"Aah! Get away from us!"

"What are you doing?!"

The bystanders who had been cheering for the Purple Knights at the sidelines screamed fearfully.

"Hehehe, give up!" The Cultists pointed their weapons at the civilians who were crowded around them.

Their eyes were glowing a golden light. They took hostages after realising they couldn't win.

"Despicable!" The Purple Knights were outraged by their shamelessness, but were unable to slash through the innocent bystanders even if their swords were non-lethal. There was no 'Hero' who would taser the victim along with the criminals...!

This caused them discomfort. The Mages and Archers used this opportunity to throw projectile Skills onto them, while the more closer combatants made use of more micro-level technical Skills.

It was at this point that the Grand Hero realised something he had never considered before...

His squadron had a big flow, and that was the composition of the techniques he had trained them.

He hadn't made them well-rounded enough!

Though their broadswords allowed for larger area attacks, they were actually bad at using techniques that were more technical in nature. That was why they hit a wall as soon as hostages came up.

Comparatively, the Cultists actually showed immense quality in their attacks.

Especially from how they could both keep the hostages in check and attack the Purple Knights all at the same time. They became hesitant on what to do in this high scenario immediately.

From the way they were acting, lives weren't on the line... and it felt more like the Cultists were messing with them rather than being serious.

You could tell from their actions that they were still focused on attacking.

The use of bystanders was a distraction.

"You want them back? Here~" One of the Cultists spoke.

He pushed the terrified civilian in his arms towards the Purple Knight, then followed up by slashing through both parties mercilessly...!

The other Mirror Cultists around him did similar things.

Many Broadsword Warriors of the Grand Hero's squadron turned more furious by the second.

The moment a civilian fell into their arms, they were attacked by their foes once again.

This time, their attacks seemed to contain a level of Evil Mana, causing the Purple Knights to have no choice but to 'cleanse' themselves while fending off attacks, and even going as far as to purge the Mana from the people they were protecting as well.

This wasted a large portion of their energy.

They were getting tired fast…

Heroes always had a hard time... Even if they tried to protect someone, there were so many ways the targets of their protection would also be armed at by despicable enemies.

The Grand Hero frowned deeply

He trusted them to protect the citizens even if their lives were at stake, but that lapse in alertness was taken advantage of.

As the Grand Hero was looking at the hostages turned deadweights, 'he' attacked... showing no shame in doing an ambush.

An explosion occurred where the Brandon Volts and his Grand Knights stood. The Demon Lord, along with his cronies, unleashed Spells. It was a solid opportunity in the eyes of the Mirror Priests.

Ronald (Beast Master) quickly threw out a 'Doom Orb' of dark magical energy, Jasmine (Weapon Master) slashed with her hand to release a 'Brilliant Wave' of light magical energy, the gentlemanly Elemental Master threw out fireballs, and the beguiling Law Mistress shot out a line of blood that aimed to make a deep cut in their opponents.

The Grand Knights and Mirror Cultists stopped fighting after seeing the large explosion...!

"Squad Leader...!" One of the Purple Knights shouted out, only to hear a voice respond to him:

"Get the civilians evacuated. We need the area cleared out." The Grand Hero's heavy tone was like a hammer hitting their hearts. They nodded their heads before taking the civilians out of the way.

The Cultists were too flabbergasted and stunned speechless to stop them. They looked at the figures in the middle of the explosion. The smoke was blown away by swift movement of Brandon's hand to reveal that they were all uninjured.

The Knight Captains, with swords bigger than their bodies, used their blades like oversized shields…

This struck the Mirror Priests with a sense of unease... They had used their strongest attacks at once, yet were still unable to cause even a slight bit of injury to the respected 'Hero' OR Grand Knights.

Of course, this was, again, the power of money from the Grand Hero's perspective. Even though the clean freak himself had the strength to shrug off 'weak Spells', his squad captains were different.

It was thanks to these 'Perfect Immunity Damascus Armour' that they could shrug off true Spells like they were nothing, and paired with these national treasures that were many times heavier than High Resistance Damascus Armour was quality Warriors.

Seeing that it was now their time to shine, the Grand Knights took this opportunity to manifest their Spirit Essences. Their leader was eyeing the Demon Lord and seemed to be thinking about what to watch out for before fighting their enemy leader.

