"What is the meaning of this?" Anon asked with a bit of killing intent.
"You won, no need to battle anymore." The Knight said haughtily.
"He hasn't forfeited yet. You cannot stop the fight." Anon looked really pissed. Although because of Ezio's age, Anon was a lot shorter than the Knight, he didn't look up. It was as if looking up would make him feel humiliated.
"I am the Judge! I do whatever I want!" The Knight was pissed. He raised his hand to slap Anon but in the next second, he froze where he was standing.
"Ah dare you to slap him." A voice reverberated in the stadium and in a flash, Aodhfionn appeared on the stage. "Do it!"
"Master Aodhfionn, please do not interfere in the battle." Xiao Chen stood up as he slowly walked to the stage.
"It was ye and yer bastards who interfered in the battle." The dwarf master said tersely.
"Sir Knight is still the Judge, and he has the right to interfere, but now you are out of line." Prince Consort arrived on the stage and stood with his arms around his chest.
"Do not test me, brat," Aodhfionn said with seeping anger. "Ah will accept anything thrown at me, but if anyone dares to insult mah student, Ah will raze this country. Stop me if ye can."
"Are you threatening me?" Xiao Chen asked with a squint. "Because I will—"
"That is enough." A voice cut the bastard prince off. It wasn't anyone in the stadium but everyone heard it clearly. And not many knew who he was. Xiao Chen knew because he was dreaded by the owner of the voice. Ezio knew it because he talked with the person before. The strongest man in the Kingdom.
"Master Aodhfionn and his disciple are right. We had no right to interfere." The voice said again. "Compensate them."
"Thank you," Aodhfionn said grudgingly.
"Thank you." Anon also said. Since Ezio's Master accepted, he had no other choice.
"Do it right, and stop antagonizing that old bastard! Although I am stronger than him, he is an old fox who has many things under his sleeve and he can destroy you thousand times before I can even stop him. And I am not even sure if I can kill him unscathed." The voice said in Xiao Chen's ear.
The latter nodded slightly, as he couldn't transmit his voice.
"Sorry Mr. Ezio, Master Aodhfionn. Sir Hervi is a Knight of the Kingdom, thus Sir Knight saved him. But the fight wasn't over yet and he hadn't forfeited, so it was our mistake to stop it." Xiao Chen said with a smile. Although he had to swallow his words, he didn't take them to heart. "The prize of the tournament was Ginseng Body Tree. In addition to that, I will give a life-saving talisman."
He took out a plant that was barely alive and a talisman red in color. "This talisman can defend against Qi Crystallization Realm Third Layer cultivators once. May it serve you well, Young Hero."
Anon took two items and put them in the Mysterious Room by touching his ring. He didn't thank nor look at the Prince Consort. He turned to look at the young Knight who was looking at him in hatred.
"Your life was saved by others, you owe them." He said with a smirk. "But you also owe me for not pursuing this."
"What do you want?" Alein asked with hatred beaming out of his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to kill that arrogant bastard. Although he lost because he was careless. He hasn't even used the second Skill of his Signium.
"Give me a wisp of your flame," Anon said. Everyone looked at him weirdly but he didn't care. He just looked at Alein with an arrogant look on his face.
"Here, I hope you burn to ash." Young Knight said as he fired a handful of bloody-green fire. He hissed the last part to show how much he meant it.
Anon caught the fire and trapped it in the Golden Wind. The fire thrashed around left and right to escape but couldn't do anything. Anon closed his palm and the fire went away. As if he extinguished the fire with his bare hand. "You can never burn me, even if I do nothing."
With it, he turned to leave with his master behind him. Although he said so, he sent the fire to the Mysterious Room when he closed his palm. Blacky had already trapped it in his cauldron and soon he would be able to use it. This was the second fire he took willingly. The first one was his master's. Blacky's first Signium was so good.
"What was that?" Aodhfionn asked when they were away from the stage. Ezio asked for his fire before, but he didn't tell him why he wanted it. And the process was different. While he was working on the furnace, he asked his master if he was willing to share his fire. When Aodhfionn said yes, he took a wisp from the furnace directly.
"Nothing Master. Psychological warfare." Anon answered with a smirk. His master copied it with his own as he slapped his shoulder.
"Ye made me proud today, lad," Aodhfionn said.
The others would fight for the leftover positions but Ezio was too lazy to watch the rest of the fights. Since he won and he got his rewards he couldn't care less who among the forty would join the expedition. He already knew all of them and none could challenge him. What mattered was the rest of the tickets.
Prince Consort would probably send his trusted men to the domain, and he himself might join too. Ezio wasn't strong enough to battle against them. Not yet at least.
The domain was going to be open six months after the tournament, it allowed those who won a ticket to get prepared. In those six months, Ezio was going to cultivate as hard as he could to increase his strength. If he couldn't he would die in the domain, that was for sure.