Soul Art Online
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 23: Tournament- 3
- Arthas -
I looked at the group gathered in front of me.
I was the only one who had qualified for the Semi Finals from the Knight's Academy.
The last representative of the Magic Tower was eliminated in the previous round in a very close match against an unrepresented guy. Tyrone was a Mad Brawler, an advanced Class of Brawler. They were basically hand to hand combatants who were high on attack and defence and yet this guy was quite good at what he did.
They even had a Skill called Outrage which significantly increased their physical attributes, removed any debuffs on them as well as made them resistant to any physical debuffs at the cost of their mental attributes getting reduced.
Apart from this, this particular guy had learned another skill which was the reason for the defeat of the Magic Knight.
This Skill was called the Injured Beast. It was a Skill which increased the physical attributes of the user by a certain percentage the more negative status effects they had on themselves.
It was a very bad matchup against a Magic Knight who always took advantage of this thing and the Mad Brawler guy was not stupid. He didn't reveal this skill in any of the matches and even allowed the Magic Knight to apply more status effects on him and then directly used Injured Beast followed by Outrage.
The increase in attributes was enough to make his stats through the roof, rivalling those of veteran T6 people. Safe to say the Magic Knight didn't handle it well… he was shot across the stage and was half embedded in a wall… and the Mad Brawler won the match.
The third guy to qualify was a Templar named Doug. Nothing to be said about him. He was the textbook definition of a Knight in a Shining Armour… quite literally. That silver armour of his shined so bright when he used any Holy or Light based Skill that it was hard to even look at him. This made fighting him extremely hard.
This guy had used his equipment masterfully and while some might say it was not honourable or something like that. The armour's effect was actually something which caused damage to the Undead and Dark creatures and something many Templars used during raids. That was not to say he was weak or anything.
As said earlier, the guy himself was a total Knight in a shining armour. His fighting style was almost perfect without any flaws and comparable to Lord Knights. In fact, from what I had heard about him, he had qualified for both Lord Knight and Templar and he chose to become a Templar instead. It showed as he won against another Lord Knight from the Knight's Academy in a fair fight.
The last guy was the guy from the Order of the Black Hand, the same guy Arnold had warned me about. He fought against a Templar from the Church. It was a very surprising match as the guy was supposed to win but lost in the last moments. Perhaps the reason why I felt it was strange was because the entire time I had a feeling that the guy was holding back for one reason or the other.
My next match was against the Mad Brawler guy which Doug was going to fight against the Black Hand guy.
And that's why so many people were here.
"You must win the next match, Arthas."
"Knight's Academy's victory depends on you, Arthas."
The knights from the academy surrounded me after the match.
"Alright everyone. Give the man a break. He needs rest and recuperation to face the next opponent with all his strength." My salvation came in the form of Arnold who separated the group and told them to disperse.
"Arnold." I let out a mental sigh of relief as I saw him.
"That was a wonderful performance, Arthas. The audience is going wild out there in your matches."
"Are they? I took a lot of time to complete the fights compared to other players." I replied, not really falling for his words.
"Hahahaha I am not talking about the civilians. The ones I am talking about are the other warriors as well as other organisations. While other people were fighting to win with all their strengths, you fought them, made them use all their moves and then defeated them with brutal strength and efficiency utterly defeating them. Your performance was inspiring for the young knights in the Academy as it showed them exactly what to expect from a Lord Knight's Path and how strong they can be as long as they worked hard on their paths." He explained. "I am pretty sure you will be getting visits from many higher ups to recruit you after this match."
We talked about a few more things and had lunch and I took a break.
Soon enough, it was time for me to go back for the match and I needed to be checked to see if I wasn't using any illegal drugs before the match.
With all the tests done, I was ready for the next fight and I could hear the announcer call out the names.
"And now… we have the first round of the semi-finals…, the man who has very quickly become a well known face in these games, the man who has crushed every opponent so far with his bare fists…. Tyrone, the Mad Beast!"
The audience cheered loudly at the name.
"And against him… we have the Ace of the Knight's Academy, the lowest level player in the tournament and yet the biggest dark horse, the man whose shield is an impregnable wall and sword is an unstoppable force, the man who has broken every record in the tournament… Arthas, the Undefeated."
…undefeated… isn't that guy raising flags here?
I shook my head and stepped forward, through the tunnel and towards the stadium. Just before I was about to enter however, the guard who stood at the entrance of the tunnel told me something and my eyes widened.
Fucking flags…
- Kuroka -
She quietly followed the npc who had suddenly kidnapped the white haired girl from a distance.
