Zenath was a strict city and Azemo had already managed to get himself into trouble multiple times in the first few days. Fortunately, his position as the Spear Goddess' disciple was usually enough to get rid of the guards.
On one such occasion Azemo was eating in a place he was not supposed to and while the guards were checking his identity someone else was looking disgustedly at him.
"The Spear Goddess' first disciple is this idiot." The youth who spoke these words was tall and thin with ashen white hair. On his hip he carried a saber in a decorative case and was dressed in a blue uniform similar to the one Kaede wore except without any added decorations. At first glance Azemo did not like him.
Azemo was not one for confrontations so he decided to head back to the inn but the youth stopped him.
"I am Saboreth, disciple of the Lightning sword himself."
"Uhh… I don't really know who that is and you obviously know who I am so uhh bye."
Azemo turned to leave, the name Lightning sword conjured bad images that he hoped were unrelated to the actual person.
Saboreth stopped Azemo by raising his voice. "You haven't heard of the best sword user in the country and hero of the final battle against the foul demons." Saboreth moved forward but suddenly stopped.
Azemo's eyes had flashed green and in that flash Saboreth had experienced a kind of ferociousness that drove fear into his heart. He did not stop Azemo again and their conversation was over.
'It has to be him.' Azemo's rage was boiling over. 'I better confirm, it might finally be time to kill that b*stard."
Azemo quickly turned the corner and used (skill) Blend in, and he suddenly disappeared.
Saboreth was back in the street still feeling the effects of Azemo's scary stare.
"Uff." Saboreth shook his head, originally he wanted to learn about some of his opposition but Azemo had put him in a bad mood. 'I guess I will head back to master for the day.'
Saboreth, still deep in thought, began walking back to the large mansion his master had commandeered. Oddly, a clump of shadows began to tail him. Even though it was midday, seeing the shadows was challenging for the normal person. Whenever someone casually glanced at the shadow, the person would feel a chill and be forced to look away.
Saboreth made it back to the mansion without noticing his tail and quickly headed to his room, he needed to relax.
The shadow did not follow Saboreth to his room and instead broke off to explore the rest of the house.
Azemo could not find much in the house but after thirty minutes the door opened and Azemo moved to observe the people entering.
The group that entered was impressive. First was the last remaining archmage with his shiny archmage badge. The next commanded respect even though she did not have any markings signifying who she was. As for the last person, it was him.
Azemo felt anger as soon as the man came into vision. It was the man who killed both Zaebos and Sillis. The first person Azemo had put on his hit list was right in front of him.
As Azemo felt anger flow over him, he slowly closed his eyes controlling that rage. 'If I try and attack now, I have no chance. Even if I teleport my knife perfectly there is still an archmage here.' Archmages were well known for their plethora of spells and life saving items.
With that Azemo quickly left the mansion, he knew if he stayed any longer he would do something stupid. 'Today can just be for intel, he still has no omen that he is marked for death.'
Any thoughts about the tournament were lost and Azemo spent the final days before the tournament preparing his revenge.
Kaede could sense something was wrong but she attributed it to nerves. Seeing Kaede's concern hurt Azemo a bit, how could he betray his master. But there was no way he could forget his revenge. It was his driving point after the demon stronghold.
On the first day of the tournament Azemo had a semblance of a plan. He would participate in the tournament and find the perfect time to strike. There was no way he was going to fail and he wanted to make sure that the man's death was sure as could be.
Of course thinking was not Azemo's best strong suit so he had spent the previous days with a face that made Bella and Ima laugh whenever they saw it.
"Azemo it is time to go. I am sorry Bella and Ima you can't come."
Ima growled in protest, she could feel something was wrong and she didn't want to leave Azemo's side.
"Don't worry, just go explore the city with your sister and stay out of trouble."
Azemo then used (skill) Incognito to turn Bellania and Imagine into their house cat forms. Normally he might have been a little concerned about what Bella would do when she was exploring the city but he was too focused on revenge to care.
Kaede led Azemo to Zenath's military academy. It was much larger and grander than Fresk's but Azemo failed to make a single comment about it.
Kaede's appearance as the Spear Goddess turned many heads and the crowd quickly parted to let her through.
Azemo kept to Kaede's coattails and soon the duo had made it into the main courtyard of the academy.
In the courtyard countless students and teachers were preparing for the event. For most it was the goal they had been training for their whole lives. The tournament was a place where one could cement their future if they did well.
With Kaede's appearance the last major figure had arrived and the ceremony began. A fat man in white came out of the doors of the academy and began to speak.
"Welcome, one and all to Zenath's military academy. Today there will be no actual fights so expect a lot of talking." The man continued to blather on about how they would make the brackets and continued to talk on and on eventually bringing up history before he was stopped.
"Ok thank you for that but the next generation of warriors came here to fight not for a history lecture." A cheer broke out from some of the less well known disciples before they were quickly silenced.
The new speaker was none other than Azemo's target and Azemo had to look away to contain himself. Kaede noticed this but chalked it up to the fact that the Lightning Sword was exceedingly annoying.
"I am the Lightning Sword and I am just here to give you all a few reminders."
The way he talked was so disgusting to Azemo and even some humans could hear the arrogance in the Lightning Sword's voice.
"First of all we are all representatives of humanity so lethal techniques are banned. Also no matter how well you place you are still a valuable asset. Even though we have crushed the demons into the dirt the beasts and monsters are still alive so you will play a vital part in the wars to come. Okay that's enough, lets see if any of you can stand up to my disciple tomorrow."
With that the announcements were over and the whole courtyard broke into chatter, they had to wait for the brackets to be announced.
'Tonight might work, the a**hole seemed a little tired so I doubt he will have guests over.'
"Azemo is something on your mind? Your master can help you if something is wrong."
Azemo's heart cracked a little; he would be betraying his master.
"Everything is fine." Azemo smiled but he blinked so Kaede could not see the green flames that were rampaging throughout his eyes.