A group of servants soon entered the room while carrying silver platters filled with different types of dishes and carefully placing each of them in different spots on the table.

Kurt tried to focus on the food being served if only to try and distract himself from his wide-eyed sister who just refused to look away from him.

"It's so nice to finally have the whole family reunited!" Lian Garen mentioned while pouring some red liquid into a glass cup, "We really should do these little reunions more often!"

"That's a wonderful idea, my dear!" Karina commented, "I do feel that we have grown somewhat distant as time went on. We should take any chance we can to get as close as possible!"

"I'm glad you feel the same!"

The three kids on the other side of the table released a small glare at the two as if to show they were not very fond of the idea. Saramin just rubbed her forehead and began to sink into her chair in order to hide her face.

As for Kurt, his feelings towards his father were a little unclear at the moment. He still felt very fondly of his mother, Sabiri, but now that he knew the emperor was the kind of man who would try to build a harem for himself, he began to reevaluate his opinion on him.

Growing up without many friends, Kurt would find refuge in momentary distractions such as Japanese comics and animated shows, and plenty of times in those the idea of one man having a great number of lovers was something that sounded very appealing, after all, who doesn't want to feel loved, or even better, loved by many?

But seeing it in front of him and reading about it proved to be rather different experiences. Kurt had no doubt that Lian Garen was feeling like an extremely lucky man right now, but watching the rest of the table was a completely different story.

Sabiri was trying to avoid any chance of getting attention drawn towards her. She most likely was in the same mindset as Kurt and just wanted to get this done with as soon as possible.

Karina was the other side of the coin, constantly nodding to every word the emperor said and trying her best to get him to only look at her.

Hugh's mother meanwhile just kept scolding her boy anytime he started to misbehave. She probably was more worried about not letting him embarrass her than anything else.

Anomalia's mother was also silent just like Sabiri, but her expression wasn't of calmly waiting for things to end, rather, she looked terrified. Her shoulders were slightly shaking and her eyes were glued to her plate. Each time she tried to pick her meat to grab a bite she would quickly glance left and right as if waiting for permission first.

The second brother and his mom were the last people Kurt noticed and the two of them seemed to be in their own little world just eating and occasionally exchanging words as if the rest of the table didn't exist.

During all this, Kurt couldn't help but think that he had to give up his study session with Gaby and Leon for this, and so far, he really was feeling that it was not worth it.

"So, Kurt!"

"Eh?" the boy suddenly turned his gaze at the sound of his father's voice.

"How does it feel to meet with other guests?"

"Guests?"

"He means us..." Saramin whispered, "People from another world."

Kurt circled the room and quickly glanced at his brothers and sisters, "Wait, all four of you are also from another world?"

"Indeed!" Lian responded while putting his glass down, "One of the requirements for a ruler to bring a guest here is that they need to be born into the most privileged situation possible. That of course means, as the son of the emperor himself in our case!"

"Ruler?" Kurt repeated while feeling like he heard someone talking about that with him before not too long ago.

"This kid doesn't know what a ruler is?" Kurt's blond brother commented.

Karina took this chance to enter the conversation while using a napkin to clean her lips, "It appears that our dear Sabiri took a rather unique approach in how she chose to raise her little boy."

Sabiri could feel the eyes suddenly starting to focus on her, but she remained quiet and simply focused on her dish.

"I see..." the emperor whispered, "Well, since Kurt still seems unfamiliar with some of the most common concepts of our land, a ruler is the designated name of the beings responsible for bringing our guests to play in the faction game!"

Kurt immediately glanced at Dorothy. That was the first time he heard about something like that. He was pretty sure his owl had mentioned that she had brought him here just to help him grow a little.

"That of course includes you five!" Lian Garen continued, "The game will start again in a couple of months, and it's your job to go out there and bring glory to the dragon empire one more time!"

The blond boy and Saramin suddenly began to hold a serious look on their faces, while Hugh acted like he couldn't care less and just kept showing a dumb smile and swallowing everything on his plate like a vacuum cleaner.

Anomalia, as always, had her eyes solely focused on her youngest brother.

"Why would these... Rulers... Do something like that?" the boy wondered.

"That's anyone's guess..." Karina commented, "Maybe they are trying to create some sort of connection between different worlds and bring us all closer to each other!"

Kurt raised an eyebrow, "By making us compete?"

"Competition leads to understanding! There are no individuals that know each other better than complete enemies."

Kurt pondered about that concept for a moment. When he first met Gaby, they treated each other as enemies as well, but after they fought, they started to find out more about each other and eventually grew closer than they expected.

But could the same logic apply to this competition?

"How does this game work, exactly? What are the rules?"

"My God... This kid really doesn't know anything..." the blond boy whispered while rolling his eyes.

Saramin tapped on his shoulder and tried to gesture for him not to pay attention to that comment, "Every twenty years, each faction picks a group of warriors as well as a guest to fight against other factions. There are no specific rules or any fancy details or anything. All you do is wait for the game to start and go battle with other chosen warriors."

"Ugh..." the young lad groaned, "It always comes down to fighting..."

"Who doesn't like fighting?" Hugh asked.

"I don't..." Kurt admitted, "I'm kinda getting tired of fighting by this point, to be honest..."

