As the disciples of the sect began dispersing from the area after the announcement James and crew went up to him with clear confusion written all over their faces. James had been prepared to pour every ounce of his being into the fights today to ensure he got a spot but now his spot had just been decided upon without his consent for some other person.

"Patriarch Colton, what's the meaning of this?" Noel asked first in an angry tone. She was of course not happy with the situation considering she thought James was going to win the tournament easily securing him a spot that would propel his future.

"What do you mean by the meaning of this?" Patriarch Colton asked in apparent confusion. James didn't really understand why he didn't fully understand and thought Patriarch Colton might be punishing him for the behavior of Noel and Cara toward Fifth Elder the day before.

"What do we mean?! We're talking about how you gave away James' position to some nobody despite them not even fighting yet! I'm sure if you brought him out here James would be a thousand times stronger!" Cara shouted at Patriarch Colton in anger.

When Cara shouted at Patriarch Colton he seemed to be momentarily shocked before he began laughing loudly. This made all three people in the group frown slightly as they didn't find what was so funny but they decided not to kill him since they trusted him at least a little bit.

"HA! That's so-! Give me one second." Patriarch Colton breathed out as he struggled to catch his breath from laughing so much.

The frown on their faces continued to grow during this but Patriarch Colton finally caught his breath to explain himself, "Well the one that took your spot was actually yourself." Patriarch Colton said with a slight smile.

When James heard this he had a slightly confused look on his face before an embarrassed one. The person that had been chosen to represent the sect in one of the spots was actually himself.

Soon after they all realized what had happened they began apologizing profusely as if they were some teenagers caught doing something wrong, "Don't worry it's no big deal. You are the one we chose for the Inner Disciple tournament and then we will be choosing one more from each section of the sect. We need to be prepared since the people that attacked us will also be participating." Patriarch Colton said before getting angry at the end.

'It seems like this tournament will not be a friendly one.' James thought to himself with a frown. Despite not knowing all of the elders very long he had considered a few of them like family with Third Elder being one of them. Since that sect had decided to cut his family's arm off he would not be friendly with them either.

"Thank you for this opportunity I will make you proud." James suddenly said with a determined look on his face while staring at Patriarch Colton.

Colton smiled at this before nodding his head and going about his business, "Sounds like you have a tough road ahead of you my love~" Noel whispered in James' ear suddenly as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

James shivered in delight from the touch but Cara soon followed up, "Don't worry we will support you no matter what happens and will kill anyone that steps in your path~ Even if I kill this bitch over here I'll still be here for you~" Cara said as she walked in front of James staring straight into his eyes.

"Sounds like you have a death wish skank~ I knew I should have turned your body into mush the second I saw you~" Noel said angrily as the Qi within her body began surging ready for a fight.

Cara responded in kind with her own Qi growing wildly sparking the fight even more before they both repelled their Qi at the same time because of one person, "I appreciate your kind words more than anything in the world so thank you I will protect and go with you two anywhere but for right now, stop it you two." James said angrily shocking both girls.

This was the first time they had ever seen him angry the entire time they had been together. He was always the same happy-go-lucky guy that they loved and would fight to the death for anyone in his friend group.

However, it seemed this time he was truly angry and wanted to make it known. When Cara and Noel took their auras away and looked at him in shock James continued to speak while looking at both of them.

"I love both of you. That fact is simple and we both know this and I would do anything for you. Since this is true then that also means that I hate seeing either of you sad or mad, I would kill or destroy whatever was causing that. However, when the two people I love the most are fighting and there's even the chance of you two killing each other I don't know what to do. It makes me beyond sad and I just want you two to at least be accepting of each other since you will be with me until the day I die. I'm not saying you have to perfectly get along or agree with everything but at least know that I love both of you eternally and not kill each other." James said with clear conviction as if he had been thinking about saying this forever.

Both Cara and Noel were shocked once again by the depth that this speech seemed to come from. They felt the hurt and displeasure in his voice flow into their very souls as they then looked at each other trying to find out what the other was thinking.

James obviously knew that the two may never really get along fully but at the very least he wished they would tolerate each other's presence in his life considering they had many years they were going to spend with one another.

He had thought their fighting was kind of cute at first but it had gotten to the point he was unsure what was going to happen when they truly fought.