The contracts made by Erin were in blank, so that Daimon could add the conditions he wanted to them, depending on the situation, which in this case were quite simple.
First, from this point onwards and until they were back at their respective galaxies, they couldn't harm each other in any form, second, that included betrayal, forcing the others to risk their lives against their will and the like, the second condition was that no matter the circumstances, Tessa and Femi would never reveal Daimon's identity as Gabriel, unless he or Aisha directly allowed them to.
The third condition was that Daimon would protect them to the best of his capacities, as long as they were sided with him.
There was an extra condition added but it was just a formality, whoever got a resource will be its owner, but at the same time if selling they should prioritize each other, Daimon also added that he will reward them according to their contribution to the team, since he was the team leader and they accepted to follow him.
And that was basically it, again the alfear princes and the dwarf princess were reminded or why they chose to side with Daimon, the terms were pretty lax and even beneficial for them, as they had no backer in Neptune.
Of course they could have joined any of the teams from the noble families, even the royals invited them, but those things came with a lot of strings.
Thea looked at the process of the alfear and dwarf princesses signing a contract with Daimon, with curious eyes, the paper used to it which exuded the presence of a strong magic beast, that picked her interest, as well as how they let a drop of their blood fall on it, and the light that came from the paper and entered the bodies of the parties involved, it was similar to the methods they had in Neptune, but different at the same time.
"Oh, so that's how things work from where you come from, it does remind me to the way my ability works, as I could feel there is a strong beast race mediating, but the result feels too different from every method I know, or have heard off", she said.
Daimon chuckled, the aura from a beast she mentioned belonged to Erin, since she was the one who made the contracts he had in his inventory, it also interested him that she mentioned the result was different to anything she knows, since the mystery of why people from the Wonder Myriad Stellar Chart can't make soul contracts with the natives of Neptune, still remains.
"Well, if we make it through, I can introduce you to the person that elaborated this contract for me", casually mentioned Daimon, making the Empress smile.
"Sure, sounds interesting, if my eyes aren't deceiving me, it should be someone with an insanely strong darkness affinity, I have never seen something like that before~".
Daimon was amused by the enthusiastic expression on the Empress's face, unfortunately for her Erin isn't exactly fond of battle, so maybe she'll get along better with Aura, in any case there would be some time before they can meet, and that is if the people from Neptune can even leave this place, everything depended on what would happen in the Global Raid mentioned in his mission.
Daimon did the contract with those two, because he wasn't interested in the sorting part of the first round, but now that it had finished, he paid attention to what was happening on the lakes.
Unlike others who preferred seeing the event through the mirror plates, he could use his infinity eyes to get a perfect and up-close vision, so he did.
At the Mind Cleansing Lake, the pairs were already decided, Daimon didn't put too much attention to most of the participants, only those that could pose a threat to his team, which surprisingly weren't only the three favorites.
Besides the crowned prince, the second son of the Blackfin Duke and the young spear, there was actually a fourth team on a similar level, one lead by a bulky guy with a dark blue armor, and the emblem of a turtle and a shield on his back.
The grandson of the Minister of Development, Walford Arcarius, that being said, it wasn't exactly him what made Daimon pay attention to his team, but the fact that all the members of his team were quite decent.
All of them were early-stage Lord ranks and all of them were members of different races, probably they were the best of each of the families subordinated to the Arcarius family.
"Well, I guess that explains why that old man did 21 teams, he opened a spot for his family, so no matter who wins, he will get a part of the credit", mumbled Daimon.
How will the team that will be split among the four finalists will be chosen was kept a secret for now, but Daimon could already expect the old Minister to try and play some tricks, not that he cared since they weren't going to work anyway.
Of course, the four favorites weren't placed against each other, or the first round will be too intense, so besides the poor bastards that were paired with them, the others had pretty much the same relative level, now it all depended on how good was the strategist they chose.
Among them, there was one guy who also caught Daimon's interest, not out of strength or because it looked capable, but because it was a member of the Delphini family, like Mellie and because it was in the team of the crowned prince, also it looked than Mellie.
"That is the son of our father's second wife, sis is the eldest, but our mother was the second wife, so she has no right to succeed the Delphini's state, everything we have was earned after she became the queen", said Mellie.
Daimon nodded, normally the first male son is the inheritor of a noble, while the daughters are married off to other family, unless there is a big gap in the status and then a lower ranked noble marries into the family of the bride, but Annete and Mellie cut any connections with the Delphini, and started their own family, they even kept the last name in part to mess with their father, and in part because they didn't know what was their mother's, as she also didn't know it.
"It makes sense, since everyone knows miss Annete is a good strategist, let's see how this guy fairs", said Daimon.
With the greenlight of the Minister, the platforms moved so that the forty of them formed in pairs, resulting in 20 larger platforms, according to how the pairs were formed, then the arrays engraved on them illuminated and walls as well as a roof appeared on the twenty platforms.
The Minister then snapped his fingers and the image reflected in all the mirror plates placed for the commodity of the spectators, changed from the lakes to the inside of the platforms, before he retired to his skybox while leaving some words behind.
"I'll leave you with the special guest invited to narrate the first round, a renowned strategist and the head of the Delphini family, Carlos Delphini", one of the largest mirror plates changed to show a tall man with blue hair and fan-like fins as ears, though it didn't resemble Annete or Mellie, and instead looked more like the strategist selected for the team of the crowned prince, that was their father.