This wasn't politeness in war, but a tactic to gain a better grasp over his enemies and the abilities they had.

If he stepped in himself and caused the Demon Lord to protect his Priests, then he would lose his chance to see if there was anything special about these leaders along the Mirror Religion.

He also had faith his squad would bring them in.

As the Squad Captain Grand Knights stepped forward, their Rare Classes were revealed by the sheer length and thickness of their weapons being larger than the broadswords of the Purple Knights.

Only two words came to mind after seeing those exaggeratedly large swords: 'Giga Swordsmen'.

These were a special breed of sword users that had the highest destructive power in every one of their swings. Just getting grazed by their Spirit Essences once would send a Noble Ranker flying.

It didn't matter if they blocked the strikes as hard they possibly could, they would still be sent flying regardless. The air would be torn along with every swing of their blades. You couldn't mention 'Heavy Swords' without mentioning Giga Swordsman...!

Even though the Mirror Priests had their own trump cards, they couldn't help but feel animosity towards these indestructible tanks that were practically cheating the Magic System of Gaia.

These four Noble Rankers could probably take on even a Lord Rank individual while being able to retreat unscathed, so was it really necessary for them to unveil their abilities at this moment?

Even so, the Mirror Priests were about to fight regardless until a figure appeared between the two sides. The instantaneous appearance of this person was enough to startle everyone there.

"What's going on here...?!" The Crown Prince of Lancia was furious after he heard of a riot.

He came as soon as he heard what was happening and was seething. His eyes were glancing around.

Both the Demon Lord and Grand Hero knew now wasn't the time to their destined battle of supremacy.

The laws of the great Ruling Kingdom wasn't to be trifled with...

This wasn't because the Time Imperial, who was plagued with illness, but his dear son, someone who had reached the Lord Rank at the young age of twelve; The 'Legendary Class' holder and prodigy that had been born into the Royal Family.

Just the speed that he took to get here was much faster than anything both the Grand Hero and Demon Lord were capable of... so it only right that they didn't look down on this young Crown Prince.

He may be a little naive and immature, but he was still someone to look out for regardless of his age.

"We were apprehending the criminals who was assaulting a Noble Ranker in broad daylight. They even added more to their offences by resisting arrest and causing harm to the citizens." Brandon had a clear conscience as he spoke out first.

The Mirror Priests and Grand Knights stayed silent as none of them had enough status to interfere.

Only their leaders could talk to the Crown Prince...

Drake Lancelot nodded while affirming the Grand Hero's words upon closer inspection. The mess his supposed 'allies' made while he wasn't looking caused him to get a headache as he turned.

"You are?" He asked Alan quite informally. This was the first time the two of them had actually met.

"Call me 'Demon Lord'."

"And what does your side have to say?"

"We were only acting in self-defence~" Alan lied shamelessly without calling the Royalty before him by the title of 'Your Highness'. You could tell just from his attitude that he had no respect for the law.

"Those bastards are speaking nonsense!" The Grand Hero lost decorum after hearing such lies.

"Phrasing." Drake spoke as a Hero shouldn't speak like that. It wasn't right for Brandon to lose image.

'Why do I have to deal with this?' Even as the youngest Lord Rank in the world acted nonchalant on the outside, he was really reluctant to help out the Cultists making a mess of the Northern District.

He was depressed on the inside.

Drake was inwardly looking like this: (╥﹏╥)

The young man really had no tears to cry. The was all his fault for supporting the Cult in the Capitol.

"We were only defending ourselves." Alan didn't care about the Prince's feelings and was stubborn on looking like a victim… despite the witnesses saying otherwise.

He secretly pressured the civilians with his presence so they wouldn't talk to much...

"This ba-"

"I'm sorry, but I will take them in for questioning myself. What does the Grand Hero think of this...?"

This would be fine on a normal day if Brandon had not heard about Drake's favouritism to the Radiant Sword Mirror Religion. He even went as far as to give them the Royal Seal and make them the State Religion of the Lancia after kicking out the Church!

