Back at the hill Daimon saw the battle was finally coming to an end and he was about to tell Karmandi to bring what he asked from below the water, when he suddenly felt an ill intent aiming at them in general.
“Careful young miss!”, the Blackfin Duke who was managed to hold down one of the ships, making impossible for the pirates hidden inside to flee, shouted.
In a moment of despair, the one in charge of the ship shot all the remaining weapons, and while the Blackfin Duke was distracted deflecting the canon balls and harpoons, he jumped out of the ship and threw his own weapon which was a spear at Karmandi and the white snake general, which of course would affect Mellie and Daphne as they were standing next to Daimon.
“You beasts ruined everything, go to hell!”.
The Blackfin Duke was able to react at the last moment and used his left arm to try and block it, but he was a second too late.
“Aghh!”, still the spear was too fierce and it actually pierced through his arm and sent him flying a few kilometers away.
Though it lost about half its impulse after being weakened by the Blackfin Duke, it was still the attack of a middle stage Stellar ranked.
“Humph”, Karmando softly snorted and his mana exploded out of his body, a pilar of rotating water raised around Daimon and the others.
“Rain Dragon Hurricane!”, unlike back in the underwater space he was able to let go of any limits and so a hurricane of about 200 kilometers of height was created.
But that wasn’t all, the white sea snake general also chanted, her voice was feminine meaning it was a female snake unlike Karmandi, also her affinity was wind.
“Rain Dragon Twister”, once her words left her mouth, an equally big tornado combined with Karmandi’s hurricane and the height of the latter doubled.
“Booom!”, the spear clashed against the water and wind walls and sparks flew all over the place, the spear tried to pierce through, but the high rotation of the spells combined made it really hard for it to do so.
‘How can I let other people’s generals outshine me in front of young master’, thought Horals as his green battle aura exploded out of his body like a tsunami.
“Aura Solidification, The Conqueror’s Right Hand!”.
Horals’s battle aura then condensed into a green giant skeleton with a metallic glow on it, this was the proof that someone had reached the Archknight realm, the capacity to solidify and amplify mana to create a big sized avatar, the knight’s path was created inspired on how magic beasts stored mana in their blood, flesh and bones, so the trait acquired at the Arch rank was a giant tough body just like what magic beasts achieve in that realm.𝒩𝑜𝗏𝑳xt.𝒸𝐎𝑚
Horals’s avatar then took impulse and punched the spear with all its might, unlike what one would have expected the arm of the avatar didn’t break, instead of that the sound of metals colliding echoed through the area.
“Clang!”.
“Hahahah!”, the bone general loudly laughed, Karmandi and the white snake’s attacks had worn out the momentum of the spear so when he punched the thing, it was finally dominated and sent towards the ground, but before it could impact it, Horals actually moved his hands and grabbed it.
The previous might have taken some time to describe but all happened in a matter of seconds, the water and wind walls also disappeared after having consumed almost three quarters of the two snake generals and half of Horals’s battle aura, but in exchange Daimon and the others were perfectly fine.
The bone general then flashed and appeared kneeled down in front of Daimon.
“Horals’s presents this high ranked magic weapon to commemorate young master’s victory”, respectfully said Horals.
Daimon raised an eyebrow, the weapon in question was indeed pretty decent, judging by the fact that it harmed the Blackfin Duke a middle stage Stellar ranked, though taken by surprise, it was still a magic weapon at the peak of the low rank Stellar rank, something pretty expensive as it needed materials of an equal rank, and the probability of success wasn’t 100%, if one had bad luck the materials would go to waste.
He noticed the slightly tight grip of the bone general on the spear and inwardly chuckled, apparently Horals’s was interested in this spear, but he didn’t want to mention it.
“Karmandi would it be a problem for me to keep this spear, we can take it as half of the payment of our previous bet?”, asked Daimon, Karmandi and the other snake contributed to stop the attack after all.
