against her body before she raised her arm to cover her head. Her entire body was pressed against the mountain as to her left, rocks as large as a fist tumbled down.

The dragon screeched again, giving her an idea of where it was. It seemed that it had scraped alongside the mountain to try to cause a landslide. Nera scowled.

Either the Magic Tower was really trying to increase the course difficulty or someone was trying to stop her from winning yet again.

She took a deep breath and continued. Her speed increased despite knowing it would deplete her stamina faster. She continued to crawl, but towards where the dragon had clawed against the mountain.

There was likely going to be a large gap caused by the dragon, and she was right. Nera pulled herself up and managed to take a seat on the ledge. She leaned back on her arms and took low, even breaths. Her arms were a bit sore and her exposed flesh had been scraped by the rough mountain.

The small scrapes would disappear, but it was still bothersome.

There was another screech in the distance and Nera narrowed her eyes. The dragon was further away and it seemed as if there was only one. The screech sounded again, closer, and then silence.

Suddenly, there was a rumble and screech.

Elsewhere, the mountain had been scraped again. It seemed this is what the dragon had been created to do. But did it do it in a loop?

Nera remained in the ledge, not caring about the time, as if she was knocked off the mountain by a falling rock, she not only would lose time, but could likely break her vase, which would disqualify her.

She counted the time between the dragon screeches and the attack on the mountain. She had some safe time to climb and it seemed that all the dragon did was scrape the mountain, causing rocks to fall. She'd have to avoid the rocks.

She just didn't know where the dragon would scrape next unless she could figure out a pattern with the existing scrapes.

Nera adjusted her bag once more and crawled out of the narrow crack that had been created. She doubted the dragon would scrape directly above the previous attack, so she made sure to stay above it.

While she was mainly right, there were three close calls. Some of the attacks overlapped and a rock hit her shoulder. She let out a low hiss, but continued up.

The fact that the mountain side was so steep irritated her more than it should've. Who knew how much time had been wasted because it took so long to climb in this way.

The Magic Tower is going to get a strongly worded letter....

Gritting her teeth, Nera allowed her lower body to hang as she used her hands and arms to pull over an outcropping of stone. She silently prayed that the rock did not continue to be so steep and as she managed to get a foot hold and push herself up, over the top of the outcropping, she found that the outcropping was a ledge of some sort.

She silently thanked the gods and pulled herself up, careful to avoid hitting her bag with the vase against the stone. On her hands and knees, she scanned the area and furrowed her brows. From what she could make out the mountain was no longer that cliff face, but instead appeared as a normal mountain path.

It was just that there were no trees, just large rocks. However, the gentle slope had a curved path that led up to the peak. She could see a familiar white flag indicating the checkpoint. For a moment, Nera wasn't sure she was seeing it right and couldn't help but be suspicious.

While not close, it wouldn't take her more than a few minutes to hike up there. The path wasn't exactly that, but she noticed the occasional bald spots that could be considered a path. "Is this a trick?" she mumbled to herself as she slowly pushed herself up. She stood in place, her arms out at her side as she listened. There was a rustle of wind and the chill air, but she couldn't hear the dragons screeching.

Did they disappear once she reached a certain elevation? This should've been covered when they were reviewing the course.

Frowning, she trudged up the path. Occasionally, she could hear a dragon. The sound if their leathery wings was something she could identify, even if it was only an illusion. As long as they weren't swooping down at her or breathing fire or some other element, she'd ignored them.

Then a large stone fell to the side, causing the ground beneath her to shake and crack. Her eyes widened and she looked up. "Are you serious right now?" she almost yelled in disgust into the darkness.

She heard the flapping of wings and the crunch of stone, but not the usual screeches, trills, or growls of a dragon. However, she knew they were overhead. She could see their vague shadows against the inky blue sky.

Her somewhat measured walk turned into a sprint to the peak. Rocks ranging from the size of her head to that of a small boulder fell around her. Several landed so close, she was sure they weren't being dropped at random, but rather, they were aiming for her.

Rather than follow the curve of the path, she scaled the mountain in a straight line, jumping over the various rocks and plants on the ground. Her movements were erratic enough that the rocks missed her. Perhaps the dragons were programmed to drop the rocks on where they thought she would go.

Her eyes settled on the flag. It was on a small metal rod embedded on a large, wide piece of stone. The crunch of rocks being dropped increased and more began to fall around her.

She zig-zagged across the final few paces and extended her hand. She looked up and saw the shadow of a creature above her. She slammed her hand on the rock as she felt dirt fall from the sky.

A moment later, she found herself standing in the rest area, with no cuts or bruises from climbing.

Instead of checking her vase, Nera first looked up, part of her expecting to see a boulder coming down from the clear blue sky that had followed her. Her hands shook as her chest raised up and down.

More than ever, she hoped that the others didn't have to face such a scenario, as it was quite intense, even for her.

Ignoring the sound of cheers, she checked her vase. Even without padding, she'd been careful with how she held it against her body. As long as it didn't slam into anything, it was fine.

