There were only five geniuses remaining in the competition.
August, Valerie, Remelia, Eris Noct, and a man named Mikael from the Dawn Dragon Clan.
Now, less than half of them were left in the arena. The rest had been eliminated in some way, shape, or form.
Mikael just took down the last one, leaving the five of them as the only remaining competitors.
He was nowhere near any of the others, but his actions had a profound impact on them all.
Suddenly, a map appeared in front of each of the geniuses.
Its contents were simple.
A rough picture of the maze that showed them the relative structure of the labyrinth without revealing its actual paths and patterns.
And, on it, five red dots.
Not a single one of them misunderstood what those dots were.
Their positions had just been revealed to each other, as had their progress.