Chapter 229: Untitled
"Hm?"
Immediately the royals frowned, looking at the strange insignia on the flute in Leon's hand.
The Lokian faction was created some time during Gaia's rule, when an old friend, quite similar in status to the dark emperor Cassius, joined the ice kingdom as an imperial advisor.
At that time, he had taken in a lot of disciples, not caring for blood or lineage.
However, this man's nature had always been unstable, imparting crazy principles and bizarre skills and magic to those under him, only for him to suddenly leave.
This man was called Loki.
The godfather of the Lokian faction.
And the harbinger of the worst tragedy to befall the kingdom.
The whispers around the arena shifted instantly.
A few of the older nobles exchanged glances, their faces tightening.
Some of them had lived through it. The Loki years.
"Don't make a move."
As the Prince of the Left prepared to immediately restrain Leon for using that treasure, the High God's voice suddenly sounded, sending a chill down his spine.
Don't make a move?
When the initial cleansing of the officials under Loki started, the first person to draw blood had in fact been the High God.
And now she was asking him not to move?
That sounded absurd!!
'Absurd.'
The Prince of the Left swallowed hard, his hand frozen halfway through the gesture he'd been about to make.
Looking to the Prince of the Right, who had sent out one of his trusted relatives, the Prince of the Left couldn't help but feel guilty.
"Heff? I'm aware of you," Leon smiled. "I won't cause trouble for you. Just admit defeat."
The flute of Loki had, in truth, opened up a gate for him.
This fight, against Heff, who was ranked eighth on the Ice Wall ranking, was not something impossible to win.
Not anymore.
"When has the prince ever allowed weakness?" Heff, not realizing what was going on, said, raising his metallic hand into the air.
"With this left hand, I shall kill you. And with my right, you shall be buried."
Without saying another word, Heff moved forward, taking in the air surrounding him as he punched down at Leon from the air above him.
"Hmp!!"
Leon didn't budge.
Using his left hand, he immediately encased it with the same material he used to create golems and took the strike head on.
—boom!!
The air around them parted in a gust of wind, the impact causing the spectators to grow in excitement.
Although there were a lot of divine beings here, the vast majority of those watching these fights were low level.
Seeing two Tyrants clash even qualified as the highlight of their lives.
—boom
—boom
—boom
The two exchanged head on, close quarters blows, causing the spectators to grit their teeth.
Every hit landed harder than the last.
In truth, bets had long since been placed on certain individuals to win whichever match they were placed in.
And Leon was one of the few with the lowest odds to win.
He was much less known than his crazy sister, relatively speaking, and even she hadn't made it this far.
He was also known as a long range fighter, typically not joining his golems in battle.
But here he was, exchanging blows with Heff, a blood relative of the Prince of the Right.
Nobody had expected this.
"At the Tyrant stage, one's avatar combines with their previous ones to form something called a Saint Hybrid," behind the glass screen, Minister Fin explained further to Enzo and the rest.
The human weaver was in a constant state of evolution, in mind, skill, and body.
At the lower stages, humans tended to have avatars that were low grade by universe standards.
But the weave was able to compensate for that by mixing blood with each voyage, creating a new being capable of handling divine energy.
Of course, this meant that those with already high level avatars, like Enzo and his friends, would receive boosts that were out of this world!!
Enzo glanced down at his own hands.
'Out of this world, huh.'
He flexed his fingers once.
Zeke leaned over, whispering something to Raven, who simply shrugged.
Puuu!!!
The sound of the flute in Leon's hand rang out as a bizarre energy engulfed him, his figure distorting into a disturbing image before Heff.
Heff's eyes widened.
He didn't even have time to step back.
Before he could react properly, his legs and arms had been grabbed by several golems, pinning him to the ground in a large mess.
Struggle as he did, he could not make a move.
The golems held firm, their grips unyielding no matter how he thrashed.
Veins bulged along his neck as he strained against them.
"Win…. "
Before the announcer could finish, Leon caved Heff's chest in with his knee.
Enough to cause his eyes to go bloodshot and his mouth to cough up blood, but not enough to kill him right away.
A wet, heavy sound echoed across the arena.
The crowd went dead silent for a moment, then erupted all at once.
"You!!"
The Prince of the Right instantly stood up.
But an arm quickly forced him back down.
A heavy silence followed.
"Have some dignity. When you slaughtered the Lokian faction, this outrage did not exist. Why?"
An older statesman muttered, his eyes lingering on the High God, who had glanced over casually.
He didn't know why, but the High God's stance on the Lokian faction seemed to have changed.
They could not act rashly at this point.
If that bipolar ruler of theirs decided they could all be killed, she very well might.
Nobody dared say another word.
The tension in the air was thick enough to choke on.
The match was over.
But somehow, it felt like something else had just begun.
Enzo's eyes lingered on Leon as he stepped off the platform, dust still settling around Heff's pinned body.
'There's more to that flute than they're letting on.'
He glanced over at Raven, wondering if she'd noticed it too.
Judging by the look on her face, she had.