232 Suspicious. (1/2)

The Mercenary Guild had asked the Leonhard Dynasty this time to lend their battle arena to conduct the fights.

The people from the Leonhard Dynasty loved fighting, and so they had built a giant arena in their area just for the sake of battles.

The Leonhard Dynasty didn't mind lending their arena since they were also a part of the organizers.

The battle arena was named 'The Leo Colosseum' with two stone statues of lions placed at the entrance. The arena was giant, enough to accommodate as many people that could make it there.

What overjoyed the general public was the fact that they didn't need to purchase tickets at all; that was how giant the arena built by the Leonhard Dynasty was.

However, not everyone joined. Not because they could not make it, but because they were aware that they wouldn't be able to bear the pressure released by all the big shots there.

However, all the organizations were still present. Those, invited personally by the Mercenary Guild, had seats built especially for them. However, only those of Rank-9 would sit there.

The rest, no matter how important, had to stand beside them or take a seat with the rest of the crowd.

The cheery atmosphere at one side and the competitive air at the other foreshadowed the intense competition that was soon to follow.

Starting from the sunrise, people began to make their way to the arena. After some time, the factions began to join as well.

The special seats weren't all placed together. They were grouped into five and placed in the four opposite corners of the arena. A total of 20 seats indicated that 20 Rank-9 Mages would come to watch the finals!

The first Rank-9 Mage to enter caused the entire colosseum to turn silent. The raw aura people felt caused a few to stand up and leave the stadium. They were the ones who weren't smart enough to realize their human limits and joined without considering the fact that they weren't even Rank-3 Mages or Fighters.

Although the seats for the Rank-9 were placed at a notable distance from the rest, the Rank-9 Mage who had entered did not hold down his aura, so all Mages or Fighters under Rank-3 were bound to feel suffocated.

Following that Rank-9's entry, others started to join as well. Some of them were from the prominent kingdoms while the others were the Sect leaders.

The 20 seats had the name of each Rank-9 Mage written on its back. Just an hour later, 15 of those seats were occupied.

All of these 15 Rank-9 Mages eyed each other like vicious enemies. Though some of them were allies, no one would openly admit any alliance.

As if Gods had listened to their prayers and took pity on them, the representative from the Mercenary Guild entered the colosseum. Following his entry, Elsug the Emperor of the Leonhard Dynasty, Lammert the Archbishop of the Church of Light, and Alver the head of the Ashin family entered one by one.

Except for the other Rank-9 Mages, everyone in the arena had to hold their breath since these four didn't bother to hold back their aura either.

These four were the organizers of the event and also the strongest factions in the whole continent.

One thing that could be taken into account was also that the Mercenary Guild wasn't participating in the tournaments like previously.

Meanwhile, the other three big factions each had at least one Rank-8 Mage participating. But the Church had somehow gotten the lead with two Rank-8 Mages. One of them was also in the middle stage!

This fact caused Emperor Elsug and the Alver to direct their suspicious glares towards Archbishop Lammert, who purposely ignored their stares.

Previously, a single Rank-8 Mage participating was a big deal. Even this time around, the Leonhard Dynasty, the Ashin family, and the Church had thought such to be the case and thought that they would be the winners.

However, not only did the Church manage to get a Rank-8 Mage in the middle stage under the age limit, but the real cause of everyone's shock wasn't them.

Instead, the real dark horse of the tournament turned out to be the newly famous organization Three-Eyed Strangers with two of their participants in the middle stage of Rank-8!

Everyone moved their eyes towards the only seat remaining that hadn't been occupied yet. The tournament was about to begin, but the leader of the Three-Eyed Strangers had yet to arrive.

It displeased many of the Rank-9 Mages, including Emperor Luthien and Archbishop Lammert who were enraged that Ozul hadn't arrived yet.

However, the rest had all of their attention focused on the two people standing behind the seat together with Irvin, commonly known as the butler of the man leading the Three-Eyed Strangers.

Raven and Blaze weren't pressured with all the stares. Instead, they stood proud that they were here representing Ozul. This allowed them to gain unusual confidence even when the Rank-9 Mages were constantly staring at them.