Chapter 463: Trial
463 Trial
Alex finally came inside the castle on the tree. The castle was made from wood and blended with the tree itself. There were a few wooden bridges inside the castle to move from one place to another, but he did not see anything special from that.
He was wearing a formal white suit he got from the lower world. It gave him a certain elegance by putting on his clothes rather than his casual style. As for Lilian, she was wearing a long purple dress while tying her hair into a ponytail.
Meanwhile, Shelka was wearing a white dress with a unique pattern that seemed to be a special pattern in this kingdom.
Alex always felt something off from her. It was not like a scheme, but more to conspiracy. Even though she appeared to be very gentle, Alex just had a feeling she was similar to Princess Mega from the Southern Kingdom.
Not long after, they finally arrived at the palace room where they could see a person sitting on a throne while a female accompanied him from the side. They must be the king and the queen, Alex thought.
He glanced left and right to see all the people in the court. It seemed there were a few Tier 6, but as expected, the strongest one was the king.
The other elves were trying to observe him for someone who dared to meet the king with just a favor from the princess, they found it rude.
Alex simply bowed his head while an elder suddenly said. "You have the king"s attention."
"Alexander Sirius greets the king and queen. I would like to thank you for the oppo-" He greeted them out of courtesy but was stopped by the king.
"So, you are the one who wants to meet me, Human, Alexander Sirius. I never expected that my daughter would even promise you this meeting. Save your pointless preamble. For what purpose did you choose to personally make a journey and take advantage of my daughter, Human?" The king said.
"Rude." Everyone thought of this when they heard the king. However, Alex had a different thought. This att.i.tude was right. As he said so, the only reason they allowed an audience with the king because he took advantage of the situation.
The king himself had nothing to discuss with him. For an unknown human race and without any strength or background to visit like this was already bizarre. For him to be here despite that probably meant he did not have anything good to say to the king and might just want to admire him. The sooner they got this over with, the better.
Alex paused a bit before he said politely. "I am perfectly aware that my presence here is hardly welcome. But it is because there is a matter that I must bring to Your Majesty"s attention that I have taken advantage of the situation."
"Something?" A minister frowned upon hearing that.
"He wants to say something to the king, is this the reason…" Lilian looked at his back.
"To the point that he needs to take advantage of me?" Shelka smiled.
"I would like to challenge the trial of the Elven Race," Alex said with a stern expression.
"Challenge our trial?" All the people were shocked by his statement. Only Shelka gritted her teeth from excitement.
"Presumptuous!"
"Brazen. How dare he!"
The people were raging upon that statement. Meanwhile, the king merely looked at Alex with a cold gaze and released his killing intent. "Who do you think you are, Human? You are merely a Tier 5 and one without background. Even the Human Royal Family does not have the qualification to challenge our trial. The reason is simple, they don"t have the crystal. Now answer me, why do you think I will let you challenge our race trial? Depending on your answer, I will need to execute you right here."
Lilian wanted to grab Alex and immediately apologized to the king. She already forgot about the previous embarra.s.sment as this was a matter far bigger than that. But before she could do so, Alex waved his hand.
A Purple Crystal suddenly came out and made its appearance. Not just that, at the same time, the purple crystal was out, a green crystal also came out of the throne.
Both crystals suddenly moved toward each other before s.h.i.+ning brightly. In that moment of confusion, Alex was suddenly transported to another realm.
He looked left and right to see whether this was the trial. He even wanted to check with his Spirit Eyes. But before he managed to activate his Spirit Eyes. A person appeared in front of him, kneeling. Alex felt a headache when he saw this guy.
This person had long blue hair. His body alone reached up to three meters, but the most noticeable thing from him was two pairs of wings on his back. The first pair was a pair of dragon wings while the other one was a pair of Kyle"s wings.
"Ay… Watts, greet your majesty, Spi… Go…"
He could not hear what he was saying because of all the headaches. He tried to endure and listen to what he said as hard as possible.
"I have something to tell you after you gather the six crystals." This was the only thing he could hear before the spirit suddenly disappeared.
"Kh…" After that person vanished, the realm also disappeared and he came back to the hall. He dropped to his knees and was panting.
The others were bewildered as to what happened. They were shocked that this unknown human had the crystal that was supposed to be lost a few thousand years ago. However, only one person was excited about this situation. It was Shelka. She licked her lips, wanting to keep him for herself.
"You… how do you have that crystal!" The king roared to Alex.
Lilian snapped back into reality while looking at Alex with a shocked expression. She never thought Alex would have something like this.
