Ascension of the Dark Seraph

Caldaros clicked his tongue in displeasure.

He knew too well what Lucivar was going to do, and there was really little choice in this for him.

For the second stage, both of them were forced together.

Losing in the first stage would be utter humiliation, considering the bloodline coursing inside them.

Caldaros could only slap Lucivar's hand off of him—and crossed his arms, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to work with Lucivar. Just being near him made his blood boil, the eons of rivalry or hatred were engraved into his blood.

It was probably the same with Lucivar.

Others couldn't see it through their nonchalant façade, and that speaks of their strong willpower.

Once the mean-looking man emphasized the two main rules, the kingdoms were split to give distance between one another. Each kingdom passed through a designated portal that would spread them across the entire dungeon.

Still on the starting line, but a bit away from one another.

Having them so close would only result in an all-out clash, and that's not the purpose of this stage.

Lucivar, Caldaros, and Mirel walked through a portal and looked around.

No change in the terrain, but the main mountain that was supposed to be north of them was now around northeast of them. Its peak was visible, so they could tell their location was east of the center, a good starting point.

For starters, the game has a lot of mechanics and rules that Lucivar has read attentively earlier.

First, there was the flag.

At all times, the King must carry the flag, it couldn't be carried by the peons. Doing so would evoke a penalty that would set them back a lot in the race. The flag could also be taken away by other kingdoms and placed in the lethal zone.

Upon succeeding in putting the flag there, the kingdom associated with the flag would be teleported back to the starting line or the last checkpoint. Of course, the kingdom that managed to score this point would obtain a royal shield.

A royal shield would allow the flag to be teleported back to the King in case it was taken.

It was a protection, a second life for the flag that was great when the kingdom neared the finish line.

From the rulebook, one kingdom could only have two flag points at once.

On top of that, other than forcefully taking the flag—from a King, two peons from the same kingdom touching a King at the exact same time—would also cause the flag to be transferred to one of them. So, the King must be able to protect himself and also fast.

Mirel was perfect for the role, and he knew it.

Some kingdoms might also have a royal decree.

A royal decree is a one-time use item for this stage to boost the King and his peons' powers.

It was done by utilizing the array underneath the stadium.

Now, Lucivar understood clearly what Tara was offering in the morning.

But still, he didn't regret marking Arthur's location instead.

Other than that, the lethal zone also has another use.

If a flag was placed inside—the entire kingdom would be teleported back to the starting line or the last checkpoint, but if another peon was placed inside, that peon would be teleported back to the starting line or the last checkpoint as a prisoner.

To free that peon, the other peon has to go back and tag the peon out.

Either way, the lethal zone is a tool that could be used to wreck other kingdoms during the race.

Lastly, only the King could plant the flag at the destination to be counted as a win for the kingdom.

Lucivar was already devising a plan inside his head.

'In an ideal case, we should first get two royal shields,' He thought inside.

Just then, his focus was disturbed.

"Here's your radar," A man handed them the supposed radar.

It was akin to a watch, but the screen was bigger and it was a square, constantly scanning their front.

On the bottom left, there was a counter that read exactly one hundred and ten.

"Is this the number of participants in our division?" Mirel asked, pointing at the counter.

"Yes," The man nodded. "It would always be updated whenever a change happened, so pay attention."

Surprisingly enough, the first stage eliminated a lot of participants—leaving only about three hundred and thirty. Divided by three divisions, there would be one hundred and ten each, which mean there are thirty-six teams with two surplus participants.

"What about the last two participants?" Caldaros asked. "Are there others to supplement the numbers?"

"No, the two of them composed a kingdom each," The man answered nonchalantly.

Upon hearing this, the three frowned.

So, there are two kingdoms out there that only have one person who acted as a King and a Peon.

Being in that position would put them at a very great disadvantage.

Whoever these two participants are, they must be really strong for the tournament to do this to them.

Almost immediately, Seth came to mind, but they didn't know who the other one was.

"Okay, I'm done here. Good luck," The man nodded and turned to head for the portal. "Oh, and don't forget, there are going to be three checkpoints. You will know whether the first two checkpoints were, and for the last checkpoint, it should be at the foot of the mountain."

Once he said that, the man waved his hand and entered the portal.

Both he and the portal disappeared, leaving the three of them alone in the middle of nowhere.

Lucivar instantly averted his gaze.

He inspected the radar and found that, as Tara said, the radar would only pick up Mirel, the King.

Caldaros and he are not picked up by the radar since they were the peons.

