Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
Natsuki Shuurin was feeling terrible right now.
The black hands and ghostly figures that suddenly appeared and attacked weren't all that strong. However, their soul attacks had powerful and fearsome effects!
Most of the Bloodwar Alliance members had fallen for their soul attacks, including herself.
Those who weren't dragged into the soul realm by the spirits' surprise attacks were also barely holding on. There was only one person who was able to speedily help everyone: Shigure Tendo!
As if he was completely unaffected from the very start, he swiftly cut off the black hands attempting to tangle him. He then helped to break Keimi Umetani free from the black hands before he helped everyone else.
Everyone speedily destroyed this sudden unexpected threat. However, they still weren't fast enough. Someone was invaded by the ghostly figures.
This person wasn't a member of the Bloodwar Alliance which consisted of the 7321 faction members. He was another tournament participant that was on the Red Team which the entire Bloodwar Alliance had been assigned to due to the tournament hosts' manipulation.
When this person was tangled by the black hands and then invaded by the ghostly figures, the Bloodwine Spirit instantly judged that he had been "defeated" in the tournament. A large amount of spiritual blood was instantly drained from him, a price that all tournament participants had agreed to pay if they lost in the tournament!
After he was greatly weakened by this, the black hands that restrained him transformed into a black mist that swirled all around him. He then suddenly started viciously attacking the others around him! Judging from his condition, it was evident that he had lost his sense of logic and reason. The ghostly spirit must have invaded his body and started manipulating him.
The spirit-controlled person was able to attack with far greater power than he should have normally been able to, which slowed down the rescue process for everyone else. This caused yet another person to be invaded by the ghostly spirits.
During the process of battling, the second person's partner was also captured by the black hands and directly invaded by the ghostly spirits.
After a fierce battle, the Bloodwar Alliance members finally defeated the three individuals that were under control. After that, the Bloodwar Alliance actually witnessed these three people drying up and completely withering! They resembled trees that had died of old age. Their bodies and souls had been completely drained. Their appearance in death was incredibly pitiful.
The other tournament participants felt an icy chill run down their spines.
Although they all knew that it was possible to die in this tournament that they willingly signed up for, they would still be far more shaken after seeing such deaths occur right in front of them.
As for the tournament participants that didn't have sufficient resolution to begin with? They would have it even worse.
That was why Natsuki Shuurin was feeling terrible right now.
She viciously cursed everything in her heart. She used every single cuss word that she knew!
The only reason why she was cursing in her heart instead of loudly venting was because she still had a remaining shred of her dignity as the daughter of a major family. But, who knew how long it'd take before her negative emotions overcame her dignity?
While Natsuki was still able to remain calm at least on the surface, it wasn't the same for others.
"I don't want to die like this… Who the hell would want to continue! I'm done with this!! I surrender!!!"
The partner for the first person who was spiritually invaded and died was no longer able to bear things anymore. She collapsed on the ground and started shrieking.
Her partner had met a pitiful death. According to the tournament rules, surrendering in this scenario wouldn't have any punishment.
The moment that this female participant uttered out loud that she wanted to surrender, the tournament contract on her palm started glowing red.
"I confirm! I, Kari Suijou, wish to surrender! I want to leave here as fast as I can!!"
After receiving her final confirmation, the red light on her hand gradually faded and she was released from the tournament contract.
All the tournament participants that watched Kari Suijou surrender from the tournament received a notice from the Bloodwine Spirit that they were now forbidden to attack her.
"I'm leaving… you all can stay here and slowly have your fun." Kari left this final statement before she started to leave.
Yet, the next instant, a large amount of dense and thick black mist suddenly swarmed out of nowhere, instantly enveloping her entire body!
"What? AHHHHH!!!"
Pitiful screams could be heard from within the mist!
As the other members of the Red Team and the Bloodwar Alliance watched in astonishment, the screams soon stopped and the black mist gradually dissipated to reveal her dead body on the ground.
Kari Suijou had died.
Her corpse was in an identical withered condition as the other three that just died!
This situation caused the tournament participants who witnessed this to feel an even deeper chill in their hearts.
What was up with that black mist!?
As long as someone surrendered and canceled the tournament contract, the black mist would instantly come for them!?
The black mist could instantly kill someone without even any chance to resist… it was far more vicious and terrifying than the black hands and ghostly spirits!!
Having one's body invaded by ghostly spirits would result in a pitiful death. Being defeated in the tournament or surrendering would also result in the same death? What the hell was going on!?
Everyone was shaken even more by this.
It was the same for the Bloodwar Alliance members. Natsuki Shuurin and the others had incredibly pallid complexions after witnessing all of this.