Trusting the Royal Guards who came as soon as he arrived here was a mistake. The Cult would most likely be able to evade punishment despite trying their best to injure the Purple Knights under Alan's tutelage. This was really unfair, no doubt...

"It is our duty to hunt down Classless Beasts and heretics." Brandon responded first rather than immediately shaking his head. The Royal Family would feel humiliated if he denied them respect.

Although the Luminous Church and the Royal Family had a harmonious relationship in the past, it didn't change the fact that the future Imperial Ruler's words held more priority than their will.

"And?" Drake also knew this as well as he pretended he didn't understand the Hero's words.

"These people are the equivalent. They have given up their humanity to worship the Evil God." The Grand Hero wasn't going to leave that easily though. He pressured even the Royal Family to fulfil his Role since he'd do everything he needed to do!

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but you're wrong about that. I'm the one my religion worships." Alan didn't like how the Evil God was misinterpreted as someone above him and made a rare retort.

"What a bogus religion! Do you see yourself as a God?" The Grand Hero ridiculed with a frown.

"At least I'm more real than an imaginary entity."

"You dare insult the revered Holy God?!"

"Of course I do. He can come down and fight me if he's all that." Even the prince frowned at his words.

Although Drake was on their side, he wasn't a member of their Cult... nor did he particularly like them in his heart. If it wasn't for him needing their assistance to get attain his goals, he would have rather died than help them do anything atrocious.

This was his real attitude.

"Your Majesty, I am only fulfilling my Role and doing my divine duty." Brandon's words deeply moved him. The abnormal Crown Prince was a staunch believer that the past dictated future events.

It was only natural that the Grand Hero and his Knights would apprehended the Cultists, but he couldn't allow them to do so. He needed them for the future he desired, so he could only respond:

"And it is my right as the future Imperial Ruler to do whatever I want." He refused to make eye-contact.

"Are you saying you will be corrupted like these heretics?" The mood changed as he asked that.

Drake felt a tinge of dread. Brandon's eyes seemed to contain the firm determination. He may perhaps get him out of the position of a future ruler is he protected Alan, or tried to pressure his squadron.

He couldn't just kick them away. Even if he was the future Imperial Ruler, he couldn't act as he pleased until he ascended to the throne himself. Until he actually became the Ruler of the Human Empire, it wasn't extreme if they rebelled against his tyranny.

"Why not resolve this peacefully?" As the acting Crown Prince, he decided to use a different method to solve their dispute. Since they were already in the district, why not propose 'that'?

"What are you suggesting?"

"You can have a 'War of the Arts' with them at the Battle Theatre. The loser loses their position in Lancia and must leave the Ruling Kingdom. I'll also stop supporting the Mirror Religion if they lose."

"...What?" This suggestion was unexpected, but he decided to give some leeway for Drake's image.

"If I'm right about this, the War of the Arts is where we fight each other in a performance meant to draw the eyes of the entire Empire. Going on stage will let you be seen in all five kingdoms..." A smile was forming on Alan's face the longer he spoke.

To him, performing in the Battle Theatre was something to be excited about.

His attention-seeking personality wouldn't let him give up on the opportunity to preform on stage.

It was also the perfect opportunity for him to reveal himself to the world~!

Brandon didn't believe he'd lose, so why WOULDN'T he agree to this outrageous suggestion?

"...Do you swear on the Lightning Imperial?" The Grand Hero had to ask the Prince just in case.

"I do." Drake didn't hesitate to answer.

"Then I'll allow it. We will go back to prepare to do it ten days later... and I will inform the Deva Pope as well. Ten days. That will be the timeframe of this contest. If they don't show, I'll hunt them myself."

"Thank you..." Drake was truly grateful the Grand Hero accepted his suggestion despite how crazy it was. Doing what was essentially a literal 'Dance Battle' with their enemy? It was only the Crown Prince's request that would allow them to pull it off.

Alan frowned after hearing the familiar title, but left the same way the Knight Squadron did with his believers... leaving the Crown Prince to be taken with the entourage that had recently arrived.

He chose to let them take him back rather than using his Movement Skill.

He wasn't the type to leave these people of his when they were dutiful enough to chase after him even when he abruptly left.

That's why he just took a carriage back.

Now, even these freaks were on a ten day timer...