Chapter 559 Challenges Marlene’s version (part 4)
The silent barely lasted a few seconds before a heavy pressure which originated from the skybox, flooded the whole area.
"Aghhh!"
The various Nethereals who had less than half a body all fell to the ground while letting out pained screams, Daimon calmly observed the show while leaning against the back of his seat.
'So, unlike Ophelia this guy's power is more oriented towards his race, I guess these kinds of subordinates have to be kept with a short leash', he thought.
While the pressure exuded by the one inside the skybox wasn't weak at all, it wasn't the pressure created by one's mana, but something more akin to the intimidation caused through one's lineage.
In other words, for Nethereals that guy was indeed a superior existence who they had to obey regardless of realm, similar to what happens most of the time with magic beasts where a higher ranked species related to them is able to control them to the point that even the irrational and aggressive ones would act like a somewhat coordinated group.
It made sense though, unlike Ophelia who was supposed to meet and be able to suppress the visitors as her challenge was battle oriented, "violence" was prohibited in this castle, so there was no need for high battle prowess, that being said, in a rough calculation Daimon estimated that the owner of the castle would still be around the middle or high stage of the Stellar realm, if he wasn't being restrained of course, which was still quite behind what Ophelia would have been capable off, if she went all out.
"Your highness please appease your anger", the supervisor Malak bowed his head towards the skybox, as he pleaded for the owner of the castle to retrieve his pressure, since it wasn't really affecting the participants anyway, it was a lineage kind of suppression, and they weren't Nethereals or at least not of the races of Nethereals subordinated to him, though they were still feeling uncomfortable, Walford especially since he was the focus of the owner's gaze.
"What is the meaning of this, how does a mere mortal dare to ruin my entertainment", said Agrak.
"I… was given the order to stop playing by my boss, "Stop losing time with that compulsive gambler and go help your teammate at the blood sky battlefield" he said, so I no longer have a reason to continue", said Walford as he stood up from the table to leave.
Marlene couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, she understood that Walford would follow the order of Arlion, but why would he give that explanation, in any case this played in her favor so she still gave a certain masked spectator a thankful gaze for having informed her of this beforehand.
Needless to say, but Agrak was livid, unfortunately he gave his word to not prevent the players from leaving for the final round, because he trusted that they needed to make that petition or question to him, not to mention the magic treasures, but turns out that wasn't the case.
'Are you trying to say that my casino is less important than that maniac's slaughter house!', he inwardly screamed.
"Well… very well, I'll remember this insult!".
"Malak, send a dozen of guards to that maniac's place, tell them to kill anyone with a similar firm of energy as to that game ruining bastard!", shouted the owner of the castle, referring to Walford.
"Yes, your highness!", the supervisor immediately put hands to work, after gazing at Walford who was walking towards the grades without any care in the world, Malak left the area to fulfill the task that was given to him, the game was over so there was no need for a supervisor anymore anyway.
"What the hell, such an anticlimactic ending, it was getting interesting".
"Yeah, that guy is a coward".
And similar upset comments started to come from the Nethereals on the grades, until Agrak's voice made them shut up.
"Silence!".
"Earnings are sacred in my casino, however the process is also important, since this can't be considered a game worth of the reward I modified for the sake of entertainment, I'll return the reward to what it was supposed to be, you can only make one petition to me, just be aware that it can only be one, I will tell you if I'm unable to fulfill it or confirm if that's what you want before proceeding".
Marlene softly snorted, she was sure the owner of the castle had many tricks to not fulfill his promise, still she was running out of time so giving it a try wouldn't hurt.
"I want you to lift a curse at lineage level, in other words to erase a curse that was casted on a whole clan", said the angelfish princess.
"Oh, so that's your objective, unfortunately as you can probably guess, my powers aren't on the positive side of the spectrum nor am I a curse master, so I can't fulfill that petition, maybe if the clan you are referring to was my kin, I would be able to do something about it, but I highly doubt that's the case, am I right?", said Agrak with a slightly disdainful voice.
Marlene clenched her little fists in anger, but she didn't give up yet.
"In that case, tell me of a way to lift a curse of that level, you have such a strong life saving array here, so you should have some knowledge about it, or perhaps among all the treasures that you seem so proud to possess, there is something that can do the trick", she said.
Curses are a shady and unexplored field in both the four galaxies, Neptune and Kerrol, since there is too little information about them, however they can be seen as a long-term version of a negative affecting spell, the contrary to a buff, but without a time limit or at least a really long-lasting effect which might extend to future generations, which is why curses most of the times have extra requirements to be casted, and that often includes arrays.