Since when did NPCs kidnap other players?
But then again, the NPCs did try to kill her and even organised traps to lure her in specifically, so thinking of this world as a game world… or at least a normal game world wasn't something that worked.
Still, this was probably the first time she had seen something like this happening.
Gasper returned back to the Blacksmith he was apprenticing under among the audience. He wasn't good in a fight or any such situation so she asked him to keep a distance lest he get caught in this mess too.
The npc had taken the girl to a nearby room, probably to avoid the crowd and security around the place. She watched from a high enough distance from a vantage point where she could see everything inside the room.
It was a small room with three people inside.
A quick look told her about the three people.
There were two T4's and one T5, the npc who brought the girl there being the T5 member. It also explained how he could so quickly subdue the girl.
She leaned against the wall and used one of the Thief Skills to listen in to their talks.
"Who is she? Why bring her here?" One of them asked.
"There were complications in the plan. This girl turned out to be a slave so I had to separate her. Who knows if they can track the slaves with their Slave Mark." The man replied. "Anyways, just keep her here till the work is done. We already have another woman with us. Lock the room. By the time she wakes up, our work will be done either way."
"Why don't we just kill her and be done with it?" Another one asked.
"No. The deaths of the slaves can be found out by their masters. We don't know who the master of this girl is. If it's the guy himself or the woman we captured then it won't matter but if someone else is notified, they might raise an alarm and things could go awry. It's better not to take any chances. Either way, they don't know our real faces or even who or what we are after and neither will they ever be able to connect us to anyone either. The man he is going to lose against isn't ours after all. Our work will be done in an hour. Let's go."
The two nodded and followed the man after a while.
Kuroka silently listened to their words and suddenly understood what was happening here. These bastards had kidnapped the girl to blackmail Arthas to throw the match.
Damn… npcs are pulling these kinds of stunts too?
She waited quietly for a while for them to leave. Once that was done, she quietly entered the building through the window and checked on the girl.
The girl was still under a Status effect.
Wasn't attacking a player in a safe zone supposed to be impossibl… oh… and that's when she realised that the current place wasn't exactly a safe zone.
The stadium was built outside the main city. That's why the entire place was a danger zone for players… and they could be attacked.
She quickly brought out antidotes for the Sleep effect and fed the girl… however while she was doing that, the door to the room opened with a bang.
On the other side stood the three men, the same npcs who had been in the room a while ago. This time however their faces were covered with masks.
"I told you I could feel someone staring at us and this was the best way to bring the rats out from their hiding places… now, how should we take care of this little rat…?
Kuroka quickly drew her weapon and took on a defensive stance.
Dammit… she was sensed…
Tch… the lowered stats were a pain in the ass to handle…
There was no way she could fight all three of these people, especially with a T5 among them…
Kuroka looked around to look for any way out.
Suddenly there was a sound and the girl behind her woke up, the potion acting.
Kuroka, thinking on her feet, directly used her feet to kick the girl and awakened her.
To her surprise, the girl jumped into a defensive stance very quickly. Almost at the same time, the assassins attacked.
Kuroka threw a pepper bomb towards them, to interrupt them.
One of them dodged while the other guy actually cut the pouch, scattering the contents into the air, making them pause for a moment.
She closed her eyes and moved to the side quickly and shouted at the other girl. "Make as much noise as you can. These people are hiding. We need to attract the attention of others."
There was no way even the two of them would stand a chance.
As expected the T5 easily blew the pepper bomb's contents to the side with a single swing of his dagger. "That plan is quite good… unfortunately it is not going to work." The T5 npc said. "Fifteen meters radius around this room is under the effect of my Item. For the next fifteen minutes, no one will be able to hear you and no communication skills will work either… and I won't need a total of fifteen minutes to finish this fight. You two cannot leave this room… so why don't you two be good little girls and give up quietly." The other two took this chance to attack them.
Kuroka defended against one of them while trying to keep an eye on the T5. That still left the last one but to her surprise, the other assassin was actually blown away.
She looked from the corner of her eyes and saw the girl was now donning full armour and had a spear drawn as she stood in a fighting stance.
The npc who was blown away, made two somersaults in the air and landed on his feet in a defensive stance with his dagger in front of him.
"Fifteen meters right… that means, we just need to make a lot of noise outside the fifteen metres radius, right?" The white haired girl spoke with a cold tone.
Kuroka blinked for a moment and then a cat-like smile came on her face.
"Great Plan."
- Veena -
She watched as Sir Ralph called his people and got the man in custody.
