Harem Tournament of Champions

Walking through the crowd of onlookers, Thel led Melody as they gently pushed those who were in their way.

"Hey!"

"That's so rude!"

"I was here first!"

Thel stopped and grimaced as Melody crashed into his back.

"Why did you stop?" She hissed, punching at his back while she adjusted her eye mask.

Looking over his shoulder, he nodded to the front so she could watch under his lifted arm across his left shoulder blade.

Peeking, she could make out the tavern owner who had his hands confined behind him with a metal strip.

His white hair had been tied up around his neck with its end sticking out.

His purple eyes teared up as he glanced through the crowd of onlookers who dared not help him and back down at the water in front of him.

'Is this how I die?' He thought with regret and fear of the consequences.

Stripped to his underpants, whip marks that had formed throbbing welts could be seen, with the wind brushing past it as the only soothing remedy to the burning sensation.

Standing on a wooden board with a large body of water that could be viewed by a transparent glass container.

'What are they going to do? Kill him in freaking water?' Melody jokes, shaking her head at the stupidity of what she was witnessing.

They were merfolks, it was more than unusual to go through such means as an execution.

There was a loud gasp from everyone as a masked merman was behind him, urging him forward.

Thel had his fists clenched beside him as he stared at his friend. "That over there is one of the most gruesome ways any merfolk could die!"

Melody furrowed her brows, not clearly understanding the concept of what was going on.

[It's a form of electrocution, there are deadly charged Sux particles generated by whoever had been given the task to carry out the execution...] Hisha explained the information he had gotten from HTC.

It was one thing to understand that Melody wasn't acting alone, but it would be a wrong turn of events if Thel could also guess the true nature of Melody.

If she needed to keep up with the charade, she would need to know the workings of the merfolk world.

"I already know that a slow and torturous stage until there is nothing left of that merfolk to heal from." Melody scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Narrowing his eyes at her, Thel nodded his head and looked back at his friend, and spoke in a whisper. "Remember what we planned?"

Placing her hand on his shoulder, she gave a light nod, taking a glance at the number of guards stationed to watch over the event.

"Ten of them." She whispered.

A prideful grin made its way to her lips as she considered her last attempt at fighting till the death and had dealt with far many of them.

Even though she had lost her ability to entice mermen and use that to her advantage, after the switch, it was still a win for her to gain a more refined water manipulation that was akin to Mira.

"Why are you hiding your face? Do you plan on staying here?" Melody questioned curiously.

"Just as you have a secret, I plan on keeping mine while living here." He hissed beside him.

Melody's eyes looked down at his hard-hitting words, knowing it is for the best they wouldn't pry much into their private lives.

"You may proceed, we don't need any casualties of the people," Thel responded while pinching on the uncomfortable mask.

"Who said I was planning to kill anyone at the time?" Melody hissed with a roll of her eyes.

"..."

Thel simply shook his head and made his way past the crowd.

'Fish brains!'

[The very brains that figured out your cover a little too well]

Pouting and feeling a bit distracted, Melody shook her head to clear her thoughts before acting out on it.

Looking over at the fountain once more, she created an exact scenario as she had done before, but this time, several merfolks in the market square were acquainted with the danger of this phenomenon.

Scurrying off, there were screams in terror, none wanting to be a victim of such an attack.

The guards all looked around in confusion as they held onto their weapons, channeling their Sux into them.

"Get to safety!" They called out.

[Spare no one, leave no survivors!]

Melody grinned at the command, her eyes taking note of the approach of other guards closing in on her.

"One..." She looked to her right, materializing parts of the suspended water to easily pierce him through his mail and neck with ease once it connected to form an away line.

All guards stopped in their tracks as they watched one of their own drop-down with blood gushing out of his neck.

"That was reinforced meit." One of them made a side comment as he stared in horror.

Their armor had been made out of one of the best nearly impenetrable metals–meit, only a strong adversary could break through that defense.

Left with no choice, they all charged with various Sux-manipulated water attacks.

Making a spin on the floor, all converged around her spreading out into tiny senbon that struck into their body.

Splash!

Using her knowledge of the ice claw, she made the senbons drill into their body as they screamed out in pain.

[You learn fast!] Hisha chuckled at the entertainment.

Thel looked over at Melody with a nod, laughing at her mimicking his ability.

The masked merman held onto the tavern owner by the neck, pushing him forward.

Trying his best to counter the push while digging his heels onto the floor, his hope for survival had just gone up a whole lot better.

Thel threw three ice claws at the masked merman which he blocked with the use of his prisoner as a merman shield.

'Do you think that's going to stop me?!' Thel sneered, making a push gesture on his projectiles.

Drilling through his friend at a great speed, he ignored the groan in pain, knowing he would be able to heal.

"Ahhh!" He let out a yell in pain but immediately it had gone right through his body, he felt an overwhelming sense of relief when they all began to heal.

Unable to react in time, the masked merman looked down and in between them as he saw the ice claws drill out at the back of his prisoner and continued their rotation.

One going into his chest, another into his waist.

Stunned by the action and pain of feeling it drill into his ribcage at an agonizingly slow pace.

Pushing his prisoner away from himself as he struggled to stand upright.

Stumbling and gasping in fear at the thought of dropping into the water, he closed his eyes and accepted his date once more.

"Are you stupid, Ni?!" Thel's voice boomed in rage, holding his friend by an ice ledge that had extended to prevent his fall into the water.

"Get the fuck up and jump the other way!" He yelled, looking over at the masked merman.

Pushing himself up to his feet, Ni jumped off to his right, rolling once he had safely made it to the floor.

With a sigh of relief, Thel made his way toward the merman by gliding on an ice wave towering over him.

Ni stared in awe as he watched Thel gliding above, before giving a swift kick to the masked merman, causing him to stagger back uncontrollably, inevitably falling into the water and unintentionally activating his Sux.

Zzzchwp!

He watched with a straight face as the merman shook violently in the water, quick flashes of light had his body look nearly transparent, his skeletal frame visible for a few seconds.

Clap!

Clap!

Clap!

"My, my. Who would have thought you could find your way so easily, I'm starting to think you never needed my help." Melody praised, looking around with a satisfying grin at the dead guards who had succumbed to their unhealed injuries.

'Pathetic.' She sneered, seeing how easy it was to dispose of the guards.

Ni looked as confused as he could as he stared at Mira and then at Thel.

"I never knew you could kick butt like that." He joked.

'There's a lot of things you don't know about me. I'm not the same person you might have known.' She thought as she looked in the opposite direction.

"I owed it enough to you that it's my fault you were taken," Melody responded.

"It's alright, I was the one who chose silence, and that merman you were always fawning over didn't treat you with any ounce of respect when he started that. It's a good thing you killed him before you two were caught." Ni gave an eye shut smile.

Ahem!

"I hate to break it to you two, but we need to go!!!" Thel hissed as he nodded in the direction of several guards approaching, led by the very person they wouldn't want getting mixed with.