The Winner

A few hours before

Jason was moving through the forest very quietly. He already gathered a good amount of slain animals.

He has his illusory birds watching over Lance and seeing what's going on with his team.

Lance is doing quite well and has already gathered a lot of animals. Jason is keeping track of the score until he sees a shadow-like figure approach him from the corner of his eye. He quickly dodges and an arrow barely misses him.

"Assassins?" He muttered to himself. "Who is it this time?"

He goes even deeper into the forest to throw off the people approaching him. He starts to set up some small traps to lower their numbers.

He then uses his illusory bird to get a bird's eye view of the situation.

Eventually, he sees 10 figures slowly follow him into the forest.

His eyes pop out in shock, 10? Isn't that half the competitors? They were all secret assassins?

Jason was shocked. He expected around two or three but to think that 10 of them was bought over by someone to assassinate a prince. It shouldn't be the military faction because Lance already won the first round, killing me is completely unnecessary to push Lance upwards. 

He kept thinking about who it could be and then the illusory bird following Lance also spotted some figures following him. 

Lance's entourage suddenly betrayed him and started fighting amongst each other, opening up the defense for the assassins to take advantage.

Both me and Lance are being targeted? who could possibly...

Count Grenden! Has he finally made his move?

Jason thinks carefully and everything falls into place. The richest man who is also very ambitious would benefit tremendously if he cuts off the current generation of royalty. 

"He bought over so many people, it seems he really wants us buried here", Jason thinks with a wry smile.

He slowly vanishes in the dark as he awaits the assassins to fall for his trap.

On the other side of the forest

Lance swung his sword to parry one of the attendants provided by the palace.

Luckily, the emperor's eye showed him the betrayal of his team or else he would've been completely fooled.

Damien and Allen were also busy handling the opposing party.

Swords were swinging and bodies were falling, Lance was in a good mood but now, he was enraged.

He just wanted to finish off this round well and beat Jason once more but now, his life is in danger and his team is dying.

An arrow flew through the air from a dead angle which Allen didn't notice, Lance quickly rushed and reflected the arrow. Of everyone here, he knows that Allen and Damien will never betray him no matter what so he values them the most. The three and some others began to slowly turn the tide.

The battle was very bloody and Damien and Allen were full of wounds.

However, The numbers seem like they are increasing which made Lance's face turn solemn.

If he abandons his team here, he can live but if he stays, he might face danger.

He made a decision in his heart and his eyes turned cold. He stands in front of Allen and Damien who are panting and shields them from the opposing assassins.

The group gets closer and right when they are about to besiege Lance, A roar from Duke Zenat comes and interrupts the scene.

The assassins quickly tried to escape but the duke's people were fast and competent. 

The tricky assassins were killed and the weak ones were captured.

"You will never win in the end, whoever goes against the empress, must die!" The captured assassins yelled before taking poison and dying.

The team paused and there was a solemn silence in the air. The duke sighed,

"No one speaks a word of what happened here".

The remaining members silently agreed but their disappointment in the empress raised drastically.

The medic team then went towards Lance and his team. After getting him settled they started to head back out of the forest.

An Hour before, In The Inner Forest

After handling the 10 assassins, Jason was running a bit out of mana. He looked down at the pitfalls and the dizzy spells he cast all over the forest. 

Along with his powerful offensive magic, it was not too hard to deal with them.

One of the assassins gained consciousness, even though he was immobilized.

"Haha Prince Jason, You and that foolish Lance will die today. The Emperor and the foolish empress, We will watch as you fools eat each other up and my master will end up the final winner" The assassin said as it ate poison and killed himself.

Jason carefully thought about the assassin's words, eat each other up? What does he mean?

He then felt a slight pain on his back and looked behind, he saw a horde of people in black gear.

"So there were more waiting for me in the inner forest?" Jason said as he slowly took out the needle that pierced into his back.

"Poison, this is getting quite difficult". He checked the illusory bird once again and saw Lance struggling because of Allen and Damien.

Jason frowned, he forgot that even though the emperor's eye makes Lance nearly invincible, he still has weaknesses that can force him to get hurt on purpose. 

He reacts quickly and then dodges the arrow that was just shot. It hits a tree behind him.

"To think you would be distracted while facing this many of us" The voice came.

"Maybe your numbers don't matter to me," Jason said back.

He began to move forward and then he smelled something almost burning. He quickly turned around and the arrow was about to explode. He quickly put up his barrier but the explosion was very close and he was also tired from the first wave of attacks. 

He used his mana to expand the smoke and quickly disappear. After running into a cave, his body slowly started breaking down due to poison. He set up a spell to hide the existence of the cave and sent out a message to Selena.

He used his mana to passively heal himself while being immobilized in the corner.

He knew that if he fell asleep here, he might never wake up again. After a while, he checked the bird again and heard what the assassin said to Lance before he died.

Jason's face contorted a bit and he knew exactly what Count Grenden was planning. He remembered the words of the assassin who killed himself in the ditch.

"So this was his grand goal... Killing Lance's mother was just to lay the foundation. Those fools will never believe my mother had nothing to do with this" Jason said while shaking his head.

So he wants both of us to fight and weaken ourselves while he comes in the end and takes over? Too bad things won't go as planned.

Jason continues to heal himself as time passes.

Entrance to the Inner Forest

Selena kept running while heading in the direction of the inner forest. She got lost many times and didn't know how much time she wasted.

Ivory and Fiona eventually caught up with her but they noticed remnants of Duke Zenat. They came over and noticed that Lance and his team were being helped by the medics.

"Oh, you three are here, it's dangerous, come back with us," Duke Zenat said. It was in a tone that was more demanding rather than asking.

