When Jack arrived at the City Gates, he was greeted by the three other contestants. Since the inhabitable land was too little, there were very few who could muster a personal army of 500. Even amongst these contestants, there were two that had employed men for money. Since they fought under their Flag, it wasn’t against the rules.

Seeing Jack arrive with his men, the Keeper of the Law’s eyes shined as she sized up the men walking behind Jack. Dark Elves had a naturally longer lifespan than most other races and it wasn’t weird for one to live up to three or four hundred years.

The current Keeper of the Law was already 254 years old and had she had participated in the last big war that happened over a hundred years ago. When she had first seen the armies of the three other contestants, she could see clearly that they had minimal battle experience.

They moved like an army but Jack’s army moved like one man. Not even one person was an inch ahead or behind others. They all moved in a ruler straight formation and the aura they excluded was something that made the Keeper feel as though she was again standing in a blood soaked battlefield with corpses all around.

As Jack closed in on the City Gates, the three other contestants also noticed the suffocating aura that Jack’s army was excluding. All of their faces flickered and some of the soldiers even gulped as they felt as though they were suffocating.

When Jack finally arrived at the position indicated to him, he just said, “Stop.” The command was not loud but in this eerily silent field, it was like shout. As if one man, everyone stopped and took a passive stance. As they stood there, the baleful aura they excluded made all the other contestants release cold sweat and all of the people that came to spectate the Rite also felt suffocated.

Jack then strode forward to the Keeper and stood next to the three other contestants. When Jack arrived at his spot, all of the other contestants seemed to exchange glances as they seemed to come to an agreement of sorts.

The Keeper of the Law nodded to Jack and then stepped forward and said in a loud voice, “Now that all of the four contestants have arrived, we shall start the Rite!” After saying so, a crystal ball appeared in her hand as she continued explaining, “This is our AbyssFlame Clan’s Ancestral Heirloom, [The Rite Orb]. The tournament to decide our next Clan Lord shall be held in here!”

After saying so, she turned around and faced the four contestants, “If there are no problems or complaints, then we shall begin the tournament immediately.” After saying so, she swept her gaze over the four contestants present seeing if they have any objections. Seeing that there weren’t any, she started saying something but before the voice could leave her mouth, one of the contestants stepped forward and said, “I have an objection.”

Everyone’s gazes gathered on the young man with black hair. He was around the same height as Jack but his physique was much sloppier as he seemed slightly pale and his luxurious clothes were a bit disheveled. This youth was dressed like a young master from head to toe and seeing that he was the one that had an objection, the Keeper frowned as she said coldly, “State your complaint.”

The young man glanced at Jack and then turned his eyes back towards the Keeper as he said with a smug smirk, “That white haired brat is an outsider. How can he take part in our sacred Rite of the Clanlord on equal terms as we, the people who have grown up and shed blood for this land.” As he said so, he managed to say it in a righteous tone as if Jack had no right to take part in this tournament.

The two other contestants, a young man in his twenties that had a nasty scar on his left eye and a middle aged woman with long brown hair also nodded their heads to this. Jack however just glanced at the black haired young man and didn’t pay him any more attention. Seeing that the people started discussing his opinion, he quickly grasped his chance and added, “And to top it off, he is also a Mixed Blood. To have a mongrel stand at the helm of our illustrious Clan with deep roots is something unacceptable as a person that was born to the AbyssFlame Clan.”

The murmurs of the audience grew even louder and some even pointed at Jack as they discussed something amongst themselves. Seeing the young man’s plan succeed, the Keeper grew a bit irritated as she thought to herself, “You little debauchee prick just got scared shitless when you saw his army come.”

After thinking so, she suddenly felt a chill run down her spine as she hurriedly looked over at Jack. Jack currently had a frown on his face as his cold eyes looked at the young man. What made the Keeper feel the chill wasn’t Jack but rather the troops that he had brought with him. When before they had a cold face that solely followed orders, now they seemed pissed off.

She remembered that Jack had said that all of these guys had been slaves before and on his travels around the world, he had managed to liberate them from their captives and they swore their allegiance to him. To have your life saviour be called a “mongrel”, the Keeper felt that this idiot will get himself killed before the tournament even began.

Everyone’s eyes turned to Jack’s army after feeling the same chill as the Keeper and when they saw that one of the Lizard Riders took a step forward, they all fell quiet. The armies of the three other contestants all gripped their weapons but fear was quite evident on their faces as they had no confidence in taking Jack’s army on. As the Lizard Rider started advancing towards the young man with black hair,

Jack’s cold voice echoed out over the field, “Stand down.”

