After being teleported to the next area by Lero Ro, Isaac, Bam and Khun ended up separated from the other Regulars, being locked up in what seemed to be a spacious orange cell.
Looking around behind the bars at the gate of the cell at the front, they could see various other cells in the distance that also held Regulars.
All rooms were connected to a large circular arena, with a giant throne standing in the middle of it, a golden crown situated on one of the armrests of that throne; the distance from the room to the center of the arena and the throne seemed to be around 200 meters.
While there seemed to be some free time, Isaac walked up to the front of the cell where he noticed a 'Crown Game rules' sheet attached next to a red button, Khun following him as he noticed it as well.
However, they didn't have any time to read or prepare, because in the very next moment, Lero Ro and Yellow appeared in the arena beside the throne with a flash of light.
Lero Ro then transmitted his voice to everyone: {Now that you've been transported to this spot, I will explain the rules to you.}
{The Crown Game is in short, a crown-stealing game. The team that holds this crown at the last moment, wins the game.}
{It looks simple, but the rules are a bit complicated.}
{First is the time limit. A game consists of 5 rounds, each of them 10 minutes long. Only 5 teams may participate in each round, and the team that possesses the crown at the end of each round becomes the winning team to proceed to the next round.}
{In the next round, 4 new teams and the winning team from the previous round will compete for the crown. The true winner will be the team that holds the crown at the end of round 5.}
{So that you know, if you want to participate in the game, press the red buzzer at the entrance of each of your rooms.}
{Only 5 teams may participate, and it will be done on a first-come-first-serve basis. If several teams press the buzzer simultaneously, the team that pressed the button to participate the most will get the chance.}
{But there is a way to finish the game early.}
As Lero Ro said this, he piqued the interest of the Regulars.
{That is to sit on the throne while you're wearing the crown in 5 minutes or less. The moment someone sits on the throne, the round automatically ends. And the sitting team becomes the winner of the round.}
[However, some movement will be restricted. If there was a winning team at the end of the previous round, that team may keep the crown, but at least one team member must stay seated on the throne, wearing the crown.}
{If the crown wearer comes off the throne or loses the crown, that team will be eliminated from the test. And if another team takes the crown and sits on the throne within 5 minutes, that team wins the round.}
"What? Then it's obviously a disadvantage to participate early," Khun plainly commented.
{Correct!} Lero Ro said, as if replying to Khun's words despite being two hundred meters away. {The winner of the previous round carries a big risk in the next round.}
{But, if you postpone participating because of the risk... you may not be able to get into the game at the end!}
{Well, although there are a lot of rules and limitations, the point is that the team with the crown at the end of the final round is the winner. Don't think too much. You just have to steal the crown.}
{Oh, and one more thing. Another team from another test spot will be participating. It's a long story.}
At those words, Isaac reflexively raised his head to look out through the semi-transparent gate. Because he sort-of remembered what the mystery team was. 'It should be a Princess of Jahad, Rachel and a zombie giant, huh.'
Without giving the Regulars much free time, Lero Ro's voice soon sounded out once again: {Now, the Crown Game begins!}
{I will count to 5! So the teams that want to participate, must press the buzzer during the count!}
{Starting now, I will count for the first round's participants!}
{One!...}
"I would rather stay for now. Isaac, what do you think?" Khun said as he looked at Isaac.
"I think…"
{Two!...}
"... That it probably doesn't matter, so let's just stay for now."
{Three!...}
"Well, okay." Khun nodded.
After getting on the same page, the two looked toward the arena.
{Four!...}
BEEEP!
Before the countdown finished, someone had suddenly pressed the button in their room.
'What?' Khun looked over and saw that it was Isaac that had touched the red button with his sword.
Isaac looked in the same direction and saw the same scene.
However, he knew that it wasn't him who had pressed the button. His sword… had moved by itself, dragging his arm, and then pressed the button.
"Aaaah?!" Realizing that it was Mordred that pressed the button, Isaac blanched.
What the hell? Why?!
"Isaac? Why did you…" Khun muttered as he stared at Isaac who had just opened the door, shocked and flabbergasted. Didn't they just agree on waiting to see how the game plays out?
