Alissa and I made our way through the path that led inside the dome which stood proud in the middle of the happy and cheerful civilian crowd. At the security check, I didn"t even have to identify myself, they took a glance at Alissa"s papers and let us through immediately. The stadium was constructed in haste, but even the best of architects wouldn"t be able to find a fault with the build and quality. Superficially, the stadium appeared to be built entirely of marble, but that wouldn"t be the case if inspected closely, as it was a special kind of material whose composition was a mystery.

As we approached the field where the battles would take place, the breath-taking sight in front of me left quite a deep impression on me, improving my opinion of this world by quite a lot. Alissa by my side was indifferent to the spectacular display, but I could infer the reason why she was unaffected by the scenario which made my heart skip a beat.

What came into our field of view were humans. More accurately, humans clad in their battle-gear.

Artifacts in this world, akin to magic, were distinguished into various cla.s.ses. Common -> Rare -> Unique -> Legendary -> Divine -> G.o.d. I am quite intrigued by these items as some of them have very interesting uses and properties. Common items consist of items like everyday armor, magic-powered lamps, projection device, magic-enchanted swords, etc. On the contrary, G.o.d-cla.s.s items are said to be weapons, armor, ornaments, and other such items wielded by the G.o.ds themselves. Apparently, after the Holy War 500 years ago, a handful of such items were left scattered on the battlefield. Currently, these items are priceless treasures possessed solely by the Royal Family of each nation.

The reason why I was left speechless was because of the sheer number of the Legendary-cla.s.s and Divine-cla.s.s items that came into my line of sight when I walked on to the field. Normally, adventurers didn"t wield their items in the city, only equipping them when they left for their missions, and as such, I was mostly in the dark as to the nature of these artifacts. During my escort mission, the only one wielding a good enough artifact was Delcrox, who was clad in a Legendary-cla.s.s armor. However, that beautiful gold-colored armor was destroyed during the attack by Dragon Order, and because of that, I was unable to properly inspect it.

Currently. There were more than 200 people present on the field, correction, there were more than 200 warriors present in the field. The field itself was humongous, having a circular diameter of about 300 meters, while the stands where the chairs were arranged covered the remaining of the arena. It felt like one of those huge cricket stadiums, the only difference being the stupendous amount of area that the field covered.

I peeked at the stands, and what I saw was a display of superior construction work as there were many V.I.P rooms which had a huge chunk of gla.s.s separating the comfortable viewing places from the horrors of the battlefield. One of these V.I.P rooms stood out as it didn"t have gla.s.s separating them from the outside air, rather, it was completely in the open and was sticking out from the surrounding wall. I was confused, but the confusion lasted but a moment as the purpose of the unique room was clear when closely looked at. There were the insignias of Athena Kingdom and Empire Hades engraved above the special room. The insignia of the Empire displayed the silhouette of a man holding a staff in one hand and a skull in the other.

The special room was empty and so were the other seats in the arena, probably because there was still time left until the inauguration ceremony. Alissa tugged me along to where the other partic.i.p.ants were gathered. I was in the normal attire of a black coat over a white shirt and crisp black pants. It was a normal suit that resembled the one from my world, and as such, I felt the most comfortable in it. The only other person who wasn"t in their battle-gear was Alissa, and when I inquired about it, she said.

"As the Guildmaster and the co-host, I will be the one addressing the partic.i.p.ants. I will equip my battle-gear later."

While chatting about such things, we reached the crowd where the partic.i.p.ants were patiently waiting for Alissa"s arrival. She released my hand and walked in front of the crowd. The 200-people crowd seemed like a gathering of ants in comparison to the large size of the field, but I realized why the decision was made to construct the dome this way, the people here right now didn"t account to the total number of partic.i.p.ants, even so, their battle potential was higher than that of twenty relatively powerful dragons" combined.

