“Oh, is your son also participating in the tournament?” a man asked another man standing beside him.
“Yes, but he was so nervous. Back in my day, we used to be excited about such things,” he laughed.
“Haha, but this time there are many big shots here, unlike previous tournaments,” the other man also laughed.
“I’m just happy that he will study at the World Academy. I didn’t show it, but I was so proud of him when he told me about this,” the man smiled.
They entered a huge dome-like building covered with opaque blue glass. Inside, there were multiple lines where people queued up for entry. Each queue had a small portal in front of it, and everyone got checked by security before they were allowed to use the portal. These portals were connected to the flying islands above Soran, and it was the only way for people who wanted to watch the tournament to enter.
Each portal gate had B and even some A Rank hunters who were there to make sure that nothing suspicious could be brought in. This year, the security was even tighter because many big shots would attend. It didn’t matter really because those big shots were strong enough to defend themselves, but it would ruin the reputation of the World Academy and the principal.
**********************************
In a car that had just left the Greville estate, Amelia and the twins were traveling with Damian and his little brother. Sylvie and Arthur would arrive in a different car, as the couple were talking a bit with Damian’s parents, so they decided that the young people could leave a bit earlier than them.
“Are you nervous?” Amelia smirked at Damian, who was tapping his feet while they were sitting in the car.
“Nervous? Me? I’m just thinking of a way so that I don’t have to face Asher,” Damian replied, making a tired face.
“Good decision,” Lucas patted Damian’s shoulder while nodding.
Lucas was pretty comfortable with Damian, who would sometimes duel with him as he came to the Greville estate to meet Asher and Amelia. He already had a good impression of Damian as he was the only one who could talk with Asher comfortably.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to fight him myself,” Amelia nodded her head as well.
“So pathetic,” a young voice spoke out.
“Why don’t you practice harder instead of flirting?” the voice was stopped in the middle.
“My lovely brother Nate, why don’t you keep your sweet mouth closed?” Damian roughly tousled Nate’s hair, who was sitting next to him.
“Stop messing up my hair, or I’ll tell Mom about it,” Nate glared back at Damian, who had slightly red ears.
“Why don’t you learn manners from Lucas and Livia? See, they are younger than you, but they still behave so well,” Damian spoke.
“Then be their big brother. I don’t need your lectures,” Nate said, turning his face around towards the window.
“Calm down, you guys. Let’s not fight,” Amelia decided to step in before the matter escalated.
“And, Nate, your brother will be competing in a tournament, so you should wish him good luck,” Amelia spoke.
“Best of luck,” Nate said with a pout on his face.
“Not like he’s gonna win it,” he muttered to himself, but Damian could guess Nate was saying something about him, so he decided to ignore it.
“When will Asher arrive, by the way?” Damian said, changing the topic.
“Probably before the tournament starts,” Amelia replied.
“What’s your current rank?” Amelia asked Damian.
“I’m E-Rank right now,” Damian said with a smug look on his face.
“Same as me huh, you were lucky the representative tournament is different for boys and girls or you would have tasted defeat by me,” Amelia confidently replied,
“Let’s see, we will have plenty of time in World Academy for me to see your capabilities,” Damian said with a smile on his face.
They arrived at the portal dome VIP section so they exited from their cars. The portal of this section were reserved for the Elite families and some other VIP guests and it each lead to their own personal room from where they could watch the tournament.
“Welcome, this your portal number.” A lady welcomed the kids as they stepped in and she gave Amelia a token.
“Nate can you take Lucas and Livia to this portal,” Amelia turned and gave the token to Nate.
“Okay but you guys are going to the partipants room already?” Nate asked Amelia and Damian.
“Yeah, I wanted to see who would be partipating in the competition,” Amelia replied and Damian just nodded with her.
Amelia and Damian left the twins and Nate left for their respictive portal with the lady who showed them their way. Behind Nate and twins were the guards from both the Seymour family and Greville family and they were extra careful right now.