Daimon noticed the usually calm expression on Mellie's face wave for a moment and he placed one hand on her shoulder before saying.
"Don't worry, he is also in the suspect's list, so he'll be spitting everything he knows which includes what happened to your mother, Horals is really good at interrogating others after all".
"Mm~", Mellie softly laughed and then her mood improved, and she wasn't the only one, a certain bone general which was hiding in the shadows, loudly laughed after being praised by his young master.
Back at the platforms, the first round finally started, unlike before the walls and roof appeared, the landscape which used to be a plain platform changed, with the help of both the arrays, mazes with different characteristics appeared in each platform.
Some found themselves in swamp areas, others in forests, jungles, deserts, valleys, frozen areas and the like, some elements of the mazes were real, others were illusions and others were manmade traps, on top of that the emissions of the lake had filled the closed spaces, which started affecting the minds of the participants.
…
Inside of the platforms, the crowned prince turned to see his strategist, after he evaluated his surroundings, the illusions were quite well made, and the lake made it even harder for them to discern the truth.
"Corey, what's the strategy going to be, I want to reach the exit in the less time possible, but with all our companions".
The guy called Corey who was non other than Annete and Mellie's half-brother, nodded as he closed his eyes and placed his hands on the ground, with him as the origin vibrations mapped the nearby area, after a couple of seconds he stopped what he was doing and then pointed at his right.
"The maze is designed to force us to choose whether to use each member to discard the dead ends, while being guided by the strategist from behind, which is the fastest but the riskiest choice, or to move as a whole and only separate when needed, which is the slowest but safest choice, but there is also a third choice, not known by a lot".
"We can combine both", said Corey as he got up the shoulders of one of the members of the team.
"Follow my instructions in detail, I'll say this now, not everyone will leave the maze, but don't despair, the traps might harm us but they aren't meant to kill but to stall us, once we clear it, you'll be set free".
After saying that Corey closed his eyes and the air started vibrating around him, as he guided the group of the crowned prince who was being escorted in the middle of everyone.
Outside of the platforms, the head of the Delphini family, Carlos, nodded and then commented about the strategy his son was using, to the Minister who was sitting next to him.
"Corey's idea is not too conservative but efficient, the strategist is meant to remain behind the lines to direct others, but there are some decisions that can only be taken when one is in the frontline, it's a matter of perspective, like this he can accompany the crowned prince while being escorted by the rest of the team members".
The Minister nodded in an approbative way.
"Not something usual, but certainly practical, that being said, the other favorites aren't doing it any worse", he said as he pointed at the mirror plate that was reflecting the team of the young spear.
Loyal to their name they were acting like madmen, why do you ask, their maze was a jungle, there were some magic beasts both illusions and real ones, as well as poisonous vegetation and other traps here and there, and they took a quite interesting approach, basically they were attacking everything on their way.
"Spear of the sea unit, pierce through the maze!", shouted Lance.
"Ohhhhh!", the morale of the team went through the roof, they all started launching attacks to everything that surrounding them, triggering the traps, blowing the illusion magic beasts and trees away, which made the real ones attack them.
But their momentum didn't diminish, led by Lance who acted as the tip of the spear, they kept advancing, though slowed by the many obstacles.
"…", the spectators were speechless, with the exception of their general Dominic, who was laughing on his seat, still no one criticized him, because Carlos soon commented on their favor.
"Though it might seem reckless, they are perfectly coordinated, when one is in trouble, the others focus their fire on that specific enemy, and surprisingly the young spear seems to be the strategist, or at least the one with the most sense in that group, so it's not like they are clashing against all the obstacles, he has avoided a couple who were quite threatening, the downside to this, is that their mana will run out before they reach half of the way, so they will have to take a rest in which other teams might surpass them".
The Blackfin Duke listened to the decent evaluation that Dominic's subordinates got and he snorted.
"A bunch of muscle heads, why do you think the members of a team were increased, it's all a matter of efficiency, just like in business", he said as he pointed at the mirror plate that was reflecting his son's performance.
Their strategy was slightly similar to what Lance was doing, the difference is that their formation had the form of an axe instead of a spear, unlike the neo nobles where everyone was launching spells and other attacks to open the path.
Ezequiel had distributed his teammates, so that one at each sides and one in the front were making way for the rest, using wide area spells, just like the swings of an axe which ware ample, they advanced in large steps, then changed with the next three who launched the next three attacks and so on.
This time a different person commented, before Carlos or the Minister could.
"That is only efficient on the surface, the second one of them misses one step, the whole team will be affected, because they aren't being guided but ordered", said a beautiful girl, who was wearing a magnificent crown, her aquamarine eyes seemed to glow as she glared at both the Minister and the Delphini Duke, who else could be but Annete of course.
The Blackfin Duke was fuming, why was his son the only one being targeted by that sharp tongued woman he wondered, he wasn't in a good mood already, since his subordinate suddenly disappeared.
'Where the hell is that idiot, if I find he has been attending those dirty brothels instead of doing his job, I'll twist his neck!', he inwardly cursed, without knowing that his shadow has been dead for quite some time already.