The snake general laughed while the white snake had a surprised glow flashing in her eyes, she had a hard time believing in Karmandi’s words of having found a reliable human ally, but she had to admit that the silver haired youth was leaving a decent first impression on her.
“Sure…”, before Karmandi could finish his sentence, a cold voice interrupted him.
“This isn’t the place for a beast from the Maelstrom Sea to take decisions, any treasure above the Half Stellar rank acquired in a battlefield, can only be granted by the king, the minister of defense or those with equal civil authority, not to mention it was me who took the hit so that it wouldn’t harm the young princesses”.
The black armored Blackfin Duke who had some blood dripping from his arm and mouth, landed next to Daimon and reprimanded Karmandi, before he extended his hands at Horals while looking at Daimon.
“I’m pretty sure this little friend who seems to be trusted by the princesses, isn’t a small person enough to cause troubles over a magic treasure, in front of your king, right?”, he said as he looked at Triten.
Previously it was still a somewhat private matter, the king ordered his other guard to go and lend a hand, but the guy wasn’t even able to enter the hurricane so ultimately only Horals, Karmandi and the white snake general were the ones to stop the spear, which meant they could claim it as their loot.
But now that the Blackfin Duke mentioned the king, if Daimon refused to give up on the spear, then it would be an insult to the White royal family as he was going against the rules of the Clear Water kingdom in front of its very ruler.
That being said, Daimon’s response wasn’t what the Blackfin Duke expected,
“Hahaha!” a loud laugh escaped Daimon’s mouth, which made the Blackfin Duke and the king to frown.
“What is so funny brat?”, asked the Blackfin Duke with a now hostile voice, to which Daimon smirked.
“He isn’t my king, and I have no obligation to follow the orders of a Minister who didn’t even stop an attack aimed at not only a lot of nobles but two of the princesses of his own kingdom, just because there were two magic beasts in the nearby area, now you have the nerve to come and demand the loot, get lost”.
…
A sepulchral silence fell on the area, some of the nobles who were returning either triumphant with their respective loot or defeated with new scars on their bodies, managed to hear Daimon’s answer and their reactions varied.
The members of the old noble houses were outraged that an outsider was so rude in front of the one who represented them, in other words the Blackfin Duke, not to mention Trite whose expression wasn’t exactly pleasant, but a few of them had troubled expressions because some of the female nobles were their daughters, nieces etc.
And they could have been harmed due to the Blackfin Duke not giving his all to stop that attack earlier.
The neo nobles included their highest ranked General Dominic on the other hand, found the situation rather amusing, as they could stir up problems for the traditional nobles and because for them, the rule is pretty simple, you kill it you keep it.
“He got you there Blackie, it was your incompetence what made that attack to threat the young misses and also the daughters of a bunch of those guys, this general concedes it to you, your face is thicker than mine”.
The other one who stood out for Daimon was Underwood, he managed to catch a glimpse of what happened, his daughter was standing there and the Blackfin Duke did just the bare minimum to block that attack essentially putting his daughter’s life in danger, when he could have fully stopped that attack.
“Those magic beasts and that black armored knight protected that little friend and a lot of other members of the young generation, without any discrimination, just for that, the treasure should go to them, what they do with it is their matter, not Lord Blackfin’s one”.
“You!”, the Blackfin Duke nearly vomited blood, the other old noble houses also hated the magic beasts, and wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help them, which is what he did, but the silver haired youth turned the situation into negligence towards the princesses and the descendants of other nobles, so now he was being publicly judged, to make it worse the sects from the Elemental Sea were neutral towards the beasts and now Underwood had taken their side.
‘You hypocrites!’, inwardly swore the Duke, but now that he had mounted the tiger, there was no going back, so he decided to bite the bullet.
“Don’t try to put words in my mouth kid, the fact that the king is the one to make the decision remains, I suffered a heavy wound and was unable to fully block it, but it still diminished the power of that attack, or do you think those Half Stellar beasts would have been able to block it, if it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t be alive to argue, not to mention you aren’t a citizen of our kingdom”, he said with an upright voice.
