Emery couldn't help but feel a mixed feeling when he heard what the young man spoke. It wasn't because of the arrogance clearly laced within, but because of its contents.
He understood he had no right to get involved in Silva's personal matters, but recalling how the man casually displayed and did such 'expertise' in the bathhouse, despite having a fiancee of such an amazing girl like Silva irritated him.
Still, he tried to hold his distracting thoughts and focus on what was important.
"I just need to speak to Silva or whoever is in charge about my captivity here." Emery said with the calmest tone he could muster. "I need to at least know what you guys are planning to do with me and my friends."
When he heard Emery's words, Vizla looked at the latter and said with a smirk.
"You are actually free to go, if you wish."
Emery couldn't believe what he just heard. Although it was clearly seen that he had been given a lot of freedom, he was not that naive to think he could just leave.
"What are you really trying to do here!?" Emery's expression was grim. "What do you want?"
Vizla burst out laughing at Emery's reaction. "Hahaha. Suspicious much, aren't you?"
Shrugging, the young man spoke to Emery with one of his hands raised. "I am really telling you the truth. You are free to go if you really want to. After all, you are not like the rest of the wolves."
Emery looked skeptically at the man, to which he responded with a smirk.
"Well, what I said wasn't a lie. But to be more specific, you may leave on one condition."
Hearing this, Emery's mind immediately assumed Vizla would ask him to handover the spirit souls in his spatial space. But what he said next caught him completely off guard.
"I need your confirmation that there is nothing between you and my fiancee... preferably in writing."
"..."
Those words confused him at first, but after comprehending and finally understanding what they meant, Emery got a little angry. Either the man was joking and toying with him, or he was mocking about the thing he and the White Fang did on the Kulturmak Planet.
It was very unlikely that Vizla didn't know about the spirit soul he kept. Why would they imprison the white fang, but let him go with the spirit souls? Did they not care how many people died to get them?
Emery's emotions were clearly shown in his expression, causing Vizla to look as if he had received enlightenment. "I know! It's true, isn't it? There was really something going on between you and my Silva!"
Emery was once again startled. The other party seemed to misunderstand something here, but he couldn't really refute him by saying there was nothing between him and Silva. As what happened between him and Silva was complicated, Emery had no plan to tell Vizla even a bit about it.
"Just let me and my friends go, will you? You have no right to keep us here!"
Unexpectedly, Vizla laughed, as if he had heard the funniest joke. It took him a while before stopping.
"Actually, we do. This is our planet, we are the rulers here and we can do anything we want."
Emery was irritated. By this point, he was sure the other party was definitely toying with him. He believed, for some weird reason, Vizla was trying to get him angry.
Realizing this man was nothing but troublesome, Emery felt he really should just return to where his White Fang was.
Knowing Emery was not willing to comply with him and his whims anymore, Vizla suddenly said:
"Huh! You are no fun! Alright how about a bet?"
Emery, who was about to close the door on the man's face, stopped his actions when he heard that. What the other party proposed was something that gave him a certain interest.
Seeing he was interested, Vizla pressed on. "You will fight with me, a fair duel!" He smirked once more and continued his words. "If I win, you will not bother my fiance ever again. Meanwhile, if you win, you can leave this planet and bring your captive friends as well! I might even send you a ship to entourage you back! What do you think?"
Looking at the smug expression on the man's face, Emery was certain he was somehow being manipulated. However, between two options of rotting in prison for who knows how long and fighting for his freedom, Emery would definitely choose the latter.
If the man was really that desperate to play games with him, then Emery would let the former experience what defeat tasted like.
"Alright! I accept it!"
Vizla became gleeful when he heard Emery's confirmation. "Great! We'll do the duel at noon. For now, I'll go make preparations!"
The man didn't say anything else after that, as if everything he wanted to do from coming here had been accomplished. Emery just silently watched the man leave the room happily.
Now that it was decided he would have a duel at noon, Emery knew he better be prepared. From what he could glean, he was sure Vizla was a peak rank 9 acolyte with all nine of its pillars formed. The man was just a step away from entering into the magus realm.
However, with the level of strength Emery currently had, he believed there were not many people under the magus level who could defeat him. Of course, to be on the safe side, he still prepared his body and mental state for the upcoming duel.
A few hours later, right when it was noon, one of the attendants knocked on the door notifying that someone had come to pick him up.
Emery was brought back to the city via the flying vehicle. To his surprise, the vehicle descended on a particular building located in the center of the city. The place looked like a stadium of some sort, and from above, he could see tens of thousands of people had filled its seats.
Seeing this, Emery shook his head, this man named Vizla really liked to make a commotion out of something trivial.
Emery was quickly led to a room to prepare for the duel. There were a few people attending all his needs, asking him about his preferred choice of weapons. After answering them, he swiftly received two tier 4 swords and tier 3 protection armor.
Then, he was told to wait as the duel would begin shortly. Moments later, Emery was surprised by the loud sound of festivity resounding from outside. He knew this meant the main event was about to happen.
He swiftly stepped out when he heard his name being called. The moment Emery walked out, he was immediately welcomed with tens of thousands of loud cheers. As for his opponent, Vizla was showered in so much glamor that his eyebrows couldn't help but twitch.
Once again he shook his head in confusion,
"What did I just agree on doing here!?"