Hearing his own name being thrown into the mix, Oswald felt uneasy. Oswald was an [S] ranked mage whose spells could topple cities but even he was not too sure of his chances of winning against Valerian even if he was supported by a knight.
The damned vampire even asked for all the king's accompanying knights to participate. Where did the confidence come from?
Valerian was not a fool, clearly so he must have the ability to back his word but all of them, including Oswald in less than ten moves?
"Agreed." The king stated calmly but quickly felt as though he had made a mistake.
This was to restore the dignity of the royal family. If Valerian had backed down, Saras would still have to pay but not as much as they would have had to at the start.
Valerian would also lose some face but overall things could progress smoothly.
Him accepting was also within the king's calculations. A trial by combat would end there.
If Valerian won against an [A] rank, the compensation would be steep but an international incident would be averted, all at the expense of one knight's beatdown.
The king would even have a chance to try and form a friendly relationship with a high noble of a superpower nation. After all, who could stay mad after receiving major benefits?
All in all, it seemed like a solid plan. The king did not expect the vampire to counter with his own proposal.
One knight being thrashed was mitigable.
Nine knights plus a court mage would be insufferable.
All of them, in less than ten moves? What was he planning, one move each? Even a Greater demon would not be so confident in such a situation. Was this vampire stronger than a high-tier demon?
"Of course I will now have to prepare an arena seeing that an [S] rank magus is involved." the king stated. He wanted to buy time. Maybe the vampire was bluffing and would back down or perhaps he could use some of the treasury's potions to temporarily improve the knights' abilities.
"There is no need, King Saras. Please allow me. [Blood Domain]"
Valerian activated his skill [Blood Domain] and the was world immediately the colour of blood.
"This is my domain. It takes on the appearance of any area I happen to be in but believe me what we do in here will have no effect on the outside world. In here I can suppress whomever I please but for the sake of fairness, I will allow all twenty-seven knights and the lord magus to battle at their full strength."
The king and the people were entranced by this [Blood Domain] when the king and Oswald came out of their shock.
'Did he say twenty-seven? He wants to fight the king's and crown prince's escorts as well as the Lord Magus in ten moves?'
The king's scalp was itchy under his helmet. Something was terribly wrong here. Just who or what had his kingdom offended?
"For Saras!" one of the king's knights shouted. The other eight shouted the same while the prince's knights were seemingly in a daze.
The king's knights did not know how powerful this vampire was, in fact, they were offended that they had to survive ten moves even with the aid of the Lord magus.
Meanwhile the image of two knights getting their heads slapped off still remained in the heads of all who had witnessed it.
The numbers were clearly in favour of Saras but the eerie feeling that Lord Jata would win could not escape the civilians watching.
"We can begin." Val said.
The king's knights moved quickly and energetically. The prince's knights moved as well but there was clear resistance and dread in their movements.
Oswald flew into the air and called on his own mana while trying to quiet the fear in his own heart.
Valerian was surrounded. Knight's encircling him and Oswald preparing to launch spells from the air.
Alexander watched calmly. He was interested in what rewards Valerian would get and what techniques He would use but never doubted if He could win.
The king's knight's activated their golden combat auras, exclusive to [A] rank knights. The prince's knight's activated their body enhancement skills.
Then silence...three seconds of complete silence felt like three minutes.
"[Lesser Draconic Aura]" Val broke the silence with three words.
BOOM!!!!
A dull red aura erupted from Valerian's body and the roar of a lesser dragon caused the king's knights to feel immense pressure, let alone the prince's who had already fallen to their knees.
Before anyone could answer, before anyone could ask if releasing an aura was counted as a move, Valerian's voice was heard again.
"[Greater Draconic Aura]"
BOOM!!!!
Burning orange flames danced wildly and the roar of a Greater dragon was heard. The prince's knights hit the floor. The [A] rank knight's auras started to look unstable. Even Oswald's altitude had dropped to half of what it had been.
"[True Draconic Aura]"
BOOM!!!!
The orange flame grew and the roar of a True Dragon came out.
BAM!!!!
Oswald was the first to fall. His feet hit the ground but he was clearly sweating. The raging flame aura on Valerian's body had caused the air to rapidly heat up.
The pressure knocked the prince's knights out completely and the roar came with a shock wave that sent them flying. The King's knights, while still conscious did not fair better, the roar and pressure shattered the combat auras of the king's knights.
"[Dragon Lord's Aura]"
The flames on Valerian's body became calm and blue, but they were even more terrifying than the previous flames combined. The pressure made the king's knights face plant into the ground and pass out. Oswald had already began casting a spell but he could feel his knees buckling.
Valerian smiled. The smile sent a chill down Oswald's spine. He immediately released his spell.
"Frost Armageddon- Descent of the Ice God!"
The spot Valerian was in became a tundra. It did not go further than Valerian to avoid harming the knights and so a spell that could spread out and freeze a small army was focused solely on Val.
Silence....
Silence....
No one said a word. The crown prince was ecstatic but moments before he had been so terrified that the leg of his pants was a little wet. He would later claim that it was sweat while others would debate why a royal's sweat smelt so much like urine.
The king stood by, not daring to get excited. The girl with raven hair stood next to a knight who had not participated in the battle and both were intrigued.
The crowd could only gulp and watch patiently.
Oswald had spent a lot of his power to cast that spell but he was the least confident of everyone there, if he really had beaten Valerian then the domain would have disappeared. Oswald's realisation made him quickly chant, trying to construct another spell.
CRACK!!!!!
The ice pillar slowly began to crack and then quickly until it burst yet not in all directions. It shot up into the sky, while the area Val had been in became white and misty. The domain began to snow.
It would have been so beautiful if a monster was not hidden in that mist.
No one could see through the white mist but a voice came out. It was soft, barely a whisper, but it felt like Valerian had stood behind each and everyone of them and said it right next to them...
"[Dragon King's Aura]"