Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 233: Finally it’s time.

While the tournament started in the Neutral City, Ozul lazily walked out of the hotel with Jinx quietly following behind him.

He knew that the tournament would have started which meant that Emperor Luthien was already out of the Royal Palace. He only needed to infiltrate it and get his arm back now.

As he walked down the streets, he noticed that his appearance together with Jinx following him attracted a lot of eyes to him no matter where he went. So he increased his pace so as to not draw any more attention.

When he reached the Palace, he noticed there were more guards than usual. Before, there were only two guards at the main gate. But now, there were some roaming outside the wall as well.

‘It’s probably because of the absence of the Emperor...’ Ozul decided that it was better to act when it was dark. Not only was the sun annoying, but the dark veil of the night would also help him to conceal himself.

Anyway, Alver had told him that the tournament this time would be held for two days instead of only one. So he had plenty of time before Emperor Luthien returned since it would at least take a couple of days to make it back here in the Silverbird Kingdom as well.

“I will only need a few hours,” Ozul muttered as he gazed at the tall Palace in the distance while he sat on the roof of a building with Jinx.

.....

Just like that, he didn’t make a move and waited for the sun to go down.

—–

Meanwhile, the representative of the Mercenary Guild announced how they would hold the tournament this time around.

It turned out that they would indeed do a Battle Royale, but not just one. They would organize two Battle Royales and the last 3 people standing in both rings would have individual fights.

The individual matches would have to wait for the next day while they would finish the two Battle Royales on the same day.

“Since many factions have sent more than a single participant, we will try to put them in separate rings for the Battle Royale and also try to balance the power level in both rings,” the representative of the Mercenary Guild announced. His voice spread all around the arena as he used Mana to amplify the sound.

Since Raven and Blaze were both in the middle stage of Rank-8, it was obvious that if there was just one giant ring, they would join hands and defeat the rest of them. Even the other middle stage Rank-8 Mage who was sent by the Church wouldn’t stand a chance against them if they were to join hands.

To prevent this situation, they had to organize two separate Battle Royales.

Raven and Blaze had no problem with it. Instead, they were praying that the middle stage Rank-8 Mage from the Church of Light was put in their ring.

Meanwhile, near one of the seats reserved for the Rank-9 Mage, a couple of Rank-8 Mages wearing similar robes with nine petals drawn on their back bickered with each other.

“See! We shouldn’t have let them go so easily.”

“I agree. Everyone would have been looking at our Sect if those two were participating from our side.”

...

Having enough of their argument, the woman just glared at them to shut them up.

She turned her focus back on all the participants who entered the rings one by one and said, “Tell me this; did those two ever use any of our resources?”

“... B-but-”

“No buts. They only lived in our Sect and also inspired others to work harder. In return, they didn’t even use all those points to buy things from our Sect. They used their own resources, or they cultivated without any,” the Sect leader explained, causing the few who previously argued, to look down in shame.

Since Raven and Blaze never used any of the facilities provided by the Sect, they didn’t have the right to ask them to stay either.

With her explanation, the Elders didn’t speak anymore.

The Sect leader released a sigh because even if she had said all that, she couldn’t help but regret that the Nine Petals Sect wasn’t able to hold back those two.

Alver’s excitement could not be measured right now. Although the person who the Ashin family had sent this time was only at the initial stage of Rank-8, he didn’t care about that now.

If the participants from his nephew’s organization won, he would feel better than if one of his people did.

When Raven and Blaze got in the ring, both of them stared at the two people standing behind Archbishop Lammert.

Both wanted the man with short brown hair to be chosen in their ring. Just then, Raven noticed that the girl with silver hair beside the man looked a little familiar.

As it turned out, she was Clara, the daughter of Archbishop Lammert. Even she had managed to become a Rank-8 Mage!

Blaze also realized it, but both of them ignored her and kept their focus on the man who was the middle stage Rank-8 Mage.

When the old man from the Mercenary Guild went to the Church’s side, he gave them their scrolls and as it turned out, the brown-haired man entered Raven’s ring.

Blaze clicked his tongue while Raven smirked in anticipation.

“Let’s start the Battle Royales!” the representative announced with a loud voice and cheering resounded in the arena.

Just like that, the Battle Royales began with Raven planning to eliminate the middle stage Rank-8 Mage even before the individual battles began.

——

While people in the arena were full of excitement, Ozul was bored out of his mind after waiting for so long.

However, a quick nap solved everything because when he opened his eyes again, the sun was already about to set.

When he looked towards the entrance, he noticed that new guards had replaced the old ones.

‘They are not slacking off at all,’ Ozul thought inside his mind because usually, such guards would often just sleep around. They slacked off thinking that no one would dare to attack their organization.

However, it was different this time and Ozul knew that the reason was most probably the orders from Emperor Luthien before he left.

The Royal estate spanned over a large area, and the guards were actively pacing around the walls.

He had a very simple plan which had high chances of failing, in his hurry, he wasn’t able to think of anything better.

After the sun had fully set, the shadows of tall buildings dropped on the ground. Ozul was in one such shade, waiting for the right moment.

There were two guards stationed at the entrance, while a couple of teams circled around the walls. One of the teams had stopped at the entrance and the guards were chatting with each other.

‘It’s finally the time,’ he thought when he saw that the team had ended their chat with the entrance guards and were about to start their patrol.

He looked towards Jinx who seemed to disappear in the shade because of her completely black body.

“Don’t get caught and quietly disappear afterward,” he whispered as Jinx stood up and stretched her body before slowly walking towards the entrance.

He hadn’t told Jinx what to do or what he wanted her to achieve, but it was as if she just instinctively knew what he was thinking and obeyed his wishes. Ozul never understood what this connection between them was, but he didn’t have the time to contemplate this right now.

The gates were never closed, and right now, there were only two guards staying there. Although both of them kept their eyes open, they did not seem so serious about their duties as they occasionally laughed and chatted with other guards.

Ozul patiently watched as Jinx walked out of the shadows and with small and graceful steps, approached the open gates.

Her small feet made no sound as usual and with her color blending in the surroundings, the guards did not notice her. They were too busy telling each other random stories to notice the pair of heterochromatic eyes approaching them.

The cold wind invaded the guards’ nostrils when one of them suddenly jumped in fright.

“Ah!”

The other guard immediately stood up to look around, but he found nothing out of the usual. There were only tall buildings in the front and the Palace in the back. Confused, he turned around to his friend who had suddenly shouted and asked, “What happened?”

His friend, on the other hand, smiled awkwardly. “H-haha... that black cat suddenly scared me...” he said while pointing towards Jinx.

“Hmm?” the other guard muttered as he looked in the direction of his friend’s finger and there was indeed a strange black cat.

“Haha! You got scared of that!? You are getting old, my friend~” he laughed it off and sat back down.

“Tche! I was just caught off guard,” the guy who had shouted earlier said as he sat back down.

Both of them ignored the black cat that was approaching them. Although the cat seemed strange, it had no Mana, so they didn’t feel the need to shoo it away.

They resumed their discussion and ignored Jinx who was about to cross into the Royal estate.

They didn’t bother to stop the black cat because she wouldn’t set off the alarm with her size. Not only did she have no Mana, but she was also too small for the formation to consider her a threat.

At least that was what everyone thought...