Chapter 704: Blood-Colored Iris

"Ohhh! What is this? Someone has knocked down two people in a row, and that still is not enough. He is heading straight for a third!"

The host's voice echoed through the entire arena, surprised and delighted.

"Ah! Starting here, someone has broken the unspoken agreement of pairing off in twos and threes and has begun attacking every opponent indiscriminately! Is he trying to recreate the astonishing miracle from two centuries ago, when Montaillou the 'Saintly Law' cut through the entire field alone?"

Originally, half the contestants in the team battle were still watching, protecting themselves, and conserving their strength. They defended carefully and counterattacked cautiously, hoping to last until the end and secure a good ranking. But the chaos in this corner of the arena quickly spread outward like ripples.

A warrior who had been struck hard staggered back in pain and crashed into another person's back. The latter, already tense, hurriedly counterattacked, accidentally clashing blades with a third opponent. Contestants farther away saw an opportunity and instinctively moved closer, only to be struck by an ambusher who had been watching them for a long time...

"Wow! With a precedent set, the other contestants can no longer sit still either. They are all starting to look for chances to attack. Everyone in this area is moving! Scenes of the many bullying the few and opportunists picking up scraps are everywhere, but who can complain? This is the fairest and also the most unfair team battle! Come on, let me hear more noise!"

Once one hair was pulled, the whole body moved. Everyone's rhythm was dragged faster and thrown into disorder. The entire arena fell into fierce battles where friend and foe were difficult to distinguish, intense and chaotic.

"The situation has changed all at once! Audience, our blessing has arrived! The true grand melee has come earlier than in previous years!" The host stood on the platform closest to the fighting area, gripping the sound tube and roaring.

Night had fallen, but the whole arena remained brightly lit. The drums thundered even louder than before, and the melee of the team battle grew more and more intense. Contestants gathered into knots, slaughtering chaotically in a scene both thrilling and difficult to untangle. Every time someone was wounded, bled, or fell, the spectators would rise with cries of surprise and beat whatever was near them as they cheered madly.

"Do it! Do it! Take him down! Aaaah!"

"Behind you, behind you, behind you! Watch behind you! Ah! Fuck! You useless thing! Give me back my money!"

"Everyone else is fighting already! Don't be a coward! Go!"

"Do you see Baligo? He counterattacked, he counterattacked, look... aaah, just a little short!"

As the battle reports spread outside the arena, a clamor loud enough to shake Jade City came back from the crowd outside, drowning out the cheers within. The entire selection meeting grew tense in rhythm and feverish in atmosphere, making the heart race.

"Look at the chaotic northwest corner! Karnamani from the Talendi Co-Governance has become the peacemaker, forcefully intervening in a duel between two people. He swings his greatsword and fights one against two without falling behind at all! He seems to be saying, 'Is that all? Bring another!' Oh, wish granted! Here one comes! From behind, no less! Ta-da! Karnamani is out. This story teaches us: do not break up a fight you cannot handle!"

"But the sneak attacker is not doing well either. After eliminating Karnamani, he took a heavy hit himself and looks ready to collapse. Just as the old Suyu saying goes: when the snipe and clam fight, the fisherman's wife's lover profits!"

"As for why, ha, who told the fisherman to leave home and go fishing!"

Under the host's highly provocative commentary, the sound waves inside and outside the arena answered one another, surging outward and then back in. This gave Thales, sitting in the main stand, the illusion that he had returned to the National Conference seven years ago, where every word spoken inside would receive a delayed yet shocking response from Star Plaza.

"Barbaric."

Thales clicked his tongue and shook his head as he watched the chaotic melee below. "Everyone has gone mad. Is this normal?"

Zayen frowned deeply.

"In previous years, this kind of situation usually only appears when the number of people drops below ten, when everyone is already red-eyed and there is no need to conserve strength, unless..."

"Someone among the contestants deliberately accelerated the rhythm," Hilley said.

Thales' heart chilled. He restrained the impulse to stand and lean forward.

"There are too many people and the scene is too chaotic. I did not see which contestant sped things up."

"What do they want to do? They are not really trying to incite a riot, are they?" Hilley asked suspiciously.

"It does not matter," Zayen said decisively. "This is the arena. The Jade Legion has already deployed in advance. No matter what accident occurs, no matter what means they have prepared..."

At that moment, a familiar voice came from the direction of the stairs.

"Your Highness Thales!"

The three of them turned back together and saw someone standing on the stairs beneath the stand, arguing with Knight Cecil, who was guarding the way, while anxiously calling the prince's name.

Zayen narrowed his eyes.

