“Are you brats trying to destroy my empire?”

In response to Nero’s question, no one from Dragon Storm or Vritra dared to reply.

“Gramps, this isn’t what we agreed.”

Miko approached Nero and said.

“I said that I would allow you to handle Dragon Storm on your own, however I can’t just stand back and watch your war spread to the rest of the empire.”

Nero looked at Miko with a rare stern face. Miko thought that this must be how he was when he’s in public.

“The scale of this battle looked like it was going to reach to the rest of the empire. Since that’s the case, this is no longer your problem alone but mine as well.”

He turned and faced everyone else.

“Normally I would just kill every idiot who was stupid enough to invade our empire…”

Hearing those words caused a lot of the invaders to feel like their hearts were at their throats. Some even became weak in the knees and fell to the ground. Nero ignored them and looked back at Miko.

“But, I did make a promise with ,you so I’ll let it slide.”

A lot of people sighed in relief after seeing their lives spared.

“Miko, I know that you have a plan to win this battle with minimal casualties. I would advise you to use it or I’ll have to take matters in my own hands.”

“….Well, I suppose it’s time to get serious.”

Miko lifted his arm up.

“In the name of Tiamat, I propose a Proxy Duel with the proxies of Shenlong, Nidhogg, and Vritra.”

Luka stepped out of the crowd and lifted her arm as well.

“In the name of Ouroboros, I support this duel and wish to fight along side Tiamat’s Proxy.”

“A Proxy Duel?”

“By challenging three proxies while teaming up with another at the same time…This is…”

“A Proxy Battle Royale.”

A Proxy Battle Royale is when three or more proxies enter a formal duel against each other to prove who is the superior one among them. Just like a Proxy Duel, Apostles are allowed to fight in the name of their king (Proxy) with the #1 ranked Apostle being able to forfeit in their King’s stead if they are incapacitated.

“I see. So that’s how it is.”

Tang approached Miko.

“By having a Proxy Battle Royale only the proxies and their apostles will engage in a battle to the death. This will significantly decrease the amount of casualties and a clearer goal for victory will be established.”

“Do you not accept?”

Miko asked.

“And miss the fun? I’m confident in the skills of myself and my apostles.”

Shenlong suddenly appeared beside Tang. His insignia appeared underneath the two of them.

“Klaus, Zora. What about you two?”

Miko asked.

Zora stepped out and then followed by Klaus.

“The Black Bone Tribe doesn’t back away from challenges. I accept.”

Nidhogg appeared beside Zora and his insignia appeared under their feet.

“I get to show you all who’s superior. Of course I accept.”

Vritra appeared beside Klaus along with his insignia under their feet. However there was a chain that linked his insignia with Nidhogg’s, indicating that they were in an alliance.

Miko smiled and Tia appeared beside him while Ouroboros appeared beside Luka. All five dragon gods spoke in unison.

“All parties have agreed to participate in a formal Battle Royale. This battle will continue until there’s only one party standing. If a proxies dies or gives up, they’ll be eliminated. If their #1 Apostle give up in their stead they’ll be eliminated. Interference from unrelated parties is forbidden and will lead to immediate elimination of all proxies. If you understand the rules, please fight to bring honor to your God.”

The five insignias glowed and then moved into the center of the group and started overlapping with each other. Soon after, they faded leaving a dragon’s roar.

“Good. Good.”

Nero started clapping.

“This I’ll tolerate. However, if you wish to do battle you can’t do it here. But worry not, I’ll provide the perfect location for you all to go all out.”

“What if it’s something beneficial to Miko’s group?”

Tang asked.

“Listen, kid. Do you know who the hell I am? I’m the first in this era to defy the heavens. Even real gods fear me. Do you think I’ll stoop so low for a fight between children?”

Tang didn’t reply but he showed no signs of fear towards Nero unlike the others.

“Besides, Miko is my grandson. He doesn’t need to cheat to defeat the likes of you.”

Nero started walking away.

“Now if you all are done talking, I’ll bring you to the place.”

He then stopped and looked back at everyone.

“Just so you know, anyone who interferes in this battle will have their bloodline completely erased by me. Do I make myself clear?”

Soldiers from all sides started nodding vigorously.

“Good.”

Nero showed a bright smile.

“Let’s go.”

*********

Following Nero’s “suggestion”, the battle to decide who was the superior dragon was moved to a new location. The location was the Silver Continent near to the center. There exists a barren land that had the ruins of a city on it.

“This place used to be the capital of a powerful empire. However, this empire was destroyed in a battle against a powerful enemy. The battle was so intense that the lands became inhabitable and ultimately abandoned.”

Nero explained in front of the crowd.

“Who was the enemy?”

Miko asked.

“Me, but I don’t want to go into details.”

Nero replied.

“You all can fight out here without worrying about causing trouble for anyone. Also, there’s nothing that would give any of you advantages. For example, there’s no bodies of water that could be used by those of you who are water dragons. Any objections?”

“………”

“Of course they aren’t.”

Nero smiled.

“With that said, will all proxies and their apostles step forward?”

He was suddenly controlling this battle like it was some kind of entertainment. Even so, no one would defied him while he was in front of them.

