‘Move to the left.’
‘Now right.’
‘Jump.’
‘Crouch.’
‘Move back.’
‘Forward.’
One by one, Kael followed the instructions that were given to him by Igni.
The little Dragon could even sense scouts who had trained to hide themselves from even the most perceptive beings like it was nothing.
What could a few wind blades that came from different directions do?
Even when he wasn’t exactly there, the little Dragon could sense them very clearly, and instructed Kael to move accordingly.
The only thing Kael had to do was to close his eyes and trust his Bond, something he could do without a second thought. Yes, the whispers in his head were still annoying, but his mind had already adapted to them and only reacted to Igni’s voice.
It had honestly turned into a game.
A game where Kael moved like Igni wanted him to. More than once, Igni made Kael do things like crouch and roll without him actually needing to,
The Dragon just wanted to see his Father do that.
‘Nyaha~’
And since Cirri was enjoying this game so much, this fanned even more air to Igni’s fire.
The big brother wanted to see his little sister laugh even more.
Kael, who had now become the puppet of the two Dragons’ whims, just sighed helplessly, but hearing Cirri’s laugh filled his heart with joy so pure that he couldn’t even complain.
In the end, the helpless Hero played along with the Dragons’ antics, until…
‘Father.’
Igni called out.
‘Hmm?’
‘The Wind Threads ahead are flickering out of existence. He ran out of Mana.’
The Dragon spoke, and just as he did, the mist blocking Kael’s vision started clearing up, and finally, Kael saw Albert again.
The Mage was holding his head and was clearly in pain; he had used up more Mana than he had planned to.
Seeing that, Kael just grinned.
Then, with an innocent look on his face,
“It’s over?”
He questioned.
“I was still waiting for you to attack, you know? I even stretched my body. What happened? Why did you stop?”
“Y-You…”
Albert’s voice trembled in rage, his eyes glaring at Kael.
The Hero, however, still acted innocently,
“Me what? What did I do?”
“Pfft.”
Someone in the audience couldn’t control his laughter anymore and laughed out loud.
An Eryndor warrior went a step ahead,
“At least our Warrior had to be punched before he passed out, but this one looks like he is already on his knees, and the Hero hasn’t even done anything.”
“Hahahaha! That’s right!”
“As one would expect from a Xenthalor Mage! To be finished before they could even start.
Oh, I pity Xenthalor women.”
“No wonder they all become so snotty and boorish as they get old! They must be frustrated!”
“Exactly! Hahahaha!”
All the warriors laughed out loud, even the guests from Zephyria and the Council of Gold had smiles on their faces. Some were even laughing out loud.
And to further add salt to the wounds, Arlan stepped forward,
“Mage Albert, do you give up?”
He questioned, louder than usual.
When a mage runs out of Mana, it is usually assumed that he lost. There was no need to ask it out loud; obviously, Arlan was doing it on purpose.
And the Eryndor Warriors didn’t lose this chance either.
“Of course he does! That is what the Xenthalor Mages are best at, isn’t it!?”
“Hahaha! Exactly! Run away like you always do!”
“Hahaha~ Why not call out your Bond to fight for you again~”
Albert’s body trembled as the crowd laughed at him. He glanced at Tower Head Selene, and seeing the frosty, almost emotionless look on her face as she stared at him, he knew he was done for.
His rage, however, was redirected at the Hero and,
“HAAAAAHHH!!!”
He ran towards Kael with all his might, ready to take down the Hero using close combat!
Of course, his adrenaline rush quickly calmed down when Kael created two Magic Circles and summoned a Fire Arrow, ready to shoot any time he wanted.
Albert stopped, then, he glanced at Arlan and,
“I-I give up.”
He spoke and once again,
“Hahahaha!”
The crowd laughed out loud.
“Come on, guys, don’t laugh! At least he didn’t give up the moment he ran out of Mana! He did that cute little jog first. Baby steps~”
“Hahaha! Indeed indeed.”
“…”
Albert’s body trembled in rage as he walked out of the stage. For a moment, he thought it would have been better if he had ended up like Marcus; at the very least, he wouldn’t have had to go through this walk of shame…
It was something he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Once again, he glared at the Hero, swearing in his mind that he would get his revenge.
After the poor Mage walked out, the laughter finally died, the Xenthalor guests were silent, and the rest stared at Zephyria.
It was now the Sky Kingdom’s turn.
But then,
“We concede.”
The Serpent General spoke up, and a wave of shock and gasps was heard all over the arena. Even Aurelia’s own subordinates couldn’t believe what they heard.
“The Serpent General… gave up?”
“What…?”
“Did she not come prepared for this…?”
“That’s the Serpent General. You think she would go anywhere not prepared for an all-out battle?”
“Maybe Hero Kael is stronger than we expected…?”
“Is there something we missed?”
As she attracted all the attention, even the King’s, Aurelia smiled.
“Zephyrian soldiers only fight together with our Bonds, and since we know Hero Kael’s predicament, we concede for now.”
She then stared at the Hero and smiled,
“We will fight when your Bond grows and decides to show his majesty to everyone out there.”
Kael smiled at those words,
“I will wait for that moment, General Aurelia, but more than that,
I look forward to the time we fight our enemies together.”
“Hahaha~
I look forward to that time too.”
Aurelia laughed out loud, concluding the battles.
Or… that is what she calculated in her head. Eryndor and Xenthalor, however, had a different line of thought.
After all, they knew what Aurelia was thinking.
The woman had already figured out how strong the Hero was, and his powers exceeded all her expectations in every way possible.
Both Cedric and Selene knew Aurelia hadn’t brought any warrior or mage who could face Kael in a respectful battle. She was just trying to save face and didn’t wish to end up like the two of them.
Something they couldn’t allow,
“Oh my~
That won’t do, now would it?”
Selene spoke up, and this time, the one who backed her up was Commander Cedric.
“Indeed.”
Yes, the two rival nations had now come into a momentary alliance.