"Mildly fucking ambitious," Aurolio said as a green light circled around him, announcing him as the winner, much to the confusion of most.
His thick jacket had a large whole on the chest, revealing the pale and nearly porcelain skin over his firm, taut chest.
He had let Estrange strike him with all his might as requested.
In the process, he had not covered himself with mana or Aura, receiving the attack in its entirety without flinching.
From the fearsome blow, Aurolio had been able to tell that his opponent had tried his best but his arm failed to capture the truest form of his ambition. (f)reewe(b)novel
Not that he lacked enough power, as that aspect was impressive.
Perhaps he didn't have one to begin with as from the start, he must have been prepared to die.
Estrange had understood that Aurolio wouldn't let him live if he chose to fight him, which was why the pale man had asked if he truly intended to fight him.
After contending against so many powerful individuals, especially ones with reputation, one would understand the stakes involved with having a public fight.
In the end, during the split of a fraction of a second it took for Estrange to land his attack, Aurolio had responded with a simple attack of his own.
Those capable of following the quick progression of events had seen Estrange's centaur form blitz past Aurolio at first, only to then crumble into dust, Aura and all, in several quarters of a breath later.
A truly tragic end to a powerful combatant.
Aurolio was teleported back to his seat with a flash of silver.
"Did you see anything?"
"Of course not."
"...Scary. It seemed like a mercy killing. I doubt Estrange even felt anything."
"It's not how you die. It's about the legacy afterward. Estrange just served to display how invincible Aurolio is to the world. Apparently, this is how most of that man's battles end."
The council of ever discussing contenders laid comment after comment following the fight, as did the other contenders who didn't see anything concrete about Aurolio's abilities either.
On the other hand, the witnesses in their seats started getting a faint idea as to what had happened.
Though this had been yet another short exchange, it had been a bit exciting.
After all, it was likely that this terrifying man was going to cause a delightful scene when the royale finally began.
Skullius sighed as he healed his ears.
'Against someone like that, I don't stand a chance right now. I wonder what the rules of the royale will be. If I somehow find myself facing him, will I be able to survive?' he wondered with a smile.
Only the rules of engagement for the Preliminaries had been shown. Those for the royale would be announced by the Game Master shortly after the Preliminaries ended.
'Hopefully when the time comes, I'll be ready for conflict with fighters of that calibre.'
High above, Rearren's amusement soared.
He turned to Rias, his gaze questioning what his son thought about Aurolio now.
"He's strong," Rias said with a blank expression. "But there's something off about him."
"Indeed. I would have liked to find many like him with this event and truly induct them into our family. However, I underestimated the Immortal Nine. They discouraged wanton involvement into the Royale from the fiends they house in that Union. The number of contenders is relatively low as a result." Rearren said.
By all accounts, 234 contenders were not that many and initially Rearren had been surprised by the number given what he promised to be the reward for the winners and those deemed as unique talents even in the Preliminaries.
"That young woman from the Kinn Family brings the real progress of the event to a snail's pace with her meddling, making the already few numbers we have less cooperative. Hahaha. Is this direction speaking?" Rearren chuckled.
"Shall I get rid of her, father?" Rias asked.
"No. That would be terribly unwise. It would rouse suspicion. Given the fact that she is holed up in Genhuis City, it's likely she understands the risks of her actions and is using her high position as a valuable asset to Pelian as a crutch. We can't touch her."
Rias nodded silently.
Vali was precious to Pelian.
All born with her blood always became Energy Formers, mainly Healers of high quality. This was why the Kinn Family bloodline was so valuable.
'Hmph.'
As Rias watched the witnesses joyfully discussing as they awaited the last two matches, a small smile appeared on his face.
The contenders weren't that important.
Yes.
All that they truly needed was this massive amount of witnesses.
It's good that they were enjoying while they had the chance.
***
The matches for the day ended uneventfully since the conclusion of the exchange between Estrange and Aurolio.
Skullius had his fill of a lot to think about since that match and as they returned to the Bryne Family, Silrat nudged him.
"It rattled you that much, did it?" he asked with a lightly mocking chuckle.
"Smacked some more reality into my head, that's for sure," Skullius replied with a playful eyebrow dance.
"By the way, I saw Yuyui. She's easy to miss but I remembered I haven't seen her for some days. Where is she?" Silrat asked curiously.
"...Don't mind her for now. She's doing an important errand away from the city," Skullius hushed out the story before turning to Stylla.
He knew Yuyui wouldn't tell Silrat much and the man didn't need to know about her and Replicus' business.
Sadly, the lime haired girl was doomed to still appear at the Venue for the Royale because of the Control Seal.
Mildly inconvenient.
As Skullius focused on Stylla, it didn't take long for him to realise that her mood was dark and though he had been planning to talk to her, he didn't have the stomach to face the fury hidden within her visage.
The red head left for her room afterwards with everyone silently watching her walk away.
"It was that bad?" Skullius asked Silrat.
"What do you think? She would have killed him right then and there if I hadn't spoken some sense into her. She is dangerously succumbing to her emotions. I'm afraid she may as well snap without company by her side," Silrat said.
He turned his gaze to the silent Daggs.
"In my absence, make sure she's being monitored constantly. Don't let her out of your sight," he instructed.
"Yes, Master Silrat," Daggs acknowledged. free(w)ebnovel(.)com
Silrat nodded.
"Now, let's go, Festos. Best to hurry about it."
"Wait, what? We're doing this now? Shouldn't we wait for him to settle or something? We just came from the matches. Doesn't he need to rest?" Skullius asked with a brow raised.
"Trust me. Being annoyingly persistent is how we get through to Alaris. Best to get this over with now as the hearing is soon," Silrat said as he lead the way.
Skullius sighed.
Would this really work?
A re-evaluation.
Would it truly be that beneficial as Silrat claimed.
Who knew?
At least Silrat an elaborate plan.
That gave him some assurance.
The poor man had gone through the trouble of reserving Alaris as his sole examination officer so he might as well do it and give it his all.
"You said he's some kind of legend who prefers to remain in the shadows?" Skullius asked as the two walked out of the Bryne Family Mansion.
"Yes. Far more than you know. Now, since I've worked my ass off for this, try to do as much impressing as you can, alright? For both our sakes," Silrat replied.
Impress huh?
"I'll try."
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