"Sir Isaac?" Bam was also surprised.
Isaac's heart mourned. It wasn't him!
'Saaaabeeeeer! Why did you press the button?!' Isaac screamed inwardly toward Clarent.
{Five!}
[Haha, chill out Master! You heard that Pikachu guy. No matter what round, we just have to beat those fools!] Mordred replied confidently in a laid-back manner.
Isaac heard this and his heart boiled in anger. 'But I wanted to wait!'
There were many more things he considered that Mordred would have no idea about, like FUG's plans, how he can benefit from this game, Bam's development, the Green April, maintaining his metaknowledge advantage, concealing his complete strength as an Irregular… And in the first place he wasn't even interested in winning the Crown Game!
There was no need for her to do anything! So why?! She only had to stay inside that sword. Why did she have to move and press the button?!
[But you said it doesn't matter!... In that case, why not just come out on the first round?]
Isaac was stunned when he heard Mordred's reply as he realized that it's indeed what he said. But it only made him feel more pissed off.
{Well, the count is over! The First Round of the Crown game begins now!}
As Lero Ro finished his announcement, the iron gate in front of the three opened.
At this time there was no time for discussions. They had to come out!
"Damn it. Stupid, stupid Saber!" Isaac cursed under his nose as he began walking out with the others. Even with Mordred being trapped inside a sword, it felt as if nothing had changed.
[Rude Master! You just have to beat whoever comes out, stop being such a wuss!]
"Tsk." Isaac heard Mordred's thoughtless comment and clicked his tongue.
Khun glanced at Isaac who seemed to be mad at his sword. Whatever happened, it seemed that Isaac also didn't want to come out, but it didn't matter anymore. He let out a helpless sigh. "Sigh, we just have to improvise. Now, let's see what other stupid teams also came out."
Isaac and Khun looked toward the direction of the arena to see any other teams.
At a glance, there were two other teams that came out.
Khun thought, 'Whoever came out on the first round, it would either be someone very strong or someone very stupid.'
The three teams began to slowly converge to meet each other. As if in tacit agreement, there was no one who suddenly made a run for the throne at the start.
Isaac walked in the front, holding both Clarent and the Black March in his hands, his body clad in armor. Khun and Bam followed slightly behind and at the sides.
Looking ahead, Isaac could instantly see that one of the other teams included Anak, Hatsu and Shibisu, while the other team were all weak Regulars that were not worth paying attention to.
As the three teams met, Shibisu greeted Isaac with an awkward smile. "Haha, Isaac, you guys also came out?"
"Yo," Isaac replied with an expressionless face.
Shibisu asked, "Are you so confident?"
"Confident in taking you out?" Isaac slightly raised his eyebrows as he asked. "Sure."
Shibisu smirked as he cracked his knuckles. "You might be surprised."
Next to Shibisu, Anak and Has stood expressionlessly and didn't say anything. Shibisu acted tought, but it seemed he just relied on those two.
Isaac looked away from Shibisu and his eyes settled on Anak. Among everyone here, only Anak appeared like a threat.
Keeping his eyes on Anak, Isaac said, "So how do we go about this? How about we take out the small fries first?"
As he finished speaking, he glanced at the third team.
"What?"
"Who are you calling small fries?!"
The team of three Regulars became agitated, with a spiky-haired boy, Dede, at the lead.
Anak smirked when she saw these reactions. "Ha! Sure. Let's take out the trash first."
"Trash?!"
"Damn, you're both looking down on us! You're going to regret this!"
"Then leave this one to me," Anak said and stepped out, making her whip-like weapon strike the floor as she began to walk ahead. "Don't you dare cut in!"
Seeing Anak approach them by herself, Dede frowned. "What? Alone? Are you insane?"
"Be serious! Do you think we're all weaklings?"
[Hehe, that's exactly what we all think.]
Isaac remained expressionless while hearing Mordred's chuckle.
"Be serious?" Anak smirked. "Well, that depends on you."
"Damn… What kind of bluff is this?" Dede murmured.
