Valerian, The Legendary

266 Titan.

While the people were surprised by this action and unable to comprehend what just happened. Morgana looked at Valerian with a smile and asked, “No more hiding?”

Valerian smiled and shook his head as he replied, “No more hiding.”

The two people did not break eye contact, and the people present were not fools to not notice the ambiguity between the two people. This was enough to tell them that Valerian and Morgana knew each other and had a strong understanding of their skills.

The emperor of the Valkyrians snorted and said, “So, you can use seven elements, but what about it? None of the people in the world are without a weakness. Do not think you are the winner.”

Valerian shook his head and said, “I do not think I will be the winner, I know that I will be the winner. This is the difference between us, and after I am done with you, I will see that you, berserks, change for the better.”

Titan looked back into his eyes and sat up straight in his chair. He could sense that Valerian was not a normal battlemage, it was even before the young man cast any spells. One sentence from him put the entire crowd at ease. Titan was not a fool. He did not climb the throne with just his brute strength alone. The cunning of the wolf was something that he inherited and put to use as well.

Valerian matched gazes with Titan and said, “Your Grace, please continue with the proceedings.”

He was goading Titan into creating a scene so that he could deal with him. However, the Emperor of the berserk nation leaned back in his chair with a smile on his face.

Valerian sat down beside Fragrantia calmly, while using one-hand signs to talk to the people in the four camps and exchanging greetings without disturbing the scene.

.....

A few minutes later, Zeenat finished her speech and said, “The champions of the five nations, please step forward.”

Five people stood up and came to stand at the edge of the ring and Zeenat said, “The rules of fighting are simple, one of you must volunteer and come inside the ring, then the others will issue challenges.

The winner will get to stay inside the ring, while the losing champion will go out. After every battle, the champions are free to rest and consume healing elixirs to restore their peak fighting condition.

Does anyone have any objection?”

The people shook their heads, this was the best plausible manner to conduct a fair battle. After none of the people expressed any objections, Zeenat said, “Each of you will have to face four contenders at least once. The one with the most wins will be crowned as the strongest.”

The people nodded, they all aimed to win four fights in a row, but everyone cast a side glance at Titan and Valerian. These two were brimming with a thirst to fight. However, the other three were not wavering in their confidence.

Zeenat looked around at the five of them and asked, “Who would be the volunteer?”

The atmosphere became tense, the people were thinking that Titan, the emperor of Valkyria will be the first to take the initiative but the man was surprisingly calm. He stood at the edge without any moment. His eyes were locked on Valerian, he wanted to see what this guy could do.

However, Valerian was also standing like a mountain in his spot. Ignis looked around and said, “Since none of you is going ahead, I would like to volunteer.”

That said, he stepped inside the ring, after all, waiting longer was going to waste time for all of them and he was too agitated by the performance shown by Valerian just now.

Ignis was dressed in a red robe that covered his entire body. It had a sense of mystery about it, making people wonder what he might pull out the next moment. Valerian cast a gaze at Ashlyn, who was sitting on the special chair, and found that the girl was keeping her calm.

Even if it was all a facade she was doing a good job at maintaining it. Beside her sat Adele, the eldest princess spotted Valerian’s gaze and smiled at him.

Valerian nodded with a faint smile, a few moments later, Zeenat asked, “You may challenge, Prince Consort Ignis now.”

That said, she left the ring and came to her seat in the Centaur nation camp. Valerian was not interested in battling with Ignis just now, and neither was Titan or Morgana. Yes, the lady was stepping in as the champion of the nation, after all, none of the people could beat her under normal conditions.

Valerian was not a fool and could sense that the strength of the three people around him was not normal. As he was thinking, the champion of Stella Nation stepped forward and said, ” I would like to fight. My name is Jango, I am a warrior. May the best man wins.”

Ignis nodded to the person and said, “May the best man wins.”

After the two exchanged a glance and then the match began. For the past few months, these two had also been practicing inside the magical realms. Valerian knew that Ignis had gone to the realm of the Kitsune while the Stellan champion had gone to the realm of Elvas.

Elvas were creatures, who mastered the arts of magical and weapon play to the point. They were great at swordsmanship and archery. While the Kitsune preferred to use magic spells and the art of deception. This was something a person like Ignis would take great joy in exploring. He was candid on the surface, but the ways of the monarchy were etched deep in his mind.

The two people stood in front of each other and as soon as Zeenat said, “Begin.”

The people vanished from their places, Valerian was not surprised but the rest of the people were silent, they did not expect that a mage will be able to move at such speeds. This was not normal, at all.

Ignis moved around the ring with a staff in his hands, Valerian looked at his form and nodded, the first prince must have spent a lot of effort in his training. His strides on the ground were heavy, however, the force was slightly unnatural. Valerian had also grown to the point where he could guess all this.

The two parties met and their weapons collided. However, none of them retreated, and then a barrage of attacks was cast at each other with great tenacity.

Valerian was truly surprised to see Ignis fighting this rigorously. He turned his head around to look at Vertex and found his shaking his leg and clenching his fists. No wonder he sensed someone agitated behind his back.

Focusing back on the fight, the people found that while Jango was covered in a vermillion battle aura, Ignis was covered in the same aura. A person from Lumen camp spoke, “Vita bless us, the first prince is a battlemage too? He hid all this too deeply.”

The royal family was aware that it was not the case but did not say anything to clarify this rumor, this was not the most opportune time. They were focused on the biggest threat of them all, Titan. This unruly man has been quietly watching everything for quite a bit.

It was said that one should be wary of the quiet one, as you never know when this person exploits the situation for their own favor.

After a few blows, Ignis suddenly cast a fireball spell on Jango. The latter was confused as he almost had an illusion that the first prince of Lumen was a battle mage, but gradually as the fight progressed, his guard lowered, after all, despite the push and pull of the initiative between them, Ignis had not used a single spell.

This was the deception used by Ignis and Jango had fallen prey to this, another thing to be noticed here was that Ignis did not use a chant to cast a magic spell. He has been promoted to the level of an archmage.

His gains inside the Kitsune realm must have been plentiful. Ashlyn leaned forward in her chair and so did Azula. They both wanted to see Ignis win.

It was not like the Stellan Emperor was crowned because of their support so he will serve them everything on a golden platter. Till the things they do and under a certain limit, the Lumen nation did not mind letting them be.

The fireball dissipated after the impact and Jango was found standing at the edge of the ring, with slightly messy hair and a ragged breath. Ignis did not wish to let his opponent regain his senses and rushed forward while holding his staff.

…

Five minutes later, the match came to an end, and Ignis won. The competition was tough and at a point, Jango had almost defeated Ignis with his sudden retrieval of an arrow and bow to target the mage.

The meeting had started and the competition had begun. Things were not going to be simple anymore. Zeenat said, “The winner, Prince Ignis, champion of Sapientia Nation. You can take a break to heal yourself, your highness.”