Ascension of the Dark Seraph

"You must have some serious courage!"

On the way back inside before the second stage starts, Abigail bumped into his shoulder.

Lucivar glanced at her and shrugged.

"Not really," He shook his head. "I just see no point in giving a rose to the governor."

"No point? It's courtesy, c-o-u-r-t-e-s-y, he's the master of this city, you know," Abigail chuckled.

Frankly speaking, with all of the participants handing a single rose, either white or red, to the governor as a common courtesy, Lucivar was right. No point in giving it to the governor since he'd be the same as the others, and would have absolutely no effect.

Other than Seth, the governor has no champions, so it wouldn't make a difference.

So, instead, he decided to give nothing to the governor.

'Other than what I came here to do, I also need the governor's attention.' Lucivar thought inside.

In order to gain someone's attention, he couldn't play it safe.

A reaction is the goal, be it bad or good—what he did had to incite a reaction from the target.

Giving no flower to the governor would make him stand out and certainly incite a reaction, that's going to be enough for now. 'Dullan said he needed a favor from the governor—and since he has been really cooperating with me, I do not mind doing this for him. Besides—I can tell I can dangle this in front of him and coax him to give me more resources.'

Since he decided to give none to the governor, he'd still have three roses.

His black rose went to the Shadow Clan since their champions would be his first target.

It was his deal with the Blessed Hand Clan, and frankly, he viewed the Shadow Clan as the weakest.

Not because their champions were weak, but because most of them are Demon Hybrids.

Meaning, all of them are killers.

Meaning, they revel in doing wicked things.

And for Lucivar, that's really great since he can read bad people better than good people, and forcing the bad people to do something heinous is far easier than forcing good people. All he needed to do was to give them a little push, and the black rose was that push.

For the red rose, he gave it to the Crimson Wolf Clan because of one sole thing.

Because they harbored a killing intent towards him.

Surely, Ragnar already told others about what he did, and thus turned the entire clan against him.

Giving them a red flower would give another layer of protection against them.

Having to show his support for the clan in front of many people—they wouldn't be able to try and kill him easily during the second stage without a good reason, or else they're going to be branded as a really unreasonable clan.

Lucivar was relying on the public to protect him.

As for the white rose going for the Feradith Family, there were two reasons he did that.

One, the white rose's aim was to give a mixed signal to a faction—gaining their attention without a clear indication whether the participant's intention was good or not. So, anyone Lucivar gave the white rose to would have their attention on him, and that's something he doesn't need.

Giving it to the Feradith Family was a safe option as he has a history with them.

For the second reason, he wanted to improve his image in the public's eye.

The Feradith Family has been the dumpster for black roses for an obvious reason, only having Mirel as their champion, so him giving the white rose to them would incite a big, ambiguous reaction from the crowd.

Some would think he's playing it safe, while some would think he's being kind to the Feradith Family.

Either way, he'd have their attention.

'I can only rely on the public's protection for now,' Lucivar thought as he glanced around the main hall, paying close attention to the other participants. 'I was fixed on the top one hundred and didn't have the time to see the other participants. I don't know the Crimson Wolf Clan's champions…'

No dark strings either—whoever their champions were, they're good at hiding their killing intent.

Perhaps, they are trained assassins.

"I hope I'll be getting the Crimson Blood Swamp," Abigail purred, rubbing her chest nervously.

Lucivar tilted his head towards her, "Crimson Blood Swamp? Isn't the Ashen Cavern better?"

"The Ashen Cavern might sound good with its flatland terrain, but it's near volcanic activity," Abigail said, raising a finger, as if she were lecturing Lucivar. "Laval-type crossers are extremely hard to deal with, fountains of lava would also shoot out randomly, and in case you didn't know, the Ashen Cavern used to be a Green Dungeon."

"Wha…?" Lucivar was surprised to hear this. "Why in the hell would they use a Green Dungeon?"

From the files he read about the second game, he knew what to expect in the second stage.

In the second stage, the participants would play a game called the King's Conquest.

A game designed for teams of three, each forming a kingdom and competing against rival kingdoms.

Participants would be formed into teams of three, and they need to appoint one of them to be the King.

The King is going to carry the flag of the kingdom, which would need to be planted at the destination to pass the second stage. The core of the game is a race game—the first few kingdoms that arrive before the other kingdoms win.

In this stage, the participants will be tested in terms of their overall strength as a hybrid.

To navigate a dungeon, protect the flag, and achieve the objective.

Kingdoms would be grouped into three divisions, with each division having a fixed number of winners.

So naturally, each division has its own racing ground, one of the three dungeons.

