The Prince of Heaven's Gate - Last Stand At World's End

“What do you mean he’s not here?” an High-Ranking Elf Official asked after he was stopped at the infirmary where Gerhart was taken after the battle. “If you don’t give me that brat, I promise you that you will not like it.

“You can’t get what we don’t have,” Alicia replied. “If you really are so adamant in looking for him, I will not stop you, but, know this, angering three Saints is not a good idea. Next time, be careful with your words in case you are unable to take them back.”

Alicia’s words made the Elven Official’s face become pale. Due to what happened in the tournament, he had completely forgotten that Barbatos Academy didn’t only have one Saint, but two.

Also, the Nomadic Rowan Tribe, that traveled all over the Six Kingdoms, was led by a Saint.

In the Western Regions, where the Six Kingdoms, and Barbatos Academy were located, there were only five Saints remaining. Most of the powerhouses in the region were killed during the Hundred-Year War, which greatly weakened the military power of the Six Kingdoms.

Two of those Five Saints were in Barbatos Academy, and the third one belonged to the Nomadic Rowan Tribe.

The two remaining Saints were Hermits, who preferred to live alone and not mingle with the political framework of the region. Because of this, the Saint that was more active within the six kingdoms was none other than Alexander, who was the current Headmaster of Barbatos Academy.

“Forgive me, Lady Alicia,” the Elf Official apologized for his rash actions. “I got too emotional after knowing that someone had stolen one of the Relics of our Kingdom.”

Alicia nodded. “I will turn a blind eye to your outburst this once. Go and see for yourself if the person you are looking for is there, but I warn you to not disturb the other patients in the infirmary.”

“Of course,” the Elf Official promised before he was escorted, along with his entourage, inside the Infirmary where several contestants of the past Qualifying Rounds of the Lionheart Tournament were still recovering.

As Alicia looked at the back of the Elven Delegation, a frown appeared on her beautiful face.

‘This is going to be a bit complicated,’ Alicia thought. ‘To think that Gerhart has such a background. Looks like the Elf Royal Family of Elswyth will have no choice but to post a bounty on his head in order to reclaim their Sacred Relic.’

When Gerhart was brought to the Infirmary to receive treatment, the Ornamental Dagger in his hand, Kinslayer, suddenly shot up towards the sky and flew towards West. A moment later, Gerhart’s almost dried up body vanished without a trace, leaving the Clerics, as well as the other medical personnel, in shock and disbelief.

Clearly, Gerhart had made preparations before the battle, should he ever use the power of Kinslayer. Since he would be exposing himself to the world, he made a plan that would instantly allow him to leave Barbatos Academy, to prevent himself from getting captured by the Elf Royal Family.

Several minutes later, the Elf Envoys left the infirmity in haste. They planned to return to the Elven Capital and share the news of what happened in the tournament.

What they didn’t know was that the moment Enlil teleported away from the Arena, he had escaped to the Inner Palace of the Elven Kingdom, where members of the Royal Family would appear once they used the life-saving artifacts that were given to them by their family.

After having his injuries treated, Enlil narrated everything that had happened in the tournament, including Gerhart who now possessed Kinslayer.

The Elf King, who heard this, had a calm expression on his face and told Enlil that he would handle the rest, and the Prince should just rest and recover from his injury.

On that same day, the different Elite Forces of the Elswyth Kingdom departed from the Elven Capital with two goals.

One was to visit the Rowan Tribe, and negotiate for Gerhart’s surrender to them.

The other was to look for traces of the artifact in the off chance that Gerhart didn’t return to the Rowan Tribe to seek asylum.

While this was happening, the arena was being repaired for the next battle that would be held the following day. After a first day of exciting battles, the audience was quite excited for what would be waiting for them when morning came.

“It seems that your sworn brother is on the run right now,” Lux said to the Boar who refused to return to his original form, and kept his transformation up all the time.

“Hmph! Those pointy-eared elves will not be able to catch Gerhart even if they mobilize their entire army.” The Boar snorted.

“Oh? You sound so confident.”

“Of course I am confident. No matter how arrogant they are, they will not do anything to annoy Grandfather. If that old man got angry, even the Elven King would have no choice but to get down on his knees and beg for forgiveness.”

Lux gave the smug-faced Boar a side-long glance before looking at the arena that was being repaired by Earth Mages.

“I forgot to say congratulations for beating Rol,” Lux said. “Although I wasn’t able to watch it, some said that it was a close match.”

“I admit he got me in the first half,” the Boar replied. “But, that was because I was taking things easy. If I unleashed my full powers, I would have killed him with just a single glare, you know?”

“Really? I didn’t know you were that powerful. Last time we fought together, you were almost turned into Boar Stew during the Qualifiers.”

“That is because I don’t think it was worth it to show my trump cards so early in the battle. I am saving them for the final match.”

Lux glanced at the delusional boar with an amused look on his face. “Has anyone told you that you have thick skin?”