“This your portal,” The lady pointed at the portal in front of the kids.
“Let’s go in,” Nate gestured to Livia and Lucas who followed him obediently.
Nate was 12 years old and he was a bit taller than Lucas. He was not a sociable kid but he could talk to others if needed to. And this helped him with talking with twins as he also met them for the first time. He had only heard about them being the children of famous Ivar Greville from his parents.
They stepped in and saw a big lavish room with a wide glass window which showcased the very big platform in the middle which was covered with a opaque barrier. All around the twins could multiple staff that were present their to serve them food and drinks. There was four big screens across the huge stadium for the audience to watch the tournament.
“Welcome to the World Academy,” A woman greeted them.
“Thank you,” Livia greeted the woman while Lucas also nodded along her. Nate was already sitting on one of the sofas in the room.
“Sit down you guys, until mom and dad arrive the tournament will not start.” Nate spoke,
“We were lucky we did not meet anybody annoying while arriving here.” Nate said while he picked a snack,
“Annoying?” Lucas asked Nate,
“Oh, you guys have not met those others kids from similar backgrounds to ours.”
Nate spoke, “Well, they are annoying as hell and I would rather read some books than chat with them,” Nate shrugged his shoulder.
Lucas knew that powerful people would always act arrogant but in the last 6 months of life he had not seen one person who had acted rude towards him or his sister. This made Lucas a bit wary of other families. If Nathan or Arthur were here they would just tell Lucas to knock them out first and they could handle the rest later.
After a few hours, Arthur and Sylvie arrived in their car, followed by the Seymour couple.
“Oh, it seems like quite a few have already arrived,” Arthur observed, noticing many luxurious cars, some even with an insignia of some sort on them.
“Well, all will be fine if you don’t cause any trouble,” David Seymour said.
“I was not the only troublemaker back then, David,” Arthur replied, laughing.
“Well, your temper was the worst,” David retorted.
As both couples walked in, the staff respectfully showed them their portals.
“Do you think other SSS-Rankers will be present?” David asked Arthur.
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“Well, well, well. I didn’t know we would meet here,” James Rothschild greeted Arthur.
“Neither did we,” Arthur said, but no handshakes were exchanged.
“Isn’t this the head of the Seymour family with you?” James smiled towards David.
“Well, I would chat more with you, but my wife is waiting for me, so I must leave,” James said.
“Oh, you should go then. Enjoy the match,” Arthur said to James, who ignored him and stepped inside the portal.
“Tch, I was hoping to anger him more, but he left too early,” Arthur muttered to himself.
“I am surprised he is silent after all that,” David said.
“What will he even do? This is Somaria, not Desmar. All that little bastard could do is talk,” Sylvie, who had just arrived with David’s wife, spoke.
“Sylvie, remember not to speak like this in front of Livia. You will corrupt the little girl,” Verina Seymour spoke.
“Hahahaha,” Arthur laughed but stopped when he saw a glare from Sylvie.
Meanwhile, Amelia had arrived at the participant area and noticed that the participants were given separate rooms, with small groups of people in each one. In her room, only unrecognizable faces were present.
“Isn’t she the famous daughter of the Greville family?” one of the girls spoke.
“Yeah, she has the red eyes. She is so beautiful,” the girls started talking, but Amelia had an indifferent look on her face and sat on one of the empty seats.
Many wanted to talk to her, but thinking she may not like it, people decided against it.
*******************************
“Young Master, we have arrived,” Emmy told Asher.
“Get the job I have told you done, and make sure no mistakes happen,” Asher ordered Emmy.
“Yes, I will make sure of that,” Emmy replied.
Asher got out of his car and looked at the huge dome-shaped building in front of him.
“Time to meet you,” his eyes showed madness, but he had a calm look on his face, though nobody saw it.
While he was standing outside, some of the tournament ‘participants’ were also waiting to meet him.