The guy inside the skybox smirked in response.
"Smart mortal girl, that is right, among my peers I take pride in having the vastest amount of riches, not to mention the most premium private collection of treasures, so I do have something that would erase any curse as long as it is limited to the mortal realms".
Seeing that Agrak had stopped speaking, Marlene added.
"But?".
"Kekeke, well, I can give you the method if that's what you will be using your petition on, however the materials needed can't be found in a place where the existence is limited to the mortal realm, in other words, even if I give it to you, you won't be able to use it", said Agrak.
"And of course, you are telling me this out of the kindness in your heart, let me guess, you have those materials in your so-called collection, but you of course won't hand them to me even if I want them", said Marlene.
"The reward is a "reasonable" petition from me, you can't expect me to give you a five extremely rare materials as well as an incredibly rare recipe and take it as one petition, right, even if you would have defeated your opponent in the way it was supposed to happen, it wouldn't have been enough merit to get what you want… but worry not, there is nothing that I hate more than an anticlimactic ending, so I'll give you a chance".
"It seems like others have started to underestimate me, so I have no other choice but to remind them of my greatness, and what better method than to participate in a game myself, I'll give you the great honor to fight the champion, in other words me".
"If you win, I'll give you everything you'll need to lift a curse at the mortal level, of course, your previous rewards would remain, I would even go as far as to not take your chance to make a petition from me, so that you can get a proper reward besides the objective you seem so adamant in fulfilling, what do you say?".
Daimon frowned behind his mask, previously Marlene wasn't producing those particles of light that the array would gather, but after listening to the previous proposition from that guy, that changed.
It wasn't her fault though, what her clan has been striving to obtain is in front of her, it is normal that she wants to obtain it from the bottom of her heart, that being said she didn't let Agrak's words trick her, nor greed consume her.
"What would the game be like?", she limited to ask.
However, that was enough to make the castle owner maliciously smile inside of the skybox.
'Regardless of race, affiliation or realm, there isn't a single being that doesn't have something they wish to obtain, so when given the opportunity, even if its through "corrupt" methods, how can they not take the bait', thought Agrak as he answered.
"Simple, we'll have a timed 1v1 match, we'll only get one card that the deck will dispatch randomly for us, the one who reaches two hundred points first or the one with more body parts left after the ten minute period stablished as the time limit, finishes, will be the winner, ah right, I don't want it to be a boring game, so any regeneration ability will be restricted, you don't need to worry though, even if you lose you'll be able to recover what you lost".
Marlene remained silent for a second, even if she ended up losing, she can still get the recipe she needs, as for the materials doesn't she know someone that comes from outside of Neptune.
'I'm pretty sure that with enough time, there is nothing he wouldn't be able to do… nor do I doubt that my friend would lend me a hand without batting an eye, but since there is an opportunity in front of me, I shouldn't let it go to waste', concluded the angelfish princess.
She has zero doubts that Daimon who is a similar "existence" to the one that cursed her clan, as he explained, would eventually be able to help her solve her clan's problem, nor she believes he wouldn't lend a hand, since he has called her a "friend" and Marlene is aware of the weight that word has for Daimon, unfortunately the circumstances demand her to find a solution now, is that or losing something irreplaceable for her.
'It doesn't have to completely work, if what that guy is saying is half the truth then I'm fine with it, I will be more than happy to just get an extension!', inwardly swore Marlene.
After Daimon cheered her up back at the flying citadel, she got to hear from Sarah the fact that Daimon had helped to eliminate the curse on her, and also lessen the one on her mother to the point that even if she hadn't been cured yet, her life was no longer in danger, so that's what she is aiming for, what she needs is to buy time for Miriam and for that she is willing to walk into the trap prepared by Agrak if that's what it takes.
"I'm in", she calmly said, which made the spectators shout and celebrate.
"Damn, how long has it been since the Lord has participated in a game!".
"Well said mortal girl, I'll cheer up for you to not lose in a turn like it happened a few thousand years ago!".
And other similar comments flooded the area, this time Agrak didn't silence them, probably because all of them were praises for himself.
"Perfect, let's start right away then, I swear upon my name that the rewards I promised will be given in the case my opponent wins", said Agrak, with a snap of his fingers a way more detailed table and two chairs appeared, the skybox turned into black mist, apparently the thing was made using nether.
