Final Round

Once everything was settled, the city was back to normal in a few minutes thanks to its many arrays. All evidence had been wiped, so most could only check their memory to prove that the incident actually happened. Naturally, no one would bring this matter to the administration because they were either too weak to blame them or too strong to care. Still, many were investigating two of the people who had been on Emily's side. One was the talented young man, who should be very handsome, but no one could give a clear account of how he looked. The other was the brilliant red maiden who was called 'Goddess' by people who had rushed to the scene. Investigation missions for them were posted both in the Workers' Association and the underground guild, but these would come to be some of the hardest missions ever posted, with minimal to no results.

Even though it was still early, cultivators went to take a seat in the amphitheater in anticipation of the Little Puzzle Princess performing her second miracle of the day. Sixteen array masters were left for the final round, and only ten would have the opportunity to move on to the main evaluation. The number of participants was lower than expected because some of them were involved with obstructing Emily, but few cared about the missing participants. The other participants weren't talked about much either, because none of them were comparable to Emily in splendour.

Shui found his seat closer to the start of the final round because he had something else to do. Alia had also joined him, and was sitting on his shoulder with her eyes on the empty stage. Normally she would be taking a nap, but Shui had a lot of questions for her so she couldn't relax.

"So, are you ready to tell me where all those people came from?"

Alia's fanatics had killed the two assassins faster than he took care of the six he fought against, but they stayed to worship her so he saw that strange sight which continued for a few minutes. He inspired a similar scene if he stopped suppressing his aura and opened his eyes, but he could tell that it was different in her case. She was far better at containing her mystical appeal, so she wouldn't do more than turn a few heads thanks to her natural beauty. Furthermore, these people seemed to be worshipping her of their own free will, as if it was thanks to her innate charisma.

"Why does it matter? It's not as if we'll be staying in this city for much longer."

"Even so, I'd rather not leave anything behind that might cause me future trouble."

Alia sighed.

"You don't need to worry. They've just become fans of mine. They might look for me once we leave, but they'll settle down after a while."

"They're very passionate for fans. How can you be sure they'll give up?"

"Because I have experience."

"..."

Shui could tell that this touched on something sensitive from her past, so he wasn't sure if he should continue his questions.

"Calm down, I'll be more careful in the future. I don't want to repeat this mistake either."

"...Did you use a spell on them?"

"Hmph, do you take me for one of those sirens? I was just playing around and they ended up charmed by me for some reason."

"...Then, it's fine. Just don't go overboard."

Alia turned to him with one eyebrow raised, but Shui didn't say anything else. He found the fanatics strange, but when he looked into their eyes, he didn't find anything distorted. They were purely grateful to her.

When it was time for the final round, naturally, the announcer made no mention of Emily's incident and instead quickly went into introducing the participants who made it to this round. Most of the sixteen participants reached the final round due to previous achievements, so this would be their first time on stage. However, none had the leisure to be nervous since they shared a common threat.

Emily was meditating until the start of the round to recover, but even at that time, she could sense the other competitors staring at her. Still, there was one whose eyes surged with strong killing intent. She knew that his clan played a major role in the incident, so this wasn't unexpected, but there was more hate in his eyes than anyone else.

Similar to Adler, the young duke was in a cheery mood with a fine cup of wine in hand as he waited for good news. He was so confident that his guardian would get the job done, that he didn't bother to secure a place to watch the battle, but stayed in the mansion owned by Duke Eclair. He sat down in his expensive chair and savored the wine at first, but as the clock ticked, he became impatient. He wondered why there was no news coming, and started walking up and down his room.

When he was close to the limit of his patience, he headed towards the door, but then one of the bodyguards that joined him for this trip heavily knocked on the door.

"Young Lord! It's urgent!"

The young duke quickly went back to his seat and told the guard to enter.

"What is it?"

"The battle has ended."

"Great!" the young duke exclaimed, "So she's finally dead. Where's Uncle? I simply must praise him."

"Actually, she's not dead."

"...What?"

Feeling as if he had reached the top of a hill only to be pushed off the summit, the young duke's tone went cold.

"Grandmaster Astar achieved an overwhelming victory over him and the rest of the force that was deployed to stop him. Everyone who escaped with their lives has been seriously wounded, including your esteemed Uncle."

The young duke slammed his palm on a nearby table with full force, but only the wine bottle that was on it, fell off and shattered while the table was unharmed. He was further incensed by the fact that even this wooden table was stronger than him, but he clenched his teeth and bottled it up.

"Where is my uncle?"

"According to the message he sent, he's somewhere inside the city recuperating, but he can't risk exposing his situation by joining you for the finals."

As he recalled what happened a couple hours earlier, the killing intent in the young duke's eyes spiked even though they went up on stage. Despite the thousands of eyes on them, he seriously considered using one of the many trump cards allotted to him due to his lineage to murder her. In fact, the way they cheered loudly for Emily but only slightly for him, was another contributing factor.

'No matter how talented she is, she's just a commoner. How dare she stand out more than me! Even if I kill her, at most they'll ban me from the city, they won't dare offend my father for some lowly girl. That's right, I'm more important. As for that Astar, once I threaten the Association to expose their failure, I'm sure he'll know to back off.'

In his head, he had it all planned out, only the execution remained. However, the moment he began taking action, a silent stare pierced right through him and dominated his body through fear that made him shiver.

'What, what is this?'