Daimon could feel all the gazes of the other guests fall him and he naturally understood why, the clothes he was wearing have a deep meaning, as they represent the fact that Aurora has accepted him into the Light Palace sect.
Though for him it was just a symbolic mean of trust, for the others meant a lot more, especially because the girls weren't using the emblem of the Light Palace in any part of their clothes.
So, the attention fell on him, Daimon turned around to see the girls, they were all wearing dresses of their own choose, starting from Aisha who found a silver and purple dress that suited perfectly.
Next were the Risha sisters, Yvonne was using a black long dress that combined with her hair color, Leslie chose a lively orange dress that made a nice contrast with her maple-colored eyes and lastly Daimon got to enjoy the rare sight of a blushed Liliana since she was using a white dress.
Though Aisha and the sisters were stunning, they weren't the only ones, Mellie was using an aquamarine dress with sea theme decorations as well as the tiara she used the first time she met Daimon, since she came in representation of the queen, for Daphne she chose a dark blue dress that made her look calm and serene, she was also wearing her tiara as a symbol that she is a royal.
Speaking of royals, the alfear and dwarf princesses were as uncomfortable with all the noble stuff as Daimon, which made the latter confused, he expected it from Femi, since dwarves don't exactly use the noble system, but something more similar to tribes.
But the alfear are probably one of the races that take more pride in their etiquette and lineage, even at the four galaxies were academies and clans are the usual terms used to describe forces, the alfear are a kingdom, so it was a bit strange that Tessa the princess of the alfear isn't used to these events.
That being said, her light green and black dress accentuated her noble appearance, her two-colored hair gave her a slight rebellious charm, though she is the calm one compared to Femi.
Femi on the other hand looked surprisingly refined in her black dress, at least until one noticed the weird way in which she was walking, since she as forced to put on high heels, it's worth mentioning that she normally uses boots when in public and her feet are bare when she isn't, her element is earth so her feet don't get dirty even if she doesn't wear any kind of footwear, so she developed the bad habit of not using any and now she was paying the price.
"Damn, I'm going to fall in these things, even my hammer was confiscated and I was only allowed to bring my Horned Crown, because those women thought it meant I'm a royal or something", mumbled Femi as she gazed at Daimon.
"It wouldn't have been confiscated if you were able to keep it in your ring for more than thirty seconds", said Daimon, her hammer was in his inventory for safety reasons, naturally the hammer was given to him by Tessa who snatched it away from her friend.
Leaving the princesses aside, Cassy was using a jade green dress, giving her a vibrant aura that went well with her light green hair, Chris on the other hand chose an amber toned dress that accentuated the brown-amber color of her eyes, as for Marlene she chose a silver-blue dress as those were the colors of her angel fish clan.
Thea and Jasmine weren't mentioned for different reasons, Thea was already wearing an elegant black and red dress always, also she isn't here since as someone in a similar standing as Aurora, she'll come out with of the castle at the same time as her.
Jasmine on the other hand wasn't here because she will be the one giving Daimon the prize at the ceremony that will take place in a few more minutes, and Aurora prevented Daimon from seeing her before that.
Instead, he came out of the castle early to flaunt this elegant suit and bait the idiots he had to deal with, though it seems they haven't arrived yet.
'I guess they will "casually" arrive when Jasmine appears on the stage, like good third-rate villains', thought Daimon as he walked towards the honor seats at the first row in front of the stage where the ceremony will take place.
The girls followed Daimon while they ignored the adoration filled eyes of those who looked at them.
Surprisingly besides Cassy's junior sister who are her mother's disciples, no one else approached them, but this was also within Daimon's calculations, the Shaman probably made sure that his unwelcoming attitude regarding him, made its way into the ears of the ones that could made the news spread like a wildfire.
Well, those girls from the Bamboo Forest sect weren't the only ones, the purple clothed girl, Sarah also approached to say hi, since her seat was at the table next to Daimon, to Cassy's displease.
Daimon also noticed the people from the Sea Soul and the Rock Mountain sects doubting about approaching them, probably Underwood's words made Heartstream and Stoneheart evaluate their options.
As a result, they actually came to present their respects to Aurora before the Shaman arrived, when normally they will only appear after Abaris, but apparently the sons of the patriarch had their own opinions, since they were glaring at him with raw mockery.
It was obvious they were hoping to see the Skyfire and Purplecloud's sons putting him "in his place", so they were preventing the others from their sects from approaching him.
'Well, those two are useless anyway, their fathers on the other hand are Stellar ranked, so they should be able to contribute to the final battle', thought Daimon as he stopped paying any attention to those guys.
The mumbles and whispers of the guests started diminishing the moment they saw the white castle shinning in a bright light, the gates slowly opened and Aurora who was followed by Sylvie, Sid, Heartstream, Stoneheart and the other relatively important people affiliated to the Light Palace came out.
Then the group in general slightly bowed as they greeted Aurora.
"Greetings to the matriarch", they said in calm and respectful voices, this is a custom that has been continuing since ancient times, so no one took it lightly, besides Daimon and the others, which obviously caught the attention of the others.
But since Aurora didn't say anything, no one else mentioned it, it was obvious that she had some sort of relation with the silver haired masked youth, so maybe he was allowed to not bow down and greet her due to that, it still made more than one grit their teeth as they anxiously waited for the local "champion" to come and teach the outsider a lesson.
"Everyone, welcome to the award ceremony organized by my Light Palace, to congratulate the champion of the first time two seas have participated in the three-art tournament and beast hunt of the Clear Water kingdom".
