Chapter 89- Fancy Party

Sol walked into the locker room to find the rest of his team suiting up. He sat down and waited for them.

“Nude also said to watch out for the Rowgen teams, meaning us and them,” Tower said.

“What’s going on with them then?” Sol asked as he twiddled Lucia in his hand.

“They’ve had a rivalry before the Great Merge, now that Auraria has a strong alliance with Kraos tensions have increased between the countries.”

“Oh,” Sol mused, “You think there’d be a war?”

Tower shrugged as he strapped his club onto his back.

“I believe there will be soon,” Sharp interjected, “Auraria wants to eradicate Rowgen off the face of Gaia and take Kronos’s Keep for themselves.”

“Is that in Rowgen?” Sol questioned.

Sharp nodded, “The most impenetrable city, has never been conquered, it also boasts the only large scale projection shield in Gaia. It is a relic however and they can’t replicate it. It is the only thing that keeps Auraria from invading Rowgen, now that Kraos has gotten involved it may happen soon.”

Sol’s eyebrows raised, their company had just rediscovered it.

“You twats ready?” Spike said from behind some lockers, he walked out with his hair pulled into a high ponytail.

“Spike, I shouldn’t have to warn you about tonight,” Tower said.

“I can be serious,” Spike insisted as he downed some pills in his hand.

“What was that?!” Tower shouted.

“It’s a mood stabilizer!” Spike shouted back.

Tower calmed himself down, “Sorry, I’m nervous about tonight.”

“Join the club,” Sol said, “I fucking hate royalty.”

Mute walked in from the women's locker room.

“Right, let’s go,” Tower said.

The group headed to a teleporter and drove towards the King of Auraria’s estate in New London. When they were getting close, there were thousands of people crowding through the luxurious streets.

“Masks,” Tower ordered.

There were camera crews and reporters huddling around the entrance, they started to flash and attempt to slow the vehicle. Tower slowed down as he approached but guards rushed out of the estate to push people aside and let them in.

“I’m enjoying the limelight,” Spike said.

Tower tutted, “They ain’t here for you. Sol, stick your head out of the window and wave.”

“Are you serious?” Sol questioned.

Tower laughed.

The vehicle pulled onto the sandstone paving and instantly the New London architecture had disappeared. Down the sandstone paving there was a huge mansion with a giant waterfall in front. The style was large and open, it was spotlessly clean and guards were posted every few metres.

“The life of a king huh,” Sol mused, “Is the prince gonna be here?”

“The dickless one?” Spike asked.

Sol nodded.

“Fuck, I don’t know,” Tower responded, “What’s the king’s name again, Sharp?”

“Al Aura Scol,”

“Can’t they have normal names,” Sol remarked.

“It is customary in Auraria to have 3 names, his means the God King Of All.”

“God King,” Sol joked.

“Best behaviour guys,” Tower said, “This guy is the king of one of the most powerful countries on Gaia.”

“Yes, Sir,” The group said.

The car pulled around the waterfall and servants rushed out to form a path for them. They opened the doors and the Ill-Favoured Five stepped out. They were instructed to follow a group of maids into the mansion and then into an enormous library. None other than the king was doing paperwork on a full golden desk.

The maids all bowed respectfully and then left. Knelt down first and the rest of his team did too.

The king continued to scribble a few more words down then eventually he looked up. He was old, looked to be in his 60s but he was probably quadruple that. His face was well kept and his manner was calm.

He stood up to show a large but thin robe that went down to his shoes. He slowly walked around the desk in front of the group. He took his time looking at them.

“Rise,” the man said in a foreign accent.

The team stood back up, continuing to look forward. Sol hated doing this, he had met a few other royalty before. The king’s eyes landed onto the Immortal where they stayed for a few seconds.

“Thank you for accepting my request,” the king said.

“It is an honour, your majesty,” Tower replied.

“Yes… I do not have much to say, but I do have some other requests.”

“Of course,” Tower said, “We will fulfill it to the best of our abilities.”

