"Move one more step and I'll blow your head off," said a man behind Azura.

  "Geez, kids these days—you better get out of the arena and let The Last Hope's Azura decide the fate of Flaming Fairy's Blaze!"

  The bearded man who saw Azura cornered wanted to help him by entering the arena, but before he could walk any further, one of The Last Hope members stopped him.

  "Let go," said the bearded man in a firm tone.

  "Calm down, Master Guround, remember our plan," answered the man with a hood on his head.

  "This is already beyond our control and plan," said the bearded man.

  "You have destroyed the arena's rules, you will be blacklisted in the Guild and Rank Ascension!" shouted the host.

  Finally, Blaze raised his head, "I will see you again, Azura."

  After Blaze said that, thick smoke appeared again and obscured Azura's view and everyone watching the arena.

  After the thick smoke disappeared, Blaze and his friends had vanished—this made Azura annoyed, but he kept that annoyance for the right moment later.

  "Tch, coward move," said Azura before changing both his hands back to normal and walking out of the arena.

  "As compensation for the mistake from the third party, we are giving several rewards and social assistance to The Last Hope party along with a rank increase. We apologize for what happened, we will investigate further."

  "On the other hand, we are forced to stop this event because there will be an investigation process first. We will continue tomorrow, hopefully. Thank you for waiting and watching!"

  All members of The Last Hope waited for Azura at the arena exit gate.

  "You did it, lad! I'm proud of you..." said the bearded man with a tone that diminished at the end because Azura seemed to ignore them.

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  Everyone just watched Azura who was annoyed and silent while walking toward the path he wanted, heading back to his house.

  The bearded man tilted his head sideways toward Azura as if giving a sign to tell one of the members to follow Azura secretly.

  The hooded person nodded his head then jumped very high before transforming into a shadow of smoke and disappearing.

  In a certain village, there was a small house near a red barn belonging to someone who knew Azura.

  The dark brown wooden house looked small and simple, standing one story with a white porch in front and tall windows neatly arranged, surrounded by a green garden and a gravel path—its appearance calm, clean, and warm without many decorations.

  "Good afternoon, Azura, you look sad, is everything okay?" asked the man near the barn who saw Azura walking into his house.

  "Apparently not," he continued after seeing Azura didn't answer his question.

  Not long after that person entered the red barn, a black shadow appeared and transformed into the hooded person from earlier, one of The Last Hope members.

  He jumped from the top of the red barn and landed right in front of Azura's house door. He knocked on the door gently.

  After several minutes of waiting, the person didn't get any answer—as a result, for the second time he knocked on the door, but this time harder.

  Getting no answer again, he finally raised his voice. "Azura, I know you're inside, please open this door."

  "Leave me alone!" Azura shouted from inside the house.

  "I can't do that, Azura. Master Guround asked me to meet with—" before he could answer more, Azura opened the door.

  Azura's flat face was visible—red eyes, piercing gaze, and sharp voice. "What do you want."

  Azura saw a man with a black mouth mask with carvings like a demon's mouth with two large fangs and sharp teeth, along with a black hood covering almost all of his hair.

  "My name is Kazuha Kamihojo, or commonly known as Kyoryu. Master Guround told me to meet with you and talk briefly."

  "I don't need your help," Azura answered while trying to close the door but failed because Kazuha stopped the door.

  "Azura, I beg you, I was the one who gave the suggestion to Master Guround to accept you into our party, please give me time to talk."

  Hearing that, Azura reluctantly had to open the door, letting Kazuha enter his house—a small house only enough for one person.

  Azura's house only had a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen—as a result, Azura sat on the bed and Kazuha took a wooden chair from the kitchen to sit in front of Azura.

  Kazuha removed his mask and hood, revealing jet-black hair with messy pointed tips falling wildly to the back of his head, giving a tough, cold, and unapproachable impression.

  "I know you don't know me yet and I've just met you, but I and the others can help you search for Blaze and his friends."

  "Before I came here, I already got some photos of Blaze and his members."

  Kazuha took out all those photos, throwing them and stabbing his daggers into the photos until they pierced into Azura's house wall.

  "He's already been marked as a Blacklist Party, so if we successfully capture them dead or alive and hand them to the Guild, we'll get a reward from the Guild too."

  "In the center is of course Blaze's photo, and around it are photos of all members of Flaming Fairy. They're fugitives now, so they'll definitely often scatter, afraid they'll be caught together or simply just hiding from the world."

  "Catching them one by one and forcing them to give Blaze's location, or at least a hint of his location—I and the others can help find Blaze if you want to join as an official member of The Last Hope."

  After Azura heard Kazuha's explanation, he got up from his bed and said, "I'll think about it."

  Kazuha also stood up from his seat, putting his mask back on and said, "Meet us at the Guild and give your answer."

  Kazuha walked to the door, opened it, went out, and disappeared into shadow and black smoke very quickly.

  Azura walked to Blaze's photo stuck on his house wall—with fire burning inside and a thirst to get his sword back growing even larger.

  Azura wouldn't let anyone take his weapon just like that—he wouldn't let Blaze go.

  Switching to Kazuha who returned to the Guild with The Last Hope members.

  "Everything went well, I think. I know he'll come back here—from his expression alone I can see a great darkness," said Kazuha with a face full of hope.