"Thales, is that not your..."

Thales' eyelid twitched.

"Yes. My attendant officer, Wya."

"Which one?" Hilley asked.

Thales choked.

"What do you mean, which one?" Zayen was bewildered.

"The one... In short, let him up." Thales gave up explaining.

Zayen's eyes moved warily.

"Wait. Your attendant officer. Is there any possibility that he might betray..."

"Absolutely impossible," Thales said firmly. "I trust Wya more than anyone else."

"Than the other Wyas?" Hilley interjected.

"Shut up," Thales said with a dark face.

Zayen looked puzzled, but he still waved for the soldiers to let him pass.

"Your Highness Thales!"

Wya hurried up the stairs and came straight toward Thales.

"Lord Zayen, and Lady Cecilia, I just went to the washroom. I apologize for disturbing your refined pleasure..."

Refined pleasure?

From the corner of his eye, Thales saw that not far from them, a contestant had been struck on the head and split open. He lay unconscious on the ground, blood flowing freely, until the medics and stretcher team seized the opportunity to carefully yet swiftly drag him out of the field.

"No, you came at just the right time, Wya. Where are the others? I remember asking Hugo to check on Mallos..."

Wya paused, looking troubled.

"They, uh..."

Under Thales' gaze, Wya took a deep breath.

"They teamed up to place bets."

As soon as these words came out, Zayen and Hilley could not help turning to look at Thales together.

Thales' eyebrow twitched.

"P-place bets?"

Wya looked embarrassed and smiled awkwardly.

"Yes. Yes, that. You know, betting on... something about the house, something about taking all, something about side pools..."

"So just now, when you were all gathered below in a cluster, muttering and acting suspicious, it was for this?" Hilley's gaze was contemptuous.

"Ah? Was it that obvious?" Wya was first startled, then realized what she meant. His expression turned awkward, his words faltered, and his laughter stiffened. "Oh. Yes. Yes, you discovered it. Heh. Hehehe. Hehehehe."

"How wonderful," Zayen said sarcastically, gesturing toward the arena. "We are at a critical moment, Thales, and your subordinates are... betting?"

Thales felt his face stiffen.

Damn it.

With Mallos absent, these brats dared to openly skip work?

"I, he... You do not understand. Betting is only the explanation. They... in fact, each have important tasks," Thales said bravely. "Right, Wya?"

Wya shuddered.

"Of, of course! Your Highness! Important tasks! Extremely important tasks!" Wya answered stiffly. "They will appear once they complete the mission!"

The Covendier siblings both gave Thales a look of contempt.

Thales could only laugh dryly and, thick-skinned, continue watching the match.

The melee in the field grew even more intense and bloody. The contestants did not stop for a moment, forced to deal with every opponent from every direction. The arena increasingly resembled a real battlefield.

"Wya?"

"Yes, Your Highness?"

"You are... standing too close to me."

"Oh, apologies!" Wya was startled and hurriedly stepped back.

"It is fine. Also, could you... let go? You are hurting my hand."

"Ah, Your Highness, I am sorry. I only..." Wya quickly released him. While glancing at Zayen and Hilley from the corner of his eye, he smiled awkwardly at the prince. "It has been so long since I last saw you. I missed you."

Zayen and Hilley, who had been staring at the fighting in the field, both turned their heads and looked askance.

"Uh, of course, haha." Thales froze for a second, forced out a smile, and looked at the Covendier siblings. "You know, Wya and I have been together for so many years. We are very close."

The Iris siblings frowned and returned their attention to the arena.

"Well, Wya..." the prince said awkwardly. "Duke Zayen and I still have matters to discuss. Could you wait below the stand as before?"

"As you... ah?" Wya's face first went pale. Then he took a deep breath, as if making up his mind. "But, Your Highness, I have been away from you for too long and missed you greatly. May I stay with you? Not for long. Just a little while?"

Zayen and Hilley turned their heads again, their expressions strange.

Thales' smile froze on his face.

"Hehe. I told you, we are very close. Fine, stay then." Facing their looks, Thales naturally pointed toward the arena, changing the subject. "Ah! Look at those two contestants! Incredible!"

The siblings turned back with faces full of suspicion.

But Thales keenly noticed that, at some point, Wya had quietly picked up Thales' sword, Warning.

Strange.

Thales' brow moved. Without changing expression, he straightened slightly and felt the JC dagger tied behind his waist.

"Audience, look at him! The lucky Sword of Destiny is blocking blades for his teammate, protecting him and opening a path, forcing back several people all the way!"

Following the host's words, the spectators turned to look at the scene he described.