The king took a step back and rested a leg on the desk, he started taking out badges that had the Auraria flag on them.

“The Rowgen team for your category, I want you to eliminate them in each game. Do not go completely out of your way, make it seem… Natural.”

“We will fulfill your request.”

“Good,” the king said as he pinned a badge onto Tower’s thick leather armour.

He went from each of them, placing a badge onto their armour. He took his sweet time when doing Sol’s.

Sol could tell that this man was a king, his presence alone was intimidating although he didn’t look it. The king thought about every word he said and his mannerisms were hard to read. He wanted to let Sol know he was interested in his immortality which freaked him out the most.

“Good luck, that will be all,” the king said as he went back to his desk and continued writing.

The group bowed once again and a maid came in to fetch them. They were taken to a marble room with comfy leather chairs dotted in the center.

“There are no cameras in this room, you may take your masks off.”

Tower nodded to the lady and she closed the door on the way out.

“I’m not taking my mask off,” Sol said.

“Agreed,” Sharp added.

Tower shrugged as he sat down on a chair, “That guy was really something. His presence was just strange.”

“A very smart man,” Sharp said.

“They got some nice looking maids here,” Spike said, off-topic.

Tower’s hands twitched on the chair but it remained where it was.

“He was reading Sol,” Sharp said, “He couldn’t see much though.”

“He said we had an hour, can we get some food in?” Spike said as he made himself comfortable.

Sol cooled his breathing down, he felt so tense in the king’s presence, “I could use some food too.”

They waited for an hour- with some food until they were brought into a larger room where the other teams for the other events and categories were. The other teams were incredibly polite and reserved, they showed no hostility and the group returned it.

Soon they were in an escorted envoy towards the royal quarters of New London- to the castle itself.

“You know Elora’s sister is in Arthur’s team,” Sol said.

“Synthia is it?” Sharp questions.

Sol nodded, “She’s got a right stick up her ass.”

“She wasn’t accepted into the High Temple, that’ll be why.”

As they rounded a corner onto a main road leading into the royal quarters, there were tens of thousands of people cheering on the side. One sign read ‘Sign my tits Immortal’. Sol buried his hands into his head, why couldn’t he be known for his fighting skills.

“Woah,” Spike said as he looked at the walls.

They were displaying huge flags of every country, and guards stood inches away from each other. They went under the wall and into the magnificent quarters where the giant castle stood.

The security cars split away and four cars parked in front of a large red carpet. There were journalists readying their microphones with cameras behind them.

“No speaking to any of them, not yet anyway,” Tower ordered, glancing at Spike as he did.

“Righto big man,” Spike chatted back.

“Weapons all out, follow tradition. Keep to yourself and try to keep people from talking to Mute.”

Mute was not a fan of conversation, she hated when people attempted it. She liked that the group never conversed with her- only when they needed to.

The door was opened for them and thousands of camera clicks sounded at once. The journalists started screaming and shouting for them. Sol felt nervous, it was overwhelming. He was thankful for his mask that hid his face, he only had to work on not tripping in front of everyone.

Tower stepped out first, the weight of the vehicle shifting slightly. They instantly noticed the mask on his face and turned their cameras.

The rest of the group followed with Sol coming out last, thousands more clicks could be heard.

“Immortal!”

“What is the relationship between you and Elora!”

“What is your class!”

“Please, Immortal!”

They walked past them into the grand castle, it was more than grand. This was the castle of London, Kraos- one of the biggest countries in the entirety of Gaia. No less to say the group felt overwhelmed. The king was leading the party in front, they were heading to a large banquet hall.

As they entered, the king's name was introduced and people started clapping as he entered. The king of Kraos, in blue and silver robes shook the man's hand and walked with him into the hall where they started talking.

As the group walked in, all eyes pinged to them, the masks were an obvious giveaway and very eye catching. Sol immediately spotted Elora and Kara, they were standing next to Mrs and Mr Evergrand.

