A month had passed since William had started climbing the tower of Babylon. He and Chiffon had faced many challenges along the way. Sometimes, they faced strong opposition from the ruling families on each floor, because of what they did to their “allies” on the previous floors they had visited.
While the two dealt with these troublesome situations, the world outside the Tower of Babylon was bubbling with excitement. Several prodigies from the Central Continent, and beyond its borders, had all congregated in the Kraetor Empire.
After many days of preparation, the Tournament of Champions was about to begin.
“A good day to all of you,” Emperor Leonidas said with a smile. His voice spread across the arenas where the prodigies of the different Empires, Kingdoms, Sects, and influential families had gathered.
“On this glorious day, the fight for the title of the Strongest Prodigy among the young generation is about to begin,” Emperor Leonidas scanned the surroundings with a confident expression on his face. “All of you that are standing here today, are not only fighting for your honor, but for the honor of your homeland.
“I will not bore you with a long winded speech, because I know that all of you are eager to start the competition. So, without further delay, I hereby announce the start of the Tournament of Champions! Goodluck to each and everyone of you!”
Resounding cheers echoed across the hundreds of arenas where the participants stood in preparation for their upcoming battles.
The total number of participants that gathered for the tournament was a whopping 428,069. All the leaders of the various powers agreed that the first stage of the tournament would be a royal rumble.
Among these participants only a few thousands would remain on the first day. The Kraetor Empire had prepared two hundred arenas. In each arena, two thousand one hundred and forty-ish fighters would duke it out, until only ten were left standing.
This was a brutal elimination round that had been agreed on by all parties. The fighters were asked to draw lots that would designate them to their respective arenas. If they got lucky, they would be among the ten fighters that would proceed to the next qualifying round of the tournament.
When the day was over, only two thousand warriors would remain.
Princess Sidonie and Ian sat in the VIP box that was designated for the Royal Family of the Kraetor Empire. Sitting not far from them was Princess Vanessa and her twin brother, Prince Rainier.
The two other Princesses of the empire, Princess Hannah, and Princess Amanda were in the next room, along with their servants and entourage.
The other Princes namely, Prince Maximilian, Prince Darren, Prince Kevin, and Prince Jason, were participating in the tournament. As the hosts, and members of the Royal Family, they had the obligation to show the other Empires that the Kraetor Bloodline didn’t shy away from battle.
Originally, Princess Sidonie didn’t want to watch the tournament, but since she had nothing else to do, she decided to look for talented individuals that could possibly serve as her retainers.
The Princess who had been recognized as the most beautiful not only in the Southern Continent, but in the Kraetor Empire as well, had gained many admirers from the nobility, as well as the common people.
If it were the Princess Sidonie of the past, she would not bat an eye, and turn these admirers into her servants. However, after becoming William’s lover, her purpose of finding her beloved had now been fulfilled.
Now, her interest lay on finding candidates that would serve as her eyes and ears in the Central Continent. Princess Sidonie had thought long and hard on how she could support William in the Central Continent.
Since she had already had the experience in managing the underworld of her homeland, the Kingdom of Freesia, the beautiful princess decided to create a spy network that would extend to every corner of the world.
That way, she would be able to gather important information that she could analyze in order to understand the geopolitical structure of the new battleground, where she intended to become the Dark Empress that moved the strings from the shadows.
Princess Sidonie was looking lazily at the names of the prodigies from each faction, when she came across a familiar face in the records.
“Ian, do you remember this person?” Princess Sidonie asked as she pointed at the name and picture of a delicate looking teenage boy with silver-gray hair and blue eyes.
“Kenneth Xin Ashleigh,” Ian’s eyes widened when she saw the familiar name, and face of William’s ex-roommate back in the Hellan Royal Academy.
“It says here that he is a representative of the Silvermoon Continent,” Princess Sidonie pointed at Kenneth’s affiliation, which put a frown on her beautiful face. “Is Will aware of his background?”
Ashe shook her head. “I don’t know. However, Will and Kenneth were pretty close when they were still in the Hellan Royal Academy. He was one of William’s most trusted officers.”
The mermaid could still remember how William interacted with Kenneth several years ago. With a glance, one could tell that they had a good relationship with each other.
But, when the Continental Spell descended on the Southern Continent, and Chaos engulfed the Hellan Kingdom, Kenneth disappeared without a trace.
William had tried to look for him on several occasions, but his search came out empty.
The two girls exchanged a glance, before tweaking the settings of the projection crystal beside them.
Soon, the image of the 77th Arena came to view. It was the arena where Kenneth had been assigned. It didn’t take long before they found the person they were looking for.
In the Southwest Corner of the arena, there stood a silver-haired teenage boy with delicate features. Although several years had passed, it was impossible for Ian to not recognize William’s roommate, whom the boy took wherever he went.
‘Just who are you?’ Ian thought as she narrowed her gaze. ‘Did you betray William back then? Did you betray us? Are you a spy of the Silvermoon Continent?’
Several questions appeared inside Ian’s head, but she had no way of knowing the answer. Right now, she stared at Kenneth as if she was trying to read his every move.
Princess Sidone was someone that was good at reading the body language of people. Just by looking at Kenneth’s stance, she could tell that the silver-gray haired teenager wasn’t a push over.
“Let’s go and talk to him later,” Princess Sidonie proposed.
Ian nodded her head in agreement. If her hunch was true, and Kenneth had really been a spy of the Silvermoon Continent then it only meant one thing.
‘He was targeting William right at the very start,’ Ian thought as she clenched her fist. The thought of her lover being spied on by others left a bitter taste in Ian’s mouth. If possible, she wanted to drag Kenneth out of the arena and interrogate him for answers.
However, now was not the time. The silver-gray haired boy was one of the representatives of the Silvermoon Continent, and causing trouble for him could turn into a diplomatic protest.
Even so, both girls would stop at nothing until they got their answers. They couldn’t allow an existence that threatened their beloved to remain alive. Even if he used to be one of William’s close friends.
