After I signed, I put my hood back on and went back to normal.

“What are you going to do now?”(Arthur)

“I was planning to watch the tournament, why do you ask?”(Me)

I was interested in every single individual that was participating. The ones who would participate in the main tournament were only secondary. Most of them would be nobles anyways.

“I have prepared a seat for you to watch, but the main tournament will only start tomorrow. Do you have any certain plans for today?”(Arthur)

“We are allies now. Just speak freely and tell me what you want?”(Me)

“I was asked to hold an opening ceremony with the king of the beastmen.”(Arthur)

“And?”(Me)

“I was hoping to introduce our alliance there.”(Arthur)

“Sure. Why not.”(Me)

Arthur didn’t think I’d agree that fast. He thought about ways to convince me, but now it was all in vain.

“I mean, I want to do it because… Wait you are fine with it?”(Arthur)

“Yes I am. There is no harm in doing so. It’s not like I’d have to reveal anything specific about me. I help you to promote our alliance and at the same time, you help me pressure the beastmen king into a similar alliance. In my opinion, it’s a win-win situation.”(Me)

“If you say it like this. But you’d probably have to be prepared to face criticism and accusations from the crowd, are you fine with that?”(Arthur)

“Are you even trying to convince me?”(Me)

First, he wanted me to come then he told me it wouldn’t be a good idea. It wasn’t the best of strategies.

“I only worry about my ally. Am I not allowed to?”(Arthur)

“Pff. Hahahahahahaha.”(Me)

I couldn’t suppress my laughter. Arthur’s worries were just too funny.

“You don’t have to worry about me.”(Me)

“If you ever need something, don’t hesitate to ask.”(Arthur)

“Sure. I’ll remember it.”(Me)

Someone knocking on the door interrupted our conversation.

“Come in.”(Arthur)

I was quite confused. Who would be so bold as to interrupt us? A conversation between the king of humans and me, a rising powerhouse, which could soon rival any other nation.

“Your majesty, it’s time.”(Shadow)

“Already so late?”(Arthur)

Arthur stood up. I had still no idea what was going on.

“Wait. What’s the matter? What are you talking about?”(Me)

“Eh? Why are you so surprised? Haven’t we just talked about it?”(Arthur)

“We talked about the opening ceremony.”(Me)

“Yes. So why are you acting so confused? Is this some kind of trick?”(Arthur)

I finally realized what was going on. He predicted the time it would take him to convince me in joining him. I just noticed that everything he did and said was thoroughly planned and I walked into his traps without any preparations.

“Ho. You are better than I thought. This round is your win.”(Me)

“What may you be talking about?”(Arthur)

“I hate to interrupt you two, but the king of beastmen is waiting and I heard it’s one of the things he hates the most.”(Shadow)

I followed them outside. Sandra and Sepp were waiting for us.

“You have some time left until I announce our alliance and until I require your appearance on stage. Sepp will tell you when and where you have to be. You could use the remaining time to watch the preliminaries. Only if you want to, obviously.”(Arthur)

“At least prepare a grand entrance for me.”(Me)

“I will.”(Arthur)

We stood in front of the villa and waited until we couldn’t see Arthur anymore.

“Be honest with me Sepp, how much did you tell him about me?”(Me)

“I swear I didn’t say anything.”(Sepp)

There were probably a few things Arthur got out of Sepp, without him even noticing it, but if what Sepp said was true, than Arthur was more of a genius than I thought.

“You found yourself quite the interesting king. Jokes aside, how much time do we have left?”(Me)

“About an hour. As Arthur said, you’d have enough time to watch some of the preliminaries.”(Sepp)

“I would have done so anyways.”(Me)

“Arthur knew you’d say that.”(Sepp)

“Enough with that guy. Lead me to where you think the most promising participants are.”(Me)

I had enough from Arthur. His plans were almost as good as mine.

“You meant the favourites to win this tournament?”(Sepp)

“No. The ones to win this tournament are either beastmen or nobles of higher ranks. You saw most of them, right?”(Me)

“Yes.”(Sepp)

“Then you should know where the ones with the most potential are participating.”(Me)

“Sure.”(Sepp)

Sepp started moving and the surprisingly silent Sandra and I followed behind him.

“By the way, Arthur also thought, you’d want to have a look at the ones with the most potential, so he put them all together in two different groups. He said that this way, it would be much faster for you to see all of them.”(Sepp)

I was silently cursing Arthur while Sepp led us to a building with the number 27.

“You can only watch from here, cause we are not allowed to enter the magic barrier.”(Sepp)

“Why not?”(Me)

“The rules say that you have to win this tournament on your own. If we’d enter, we could support a participant with magic.”(Sepp)

The so called barrier was laid needy. I thought it was to prevent the participants for damaging or hurting outside people and not the other way around. It was definitely not strong enough to prevent me from interfering. I wasn’t planning to do so though.

“There was a rule like that?”(Me)

“Yes, but as you probably already noticed, the barrier is pretty weak. Some nobles who wanted to support their children are at fault for this.”(Sepp)

“Obviously.”(Me)

One hour was over in almost an instant. I watched every individual in building 27 closely. They were certainly talented, but didn’t have the potential I was searching for. On one side, the preliminaries were interesting and fun to watch.

Some even thought about the winner of it as lucky or surprising, but after I watched every fighter, it was obvious that he’d win. On the other side, it was quite boring. They fought after the rules, like they learned in school and no one showed anything new or interesting.

“Big brother, it’s time.”(Sepp)

“Please, don’t imitate that Shadow guy.”(Me)

“No, but ahm, we have to go or we’ll be late.”(Sepp)

“Sigh. Yes, yes. Lead the way.”(Me)

Sepp showed us the way and Sandra and I followed silently. We went to something called colosseum. It was a huge, round open-air arena, which had enough seats to host over thousands of people.

“When Arthur shouts your name, go up there and present yourself. These steps lead to a so called lounge, where only you, Arthur and the king of beastmen will sit.”(Sepp)

“What about you and Sandra?”(Me)

“We are going up there now. We will just stand behind you all the time. It’s some kind of representation in these kind of tournaments.”(Sepp)

They went up and I was left all alone. As Sepp told me, I waited for Arthur to shout my name, but because I was tensed, the time felt like it flew much slower. Who wouldn’t be nervous to speak in front of thousands of people? Moreover, if the biggest crowd I ever talked in front of wasn’t bigger than 100.

My heart was racing and I focused everything on my ears. I didn’t want to miss the perfect moment to go up those stairs.

“Last, but not least, I am happy to announce my special guest for this tournament. I assume that everyone has heard about his name at least once in the past few years. His influence grew to a point, where he could even rival one of the five races.”(Arthur)

It was obvious he was talking about me. I started to climb the stairs. Slowly, I made my way up. Arthur didn’t finish his speech yet and I wanted to arrive at the perfect moment.

“I don’t know why, but no race managed to pull him to their side. Until today! Please welcome with me the newest ally of humanity.”(Arthur)

I made it to the lounge and stepped forward. I could feel an overwhelming pressure. I tried to fight it and went into black form, which at the same time gave me an aura of absolute domination.

“The ruler of the Dark Continent, or better known as the Nightmare!”(Arthur)