The Royale Begins! (2)

Gasps echoed throughout the grand space from both contenders and witnesses.

The contenders in particular parted like sand where Rias appeared.

One looking at the sallow skin on the young man's face would have thought it was a plague he carried that drove everyone away so suddenly.

But it wasn't.

Rias' dark, medium length hair, with a tinge of light blue at the fringes was combed to the right side of his head, partly covering one of his large, honey-coloured almond eyes.

Over his body was a sleek, light, royal blue leather armour, its left sleeve torn. In its place, a long, dark bandage covered Rias' arm to the fingers, old, unclear symbols drawn all over it, like a seal of some kind.

A sword of unknown specifics was hidden in a scabbard at his side, and many among the contenders couldn't help but stare at it, wondering many, dark things.

This young man...