Odyssey of the Blind God

While Nial was hoping that the Draco Leader was lying to him and the Elves, the Royal Princess hoped that everything was the truth.

The value of a hundred thousand Dracos was not even close to the worth of the Empress' Divinity Fragment in her opinion. However, the same couldn't be said about the Greater Forest Dragon's egg. As long as the egg would hatch, things would change a lot.

Creating and signing the Soul Contract took a while, which was mostly due to the detailed clauses that were necessary to make sure that no side would be able to run away from their responsibility.

After an hour had passed, both sides were as ready as they could be. They made enough space for their representatives to fight. Nial and Ryu entered the empty space that they considered the arena for the battle.

Nial was allowed free reign and he could use every single weapon in his arsenal, including Ryu. That made it look as if the Dracos Leader was taking Nial lightly. However, it could not be farther from the truth.

He wanted to make his opponents feel as if they were underestimated, which in turn would make them use their full power from the beginning. That way, they wanted to end the battle in the blink of an eye.

Nial, however, didn't really care about that. He was sure that the Dracos Leader was too stupid to realize that his actions and thoughts were far from a mastermind's!

'As expected, they sent him!' Nial thought when a Draco at the Peak of the Deux rank stepped forward. His mana fluctuations were somewhat familiar, yet, Nial knew that he had never met that guy before.

It was a little bit odd because Nial would never forget someone's mana fluctuations. Thus, he knew that he had never met his opponent but also that there was something familiar about that young man.

"So you know Ophi?" The Draco, whose golden reptilian eyes stared daggers at Nial, asked. His voice was sharp and he seemed annoyed for a moment before he calmed down a little after a second or two, "Don't worry, I will try not to kill you!"

'Ophi? He means Ophelia, I guess? So that dude is one of her friends?' Nial figured just as his ears perked up.

"Michael Ignis, there is no reason for you to say something like that to your opponent. Even if you're a prodigy, don't underestimate your opponents!" The Dracos Leader reminded him in a stern voice.

Michael Ignis shrugged his shoulders, seemingly not bothered by the Dracos Leader's words.

However, that was a big mistake. The Dracos Leader already had a bad feeling about the Royal Princess' choice. It didn't make sense that the Royal Princess would choose an origin human to fight for her. Nial was also blind and only at the Peak of the Prometheus rank.

The Dracos Leader could have sent a Keltia-ranked Dracos in the fight while telling them that it wouldn't be fair for the Darkness Gryphon to join the battle. That way, Nial would have to fight someone at the Keltia rank while being at the Peak of the Prometheus rank, all by himself at that!

But he didn't use this tactic simply because he was confident of his warrior. Michael Ignis was stronger than everyone else in the entire army of one hundred thousand Dracos and thousands of mighty dungeon beasts. It was a fact, and something the Dracos Leader wanted to make use of by playing around with the psyche of his opponents.

"Just worry about yourself, Michael Ignis," Nial responded to Michael's comment calmly. There was not an ounce of fear or hesitation in his voice. Nial's movements were also smooth and confident as he retrieved a spear from his spatial ring.

He spun it around his body for a while and entered his battle stance smoothly. He was ready to fight, and so was Ryu, who screeched loudly.

Darkness oozed out of Ryu's entire body which made it look like the Darkness Gryphon had grown.

"Listen to him. Go all out, and don't even think about holding back…even if he is her friend, or whatever they are!" The Dracos Leader bellowed, his loud voice reverberating throughout the arena.

It was as if the Dracos leader's voice hit the switch button. The scales all over Michael's body grew in size. They overlapped with one another causing loud clattering noises to reverberate through the arena. Flames shot out of the small gaps that had been created through the overlapping of the scales.

The searing hot flames increased the temperature by more than twenty degrees in an instant and the temperature was still increasing. Michael's golden reptilian eyes seemed to dilate and they began to shine much brighter than before.

He stared intently at Nial and grit his teeth due to the things his eyes unveiled to him. His tail grew in size and it smashed into the ground, scattering the dry soil around.

Michael's appearance had changed drastically. He looked like a superior version of the Dracos. The pressure that radiated from his body was much more intense than before. It was even higher than the pressure most ordinary Keltia could radiate.

'Just by releasing his power, he can almost create a Domain? That's not bad…'

Nial sensed what Michael was doing but he didn't respond in any way. The battle had yet to officially begin. There was no need to overdo it right from the start. Michael was just wasting his precious mana and the other mysterious energy or power that resided within him.

It was only a moment or two later when both heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. Afterward, a loud voice rang through the ears of the two contenders.

"The battle will commence in three…two….one…fight!"

When the battle started, Michael leaned forward and he turned into a fiery flash. He left behind a trail of flames and footprints that were deeply engraved into the dry ground.

Michael crossed more than half the distance between him and Nial in an instant and it would take a mere moment before they would collide.

However, before they collided, Ryu released a tremendous amount of darkness in front of Nial. A wall of darkness emerged between Nial and Michael all of a sudden.

Ryu tried to make it difficult for Michael to attack Nial, or so it looked, at least. But instead of making a detour around the wall conjured from darkness, Michael released compressed flames on it.

The flames burned down the wall of darkness in an instant, unveiling Nial and…two more outlines! At this moment, Ryu shot high in the air, providing support from the air by shooting darkness arrows and spears to the ground.

However, Michael's focus was not on Ryu's figure that shot away from his line of view, but on the two new figures that were emerging from the abyss-like black ground around Nial.

A huge giant-like figure charged at Michael in an instant, wielding a mace manifested out of darkness. At the same time, the smaller figure shot to the left, disappearing from Michael's sight in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, Nial was just smiling as he formed a knit-tight armor of dark energy around his body.

It was time to start the battle for real!