Chapter 34 - Imperial Competition

" Team for what exactly?" Shadow asked her . He wasn't sure about his conclusions so he thought it was better to inquire some information from her.

"For the imperial competition of course " she said with enthusiasm .

Clara noticed the confused expression on Shadow's face so she started explaining with more details.

" The imperial competition is a huge event where all powers in the whole empire of Prophis compete against each others to win the first place . The competition is hosted by the imperial family so the rewards obviously must be extraordinary "

"And what's the conditions for participating in the competition?" Shadow asked.

"Aside from the entering fee which is 10 gold coins for each team , the participants must be under the age of 25 . Everyone is allowed to take part in it as long as you don't have a criminal record and meet the required conditions " she said .

'It's true that the fee condition might seem harsh but I'm sure it's just to prevent common people from joining in after all , even if 10 gold coins was a high price for the common people , it's nothing for those powerful families and cultivators whose the competition was made for in the first place 'Shadow pondered

"How does it work though , i mean it's a huge event so how to manage all the participants across the whole empire ?" Shadow asked

"You know that the Prophis empire has four kingdoms. These kingdoms will each have a local mini-competition to qualify the top ten teams from each one of them and these top ten teams from each kingdom will compete against each other in the grand imperial competition "

"That's really a huge event " Said Shadow while smiling

"Do you have to form a team to participate?" He asked.

"Not particularly . The competition was made for teams but if you can defeat a team by yourself then go ahead and participate by yourself, but that's an impossible feat that's why people try their best to add strong members to their teams" Clara replied.

"So what do think , do you want to join our team ?" She asked .

"I don't know about joining the competition or not ,but I'm sure that if I participate then I won't be joining any team " Shadow said.

"I know you're strong , but you should know that all the participants are monsters and talented individuals , you will barely be able to defeat one of them let alone a whole team . Besides you won't be able to recruit strong members to your team as there is only 5 months away from the starting day .

Clara saw Shadow smile from ear to ear but didn't know why .

'With me and Mia in the same team and a gap of 5 months ..hehehe' Shadow pondered with a sinister expression.

After sometime, both Shadow and Clara went to their respective beds to sleep .

Next morning,

In a big hall , A group of 10 elders were seated around a long table. Their expressions varied between shock , joy and even grim .

"Edgar , would you like to explain what's going on here ?" A man who looked in his fifties spoke . Everyone knew he was much older but due to his high cultivation he never ages. He was Clark , the patriarch of the Raven family.

Edgar had a grim expression on his face , but was still composed and acted like nothing was wrong.

"Everyone knows about the tragic that happened to the young kids who were sent to the branch family 10 years ago . We hid the truth from the families because we didn't want to disturb Maya's cultivation at that time as she was young and just started to cultivate. The investigators we sent to inspect the burned carriages informed us that all the kids were burned inside the carriage alive and no one was spared alive . And i just like you thought that those bastards killed my son along with the rest of the kids , but shockingly he's not dead , he's alive " Edgar spoke shamelessly without stuttering.

No one thought Edgar was lying as everything he said about the incident was true to them .

"Patriarch, don't you think we should be celebrating? Our family has not just the light summoner but also the dark summoner who's told to be even more powerful " elder Charles suggested.

"Don't get carried away elder Charles . We don't know if he's loyal to the family or not after all, he was exiled from the main family 10 years ago and was bullied by the younger generation for being cripple which till this moment I can't believe how could you say such a thing about a genius like him. Another thing is , where has he be been all this time ? I'm sure if he wanted to come back to the family it wouldn't be that hard " elder Evelyn said with a solemn voice.

The elders nodded their heads when they heard her words .

"So what do you suggest " patriarch Clark asked.

"I have a suggestion " elder Luke spoke .

"speak freely " Patriarch Clark said.

"How about we inform Maya to invite him here and we shall see his demeanor and feelings towards the family " elder Luke suggested.

"I think that's a good suggestion "

" I agree "

"I agree too"

"Yeah that sounds good"

The elders nodded in acceptance one after the other.

"Very well then , we shall do that and when he comes here , we can question him about the reason for killing Nancy—a member of his own family " Patriarch Clark said.

Edgar was listening silently without uttering a word . He was feeling some conflicted emotions. Sometimes it was anger sometimes it was regret , but the most crucial thing he was happy and joyful.. He thought Shadow was his son and he can manipulate him easily just like Maya which means the most powerful elements users are gonna be under his commands. He never cared about the relationship of father-son or daughter, he saw his children as a tool between his hands that he can use them whenever he wants as long as they were useful for his goals