System's POV

Chapter 708: End Of The Elimination Rounds [Part 1]



The sky was covered with clouds, blocking the light of the stars.

It was also a moonless night, so the venues, where the elimination round was being held, were as dark as they could be.

Gliding through the shadows of the night, the Parade of the Hundred Demons were at their element.

They only had one goal, and that was to eliminate all the Wanderers from the Ashford Clan, who were not part of the Seeded Team, from the tournament.

Since this was their home turf, Claude had hired or bribed multiple Wanderers to act as their descendants' bodyguards, making it easier for them to proceed to the next round of the elimination matches.

Unfortunately for them, the moment Aaron and Claude targeted Zion's siblings, their fate had already been sealed in stone.

Tiona's clone slithered near the hiding place of one such young man.

This hiding place wasn't naturally formed but artificially made by the Ashford Clan, giving their people a place to take refuge and tide the elimination round without getting hurt.

Although it could remain hidden in the eyes of others, it was impossible to escape the Death Reapers who obeyed Thirteen's command.

The young man, who was sleeping peacefully inside his hiding place, suddenly sensed something amiss.

However, he believed that as long as he didn't move from his hiding place, no one would see him.

At least, that was what he originally thought.

A second later, he felt a stinging pain on his arm as Tiona's clone bit into it, making the latter scream in pain.

The Clone could have just broken the bracelet, eliminating the young man in his sleep. But there was a chance that they would claim that their bracelet had some hardware malfunction and broke on its own.

To prevent them from using such an excuse, Thirteen decided to let his Demons attack first, then break the bracelet later.

After succeeding in its sneak attack, the clone deftly broke the bracelet with a single bite before digging into the ground, hiding from view.

It happened so fast that the young man didn't know what had just hit him.

All he knew was that his arm was now bleeding, and the bracelet on his wrist was broken, rendering him unable to continue participating.

A few moments later, the Grandmasters of the Central Government and the Ashford Clan arrived, and they escorted him out of the venue to be treated, so he would no longer bother other participants.

More screams erupted in the night as the members of the Ashford Clan and their bodyguards were eliminated one by one.

With fifty overpowered Rank 1 Monsters roaming each venue, it was impossible to survive from their teamwork, which had been honed by many battles during the past few years.

Even the group of twenty Wanderers hiding inside the Forest and searching for Shasha met a gruesome fate after they were ambushed by the young lady, who was accompanied by fifty of her little brother's Demons.

Of course, Thirteen could have ended the tournament using the same method, allowing his people to advance easily.

But he didn't do that.

His targets were only the members of the Ashford Clan, for the only goal he had was to make sure that Aaron and Claude would throw a hissing fit once they woke up the next day.

The screams in the night were music to Cristopher's and Colbert's ears, who had been informed by Thirteen through the Rat Man, Kesari.

Colbert even coordinated with the Demons to eliminate their enemies, while Cristopher remained as Mikhail's bodyguard.

Although the oldest member of his Master's family didn't really need his protection, he still tagged along, just in case.

Soon, as the sun rose in the east, the disgruntled members of the Ashford Clan were interrogated by the Agents, who were supposed to look after them.

However, after listening to their stories, the Agents couldn't help but feel their scalp tingle. Why?

It was because after informing the other Agents of what happened, all of them came to realize that the majority of people who had been eliminated during the night were the members of the Ashford Clan and their bodyguards.

At first, they thought that it was a coincidence.

However, after listening to their collective stories, it was very easy to assume that this wasn't a mere coincidence.

The members of the Ashford Clan were purposely targeted, leaving none of them behind. When Claude heard about this, he immediately thought that Thirteen used his authority to ask the members of the Central Government to target their people during the night.

However, this was impossible.

The Grandmasters of the Central Government and the Grandmasters of the Ashford Clan moved in teams in the venue, ensuring that no foul play was done during the tournament. As such, it was impossible for the Central Government to have done such a thing.

In the end, Aaron and Claude pieced together the stories of their Clan Members and came to a conclusion.

It was the work of Zion Leventis!

Although they didn't have any proof, there was only one person who had a grudge against them.

If there had been more factionless Wanderers eliminated during the night, they would have simply thought that there were extremely powerful Wanderers who happened to eliminate those whom they came across during their wandering.

"It has to be him," Aaron said calmly. "There is just no other explanation."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I agree, Father," Claude nodded. "I also checked the camera footage hidden in the venues and found all of them destroyed. He must've done it to ensure that no evidence of his wrongdoing will be left behind."

Even if Zion denied it or had an alibi for last night, Aaron and Claude still wouldn't believe any

of his words.

Their instincts were screaming at them that this could only be done by Zion Leventis, and they would not accept any other explanation.

What the two didn't know was that they were right on the money.

The perpetrator was really none other than Thirteen, who had just woken up in Erica's

embrace.

Clearly, he had a good night's rest, knowing that the members of the Ashford Clan in the elimination venues had been eliminated.

A few hours later, the Colosseum was once again packed with people.

They had watched the footage during the night with the help of the Military Drones, which conveniently didn't go near the locations where the members of the Ashford Clan were.