In a room covered by darkness. In a place where no normal beings had access to, a conference was being held between the most powerful beings of the Dark Frontier.
Many shadows could be seen. All of them had different figures, some had the figure of a teenager, some that of an adult, some that of an old man or woman; they all seemed different but likewise, they all held a common trait, their appearances were incomprehensible for some form of magic blurred the area surrounding them.
Their forms appeared illusory and unreal as if no one of them were truly in the room.
All one could say for certain were that they were different from the humans in Riarath.
The shadows were seating around a circular table. They were waiting for someone.
Suddenly, the figure of a woman appeared out of thin air, metres away from the round table. When she appeared, the atmosphere in the room changed. The other beings suddenly felt oppressed, overpowered, finding themselves needing to venerate the woman who just appeared.
They got up from their chairs and stood on their knees.
Her aura was vastly different from the other beings. It greatly overpowered the beings seating around the table.
- Your Excellence Isabella. As beautiful as ever. - said one of the beings. His voice gender-less and sounding nor adult nor child.
- Your Excellence - Continued the others in a mix of voices.
The woman named Isabella, was the only one in the room that the magic did not blur. As the first voice had said, Isabella was a woman with very graceful features. She had short black jewel like hair that loosely dropped into her neck and a pair of extremely neat and long eyelashes; her mouth was supple and her cheeks were rosy and glossy.
She currently had her eyes closed. A black armour covered her shoulders all the way to the tip of her toes so her body was no visible by anyone on the place; she held her helmet below her right arm and a strange curved ornated sword could be seen placed next to the left side of her waist.
She could have passed for a normal woman warrior; that's if she doesn't ever open her eyes.
Isabella opened her eyes. When she did, a bright golden glow could be seen in the depth of them. At the centre of the glow, a vertical sleet like that of a serpent could be seen on them.
This was a typical characteristic of a Dragonnewt. Dragonnewts were dragons with human appearance; different from the normal humans in Riarath, they had strength far above that of humans and had their senses at genius level since the moment they were born.
Simply put, Dragonnewts were beings that fused the ease of movement, flexibility and dexterity of humans with the strength and bearing of a dragon. They were also not if more intelligent than genius level humans.
She looked the more intimidating with her eyes open.
With her eyes open, she surveyed the scene in front of her, looking at all the individuals in the room, one by one; as if she was establishing dominance.
When she had finished looking through all the individuals, a smile suddenly appeared on her face, no one knew if it was due to satisfaction or anger, but the smile made the atmosphere all the more eerie.
The other beings paid no mind to it though. Some could say that they were even fascinated.
- No need for compliments No. 2 - all of sudden, she talked. Her voice having an incomprehensible allure to it - I'm but a messenger for his grace. I'm not different nor better from other Dragonnewts.
Apart from Isabella who held a special position, everyone in the room did not disclose their identities. Although their grace had united all the demon kings in one place and had declared unity to invade Riarath, he had never prohibited infighting; killing another of the demon kings would surely benefit another for the one who killed him would receive its treasure, and his essence(power).
In a nutshell, disclosing their identities was akin to suicide.
- No, your excellence - emphasised No. 2 - You're clearly different from the other Dragonnewts. Your face, your eyes, your voice, your abilities in and out of the battlefield! Everything about you is just magnificent!
Isabella seemed unaffected by the compliments. Seemingly realising that she wasn't going to get through No.2, Isabella nodded in his direction then turned her head around another place to look at another of the Demon Kings.
- No. 9 - said Isabella to another one of the silhouettes - How are things going on your side? Are the preparations done?
- Your excellence Isabella - once again, the voice sounded distorted - The preparations are done, we'll strike as soon as the iron's hot.
- Very well - said Isabella. She seemed satisfied with her response for she eerily smiled again and her body trembled in excitement - Our Grace expects great things. He's been emphasising the importance of this mission for our success in this conquest.
- Any other orders from his Grace Raven? - asked No.1. Out of everyone in the group, he seemed the most composed - Any other things we should be doing to facilitate his desires?
- Nothing else - responded Isabella. Suddenly, just like a commander, she raised his left arm and put it in front of her - The orders remain the same as always No.1. No.1 to No.10 your orders are to open as many cracks as you can for distraction. No.7, yours is to choose from among your ranks and cause havoc among the beings inside that damned barrier. It'd be good if you could create a stronghold for us to create dimensional cracks. As for the rest of the plan, you already know what to do No.7, I'll leave it to you. Everyone, understand?!
- Yes your Excellence Isabella!!!! - shouted No.1 to 10 - Long live Yuttovia! Long live our Grace! Long live our God Raven!
- Yes - followed Isabella - Long Live our plane of Yuttovia. Long live our Grace. Long live God Raven. That barrier might be sturdy, but it will eventually fall. That is everything. Dismissed!
With that word as a catalyst, Numbers 1 to 10 figures dissipated from the room, leaving God's messenger Isabella all alone.
...
...
...
- Is this..... really the right thing? Is there no other way?
