When Zircon, Tanzanite and Turquoise finally arrived back to their home, Zircon went to the study room.
Upon standing next to the study room's door, Zircon readied herself before knocking on the door twelve times.
"Come in." A voice from behind the door spoke so elegantly to one's ears that Zircon couldn't help but admire Emerald much more.
When Zircon opened the door to let herself in, she found Emerald sitting on the couch, drinking her cup of tea.
"How was it?" Emerald asked while placing her tea cup on the saucer.
Zircon stood without moving an inch and stated her report. "The 'Mist of Deepest Fear' was easily defeated by the 'Last' Player."
Zircon thought that Emerald might be shocked by such a report, so she was hoping to see Emerald's surprised face but..
It seemed Emerald wasn't quite fazed by the information or it was more likely that she kept her composure despite the shocking news.
"I see." Emerald laid her emerald green eyes on the tea, reflecting her calming expression upon the tea.
She then looked at Zircon, asking her. "Then what did he ask for?"
Zircon became curious as to why Emerald knew that the 'Last' Player was a 'he', even though she was always busy with a lot of her paperworks, not having much time to check the player's genders.
After a moment, Zircon stated. "He requested that he and his comrades won't participate in Stage #9."
Meanwhile, Emerald held her cup of tea with graceful precision, taking a sip of her tea while listening to Zircon's words carefully.
Zircon sighed, feeling rather disappointed by the 'Last' Player. "Even though me and my sisters persuaded him that he might miss a chance to be a King Candidate, he didn't yield."
In that moment, Zircon caught a slight glimpse of Emerald's bewildered expression and it stunned her of how beautiful Emerald was.
Zircon guessed that Emerald was baffled by the 'Last' Player's poor decision making however...
"He's clever." Emerald muttered, expressing a smile on her face.
"Pardon?"
"Does it not seem like that he knew about Stage #9?" Emerald questioned Zircon which caused her to think.
"Possibly. He wasn't surprised when we mentioned 'King Candidate'."
"I see." Emerald put her tea cup back on the saucer, crossing her arms before declaring. "Send the 'October' sisters to keep an eye on the 'Last' Player."
Zircon was caught off guard when Emerald requested that which made her expression quite hilarious. "..?"
"Is there a problem?"
"No, it's just that.. Do we really need to send the 'October' sisters to-"
Emerald interrupted Zircon by saying. "It's an order."
"Yes, Emerald." Zircon nodded before walking toward the door.
"Wait." Emerald stopped Zircon from leaving.
Then Emerald stood up to go back to her desk. "Send the sister of 'September' to the 'Kingless' Kingdom. It appears that Ruby is causing a problematic situation again."
Zircon bowed toward Emerald. "I apologise for Ruby's troublesome behavior, I'll assure you that won't occur in the near future ever again."
"Very well. You may leave." Emerald held one of her paperworks to have a look before talking.
Afterwards, Zircon left without making a sound to disturb Emerald's peace and quietness.
———
"Let me tell you what's going to happen in the next stage!" The angel flew around the sky, exclaiming loudly for us to hear.
"Oops! Looks like I forgot to introduce you all about me." The angel gently smacked her lips while giggling.
I grunted as I thought. 'Ugh.. Seriously.. Just get this over with already!'
"I'm Ru-Oof!" The angel was going to finish her introduction when a snowball was thrown to the back of her head.
I watched that scene while trying to hold my laughter. "Pfft.."
"Ruby! What are you doing?" An angel with straight hair in the color of a sapphire, floated down next to Ruby.
"Jeez! Sapphire! Why did you have to ruin my hair!?" Ruby shook her head to remove the snow that was still on her hair.
"Did you not realize what you have done?" Sapphire flicked her fingers on Ruby's forehead before looking underneath to notice many players were under Ruby's skill.
"Oww!"
"Look at how frustrated the players are! Their movements are quite aggressive." Sapphire spotted some players who were trying to attack Ruby.
Ruby growled as if she was a puppy, demanding Sapphire. "Then why don't you pause their movements?!"