"Keep him bound and unless I personally come here, don't release him… I repeat again, don't release him no matter who comes. Don't let anyone enter the room and don't let anyone meet him. Do you understand that?" He questioned but it was more of an order.
The Knights on the receiving end of the order nodded like little chickens eating grains. "Yes Sir." They captured the man and locked him inside an empty room and locked themselves in.
"Don't worry, Miss Veena. I will make sure to get to the bottom of this matter. To dare attack someone under the watch of the Knights of Greenfrost. It seems people have been underestimating us too much." Sir Ralph said through gritted teeth.
"Sir… my companion… Rose… she was taken away. I cannot contact her. She could be in danger. Please, we need to save her." she requested.
"What! Where did you last see her? In fact, what exactly happened? Explain as we go there." He asked.
She nodded and quickly ran to the place where she had seen Rose the last time. Sir Ralph followed her while she explained the situation to him.
"This is where the other person took her away and I last saw her around fifteen minutes ago."
"Fifteen minutes. That's… I see. I will immediately organise a search party for her. Do you have any ideas why someone would do this? Any enemies? Someone you doubt? Anything could be helpful." He asked while calling for the other members of the Knight's Academy.
"We don't exactly know many people in the town… and the ones we know are all friends. We haven't had much contact with others except those related to the Knight's Academy." She listed out.
"Then why would someone do this?" Sir Ralph asked, looking in thought himself.
Out of nowhere she got a message on the guild chat.
"Veena, Rose? Are you two alright?"
It was Arthas' message.
Did he see the message on the Guild Chat?
No, he should be entering… the match right about now… and suddenly everything clicked together.
So it was that… they were targeting him.
"Veena? Rose?" He asked again.
"I am fine, Arthas. Rose is… I will find her. What happened on your side?" She asked quickly to understand the situation and verify her doubts.
"Some guy at the entrance of the tunnel told me to lose the match against the Mad Brawler or my companions will face the consequences. Are you two alright?" He asked.
"Is something the matter?" Sir Ralph asked.
"Someone just threatened Arthas to throw the match or we would face the consequences." She replied.
"What! Who?!" The man almost roared.
"It was someone at the entrance of the tunnel where Arthas entered from." She replied. The man immediately ordered a group of Knights to capture the one at the entrance quickly.
"Miss Veena. Tell Arthas to hold on. I will find the girl in the next half an hour, even if I have to tear this damn stadium down to the ground. She will not be hard to find, I give you this word on behalf of all Knights of Greenfrost."
She nodded.
"Veena?"
"...you concentrate on the match. Fight and hold that guy for as long as you can. Just hold on." She replied quickly.
Sir Ralph quickly ordered the Knights on what to do. He then took out his badge and passed it onto one of the Knights. "Take this and gather every single free member of the Knight's Academy and organise a search party for the girl and let one group go and take the person guarding the tunnel which Knight Arthas passed through for investigation."
The Knight quickly nodded and ran while the rest spread out and began the search for Rose in the nearby areas.
Meanwhile Sir Ralph himself guided her towards the VIP Rooms and directly knocked on the door before opening it and entering.
Several people there looked in their direction but Sir Ralph took the lead and directly went to the man sitting at the head of the group, the former Marquis of Greenfrost.
"My Lord, around fifteen minutes ago, I encountered an attempted kidnapping in this very building."
The man to his credit didn't show much expression and just frowned and said only one word. "Explain."
Sir Ralph explained the circumstance quickly. "...and it is reported that the person guarding the tunnel threatened Knight Arthas to lose this match or the lives of his companions would not be guaranteed."
The Marquis' frown deepened while several other people were downright outraged.
"What audacity! Who do these people think they are?"
"Old Ralph, where is the guy who attempted the kidnapping?Let's break the information out of him."
Veena kept quiet and listened to their talks while taking a look out of the balcony towards the stage… the match between the Brawler and Arthas was continuing.
Arthas was holding back the heavy assault of the man almost double his size, continuously holding back and not being able to give it his all.
The Marquis raised a hand and the entire room was silenced.
"Mobilise the security teams you trust. Search every bit of the stadium."
"Yes Sir."
As they were going to leave, someone spoke again.
"Father… are you sure this is a good decision?" The one who had interfered was a man with slicked back black hair and sharp eyes.
The people in the place stopped and looked at the man who continued. "We don't even know everything about this matter. There are so many inconsistencies in their words. First of all, she said that she and the other girl were separated. Why would they do that if they wanted to take both of them captives?"