'So that meant the peons could move about freely without the need to fear being detected, but that would also mean leaving the King vulnerable to being attacked…' Just then, Lucivar remembered about earlier in the morning. 'Right, I should also have Arthur's location.'

Upon clicking on the screen, the screen suddenly changed.

Mirel was a blue dot on the radar, but this one was a golden dot, and the landscape looked different.

'Oh, this should be Arthur,' Lucivar nodded and narrowed his eyes, inspecting where Arthur was closely from the terrain. 'He should be on the east side too. There's the very thin mountain near him. Finding him shouldn't be hard. Of course, I'm not actually trying to find him. I want Orivelle, but I have to be careful not to expose my in-'

"So, who did you mark?" Mirel poked his head from Lucivar's shoulder. "Care to tell me?"

Lucivar froze, but he tried to keep his cool.

"Just someone I wanted gone, not a big deal," He answered with a shrug, putting his radar away.

Then, he turned to face Mirel and Caldaros.

His eyes squinted, "Wait a minute, none of us chose a royal decree, huh?"

"Nope," Mirel answered with a laugh.

On the other hand, Caldaros remained silent, but it seemed he also chose to mark someone.

'I know he's not marking me,' Lucivar thought—recalling the text message from Tara. 'Caldaros didn't mark me, so he must have another agenda for this tournament. Like me, it seemed he also had a problem he needed to deal with. Or, is it something else?'

Soon enough, the mean-looking man could be seen ascending high above.

He is going to be the one who signals the start.

Glancing across the participants, who were eager to start the race, a smirk crept to his face as he raised his hand and pointed it skyward. Pausing for a second, letting the tension hang in the air for a second, he then channeled his ether.

Swoosh!

A red flare shot away from his hand and exploded like fireworks in the clear sky.

"Start!!"

Almost instantly, the participants sprinted forward.

The entire length of the dungeon was around two hundred miles, so they had a long way to go.

"Caldaros and I will catch up to the nearest kingdom," Lucivar said, his eyes locked to the right where he sensed a surge of ether—the nearest kingdom. "Stay close. From here to the first checkpoint is their weak point. After that, they'll adapt and be ready for an attack."

"Law of the Jungle," Mirel smirked, pumped for a fight. "We must show them first who's the real King."

Lucivar nodded as that's exactly what they should do.

But then, their heads snapped to their behind.

Kaboom!!

Sensing a violent surge of ether that climbed higher—and higher, golden and blazing as the sun, Lucivar was alerted, expecting Caldaros to attack right now. He faced his back towards Caldaros for this exact reason.

Considering there were no rules against sabotaging members, he was expecting this.

Maybe it was a stupid idea for Caldaros to hurt him right now, but from what he said he would do to Ciri earlier, this wasn't that surprising. But then, Lucivar realized that Caldaros wasn't doing anything like that.

He was not trying to attack.

"Caldaros, what are you doing?!" Mirel asked with an evident frown. "You'll attract attention!"

Instead of answering, Caldaros only smirked.

A gleam of cunningness could be seen behind his eyes.

Lucivar squinted his eyes, watching as Caldaros flaunted his towering aura skyward.

It was overbearing and certainly could be sensed for miles.z

Then, he turned to another direction, sensing several figures rushing towards them.

'Ah… I see now,' He grinned, casting Caldaros a knowing look. 'I was going to use your little sun power to blind the cameras whenever I'm going to kill someone, to avoid getting into trouble since we're one team. But you also have the same idea, you also wanted to use me…'

'These people, I guess you also—have enemies, and you want me to help fight them. Good… Make this interesting,' His eyes glistened with absolute malice, surprised that Caldaros had the brain to pull something like this. 'It's going to be too boring if you fall down without retaliation.'

"We're a team, right, Lucivar?" Caldaros cheekily asked. "I'm counting on you."

Swoosh!

From the light fog, two kingdoms appeared, stopping to look in their direction.

Almost instantly, Lucivar saw dark strings shooting out from them and latching onto him.

Whatever Caldaros was involved in, he was now dragged into it.

"Fine, let's dance…" Lucivar unsheathed his dagger and strode forward.

Meanwhile, about a mile away, a man with sunken eyes gazed at the brilliant sun attribute ahead.

It was mesmerizing and bright, forcing everyone to take a second glance at it.

"Caldaros…" He muttered, squinting his eyes. "That means the Blessed Hand Clan's champion, Lucivar, is also there. Good, I can finish it right now."

Nodding his head, the man dived into the ground, turning into a lump of shadow before moving straight at the brilliant aura.