If any of them surrendered, they would be ambushed by the black mist and die a pitiful death… didn't that mean that it was now impossible to leave the tournament!?
What if any of them were defeated during the tournament? Would it still be possible to even leave safely after paying the penalty of spiritual blood which would greatly weaken any tournament loser? Or, would they instantly die after being defeated in the tournament? Would only the final victor survive!?
If that was really the case… if only one two-person team could survive this entire tournament…
No… impossible!! How could something like this possibly be permitted to happen!?
…But who could be certain that it wouldn't happen?
Perhaps everyone in this entire tournament was actually a sacrifice to feed the creation of a new Spirit World…
Everyone was tremendously shaken by their fear. In fact, some even started despairing.
As if certain individuals were waiting for this exact opportunity, their enemies appeared.
*Boom!!*
Seiji was sent flying backwards by a tremendous impact. He was forcefully sent crashing through a wall.
The person who attacked him followed up by shooting a black-colored Mana Bullet at Seiji. Seiji dodged this attack and jumped outside the house through a window.
There was another loud boom as an entire wall was shattered by a Mana Bullet! The entire house started shaking and then collapsed after several seconds.
Seiji then continued his fierce battle against a jacketed man who had black mist around his entire body!
Another man wearing an identical jacket tried to ambush Seiji from the side, but Shika who was on another house's rooftop to the left shot out several sharp ice blades to stop him.
The next moment, she was sent flying backwards by her own opponent. Her enemy tried to chase after her, but a green fireball smacked right into him!
Izawa, who had just cast a spell to provide cover fire to protect Shika, was slashed into two halves by an enemy wearing a ninja outfit. However, Izawa's figure simply disappeared in a flash of light, as only a substitute body had been slashed. His real body appeared elsewhere.
"Wahhhh!! Ryuuno, hurry and save me!!"
Kanna was currently being chased by a female who was also wearing a ninja outfit. Kanna kept throwing talismans as she ran, which caused explosions everywhere.
Seeing how chaotic this situation was, Seiji decided to use his newly-gained abilities...
[Don't touch my younger sister]!
Suddenly, a great power welled up within his body, greatly increasing Seiji's speed and attack power!
[Wind Slash]!
Seiji suddenly rushed towards the tall samurai-attired jacketed man who was attacking Shika. Seiji slashed with a sword that was burning with the friction of wind force!
*Bam!!*
Seiji broke through the enemy's barrier spell and solidly landed a direct slash against the man's body. However, there was no blood that streaked from the man's injury at all.
*Shing shing shing shing shing shing—high-speed successive slashes!!*
Seiji wielded his sword as if it was a lightsaber, furiously slashing at the enemy male, causing the samurai to contort strangely. Seiji then finished things with his ultimate move...
[Shadow Cut]!
A sword cut that distorted the laws of physics cut down and sliced through the samurai man's entire body, cutting him in half!
Yet, there still wasn't a single drop of blood. All that happened was that a large amount of black mist dissipated from the man's body, together with a strange sound that sounded both like a sigh and a pitiful scream.
As Seiji expected, this man was probably invaded and possessed by the ghostly spirits.
When these tournament participants suddenly ambushed Seiji's group, he had already noticed that they were in rather strange condition. These people all had black mist around them, and faint strange ghostly wails could be heard from their bodies.
None of them would react no matter what questions Seiji tried to ask. Although they were clearly living, they felt more like they were dead already. It was as if they were nothing more than corpses under someone or something else's control.
A dense formation of Mana Bullets flew towards them!
Seiji and Shika dodged the Mana Bullets. However, the house behind them took the full brunt of the attacks and collapsed.
A large man wearing special ops type clothing used a spiritual assault rifle to shoot a tremendous number of bullets in their direction. This had outstanding attack power!
"Leave it to me…" Shika directly faced the wave of bullets and rushed forward using other houses as shields. She sent out flying ice blades in a counterattack!
Seiji then faced the two jacketed men by himself! His sword flashed and he constantly changed positions as he fought from one street to the next…
Izawa used illusions to attract the ninja man into a trap. Izawa then used this opportunity to use an ultimate move...
Destruction curse, "Night Earth Fire"!
*Crackle*—powerful flames suddenly reached the skies. The brilliance was blinding and seemed just like a magma explosion! This fire swallowed up the enemy ninja.
"Excellent job, Ryuuno! Now hurry and save me!!" Kanna was still running away from the ninja woman.
It appeared as if she would be caught up to at any moment. But, actually, the ninja woman had been chasing her for quite a while already. If the ninja woman still had her intelligence, perhaps she would have been angered to death by Kanna's antics already.