As the circles of the battle field continued shrinking further and further, the intensity of battle only increased further. As Wu and Lily’s squad began their offensive on the strongest squad, the world’s leaders back at the floating castle all gathered to watch in the main hall while the Guild of Supplies students moved like busy worker bees to replace the drinks and snacks in the room.

“They looked good.” Joseph commented, as Jolyne returned to their table with another tray full of taro paste buns. The King of Varous glanced at Jolyne with a smile before chuckling and submitting to her tastes.

“Indeed.” The King said, “They have surrounded themselves with strong allies.”

“Big bro.” Jolyne said, snapping her finger in front of Joseph’s eye and drawing his attention. Then, she pointed towards a tall white haired woman with deep black eyes and a tall nose sitting at the table for the Talonia representatives, “Is she who I think she is?”

“Oh?” The King raised his eyebrows, “Joseph’s got a girlfriend? Beyond my daughters who admired you so much?”

“No…?” Joseph’s face turned red before Alina, the tall Talonia general smiled and winked at him, “We…we just had a brief encounter when out on a joint mission…”

“Ah~ No wonder you were so supportive of the Talonia Valkyries.” The King joked, “I don’t like their practice, but as long as they do not bother us, they can do whatever.”

“Brother~ I didn’t know you were into those kinds of girls~” Jolyne giggled before creating a pair of tiny puppets kissing one another on the table, “No wonder you are so calm and controlled at home. You left all of your wild spirits outside!”

“Stop it…” Joseph said, covering his face, “She’s gonna notice!”

“Who’s gonna notice?” Alina’s voice came from over his head, and her long hair brushed against Joseph’s neck, “I am Alina Vuk, leader of the Talonia Valkyrie and the Talon of Talonia. King of Varous, I deliver my greetings for my kingdom and my people.”

“Like wise.” The King smirked and nodded back in acknowledge, “I thank you for taking good care of Joseph. He’s like a son of mine.”

“Then if I may be so presumptuous to be another daughter of yours?” Alina teased further, her cold fingers triggering Joseph’s sensitive spots as he squeaked uncharacteristically, causing Jolyne and the King to burst out laughing.

“To be serious for a moment, I do thank you and Joseph’s diligent work for the relationships between our kingdoms.” The King said, pointing to the set of Taro buns, “If you wouldn’t mind, a customary desert from our kingdom.”

“Thank you for your generousity.” Alina reached over with her long slender fingers and picked one up. Then, she bit into the soft steamy bun as a strange sweet flavor exploded in her mouth, “Oh~ Taro paste? How exotic.”

Suddenly, their fun time was interrupted when the door swung open and John and Shaila in their Union uniform walked in. John had his brush pen tied to his waist, and Shaila, the brown skinned girl with short curly black hair, held his arms as the eyes of many men in the room were drawn inevitably towards her beauty.

“Look at them. The leaders of the Boarded.” Joseph chuckled, taking a sip of the drink when Alina sat on his lap and stole his drink from his hands, though she’s so tall that Joseph actually have to look around her slim body. She smelled…just like that night.

“He’s certainly strong.” Alina and Jolyne said at the same time.

John and Shaila took a seat at one of the empty tables towards the front, joining another couple that’s already there. The man had long glowing white hair tied into a single tail, and a pale-skinned girl with dark brown hair acoompanied him.

“Right.” The white-haired man stood up, though he looked quite a bit shorter than his partner and John and Shaila, John appeared to be listening to him closely, “Let’s get the party started. Everyone’s here.”

John nodded firmly, placing his brush pen down at the pen holder on top of the table as a surge of his Wave flowed through the pen into the table, down the table legs and then into the ground. Sets of Cast lines then spread under the carpets until the entire area of the room was enveloped.

“Hm?” The majority of the Wave users in the room were advanced enough to sense the subtle shift in the Wave field as the Cast became activated, though they all thought that perhaps John was just activating a Cast for the purpose of entertainment.

“Hey! The door’s jammed for some reason!” One of the Yarka kingdom teenagers that were drunk out of his mind clung onto the door and tried to rip the handle off, “I need to pee!”

