The Prince nodded affirmatively. “You don’t have to worry as I promise that I won’t let you down.”
The venue for the competition was in the Royal training ground. It was very spacious and had an ancient protection spell so that the training ground wouldn’t be destroyed easily.
The Prince lead one hundred guards to escort us to the Royal training ground. The competition was carried out in secret so only those involved in setting up the competition knew about it.
The Prince said, “I have invited the kingdom’s High Priest to be the judge. If the competition didn’t involve so many magic experts, I won’t have been able to ask for his help.”
I curiously asked Teacher Di, “ who is that High Priest ?” Teacher Di explained to me that he held a neutral position in the kingdom so he won’t be biased in the judging the matches. Anyone who are religious were his disciples. The kingdom had numerous believers. If he wanted the kingdom to be his, it would be extremely easy for him. Luckily, the power he held weren’t impossible to resist against. The High Priest himself was a very kindhearted person. No one knew how old he really was and nor did anyone saw him got angry before. Everyone would be able to relax with him judging the battles. I stared at the High Priest only to see that he had calmly closed his eyes and ignored the commotions happening around him. He wore a strange attire. He had worn a black robe and a wooden staff in his hand. There was a glittering red jewel at the top of his staff. It seemed as though he had felt me staring at him as he slowly opened his eyes and a light ray entered my eyes. My entire body shook in response, but it was a power that wasn’t filled with animosity. I wasn’t in any discomfort in the entire process. When I was at a loss of what to do, the High Priest closed his eyes again and regained his previous posture.
‘I didn’t know that there are so many experts in the Kingdom of Aixia.’ The opposing team arrived at that moment. They also had roughly one hundred people. It was obvious that they were mostly from the Royal Mage Union.
There were five people leading the group. The person walking right in front of the group wore a brocaded garment. He looked to be approximately fifty in age. He had a cold expression as if nothing was related to him. If I haven’t guessed wrongly, he should be the opposing power Duke Te Yi as four people moving by his side had magical staffs in their hands. They should definitely be the leader of the three main families and the leader of the Royal Mage Union, Dun Yu Xi.
Since Du Yu Xi was an Earth Magister so he should be one on the left; wearing a yellow magician robe. ‘I wonder why he did the same as the High Priest to close his eyes. Was that suppose to be cool? However, the magic staff in his hands looked like an advanced one. It should be an Earth based magic staff.’
The Ri, Yue and Xin family leaders were easy to be recognised as the clothings they wore had sun, moon and stars embroidered on them respectively. That’s interesting! The one wearing the sun embroidered robe should be Feng Liang Ri’s grandfather, Si Feng Ri. He looked very gloomy.
We went with the prince as his representatives by going to greet the five of them with five of us as well.
Duke Te Yi said, “Your Highness, I’m sorry we were late.”
The Prince said smilingly, “You don’t have to be this courteous. It’s my group that came early. Since all forces has arrived, shall we start the competition?”
Duke Te Yi said solemnly, “Alright! Let’s start the battle that will decide the fate of the Kingdom.”
A hoarse voice said, “Are all of you prepared?”
The Prince and Duke Te Yi bowed simultaneously and said. “Yes we are! Honourable High Priest, please give us the permission to start the competition.”
The High Priest sighed a little and glanced at everyone before replying, “This competition happened inevitably, but I hope that you all won’t seriously harm your opponents. You’re the supporters and talents of the Kingdom. The Kingdom still needs your support. I foretold from gazing the stars a few days ago that there’ll be a serious calamity that will bound to happen on the human race in the near future. You’ve to conserve as much powers as possible so as to be able to deal with the unknown dangers. Do you understand? Thus, I’ll judge the team to be disqualified if someone from that team killed their opponent.”
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Volume 4: Chapter 28 - Winning the First Battle
The Prince and Duke Te Yi represented their teams and said, “We understood!”
The High Priest nodded. “Very well! The competition will start now. You can freely decide the order of who to send out.” It was important to decide on who to send out. The worst match up would be Dun Yu Xi against Teacher Di. Our advantage against Dun Yu Xi was negligible. Teacher Di was probably the only one that have the chance of winning against him. I would have no hope in participating the competition if I were to be matched up with Dun Yu Xi.
Duke Te Yi said, “Your Highness, let’s draw straws to decide the order. Which five members from your side will be participating in the competition?”
The Prince looked at me to signal me to step forward. When I stepped out, the opposing forces mostly showed startled expressions as they didn’t thought that the Prince would send out such a young magician. There was signs of hatred in the eyes of the Ri family’s leader.
Duke Te Yi asked, “Your Highness, are you really going to sent out such a young magician? It can’t be that you’re forfeiting a match?”
The Prince smiled. “How could I forfeit a match? Zhang Gong is a very powerful magician so I won’t underestimate him if I were you. Your team of five should also step out, no?”
Duke Te Yi exposed an expression of disdain. It was obvious that he was looking down on me. The four Magisters standing behind him and a person draped in a black magician robe stepped forward. The last mysterious person that stepped forward had his mantle really low so it was impossible to see his appearance.
Duke Te Yi and the Prince drew the first competitor. It was Teacher Chuan Song Zhen against the Xin family’s leader, Hai Tian Xin. He was the grandfather of the three Hai Ri siblings.
The Prince expression stiffened a little. Even though he knew that this match would be his to win, but he would no longer have anyone from his side that could win against Dun Yu Xi. However, he had already drew the lot so it was too late for regrets. Hai Ri Xin was the weakest in the opposing team member so it would be easy for Teacher Zhen to win against him. This would also mean that the other matches after this would be harder. This draw had greatly influence the future matches of the competition.
The High Priest announced loudly, “The first match will be the Royal Advance Magic Academy’s Principal Chuan Song Zhen against the Xin family’s leader, Hai Tian Xin. Everyone, except for those two, please leave the arena!”
Teacher Zhen and Hai Tian Xin were the only ones left in the five hundred meter square battle arena.
Hai Tian Xin smiled and said, “Chuan Song! Let’s have a fun match!”
Teacher Zhen asked, “Hai Tian, aren’t you a guy that dislikes to battle for power? Why did you enter this power battle?”
Hai Tian Xin replied, “Aren’t you the same? If it weren’t for you old fools, we would have won the battle already and could avoid the civil war. I have my responsibilities to my family. Let’s stop chatting and fight to see if I can move you from your first rank position!”
Teacher Zhen replied, “If that’s the case, let’s do it!”