Alex did not answer the king"s question. Instead, he merely said. "According to the pact of ancient. When the two crystals approve, I am eligible to challenge the trial."
The king wanted to hit him at this moment and asked what was going on. But because of the crystal, he could not… It was not like he could not, but the crystals would protect him.
"Father. Our race trial is always a fight with Element. Since he is only a 2-Star Tier 5 Mage, how about letting me fight him?" Shelka smirked while looking at Alex. However, there was a trace of l.u.s.t inside her eyes. But considering Alex never saw these eyes, he did know what it was. He only knew she had some schemes for him.
"Hmm…" The king looked at her.
"I am the one who brings him to this place, so I am also responsible for it. Please let me do it, Father. I won"t disappoint you." She said.
The king wanted to ask many questions to Alex, but it seemed he could not. Because he really needed to set the trial as soon as possible. And it was like Shelka said she might be the best one to do it. After all, Alex was still a younger generation and it was only fair for another younger generation to fight him.
The queen and the other ministers were tongue-tied as they never expected it turned out to be this way.
"Alright." The king finally said. "The trial will be a battle of Alexander Sirius and Shelka La Muerte by using elements. You are granted ten minutes of grace period to change your clothes and come back to this place as we will hold the trial in this room. You can"t kill or do any irreplaceable damage to any side. The battle time limit is one hour. If the challenger, Alexander Sirius, can"t defeat Shelka La Muerte, he is deemed to fail the challenge."
He stood up and announced. "The trial has been approved by the two crystals and the ruler of the challenged party. With this, I, Greyson La Muerte, announce the challenge has formally started.
"Guards, bring her to their respective rooms so they could change clothes that are comfortable for combat. Ministers, we shall set up a barrier in this place for the arena."
"Understood."
Alex and Shelka were guided to their respective rooms by the guards. Lilian was following him while biting her lips.
After changing, Lilian finally had the courage to come to him. "Is this why you want to separate?"
She realized this after she saw the crystal. If Alex challenged the other races" trial, his life would be in danger. And there might even be people coming to them and harming them because of him.
"Answer me?" Lilian clenched his shoulders, desperate.
Alex simply held her hands and put them away from his shoulders.
"I have people that I could consider as friends and family members. All of them will always follow me regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger. This is also the reason why I can put my life on the line for them. However, you and your Empyrean Guild are not one of them." He said as he walked away.
Lilian"s body was shaking. This was also what the guild master did. No matter if it was because of the guild, for Alex, it meant nothing. After all, it was also considered as sacrificing someone for a greater good. Meanwhile, Alex and those people would live and die together.
She did not know what in her heart right now. It was chaotic. She wanted to hate him, scorn him, or even thank him, but she could not. She did not know what to do at this moment. She turned back to see Alex, who had vanished from the spot.
She fell down to her knees while thinking. Was it regret? She did not know.
Alex had come back to the hall and looked at Shelka, who had changed her clothes too. Both of them were wearing the same clothes when they were completing a mission.
"Fufu… As expected, are you the Supreme?" She narrowed her eyes.
"!!!" The others were taken aback while the king frowned. All of them immediately recalled that story.
"I am Alexander Sirius and not someone else. I won"t let a story dictate my path." Alex denied.
"Fufu… as expected, you are truly an amusing man." She smiled. "How about we make a bet?"
"A bet?"
"That"s right. How about if I win, you need to tell me how you can get that crystal and all the things you know about the crystal, including your real ident.i.ty?" Shelka smiled.
"I don"t have any interest in that bet." Alex rejected. There was no benefit for him with that bet.
"If you win, you can get a pa.s.s that can let you travel to all continents."
"That is already included in my condition." Alex glanced at the elven king. "I am sure the Elven Race would not be so low to void that condition, right?"
"Hmph." The elven king snorted. "There is no way my Elven Race will take back our own decision."
He nodded and looked at Shelka.
"Oh. Then, how about this. If you win, you can get my Sacrificial Element?" Shelka smirked. The others were dumbfounded when they heard that. Shelka did not know Alex had a Pure Fire Element. If she knew, she would not bait him with her sacrificial element as it was completely inconsequential.
Because of that, he did not flinch when he heard that condition. "I have no interest in this bet. If Princess Shelka only wants to talk about this pointless thing, I suggest we should start right now."
"Fufu… You are truly an interesting one." She never expected that Alex was not interested in this element. She was suddenly enlightened. There were a few reasons someone did not have any interest in a Sacrificial Element and the more she thought about it, the more she got excited.
"Father." Shelka looked at her father and nodded.
The elven king looked at both sides before announcing. "The Trial Battle, Start!"