Chapter 1781: The Conqueror’s Sword
Where the stage stood the previous day for debate, there was now an open field with some wooden posts creating a perimeter. A clear barrier had appeared around that perimeter, completely transparent and very obviously made using someone’s power.
When Ning and the rest appeared back to the location, with Shara ready for her battle, they quickly did their due diligence and learned about the barrier.
Thanks to the truth-revealing scroll, they quickly learned where the barrier had come from.
The barrier was formed with a very old treasure belonging to the conqueror himself. In the past, Emperor Volter used a sword with him that was said to be able to cut through reality itself.
The red-hilted blade was held by a companion of the prince who seemed to have been the person who had used it.
However, it was only a sword of legend. It was said to have been lost to time. Since the Emperor’s death, no other person had ever found the sword in the past 400 years.
And yet, it had somehow been brought out today and used so very casually.
"Where did you find the sword?" Matthew asked with narrowed eyes. As far as he knew, there was no such treasure in this palace. If they did, they would have long since used it in the war.
"Why should I tell you?" the prince asked.
Matthew frowned. Had the prince’s family stolen the treasure sometime in the past when they visited the palace? There had been 400 years since their family had separated, so it could be at any time in between.
But with such a treasure — if one were to believe the legends — the war should have ended at any time.
So, Matthew saw there being two possibilities.
First, the sword did not do what it said it did. Its application implied that it could cut through anything, but perhaps it could only create these separations in space.
Second, the prince hadn’t found the sword until recently. Perhaps, he had even only found it after coming to the palace.
Either one of those could be true, or none of those could be. Whatever the case, a stage had been prepared for the battle — a separate space — that could only be destroyed after some time or using that very sword.
As a result, any promises that had been made before suddenly held more power to it.
Shara stepped forward in her white shirt and brown leather armor, her boots coming up to her shin. A dagger lay flat against the side of her ankle, while the red and black spear remained in her hand.
Something hid against the side of her wrist as well as her neck.
She walked up to the edge of the barrier and looked inside. "How do I enter?"
The man with the sword made a simple cut along the side of the barrier, creating an opening for Shara to enter.
Shara walked toward it, stopping for a brief moment to stare toward the prince.
The prince looked surprised at such a glance. Her eyes carried pure hatred for some reason. She had changed quite a lot in just an hour.
’She must really want to be the Emperor,’ the prince thought.
Watching Shara walk into the space, the prince turned around toward the other two.
Jema walked up in tight red clothes, fitting against her curves. It didn’t have much protection from the look of it, but it allowed her a wide range of motions. She carried with her the whip on her waist, and a bracelet with a dangling red gem.
"Have you said your goodbyes to your loved ones?" the prince asked. "This will be the last time you see them."
Jema gave a small smile. "Oh, I forgot. I’ll just tell them that after I leave," she said. "I would tell you to do the same, but you’re too much of a dick to have anyone that loves you."
She flashed her smile wider and walked inside.
The prince didn’t react to her statement, simply turning around for the next person.
Oleander walked up in heavy plate armor, his steps resounding with each movement. The red mace he always carried now looked heavier than ever in his current outfit.
He stopped right before the prince. "Are you not entering?"
"After you," the prince said.
"No thanks. Your man has the sword and if you stay out here, we’ll be forced to fight on our own," Oleander said. "Enter and I will follow."
The prince snickered. "So cautious for no reason," he said. "Fine, I’ll enter before you. Tomar, keep the space sealed until only one of us survives."
The man with the red sword nodded. Even if he didn’t, he would have no choice but to do so. After all, there were hundreds of people around him that would have their eyes on him at every moment.
And most of them were not on his side.
The sword alone would cause many to greed over it, let alone its worth at the moment.
The prince walked in first, with his thin blue sword on his hilt, and the wavy silver helmet on his head that he never took off.
Oleander followed behind him and entered the barrier as well.
The split space healed itself a moment later and the man with the red sword stepped back from there, in full view of everyone else.
Ning and Matthew kept their attention on the man just in case he attempted to do something out of the ordinary.
Inside the split space, the four walked to four separate corners of the space, each waiting for the other to start.
Shara held her spear out ready to fight. It was going to be a physical battle clearly since powers didn’t affect a Reaper. All she had to do was use all of Ning’s training and—
A figure appeared right next to her suddenly and touched her. Shara had been on guard, but this was still ridiculously fast.
She attempted to attack the person, but when she tried to, she realized something.
She couldn’t move.