( Terra Nova Online, The Royal Palace )
After expending all his MP to save Elena, Leo returned to his apartment in sector D and waited for the hours to pass by until he would be allowed to log back into the game.
Once the work hours were officially over, Leo logged back into the game instantly and did not even wait for Luke and Amanda to get back from work, as almost as soon as he logged back into the game and woke up in his royal guest room, the royal maid entered into his room and asked him to follow her to the royal carriage outside.
Unlike yesterday where a single convoy left the royal palace, today, the royal guards had planned to take four separate convoys from the royal palace to the grand arena in such a fashion that nobody would be able to recognise which carriage contained which contestant, making attacking any specific convoy difficult.
In the first place, there was no one crazy enough to attack a royal convoy, however, with the additional security measures, all four convoys eventually reached the grand arena safely, after which Leo was escorted to the warm-up room.
Just like yesterday, today too he was brought to the arena a few hours before his fight, as there was a long waiting period between him getting to fight and him arriving at the grand arena.
Scheduled to go second today, he was supposed to wait even longer than usual, as the first fight of the day was Luke taking on Lin Mu.
***********
( Lin Mu's POV )
Lin Mu sat in her warm up room with her arms crossed and a big smile on her face as she recalled the moment when Jin suddenly came out of the shadows and slashed the Royal Counselor's dick.
*Kyaaa-*
'So rough…. So handsome' she wondered, as her face flushed a few shades redder when she imagined just how much of a beast Leo was when he was aggressive.
With most of her worries resolved, the last few days of her life had been very happy, however, just when she was convinced that the Night Guild could not make contact with her anymore, she was proven wrong by Dem Paltrow's dog, Hollard.
He walked into the warm-up room like a ghost, bypassing the security and knocking them out cold, as one moment Lin Mu felt safe in the warm-up room and the other she felt like she was staring straight at death.
Covered in black robes, black mask and only his storm gray eyes visible, it was impossible for anyone to recognise Hollard if they were not already familiar with him, however, Lin Mu was.
Hollard was Dem Paltrow's right hand man, who was considered as Dem Paltrow's dog by many within the Night Guild.
Once his master gave him an order, he stopped at nothing to execute it, as his loyalty to his master was unwavering and absolute.
Hailed as the second strongest assassin in the Night Guild, Hollard was considered by many to be very close to the realm of being considered a 'Master' and was expected to reach that legendary realm sometime this decade.
"Lin Mu…." Hollard said, his voice as cold as ever, as shivers went down Lin Mu's spine looking at that man.
She wondered if he was here to kill her for betraying the Night Guild, she wondered if he was going to be lucky enough to have her throat slit, or unlucky enough to be kidnapped back to the Night Guild torture chambers, as she froze in one spot after being paralyzed by fear.
"The guildmaster has sent me today…. The times are not good for the night guild" Hollard began, as he did not understand why Lin Mu looked so petrified of him, however, he continued speaking anyways.
"Someone has killed the Royal Counselor and many presume it to be the work of Ben Faulkner, who is linked to the night guild and hence the Emperor has dispatched his Virex Dogs to deal with us-" Hollard said, as he seemed to give Lin Mu a brief of what happened in the outside world, however, every word that he spoke made Lin Mu feel even more fearful, as she was directly responsible for every single misery that the night guild was facing.
Whether it was the rumor of Ben Faulkner killing the Royal Counselor, or the Emperor dispatching the Virex Corps, all of it was orchestrated by her, which was why Hollards words made her feel as if her mind was blanking out.
She knew she had no chance of fighting Hollard.
Even if she tried her best, she would be killed within 3 moves, which was why she did not even try to put up a defense.
The gap between them wasn't negligible enough for her to even try to save her skin.
"Anyways, I can't be here too long, so I'll just inform you about your mission.
This is a very critical mission so you must not fail us, Lin Mu, because if you wish to be the next guildmaster of the Night Guild, then this is the exact moment for you to prove your worth to this guild and gain the acknowledgement of all the guild members.
Your mission is to win the Grand Tournament at all costs and use your one wish with the Emperor to save the night guild from all prosecution and give us a legal status within the Empire.
Don't forget this Lin Mu and don't fail us….
Here I'm leaving a poison laced with a very strong paralytic for you… just cut your opponent today once with a dagger laced with this juice and he will turn into a vegetable for sure.
Remember the mission….." Hollard said, as he left the room almost as quickly as he entered, leaving Lin Mu alone, with a small vial of poison and two passed out royal guards to deal with.
On one hand, she was elated that she survived this encounter, however, on the other, she was petrified that the Night Guild could still reach her, despite all the security.