At his side, his dual-wielding teammate wasn't able to contain his frustration any more and stepped out. "Ok! I will be serious with you! Alone as well!"
"Kon!"
In Isaac's team, seeing the Regular dual-wielding swords walk out to engage Anak alone while following up with self-confident words, Khun quietly said, "Let's just see how it plays out."
Isaac glanced at him and indifferently replied, "Anak will crush all of them."
"Hm?" Khun looked at him in surprise. "Anak? Do you know her?"
Isaac shook his head. "I only know her name because Lero Ro mentioned it. But she's the strongest Regular in our area."
Hearing this, Khun frowned as she returned to observing Anak.
As the two talked, Anak rushed out from her spot to suddenly appear right in front of the other Regular and send a palm strike to his face. At impact, the Regular was sent flying back through the air for tens of meters and then crashed into a wall, and appeared unconscious afterwards.
"Kon! Wake up! Kon!"
"Hey, Kon!"
"You phony lizard, how dare you!"
With his teammate being taken out, Dede rushed out to attack, but Anak swiped out with her weapon like with a whip, making it extend for tens of meters, and slapped Dede across his face, sending him flying back and causing blood to splatter.
Following that, Anak whipped him several times with the adjustable heavy whip, before slamming him into the ground.
'What's that weapon? A hook that changes length?' Khun was shocked upon seeing this.
"~Hohohohohoho!" While shouting out a strange mantra, the third Regular sent a punch at Anak's face as he suddenly appeared behind her.
The punch directly landed at the side of Anak's head, which seemed to be something that she allowed because she didn't even budge an inch when it happened.
"Aaaaagh! My hand!"
As the Regular began screaming in pain, Anak grabbed his wrist and tossed him into the air, making him fly for tens of meters before he finally crashed into a wall.
Khun frowned. 'This is bad. She is very strong. This much physical strength without Shinsoo… It's better to not fight her head on.'
In the meantime, Dede attacked Anak one last time, but Anak easily caught his weapon and then threw him across the air.
Afterwards, Anak cracked her neck and expressionlessly looked at Isaac. "How about this? Do you still have the confidence?"
Isaac faintly smiled back without much change in his expression. "Sure."
Anak cruelly smiled.
[Hehe, that lizard is quite spunky. It will be a fun fight.]
At the side, Khun expressionlessly thought, 'I'm not her match. Fighting that lizard head on is a bad idea, but seeing how Isaac handled things so far gave me an idea. If I use the rules of this game…'
"Now! Run!"
"Get the crown!"
At that moment, the other three Regulars suddenly made a run for the throne from three different directions.
"Isaac, block her!" Khun shouted out as he also rushed out.
In a split second, Isaac made a decision after already considering various scenarios beforehand. Red thunder exploded as he suddenly shot straight at Anak like a bullet.
Within a blink of an eye, Isaac appeared right next to Anak and swatted at her with the flat of his sword.
Anak was also looking toward the throne, but seeing Isaac appear to attack her, she gnashed her teeth and instead swiped out with her green whip.
The green whip and Clarent collided.
The whip was easily flung away and the flat of the sword continued to fly at Anak's body which she shielded with her arm at the last moment.
As a result, Anak was pushed back a few steps.
Although Isaac only used Clarent with one hand, held back and only used the flat of the blade, the Green April was not ignited and was not a solid weapon, so it had no chance in resisting that strike.
Seeing this result, Anak frowned as she looked back at Isaac. 'He's better than I thought.'
As Anak was stopped by Isaac, Hatsu and Shibisu also reacted and began running toward the throne.
However, after only making one-third of the distance, Hatsu suddenly stopped.
The other three Regulars also stopped.
The reason for this was that there was already someone at the throne.
It was a young man in a white shirt and with blue hair already standing next to the throne and holding the golden crown.
It was Khun.
Smiling confidently toward the other Regulards, Khun said, "Well, that was easy."
"What? How can he be so fast?..." Shibisu muttered with a flabbergasted expression.
The other Regulars also stared at Khun, frozen.