"The other girl carried a slave mark." Sir Ralph replied.
"So, you are telling me that all this mess, dispatching the heads of the top most organisation of Greenfrost… everything, all for a slave? I find it hard to believe that someone would throw a match away for a slave. And how did you even know about the person in the tunnel entrance threatening Knight Arthas when you are here?" He asked, turning towards her.
"Our guild has an ability to communicate with their members through any distance as long as they are conscious. If you want, you can verify this at any time." She started making the other side quiet. "As for the matter of a slave, Rose was originally our companion. She and several other girls were captured by pirates after the town where they lived was attacked. It was only through coincidence that we encountered them when their group was being sold at Sabaody Archipelago. It was at a great price that Arthas was able to buy her back."
"Hmph, just a slave. What great price could it take?" The man snorted and Veena looked at him with a blank look.
"A Logia Type Devil Fruit. Arthas exchanged a Logia Type Devil Fruit to buy Rose and the group of nine girls with her."
"What?!"
Hmm, as expected the name of a Logia type Devil Fruit shook the whole room. Even Sir Ralph was looking at her in awe so she continued.
"If you doubt this, you can easily verify all this by simply asking around. Arthas is not the type of man who would give up on a companion no matter who. Damon Artwick, a Mafia Boss tried to interfere in his acquisition of Rose and Arthas took down the man's entire empire in a matter of hours. He is still serving as a gatekeeper of the Fairy Tail Guild as a slave. Will this much information be enough for you to proceed?" She asked.
The man's eyes widened slightly and then he narrowed his eyes. "Is that a threat?" He said in a low voice.
"It is… for the ones who are involved in the kidnapping." She replied in an even tone.
A look of anger passed by his face but before the matter could escalate any more, the Marquis slammed his hand on the armrest of the chair.
"Enough. Be quiet." He ordered and then looked at her. "You said you can communicate with the members of your Guild, right?"
She nodded.
"Prove it. Tell the boy to swing his sword in a great circle three times right now." He ordered her.
She nodded and communicated with Arthas. "Trust me. Swing your sword in a great circle three times. Quickly."
"What?"
"Swing your sword in a great circle three times." She urged.
They looked at the stage and Arthas parried a blow from his opponent and made a distance and quickly raised his sword, swinging it in a great circle three times.
"Was that enough?" He asked through the chat.
She looked at the Marquis.
"Search for the girl. Ralph, take Gerald, Conrad and Rowan with you and dispatch every single person available. Search for the girl. Surround the stadium. Let no one leave or enter until the girl is found."
It was then that the other man sitting beside the Marquis, Uther the Lightbringer if she remembered the name correctly, spoke for the first time.
Was it based on Uther Pendragon from their world?
Veena could feel that the man was strong. Obviously she couldn't see his level or skills. She didn't have any such appraisal type of skills yet.
It was just a feeling… The man… he gave her a feeling similar to some of the exceptionally strong Ultimate Class beings she had fought during the war. She wasn't sure if she could fight someone at his level even if she were to regain all her power… at least not without significant harm.
She had only heard of one exorcist in the Vatican who had this kind of strength and that was Vasco Strada… then again, from the feeling she was getting, perhaps this man was someone beyond even that… comparable to the first Arthur Pendragon himself…
He looked at a figure in the corner of the room and spoke. "Accompany them. Every bit of help might make a difference between life and death."
The figure nodded and then left the room.
Uther looked at her and smiled. "Please take a seat my Lady. Don't worry. Your companion will be safe."
She gave him a slight bow and took a seat and all of them looked at the fight on the stage. Arthas was still holding the Mad Brawler on the bay but he was suffering damage due to continuously being in defense.
She just hoped Rose was found quickly.
- Rose -
She defended against an attack and used a skill to push back the enemy.
While the assassins had lower strength than Warriors, she was currently lower level than them which made the difference in level become negligible.
They will have to think of something else or the T5 can take them down with one speak attack.
Rose thought of an idea and spoke. "I have a plan."
"Can it work?"
"Yes. But I will need time." She replied.
"Won't be easy." The other girl replied as she parried an attack and Rose took his chance to try and attack only to barely defend against another attack from the side.
The only reason they were able to hold the three was due to the narrow room which made it hard for them to get behind… but it was also something which restricted her spear, not giving her enough room to swing and reducing her to just thrust.
There was also the fact that the T5 man was powering whatever item he was using and not taking any initiative to attack.
The bad thing however was the fact that the other girl was even lower leveled than her.
Quickly thinking of something, Rose used the Stored Power Skill and started biding for time.
