Chapter 101: The Tournament Begins

Chand Gandraf explained his conquest plan to Akash, the king was amazed as well. There were three basic ways of conquering an independent land that every invading force employed. Military conquest, establishment of a puppet monarch or puppet government and lastly economical invasion.

The first way is the most common way where nations or organizations used their overwhelming military might to take over and rule the land. This path naturally causes a lot of bloodshed and is the most chaotic way of conquest. The positive is a relatively quick victory if the invading force's military vastly outstrips the invaded, however, war always begets immeasurable amounts of casualties, both in terms of lives lost and a ravaged land. Following the war's end, civil unrest and hatred fester among the survivors, and the latter especially can last for generations, often leading to revolutions.

The second method of a puppet government or monarch involved sending a trustworthy and highly capable person to blend into a nation's populace and quickly climb up the ranks of their political ladder through various means in order to eventually attain the highest possible position. Another method is to essentially become the power behind the throne, guiding the existing government or monarch for their own interests while remaining hidden themselves, beyond the sight of most onlookers.

The third and possibly most perfect method of conquering is through an economical invasion. Strategically spending a tremendous fortune on the planet you want to conquer by becoming a tycoon who owns all the most important and crucial businesses sectors and markets. Essentially, creating a worldwide economic monopoly whereby one individual controls the whole planet's economy.

Slave Planet obviously adhered to the 3rd type of conquest. They had established their slave business in this declining planet. The motive behind the attack on Abran was to connect three provinces to increase the influence and reach of the slave trade.

After hearing Chand's explanation, Akash thought of something and asked.

"Will you do me a favour, Mr. Chand?"

"Certainly, if it is within my power."

Chand replied.

"I want you to promote Abran City, then I would be able to more easily increase the influence of the mighty guardians on this planet."

Akash stated.

"That's an easy enough task. In fact, I actually have something even more interesting in mind."

Chand said with a smile.

"Oh, what is that?"

Akash inquired.

"Let it be a surprise instead. For now, our priority should be making Abran a 2nd tier city. Do you want me to set up your opponents in the tournament? I can make so that you only have to face easy opponents."

Akash furrowed his brows.

"Is that possible?"

"Haha, everything is possible for me in this city, even the province's governor can't impede my authority here."

Chand boasted as Akash sighed, he was angry.

"Ancestor Turtle was right when he said this planet was corrupt to the core."

Akash pondered.

"No, that won't be necessary. I will win through my own efforts."

Akash said and Chand clapped his hands, praising him.

"As expected from an agent of Slave Planet."

After some further talks, Chand bade Akash farewell.

"Alright, Mr. Akash. I will leaving then. Call me whenever you need something, here is my number."

Akash saved it in his phone and nodded.

"See you."

Chand was leaving the room when Haji Tea spoke to him.

"Mr. Mayor, could you disable these hidden mics as well? It makes planning a bit inconvenient as you might imagine. We don't know who else has access to these recordings."

Chand was surprised, these hidden mics were top of the line technology, and they were stealthily installed by experts. Nevertheless, he nodded.

"Sure, I'll send a team to remove them. Sorry for the inconvenience."

"No problem, thank you."

Haji Tea expressed his gratitude with a smile.

After Chand had left, Haji Tea and the others looked at their king and all they could feel was admiration. Akash was able to fool such a big figure without a snippet of hesitation and they gained a lot more than expected thanks to his efforts. Two famous figures just became their allies, Madam Cosmiwood because she didn't believe his truthful outburst and Chand because he believed his lie. Although the alliance was just temporary as Chand would eventually realize the truth, but they would certainly reap all the benefits they could while it lasted.

Soon after, five experts came for the mic removal. Two of them were Star Princes while the others were Star Generals. They quickly started their work and removed the surveillance system. While they were busy working though, Akash and his team went to register for the tournament.

They entered the stadium to register their city in the tournament, coming in last. All the other teams had already registered with the total number of registered 3rd tier cities being 512 out of a total 740. The others didn't have any worthy tamers to participate. While another reason was that they were afraid to lose the few talents that they did have. Tamers dying in the tournament was a common occurrence and no one was held responsible if they killed their opponents in the fight. This rule was made by the world government to maintain balance. The bigger cities never wanted the lower cities to rise in the first place and making such a rule would naturally decrease the talents of 3rd tier cities that dared to try and rise, thus hampering their future growth.

