Vacuse shook his head. "You want to disagree with a Sovereign Ascended?"
Cheir recoiled. "What?"
Vacuse shrugged. "The one that sent the message is a Sovereign Ascended. And it seems you've already collected some money from her. So... do you want to disobey?" Read full story at NoveIＦire.net
Cheir gritted his teeth and his eyes flashed. He took a deep breath and thought of the money he collected, and then he tried to shrug nonchalantly. "What's there in working with you for a while, eh, Dragon heir? You can't be that bad."
Vacuse smiled. "Of course not. I am the kindest lord ever, and a Dragon!"
Cheir looked as if he did not believe a single thing that Vacuse said, but the Dragon heir didn't care. "Welcome, Cheir of Devour Bandit. Now then, let's finish this.
"Everyone will fight. Including you, Cheir. The five to remain standing will join me. Take care not to kill each other."
And with that, Vacuse retreated into the castle with the attendants. The only one that remained in the courtyard aside from the competitors was the man that sat atop the dragon construct.
Cheir looked around and gave a small smile. "We should fight, eh?"
He raised his black flute.
"Vacuse, you really don't believe him, do you?" Kagerou asked. "I'm sure there's a lot that he's hiding. An independent can't be that strong, right?"
They were back in the castle, ignoring the sound of battle outside.
Vacuse smirked. "Of course he's hiding something. Everyone is always hiding things. But I doubt he even knows what is really happening or not. I think he's one of Blood Spike's vessels."
Harkon stiffened. "You mean, Blood Spike might be hiding in him?"
Vacuse shrugged. "The woman that calls herself a Dragon, who knows what she might be capable of? Once you reach Sovereign Ascended, the power level compared to the ranks below it is like heaven and earth. It's so vast. That is when you truly begin to turn inhuman.
"She might be inside him. Besides, I'm sure she won't be the only powerful person to want to enter the Great Dungeon."
"It seems the Great Dungeon isn't as simple as it appeared," Harkon finally said. "We might have to work hard to protect ourselves."
Vacuse's eyes turned cold.
Blood Spike was part of the Black Accord and ultimately, with all her nonsense and rubbish, what she wanted was Vacuse himself, the SSS Dragon.
The same was true for Jellyfish at the end of the day. And then there was Shadow, the one that involved the Black Accord itself.
They didn't want the others in the Vorrakyn family but Vacuse himself.
"...Maybe it's because I'm the first Dragon that's appeared for a while? Even then, there has to be some significance to that. Why? Why is it important? What do they know that I don't?..."
One thing Vacuse lacked was knowledge of what was actually happening.
Why do they want Vacuse Vorrakyn? The SSS Dragon of Void?
Somehow, he knew it would not be something he liked.
"...My next step should be looking for information. Just like the Phoenix, Jellyfish mentioned something about the Original Beasts... what's that supposed to mean?..."
Vacuse did not have the answers at the moment.
Cheir was breathing hard.
Beneath him were broken bodies of those who had tried to fight him, and beside him were two people, their faces bloodied and vicious as they stared at the remaining opponents.
Cheir himself wasn't looking that good.
His face was covered in blood and sweat. A clean gash opened up on his left cheek where an arrow meant for his head passed through.
But his enemies were in worse positions.
Immediately after Vacuse entered the castle, two things happened.
Those who did not want to fight and immediately gave up moved to the back. A lot of people did not want to participate in the fight, which left six people standing.
Out of the six people, five banded together to take out Cheir first.
And that was how the fight started.
With the three bodies he was controlling, Cheir faced them in a short and intense fight.
Two out of the three bodies he was controlling were crushed, but he also took down four of the opponents. Then one of them chose to join him.
The last opponent though, he seemed like the strongest.
At the very least, just as strong as Cheir. Maybe stronger.
"It seems you can't use their abilities as freely as if they were not your puppets. Is their beast even still there?" A short guy with a bald head asked.
His eyes were warm and friendly, as if he wasn't currently engaging in an intense battle. And the thing that made Cheir narrow his eyes was that there was not a single drop of blood on his opponent. In fact, even dust seemed to be blown away by the winds he created and controlled.
Cheir flashed a smile. "Are you really an independent? I've not heard your name before. And with your name, I should have."
The guy tilted his head. "Actually, I am not from these parts. I am from the Eastern Region."
Cheir blinked. "Eh? So why don't you join the young master on the other side?"
The guy smiled. "Well, I heard so much about the Vorrakyn that it got me curious. I came here to see them myself."
"And? Were you disappointed when you saw him?" Cheir was subtly leaning forward, preparing himself and his puppets for a mad dash toward his opponent.
The bald guy smiled. "It's too early to say... but I can say that it's really wise that you did not try to fight him. To be honest, it makes me want to unleash my sword on him."
Cheir's eyes widened and he froze, his gaze turning to the sword on the guy's back. "You mean... you're not really fighting seriously since you are not using your sword?"
The bald guy frowned slightly. "You're fighting seriously now?"
He seemed surprised by that, and his next question came out with hesitation. "I thought you are one of the strongest independents?"