The Stored Power Skill increased the attack power the longer the user was in battle by up to 500%. This Skill could allow the user to launch an attack which would look normal but have much stronger power behind it, taking the enemy off balance. The best part of this skill was that although it took time to charge, it could also be used with other Skills.
She waited for the time to charge the Skill and then used another Skill, Intimidating Roar, the Skill of the tiger boss they had killed.
As expected the assassins were slowed momentarily.
She took the opportunity to use Heavy Thrust, one of her strongest hitting Skills with the Stored Power combined but instead of targeting the enemy, she turned around and thrust at the wall behind them, blasting the wall to smithereens…
Everyone there was shocked at her action but the other girl understood what she had done and quickly followed behind her, jumping out of the building.
They had confined them inside the building but was there a rule against destroying buildings anywhere?
Not that Rose cared with her life on the line.
When the three assassins came to their senses, the T5 Assassin crushed the item in his hand and growled before drawing his knife and jumping towards them.
His speed was extremely fast, the difference in levels too vast for them to make up with just skills there, he swung his dagger towards her… before his body was blown away by a blast of light, crashing into a nearby wall and getting embedded into it.
She took a look at the person who had arrived and he looked like a Knight with a mask who had swung the Sword. The man almost disappeared from his place and appeared before the other two assassins, subduing them with two slashes… too fast.
That was too fast.
He was faster than even Arthas… a T6.
It was a T6.
The other two assassins also understood this and tried to run away but to no avail. He almost disappeared from his place and appeared before the two assassins, knocking them out.
…at this point, Rose had only one thought… was this a cinematic part of the game?
Very soon several other knights also came there while the man in the mask came towards her.
"You have a method of contacting your Guild Members, right?" He asked.
Rose nodded with some hesitation.
"Tell Arthas that you are safe." He ordered.
It took her a moment to understand what was going on and she quickly checked the guild chats in their private group and sure enough, there were so many messages.
Not delaying for another second, she quickly sent the message.
"Arthas, I am safe now."
With that done, she finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the girl who had helped her.
"Thank you for helping me. I don't know what I would do without your help today." She bowed deeply and thanked the girl.
"It's no problem. I was actually shocked to see an npc do such a thing…"
Rose winced at the words. "Trust me, the npcs of this game can do far… far worse things. You would do well to treat this place as the real world."
"Oh… I sense a story there."
"It's an unpleasant memory. Anyways, I didn't catch your name. What is your name?" She asked.
"My name is… Kurumi. It's nice to meet you." She bowed.
"Thank you, Kurumi. Would you like to come with me? You can meet my friends if you are alone. I am sure they would love to meet you." In fact, from what Rose had seen, the girl had decent skills as she was keeping up with enemies far above her level with just her fighting ability.
"It's… I would love to but I am with my younger brother and I have been gone for a while now. He must be worried. Actually you know what, we are staying at this Blacksmith's place in the outer city. You can come and meet us there." The girl gave her a piece of paper with the instructions to reach the place.
"Thank you. I will make sure to visit you tomorrow." Rose said with a determined expression on her face.
- Veena -
The VIP room was silent, the tension not having dissipated yet, no one was actually relaxed though.
No, to say no one was relaxed would be a lie.
At least, the two Paladins sitting beside her were quite relaxed.
Time passed and Arthas was slowly falling more and more on the backfoot due to the continuous attacks from the opponent, his HP slowly dropping and reaching the yellow zone already.
The first third of the bar was green, the second third was yellow and the last was red. Matches were decided when someone's HP fell in the red.
"Do you believe he can still win? He is twenty one levels lower than the other party, half the age, has half his health down… with all this, do you still believe that he has a chance to win?" Uther asked as Arthas' health fell below half.
"As long as Rose is found in time, Arthas will win." She replied politely. After all, she knew the Skills Arthas truly possessed. In the whole tournament, all he had done was train his selected skills. This also meant, he hasn't used any of his usual skills in this fight.
"Hahahaha, that's confidence. I have seen all of his matches and only he has truly understood the goal of these competitions. These competitions were started to encourage the youth of our Kingdom to push themselves beyond to hone their skills… yet, all it has turned into today… is this race to win." He sighed. "I am not saying this is wrong. After all, a competition is nothing without the spirit of competition. But Arthas… this young man has been honing his skills even now. In the middle of a battle, with so much name and fame at stake, he is single mindedly pursuing perfection in his skills… such a talent is admirable. The Knight's Academy has truly unearthed a gem. Do you know him?" He asked, turning towards the previous Marquis.