The emperor sighed, "It's unfortunate that you feel this way, my son. But these games are a very important tradition, especially for us of the dragon race. We were fortunate enough to come out victorious several times, which is why we now were granted the chance to have so many guests with us here today!"

"I see..."

The prince began to ponder for a moment. From the way his father talked, it seemed like this game was in fact a really big deal, and part of him still wanted to make him proud despite everything.

Maybe he should give this idea a try after all? He had plenty of combat experience already and he did always wonder what it would be like to participate in one of those tournaments that tended to appear in the comics he used to read.

The emperor noticed the curiosity for the proposal slowly growing in his son's eyes, "Seems like you're finally interested."

"Well... I'm just a little curious... Not like I have anything to lose, right?"

"Of course you have, silly boy!" his father laughed, "If you go to the games with a half-hearted mindest, you mind end up dying in the process! So keep your eyes up, hahaha!"

"Haha... Ha... Ha... ... Ah...? Dying?"

"Yes! Dying! All competitors of the faction game need to swear their loyalty to the ruler of their faction and connect their own fates with it. And the only way to win the game is by taking out the ruler of the opposing faction!"

Kurt's body began to feel heavy, "What...?"

"Something wrong?"

"What do you mean by... Connecting your fate?" the kid asked with a trembling voice.

"The players of the game have their lives connected with the ruler. If the ruler dies, so do all the players, and the game only ends when there is only one ruler remaining."

"WHAT!??"

Kurt began to desperately shift his gaze back and forth with all those present, trying to find someone, anyone that would show any sign of reacting as he did, but everyone here was completely calm right now.

"And you guys are okay with that?? Just going out there and killing a bunch of strangers just for some silly game??"

"I don't mind..." Hugh admitted.

"Doesn't really make a difference" the blond boy responded.

"It's a different world. That's just how things work here" Saramim commented.

"What's the matter, Kurt?" Anomalia asked while smiling at him, "You afraid of dying or killing?"

"Of course I am!! Aren't you??"

"Why would I be?" she laughed.

The boy didn't understand how they could speak about such a heavy topic with so much ease. It was true that his mother had kept him in the dark about some of the concepts of how this world worked, could it be that the reason all of them were so calm was because they all already knew about this?

Sabiri's words echoed in his mind.

He finally understood what she meant. Had he been raised to find the concept of killing to be something normal, had he been raised the same way the other four were, he would have completely forgotten his humanity.

The boy needed to escape this predicament.

"C- Can I skip it?" Kurt blurted all of a sudden while raising his hand.

The entire table instantly stopped touching their food and began to stare directly at him.

"Kurt..." Lian softly whispered, "Could you repeat that?"

"The games. I don't think they are really my thing, I'm not too big on competitions... Would you mind it if I just stayed out of it?"

Lian and the rest of the family began to exchange a couple of looks with each other as the boy continued to stare down at his own plate.

"Kurt... Are you aware of what the games really are?"

The boy tried his best not to sound desperate, "I- I am! It's a great honor granted to only those who deserve it! I don't think that's really my case though!"

"Ha! You think you don't deserve it?" Lian Garen laughed, "My son, you displayed the qualities to be a player in the game more than many that came before you! I saw your fight against Hugh early today in the academy! You battled like a true warrior dragon! Sending you to school really paid off!"

"Oh, goddamnit..." Kurt whispered, "B- But father! You saw me there! I couldn't even turn into my second form like Hugh! Maybe I'm not fit for this type of thing!"

"Mmmm... That is true... I think You and Sara are the only ones who haven't unlocked your second forms yet..." his father nodded, "What to do, what to do..."

Kurt began to feel a bit of relief as it seemed he was out of danger, but he quickly glanced at his mother and noticed that her face had lost all color.

"Well, guess we have no choice then..." the emperor continued, "Anthony!! Jefferson!!"

A pair of butlers suddenly entered the room and bowed towards the emperor.

"Yes, my emperor."

"My two kids still haven't gone through their unlocking ceremony... Could you two do the honors?"

"Oh, God, no!" Saramin gasped. Her eyes looked as if they were about to jump out of her face.

Kurt just looked at her confused trying to understand what was happening.

"As you command, my emperor."

The two butlers then proceeded to glare at Kurt and Sara and started to transform their bodies while moving towards them.

Anthony turned into a massive green lizard with a humanoid torso in the place where his head should be and blades at the end of his arms like that of a mantis. His face now looked like a crocodile and one massive white horn had appeared between his eyes.

"Dad...? What are you-"

Jefferson also changed. His skin turned grey as four more arms appeared in his body, his size became two times bigger, and his legs were replaced by one gigantic tail. Instead of a head, he now had two, both with the face of a snake.

"Lian!! Lian stop this right now!!" Sabiri begged.

The man just smiled at her and waved with his palm, "Dear, dear, relax! It will be over soon!"

Saramin jumped out of her seat and grabbed Kurt by the arm in order for them to run.

"MOVE!!!" she ordered.

"Ah! O- Okay!"

The two kids stormed through the exit doors with Dorothy right behind them while the two creatures gazed at their master.

Lian took another sip from his glass and finally gave the command, "Begin!"