At the center of the Aetherforth Arena’s Main Stage, a moss-haired man kneeled, eyes closed, with his face angled to look at the ground.
Edmund suddenly felt the weight of the mont.
A few more minutes later, he would be among the nine strongest wizards of humanity, and his entire race would be relying on him.
Would he be strong enough after awakening his mark?
Was he qualified to replace the mighty and stoic Targon Rockbarrow?
Only now did those questions shake him, but only slightly.
Edmund fought his way to the top of the Earth Magna Prospects and erged victorious even against soone a few years ahead of him.
The thought that there was no one more qualified than him to succeed the previous Earth Magna allowed him to recollect himself and steel his resolve.
So what if he wasn’t imdiately qualified to be ntioned in the sa breath as Targon?
Ti will pass, and one day, he will be.
This was Edmund Ra’s resolve.
anwhile, the emperor stood at the forefront of the elevated platform with the Grand Eunuch behind him, ready to assist.
There was a rotating cube in his hands, thousands of random markings flashing every second, ever-fleeting.
This was the Imperial Lineage’s unique manabound artifact: The Crown.
It could both be stolen and destroyed, unlike normal artifacts. It also couldn’t be hidden in separate dinsions and pockets.
This item was the very core of humanity’s survival, as without it, no Magna would have existed, and the Imperium would have long fallen.
In the next mont, the emperor pressed his other hand atop the cube, closing his eyes.
The Crown lit up, and the mark of a sharp rock with what seed to be a halo stabilized on all sides of the cube.
It pulsed faintly, resonating with the sa one at the back of Edmund’s forearm, its color slowly changing from a dead black to a beating beige.
But even before it could progress to a fourth of its total completion, horrifying mana fluctuations suddenly erupted from the crowd.
Several hundred void eyes then appeared almost simultaneously as multiple n stood up.
They quickly left their seats, ignoring the civilians and heading straight for the elevated platform.
"A-Assassins!! Protect the emperor!!" exclaid an imperial guard captain.
The entire arena panicked at the declaration.
However, before the guards could even react, Zephyron was already on the move, firing hundreds of Wind Cutters at once in an attempt to destroy all the void eyes.
He inevitably failed.
After all, he was but one man, and the void eyes weren’t cast by a single enemy.
Hundreds bypassed the Magna’s defense and were allowed to strike at the emperor.
Fortunately, the imperial wizard guards weren’t incompetent, either.
Elental spells flew at the void rays, preventing them from reaching the emperor, though a few still managed to slip the barrage and land dangerously close to the platform.
The assassins were naturally outnumbered, since this was the heart of human territory.
It was already a miracle that the fell race even managed to have this many warriors infiltrate this deep into the capital.
Nonetheless, the elent of surprise was with them, and the assassins were going all out, revealing their true forms as they dashed madly towards the platform.
Hal and Ennya were dumbfounded for a mont.
But the mont the first assassin landed sowhere close to them, their wits had already returned.
They imdiately began helping the imperial guards contain the threats.
The situation was extrely chaotic, however, and there was no ti for Hal to think.
He simply went all out on the fellkin nearest to him, taking them down as quickly as he could before proceeding to the next.
The fell assassins naturally wouldn’t dare attack without a decent chance of succeeding.
Also, as it turned out, their target wasn’t only the emperor but also The Crown—the artifact responsible for the endless creation of the Imperium’s mightiest defenders.
If they could destroy it...
The fell strike force ignored the civilians and focused wholeheartedly on the artifact and the only person who could wield it.
They just had to take out either of the two, and then they could retreat, or die, or whatever fate had in store for them.
They would accept it because they would die heroes of their race.
Leading the strike force was a white-haired fell lord who suddenly erged from a void pocket, rushing at the emperor with a purple orb of pure devastation in his hands.
There was no way the seemingly fragile and mundane emperor would live if struck.
Unfortunately for the white-haired fell lord, Zephyron was way faster than him, imdiately blocking his path before he could even make it to an optimistic range.
The fell lord mysteriously smiled.
"Kurava, now!" the older fellkin roared.
In the next mont, a significantly younger fellkin with pale magenta skin and thick black stripes on his body appeared a few ters behind the emperor.
The infamous Kurava had a cold and apathetic expression, extending his hands in an attempt to rip the heart out of the defenseless leader of humanity.
"No you don’t, bastard!!" roared Barras, making it just in ti to defend the emperor.
The unsuccessful Magna candidate blocked Kurava’s path, summoning a thick granite wall that would normally force the opponent to avoid it.
What Barras didn’t expect was that a hand would suddenly erge from the wall, extending towards his chest at a speed impossible to dodge.
*SPURT!*
The nauseating sound of skin and flesh being pierced sounded as blood splattered everywhere, raining scarlet on the ceramic floor of the elevated platform.
Barras spat out blood, and his eyes slowly dimd.
Then, the unsuccessful prospect fell face-first with a thud, dead.
A body naturally wouldn’t function without a heart.
Kurava didn’t slow down for even a single mont after the kill, though, crushing the heart in his hands and tossing it to the side before extending his claws once more, this ti attempting to grab the emperor’s.
"YOUR MAJESTY!!"
The Imperial Guards and their captain could only exclaim in utter horror as the very core of humanity’s existence was directly attacked.
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