His sharp voice cut through the room, and it drew the attention and suspicion of all the Wave users around.

A handful of the more suspicious generals from the other countries headed over to the door, and they tried to push it open, to no avail.

“John, what’s the meaning of this?” The King of Yarka asked, still sitting on his massive mobile throne as he looked down at the rest of the room, “There is no way that the Union can have a faulty door during the party, is there?”

“Of course not.” The man with glowing white hair turned around, revealing his golden eyes and short pointy nose. A man that looked like an angel, and his voice sounded like that of an opera singer, “We always od what they intended to do.”

“And what’s that?” One of the alerted generals asked, subtly positioning himself between Mus, John, and the royalties from their kingdom.

“To make a deal.” Mus said, turning towards John before curling his finger. John nodded, swiping his brush pen and summoning the Revolutionary Manuscript before placing the book with the red cover onto the massive table, “In exchange for letting you walk out of here alive, you shall provide me with the activation key for the Earth-Quaking level defensive Casts. Those mentioned in the Revolutionary Manuscript.”

“What?” Those that weren’t close enough to be let in on the royal secrets were immediately caught off guard by the request, but the Kings and Queens present immediately knew what Mus was talking about.

Joseph and Jolyne both turned towards their kings who nodded slowly at them. Alina also returned to her table swiftly, leaving her scent on Joseph’s body.

“Tsk. Who are you?”

“I apologize for the horrendous introduction.” The man bowed forward exaggeratedly as if he had just completed a performance, “My name is Mus Ongaku. I am the grand commander of PORA.”

“And the Infinite Academy is housing such criminals?” The King of Yarka scoffed before turning his tiny eyes back to John, “You will lose support of Yarka and its people for doing this.”

“After today, the Academy will be able to stand fully on its own.” John said, his face cold.

“Very well, then you have chosen your fates.” The King of Yarka yawned, turning to his squad of generals, “My fellow allies in this world, PORA had been operating in the shadows for years, trying to disrupt the stability and greatness of our world. Today, we shall work together and extermi-”

Before he could finish, a cubic prison suddenly formed around the King’s obese body, trapping him and his mountain of flesh inside.

“Protect the King!” The Yarka generals leapt forward, when John suddenly swung his brush pen, activating the King’s Palace to surround the entire main hall. However, each of the generals immediately activated their own Wave abilities, pushing back against the dominance of John’s own Wave.

His King’s Palace might have dominated the Wave of those students here through shear power and intensity, but to those generals that have been fighting for decades on end in the harshest of battlefields all around, his Cast is nothing more than a bit of a hindrance, so long as they were able to conjure up defensive abilities before full activation of the King’s Palace.

That’s another pronounced difference between Wu’s Void Domain and John’s King’s Palace. One worked by changing the foundations of the local Wave field, and another worked by exerting dominance over the local Wave field, yet this effect is still far weaker than any actual dominance conjured bt world-class Manifesters.

“It’s okay, John.” Mus said, casually grabbing onto John’s hands, “You can just keep them in here with your Cast. They wouldn’t accept it without a fight, so I will just give them the fight. Your job is to keep them in here.”

“Yes, grand commander.” John nodded, reducing the intensity of the King’s Palace inside, instead shifting over to strength the outer Cast.

“Alright.” Mus said, letting out a loud hum which created a shockwave that pushed back the tables from all around him right as he landed in the middle of the room. He gestured both hands to the side as John examined the projection Cast to ensure that the outside world’s still seeing the raging battle down on the ground.

“The whole purpose of the Summer Selections is to demonstrate the strength of the next generation of fighters in your respective kingdoms.” Mus said, spinning around on his toes, “While the older generations sat in comfort and snacked on…mediocre sweet buns. The days of yesterday, and the days of today are gone. A new future, a new age starts today, lead by me, the leader of PORA.

“Come…you may all come at once. Fight me, with all your might, and let the world see your failure.” Mus said, as dozens of generals attacked at once, their Wave abilities charged up to the maximum.

“Let the world see the birth of a new era.”