"Now to present the first prize, we have the first and second princesses of the Mermen Sea, Daphne Valas and Mellie Delphini, please come up the stage along with the champion, Gabriel", said Aurora as she pointed at the table on the first row where Daimon and the girls were sitting.
Mellie and Daphne stood up and went up the stage, Daimon followed not too long after, normally it would have been Annete the one sent since she is in charge of external affairs, but she has to guard the fort, so Mellie came in her stead.
Daimon simply stood there with a calm expression, despite the thousands of gazes that wanted to pierce a hole through him, he was like an immovable mountain.
Jasmine inwardly nodded seeing Daimon perfectly handling the pressure of the public, a sign that he comes from a high background.
"And, to represent our Elemental Sea, the princess of the Light Palace and my granddaughter, Jasmine Ivory", said Aurora.
The gate of the castle opened once again, but this time only one person came out of it, pale skin akin to a noble lady, long waist-length blonde hair, limpid light blue eyes and pretty face.
Jasmine came out of the castle while she showed everyone the dress Aurora prepared for the occasion, as a sign of goodwill the host wears clothes with the color of the force to whom the guest belongs, in this case blue not for the Mermen Sea but for Annete's Delphini and the Duchess's Valas family.
And so, Jasmine was wearing a predominantly blue short dress, that perfectly envelops her body and a long-sleeved coat, in her hands she was using a new staff which Aurora ordered to be made beforehand, and she was also wearing a tiara as a symbol of her status as a princess, in one word she looked gorgeous.
The moment she arrived at Daimon's side, she smiled at him, which made the spectators, curse him in their hearts, the goddess of their dreams was acting too friendly with this unknown "invader".
And as Daimon predicted, the skies over the white castle darkened and a black bridge made out of mana, came from the lower part of the white hill.
Just as the black bridge approached the stage directly, an angered voice echoed through the area.
"Is this how the Shaman treats his guests, maybe this Empress should have allied with the Skelefiends in that case!".
Not only the spectators were in awe, the black bridge trembled and a few curses and pained sounds could be heard.
Then a black vortex appeared on the stage from which the elegantly dominant figure of Thea, came out, she was wearing her black and red dress and had her spear in her hands, not to mention an angered expression, though she winked at Daimon so fast no one saw her doing it.
Making Daimon chuckle, the Empress was obviously just messing with the glorious entrance of the Shaman, she even used her darkness mana to disrupt the bridge which was made by Abaris personally, making some of the people that were riding on the bridge fall and disgrace themselves.
Aurora who was inwardly laughing, kept a calm expression as she snapped her fingers, the white castle let out a dazzling white light and the darkness covering the skies was immediately dispelled, revealing the newcomers.
Abaris current expression was way different than what he expected, his dignified self was nowhere to be seen, he instead was cursing Skyfire for omitting who came to form an alliance with Aurora, in other words Thea.
It's not like he personally feared the Empress, but who wouldn't want access to the waters of the Maelstrom Sea that haven't been explored and exploited, it was practically a land of dreams, in terms of resources.
With a ruler level magic beast like Thea, they will be able to avoid the nightmares that dwell below the surface of the Maelstrom Sea, and he just offended her by not waiting until Aurora presented Thea.
Not only that, his entrance was ruined and some of his subordinates ended up making a fool of themselves, unknown to Thea she actually managed to make the two challengers, that Abaris brought for Daimon.
A purple clothed guy on his early twenties as well as a guy in his middle twenties wearing red armor, got up the ground and returned to Abaris's side with aggrieved expressions on their faces.
"Master we were attacked by that woman", said Skyfire's older son, the purple clothed guy actually swallowed the anger because someone that could affect Abaris's darkness mana couldn't be simple, and his temperament was less explosive, his eyes were sharp and cold like those of a poisonous snake waiting to strike at the right moment.
Daimon felt the gaze of the newcomer first trying to reach Jasmine, who actually moved away to stand behind Daimon, which made the spectators take a breath of cold air, the princess was avoiding Purplehaze's eyes, but she stood so close to the silver haired youth, how can they not make some wild assumptions.
"Only you will taunt a poisonous snake before beheading it", mumbled Jasmine with an amused voice, this whole situation was created by Daimon, well the part in which Thea humiliated the local talents and created trouble for Abaris wasn't, but it helped for his purpose which is anger his opponents.
"An unstable enemy is prompt to commit mistakes, it's easy to destroy someone who isn't able to control himself, like that red armored idiot", said Daimon in a voice only Jasmine could hear.
Skyfire's son was boiling right now, Jasmine never even gave him a chance and the one time he tried to court Jasmine more actively, Aurora beat him an inch away of death, and now in front of him, the unapproachable girl of his dreams was acting all close with some random guy, how could he not be angry.
"I challenge you!", shouted the red armored guy, as he pointed at Daimon.
'Time to work', thought Daimon as he smirked.
The girls saw Daimon's bad habit surfacing and they giggled; someone was about to suffer.
Jasmine's eyes glowed for a split of a second, this whole event which would have been usually unbearable for her, as she had to endure the "hungry" gazes of all those guys, was actually fun this time.
'Is it because of Daimon', she wondered as she looked at Daimon, certainly with Daimon here, she felt at ease, let alone the cunning son of Purplecloud that always watch her from afar, like a creepy snake spying on its prey, but even her grandfather who is usually so dominant, were being played by Daimon.
And so the curtain raised for the first act of the day.