Elora was wearing a red dress that hugged her top half and the bottom half the side of her left thigh. Her hair was pulled back by braids that acted as a pony tail for her hair. She locked eyes with Sol for a moment. All he could think was ‘wow’.

“What do we do now?” Sol asked Tower with a lowered voice.

“I’ll be truthful,” Tower whispered back, “I was going to ask you… Bar?”

The two of them scoured the large banquet hall for a bar but there were only white cloth tables with fancy food on them. They did however catch a waiter walking by with a tray of champagne.

Tower took two while the rest of the team took only one each.

“I thought Heresy said no heavy drinking,” Spike said.

Tower shook his head, “I’m gonna need to if I wanna get through this.”

Spike nodded his understanding.

Tower brought the glass up to his nose and sniffed, he screwed up his face, “I hate champagne.” He said and then downed the entire glass.

“Immortal,” A familiar voice said behind him.

It was Arthur and his team, they were wearing far more expensive armour than when they did the last time Sol saw them. The armour was sponsored by a famous manufacturer that had pained millions to even just wear it in the games tomorrow.

“Ah, Arthur,” Sol said, turning around, “This is my team. Tower the leader, Sharp, Spike and Mute.”

“Good to meet you guys,” Arthur responded.

Tower’s team nodded their hellos and Arthur introduced his team.

“We’ll catch up later with you, excuse us,” Arthur said.

“They’re going to be tough,” Sharp said, “Arthur Murdoch’s aura is at least that of a level 70. His team is just below that.”

“I like our chances against them,” Tower said, “Who else do we need to watch out for?”

Sharp cleared his throat, “We should move out of the center, too many eyes are on us.”

The team followed Tower to the side of the banquet hall where there was food laid out everywhere. Most of the food was not known by the group but that didn’t stop them eating it.

“Carry on,” Tower said.

Sharp took a sip of champagne before carrying on, “Arthur’s group who we’ve just met. The Northcross team, mainly dwarves. They specialise in magical weapons. Next is the team from Draconia, all of them are Draconian and their leader is the son of their ruler.”

“I heard they’re mean bastards,” Spike added.

“That is an understatement,” Sharp remarked, “Half of their body is covered in scale armour that is as resistant as an Epic Orichalcum chestpiece, their magical affinities and prowess are low but they make up for it with physical strength.”

“So what’s the difference between them and the Northcross team?” Sol asked.

“Draconians were considered the most advantageous race to ever live on Lumina and that has transpired to Gaia. As I said, magical abilities are low but that does not mean they cannot use magic nor do they shy away from it. Don’t look now but they are at the back of the hall.”

Sol side eyed the back of the hall, they were enormous. Even though they were draconians, they looked to be more lizard-kin than anything. They were roughly 7ft, 5 inches above Sol and were packed with Tower’s muscle. They would surely be a strong team.

“Who else then?” Sol asked.

“The Beastland team, their leader is too a prince, Lion-kin, the Alrathi the people call their race. They possess no magical abilities but their bodys have tools that could put a tank to shame.”

Sol found them in the left centre hall, their leader was around his own height but with more muscle and the others were a variety of Beast-kin.

“Anymore?” Tower asked.

“Well the Rowgen team I should mention, made up of mostly humans like ours and Kraos’s team. They have a lesser prospect of winning than us- they shouldn’t be a problem.”

“How far down are we then?” Sol asked.

“43rd out of 60. You have to remember that our skills are relatively unknown. Most of it comes from you and Tower. The bearer of the mark of Magni and the one who is immortal.”

Sol understood why they weren’t getting sized up by the eyes, it was more out of curiosity than getting an advantage

“I’ll settle with 20th,” Spike said, “How well did Auraria’s team do last time?”

“9th and 11th, a fair score. The country is not known for its fighters even though it is considered one of the strongest in Gaia.”

“... What makes the country so strong then?” Sol asked.

“Slave trade, agriculture, mana crystals mines, tourism and how much land they control- which is also all fertile for tropical fruits which sell well in other countries.”

“You’re like a fucking search engine,” Spike admired.

“Thank you, Spike, but I just do research.”