Vex’s declaration was met with multiple reactions.
The first one was that of the crowd. Numerous heads started turning around in a desperate manner to lay their eyes on Black Fang while shouting exclamations of pure shock. While Veil Walkers were already rare to see, Obsidian Circle Members were living in the shadows completely. That didn’t mean that none of them had at least some information available about them, after all, they were all Phenoms once but not all of them were as secretive as me.
For example, I’d learned that Orianna was one of the strongest Veil Walkers and thus had a good chance at succeeding one of the heads should they become ‘unavailable’, at which point her identity would not become immediately forgotten.
The reason why Circle Members were shrouded in mystery was mostly due to time, as they were active up-and-coming members hundreds of years ago, so only the oldest members remembered them as normal combatants, and also because some of them, like Black Fang, was keeping her privacy even before becoming a leader, making her one of the most obscure members of the circle.
Thus, laying one’s eyes on the woman would be a true privilege. I also couldn’t help but be extremely curious, though I didn’t make a joke of myself by gawking around like a tourist because I knew that the only way I would get to see her would be if she wanted me to.
The second reaction came from perhaps Black Fang herself as a dagger was lodged into Vex’s throat. I didn’t see anyone throwing it, it just appeared already in her neck. She lost control of her body and fell limply back on the ground. Her skin color swiftly changed from that of pristine beauty to that of putrid, oozing dark green.
This lasted until she raised her trembling right hand into the air and brought it down on her chest where her heart lay in such a swift manner that my eyes could barely follow. A loud beat came from her body, after which her skin color started returning to normal. She ended up puking a lot of black bile, but a few seconds later she was already back on her feet.
She produced a water bottle from her ring and drank it hungrily, after which she bowed her head. “This disciple humbly apologizes, she said too much!”
No reaction came, but perhaps that was a reaction itself because in the next moment Vex sighed with relief and went back to narrating how the tournament would go.
“So, ehem, let’s get back to the event, shall we? Throughout the first two rounds, you had the chance to hide behind not only your Heralds but behind other Phenoms and their Heralds as well, thus some of you slimy ones managed to weasel your way all the way here. You didn’t think that you would go unnoticed, right? Nope, no chance!” She decreed while sticking her tongue out with playfulness which also displayed her sadistic cruelty.
“We were watching and evaluating, thus some of you got here through well-deserved feats of power, others not so much. There are still hundreds of candidates left, we have to cull those numbers a bit, so to begin the tourney we will pit one weasel against one champion – meaning that the rat boys and girls will have to face those that displayed significant personal might and competence in the previous rounds. To start with… drumrolls, please!”
“Dum-dum-dum!!”
She started making mouth sounds before shouting, “in the corner of the rats, we welcome the biggest coward who managed to slither his way all the way here on the back of others! Eugene is the name! Kills secured in the first round? Zero! He was pretending to be dead in the corner! Kills secured in the second round? Zero! Furthermore, he caused all of his Heralds to die so that he could live another day!”
“Booooooo!” Immediate booing sounded from the crowd when a man stood from the audience and made his way down. He had an ashen face, he clearly never expected to be called out like that.
“And then, ladies and gentlemen, welcome the champion with the biggest bag of them all! Devil is the name! Kills secured in the first round? Over two hundred! In the second round, he was tasked with invading the Phantom League where he and his team were ambushed by them! We don’t know an exact kill count, but over a hundred Phantom League soldiers died!”
Hoh? I couldn’t help but be surprised that I was given a two-hundred-kill count. No matter how I counted it, things just didn’t add up. This could only mean one thing. They were aware that I outplayed Selene with my betrayal which forced her to kill her own giant group of allies to secure her spot among the victors. While I didn’t personally kill them, they were dead because instead of me wreaking havoc in the backline of the enemies as me and Selene agreed I would do, I just killed her assassin squad and then started looting the corpses for goodies.
Thus, her kills were counted as my feats. I didn’t know if I agreed with this counting, but no one asked my opinion, so I stood from my seat. Jasmine gasped loudly from next to me when my name was called. She looked at me with eyes full of shock and disbelief. She had no clue that I would be named as the biggest achiever thus far, in her eye I was just one of the many candidates. Well, that officially changed.
<Anyone who doesn’t become a Phenom will be wearing Blossom-style bondage gear for a decade straight, and I don’t care if you’re a dude.> I decreed to my fellow subjugated Phenom candidates before jumping from where I stood and landing right next to Vex and the rat.
A large distance separated us, so my display of superhuman strength was met with shouts and cheers. “So you played dead and sold your teammates out to get here… Let’s see what strategy you will come up with to beat me.” I was fully aware that Vex’s microphone artifact was turned on, so I deliberately acted to entertain the crowds. They were here for a show, so why not give it to them?
Eugene immediately shriveled up at my ominous masked sight, especially now that I was only a few inches from him and was towering over his small, fragile frame.
He could only respond with frightened stammers. “I-I uh… I didn’t… do any of … that.”
More booing came from the crowd. This dude had straight-up negative charisma levels.
“I-I uh… might want to… surrender.” He continued.