As I am now, it would be impossible for me to beat all of them if they were to team-up together, I may be able to escape utilizing s.p.a.ce element, however, beating them would be a difficult endeavor, I just don"t have enough mastery of my powers yet. The people of this world are familiar with magic and have been using it since their childhood, whereas, I haven"t even had a full two weeks for practice. In a fight, I wouldn"t use it as an excuse, but still…

While I was thinking of such matters, Alissa had made her way over to the front of the crowd and was standing on a makeshift podium created candidly with the help of earth magic. Looking around, the field was quite well made with the floor made from bricks being completely leveled and clean. The bricks being used for the field seemed cheap and of lower quality than the ones used for the dome, however, I think that the people who were working on this knew that the field would get destroyed many times over, so they just held off on the unnecessary expense.

Alissa, while standing in front of the crowd retrieved a box from the crew that was probably filled with something of utmost importance, and spoke up.

"Good morning to everyone. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alissa Semohart, I am the Guildamaster of the adventurer"s guild in Royal Capital, and also the head of all the guilds located inside the Kingdom Athena. I am the only heir of the n.o.ble family of Semohart, and also the co-host of this event. I hope you all will take care care of me."

She says so and bows her head towards us. I was in the back of the crowd, but I could hear the sigh of admiration and people l.u.s.ting over the impeccable beauty in front of them.

"The battle-tournament will begin immediately after the inauguration ceremony, and as such, we are to determine the brackets before then. This year, we have a total of 256 partic.i.p.ants, while last year, we had 600. Terror of the Crown Prince, huh. No matter, each of your names have already been entered, and now we will fairly select your opponent for the first round of the battle-tournament."

She turns around and calls one of the crew members who was standing behind her. He jogs over to her side and straightens up his posture.

"Now then…"

Alissa opens the lid on the box while the man beside her manipulates the light element to display a white screen in the air.

"This box is a unique-cla.s.s item. It is used to input names and bracket them together. There exists no external force that can interfere with the outcome, therefore, it is fair. I can guarantee its authenticity. Now then, Salue-kun, why don"t you reveal the results of the pairing to everyone?"

So… that big box is a randomizer?

"Yes, ma"am!"

He closes his eyes and places his hand over the box which is radiating a peculiar aura. Words start forming on the white screen. Names, written in the letters of the language used in this world. Two partic.i.p.ants on the same line with a cross in the middle. Almost all of the partic.i.p.ants had two names, while a few of them had three. Only 4 among the whole list of partic.i.p.ants had one name, that is, out of the 256 partic.i.p.ants, only 12 were commoners.

I was once again made to realize the power balance among this world"s citizens.

"Nazriya Lomenta, huh. The name sounds like that of a woman, but can"t say."

Being from j.a.pan, I am painfully aware that names can be quite misleading. I just don"t want to fight a woman in my very first match. It"s not as though I consider women weak or anything, it"s just that I don"t want to get slandered because I gained victory by beating a woman. Just like the wall between commoners and n.o.bles, the discrimination suffered by women is terrible as well. They are just considered toys to play with by men. Weak, frail, inferior, such are the terms that are used to define women in this society. If I were to beat a n.o.blewoman, it would just lead to this opinion being encouraged… and I don"t want that.

Well… Whatever, I"ll think of something. Looking closely, my match is the 20th one out of the 128 which will be conducted in the first round.

"Now, the gates will be open for the public, please groom yourselves as the inauguration ceremony will begin momentarily."

Saying so, she takes a glance around and walks away in the direction of the special cabin. The special room was quite big, and it was sticking out from the wall as if emphasizing its existence. There were three big thrones present while many others were small in comparison. I suspect that Vernyx and Julius will be seated on those gaudy thrones, but what about the third one?

While contemplating on different matters, the time pa.s.sed and it became time for the inauguration ceremony to begin. We were stationed in the middle of the large field while the stands were now filled with people cheering and admiring the small group of people in the middle, that is, us. The population which came to view this event exceeded 200,000, and that is the total holding capacity of this monstrous dome.

"It"s time…"

Until now, none of the other contestants spared me a glance, and why would they, I am just a commoner wearing common clothes while they"re literally clad in divinity. The one who said this was one of the men from the n.o.ble squad from the escorting duty.