"He is from Llyne, a Knight under Arnold Straight. He and his team fought and repelled an army of several thousand Goblins with barely twenty Knights and Mages and even killed one of their Chieftains. Conrad rewarded him with the Rank of a Baron and a territory in Greenfrost."
"...several thousand goblins with twenty?" The man was taken aback and looked at her with an astonished look.
"Conrad verified the news several times because he doubted the information too. It was all true." The Old Marquis replied, not removing his eyes from the match.
"We had a day to prepare." She added.
…
"Hahahaha how interesting. Now, I really want the girl to be found soon." He laughed. "After all, I don't think many people would have such talent and still have enough moral integrity to give up a Logia Devil Fruit for the sake of a friend. Seeing such a man lose… due to such vile ploys… would be disheartening." He added as he threw a look around the room, his eyes however had a sharp look, very contrary to his words.
Just at that moment, Veena saw a message on the guild chat.
"Arthas, I am safe now."
It was from Rose.
She got up from her seat as the two old Paladins looked at her.
"Rose has been found."
And sure enough, the scene on the stage changed as well.
In the next second, Arthas parried another punch from the Mad Brawler and pushed him back, sending him stumbling back several steps from the force of the blow.
He then raised his sword and a ray of light fell down from the skies lighting him up and his HP went back to the green zone again.
The entire stadium was silenced. It was so silent that they could even hear his words…
"Playtime's Over."
"But that's…" Even Uther who was sitting calmly beside her was stunned into silence. "That's Holy Ray… a Paladin's Skill."
"Yes, yes it is."
"Isn't he a member of the Knight's Academy?"
"He learned it himself from a Skill Book." She replied.
They watched as the match continued.
His sword took on a blackish colour and then electricity crackled on it. Last but not the least, a whitish hue covered his whole body.
A new Skill?
The next moment, his figure flashed, reaching the Mad Brawler in an instant and slashing upwards. Tyrone defended using his Gauntlets but his defense was broken almost instantly as a slash appeared on his chest.
The rest of the match was Arthas utterly dominating the opponent. In between the guy had even been paralysed and used his 'Injured Beast' Skill, yet it wasn't enough to make up for the gap.
"Hmm, is that the Ki Skill of the Monks?" The former Marquis asked.
She looked closer and it did look similar to the Touki used by Youkai.
That would also explain the extra boost in his stats this time.
In less than a minute, the Mad Brawler had his health in the red.
The referee stopped the match quickly.
"Winner Arthas!"
The crowd erupted into cheers.
Arthas walked off of the stage and only then the silence in the room was broken.
"Wonderful. It was a truly wonderful fight. Arthas is one of the most talented Knights I have seen in my life. He is already at the Level of a Holy Knight and Grand Knight right now. I have no doubt that he would absolutely reach the Ranks of a Paladin or Imperial Knight if he kept this progress of his." Uther praised.
"Indeed. Turning a match from that point… and like that… I don't think I could do the same at his level. He is worth investing in." The former Marquis nodded too.
The third person to speak was the most surprising one. It was the same man who had questioned her claims.
He got up from his seat and looked at her.
"It seems that you were truly speaking the truth. This time it was my mistake. I apologise." He looked at the person behind him. "Send one million gold coins to Knight Arthas as a token of apology from the Marquis' mansion." He ordered and then bowed towards the two Paladins before leaving the room.
She gave a polite bow as thanks for the reward.
The door to the room opened after a few more minutes and Sir Ralph entered with some more people, one of them being Rose.
Veena quickly checked on her but thankfully Rose was fine.
The Knights explained the situation to the two Paladins.
"We questioned the other girl too. She is a new resident of Greenfrost and saw the man knocking down Rose and followed her, getting a chance to interrupt them."
She looked at Rose who nodded. "She was a player too."
Oh… there were other players in the town.
"Where is she? I need to thank her."
"Umm, she said that she had a little brother whom she had left alone. She left to meet him or he would be worried. She did tell me where she was staying so I can meet her tomorrow and thank her."
"Hmm, that sounds good." She nodded.
Rose had very good luck to survive these kinds of situations though… first Sabaody and now this… or did she have bad luck getting caught in these situations in the first place? It was very confusing.
She finally hugged the girl.
This whole fiasco was completely unexpected. Thankfully, Rose was made of sterner stuff. One didn't get to be the bodyguard of Odin with mediocre qualifications.
"I am glad that you are fine."
- Hector Black -
"Were all the men captured?" He asked.