She tried to loosen her tense body as her mind tried to sort out whether the last course could've been made just for her. However, when the competitors got in line to enter their illusions, their placements were drawn by lots so as to spread them out without fear of tampering.

Even then, the illusions were all supposed to be identical.

They found their lane just before they got into the carts to come to the field, when they drew the lots. There were others with them when they did, but who'd have time to prepare and adjust a complex illusion that had been finalized weeks earlier?

She looked down at her right hand, which had been the one to draw the slip of paper during the lottery. Her eyes narrowed. Unless she had somehow picked the worst possible lane?

"What is going on...?"

The warning ding sounded and she turned her head. She narrowed her eyes and adjusted her bag once more. She supposed she'd figure it out when this was over.

The second ding came and Nera walked into the fourth course.

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"She's fine," Henry said, frowning as both he and Ash stood at the edge of the viewing suite balcony with spyglasses in their hands.

"She looks like she suspects something," Ash said with a frown. He lowered his spyglass and wore a cold look on his face.

"Did something else happen in the third course?" Henry asked. Earlier, Ash confirmed that there were no foreign bodies in the third course. The energies he'd noticed in the second course did not move forward.

No foreign bodies didn't mean something else was wrong. Ash wore a hateful look. "Momma was the first into the third course, so I didn't notice anything at first, until I compared it to the next two who entered. Momma's course has much more magic."

"What does that mean?" Prince Tae asked behind them.

"It means it's likely that there is more happening inside my aunt's illusion than in the other competitor's illusions," Henry replied. He looked at Ash. "Do you know what's wrong?"

"There are more complicated magic combinations used. The grid has more characters. Overall, her illusion must be much more complicated than the others."

"What's the third one supposed to be?" Hana asked from her seat with a frown.

"The mountain summit," Ash replied. His brows were knit as he spoke. "Typically, it's a strenuous hike with a few parts where you have to scale a cliff side. It's more a measurement of physical strength and coordination. I know others have said it's a bit relaxing to just hike and climb without distraction."

"Are the other illusions identical?" Henry asked. Ash nodded.

"Yes, from start to finish...the magic prepared is the same. Only Momma's is different," Ash replied. "And it must've been more taxing." He glanced at the scoreboard.

His mother had been in the lead, having passed the first and second courses first, but now she was behind three other people. It wasn't a large gap, but in such an event, every second counted.

"Even if the illusions weren't identical," Prince Tae began as he raised his hand to rub his chin and frown. "I thought their placements were done by lottery just before they arrived. How would they know which illusion set she'd go?"

Hana sat up straight. "Does that mean that perhaps it wasn't meant for Auntie?"

Henry sighed heavily and shook his head. "While that's a possibility, considering what happened with her ship, the horses, the shoddy swords...."

"But it wasn't just hers," Ash pointed out. "As of what happened with the horses, they've lost more people before this event than they had in previous years."

It was normal for one or two people not to make it to the very end, but they were just over halfway through the all-around, and five people were no longer competing. Either the quality of the equipment and staff had severely declined, or there was sabotage.

Considering how important the Invitation was, it couldn't be the former.

The group was quiet for a moment. Prince Tae took a deep breath. "Are you sure there were five real people inside your mother's course?"

"Yes, anyone who enters the illusion becomes wrapped in magic, so you can track where a living person is by where that bundle of magic is. It stands out from the rest of the illusion magic," Ash replied.

"Then, we should report it."

"No!" Ash whirled around and took a step forward to try to stop him. Prince Tae frowned.

"Why not?"

"Momma may be having a difficult time, but she's still making good progress. It doesn't seem that whatever difficulties she's facing is having an effect on the other competitors, either," Ash told him in a low voice. "If we report it now and they stop the competition, then it will need to be reset."

"Then let it be reset."

"That'll only give them a chance to try again," Henry said, meeting Prince Tae's eyes.

Ash gave him a calm gesture. "I'm here. If there is anything that really goes wrong, I'll step in, regardless of what that means in the competition. For now, I have to trust Momma's abilities. And from what I looked over just now, there are no foreign bodies in the fourth course, either."

"What about differences in the illusion magic compared to the other three?" Henry asked.

Ash took a deep breath and shook his head. "As of right now, there doesn't seem to be anything different. The magic is flowing the same as the others. If they are targeting her, maybe they didn't expect her to get that far."

Prince Tae and even Hana looked hesitant, but they nodded. "She has two more rounds. Those two shouldn't be as bad."

The brothers nodded.

"Also, three of the five foreign bodies inside the second course haven't moved. When Momma was inside, they were following her. The three that aren't moving were the ones that collided with Momma's energy," Ash said, turning back to the field. "And when she came out, she was looking at something on her sleeve."

"What does that mean?" Prince Tae asked.

Ash raised his arms and brough the spyglass back to his eye. "It means Momma might not have realized they were real people," he said. "And killed them."

Hana frowned. "Then she had to fight them? Did they have weapons? Auntie doesn't have any weapons."

Henry gave a wry chuckle and crossed his arms over his chest before looking back at the field. "Auntie doesn't need weapons," he said. "Nera Atractas is the weapon."

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