In the melee, a black-armored warrior advanced step by step. His longsword flew, and at a speed completely mismatched with his heavy armor and build, he moved flexibly through the chaos. In a dozen seconds, he knocked down several people and carved a bloody path through the contestants.

Behind him followed a swordsman in white, his helmet covering his face. He walked with measured steps, unhurried, sword in hand. He passed one contestant after another who lay on the ground groaning and screaming. Whenever someone tried to sneak attack him from behind, the black-armored warrior ahead seemed to anticipate it in advance, either turning to protect him or throwing something from a distance to guard the white-clad swordsman.

The host deliberately drew out his voice, letting it echo through the arena.

"He and his teammate. Are they another pair of loyal knight and lord, touching enough to move the heart? Or a family guard fighting tirelessly for his young master's reputation? Or perhaps the kind of tacit escort match that the audience hates most? Or... another pair of lovers who fell for each other on the battlefield and now protect each other through life and death? Let us wait and see the truth!"

Seeing this scene, the spectators began discussing noisily.

"Again? Another one who paid to be escorted?"

"Which family's young master is here to gild his reputation this time?"

"Hey, this is called going down to the grassroots to train his ability, experience life, and enrich his record!"

"You can play like that?"

"This is a team battle. It implicitly allows tricks. As long as you can win, anything goes!"

"Then what is the point?"

The black-armored warrior and the white-clad swordsman moved as a pair, one outside and one inside, one moving and one still. They were almost unmatched. Around them, the nearby contestants gradually formed an empty zone centered on the pair, which slowly moved with the black-armored warrior's steps.

"Oh, contestant Bischoff and his companion have traveled all this way through heavy encirclement. Are they trying to occupy favorable ground and fight to the end? They certainly have gone far!"

But at this moment, the rhythm of the host's rising and falling commentary changed.

"Wait. Why are they heading toward... no, no, no! Contestant Bischoff! You cannot cross that line, do you hear me? That is a violation. Points will be deducted, perhaps even... Go back! Go back! That direction is not part of the fighting area. You cannot fight there, and you cannot go there to avoid battle! If you do not want to fight, surrender directly... This is already near the host platform, and the sound tube lines are very expensive... Hey, guards? Where are the guards? Guards, drive them back!"

The host's amplified voice spread through the arena, drawing the spectators' attention at once. Everyone stood up curiously. Thales and the others also instinctively turned to look beneath the host platform.

Several guards went to meet the black-armored warrior, drawing weapons and shouting for him to go back.

In the next second, sword light flashed. The guards fell one after another. The black-armored warrior continued forward, striding over the line on the ground.

Under the gaze of the entire arena, the white-clad swordsman followed behind him, at ease and light of step.

As though inspecting his own kingdom.

Thales frowned. Zayen and Hilley instinctively leaned forward.

On the host platform, the event host waved angrily. His voice spread through the arena.

"Hey! This is the sacred selection meeting! You cannot do this! You cannot! You cannot attack guards! They are not your opponents! Your results will be canceled! Fine, if there are casualties, prepare to go to prison! No official, however important, will be able to protect you!"

Perhaps because they had never seen such a scene, many spectators were in high spirits. They stood and constantly jeered and cheered for the pair of rule-breaking contestants.

"What is going on?" Thales narrowed his eyes.

"Are they the people we are looking for?" Hilley leaned forward.

"It is them. They have come," Zayen said, his eyes bright as he examined the increasingly chaotic team battle and the special pair of contestants. "Just as expected."

In the field, one black and one white figure pressed forward. Teams of guards hurried over, but the team battle was still ongoing, and the melee was complicated. For the moment, the guards could not gather and enter the field to maintain order and punish the violators.

Wya stood behind Thales and swallowed.

At the same time, the black-armored warrior stopped below the host platform. He raised his head and looked at the bright moon in the night sky.

"I do not understand," Hilley said doubtfully. "Those two are not trying to approach our stand, nor are they working to win. Instead, they are attacking guards in such a high-profile way. What are they trying to do?"

"Nothing beyond killing people and taking lives, inciting unrest," Zayen shook his head. "We will ask them in the cell."

Killing people and taking lives.

At that instant, as Thales looked at the black-armored warrior's position, his eyes moved.

"Killing people and taking lives..." the prince murmured. "If you do not kill people and take lives, no one will listen."

"What?" Zayen's expression changed.

No one will listen...

Listen...

The next second, Thales' expression changed drastically, and he instinctively stood.

"They want to seize the host platform! The sound tube!"

Zayen realized this as well, and his face changed.

The duke abruptly stood and roared toward the bottom of the stand.