"Duke, Have you seen Jason?" Selena asked

"No, he should be fine. Assassins would only care about Lance anyway" The Duke said, revealing his true thoughts about the value of Jason.

Selena's eyes turn cold, how wouldn't she know just how many assassins Jason has to deal with and think the Duke would believe assassins wouldn't care about him?

Some are even done by people of his own faction! Selena just turned around and darted towards the inner forest. She didn't care about anything else.

Ivory and Fiona were hesitating whether to chase or not but the Duke told them to stay and sent some followers to chase after Selena.

After a while Selena arrived in the inner forest. After exploring, she saw the ditches with the dead assassins.

She smiled a little bit thinking that she used the same trick during the campaign in the southern territory. She kept moving and heard the sounds of fighting. She saw a man, who looked a little off balance, fighting off against many enemies. 

Despite the disadvantage in numbers, The man didn't look like he was losing.

With flame spears, illusions, and poisonous smoke, Jason used many tricks to slowly win against the enemy. 

Selena hid quietly and didn't want to distract him at all.

After some more fighting, Jason finally defeated the last man and then collapsed. 

He then took out his hand and summoned his illusory bird.

"Selena, are you okay? nothing happened to you right?" He said in a soft voice.

"I'm fine, what about you?" She whispered back while trying to hold her tears back.

"It's great that you're fine. Nothing happened to me, I'm safe and sound. What about Lance? Did he get back safely?" Jason asked with a weak voice.

Selena didn't respond. 

"Selena?" Jason said once more before he heard footsteps.

He looked up and saw Selena staring at him.

His eyes showed shock and then happiness.

"It turns out you were here," Jason says.

"Why did you lie to me?" Selena said with a worried tone.

"I didn't want you to worry..." Jason said quietly with a bit of guilt. 

Selena walked up to him and started healing his wounds. The followers that Duke Zenat sent eventually caught up and they were told to pick up killed animals Jason collected.

After patching up his wounds, Selena asked why he was assassinated.

"It was for the throne, Count Grenden wants both Lance and me dead. He also wants to frame my mother for it. Once both parties exhaust themselves, he would swoop in and gain the most benefits" Jason explained.

"So this is why you said he was the most dangerous," Selena said with a bit of disbelief in her voice.

"Would the military faction really believe it was the empress?" Selena asked.

"It doesn't matter if they believe it or not, what matters is that Lance will believe it and the faction will support him. Before one of the assassins died, he named my mother as the culprit. it's the same thing he did when he killed Lance's mother. The foundation has already been set a long time ago" Jason said while shaking his head.

"So what do we do now?" Selena said with a bit of worry.

"Don't worry, I won't let him get what he wants. Falling into another person's game is the last thing I'll do. Only others are allowed to fall into my game" Jason said with a confident smirk. 

Selena smiles as she helps him walk back out of the forest. 

She was still thinking of Jason's figure as he wiped out all those assassins. Using so many magic spells so effectively, it was like magic was born just for him to use.

She was smiling as they eventually approached the camp. 

Lance was sending death glares at Jason and Selena noticed. She knew what Jason said about the frame-up was probably true and just sighed.

This misunderstanding will probably never be resolved, it's a shame Lance is being played by characters like Count Grenden and he doesn't even know.

This makes her appreciate Jason even more, such a smart and intelligent man, it just feels very safe to follow his lead. 

It was a bit awkward when Jason arrived, especially for the team that heard what the assassin said about the empress. And given the fact that Selena healed all his wounds, it didn't look like Jason was assassinated at all.

"It really might've been the empress, how come he's fine but Princ Lance isn't?" a whisper came.

Similar things were muttered and naturally fell into the ears of Jaosn and Selena. Before she could say anything, Jason held her back.

Duke Zenat shut the people's mouths and told the announcer to announce the winner so they could leave and cooperate. After the announcer counted both sides, he said that Lance killed 40 animals and Jason killed 39. Lance wins.

The people cheered and the melancholy mood from before disappeared. An applause for Prince Lance came and his reputation took a huge jump. He finally beat Jason in a head-on competition. 

The Duke smiled and the military faction was giving their congratulations to Lance.

Jason was in the corner, undisturbed by the atmosphere and acting like none of this had anything to do with him.

"Did you do it on purpose?" Selena asked softly.

Oh? Jason said with some interest. Why would you say that? 

Well, from the very beginning. You only lost by 1 point all the way to the end. I thought it may have just been a coincidence but now, I'm sure it is on purpose.

Jason smiled, Winning here will actually cause more problems.

If I were to beat Lance, then people who would benefit from me becoming emperor would start making propaganda that I should get the throne and the battle for the throne will become much fiercer. I will also look like a much bigger threat to the military faction so instead of focusing on what matters, they might start prioritizing getting rid of me and my mother.

It's not like I'm scared of them but if I have no interest in becoming emperor then there is no need to do things that make it look like I'm interested or showing off my potential. Jason explained. "I'd rather use this stage to show off your mother's magic. When people see just how useful it could be, maybe your dream can come true"

Selena froze, she had no idea that Jason was thinking about so much. She saw it for herself just how people reacted to seeing her mother's magic. Making theories is one thing but effectively using it and showing examples can really create a strong impression to the Public.

She also understood that Jason was also sacrificing his reputation for peace within the imperial palace. She then hugged him and said,

"Thank you, Jason, for doing so much for me and the empire. In my heart, you will always be number 1"

Jason smiled and lay back on his chair while enjoying the atmosphere. Way too many things happened today and he was too tired.

But this is just the first big step, he can't afford to lose. For his family and his loved ones, he must persevere. He slowly closed his eyes while drifting to sleep, dreaming of a future where he could just live freely and happily.