"Where are the other party members?"

"Do you think they"d come after learning that you"ll be partic.i.p.ating?"

"What about the Delcrox squad?"

"I think Delcrox himself is here, but his whole squad is still recovering from the whole incident."

"Calling it an "incident" is rude, you know? Tell me… has anyone spoken about "that" night?"

His forehead starts sweating, I can hear his unique-cla.s.s armor clattering and his legs are shaking uncontrollably.

"N-No, everyone is too scared to even think about it. Our limbs were torn off right from our bodies. We never want to experience anything like that again."

"And here you are, facing the man who slaughtered the ones who tore your limbs off."

"Don"t worry about it, my first match is against the Crown Prince… I don"t think you will be seeing me in any matches after that."

What did you do, Vernyx? This isn"t just about winning last year"s compet.i.tion, is it? The reason I say that is because his eyes are completely hollow, it"s like he"s completely given up on victory, no, he"s given up on life.

"Woah~~~!!!!!!!!"

I take my eyes off him and focus them on the special room. It appears like they are here.

Vernyx, Sylvia, Julius, Julian, and other people from Hades appeared in the room. Accompanying Vernyx and Sylvia were Celice, Alissa, Aneeka, Bernard and some other unknown n.o.bles.

I expected Vernyx to come forward and speak, but he just sat down on of the three thrones surrounded by the sounds of thunderous clapping and overwhelming cheering. Julius kept standing as if waiting for somebody.

After about two minutes, the only one who came forward was a man who was equipped with a robe superior to that of anyone present in the entire Arena. He seemed to be about fifty as his long, blonde hair was on the verge of changing color. He looked to be quite strong despite his age and had a commanding gaze and a powerful aura. His mana was that of an average n.o.ble"s, but it"s obvious that he was manipulating it.

As he approached the front of the room, everyone in the arena stood up, even the ones in the special room stood up. All the partic.i.p.ants straightened their backs and had a look of respect in their eyes. I straightened my posture as well, but I was still unclear on this person"s ident.i.ty. The only conclusion I can draw given the current situation is that he is the current King of Athena, but why would he attend this battle-tournament?

Julius and Alissa came forward and stood beside him. He manipulated the wind element and spoke in a voice that was audible to everyone present.

[I am King of The Wise Kingdom of ATHENA. Silbinas Athena.]

"Wooo~~~!!!!"

Why are the people cheering for him so loudly? It"s similar to when an international celebrity comes to our school to drop their kid.

[Normally, I wouldn"t have the opportunity to view this event, which I created twenty-seven years ago. However, this year, some very important people from The Great Empire HADES, have arrived for diplomatic purposes, and they said that they would be delighted to display their strength in a land away from home, and as the King of this nation, I just couldn"t let this spectacle of a battle-tournament go unwatched. My loyal and trustworthy subjects, please satisfy your thirst for battle as you watch some of the strongest people in both the nations fight it out to determine the strongest.]

He says so and then proceeds to take a bouquet which somehow appeared in Alissa"s hand and hands it gently to Julius. Julius gently bows and escorts the King to the throne in the middle. Vernyx places himself on the right side of the King, while Julius himself sits on his left side.

>

The one who seemed too loud for comfort was a woman who seemed to be in her early twenties. She was using some kind of item enchanted with strong wind magic as her voice was reaching every part of the arena, it was merely a microphone though. Her hair is blue and seems to be quite short, she was dressed quite spectacularly. She was sitting inside one of the V.I.P rooms with another woman by her side. Wait… isn"t that…?

>

After looking at the beautiful princess waving her hand, the crowd got fired up and started cheering with a new-found enthusiasm.

[Please, call me Adela, I joined you because I wanted to, I am looking forward to all the battles, and I shall speak about them as a neutral third-party.]

Her voice was sweet and clear. She was using the same item as Zoya, but her voice seemed to be that of an idols" when compared to Zoya.

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