"Certainly, I will." Sapphire extended her right arm to the sky, gathering magical energy to her palm.
The magical energy began to increase its size until it was shaped as a big cube, then the cube divided itself into an exact amount of small ice cubes, shattering them toward players who were behaving rudely.
In the process, the players who were hit by the cubes, were unable to move even the slightest bit of movement.
"There, done. Now Ruby. Can I have a word with you?" Sapphire was showing her cold glare toward Ruby, causing shiver down Ruby's spine.
"C-Can.. I s-say no..?" Ruby trembled from the icy-cold aura which was emitted by Sapphire.
Sapphire grinned innocently before grabbing Ruby's wing to pull her into the cloud above.
Ruby, who was trying her best to escape from Sapphire's grips, shrieked as loud as thunder before she entered the cloud.
'What the hell just happened?' I thought to myself while looking at the cloud where the angels went inside.
"JoonChul!"
"..." I turned around to discover HwanGi and Alaine standing only a few footsteps away.
Afterwards, HwanGi sprinted toward me, alongside Alaine who was panting.
'So he can talk while being under the skill..' I mused to myself, clenching my fists as tight as ever.
Why was I angry? It was because the hidden skill, 'Wave of Silence Fury' casted by Ruby only works on those who despise the angels.
So if there were those who show no hatred toward the angels, then they are allowed to speak..
And it looked like HwanGi had no trouble talking.
When HwanGi arrived in front of me, he was about to talk but I whispered to him first. "Why are you here? Didn't I tell you not to leave your room?"
HwanGi whispered back to me, secretly pointing at Alaine. "Because I was dragged here by Alaine."
At that moment, Alaine looked at us, trying to speak, however it appeared to be that she was unable to talk.
After finding out her voice didn't come out, she kept attempting to voice out her words.
Alaine gave up in the end and pouted. On the other hand, she moved her arms around as a way to communicate to HwanGi to tell him to solve this dilemma.
"You can't speak..?" It took HwanGi some time but he was able to understand Alaine's gestures.
Alaine nodded so fast that I thought her head was about to fall.
I said this to Alaine. "You can't speak until the skill wears out."
Alaine frowned before looking at HwanGi and I, pointing both of her index fingers at us.
HwanGi seemed to understand what she meant and asked me. "Then how are we able to talk?"
"I have my ways."
"But how about me?"
"It's because you don't hate the 'Helpers'."
"..! It's true that I don't hate them.. but what does that have to do with the skill?"
I facepalmed, explaining more about the skill. "If you hate angels, the skill will force you not to speak."
After both of them understood what I said, HwanGi asked Alaine. "Do you hate the 'Helpers'?"
Alaine glanced at HwanGi, wondering as to why he was asking that when he could clearly see the answer in front of him.
She looked at me with her eyes describing 'Did HwanGi really just ask me that?' and I just facepalmed again, exhaling a long sigh.
After a long period of time, two of the 'Helpers' finally left the cloud.
Though Ruby seemed to be sobbing while Sapphire was smiling coldly toward her.
Sapphire clapped her hands to grab everyone's attention before saying. "In the next Stage, you'll all be participating in a competition to be selected as one of the few King Candidates for this kingdom."
"Ruby, would you please teleport us to this kingdom's battle stadium?" Sapphire with her cold stare directed at Ruby as she asked her.
"Y-Yes.." Ruby whimpered before blasting a burst of fire at the players, engulfing the whole area with harmless flame.
Soon, my vision was filled with raging fire, burning strongly everywhere while blocking my field of vision from seeing where HwanGi and Alaine were.
Even though I wasn't able to see them, I could clearly hear HwanGi's voice, shouting at the top of his lungs. "JoonChul! Alaine! Where are you?!"
Of course, I didn't bother to answer him and remained silent.
After a short amount of time, we were teleported to a battle stadium with everyone of us seated.
As for the angels, they were hovering in the middle of the battle stadium, descending downward.
Then the two of them declared at the exact timing when a system message appeared.
"We will now start Stage #9!"
[Stage #9 has begun.]