Hero of Darkness

Three weeks passed and only one week was left till the beginning of completion.

After the public announcement by the government at every populated area such as towns, villages and cities, the preparation for the Emperor's Chosen competition began with full speed.

In every major city, a battleground that sized twice as big as a football field and could facilitate thrice the number of audiences was built in a span of 3 weeks. The government spared no effort in making these ancient gladiator colosseums styled battle arenas that could hold 10 thousand people battle at the same time.

Hundreds of magically reinforced wide platforms that would hold the one-on-one battles and group battles were made in the most effective ways.

Just one of these arenas put the Olympics competition on earth to shame and throughout the Rakos Empire, there were more than 5 thousand of such battle arenas were built for the sake of this competition. Indicating the intensity and hype towards it.

As per the demographics and estimations, more than 100 million people were expected to participate in this competition throughout the empire and the government had already planned about how to make it most enjoyable and comfortable for the people who would spend money to watch the fights.

To common folks, it seemed like it was an expensive project but the business minds knew that they were bound to earn a hundred times the revenue that was invested.

Because as it was a once in fifty years event, the number of people who'd be flocking to these battle arenas and the money spent on tickets, food, merchandise and betting was already expected to be a dozen trillion gold coins.

The legal betting system alone was more than enough to recover all the money spent in just the first week as the competition would begin. Because everyone wanted to turn their life around during this historical event.

As for the rules based on general knowledge, every candidate will get only 2 chances to fight. Those who keep winning will be taken into the top 1000 spots in the city-level matches.

This way, the fine crop would be separated from the weed in the beginning stages and only those with proper strength and skills would move forward. But even here, the registration fee for the fighters was 10 gold coins.. Which was something common folks had to save up for months to gather.

Then the winners will compete for the district-level matches and so move forward for the higher stages and stronger warriors would emerge from all these candidates.

After that, they will be sent to the district championship arenas and progress to the qualifiers for the one million candidates who would fight in the arenas in the capital Rathna.

For Rukon District inside the capital, the battle first round battle arena was placed in a city called Xaphar. This was the closest place where Kahn had decided to compete for the competition and had already registered himself when only a week was left for the start of the first competition.

He thought that a battle royale would be the best idea to rush out the competition but he obviously understood that the government wanted to milk the cash cow for as much as they can and at this rate, the competition itself would take at least 3 to 4 weeks to reach the final stages where only master and grandmaster rank fighters would be left.

As for himself, Kahn had been training more intensely ever since Szayel gave him the news because eventually, he would be fighting the truly skilled and talented geniuses who had been training since a young age.

He was already an Intermediate Rank Magician and after his mana capacity & knowledge in manipulating mana and elements reach a higher degree, he had improved dramatically in many weapons and combat skills.

The main reason why Kahn intended to participate wasn't to win the competition but to gain even more combat experience, copy and learn new and articulate fighting skills and combat techniques of various classes and their respective spells and weapons thanks to the blessings given by the War Deity himself.

This was like the most expensive foods & dishes were being offered to him for free. And since he would be fighting with different species and their respective skills, what Kahn wanted to do was emerge as a new type of battlemaster who was efficient in many known battle styles and weapons.

The competition itself had no rules about what kind of profession or weapons a candidate had to use throughout the competition so it was already seen in the past that many people including hundreds of master rank individuals using different types of battle styles.

This was also preferred by the audience as one could exhibit their talent and skills as they kept progressing throughout the competition. Although many took such individuals as jokers who weren't serious about the competition, these types of candidates had a fanbase of their own and they were the favorites for the many.

In the meantime, Seven Deadly Sins had completely overtaken Rukon District as its shadow rulers and Bloodborne company had reached a whole different level itself. His own self worth was 5 billion gold while the SDS had earned 16 billion in the meantime. But yet, nobody knew their real faces or their true identities.

The name of the peak grandmaster blacksmith Albestros Winston was now even famous amongst the Saint rank people of the three factions. Many trying to curry favor with him and offer riches and their connections to have him make their customized armors and weapons.

Kahn had been cautious to hide his identity as the real owner and people only knew of Ceril & Omega as the two proprietors who worked under Albestros. With the competition on the way, he knew for certain that it wasn't a wise choice for the masses to know his relationship with the company because he knew that one way or another, he was bound to earn the ire of many powerful individuals and clans.

So appearing as someone without background was a better choice than flexing his wealth or connections with powerful people. He didn't even intend to reveal that he was a semi-saint until the final rounds where he would fight the truly talented and gifted geniuses of the young generation.

Everything was already planned ahead and unbeknownst to anyone.. He was already setting his chess pieces for the finale.

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When the grand opening day for the competition finally came, Kahn left his mansion in a luxurious magic vehicle along with Omega and Ronin, both of whom had risen to level 130 just a few days ago.

"My lord.. I don't understand one thing.

Why didn't you use that recommendation token to register yourself as a Grandmaster warrior in the competition? It would've saved you a lot of unnecessary hassle and time than fighting weaklings and posers. You would be directly fighting in the qualifiers instead of wasting time. " asked Omega who was in his normal human form.

"Dimwit.. It should be obvious to you already. Maybe spend some time reading battle tactics-related books than just practicing your sword skills everyday.." interjected Ronin as he scoffed off.

The next second, Kahn gave a light smile at the subordinate and spoke in a gentle tone.

"Me participating in this competition using that recommendation token...

It's a trap!"