"Woooooooh!", the Nethereals stood up and cheered as the figure of the owner of the castle was revealed, unlike the other Nethereals which were obviously just using the body parts of obtained through the casino as vessels, that guy was different.
He looked one hundred percent like a human, Agrak was a tall man in his late twenties, he was rather slender but not fragile, his hair was of a strange yellow metallic color, similar to the tone a recently created gold coin would have.
'That guy… he didn't take over a body, he is a solid projection similar to Joanna, but made with nether', thought Daimon, he didn't need to use his infinity eyes, to pry into Agrak's true appearance, when the skybox disappeared what was revealed was a black sphere, it lasted for less than a second, but Daimon could also see that invisible chains came from below the ground and attached themselves to that black sphere.
"I see you are surprised about my appearance, mortal girl, perhaps you had seen that rotten guy's creations or maybe the crazy bastards or the weird ones from those two and thought that's what we all looked like, it's a shame it's a mere image but rejoice, not everyone gets the chance to see a royal like myself!", exclaimed Agrak.
'Heh, looks like I found the "informant" I was looking for', thought Daimon, a smirk couldn't help but be formed behind his mask.
'Uwaah, you have to learn to control that, you look more like a villain than them when you smile like that', mumbled Evangeline.
'Mm, Daimon has a bad habit', added Narasha.
Daimon limited to softly laugh in response, this little bad habit of his is the sole time when he allows his apex predator's instincts to show, in any case this much is insignificant compared to what his instincts suggest him to do most of the time.
Back at reality, Marlene and Agrak both took their respective seats, it wasn't hard to notice that Agrak came from a noble background, based on the simple fact that his seat was made out of gold and had really detailed ornaments, it would be more accurate to call it a throne than a seat.
"Let's start already", however Marlene didn't care about that, nor she wanted to be used to entertain the Nethereals more than what was needed.
"You should appreciate every second, mortal girl, whatever, let's start with a little warm up", said Agrak, the deck sent two cards from a random part of it, to the table, one landed in front of Marlene and the other one landed in front of Marlene.
There was no supervisor, but the bets became available automatically, another thing that was different is that there was no time period for the bets to be placed, it was literally a game for the sole purpose of entertaining Agrak.
"Let's see what we have here", confidently said the Nethereal as he turned his card up, to reveal a number "5", quite a solid start.
Marlene on the other hand, also revealed her first card and the result made her inwardly frown, she got a word instead of a number, in this case it was "hair".
"Could have been worse, don't you agree", mockingly said Agrak as he snapped his fingers, the cards were sent back into the deck, before the thing was shuffled and two new ones were sent towards them.
"I'll let you have the initiative this time", said the Nethereal as he leaned his back against his throne.
Marlene didn't let his attitude bother her, she turned her card up, this time she indeed got a number, but while on the outside she didn't show any reaction, she was inwardly confused.
'What is going on?', she thought as she looked at the number "3" which she got.
"Not bad, at least it isn't a body part, however I think that is rather low", said Agrak as he showed his card to everyone, it was the best possible result a "10".
Daimon could feel the change on Marlene's mood, so he immediately sent a private message to her.
'Is there a problem?'.
'Mm, based on the level of luck I was using, I calculated that I was going to get a five in the first round and a 0 on the second one… no I'm sure that's what I got', answered the angelfish princess.
Daimon's eyes glowed behind his mask for a couple of seconds before saying.
'Let's do the following…'.
While Daimon was having a little talk with Marlene, Agrak saw the latter not behaving like in her previous matches and he inwardly laughed.
'I love mortal's expressions when they start losing kekeke!'.
"Hey mortal girl, I don't mind if you want to stall for time, but the cards will keep coming", he said as he snapped his fingers, which made the deck repeat the same process as before.
Marlene limited to reveal her card without saying anything, this time she got another word, which was "nail", and so the nail of her right index finger was removed from her.
"That's actually rare, most of the time that is a "finger", I guess you really do have good luck for a mortal", mockingly said Agrak as he revealed his card, a "7".
"Shut up and let's continue, I have won when my opponent was one point away from winning before anyway", said the angelfish princess.
Agrak inwardly smiled.
'Ah, self-confident mortals, they produce some really high-
quality energy, maybe I should enslave this one, it seems like this time things are different, I might need a gaming opponent for the travel back home', he thought.
At this point the Nethereal royalty wasn't aware that while the situation was indeed different to anything that has happened in hundreds of thousands of years, that didn't mean it was beneficial for them.
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