"Cecil! Move!"

Captain Cecil, who had long been prepared, replied from below with a strong voice.

"I know, my lord! Please rest assured! According to the plan, Rorian and Silva are leading teams over to handle the violators!"

"Everyone else, protect the duke's stand! Pay attention to any suspicious person!"

The next moment, the white-clad swordsman in the arena nodded to the black-armored warrior. The former stepped onto the stairs and rushed up the host platform in only a few strides.

Thales saw clearly from the stand as the white-clad swordsman approached step by step and grabbed the host by the collar.

The host's voice, originally full of breath and strength, instantly changed pitch.

"No, no, no, you cannot come up here! I am still commentating on the selection meeting... Do not touch the sound tube... no, ah! Ow! No, no, no, help!"

The struggle and fighting on the host platform spread through the sound tube to the entire arena.

Soon, a strange, cold voice replaced the host's and sounded in the arena.

"You. Get out."

The host screamed, rolled down the stairs, and fled in a hurry.

Such an accident was unprecedented. Aside from the contestants still fighting in the main field with self-forgetful intensity, the entire arena burst into an uproar. More than ten seconds later, an even louder cry came from the crowd outside the arena.

"What is going on?"

"Someone has gone mad trying to become famous, right?"

"Just wait. This kind of thing has happened before. When the guards catch him, he will be eating prison food..."

"No! I bet on him!"

Vassals, nobles, merchants, foreign guests... almost everyone stood from their seats, startled and uncertain. Some even tried to cross the railings to watch the commotion, only to be stopped by security officers and green caps.

At this moment, that unfamiliar and cold voice, the white-clad swordsman's voice, rang out again, shaking the arena.

"I know. I know you did not come here for this, Jade City. You did not come to the selection meeting for this."

"But now, please. Listen. To. Me."

The spectators in the major stands fell silent. Even some of the contestants still fighting in the field stopped.

The white-clad swordsman stood on the host platform. His face was still hidden behind his helmet as he surveyed the entire selection meeting arena.

"I understand," Thales said, staring fixedly at what was happening on the opposite host platform. "He is doing what you once did."

Zayen turned back in surprise. "What? What I once did?"

"The royal banquet. Remember? Anker Byrael," Thales said in a trance. "He is forcing everyone to listen, and then..."

Zayen's eyes focused.

"Listen to what? Who is Anker Byrael?" Hilley did not understand.

"Damn it. I thought their target was either you or me," Zayen said darkly to Thales.

Hilley frowned.

"What about me?"

"So the main focus of the deployment was on this side, and we ignored the host platform. But..." Zayen ignored his sister and took a deep breath. "But it does not matter. Since they have shown themselves, the game is over. It is only a matter of time."

Thales was about to say something when he felt his hand tighten. He turned and found Wya handing Warning to him.

"Your Highness," Wya said gravely. "In case of need."

Thales' heart tightened, but the white-clad swordsman's voice immediately rang out.

"As you all know, this morning, a security officer died in Jade City," he said. His voice was very low and deep, his speed unhurried, yet it carried an inexplicable sense of grief and anger. "A person. A life. A husband. A father. Dead in the street."

"But he was not the only one..."

Kaquere's death was the major news of the morning. The entire arena immediately exploded. The reactions in each stand differed.

The noble vassals were cautious, each closing their mouths. The officials and clerks looked serious and exchanged glances. The merchants were panicked and whispered to one another. The foreign guests grew curious, waiting to see the show. As for the mixed public stands, buzzing spread everywhere as people discussed excitedly.

Of course, even more people turned, naturally or unnaturally, to look at the duke's stand.

"In these days, too many people have died in Jade City. A wine merchant, a wool merchant, a Security Hall chief, a defense lawyer, an accountant, the son of a former mercenary, and more... They all died violently, yet all were kept from daylight, unknown to others, all for some absurd reason."

Thales exchanged looks with Zayen and Hilley and felt the shock and unease in each of them.

"Yet the true murderer who killed them not only hides behind the curtain, but slanders and frames others. He tried to plant the blame on the kingdom's heir, tried to blacken the name of the Duke of Star Lake, tried to drive away Prince Thales, who came with fairness and justice."

Thales frowned deeply. Wya stood a little closer to the prince.

"...all to hide his own false and ugly face, and to cover up the monstrous evil he once committed."

The white-clad swordsman snorted coldly.

"So I have decided to endure no longer, to remain silent no longer, to no longer swallow filth and humiliation for Jade City's sake..."

In the next second, he raised his head and pointed his longsword directly at the duke's stand across the arena.