“Yeah,” the Boar replied. “My Sworn brothers and Grandfather always tell me that, but they also know that when I go all out, even Saints will have to run for their lives. I am that good.”

Lux turned around and left the Boar to his fantasies. He was afraid that if he stayed longer, the Boar’s delusional tendencies would rub off on him.

“Oi, where are you going?” the Boar asked as it hurriedly followed the chubby teenager who was leaving him behind. “Isn’t this the part where you will say ‘Oh! You’re so amazing! Please make me your sworn brother!’. Fortunately, I like you, so I don’t mind making you my sworn brother. How about we share some good food and wine as we pledge our brotherhood?”

“Not interested,” Lux replied without even bothering to look at the boar, who was walking by his side and doing its best to convince him like a door-to-door salesman.

“How come? Don’t you want to become part of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? If you join now, I will share with you the recording of Lady Iris when she performed a ritualistic dance when she visited our Tribe a year ago.”

“… You, do you want me to turn you into roast pork? Why do you even have Iris’ dance performance?”

The Boar thought that Lux was just being shy, so it decided to continue trying to make him a member of the group that he had established alongside Gerhart.

“Are you interested now?” the Boar said with a smug-look on its boarish face. “Unfortunately, the recording crystal is a prized possession of our organization. If you want to see Lady Iris dancing in her Celestial Robes, you need to join us first and become my sworn brothe–argh!”

The Boar wasn’t able to finish its words because Lux started to beat the crap out of it until it squealed like a pig being slaughtered. The arrogant boar begged for forgiveness over and over again, and was only released from its suffering after it had surrendered the recording crystal that had the video of Iris dancing.

After taking the crystal from the boar, Lux gave it one last kick in its belly, sending it rolling across the ground while crying “murderer!” and “fatty boy”.

Since the battle wouldn’t start until the next day, Lux decided to return to his room to rest.

“I haven’t been around Iris much for the past two years because I was busy training for the entrance test for Elysium,” Lux muttered as he played with the recording crystal in his hand. “I remember last year, Grandma asked me if I wanted to accompany Iris in the Rowan Tribe for their annual celebration. I guess this is where the Boar got this recording from.”

Lux decided to activate the crystal to see Iris dance.

The crystal shone and transmitted a projection in front of him. In the projection, Iris was wearing a colorful dress that seemed to be a traditional attire of the priestess of the Rowan Tribe.

As the tribal ladies played their musical instruments, Iris spun slowly as if addressing everyone before she started to dance.

Her graceful movements, accompanied by her beauty was enough to mesmerize those who laid their eyes on her.

For Lux, Iris was a symbol of Luck.

He believed that her Luck Stat was so high that if she stood in the center of a group of people, and bird poop rained down from the sky, everyone else, aside from her, would get hit by it.

‘Perhaps this was why she was invited to their annual festival,’ Lux thought. ‘The Tribe Chief might have thought that if she were there, she would bless their tribe with her Luck, allowing them safe travels because of their Nomadic Lifestyle.’

When the dance ended, Lux felt refreshed as if he had just been given a buff for clarity of mind and a cure for minor injuries.

Iris’ performance was simply that good, that he couldn’t help but feel happy, and regret at the same time.

Happy because he was able to see her sweet smile as she danced. Clearly, she was enjoying what she was doing, which also brought happiness to those who were watching her.

Regret that he wasn’t there to accompany him and watch the performance live, alongside the Rowan Tribe, that had been blessed by her luck.

“I hope that Eiko is behaving herself properly,” Lux muttered. The day before, Eiko had taken his form and appeared beside Iris to make those who were looking for Lux think that the chubby boy and him weren’t related.

Also, it might also make them think that he had lost in the Qualifying Matches, allowing them to lower their guard. For them, Lux was their greatest Love Rival, because Iris had kissed him in front of everyone in the past.

News of this had spread like wildfire making those who wanted to make the blue-haired beauty their fiance, wish that they could strangle the red-headed teenager, and feed his remains to the fishes.

‘Tomorrow it will be Nero’s turn to fight,’ Lux mused. ‘I bet that he will take this battle seriously and defeat his opponent in a spectacular manner in order to regain the dignity of the Four Kings and Five Overlords. Unfortunately for him, this will be a useless endeavor.’

Lux knew that, even if Nero won in a flashy way, the prestige they once enjoyed was a thing of the past now.

Only if one of the Kings or one of the Five Overlords were to win the tournament then and only then would they be able to salvage their reputation.

‘I hope his opponent is strong,’ Lux thought. ‘That way, I will be able to see some of the aces that he has been hiding.’

For the Half-Elf, the brown-haired teenager was someone he would like to meet personally in the arena. However, he was not delusional enough to think that fighting Nero would be easy.

Lux understood Nero, probably more than anyone else.

He knew that Nero would keep his aces close to his sleeves, and only use them at the right time, to turn the situation around, making him a tricky opponent even for the Half-Elf who had gone above and beyond all means, to fight the person who coveted the blue-haired beauty that loved him so much.