The contending 512 cities were divided into four blocks: A, B, C and D, each of them having 128 cities. The city distribution in the blocks was kept hidden until the tournament's commencement, thus Akash and others came back to their apartment as there was nothing else left to do there.

The days passed in the blink of an eye and the tournament's opening was announced. For the first time ever, there was another occasion for large swathes of people to gather in the city besides the slave trade. The stadium was quickly filled to the brim with around 50,000 people and that was just the people in the stadium. Even more people had gathered outside of the stadium, the tournament was broadcasted live on every channel of every city as well.

Each province was holding and broadcasting its own tournament, the entire planet was buzzing in excitement. The 3rd tier tournament was held in 10 cities, each province had their stadium with Slave City being in the Sindh Province. Akash and his Prime Paladins showed their identity as participants and entered the stadium.

The blocks were shown on the big screen, listing Abran in the B Block. Their number was second and they had to face a city named Patidan with 3 tamers representing them.

Out of the 128 cities in the B Block, only 3 cities, including Abran, had a single tamer as their representative. The other two were 5th Star tamers while Akash was only at the 2nd Moon of the 3rd Star realm, causing everyone to burst out in laughter as soon as they saw Abran's representative.

"The cursed city has finally decided to show itself."

"Even the Tea Family couldn't get more than 1 tamer to represent that cursed city."

"They will only embarrass themselves by only bringing one tamer, and they're only a 3rd Star tamer at that! Do they think this tournament is child's play?"

"Huh, that man is supposed to be 15-years-old? Hahaha, they are so shameless, faking his age just to get attention! From which angle does that guy look 15?"

"My, my, look at this handsome hunk. Such a pity he's fighting alone for that decrepit city."

Numerous conversations were going on relating to Abran and Akash as its representative. Some were serious in nature while others leaned more into ridicule or jokes. Akash and Abran were currently the hottest topics of the B Block as the Patidan City tamers were looking at the screen.

The man who was leading the team yawned after seeing the opponent. His name was Chacha Mokh, he had an average build with a slightly bulging belly and he was wearing a sleeveless shirt.

"Haah, I'm getting sleepy."

"Chacha, don't act like we have already won the fight. Even if he is alone, he is hired by the wealthy Tea Family."

A youngster named Kamal Diod cautioned Chacha, he was a fair-coloured boy with short and silky hair

"So what? They are underestimating this tournament. We are lucky to have the weakest city as our opponent."

A tall dark-skinned man said, he was bald and had strange tapes covering his knuckles. His name was Arshu Gimg.

Akash was silently standing in his waiting area. Every city was provided with a small room to rest in and wait for their turn. Only the participants were allowed to rest there, so Akash had ordered his lords to look out for young talents in the audience and recruit them for Ancestor Law Enforcement. All five of them had scattered throughout the stadium to do their work, including Riassuba who had recovered a bit by then.

There were four large octagons, each 199 meters wide. The first 8 teams entered the octagon which was surrounded by cosmic shields on all side, made by experts from the government. Beside each octagon were 3 judges, also appointed by the government.

Akash was looking at the candidates standing near one octagon as he opened their profiles, however, he was soon disappointed. Most of them had a poor grade aptitude, only one of them was of the common grade.

After his interest was lost, he quickly looked at the other tamers of the remaining 3 octagons. The results didn't improve his spirits at all as he sighed and sat back on a chair in his resting room.

The 1st match of the B Block was between Dhrab City and Khati City and it was quite one-sided. The latter only had 2 tamers while the former was fighting with 5. Their leader and vice leader were both at the 5th Star.

The battle ended quickly, and the referee announced the winning side. After a little break, the next teams were called to the stage before the referee stood in the center and announced.

"It's time for the 2nd fight of the B Block. Ladies and gentlemen, please give your applause to the team of Patidan City!"

The three of them entered the stage and the referee pointed his hand towards the other side and continued.

"Their opponent is what was once a 1st tier city that has fallen from grace to the 3rd tier. Please give your applause to the infamous cursed city, Abran!"

Akash stood up, stretched his back and uttered.

"Here I come, children."