"Most of them, Sir. The Vice Director of the Knight's Academy, Sir Ralph is overseeing the process himself so none of our men could get near them."
"Hmm."
Losing those men was never going to be a problem.
If anything, they were meant to be lost.
He had arranged for his subordinates in disguise to hire them from the Black Market. Even if they were caught, they couldn't give out any information… at least any true information as they were not informed about the whole thing plan was to take the companions of either the Knight or the Brawler and make one of them give up. Too bad that the Brawler didn't have any close companions here so it left only the Knight remaining.
If questioned, those people would point out the Brawler because that's what they knew as the one who hired them to do everything.
With his experience and knowledge of his father, Hector would never be foolish enough to use his own men or anyone from the Black Order for such a thing.
That would be an obvious way to get caught.
He knew and understood the strength of the Knights of Greenfrost more than anyone… especially since he has been so powerless himself. It had only made him research everything he could about them to overcome them and control them later.
The Knights would tear through the entirety of Greenfrost to find the culprits.
What he was aiming for wasn't the win in this competition. The win would just be a bonus. No. His real aim was always to cause a scandal right under the noses of the Knights of Greenfrost, in front of Uther the Lightbringer and maybe have the word reach His Majesty, the King or even the Prince to make them doubt the management skills of Conrad. After all, contrary to what his father believed, being a good Knight and being a good ruler were completely different things.
In fact, even if the plan had gone smoothly, he would have revealed the whole thing and gotten the Brawler kicked out, gaining a direct victory for his representative as well as sully the reputation of Conrad.
He never doubted the strength of the Black Hand's representative… although he wasn't expecting an outlier like that damned knight to come out of nowhere and destroy that part… or that musclehead Vice Director of the Knight's Academy would find the people and do such a thing.
The entire plan had failed.
Not only was there no scandal, Conrad had also helped resolve the whole incident flawlessly, proving his leadership.
Hector wasn't interested in the competition… or even the rule of the entire Greenfrost for that matter.
No… he just wanted to get back at his father and show him that he was wrong.
"What should we do, my Lord? Should we… get someone to take care of the Knight Arthas and his companions or spread rumours about him?" His subordinate asked.
He closed his eyes and thought for a while.
"Nothing… we do nothing for now. Everyone will be watching like hawks, trying to find any clues in the whole thing." He was pretty sure his father knew or at least had some idea about the whole thing but kept quiet as he didn't have any proof.
There was also the fact that the boy had the attention of his father and Lord Uther now. Targeting him in any way would be too risky. Not to mention, the boy's talent was something else.
If he were to make any such moves, his father would never miss a chance.
Also, with Uther's support, he might one day become a Paladin, someone rivalling his father's level of power. Gaining the enmity of such a person for such a small moment of satisfaction would be the height of foolishness.
"Have our men capture the ones who escaped the Knights and present them to the Knight's custody as well and then move away."
Right now, he could only hope for the Black Hand's representative to win the finals and gain him at least some margin of recognition for using him as a representative.
"Haaaahhhhhh! So annoying."
- Arthas -
I rushed towards the VIP Room as soon as the match ended. Arnold followed right behind me.
We found Veena and Rose quietly waiting outside the room.
I finally let out a sigh of relief as I saw them safe in front of me.
I gave Veena a light hug and then did the same to Rose.
The entire situation had scared me a bit and I would have thrown the match if not for Veena asking me to hold.
"What happened to you two?" I asked, after finally being relieved.
"Some people told us that Lord Arnold had called us and used it to separate us. Veena met Sir Ralph and found that the man was lying. He saved her. I was caught in a sneak attack by the person leading me and imprisoned in a room. Another player saw this and sneaked in to rescue me. We fought with them when the rescue came and saved us." Rose explained everything briefly.
"Player? Who?" There were other players in this town?
I was pretty sure there had to be at least two more towns between Llyne and Greenfrost. In a way, we just skipped the third and fourth town before reaching here due to the Noble title.
Was there someone else who reached here directly?
"Umm yes. She was with her brother so she left. I know where they are staying so we can meet up with them tomorrow."
"Good."
If there are such good players, especially someone who saved Rose's life… then I would obviously invite them to the Guild.
As we talked, Sir Ralph came out of the room and invited me in.
I nodded and followed him. Arnold did as well.
Right now, although both Arnold and I have the same rank of nobility, I am a Knight of Llyne, technically under Arnold.
Inside the room were several people.
A simple scan showed that each of them were T6 and the two old men in the center were the real deals, Paladin.
