"I'm quite glad we get to face each other, milady." Vergil Forster greeted Emma right as they both got on the stage.
From the Forster family, which had just been granted a duchy less than forty years ago, Vergil Forster was a member of the main family line. Although he was a direct descendant of his family, it didn't mean that Vergil could enjoy the resources of the family however he pleased. In truth, most nobles had more than one child and sometimes with multiple wives. Not everyone was like Darius who kept himself for one lady only. The same was true for Vergil's father who had three wives. More wives meant more kids which in turn meant more people to share the resources in a family.
A good example was Alexander Sutton who has older brothers and a cousin just a year older than him, Dylan Sutton. As a result, Alexander had to constantly perform better than his cousin if he hoped to get a better treatment and more allocations in the family.
Nonetheless, compared to someone like Alexander Sutton, Vergil Forster was quite lucky.
Not only was he the only male Forster of his generation, but Vergil was also talented, born with a rare element and an above-average constitution. As such, it was easy for him to take one of the free admission spots granted to dukes while also enjoying resources from his family.
Unlike the five great families whose duke titles were hereditary, the other seven dukes didn't have such a luxury and had to fight for their titles. Since the Forster family was new to the duchy ranks, it was natural for them to want to strengthen themselves as quickly as possible in order to solidify their place in the ranks. The Forster family hoped to hold their position and slowly grow in power and influence, but to do so, they had to invest a lot in the future generations. Hence why Vergil enjoyed resources from the main family, more so than a regular direct descendant.
"If you're glad about this kind of meeting, then I have nothing to say." Emma replied with a plain expression.
If it weren't for this tournament, she would never come in contact with someone of Vergil's level. As such, Emma wasn't too interested in holding a conversation with him.
Vergil smiled at her reply and didn't say much, except one sentence.
"I hope that if I manage to win this battle, milady would grant me one request; a day together in the streets of the capital."
Emma was surprised that Vergil would ask such of her, but before she could even consider replying, the official called for the start of the round. Emma then dropped any intention to reply and focused on the opponent ahead of her, fully treating him as one.
"Here I come." Vergil announced as he lifted his hand up and let his aura explode.
Peak of the second stage of the Guardian realm!
But compared to Emma's early rank third-stage strength, it wasn't so impressive. Even so, Vergil's power was enough to enable him pass the test without any issue. However, someone of Vergil's nature wouldn't want to just stop at passing the tournament; he wanted to make his mark.
Crack.
Crack.
The spectators stared in awe as Vergil unleashed his strength along with a spell. An ice sword three metres long and almost half a metre wide formed right above Vergil.
Ice Element.
The spectators were shocked seeing this familiar element in play once again.
It was well-known that the Ice Element was possessed primarily by the main family of the Arnhaunt family, starting with Leuven, Darius and Asher, which was why all figures had white hair. Unlike the Castellan family though, this wasn't a result of inbreeding but a mere coincidence or fate; for example, Asher's mother turned out to be acquainted with Ice magic even though Darius was not intentionally looking for a spouse with such abilities.
Seeing this rare element in the hands of someone who wasn't a member of the Arnhaunt main family, lit up rumours of 'the abandoned son' in the heads of some in the crowd, but the majority were simply surprised by this reveal. In the end, an element being closely associated to a family didn't mean they were the only ones who could have it.
The Wesleys for example, were masters of the Fire element, however, this was one of the most common elements and there was nothing they could do about it. Gold and Ice were however, examples of the more rare elements, so seeing it again here was a bit shocking, but nothing more.
"Hmm." Asher, who had already completed his battle for the day, couldn't help but face the stage.
Asher was interested to see how this 'comrade-in-arms' utilized the Ice element as compared to himself.
Staring at the longsword made out of ice, Emma frowned a bit but didn't back down. Not only was she stronger in terms of raw power, but she came from a bigger family and also had a rare element. If that wasn't enough, Emma was trained by the Saunters, a family with a very long history rivalling the Castellans all the way from the era of the Great Empire of Terra. Furthermore, she was trained by the duke himself as well as some other highly qualified professionals.
If anything, just on these few facts alone, Vergil was not her match. Even so, Emma, despite being confident of her victory, had no intention to slack off and took the battle seriously.
Mist slipped from the space in her sleeves and dropped to the bottom of the stage.
Just like the other major families, the Saunters specialized in an element, but they were more like the Castellans and so were familiar with two: Mist and Water. However, since inbreeding was banned in the Saunters family, it was somewhat difficult to find someone who had the mist element. Hence, when Emma was born and her Ceremony of Confirmation concluded, she became Quentin's favourite child because she had this rare element that traced to the pure lineage of the family.