"Don't involve yourself with them." Pagur said expressionlessly, "Let them sabotage each other while we focus on ourselves."
"You don't have to tell me." Aquamia retorted, not liking to get lectured.
Just because others didn't have the same level of enmity between them as Felix's team, they still weren't too friendly with each other.
After all, they were gunning for the MVP in this game to help their ancestors and sponsors win the bets.
They may not outright sabotage each other, but they would compete heavily to get the last hit on the Celestials to earn the most points.
After a couple of minutes of soft chatter, the judge of this game had teleported above the players.
Just from the snowy and a cold environment, everyone already assumed the judge's identity.
"Greeting everyone, my name is Ulfang from the Crystal Snow pack, and I am honored to be your judge in this lovely evening." A winterwolf greeted with a gentle tone as he looked at everyone.
Unlike most winterwolves, he had a blue fur covering him from bottom to top.
Some players greeted back, but the majority remained quiet.
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Knowing that almost everyone here had the ego of a star, Ulfang moved on to the explanation of the rules.
"Anyone here has a question?"
No one bothered to lift their hands as they merely kept eyeing Ulfang, waiting for him to send them to the stadium.
Even if they had questions, none of them would lower their pride to ask it in this gathering of elites.
"Alright then...You have half an hour to finalize things between yourselves before you get summoned." Ulfang could only conclude the Q&A right away and teleport back to the stadium.
After Ulfang left, the teams spread out and carried on with discussing their already prepared plans.
Meanwhile, Felix and Marquise Sebastian were still eyeing each other without saying much.
'If I want to win this game, I really have to at least make sure that this f*cker wouldn't hit me from the back in the first hours.' Felix frowned as he walked in direction of Marquise Sebastian.
This surprised him immensely, making him fix his posture, believing that Felix might be coming here to swear him off.
When the rest of the players saw this, they paused their discussions and perked up their ears, wanting to pick up on their drama.
Unfortunately, Felix spoke with Marquise Sebastian telepathically.
'I know that you have been ordered to sabotage me and my chances to win this game.' Felix said calmly.
'And?' Marquise Sebastian agreed to his accusation causally...He wasn't that childish to act ignorant and snap off Felix when the situation was clear to everyone.
'I also know that you will be throwing your reputation down the drain by doing so and that you aren't too fond of that.' Felix added.
'Does that matter to anything?' Marquise Sebastian replied calmly.
Felix understood the implication behind that sentence...It was like he was saying that his wants and desires had no place when an order were given to him by his ancestor.
Felix sympathized with him a bit since no one would like to see everything that they had built get thrashed in a single moment against their will.
Alas...
'So, I came here to propose a way beneficial for both of us.' Felix remarked.
'Hmm?' Marquise Sebastian raised an eyebrow in interest, not expecting that his enemy would find a way to work with each other even in such circumstances.
'What do you have in mind?'
'The game will last for twelve hours. Why don't we work together in the first couple of hours to defeat some celestials? Then, we can drop off the teamwork with a big fight against each other. You are free to carry on with your mission after that.' Felix suggested.
'Umm...' Marquise Sebastian thought deeply about Felix's proposal.
He understood that Felix's strategy would help him show everyone that the only reason he turned against Felix and started to sabotage him was due to their fight.
This was much better on his public image than just straightaway doing the deed.
As for Felix? He would be getting some peace of mind in the first couple of hours, farming as many points as possible before he would end up dealing with Marquise Sebastian and everyone else.
It was a win-win situation for both parties.
'Deal.' Marquise Sebastian nodded as he offered his hand for a handshake.
Felix glanced it calmly and ignored it. Then, he manifested a holographic contract and handed it to him.
'Sign this.'
He turned around and left, not bothering to check whether Marquise Sebastian signed the contract or not.
Marquise Sebastian wasn't offended by Felix's behavior as he would have done the same if put in the same situation.
He signed the contract and lowered his head to continue his meditation. Marquise Sebastian recognized that his ancestor wouldn't be too pleased by his decision.
But, he didn't care, knowing that this was the only option left where he could gain something out of this game.
After all, if he sabotaged Felix from the very start, making him lose the game, his ancestor would be happy, but his reputation would never recover again unless he went into hiding for a very long period of time.
On other hand, this plan at least ensured that his reputation would stay intact if Felix lost...If he won? Well, he would be taking the brunt of his ancestor's rage either ways.
'He is really playing with fire and bringing me with him.' Garr thought with a displeased expression, not liking this development.
Aquamia, Daydreamer, and the rest of the players were also not a fan of Felix's team making up. Still, they were sharp enough to realize that it must be a mere temporarily arrangement.
In their minds, there was just no way those two could work together for the entire duration when their factions were seeking each other's blood.
Before long, the players were summoned to the stadium that was situated above the Twilight moon.
It was a beautiful natural creation as its color was deep red while being nearby a giant planet the size of Jupiter.
Unfortunately, the peaceful silence of space was broken by thunderous yells and chants.
WHOOOAAAAH!!!! LANDLORD!! LANDLORD!!! DAYDREAMER!! LANDLORD!!..
For just ten players, there was surely a crazy amount of attendance in this game as the entire space above the moon was filled!
There were most likely at least a hundred billion live spectators..An insane number compared to the previous games of Felix!
It was quite normal for the alliance to hype up this game and provide access to this many fans.
After all, there were barely ten empyrean games each year, and they had to milk them dry every time.
Naturally, Felix's fans were dominating the seating with their crazy numbers, making their chants and screams travel across the entire moon.
This was only possible due to the moon being encased inside a transparent sphere that was hundreds of kilometers away from it.
This transparent sphere was filled with oxygen and other air elements, helping the players to not fret about it...Though, the gravity remained somewhat unaffected.
Fortunately, it wasn't out of the control as it was close to the Earth's moon gravity.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Are you ready to see some Celestials get slain?!" Ulfang appeared out of nowhere near the players as she shouted passionately as well.
The viewers' batsh*t reaction was enough to send vibrations towards the nearby planet!
"Then, let's get right on it!" Without wasting time with interview segment, Ulfang kicked off the game immediately!
He knew that those bunch of elites wouldn't bother entertaining him with an interview...So, why waste time on it?
"Three! Two! One!! RUMBLE!!"
The moment the countdown ended, Felix and Marquise Sebastian were teleported to a random area on the moon together.
When Felix opened his eyes, the first thing he did was extend his infra-ray vision to the limit, knowing that he had only a few hours of peaceful hunting.
"I found one." Felix disclosed as he squinted his eyes at a hundred meters titan with the head of an eagle and the body of a scorpion.
Just the size alone was enough to make him worthy of being called a celestial creature.
"Don't tell me you are talking about that one." Marquise Sebastian frowned after spotting the same terrifying creature.
"Yes."
"Then, you must be out of your own mind." Marquise Sebastian scolded, "That should a barbarian celestial type...He must have a indestructible shel..."
"Are you coming or not?" Felix didn't even bother to listen to him as he took off rapidly in direction of the scorpion.
Barbarian celestial, mentalist celestial, or the elemental celestial...Felix wasn't planning on backing off against either of them even if it meant fighting them alone.
The only reason Felix offered that contract was to have a peace of mind while fighting, not because he lacked confidence to fight the celestials on his own.
The faster Marquise Sebastian realized this, the better for him.
'F*cking brat.' Marquise Sebastian cursed in his mind as he chased after Felix, not wanting to be looked at as a coward by the viewers.
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