Chapter 1472 (2/2)
King Phirun refolded his arms so the opposite arm was on top. Although he was inherently suspicious of Huang Shou, the man at least had an admirable amount of pride. For that reason, he deserved an answer. “These are the greatest warriors of our age, fighting with each other to the point that they were practically bleeding out and ineffectually swinging their fists at each other! How can the populace have any respect for power when the powerful seem so… mundane? Truly, I am glad that I didn’t decide to participate. I worry about how my reputation would have been impacted.”
“Truly, it was a great dishonor to lose to Paolo and Kayle in the quarter-final round,” Haung Shou said lightly, but the smug expression on his face revealed his true feelings. King Phirun grunted but had nothing to say to that quiet boast. The older man had earned it. His gaze was heated as he turned briefly to his duo that was eliminated in the top 16, then back to the arena floor.
Randidly Ghosthound looked around at the waiting audience. Beside him, Wivanya’s flicking tail was positively hypersonic. “It is with great pleasure that I announce the victors of the Earth’s first, and possibly last, Duo’s tournament. In third place-”
“Last tournament?” Kadir mumbled to himself.
Tosam nudged his partner’s shoulder. “Because we might be renaming the planet today.”
“-Hank Howard and Ancho!” The Ghosthound continued. While the crowd clapped enthusiastically for the gunslinger’s saunter toward the proffered bronze medal in the Ghosthound’s hands, Kadir huffed out a breath.
“Well, I’m not gonna go calling Earth something different just because of some stupid tournament,” Kadir said through gritted teeth.
Hank took the medal and then tried to put it around Ancho’s neck. The horse shook its head wildly, avoiding it like it was a piece of rotten meat. Meanwhile, King Phirun threw a mild glance at Kadir. “If you felt so strongly about the issue, you should have simply won the tournament.”
“Besides, it might not matter,” Added Tosam with a sly smile. “The name change happens in the System, right? With its translation software, it might automatically translate Earth to the new name every time you say it. So even if you refuse to say it, no one else will notice. And you will hear everyone else say whatever the new name is.”
Kadir blinked in horror. Beside Huang Shou, Huang Li leaned forward and glanced down the row of people at Tosam. “That’s an excellent point.”
Out on the arena floor, Hank threw up his hands helplessly and put the medal around his own neck. The audience was half-clapping and half-laughing as he returned to his starting position at the side of the arena. With a small smile on his face, the Ghosthound continued. “In second place, Paolo and Kayle!”
This applause was much louder, but mostly because mixed in the clapping were calls of ‘you got screwed!’ and ‘Next time for sure!’. Despite their loss, Paolo and Kayle seemed rather genial about the whole thing, taking the silver medal from the Ghosthound and then engaging in an impressively fast game of rock, paper, scissors afterward. With a wide grin, Paolo slid the medal around his neck and strutted back to their position. Kayle just shook his head.
“Finally… the announcement that we were all waiting for,” The Ghosthound beckoned. He didn’t even bother to activate his images, yet he somehow seemed to be standing at the bottom of a bowl so your attention couldn’t help but flow down toward him. “The winners of the duo’s tournament are Alana and Wivanya!”
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRR!
The clapping from the crowd started off loud, but it was quickly drowned out by the fifty or so dragons that launched themselves into the sky at the announcement and belched frost toward the overcast grey skyline. Wivanya raised her head and joined her children in their exultation, giving themselves over completely to their joy.
Rather than a medal, Randidly produce a glowing stone tablet. Strange runes covered its surface, shifting as the Ghosthound’s fingers pressed up against it. He walked over to Alana and offered her the Runic Tablet. “So. Are you ready to officially make our planet a part of the Nexus?”
“Yes,” Alana said shortly. She looked at Randidly with several seconds, as though wanting to say something. He regarded her with a mild expression on his face. Then she shook her head and looked down at the tablet. She held it in front of her with both hands, as though she was truly holding an ancient artifact that could be broken from the slightest mishandling. Wivanya lowered her head from her roar and brought it next to Alana’s head, where the dragon began to speak rapidly.
King Phirun could not hear what the dragon was saying, but Alana Donal was having none of it. After literally shooing the enormous dragon away, she released a sharp breath and looked around at the audience. “I name this world… Expira.”
Crack!
The tablet in her hands broke in half, golden dust shooting rapidly out of the broken tablet and flying up into the air. Then, in front of King Phirun, a notification appeared.
Congratulations! Your planet Expira has officially become a part of the Nexus! As new citizens of the Nexus, you will be subjected to periodic tests to determine your eligibility for benefits. The first test will take the form of a great Calamity that will descend to Expira and attempt to lay waste to everything you have built!
Calculating…
Congratulations! The difficulty of your Calamity has been increased in proportion to the density of Aether on your planet. The Calamity will arrive in 150 days. Please prepare well.