"I'll be your first opponent," Donutella said in arrogance. "Our battle will be simple. We will play a drinking game. Whoever drinks the most in five minutes will win. Easy, right?"
"Sounds easy enough," William replied. "But, what are we going to drink?"
Donutella snapped its fingers and two tables appeared in front of them. On top of those two tables, several mugs filled with what seemed to be sweetened chocolate could be found. Williams almost gagged at the diabetes inducing scene in front of him.
There was no way he could drink so many chocolate drinks in one sitting.
"I will give both of you a handicap." Donutella crossed its arms. "You can fight me two versus one."
The demi-turtle's tone was filled with confidence. It was as if it was telling William that there was no use even if Chiffon and him teamed up, because it would still be a victor in the end.
The Half-Elf sneered internally at the cocky turtle. Donutella had no idea that the one who didn't stand a chance in this drinking battle was itself.
William patted Chiffon's head and looked at her straight in the eyes. "Chiffon, can I leave this challenge to you?"
"Un!" Chiffon patted her chest with confidence. "Leave it to me, Big Brother."
The pink-haired girl then walked towards the table and looked at the chocolate mugs with sparkling eyes. Clearly, she was very excited to start the drinking competition as soon as possible.
"Are you sure you will not join her?" Donutella asked as it, too, went to the table facing Chiffon's. "You might regret it later."
"Nah, I'm good." William smirked. He was looking forward to seeing Donutella's surprised expression after it realized that its opponent was something it couldn't beat in a drinking game.
The three Demi-turtles, and Oogwei, shook their heads in disappointment. They felt sorry for Chiffon because a little girl had to fight against their group's strongest drinker.
Drinking a mug full of sweetened chocolate may be an easy task. However, if you were to drink many of them at any given time, you will definitely wave your hands in surrender.
"Are both combatants ready?" Oogwei asked.
Donutella and Chiffon nodded their heads in unison. The rules of the battle were simple enough, so there was no need to complicate things.
The Demi-turtle looked at the pink-haired girl in disdain. Clearly, it couldn't believe that an adorable girl like Chiffon could beat it in a game that was its specialty.
"Don't cry later, little girl." Donutella teased.
Chiffon only tilted her head to the side in confusion. She didn't understand why she would be crying when she was about to have her fill of something sweet and delicious!
Oogwei then raised its small foot and declared the start of the battle.
"Start!"
Donutella casually took a mug from the table and drank it in one go.
Chiffon, on the other hand, did the same. She was two seconds later than Donutella in finishing her drink, but Wiliam wasn't too worried.
In a span of ten seconds, Donutella had already drunk four mugs, while Chiffon only had three.
A minute later, Donutella had already finished twenty four mugs, while Chiffon only had eighteen.
The three Demi-turtles and Oogwei were surprised about Chiffon's tenacity. None of them were able to even drink more than ten mugs of sweetened chocolate, but the pink-haired girl had already gone past that mark.
Three more minutes went by, and several mugs of chocolate had already been cleared from the table. Even though this drinking match was Donutella's specialty, it was starting to feel nauseous due to the vast quantity of sweetened chocolate it had ingested.
'Just a minute more,' Donutella thought. 'I just need to hang for a minute and I will win.'
Chiffon placed the mug that she had just finished drinking on the table and gave Donutella a side-long glance.
Oogwei and his disciples thought that Chiffon was about to give up, but their eyes almost fell out of their sockets when they saw what the little girl did next.
The pink-haired girl opened her mouth. Suddenly, the chocolate that was inside the mugs all rose up in the air and flew towards her mouth.
Donutella choked on the chocolate it was drinking after it saw what its opponent had done. It couldn't believe what it was seeing.
"T-Time's up." Oogwei stuttered. "Winner of this match is Chiffon!"
Chiffon smiled as she returned to William's side. The Half-Elf took out his handkerchief and wiped the chocolate stains at the side of her lips. He could read Chiffon's mood and almost laughed out loud.
A single glance was enough to tell William that the pink-haired-girl hadn't had her fill. He was half tempted to tease Donutella, and ask for a rematch in order to satisfy the little glutton, who was eyeing the chocolate mugs on her opponent's table.
-----
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Central Continent…
The Supreme Pontifex of Deus was busy reading the reports of his subordinates that he had sent to the Southern Continent.
"... Ainsworths," the Supreme Pontifex of Deus said softly. "Whenever there is a great upheaval in the world, this family is always involved one way or the other."
The Supreme Leader of Deus frowned as he put the report down on the table. "Alessio was a good subordinate. It's quite unfortunate that he died in the Southern Continent."
The battles between his subordinates was something that he encouraged. This was how his organization managed to become a Faction that rivaled the Church of Light from the shadows.
The Hypocritical Church lorded over the masses on the surface, while Deus wanted to make the world submit to their will.
These two organizations had fought each other for hundreds of years, and their victories and losses were almost the same. Right now, both forces were fighting a different kind of battle. They were looking for a person.
A person that was said to challenge the existing powers in the continent and make everyone submit to his will.
"It will not take long before the Prophecy of the Elves will come to pass. At most a year, maybe two," the man muttered. "We still haven't found the Prince."
Just like the Elves, Deus had also used their manpower to identify suitable candidates that could possibly be the Prince in the Prophecy. They had been doing it for years, but the candidates that they had observed showed no signs of wielding the True Power of Darkness.
Most of the candidates were Dark Mages, and they were very promising as well. However, the reports that the Supreme Pontifex had received from his watchers made him feel that they were overlooking something.
The document that was on the very top of his table, was none other than the information that they had on William.
Bold letters could be seen written at the bottom most part of William's scroll, which indicated the verdict that his spies had concluded after watching William's performance in the Southern Continent.
Dungeon Conqueror Candidate.
That was the conclusion that Berthold, and the other members of Deus had come to, after compiling the information they had on William.
"Dungeon Conqueror?" The Supreme Pontifex muttered as he stared at William's information.
The leader of Deus had the power of clairvoyance. However, no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to read the fate of anyone that belonged to the Ainsworth Family, including the people whose Fates were tied with them.
James and he had fought each other in the past. The same with Maxwell and Morgan because of a difference in beliefs.
The Supreme Pontifex chuckled as he walked towards the balcony of his residence. Right now, an era of change was upon the land.
He could smell it in the wind.
He could feel it in his bones.
He could hear it from the beating of his heart.
The Supreme Leader of Deus was already in the final stage where his ambition would be realized. All he needed was a person.
A person that all the powers in the world were frantically searching for.
'I guess I should send someone to monitor the boy,' the Supreme Pontifex thought. 'It never hurts to put eggs in different baskets.'
The leader of Deus watched the beautiful sunset in the distance, and waited for the light to disappear before going back to his room.
He still had reports to read, and miles to go before he slept.