Meanwhile Isaac also raised his eyebrows in surprise as he looked over. 'Damn, nice speed... He's way faster than I expected.'
Khun covered the distance of close to 200 meters in an instant and quickly arrived at the throne way faster than an arrow.
For Isaac, it was surely below the maximum speed of his current body, but it was still quite shocking. It wasn't that far off.
[Woah! That white guy's body is so much weaker, but he can actually be so fast!]
Isaac's eyes narrowed when he heard Mordred's comments. 'Is it because he used Shinsoo?'
For a Regular on just the second floor of the Tower, Khun's speed looked to be simply amazing; it caused a gust of wind behind him and left the others in the dust, making them gape after him in shock.
With this feat, he already appeared like a weaker-level Servant.
"So the game is over if I sit here with this crown?" Khun asked.
"N-no!!!" Shibisu cried out upon seeing Khun casually pick up the golden crown.
Anak and Hatsu frowned.
"But that's no fun. Let's not make this boring!" Khun put the crown into his bag. He then pulled out a knife from within, threw it to make a cool spin in the air, and said, "Let's have a fight first! Whoever is the winner, gets the crown. Isaac will fight the lizard and I will fight the swordsman. How about that?"
Hearing Khun's proposal, Anak raised her eyebrows in surprise.
Shibisu and Hatsu were both also surprised. After all, Khun could end the game at that moment if he wanted to.
Meanwhile, Isaac narrowed his eyes. He had an idea of what Khun might be plotting.
Shibisu spoke up, "Then… What about me?"
After speaking, he inadvertently looked at Bam. Seeing the little preteen boy that didn't even have a weapon, he felt bad. No way he's supposed to fight him?
In response Bam, who was left alone, slightly shuddered. 'I'll have to fight Mr. Shibisu?...'
Khun answered, "You and Bam will sit on the throne. The final winner will get the crown."
"Hm?"
Khun took out the crown from his bag and threw it away with force. making it land far away with clanging sounds. "There. You guys can come here!"
Seeing this, Shibisu's eyes flashed as he understood Khun's plan. 'I get it now. He could end the game, but he wants to place Bam on the throne. Otherwise he worries it would be difficult for them to defend the throne in the later rounds. But this is our chance!'
If not for Khun's proposition, they would simply lose the round, so of course they had to agree.
"Fine! I'll sit down!" Shibisu called out as he began approaching the throne.
Anak and Hatsu were silent and instead looked with greed toward the crown that was tossed far to the edge of the arena.
"What about us?" Dede called out.
Khun looked toward the other Regular with a pitying expression. "What about you? Don't you get it? You guys have no right to participate in this game. Get lost before we kill you."
"You!!!"
"Damn it!"
"Stop, it Kon! Damn it, he's right!" Dede called out while grinding his teeth.
"Dede!"
"They're all too strong! Let's just back off before we get killed!"
After sending out some curses, the remaining team of Regulars began to slowly make their way back toward their room.
Bam and Shibisu began walking toward the throne.
Isaac followed the line of sight of Anak and Hatsu who focused on the crown, but his eyes soon returned to the throne as he chuckled coldly in his heart. 'This round is over.'
Shibisu sat down on the throne with a blissful expression together with Bam.
At that moment, Khun took out another crown from his bag and placed it on Bam's head.
Bzzzzzzzz!!!
A loud ringing noise sounded out.
{Because Mr. Bam sat down on the throne with the crown, the round is over! The winner of the first round is the team of Bam, Khun and Isaac!}
Shibisu looked on at this scene with a flabbergasted expression. "What… Two… two crowns? What happened?"
Khun smiled smugly as he flipped over his bag and poured out a bunch of golden crowns from within, causing them to stack up on the ground. "Tadam! Here is a fun and amazing duplicating magic bag!"
"Du-duplicating? You tricked us!" Shibisu looked at Khun with a shocked face; he felt that he understood Khun's plan, but his entire team was completely tricked instead and only helped him place Bam on the throne!
Khun shrugged. "It was too easy."
Seeing this, Isaac chuckled. He ignored Anak and began walking toward the throne.