Miko stepped out with his apostles behind him.

“I have 8 apostles. They’ll show their Apostle Crests to prove their identity.”

Momo and the others showed the crest on their hand. The number was is the following order from 1-8: Leon, Sasha, Momo, Ace, Sora, Hina, Kristen, and Tessa.

“The crests are real.”

Luka stepped out.

“My apostles won’t be participating, so I’ll solely represent myself.”

Nero nodded. He then looked at the others. Zora who had Laz and Kuga behind him. They showed their Apostle Crests. As for Klaus, he had his sister and his little brother, who won his division’s ranking tournament. They also displayed their Apostle Crests.

The final one was Tang.

“And your apostles?”

“They’re behind me.”

Other than Fang they saw two girls appear out of Tang’s shadow. One was a woman wearing a fox mask and was dressed in a suit with a sword on her waist. Her black ponytail swayed in the wind. The other had a cold aura around her and with brown hair and fierce feline-like blue eyes.

“These are my Apostles, Fang Xian, Biyu and Xue Yu.”

Nero frowned. Tang was the only one who had a Divine Level fighter among his ranks and it was one who had a reputation for being ruthless.

“Hm?”

His attention was drawn by Leon and Sasha who stood behind Miko. They looked like they knew the gravity of the situation and was overflowing with murderous intent. It was obvious that they decided that Fang must die for Miko to live.

“Alright.”

Nero nodded.

“Since all sides are ready, let’s get it started.”

Nero clapped his hands and all of the proxies and their apostles disappeared.

“What did you do?”

Xue Bao asked anxiously.

“I randomly scattered them across the city. It would be boring if they all just pounced at each other and fight chaotically. Who will fight who is much more fun to watch.”

Nero clapped again and they all teleported. When everyone looked they were looking down on the city from an altar in the sky.

“Now then, everyone.”

Nero took a seat on a throne.

“Let’s all watch the show.”

In the Ruined city, Miko found himself all alone.

“That damn old man. He just had to make everything go how he wanted it to. Well, this is indeed an interesting outcome, so I’ll let it slide.”

Ishma and Regis took their human forms and stood beside him.

“So what do we do now? Just kill any enemy we come across?”

Regis asked.

“I see no problem with that.”

Ishma said.

“There’s a divine level fighter in this city. It would be bad if we ran into him.”

Miko stooped down and placed his hand on the floor.

“At the moment, everyone should be trying to regroup.”

“That’s the logically thing to do.”

Regis added.

“Which is why Tang won’t do it. He’ll most likely rush towards to fighting me, which means that Dragon Storm’s strategy should be the opposite of everyone else’s.”

Suddenly, someone appeared above Miko. It was the fox mask woman from Dragon Storm. She pulled the katana on her waist and swung it down towards his neck.

*Klang!*

Her blade was blocked by Ishma. Miko spoke without looking in her direction.

“Sorry, But you’re not my opponent so I have no time to waste on you.”

The woman said nothing and turned into a shadow and rushed towards Miko after passing Ishma.

“Like I said.”

The woman shot out of the shadow and stabbed towards Miko’s head.

“You’re not my opponent.”

*Bam!*

Someone flew from behind Miko and kicked the woman in the chest, forcing her back.

“Are you alright, Miko?”

Hina landed in front of Miko and asked.

“You found me pretty quickly, Hina. Were you nearby?”

“No, I was more than 10 miles away. I just ran in the direction my instincts told me to and found you.”

Miko stood up.

“I knew that someone was coming towards me from the vibrations I felt but I never thought that it was you. I think you’ve gotten heavier.”

“…..It’s weird that you can be so casual in a situation like this.”

Hina said.

“Anyway, she got away.”

The fox-mask woman was nowhere to be seen.

“She seems to be an assassin type fighter. She must’ve deduced that the odds weren’t in her favor and decided to retreat.”

“Yeah, have fun with that.”

Miko started walking away.

“Wait, where are you going?!”

“I’m going to look for Tang. I’m pretty sure that he’s searching for me. So I’m going to meet him halfway.”

“Don’t you realize that you’re being targeted?”

Hina walked behind him.

“Yeah, and I’m sure that Fang, who is the strongest person in this city, is coming for my head as we speak.”

“Then why?”

Miko smiled.

“Because just like how others are coming after my head my allies are one step ahead of them and are hunting them down in return.”

“Why are you so confident?”

“You stopped that fox-mask woman didn’t you?”

He looked at Hina with a smile.

“It’s like this. Tang is everyone’s main target however, I’m Tang’s main target so you could say the quickest way to find Tang is to find me. In other words, without me doing anything our allies and enemies will all come towards me and meet up along the way.”

Hina thought about it for a while and agreed that the odds of what Miko said coming true was high. After all, her first instinct was to rush towards him to protect him. If that’s her first instinct then…

*BOOM!*

They heard a deafening explosion come from a few miles away from them.

“Looks like it already started.”

Not too far away, ruins started crumbling while two people stared at each other. These two people were Miko’s brother, Kristen and Klaus’s brother, Vidal.

“Well, suck on that Tessa.”

Kristen started smiling.

“I get to fight the guy who won our tournament without fighting us.”