Legacy of the Dark Sage

"Tilda!" Deo and Rake shouted and sprang to their feet. Both were shocked as the momentum of Ganza's attack forced Tilda near the arena's edge.

Even the audience who were interested in watching the Alchemy Competition only was shocked at the sudden commotion and was surprised at the scene. It seemed the Solo Competition would have interesting matches today!

Tilda fell to her knees, slamming the head of her axe on the floor and using it to support her weight.

"Gah!" She spat another mouthful of blood and touched her chest where the flaming spear went through before dissipating in the air behind. She winced after feeling a one-and-a-half-centimeter-scorching hole close to her heart.

"Hmm... That attack is supposed to force you out of the arena," Ganza said loud enough for the Styx and the others on the bench could hear. "I guess I miscalculated. This arena is larger than the previous one."

"That was a fatal attack!" Deo shouted and looked at the female announcer who was overseeing both the Alchemy and Solo Competitions at the same time. "He violated the rules of the competition!"

The female announcer looked at Deo and said indifferently, "Since it is a competition, killing is forbidden. This is an unspoken rule. However, in the agreed rule by the head committee with the representatives of the Conclave and the Royal Army, there is no rule that forbids participants from inflicting their opponent with a fatal attack. This may be a competition; however, keep in mind that this is also part of the Joint Military Exercise of the Conclave and the Royal Army. Such things are bound to happen."

"What—?"

"Sit down, Deo, Rake," Styx's voice was calm. Yet, the temperature around them seemed to have dropped.

Deo and Rake looked at Styx to protest; however, their words were stuck when they saw an almost palpable killing intent rising in his body.

"The b*tch is right. This is no longer the 'friendly' competition we play around with the Three Noble Families," Styx continued, his eyes looking straight at the acting leader of the Royal Army; a man in a red uniform with short sandy blonde hair and dark brown eyes, sitting on the far left side of the bench.

The man's name is Kairo, also a Major General.

The female announcer's brow furrowed after hearing what Styx called her. She was a Grand Master, while Styx was only a half-step. Normally, she would have taught him a lesson by now. However, she received strict orders from the Patriarch not to comment on anything both teams would do or say to her. That was why she reigned in her anger and ignored Styx's provocative words.

Deo and Rake sat down reluctantly, with the latter looking furtively at Kyran on his left.

At the moment, Kyran had not reacted. Rake could not even read his expression. Kyran was simply looking at the arena with an indifferent expression. Nevertheless, Rake did not think Kyran did not care about what happened. He even thought the younger man's indifference was the calm before the storm.

Back in the arena, Tilda looked at Ganza with narrowed eyes. If she did not manage to deflect his attack with the blade of her axe earlier, that flaming spear would have pierced through her heart, and she would have been forced to retire.

Yes, retire. Not forfeit.

Chairman Malia might have been providing high-grade healing potions, but it would not be enough to treat a wound in the heart. If she retired, the remaining members of the Royal Army would gain a free win from her. That did not sit well with her.

"Bastard," she growled through gritted teeth. Her magic rose and was about to stand when Ganza dashed toward her, another flaming spear in his hand.

He brandished the flaming spear and aimed at Tilda.

"I won't fall for the same—!"

But.

Instead of throwing the spear, Ganza made a sudden stop. However, he used that sudden stop to increase the momentum of his arms as he swung the flaming spear, hitting Tilda's body, which had brought up her axe to block his attack.

DING!

The flames on the spear disappeared, revealing a real spear instead of a molded one.

"Ngh!"

Ganza's arm muscles rippled as he thrust the spear, forcing Tilda up to her feet. "RA!" He shouted and threw her out of the arena.

"No!" Tilda tried to reach her axe on the floor to stop her momentum. However, a red magic array appeared below, and a flaming wall emerged.

Tilda barely managed to reinforce her magic defenses, but that couple of seconds where she changed her movement had been enough to force her out of the arena.

"Round-robin bracket, first match, Major General Ganza of the Royal Army wins." The female announcer said. "Next match will begin in 30 seconds!"

Gasps of surprise filled the hall. It was not because they were surprised at how the match ended but because the timer had stopped at 4:24. It meant the first match had ended in less than a minute!

To think there was such a huge gap between the participants of the Conclave and the Royal Army!

Tilda slammed her fist on the floor in frustration. She did not want her first match to end like this! It was true she had been wary of Ganza's flaming spear that she failed to realize that he had been holding a real weapon.

"Tilda, get back to your seat."

Styx's voice brought Tilda back to her senses. She took a deep breath, stood up, and returned to her seat.

"Sorry. I let down my guard," she apologized.

"No," Styx responded without looking at her. "It is not that you let your guard down. Right from the start, we had been led around."

"'Led around'? 'Right from the start'?" Deo repeated while looking at him.

"Yes. The friendly matches we had with Three Noble Families has dulled our senses," Styx replied.