Mellie and Daphne felt incensed, they knew how much the old noble houses hated the magic beasts, but that didn’t change the fact that their safeties were ignored for a stupid quarrel about something that happened a few dozens of thousands of years ago.
Triten noticed things were getting out of hands and he stepped in.
“This king will hold onto the treasure and the case will be taken to court, now hand that spear over little friend, I promise to listen to both parties and take a fair decision”, said the king as he extended his hand at Daimon.
Suddenly a woman’s cold voice drew everyone’s attention, as a black comet arrived from the south of the battlefield.
“Hoh, and you still wonder why we magic beasts don’t negotiate with the Mermen Sea, what a bunch of trash”.
Once the black light dispersed, the figure of a tall woman wearing a black dress was revealed, but she wasn’t alone, Annete and the Valas Duchess were at her side.
Some of the nearby nobles felt suffocated just by the aura of the black haired woman, though she was a middle stage Stellar ranked just like the Blackfin Duke and Dominic, she had reached the peak and just needed a small impulse to breakthrough and reach the relative higher echelon of Neptune, as no one has been able to become a maximum Stellar ranked like Vincent, Aurora, Horrorclaw and the others who were survivors of the previous war era.
Daphne’s mother landed next to her daughter and after making sure she was alright, she slightly bowed to Karmandi and the other snake general.
“Thanks for helping my little Daphne, please accept this bow from me as a sign of goodwill, also feel free to visit my Valas Dukedom later”, she said as she looked daggers at the king, regardless of their relationship, the White royal lineage still ran through the veins of her daughter, so Triten not showing concern for her, made her furious.
“Gabriel saved the life of my little sister and asked for nothing in return, but if Minister Blackfin is so keen in following tradition I Annete Delphini in my right as the queen grant him the tittle of Marquess, and since his actions saved the lives of all the present members of the young generation, he will be entitled to the loot of this specific encounter”.
Anette didn’t even ask if anyone had an objection, she directly gave Daimon a noble rank, and ended the matter regarding the spear, to the displease of the Blackfin Duke, he wanted the king to interfere before because in all the matters related to the army at the moment, the queen’s word had more weight, but she wasn’t present earlier and once the king gave his verdict she could not undo it.
“Don’t you think that is being too impulsive Annete, I don’t doubt this friend has helped little Mellie and Daphne, but a Marquess is a high ranked noble title, not to mention the Blackfin Duke did nothing wrong, he was taken by surprise and those magic beasts made it hard for my guard to step up to help little Mellie and Daphne”, said Triten.
The Black Empress chuckled, her image flashed and the next thing anyone knew was that she was standing in front of Daimon, while she pointed her spear at the Blackfin Duke.
“Little friend I have heard a lot of you, if these fish bastards don’t respect you, how about you join my army, this Empress promises you anything you want as long as it is within my possibilities and the position of general of course, I trust you know how I do things, as long as you don’t betray me, this Empress will have your back”, said Thea with a gentle voice, which didn’t match her threatening aura at all.
The words of the Black Empress, made the nobles haws to drop, unlike the other seas, the Maelstrom was full of untouched resources, and the silver haired youth was practically offered a check in blank to that, some even wondered if they should propose themselves for that position.
Vincent and Aurora descended from the sky to interrupt the strange scene ongoing.
“Ahem, we can discuss this later… in case you have forgot about it, we need to go look for the other participants”, said the Trident Marshal.
“As for that spear, my vote is with little Annete and I don’t want to hear any more about it, am I clear?”, asked the old man with a serious expression.
The Blackfin Duke felt as if he was suffocating just by being glared by Vincent, ultimately he had no choice but to lower his head and nod.
“Understood…”, he said with an unconvinced voice, but inwardly his heart was burning with hatred of this humiliation.
“Very well, now go and look for the others so we can announce the winner”.
The nobles and the patriarchs of the sects left, with the exception of Underwood whose daughter and other members of his sect were all here.