Those words dissipated just like the other figures, no one was there to hear them nor to see Isabella's sorrowful expression.
*********
- Sorry Log....Sorry. - said Locus in an apologetic tone - The moment was perfect and....
Locus fidgeted and started playing with her hands. Logan stood in front of her with his back facing Locus.
- And? - murmured Logan hysterically. He could still feel the fear of being discovered lingering inside him - You almost gave me a heart attack!
- Sorry Log.... sorry. - said Locus as she hugged Logan from behind - But you have to admit that the face you did at that moment was hi.. Awww!!
Logan had dropped a chop on her head.
- That's for scaring me to death - Logan then smiled. His smiled seemed innocent, but Locus who'd been with him long enough knew that he was inwardly planning something; indeed he was, he was planning how to troll Locus in the near future. He could not leave this matter as it was.
Locus looked up at Logan just a second before Logan returned to his normal tranquil expression, just fast enough to see that smile Logan erased from his face; she was terrified, and suddenly she regretted her actions.
- Ahhhmmm. Log.... - said Locus as she trembled nervously - Could you let me off for just this once?
Please? Please? PLEASE?!
- Hayyyy. I cannot remain angry at you for too long. I'm letting you off just this once - Logan caressed Locus's head.
But Locus knew, she knew, for they'd been pranking each other since the day they met (without crossing any boundaries like the first day they met), that he'd not left her off the hook. She needed to be careful in the near future.
"How could he be so thick skinned" - thought Locus.
Logan and Locus were currently together in the waiting area with all the other participants that had finished their combats and had passed to the next round.
There were a total of 4 waiting rooms and they were all equipped with nothing more than benches. There were 2 waiting rooms for each section of the tournament.
In the end, no one had seen Logan's 10 second match, the only one who knew the truth was the referee.
The rules of the tournament stated that as long as the participant wanted to remain anonymous he or she could. Logan has asked for the referee to remain quiet. Even if he didn't, no one would believe him without proof. Everyone believed that Logan was but a sinner after all.
As for Jonas, he'd remain cold for the entirety of this day. Logan had hit him hard enough to achieve this effect. Jonas would not remember much from the fight.
As Logan expected, the explosions of the different spells casted had served as a good smokescreen to his actions. Not many people had been putting attention at his match either so not many people could have known that he had won the match. Logan did not fear those few people for humans always twisted things to convene them; they might pass his win for luck.
The screen had always pointed at the favourites of the tournament. This was so unless an unexpected event occurred. His combat though, was so fast that the commentator barely had time to receive the information.
The screens had never left Count and Countess Wessex daughter, Alice Wessex; it didn't seem that it was going to any soon.
Logan observed the screen inside the waiting room.
Anything about Alice's fighting style was top class. Logan knew with one glance. Her stance was flawless and her hair was a strong navy blue, showing her strong affinity with the water spirits. Her spirit was low grade but even one could see with its control that it was the apex of low grade.
Alice was a proud daughter of the heavens.
- "Could I win against her?" - Logan thought. Even Locus was all praises about her.
- Logan - suddenly, Logan heard a voice calling his name - Is Logan from St. Gaia Chapel here? You have to come out in 5 minutes. Your platform is platform No. 10.
Logan had an itch to fight Alice but he knew that it couldn't be in this section for his next opponent was....
***********
- Oy you sinner! Be glad that you're fighting against this mighty and awesome me! I'll be merciful and allow you to admit defeat! It's the only leeway I can give you for being from the same orphanage!
Yes, Logan's opponent for the second match was exactly Nathan.
Nathan was someone who grew alongside Logan. He was from the same orphanage as him. The 2 of them never got along, even before Logan was branded a sinner.
He was one of the kids that mostly bullied Logan.
Logan could obviously not do anything at the moment. As if to make matters worse, the platform where the combat would take place was one of the nearest to where the St. Gaia Chapel bunch were seated. The majority of them were all obviously looking towards this match.
In cases like this, he could have just given up, but that left him with a bad taste in the mouth. He could also just pretend to be knocked out .Logan was a sore loser, and he himself knew.
He didn't want to display his abilities but he mostly didn't want Nathan to go through unscathed.
-"What to do?" - thought Logan with a worn out face.
At that moment, Locus touched his shoulders to get his attention. She had a smug smile plastered on her face. Logan knew she was up to something.
There was no need for Locus to be with the St Gaia bunch for recon was useless in this situation.
- Yes Loc? - asked Logan. As long as it wasn't him who fell for his bestie's traps, he didn't mind her playful nature.
- Remember the theory of why in our style of martial arts we punch as we do?
Logan did not understand at first but then... You could almost see a light bulb lighting on top of Logan's head. He had remembered what Locus had taught him.
Logan looked at Locus mischievously. They smirked and laughed evilly together.
Nathan felt a cold sweat on his back. The hair on his arms stood up as in reflex. He instinctively felt that something bad was about to happen to him.
- Loc?
- Yes Log?
- It's time for plan B.