Only then did they realize why the Royal Army agreed to let the Three Noble Families join the military exercise. It was not because they were the event's sponsor or that one of them owned the venue. They were using them not only to exhaust them but also to muddle their sense of danger!

Still, why would they go through all this trouble?

This question remained on Deo, Rake, and Tilda's minds.

As for Styx, he already knew more than them of what was happening behind the scenes. He also knew that this was only the beginning.

"Two days," Styx said and grinned. "These two days. The Royal Family is going to strike."

Deo, Rake, and Tilda looked at him in confusion.

'The Royal Family? Not the Army?'

"Seniors."

After staying quiet for some time, Kyran had finally spoken.

"Please, prioritize in defending rather than winning."

Before they could react, the female announcer called the next match's start.

"Participants for the second match, Deo of the Conclave against Royal Army's Major General Osman!"

Deo balled his fists and stood up.

"I think I get what you mean, Tyr. But we are mercenaries. We don't cower just because the odds are against us. Anyway, this is no longer a friendly match. As representative of the Conclave, I will do my best to win."

With that, he jumped toward the arena.

Kyran's expression remained indifferent.

Deo and Osman faced each other near the center of the arena. The timer restarted, and before it reached 5:00, the female announcer raised her hand and said, "Second match, start!"

Meanwhile, on the Alchemy side, three medicine formulas were provided. A formula for transformation, internal bleeding, and a truth serum.

The first formula was only a first-level medicine that low-ranked Alchemists could easily concoct. The second formula was a second-level and would require an Alchemist to be at least a mid-level.

On the other hand, a truth serum was considered an advanced-level medicine because most of the required ingredients had different properties, making the first process a little hard to do.

As soon as the members of the Alchemy Association got the formulas, Len volunteered to make the truth serum. The other two had no qualms because they saw what he could do. While they could successfully concoct one, its grade would definitely not go higher than mid-grade. Since they were aiming to get a high total score, they could have Len concoct the serum. After all, he had been concocting nothing but high-grade potions.

Most of the audience did not understand why the Courtenay chose to have both competitions happen in the same hall. It was actually hard to focus on which side to watch closely. However, those who were aware of the complexity of Alchemy knew that having the Solo Competition in the same hall was part of the 'obstacle' the alchemists had to overcome during the concoction.

An Alchemist's ability to concentrate.

Since the Alchemy Competition did not have much going on, most of the audience was focused on the Solo Competition.

Back in the arena, Deo was aware that among his team, he had the lowest chance of going up the list because most army officers were Fire mages, which was the worse match-up with his Wood magic.

Nevertheless, that did not mean he would not be able to put up a fight.

A light green magic array appeared on both Deo's palms and he slammed it on the arena's floor. The floor shook as several five-inch diameter thick tree roots emerged and went toward Osman.

Osman spread his arms and summoned a one-meter radius red magic array on front of him. A whirl of flames converged at the center of the magic array before it shoot off and collided with Deo's attack.

Crackling sounds filled the air as the two attacks collided.

Without waiting for the fire to burn his initial attack, Deo ran toward Osman using the tree roots he summoned as his footing. A short sword appeared on his right hand as he jumped. He raised his hand and aimed at Osman's head.

However, before Deo could even close the gap, the whirling flames  from Osman's magic array doubled in size and also shoot off at his direction.

"Tsk," Deo gritted his teeth and brought the sword in front of him. He activated the sword's magic and whirl it in his hand. In an instant, a thin water vortex appeared before him, blocking Osman's whirling flames.

"A water elemental sword. We don't have that in our records. Interesting," Osman commented.

Deo frowned slightly after hearing Osman. He knew the Royal Army also had their records. But he did not like how Osman said it. As if their records were absolute and it was impossible for it to have any error.

'Focus!' Deo told himself and pushed all unnecessary thoughts to the back of his head.

The moment the collision of the two attacks dissipated, Deo brandished his sword and hacked downward. A beautiful blue arc flew out of its blade and went straight to Osman.

Osman, seeing the incoming attack, only smiled.

Then.

FOOOM!

Osman's body burst out in flames as he stomped on the ground and shoot toward Deo who was still suspended in midair.

"You—! Gah!"

Deo failed to put up his magic barrier and Osman's body slammed at him.

"Burn," Osman whispered the moment their body collided. A sinister smile plastered on his face.

"AAAAAARGH!" Deo screamed in pain as flames covered his whole body.

"Deo!" Rake and Tilda shouted as they sprang to their feet and went near the arena.

"Stand back. You are not allowed to enter within three feet off the arena," the female announcer stopped the two.

"You—!"

"Participant Deo resigns. Stop the match at once!"

A female voice reverberated throughout the hall.

Hushed discussions spread in the audience as soon as they realized the voice came from the Conclave's executive booth.

The female announcer nodded her head in acknowledgement and said, "Round-robin bracket, second match, Major General Osman of the Royal Army wins!"