The next day, everyone gathered at Phrova mansion. All of them are students are standing.
"So, are you guys going to speak or what?" (Emiko)
"I need a detailed explanation on what you guys are up to" (Esther)
"Yes, we will explain everything but before that, why mom is not standing among us?" (Christe)
Isagi who is sipping tea while sitting near Esther and pretending to be an audience.
"You took your mom to all kind of dangerous things and never reported anything to me. I am asking as the duke of Phrova. She has right to do anything as the duchess, but you have been instructed to discuss everything to me first before you turn 18 right." (Esther)
"That's because mom agreed to it" (Christe)
"Is that the answer you can give as the next heir? Will you take her to battlefield in future too just because she is nodding to everything you say? I watched everything in broadcast. How she sacrificed the stone to let you guy's rest in peace. You do know Isagi is not a trained professor right. I don't blame you. After all I am also in wrong. Allowing her to go with you, thinking that Christe might need his mom support." (Esther)
"I am sorry father" (Christe)
sighs "No one is in wrong here. I decided on my consent to go with him, and I am glad I did. I don't want to sit out and watch him survive there. Let's forget about that and discuss everything we know"
After discussing everything about cult
"Hmm. So, you saw a demon corpse and a guardian monster which said they need the artifact for him?" (Emiko)
"If that demon was the reason for those monster's existence. Did no one go there to check and eradicate and just made it into a competition to reduce their number's" (Esther)
"If cult's goal is to get the artifact to the corpse. From what we heard that cult is killed by second prince and that corpse is buried into that dungeon. Doesn't that mean it's resolved?" (Elissa)
"It's not that simple. We know clearly only one man escaped from us and he is not cult leader. The cult leader is a person who is among the participants. We do know how some teams got killed by the cult and some of them by other teams. So, it might be that second prince killed the person escaped from us and believing that he killed the leader and claimed the points that person carrying. Either way, the cult leader must be still there among the participants" (Isagi)
"And you guys want to step in the competition and stop them? Isagi, can't we just inform Empress and remove the artifact from prize list" (Esther)
"It will result in big turmoil. From our point of view, these all are assumptions but from people point of view, that artifact is the biggest reward in this festival. She can't just say that she will be swapping the rewards. It will also affect the participants who participating and the people who died for that in the first competition. everyone wants to get the maximum points to claim that. The artifact will be handed to the winning team member who gets more votes from their team" (Emiko)
"So, we just have to win it?" (Aquila)
"That's the thing I am worried about. You see, the next competition is not widely known because most teams quit before participating. It won't be broadcasted. Only Empress or Emperor will take you to the venue and will explain about the competition there. You can go to next competition without getting points in this but still students won't participate in this. This time it might be different since heirs of big houses participating. They won't back off since pride is in the line. But I think we should prioritize safety over pride" (Esther)
"You are worrying too much. The children are strong, and I have to say, your wife is not someone who can be taken lightly. She is their leader, and the students want her"(Emiko)
"Father, we will make sure to protect mom this time" (Christe)
I think I know what to do here. leaning on his shoulders "You said we can pass the competition just by not trying for points also right. I will make sure to play the safe game for this round. So, please?"
"Fine, just please don't do anything reckless. I am saying this for everyone" (Esther)
The day of the competition. All the participants were asked to follow the empress. she took everyone to a cliff edge.
Is that a gate? it's in the edge of the cliff surrounded by sea.
"Everyone listen carefully about what I am going to say. This element is created with dark elemental energy. Some of you might already know that it's the only element existed before 1000 years ago. What we use is just a subsidiary of omnipotent element. This gate origin is unknown. Once you enter this gate, you will be in an unknown place, we call that as worlds. since, no one has experienced anything like that here. Whether you are transported to some unknown place or it just entirely created from dark energy, nobody knows about what the reason is and what even that is. But the world you will be in will limit the place to a certain region. you won't be able to go wherever you wish as there will be an invisible barrier. To put it simply, that gate you enter will have a barrier which will be expanded widely from that gate to some other gate present in that world. Going inside the other gate will allow you to go to some other world and that will also connect it to other gates. as far how many worlds and gates are there is unknown. Each world is swarmed with demons, and they all have a boss. Even if you kill them some other will come to that place in some period of time. Your goal is to go inside and kill the first world demon and come back. Clearing a world will give you 50 points. If you want to survive but participate, you can search for the next world gate and go inside and come back quickly to first world and then you can come to main gate to pass the competition. But I advise you that no one can predict the next world or how difficult it will be. As far as I know, it will be random, so better return quickly and you can qualify to next competition without earning points here. You should have good control over your elemental energy to fight demons. The transportation gate is over there, once you come out of main gate, go into the transportation gate which will take you to the main Arena in the city, because the third competition starts as soon as everyone arrived. Everyone will be wearing this life tracking artifact in your wrist. So that we will know how many of you alive. If you are afraid, this is the last chance to withdraw" (Adleida)
"Seems fun, my team will participate" (Valerius)
"We already decided to participate regardless of its difficulty" (Lucius)
Are you kidding? This is insane. fighting demons in unknown place and finding a way back? we can deal with cult once they make a move. Let's just withdraw. "We will..."
"We will participate and win this. I am quite looking forward to a battlefield like this" (Aquila)
Why are you making decision on behalf of your leader. (Isagi crying inside)
"Ah, I am sensing goosebumps from Aquila" (Elissa)
Please check my feelings too!!!