A smile tugged at the corner of Lev's lips, beneath the mask. There was a short interference, but at least, he managed to force Kyran to face him.
Initially, he was excited to meet Kyran. But after watching the match between the Conclave and the Lumley Family, he was disappointed.
There was no way that he, the son of the the Spirit Child could be that weak.
It was true that Kyran defeated his opponents with ease, but that was because he was really good at Array. If not for his ability, and Array knowledge, he would never have defeated the Lumley Family members.
Most important of all, there was no way the son of the Spirit Child possessed such a weak support magic!
However, that man told the elders about 'Tyr's' real identity. While Lev was also excited when he first found out, now, he felt nothing but disdain. He was beginning to doubt that man's words.
In the first place, they only had that man's words to rely on. There was no definite proof that 'Tyr' was the son of the Spirit Child. Even the Spirits with them was not reacting to 'Tyr.'
For this reason, Lev decided to unmask 'Tyr's' facade. Who knew, maybe he was actually working with that man— the one with flowing dark violet hair standing with the rest of the Montgomeray Family in the audience, and was trying to deceive their family.
They might be working with the Royal Family and was looking for a reason to 'take them down,' as what they had done to the Svell Family.
The reason for Lev's doubts, was simple.
If 'Tyr' was the person the elders were looking for, why did he have to hide? Why did he not come to them sooner? It was impossible for him not to have the memories of that person, if he was real.
"The next participant for the Conclave, please come to the arena," the male announcer said.
While he was speaking, the light golden array above the arena glowed, and the destroyed area on the arena repaired itself.
But Kyran was not paying attention to that, he kept his focus on Lev as thoughts swirled around his head.
He had to be careful when dealing with this kid. If not, he would end up exposing his real identity in front of all these people... No, maybe not his real identity, because none of the people present here knew the relationship between the Spirits and his predecessor.
Needless to say, that was only applicable if the Three Noble Families did not know what happened a thousand of years ago. Then again, it was unlikely they knew the truth, because apart from the families that birthed the four mages with Ancient magic; the Ashton— which now became the Ada, the Regis, the Tower, and the Winfrey— which was now under the Royal Family, Arthal, none of the current noble families lived a thousand years. They only appeared at least two to three hundred years ago.
Come to think of it, even the Regis Family and the Tower Family who had survived for a thousand years got their history messed up. All due to the fact that they did not leave proper records of the family's history. Or maybe, the Winfrey Family made sure the history was not properly recorded.
In any case, it was this reason that Kyran was not that worried about his real identity getting exposed. Nevertheless, he did not trust the thought process of these people. The last thing he wanted was the Royal Family thinking that he was not only some big shot from oustide the empire but was connected with the Spirits too.
Kyran pushed aside all irrelevant thoughts in his mind as he arrived at the edge of the arena, where the stairs were located.
'Now then, let's start,' Kyran thought as his eyes met the Fire Golem's fiery eyes.
The moment Kyran stepped into the arena, the timer above appeared, showing a 25:10. When he made his way to the center, it started its countdown.
Lev crossed his arms while he watched Kyran leisurely come up the arena, he said, "Don't pull off the same stunt you did with the Lumley Family. Let's have a proper match."
Kyran stopped in his tracks and raised his brows turning his attention in Lev's direction, "Is that your way of admitting you don't have a countermeasure against the 'stunt' I did?"
"Tsk," Lev clicked his tongue, annoyed at Kyran's words. "Don't twist my words."
With a slight shrug, Kyran continued walking toward the center of the arena.
"I'm not. I just find it a waste of time to tell me that. In the first place, whether I do the same strategy or not is entirely up to me. Your opinion does not matter. Second, saying you want to have a 'proper match' with me is inappropriate. This is a competition. Having a proper match is a given. Or what? Were you expecting I'll take it easy because your a kid?"
Lev did not reply to his question.
However, the Montgomeray members participating in the Solo Competition as well as the ones in the audience who were familiar with Lev on a personal level, could sense his displeasure at Kyran's words. He was not displeased with what Kyran had said per se. Rather it was because the latter made sense that Lev was annoyed.
He would not admit this, though.
"Enough nonsense," Lev told Kyran instead.
The male announcer lifted his hand, and as he did, Kyran's eyes turned dark purple. No one saw the sudden change, because of his mask. If someone did notice anything, they would only see his aquamarine eyes turning a darker shade.
"Second match of the Solo Competition, begin!" The announcer declared just as the timer turned 25:00.
Everyone braced themselves in anticipation for Kyran and Lev's first move.
To most, this match up was something to look out for. Both did make quite a noise during their first appearance.
But then...
"..."
"..."
Silence filled the hall as the two players in the arena remained still. Even the Fire Golem, which was standing menacingly a few feet in front of Lev, and a few distance away from Kyran, remained silent.
"What is he doing?"
It was Tilda who muttered the question the rest of the mercenaries were thinking, breaking the silence in their end.
Styx furrowed his brows but did not say anything. He was not that familiar with Kyran to have a good grasp on his thinking. But one thing he was sure of was that the latter would not do something for no reason. So, Kyran's silence must be one of his strategy.
"Is he trying to annoy the other side?" Deo wondered aloud.
Black lines suddenly appeared on their heads.
Yes. They could see Kyran doing that.
The silence soon made the audience restless.
Among them, Millie and Mimi who were with the rest of the Courtenay members was starting to sense something was wrong.
Especially Mimi.
Just a few seconds ago, she sensed something 'invisible' past through her. But seeing that none of the people around her reacted, she might have imagined it. Besides, with the Arrays in place in the whole dome, it was impossible for anyone to suddenly make a stealth move.
On one side, the members of the Lumley Family snickered. To them, they did not care what the Montgomeray Family would do, they might be part of the Three Noble Families but that in itself made them their unspoken rivals. They were only interested in what Kyran was going to do.
Anyway, seeing his uncharacteristic move made them believe he was suffering from something. Maybe an internal injury of some sort. Being able to participate in the Array Creation was one thing, but Kyran did not participate in the mock battle. His refusal to Lev's earlier provocation was questionable too. If this was true, then they would definitely not let this pass.
The Montgomeray Family was also silent. However, some of them stole furtive glances toward the man with long flowing dark violet hair, who was intently watching the arena.
The rest of the people from the Conclave and the Royal Army was also bewildered.
"Argh!!!"
Suddenly, Lev's scream broke the tension. He stomped his feet like a child having a tantrum as he pointed at the Fire Golem before him.
"Attack him, now!"
The Fire Golem made grunting sounds as it turned to face Lev.
"You dare defy me, Ignis?" Lev growled in anger. He lifted his hand with his palm facing toward Ignis.
A red symbol three by three inches in size appeared in his palm.
The same symbol appeared on Ignis's forehead and it roared as if in pain.
Kyran, who had remained silent the whole time finally made a move. His eyes had turned reddish-purple, but because of his mask, it only made his aquamarine eyes glowed in a very strange light. He crouch down then stomped his feet on the floor, moving toward Ignis at a startling speed.
"Humph," Lev snickered. He knew Kyran would use this opportunity to attack. Unfortunately for him, Lev was not reliant to Ignis. Yes, he let Ignis do his battle, but that did not mean he was vulnerable without it!