"Yes, Zayen Covendier!"

"Our wise duke. It was you. You killed them!"

The white-clad swordsman spoke loudly.

"You killed the merchant Dagori Moss! You killed the merchant Diop! You killed Security Hall Chief Jeff Rene! You killed the defense lawyer Srimanny! You killed the nameless boxer Bolwin! And you killed Prince Thales' security officer, Security Officer Kaquere!"

The arena fell into uproar again. The white-clad swordsman's words were like a thunderbolt exploding across the entire place.

"My heavens..."

"What is going on..."

"It must be slander. Empty words, one-sided claims. Do not believe it..."

"It is a conspiracy by foreign forces!"

"But what if it is true?"

"Keep talking! I still want to listen!"

On the duke's stand, Zayen suppressed his fury and tried to maintain his bearing as he summoned his trusted general.

"Cecil! What is taking so long?"

"Deepest apologies, Your Grace!"

Captain Cecil hurriedly answered from below the stand.

"It is just that the area below is packed with contestants, and the spectators are also squeezing forward. We need to clear a path, or take a detour. At most a few minutes..."

"No!"

Zayen suddenly stood.

"Stop the match! Do not take a detour. Charge straight into the field, destroy that damned sound tube, and arrest them! Now!"

Thales had never seen Zayen lose control like this. He and Hilley exchanged a look.

Cecil was startled.

"S-stop the match? But my lord, according to the rules of the selection meeting, before a winner is decided, letting troops rush in by the batch..."

"Fuck the rules!"

Zayen roared out of control, half his body leaning out of the stand.

"It is my family's selection meeting. I decide the rules!"

The duke's appearance drew many people's attention. Hilley reacted fastest. She immediately rose to support her brother and pulled him back.

"Proceed according to the original plan, Knight Cecil. Treat this as an ordinary breach of discipline and rules. The mad words of one lunatic are not worth mobilizing the Jade Legion. Besides, there are so many foreign guests watching."

"No, you will now..."

Hilley gripped her brother's hand fiercely and cut Zayen off sternly.

"That will only make us more embarrassed and less able to explain ourselves."

The Duke of South Coast stared blankly at his sister. A few seconds later, he took a deep breath and tightly clasped her hand in return.

Cecil paused, but Cassian patted his shoulder. After hesitating briefly, Cecil nodded and turned away.

"I understand now. Misdirection." Thales suddenly spoke, drawing their attention.

"Young Bolwin's death was not for Jade City to see," Thales said instinctively. "It was for you to see, Zayen Covendier. Perhaps even only for you to see."

Zayen's eyes tightened.

"Then, then you would be misdirected. You would take measures as they expected, respond, try to counter them, and do..." Thales sighed. "Those things you 'had to do.'"

"The things they wanted you to do."

The things they wanted you to do...

Hilley heard this, and her expression slowly changed as well.

The white-clad swordsman continued.

"And not only that, Zayen. Not only that..."

His faint cold laugh echoed through every corner of the arena, leaving all the spectators lost.

"Killing them was not enough. You also mobilized every connection and method you had, from top to bottom, from black to white, from the Blood Bottle Gang to the Security Hall, bending the law for private reasons, to cover up the truth of the cases and falsify their deaths!"

Zayen stared fixedly at the man in white on the host platform, his eyes nearly splitting with rage.

The noise in the arena grew louder and louder. It became increasingly difficult for the security officers to maintain order at every stand and exit.

After great effort, two more teams of guards broke through the crowd and rushed beneath the host platform with torches raised. But the black-armored warrior stood at the bottom of the stairs, one man holding the pass against ten thousand.

"All this because they knew your ugliest secret, the one you could least bear to have seen. They knew what outrageous deed you committed back then, a deed despised by gods and men alike!"

The white-clad swordsman raised his voice and swept his longsword outward.

"Yes, Jade City!"

"It was him. Zayen Covendier. Eleven years ago, it was he who hired an assassin to murder his own father, the respected old duke, Lenster Covendier. That was how he sat upon a bloodstained throne and became an unjust duke!"

The man in white roared, his voice heart-rending.

"The duke who murdered his father!"

At that moment, Thales froze.

Hilley froze as well.

Only Zayen remained, gripping his sister's hand tightly, looking at the white-clad man on the host platform without saying a word.

"And now, all those who died violently were killed because he was trying to silence them, trying to hide this crime."

The white-clad man's words finally fell.

In the next second, the entire arena boiled over. First inside the field, then outside it. First the spectators, then the bewildered security officers and Emerald soldiers.

"Absurd!"

Another voice suddenly rang out.