"Thirteenth round, sixteen participants, eight matches," Draconis muttered as he gazed down at the arena.
While the participants were getting fewer and fewer, the hype was only getting stronger.
Each fighter that had managed to reach so far was at the peak compared to the others' students in the empire.
Yes, there were many powerful individuals in their thirties and beyond who could easily defeat most students, regardless of whether they attended the most prestigious or the least prestigious academy in the empire. However, that was precisely what made the tournant so popular.
Not only were the seats always filled, but millions of orbs were sold all across the empire.
No, not just in the empire, but across the entire world. This was one of the empire's goals—to have the whole world watching these fights, witnessing the might of these students.
These students displayed such incredible raw power and control over their abilities, and yet, they were just students.
This was what most of the watchers of the fight would think, and naturally, they would ask themselves,
'What about the many more powerful individuals in the empire? How strong are they really?'
'If these students are that strong, then surely the empire must have a lot of individuals who are much more nacing than just these students.'
Not only that, but this grand tournant was taking place at the sa ti the Draconian Empire was at war with the Crimson Sun Empire. They were pulling so many resources to make the tournant possible, yet they hadn't lost much land in the war.
In a way, that was humiliating for their enemy. The Draconian Empire didn't seem to be struggling in the war, as they could afford to hold the grand tournant, while the Crimson Sun Empire was desperately trying to reclaim their princess.
This way, the Draconian population's trust in the emperor only rose with each passing day.
"Everything is going as planned for now," Draconis sighed as he gazed at the two people who were going to fight first in the round.
His gaze was focused on the person that he was expecting to win—David. He was one of the pieces that he needed if he wanted his plan to co to fruition.
There was no doubt in his mind that David would be able to win the tournant…
But there was another emotion as he gazed at David's enemy—a woman nad Lily.
That emotion was uncertainty. Why did he feel like he knew this woman? It reminded him of sothing, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Not only that, but it seed like if he wasn't solely focused on these thoughts, he was going to forget them, like they were never there to begin with.
That thought angered him to so extent, he was usually the one who ssed with people's heads, not the one being ssed with.
Shaking his head, he cursed silently as he stood up.
He was the emperor, after all, and as such, he was going to have to announce the start of the fight.
*****
"She doesn't look strong at all," David muttered as he gazed at his opponent—Lily.
He was confident in his win, yet despite that, he had prepared as much as he could, trying to gather information about his opponent.
She was able to use the elents to a pretty nacing degree and was proficient in fighting up close as well, thanks to her martial arts skills.
"I can see why she has reached so far in the tournant, but before it would all be aningless, isn't that right, you fuck?" David spoke proudly as he shifted his gaze behind for a mont.
There was the source of his power and, at the sa ti, the reason for his tornt—the Spectral Warden. While the cursed thing did indeed grant him unimaginable strength, it ca at the cost of being incredibly annoying.
No, annoying wasn't the right word. The Spectral Warden was clearly trying to drive David insane.
It didn't miss any chance it got to either insult him or try to plant certain emotions in his mind.
David, having lived with the thing for so many years, was able to, to an extent, ignore its provocations and more or less knew how it thought and what it was going to say.
In short, the Spectral Warden was a proud and ignorant fuck who didn't know when to keep his mouth shut, but it granted David unimaginable power. There was a reason the emperor was interested in him after all.
Which was the reason David spoke to the creature now.
It was silent, which was rare.
Usually, it would either try to influence David to kill his opponent as brutally as possible or make him think that he didn't have a chance against them.
And yet, it didn't bother to do it this round.
It hadn't opened its cursed mouth to utter a single insult.
Sothing was clearly wrong.
With a frown, David turned back and looked at the Spectral Warden. The thing and its three hollow eyes were locked in front of it.
And there was only one thing in front of David—Lily.
"What is it?" David asked with irritation in his voice.
Even if it was rare, every single ti the Spectral Warden acted differently from how it should have, it ant that there was trouble on the horizon.
After several seconds of silence, the Spectral Warden spoke,
"Danger."
"Danger?" David repeated as he raised an eyebrow.
Was the thing talking about Lily? Yes, she might be a bit stronger than the others, but that didn't an the Spectral Warden should have warned David about danger.
"What is so dangerous?" David asked. His eyes were now locked onto his opponent. He disliked maybe even hated the Spectral Warden, but that didn't an he didn't take its warnings seriously.
"Danger" the Spectral Warden repeated. For the first ti, it seed like there was a hint of emotion in its voice.
Was it excitent? No, it was sothing else—fear. The Spectral Warden, the cursed thing, was scared.
David grimaced. It seed that the Spectral Warden was serious. If that was the case, he should prepare to dash toward Lily with everything he had.
The best strategy against the unknown was to kill without asking questions. If she really was that dangerous, she needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.
That was what David thought until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Do not kill. You will trigger it," the Spectral Warden warned.
"Trigger it? What does that an? Then what should I do?" David asked, now clearly getting confused.
"I don't know. It erased my mories before I could form a concrete plan against it, overwhelm her, but do not kill her. No matter what, do not kill her. As long as she isn't in grave danger, it shouldn't co out... hopefully."
David wanted to ask more questions, but at that mont, the emperor announced the start of the fight.
So, David, left with no choice, gritted his teeth and charged forward.
He had never been in a fight where he had to sohow keep his opponent alive and not kill them.
This was going to be one tough fight.
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