"Nephilim?!" Lord Izta abruptly said as he stood up from his seat. He clenched his hand and gritted his teeth. At the moment, Lord Izta appeared so emotional that he wanted to smash the wall with his clenched fist.
Nephilim was the faction which was currently assigned as the caretaker of Earth. They were also the faction Lord Izta currently served.
"What the hell?! Why is this happening?!!" Lord Izta said loudly, attracting the others' attention.
"Senior, please calm down." Magus Xion said, as he quickly tried to pacify the agitated Lord Izta.
Meanwhile, Emery and his other three friends were all surprised and stupefied by the immense emotion Lord Izta showed when the word Nephilim was mentioned.
Looking at Magus Xion, Emery proceeded to ask the question himself and the others wanted to know, "Master, what's with Lord Izta? What does he mean??"
Magus Xion took a glance at Emery, sighing before saying, "Emery... Here's the thing. The opponent you will face against surely is very strong, but that's not the point. What Lord Izta is concerned about is that, even if you somehow win the match, it might bring more trouble for all of you. Isn't that what you're worried about, senior?" Magus Xion explained, while casting his gaze to Lord Izta at the last part of his words.
Lord Izta seemed to be in a frenzy, he walked around left and right while mumbling to himself again.
"Yes… No!... Enkidu... You really think so? ... Yes, yes!"
After a series of incoherent words, Lord Izta finally stopped his loiter and turned around. The esteemed combat magus strangely showed a big smile on his face, "Don't worry, don't worry... This is for the best. If we want to do it, we might as well go all in!"
The sudden and unexpected shift in mood obviously caught everyone off guard.
While the others were still surprised by his change, Lord Izta swiftly approached Emery, grabbed his shoulder and then said, "You! You have to win, Emery! You have to win!"
"Are you sure about that, senior? It is just one game, after all." Magus Xion said, which further confused Emery and the others.
"No, no, no, Xion! This is not just a game anymore! This has now become a statement! Emery, you have to win no matter what!"
Before he could respond to Lord Izta's words, Emery heard his name being called one more time. He had to walk to the arena right now, lest he would be disqualified. Lord Izta and the others also cheered him up for the win. Magus Xion, however, walked him out of the box and whispered to him.
"Emery, I really hate to disagree with senior Magus Izta, but I need to say this... I think you losing this match is not the worst case in this situation."
Emery was startled for a moment. He was smart enough to read between the lines. If this faction really had control over Earth, his planet, his home. It was probably the smart thing to do not to make trouble with them.
While Emery was contemplating, Magus Xion continued, "On the second thought, Emery... I regret saying that, really. Just don't think about any of this and focus on the match. Do your best!"
Emery nodded and climbed up to the arena. As he walked, Emery had a mixed feeling about all of the information he had just heard. He wondered what kind of person this Nephilim named Armand Seinz was.
When he reached the arena, Emery was greeted by the sight of a robust youth who raised his hand to the audience and the crowd responded to the guy's hand with loud cheers.
The audience had begun to vigorously cheer the guy the moment he had stepped into the arena, but Emery was not sure if it was because the guy was an acolyte from the privileged class or probably because of his lustrous golden hair.
When Emery scrutinized the guy closely, he finally realized the young man in front of him was the same person who was staring at him from the podium when the second game had finished.
Emery then noticed the guy gave him a glance, which contained the same condescending look he gave to him the last time.
Emery could only keep his silence, as his expression turned serious when he could feel the strong aura exuding from the youth's body. He perceived a strength level that was second only to Zach, the dragon boy.
Emery couldn't help but click his tongue as he was amazed. This was the first privileged acolyte he met, after all.
After giving the audience the attention they wanted Armand finally shifted his gaze to Emery, "You are… the savage acolyte aren't you?" he said with a thin smile.
Emery was surprised that his opponent knew him.
As if he knew Emery's surprise, Armand's smile widened a little while his eyes narrowed, "There's no need to be surprised. After all, you are pretty famous too."
"The Savage Acolyte, an acolyte from the fortunate class who managed to become the champion of the second game."
Even though the youth in front of him sounded like he was complementing, Emery could tell the youth was actually mocking him.
"It's all possible because of my friend's help, really." Emery answered truthfully.
Unexpectedly, the young man suddenly laughed and his expression turned to that of disgust.
"Hahahaha, yes. Of course. Of course, you did. There is no way a piece of trash from a lower world like you could ever reach this arena without others' help."
Emery calmly took his defensive stance and brandished the sword in his hand.
Oblivious to Emery's situation, the youth continued, "I will let everyone see how fake you are compared to true genius like me!"
Armand immediately took out four ellipse-shaped objects and let them hover around him. Each of the flying objects was about half the size of an arm with both ends was pointy sharp like an arrowhead, all four objects flew and circled around Armand's body.
"From your foolish look, you don't even know what you are fighting against, don't you?"
Without waiting for Emery's response, Armand continued, "Hahaha, good! Feel the wrath of my Soaring Shuttles! A weapon specialized for a Spirit Reader such as me!"
Armand raised his hand and casted a spell. In an instant, one of the ellipses hovering around him immediately rushed towards Emery at breakneck speed. Emery was shocked for a moment before he quickly parried it with his sword.
Emery was knocked a few steps back due to the attack. Even though the object looked unassuming, the strength behind it was much more than it looked. Emery was extremely shocked to discover an object as small as that could deal such a heavy blow.
"You will wish you never stepped on this arena, low-life."
Right as Armand said that, the remaining three Soaring Shuttle, together with the one who had already attacked Emery, glowing simultaneously. All of them were zooming towards Emery from four directions.