Uther the Lightbringer and Daren Black, the former Marquis of Greenfrost.
I got down on one knee in a formal salutation position as I was taught back during the award ceremony.
"Get up." Daren Black asked and I did. "Your performance today was commendable. The incident with your companions today was caused due to the lack of security on our end, for that I apologise. Rest assured this will not happen again and you will be compensated accordingly."
"Thank you, My Lord."
"As for the ones responsible, they will be punished accordingly too. Mad Brawler Tyrone will be imprisoned for the next five years and will be barred from ever participating in any such competitions."
…
I hesitated at his words suddenly. It was, however, enough to be noticed by the two people in front of me.
"What is it?"
"I… pardon me for saying this but… I don't think Tyrone was the one who organised such a thing."
"Oh. What makes you say so?"
Now, how do I tell him about my Voice of All Things Skill?
It was the first time it had activated during the fight and it happened when I was thinking about how Tyrone had done all this.
The Skill itself was almost like an instinct right now but it was enough to know that Tyrone… was not aware of any such thing. If anything, the man was a completely pure and dedicated fighter who was actually a really great man.
"When I fought him… I… didn't feel like he was the sort of person who would do such a thing. Perhaps it is just my instinct but it has never steered me in any wrong directions yet." After all, it was the first time the Skill was activated.
"So you want to let him go… based on your instinct?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
… as if I would do that.
"My apologies for my imprudence Sir. I just want the entire thing to be investigated before any sentence is carried out. If a warrior like him were to get punished without a fault of his own, I would never be able to forgive myself." And the real culprit would get away.
I was more doubtful of the Black Hand guys.
Those bastards had obviously pulled a masterstroke here.
Even if the whole matter was discovered, the doubt would go on Tyrone and not them for this… and if Tyrone was removed, their player could directly win the whole game without even fighting in the finals. It was a perfect plan.
The two old men looked at each other and then shared a look before turning towards me.
"As your compensation we were about to reward you with a chance to become a Paladin and be directly taught by Lord Uther. Your strength makes you qualified. But if you want… you can bet it for Mad Brawler Tyrone's freedom. If you are correct then you keep the chance. If you are wrong and Tyrone is guilty, you lose the chance of becoming a Paladin. After all, a Paladin holds a significant amount of power in his hands. Any wrong decision on their part can cause heavy damage to the Kingdom. What do you say?"
…what the fuck?
Is this a test?
It was totally a test.
It couldn't be anything other than a test.
This was so fucking obvious.
As for becoming a Paladin? Nope, I am more interested in the Grand Knight route to become an Imperial Knight than a Paladin. If it had been something like T6 or T7 equipment or Skill Books, I would have hesitated… now however…
"I would like to bet on Tyrone's innocence, Sir." I replied unflinchingly.
…
"Are you sure? A chance to become a Paladin, that too under Lord Uther is one people would kill for." Daren Black asked with a serious face.
"I don't think someone like Lord Uther would ever accept such a person as his student. If I were to become his student at the cost of an innocent man's life and honour, I would not only dishonour him but also the Knight's Academy and this Kingdom. I am sure, Sir."
…
Uther looked at a masked man in the corner of the room who was silently waiting all this time. "What do you think about this?"
Rose had said that it was him who had saved her in the end.
"I think Knight Arthas is indeed a true knight of our kingdom and is qualified for it."
"Good, in that case go ahead." Uther nodded.
The man removed his mask to reveal his face as well as hair.
Blonde hair and blue eyes stared at me as the man looked at me with a smile.
"Knight Arthas. You have proven your integrity and strength with your actions. Not being tempted by power or wealth, you have stood by justice in your heart. Such a quality is something our Kingdom desperately needs. So I, Arthas Menethil, as the prince of the kingdom, reward you with the Lordship of the town of Alverton. Do you accept it?" He smiled.
…
…
…
…huh?
x_x_
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Beta Note: The advance chapters are in order of what is updated, a first Tier will not get 2 advanced chapters for every story, only the next two to be released.
Beta Reader: LuluViBritania (FF.N, SB, WN and QQ)/-LuluViB99th Britannian Emperor(Discord)
Author's Note:
I am back with another chapter of 'Soul Art Online'
I had expected to get it done a day earlier but couldn't. Sorry for that.
Several things happened.
Rose and Kuroka tag teamed and survived.
Arthas won the semi-finals.
What happened in that fight, we will see in the next chapter.
Hector Black's plans were laid to rest due to some coincidences and encountering a freak like Arthas.
Enjoy the new chapter.
Good Day, Peace Out.