Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Silrat among millions of others could not have been more glad to find himself on a comfortable seat within the well guarded stadium. Even though he knew the partial truth behind this event, the former Association Branch Head was happier to be here than in the city where an endless streak of bizarre phenomena beyond his mental capacity continued to casually transpire.r

For now, he knew he was safe.r

...Until it was time to go back at least.r

The thought made him shiver.r

What had happened to Stylla...r

The look on Skullius' face...r

The advent of an Incandescent Stage expert who seemed to be doing his very best against... Silrat didn't even know that man and Skullius were fighting?!r

Speaking of another one the victims of what happened – other than himself – Silrat turned to his left, searching for Stylla's figure.r

Her seat was empty.r

As was Setkh's.r

The Supervising Overseer narrowed his eyes. Now that his mind wasn't rampaging, looking for unseen details to connect together for a larger picture, he could think clearly.r

'Is it possible to reject the transportation to the Venue for the Premium Age Royale?' he thought.r

Turning his head and looking up at where all the big wigs were seated, he was forced to frown.r

Everyone who was supposed to be there was there.r

Hmmm.r

When he had been taken away from the Bryne Family mansion by Skullius' Conforming Trickerteer, he had gotten a glimpse of the crisis currently ongoing within Genhuis and outside it. It had not been limited to the bizzaredom he had just seen before him after all.r

Something, or somethings had invaded the city or were in process of doing so, which meant that powerful combatants would be dealing with them.r

Yet, Alaris and Ruhrees were here, and on the latter's face, frustration was apparent.r

This told Silrat what he needed to know.r

Things hadn't been going well in Genhuis City and from the looks of it, the Paladin Champion he was looking at would have preferred to be back in Genhuis, fighting off the enemy.r

But he couldn't.r

The Control Seal couldn't be defied even by an Incandescent Stage expert.r

So... what was happening with Stylla and Setkh?r

The Supervising Overseer got a really bad feeling about this.r

Something wasn't right.r

*r

After the initial outpour of confused noise, the general vibe within the stadium seemed to calm down a bit. r

Unlike seasoned combatants, common folks' only stress and mental exercise had much to do with menial terrors and local drama, thus when it came to reacting to situations where the status quo was continuously shifting because of the supernatural elements, they were rather slow.r

That said, the amount of cheer within the air was not as palpable.r

In fact, this had started to become the general trend since the Second Round of Preliminaries. Of the 234 contenders participating, it was becoming clear who was relevant and who wasn't, leading to most battles becoming stale, even for common folk.r

The Mage who had surprised everyone in the first match of the entire event.r

The crazy woman who could turn things flat.r

The man with the eerie glaive.r

The man widely recognised as the strongest among the Family circles.r

And last but not least, the Sif princess who had already gotten her turn in the Second Round of Preliminaries as well.r

She hadn't gotten a chance to show off what she could because... well, her opponents simply refused to fight her for their own sakes. Who knew what would happen to them if they so much as tore a strand of her hair.r

For the common folk, the displays by these five were the most prominent, though in the eyes of the Families and the contenders, the list of worthy combatants was longer.r

Of course, the depletion of stimulation wasn't the only reason for the subdued excitement. r

The rumours about the Control Seal somehow killing people had spread as quickly as they had surfaced.r

The thousands of witnesses who had died within the last stretch of days, all of them said to have been in possession of a Control Seal on different parts of their bodies – mainly the arm – had caused quite a bit of an uproar.r

It was the main subject of discussion within taverns and inns, the gatherings of people among which it circulated brewing dark and twisted negativity that led to several unsavoury incidents.r

More than a few overly concerned witnesses had demanded the owners of the stalls that disseminated the Control Seals to have them removed from their bodies, but of course... this wasn't possible.r

Everyone knew the rules.r

Once you decide to participate as a witness, especially, you had to fulfill your role and WITNESS everything to the very end.r

The Capital Knights who usually looked out for these kinds of things – the position of the general public on certain topics, along with the trending bits of gossip and news – had caught onto this swiftly and reported to the Governor.r

This, among several other reasons had caused the meeting that was being held today on the subject of the Premium Age Royale's cancellation.r

All this said though...r

"Thank Quintess! I couldn't bear to keep standing still around other sheep as scared as I was for dear life!"r

"You said it. I thought I was the only one who thought things actually... weren't looking good for our Knights out there."r

"Well, we get a chance to relax but... will they really be okay? Things won't just change because most of Genhuis' population suddenly disappeared right?"r

"It could. The Capital Service should prioritise our lives over the infrastructure. Maybe now they can fight without worrying about the people, you know?"r

"Maybe..."r

The conversations going on among clustered groups was similar to this.r

Even though everyone was growing anxious about the Royale, for now, they were glad they had gotten a chance to escape the tension.r

Among these was Darwel who was panting heavily as she sat in her own space within the contenders' tent. r

Her body had returned to normal, even without the roots of the sunflower expending large amounts of pure mana to keep her body stably solid.r

'That was getting a little too uncomfortable,' she thought with a sheepish smile while wiggling her fingers and toes. 'This saved us a lot of trouble. Besides possibly dying, the hassle of having to deal with Viccil's projection of a Territory in such a place... would have been... Urgh. Is this how those two feel whenever I tell a joke?' r

Since she was here, Darwel was sure Viccil, Sevill and Festos were here too. The latter, hopefully safe.r

As for the person in question, he was deep in thought while paying little focus to the platform where a glass pane descended from a height, on it an enthusiastic Game Master oblivious to the crisis going on elsewhere.r

"Welcome my extravagant contenders and witnesses...!" Guissepo called with a big smile on his face.r

As his voice blasted throughout the stadium, the Hybrid Luman couldn't help but click his tongue.r

"Too many enemies all at once..." he murmured to himself.r

"Which enemies would you be referring to?" a voice interrupted the rugged flow of his thoughts, startling the Hybrid Luman quite a bit.r

Skullius shook and turned, almost getting ready to go on the offensive when he realised to whom the voice belonged to.r

"Calm down. I just want to chat. I think we have a LOT to talk about," a pale man with long, white hair said with a shiver.r