Lucivar had read all three, and he thought the Ashen Cavern was the best one to be in, but he was wrong.

It was the worst one.

"Don't worry too much—it's a subjugated green dungeon, so it's fine," Abigal shrugged. "Besides, the stronger crossers are probably locked up. Anyway, I hope we don't end up in the same division, or it's going to be bad for you."

Abigail grinned confidently, "I might have to repay you for the loss I suffered."

"Please…" Lucivar scoffed. "I don't want to make it a habit of beating someone obviously weaker. So yes, I do hope we're not in the same division, for your sake."

"That's the spirit," Abigail laughed and tapped him on the back. "I'll be going to my team now. Good luck to you!"

Seeing her scurrying away in a hurry, Lucivar smiled sheepishly.

"No, really though. I hope we're not in the same division or you'll be in trouble…" He muttered softly.

Pivoting around, Lucivar searched for his team and found them at the other corner.

Caldaros and Mirel were already standing beside each other, clearly not on friendly terms at all.

"Phew~ What's with the tension here? Aren't we a team?" Lucivar chimed teasingly as he approached the two, hands behind his head. "We can't let others know we're not a good team, now, can we? Lighten up a bit."

"Makes no difference. Only a few are strong enough to pose a threat," Caldaros sneered.

Mirel shook his head, "So, who's going to be the King? We can at least decide that."

Almost instantly, Lucivar and Caldaros exchanged a look.

For a second, there was tense silence that even Mirel could feel, stronger than the tension from earlier.

'Hey, hey, hey…' Mirel smiled sheepishly. 'Aren't you the one saying we should lay low?'

It seemed to him that a fight was about to break out.

Just then, however, the two of them turned to look at him at the same time.

"You're going to be the King."

Both of them said in unison.

Upon hearing this, Mirel blinked before he pointed at himself, "Me? Me, the King?"

"Yes, the King needs to be protected since he's carrying the flag," Caldaros nodded. "You're most likely the weakest among the three of us, so yes, you're going to be the King. If you have any problem, I don't mind proving it to you."

"What he meant is—each of us basically has the strength of one team," Lucivar intervened, rephrasing what Caldaros said. "So, we can go on the offensive, and since you're the fastest, you're going to be a lot better at keeping the flag secure."

"Did you try to sugar-coat it for me?" Mirel ground his teeth. "Fine, whatever, I'm the King! You peons should do what you're told!"

Moments later.

All participants had been separated into three divisions, and they were now about to be teleported.

Once he scanned the division, he smiled inside.

Orivelle and Renis were in his division.

Earlier, he thought that at least he should secure Orivelle first, so if he wasn't in her division, he would ask for a change of division. A kingdom could do that—if all three voted for it, but this could only be done once, and had to be during the second stage.

Lucivar could coax Mirel, and Caldaros would eventually follow suit, so it wasn't a problem.

However, fortunately, he didn't need to do that.

As he was smiling inside, the main hall suddenly shook, alerting the participants.

Ahead, Lucivar frowned when he saw three portals forming from nothing.

"Oh… I didn't know they could do that," Lucivar thought aloud, surprised to see this scene.

Opening a portal to the crossers' world is impossible without a Star Witch, but it seemed the world had figured out how to dominate a dungeon—and even moved it around like this. It took a few seconds for the portal to open.

Lucivar gazed ahead and frowned when the portal in front of his division was opened.

Almost instantly, he could feel the hot breeze coming from the inside.

"Ah, shit…" He smiled wryly. "We got the Ashen Cavern."

Upon entering the portal, along with the division, Lucivar found himself inside a mountainous terrain that was a little bit foggy. In the distance, he could already hear the sound of volcanic activity from the countless peaks around them.

A blue dungeon is already big enough, but this one is a green dungeon.

So, the size didn't surprise Lucivar.

Above them, spherical drones could be seen, broadcasting what was going on inside the dungeon.

Then, a man with a mean-looking face in front floated above with his power.

"Listen up, I'm not going to repeat this," He said loudly, scanning his eyes across the participants. "Do not transgress any rules. I'm sure you all have read it already, but I'm going to emphasize the rules that needed to be heeded."

"You cannot kill other participants directly, and you cannot use illegal items." He continued. "Breaking even one of those two rules would cause your entire kingdom to be disqualified. No exceptions. Remember that."

Upon hearing this, Lucivar smirked and turned to Caldaros.

"You hear that?" He said, patting Caldaros' shoulder. "One law breaker and the team would instantly be disqualified. We can't have that, not when we still have unfinished business to settle on. So, for this stage, I'll be in your care, Caldaros…"