Andreas reached the garage. "Heath! Where are you?"
Even now, he didn't get a response. Not a single person was here, but there was something else that attracted his attention.
"One of the helicopters is missing? How could that be?"
There were usually two helicopters here. One was to escort the Warlock Council members to the Divine Empire, while the other one was for backup in case the first one was destroyed. Strangely enough, only one helicopter was here, which was the backup helicopter.
"That idiot! He dared to take the helicopter for his own leisure?"
"Is that why he didn't answer our messages informing him of our arrival yesterday? Because he wasn't here?! That idiot of a man! He just had to go at a time like this!"
"I guess I have no choice. I can only take the backup helicopter," Andreas muttered, sighing. "I'll deal with him later.."
He walked to the only helicopter in the place and checked it to test if it was working fine or not. "Good. It works."
He inserted the passcode for activating the helicopter, which he also knew, along with Heath.
The rotors of the helicopter started moving, gaining momentum. The helicopter started rising in the air, soon leaving the Warlock Council branch.
The helicopter went back to the airport and landed near the Warlock Council members.
The door opened, and Andreas stepped out.
"You're piloting it? Where's Heath?" John approached Andreas and asked.
"No idea. He wasn't at the branch. The helicopter is missing too. There are no signs of forced entry or anything else. No defense systems were activated either. It all points towards one thing," Andreas replied. "It's that Heath took the helicopter himself. Maybe to take a trip? But we can't wait for his return."
"So we continue with the plan?" John asked.
"That's right. We move ahead with the same plan. The only difference will be that Heath won't come with us," Andreas responded. "So, is everything ready?''
"Just five more minutes. The planes will be ready for travel."
"Good."
…
While real Andreas thought that Heath left on a pleasure trip, Heath was sitting with an Andreas of his own, unaware that the man he believed to be a Warlock Council leader was none other than a fraud.
Even Salazar and the others were unaware about the arrival of the real Warlock Council with the intent to attack the Divine Empire.
Instead, they sat in the first row of the stands, watching more and more seats of the first row being filled.
More and more of the participants continued arriving with each passing second, taking their seats.
The Noble Lords also arrived one after another. A special area was arranged for them to sit right behind the throne of Milena.
There were thirty seats for the Noble Lords and one throne specially reserved for Milena in the Northern part of the Colosseum, which was supposed to give her the best view of the upcoming battles.
From the thirty Noble Lords, only five of them had arrived so far, and two of them were Arthur and Feronia.
Everyone was patiently waiting for others to arrive so that the tournament could be started. Even though it was taking time, no one dared to express their discomfort at a time like this. They didn't want to die, after all.
Salazar kept his eyes on the newcomer, hoping that one of them was going to be Lucifer, but so far, that didn't happen.
More and more Noble Lords arrived, soon bringing their number to twenty-eight.
Other than Arthur, everyone else had taken their seats.
"Arthur, are you not going to sit?" Feronia asked Arthur, who stood, keeping his eyes at the entrance while being lost in deep thoughts.
"I will later," Arthur replied calmly.
The people in the stands continued their chattering, talking about who was going to win.
Almost all of them knew that some foreigners were going to take part in the competition too and that they were the strongest warriors that existed in foreign land, which excited the people even more.
They wanted to see the strongest warriors of the outside be thrashed by their Nobles. They were too proud of their Empire. For them, their Queen and the Nobles were avatars of gods, and they couldn't be defeated by anyone. It was just not possible.
So none of them even considered the possibility of a foreigner winning. They were sure that one of the Noble Lords was going to win.
Every year, many nobles took part. Some Noble Lords also took part for fun. And every year, it was a Noble Lord who won. In fact, it was only once that a person who wasn't a Noble Lord had won.
"Do you think another Noble Lord is going to win?"
"Of course. Noble Lords are superior to Nobles. They'll certainly win."
"Who knows. I remember when Lord Feronia had won. She wasn't a Noble Lord at that time. I wonder if we'll see something like that again."
"That was just one exception. It didn't happen after that. And I don't think that will happen again."
"Hahaha, I guess you're right. But I'm curious about the foreigners. They're said to be the strongest warriors outside. I wonder how they'll perform. Will they last until they get to face a Noble Lord or be defeated even before that?"
"Get to face a Noble Lord? Hahaha, nonsense! They'll be out in the first round! Just you watch!"
"Who knows man. I don't think we should underestimate them."
"Huh? Don't tell me you seriously think they can win the first round?"
"I don't know. I'm just saying that we shouldn't underestimate them. I'm sure that can't defeat a Noble Lord, but I'm not sure about Nobles. Many newly made Nobles take part too. Who knows, they might be able to defeat them by luck."
"Man, if you have such faith in foreigners, why don't you go and bet money on them in the stands?"
"Money in the stand? What do you mean?"
"Huh? Don't tell me you don't know about the betting? Have you been sleeping? There is now a betting stand for people to bet. There, they can bet on how far they think the foreigners can reach."
"If you bet money on them being able to pass the first round, you'll get ten coins for every one coin you bet. If you bet on them being able to pass the second round, you'll get a hundred coins for every one coin you bet."
"And if you bet on them being able to reach finals, you'll get a thousand coins per coin you bet!"
