The Eminence In The Shadow

It is still daytime, and the event has only just started. Then there are greetings and VIP introductions and parades and all that jazz. The actual Trial will begin only after the sun sets, apparently.

At the moment, I am merely a mob character in the audience seats. I look at the three VIPs in the front row of that section getting along together well and sigh.

I want to do something.

I want to do something "power from the shadows"-like. I"m here at such a huge event! How can I forgive myself if I just go through it all as a mere mob without doing anything?!

The most common pattern would be to hide my ident.i.ty and partic.i.p.ate in the Trial.

Like, I could display my overwhelming strength and make everyone think "who on earth is this person?!"

But unlike a tournament, each person only gets to fight once, and from my prior research, it seems that it"d be difficult to partic.i.p.ate while hiding my ident.i.ty. I did also consider the sudden intrusion pattern, but I kind of want to save that for a more important fight in the future.

While bringing up and shooting down plans in my head, the event proceeds on.

Haah, never mind. I couldn"t think of anything yesterday even with the whole day, so how can I so conveniently suddenly think of something right on the spot? I decide to continue enjoying the event as a mob, having half given up. In this world, events like this are quite rare, so it"s unexpectedly turning out to be actually quite fun. I also dabble a bit at the gambling corner and manage to earn a little bit.

Then finally the sun sets, and the long-awaited Trial of the G.o.ddess finally begins. Gorgeous lights illuminate the entire venue as letters from the ancient language begin floating up from the ground of the fighting field.
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The letters s.h.i.+ne with a white light while deploying into a dome, which causes the volume of the cheers to go up several notches.

The way this works is that the challenger would walk into the dome, which would cause the ancient warrior suitable to them to show up. Then they fight, and all interference from outside is blocked until either one of them is rendered incapable of further combat. Apparently there are even challengers who"ve died.

Having to fight to that point means that I can"t partic.i.p.ate as a mob, because the risk of me exposing my true strength would be quite high.

After all this and that is over, finally, the first challenger is introduced and then steps into the dome. Apparently he is some valorous guy from the Knight Order.

But there is no response.

He swears, then steps out and leaves.

That was the 200,000 Zeny partic.i.p.ation fee disappearing into thin air. And there is even more than 150 challengers this time.

Well, successfully clearing the Trial of the G.o.ddess is apparently an enormous honor. You would get a commemorative medal, and pretty much everywhere you go would be like "oh, you cleared the Trial of the G.o.ddess? Alright, you"re hired!" At least, that"s what I heard.

I keep watching on as challenger after challenger keep going up, eagerly waiting for Alpha"s name to be called.

It is the 14th person who finally gets an ancient warrior to appear.

The moment Annerose, a traveller from Vegalta, the country of swords, steps into the dome, the ancient letters s.h.i.+ne in response. Their light gathers into a humanoid shape, finally coalescing into a half-transparent warrior. According to the commentary, that warrior"s name is Bolg.

The two fight normally, then Annerose wins normally. I had held some expectations for these ancient warriors, but they turn out to be rather normal. I look forward to seeing stronger warriors get summoned next.

After that, the event continues, and I get a better bearing. It seems that Annelose was actually kind of strong. Eight people in total had summoned ancient warriors, but so far she was the only one who actually won. Which would mean that Bolg-kun was actually relatively strong.

The night grows deep. There aren"t many challengers left.

As the event gradually begins to feel like it"s ending, the name of a certain challenger is called out.

"Next is a challenger from the Midgar Magic Swordsman Academy! His name is... Sid Kagenou!!"

Who is Sid Kagen-... what the f.u.c.k, that"s my name!

There can"t possibly be another Sid Kagenou from Midgar Magic Swordsman Academy. But wait, I have absolutely no memory of applying for this!

"Let us greet our brave challenger with applause!"

No, wait, don"t do that!

Huge applause rises up. The cheers and whistling livens up the venue.

This is a very bad atmosphere. My face is frozen stiff as my brain whirls at full speed.

In this situation, there are really only three options.

Option 1: Give up and go fight. If all goes well, then I can finish it all as a mere mob. But if a strong ancient warrior really gets summoned, then there"s a risk of my strength getting exposed.

Option 2: Run away. All I am in the end is but a mob student. No one knows my face, so it"d be easy to slip away. However, that might cause the Church to become mad at me. They could put in a complaint with the school and get me expelled.

Option 3: Muddy the waters. Yep, this is really the only reasonable one.

I erase my presence and hide myself through high speed movement. Then in an empty place, I change into Shadow, and fly up into the air.

I am currently advocating the theory that "regardless of how bad a battlefield is, when an explosive explodes it can erase everything else that had happened."

And so.

Operation Burst onto the Scene as a Mysterious Power and Muddy the f.u.c.k out of Everything starts... now.

I descend into the dome area, and flutter my longcoat.

"My name is Shadow... I am he who lurks into the shadows and hunts the shadows..."

The entire venue falls into turmoil.

The ancient letters react, and begin forming a shape.

"Tonight shall be thy release..."

I draw my jet black blade and thrust it towards the night sky.

Beta"s slack-jawed face from the VIP seats is what leaves the deepest impression on me.