Elver, contestant 1, looked at the person in the white cloak in front of him.
He was confident that this was Shang, the Fallen Saint, the person that had vanished over 500 years ago after allegedly killing Jerald.
Earlier, Elver had been nervous about the mysterious Master of the foreign warriors. Contestant 31 had already been far more powerful than he had thought, and he had feared that he might lose against this mysterious Master.
Yet, he still had some hope.
But not anymore.
Elver knew Shang.
Elver had seen Shang's power.
Elver had seen what Shang could do.
And he knew that he couldn't possibly win.
All the watching Mages looked at the person in the white cloak with shock.
They hadn't seen this person move at all!
These powerful Mages automatically felt every small bit of movement inside their Spirit Sense, but this person had arrived in the middle of the arena without them noticing.
This was also one of the reasons why Lord Starsky had been so shocked.
He had felt the person move, but he had actually needed to pay attention to follow their movement. This was like someone feeling a slight tingle on their forearm and looking at it to confirm if there actually was something or not.
It could be considered incredibly impressive to make a Mage Lord pay attention to one.
But, of course, this wasn't the only reason why Lord Starsky was shocked.
The other reason was the power of that person.
Earlier, he had dismissed the people in the white and black cloak since they were well within the Realm of Ancestral Mages. A warrior couldn't possibly be that powerful. At least not right now.
Elver only looked at the person in white robes with a complicated expression without readying his weapons.
The person in the white cloak slowly raised his right arm, gesturing for Elver to attack him.
He also hadn't drawn his weapon.
"Why have you returned?" Elver asked with a voice brimming with an indistinguishable mix of emotions.
Rage, hatred, uncertainty, fear, nervousness, curiosity, pity, excitement.
Everything just blended together.
Elver had often thought about what he would say to Shang if he ever reappeared again.
In his mind, he had always envisioned himself shouting at Shang, demanding an explanation for why he had killed Jerald.
He wanted to know what could have possibly moved Shang to do that. After all, Jerald and Shang had been the closest companions.
But when Elver actually stood in front of Shang, he couldn't decide on what he should feel or do.
Shang was actually still alive!
A warrior that knew the deceased dean, the old teachers, and the world before the Revolutionary War.
Oliver had also technically been alive before the war started, but he had only appeared in the warrior academy shortly before the war started, and by then, everything had already deteriorated.
But Shang had lived back when there had been no fighting between warriors and Mages, an age of rapid development during relative peace.
Now, all the Kingdoms were gone, and the warriors knew about the outside world.
The world of the five Kingdoms no longer existed.
And as the oldest warrior alive, Elver felt alone.
It was like he had been the only one that had witnessed and lived in the Storm Eagle Zone, Duke Whirlwind's territory, part of the Skythunder Kingdom.
But now, there was a second person.
Someone that had gone through the same periods of time as him.
All of Elver's plans had vanished, resulting in the one simple question of why Shang was here.
Shang, the person in the white cloak, didn't answer.
He only lifted his arm.
"I can't allow these two to fight just yet."
Everyone's attention was pulled to the floating platform.
Lord Starsky looked with narrowed eyes at the person in the white cloak. "Due to the current standard of warriors, it would be unreasonable to believe that the person in the white cloak is a warrior."
The Mages looked with confusion at each other.
"The Battle-Strength of the person in white is well within the Sixth Realm, and believing that this is a warrior without any proof would be gullible and foolish," Lord Starsky said.
The audience understood what Lord Starsky said and agreed with him.
The strongest warrior in the world could barely win against a Mid Archmage. It would be idiotic to believe that there was a warrior that could win against an Ancestral Mage.
"If you want to fight, I require proof of your identity," Lord Starsky announced as he looked at the person in the white cloak.
Shang didn't do anything for around three seconds.
"I know him," Elver suddenly said to Lord Starsky. "He is a warrior."
The audience looked at contestant 1 with surprise.
Contestant 1 was vouching for him?
Lord Starsky threw a glance at Elver, and Elver noticed the deeper meaning behind it.
The other Mages hadn't taken notice of the glance, and they hadn't received the message, but Elver did.
And Elver could only lower his head and clench his fists in frustration.
The meaning behind the glance was simple.
Don't speak up, warrior!
The tournament signified the highest point of achievement for warriorkind.
Warriors were as powerful as never before.
Yet, Elver had been reminded of reality.
Even in a tournament that was all about warriors, Elver, as the publicly acknowledged strongest warrior in the world, didn't have the power to voice his opinion.
He might be the strongest warrior, but in the end, Elver only had power equivalent to a Mid Archmage.
And did a Mid Archmage have the right to complain to a Late Mage Lord?
"Fine," the person in the white cloak said.
When Oliver, who was currently at the edge of the arena, heard that voice, his heart started to beat faster.
In comparison to Elver, Oliver didn't know Shang very well. He had only interacted with him once in his life.
Shang slowly took off his cloak, revealing his long black hair and the bandage around his eyes.
When the entire cloak vanished, everyone could finally see Shang's power.
Peak Fifth Realm!
Extremely high Battle-Strength!
The audience didn't want to admit it, but they knew that this new person could fight an Ancestral Mage.
But the most shocking thing was something else.
The power of his mind.
Peak High Mage Realm.
His mind was exceptionally weak.
This could only mean one thing.
This person was a warrior!
And an extremely powerful one at that!