Although the voice wasn’t loud, it seemed to cut the tense atmosphere as they saw the Lizard Rider stop in his tracks. He gave the young man a cold glance as he just snorted and went back to the formation. Seeing this kind of iron fist control, even the Keeper gulped as she saw Jack turn to the debauchee and say in a cold tone, “I think you are the last person in this world to start speaking about the honour of the AbyssFlame Clan.”

Everyone were baffled by Jacks words but without giving the young man any time to rebut him, Jack continued, “You spend most of your time humping on women and instead of spending money on necessary provisions, you spend it on making yourself pretty.” Stifled laughter was heard from somewhere as the young man’s face turned red.

Jack then took a step towards the young man and added, “When I was five, I already entered the cruelty of the real world. When you were five, you still had maids running around you and changing your diapers.”

Jack then looked at the young man in the eye as he took another step and said, “I may be a “mongrel” but I have seen the vast world behind these coasts. I know how life truly is outside, the war, poverty, slavery. The number of times I have danced on the border of death is higher than the number of women you have slept with. So you tell me, how am I unqualified to become a Clan Lord of an already decaying Clan?” After hearing Jack’s words and feeling the cold murderous aura, the young man with black hair paled as he took a step back.

The whole audience was quiet as Jack’s words seemed to stab deeply into them. Everyone knows that Mixed Bloods have an even worse life than slaves and for him to be here with an army of five hundred that is completely loyal to him shows that he is not made of the same material as the debauchee young man. Even the Keeper felt a bit ashamed on the behalf of the debauchee.

When looking at it from another angle, Jack had actually done more for the Dark Elves than the debauchee had. The debauchee was actually the spoiled son of the previous Clan Lord, so his adventures to the various brothels and his spending on useless nicnacks was well known. On one hand you had a person that had spent most his time in the safety of the city, doing what he felt.

On the other hand, you had a person that had grown up climbing over a mountain of corpses. Also, from the way his troops were armed, it was obvious that he knew how to manage their finances as all the troops had matching weapons, armours and worked like clockwork. Also, from their appearances, it was obvious that they were all well fed and they had probably even obtained some elixirs or high grade fighting techniques.

This showed that besides being someone with a lot charisma, he was also someone that knows how to manage finances well. Jack then looked towards the audience for a moment and then added in a cold voice, “The Ancestral Law states that anyone with Dark Elven blood is allowed to take part in the Rite of the Clan Lord. However, from what I see right now, you respect that law only when it suits your goals.”

After saying so, Jack turned around and then started walking towards his troops. The entire audience was a bit stupefied but thinking back to how they were swayed by the debauchee’s words, they immediately felt embarrassed as Jack’s words hit the nail on the head. Jack didn’t stop at the spot he stood before but continued on and arrived before his troops.

Seeing this, everyone’s eyes grew wide and the Keeper yelled towards Jack, “Where are you going?!” Jack stopped, looked towards the Keeper and said with a smile, “I have no interest in become the Clan Lord of a half dead Clan that walks towards their demise with a proud expression while looking down on others.” After saying so, he turned his head to his left where Shadya was standing. He then put on an apologetic smile as he said, “I am sorry but I can’t fulfil your request.”

Shadya shook her head and sighed, “No need. I honestly didn’t think that the Dark Elves had fallen this low.” Even though her words were said gently, they stabbed into the hearts of everyone present. They also realized that Jack was only taking part in this on the request of another.

Shadya didn’t care what they were thinking as she truly felt depressed. Back in her time, Ancestral Laws were respected and even a Clan Lord could not escape them. Dark Elves did not look down on others and put their kin above all else but now, the values had changed greatly.

The Ancestral Law was used when it suited them and a person status, not their personal strength mattered. Jack wasn’t the one to give up easily but even he had a hard time trying to help people that were so stuck in their world. The felt as they were the kings and everyone else were beggars and looked down upon all else.

Since they could not get their support with Shadya’s way, Jack decided to use his original plan: Occupy a spot somewhere and build his own City. Thanks to the map of the world obtained by one of his scouts, he had found the perfect place to do so. With a swish of his sleeve, a giant floating ship appeared in mid air. All of his troops boarded the ship without any orders, while boarding the ship, they cast pitying gazes towards the dumbstruck people on the ground.

Without waiting for any reply, the ship started moving the moment all of the people were on the ship, towards the location Jack had set his sight upon. After the ship had disappeared over the horizon, the Keeper finally snapped out of shock she was in and the first thing she did was slap the debauchee young man.

However, due to her anger, she couldn’t control her strength very well and the slap made the young man fly a short distance.