1420 His First Case.
"Interesting, how about the strongest?" Felix asked.
While he had to struggle heavily to take down Ravager, it was understandable as he had a mere month to get accustomed to a new element, new fighting style, new environment, and a new power system.
But with six months to prepare? As long as he had enough resources and trained hard enough, he was bound to create an upset in this year's tournament.
At least, this was what he believed until he heard Sekiro mention the strength of the current known strongest fighter in the heavenly plane.
"That's Nebula, she is an absolute freak of nature and believed to be the most talented fighter in the history of the realm, blessed with all the possible battle traits one needs to reach the apex." Sekiro mentioned with a solemn tone, "She has been dominating the heavenly plane's tournament for the past decade, winning ten championships in a row and making the Northern Lights City surpass even the capital in terms of popularity."
"A ten times winner?" Felix frowned. "How can the Ravager and the city lords even have their kind confidence in winning the tournament when they knew about such a monster?"
"Well, each year people believe that Nebula is being pushed for retirement by the government due to her monopoly on the championship. All fighters are kinda putting their hopes on this each year. I don't know about Ravager, but I think he thought the same and now he will be in for a shock when he sees that she will be joining yet again."
"Pushing her for retirement?" Miss Sanae sneered, "Foolish dreams. The moment rules are set, the government won't change them unless there was a massive issue in them. In this instant, Nebula is dominating the tournament fair and square with her strength. The government doesn't give a sh*t about the fighters and the gambling dens woes."
Felix nodded, thinking the same. The government wasn't in the business of entertainment but keeping the entire heavenly plane's realm functional.
So, they had no reason to force a retirement out of anyone just for the sake of improving the viewership or making the end prize more accessible to other fighters.
The strong wins and the weak losses...This was the law of the jungle in the living world and in the spirit world.
"Ravager doesn't seem like someone with such a weak mindset," Felix uttered calmly.
Having fought Ravager, Felix might not have shown it, but he had seen a familiar kind of rage, despair, and drive to win against him.
A drive that far surpassed pride or a reward, which made him understand that he was in this for a totally different reason than he or any other fighter.
He didn't know the reason and he honestly couldn't care less about it...But, he understood that if his assumption was correct, Ravager was going to come back stronger than ever and make a name for himself.
"Whether he thought like that or not, it doesn't really matter against Nebula." Sekiro shook his head, "I am sorry to say this, but I doubt it will be even possible for you to defeat her."
For Sekiro to say this out loud even after seeing what he had demonstrated in the finals made Felix's heart skip a beat.
"What are her elements?" He asked.
Sekiro looked him dead in the eye and sighed, "She is the only space/time elementalist to ever step in the heavenly plane."
"..."
Felix remained speechless as he had to act stunned before them...But in reality? The news didn't really move him as much with his experience with those two elements.
'For me, mastering those two elements are hundred times easier than vibration as I have already studied them carefully. For this spirit to master them without a single memory about the living world, she really must be as talented as they make it.' Felix thought.
He didn't bash Nebula's achievements in the slightest, understanding that imagination might bring into life even time/space abilities, but unless one had a strong grasp on their laws and rules, not a single ability will manifest as imagined.
In other words, Nebula had to actually study time/space's laws without anyone's assistance and reach a high level of understanding to the point she could wield them using her imagination!
This was something only freaks would be able to achieve.
Felix was in this category as the fact he was using a vibration element in a mere month was enough to set terrors in the entire heavenly plane if they ever knew that it wasn't a sound element.
'Space/time elementalist...I don't know about the rest, but if I want to defeat her, I need to reach a high level of understanding of vibration that will enable me to counter her.'
Felix knew that this was going to be his most complicated task in the next six months, but he was up for the task.
"The Great Filter Stage will start in two weeks after all city tournaments end." Miss Sanae suddenly turned off the tv and warned, "If you want to participate in it, you better close a case first as I am not paying you to focus on tournaments."
"You cashed out rich from betting on me, everything that you have paid me has already been returned two folds." Felix replied nonchalantly, "Don't be so shameless and act like you aren't already benefiting from me."
"You little sh*t, what kind of servant talks like this to his master?" Miss Sanae got annoyed at how right he was.
"Tell me the case and I will finish it in less than a week." Felix uttered calmly, "I need the other week to prepare for the filter stage."
"Aren't you a bit too cocky for a rookie? Kikiki, you think solving cases is as straightforward as your barbaric fights?" Miss Sanae laughed as he covered her mouth.
"Try me," Felix replied, his eyes as unbothered as ever.
"Fine, go solve this case, and if you managed to close it in a week, I will make an exception and give you 50% of the profits from it."
Miss Sanae continued chuckling as she forwarded Felix a holographic case file.
"I will take you on that."
Felix opened the case file and read it carefully for a couple of minutes...With each page flipped, his gaze got colder and colder.
His reaction was reasonable as the case revolved around a servant called Emeric and one of the infamous shopkeepers in the city's bazaar, Sir. Azravan.
Emeric had contacted Miss Sanae privately and told her that he desired to sue his master for physical/mental abuse, fraud, and price manipulation.
However, he couldn't generate any proof to validate his case and help him in a court of law.
It was known that the court always sides with the accused since the moment they were found guilty, the punishment was almost always getting kicked out of the heavenly plane.
So, the court takes such cases with great importance and if one couldn't present a strong case, it would fall apart before the judge.
Emeric hired Miss Sanae to find enough proof to free himself from the abuse and the only reason he mentioned fraud and price manipulation was to help the case be stronger.
"Are you sure you are up to the task?" Miss Sanae uttered with a solemn tone. "I might have given you an incentive to work hard this week, but I don't want you to rush the case to prove your worth. If Emeric's master ever found out about this, he is going to put him through a much tougher hell and we won't be able to save him without proper evidence."
"Don't worry, he will be free to seek another master in a week." Felix assured before requesting, "I need to meet him first, so set up a date the next morning."
"It doesn't work like that cowboy." Miss Sanae shook her head, "Since he is coming at us privately, we can't contact him at all. Just the fact he came to me for help took a great deal of bravery."
"So, you have to finish this without his help."
As much as Miss Sanae refused to admit it, working on such private cases was a great pain in the ass due to the limitation imposed on her.
But business was business and if she wanted to survive, she had to accept such cases to pay the bills.
"You accepted this case one month ago and this is all you have found?" Felix asked, his tone a bit too judgy as he opened the case file again and didn't find much useful Intel on the shopkeeper.
"First of all, I have ten active cases as we speak and this wasn't a preference at that moment." Miss Sanae scoffed. "Secondly, my findings are decent and I doubt you could have gotten them even after months of exclusive work on it."
"We will see about that." Felix eyed Sekiro and ordered, "We will leave after dinner to check on the shop."
"Sir, have you forgotten?" Sekiro sighed, "We are blacklisted, we should count ourselves lucky to set foot on his property."
"..."
"Kikikiiki, a week he said." Miss Sanae laughed at his irritated expression and walked back to her office, knowing that he was bound to come back to her with no results.
As much as she wanted him to succeded, at the same time, she knew that he had to be humbled sooner than later.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l