Astoria: ???
She felt as though she had been thrown off balance, like a powerful attack she had spent ages charging had suddenly struck empty air.
"Rhys, how did you... I mean, um..."
Astoria felt as though her ability to speak had completely short-circuited.
The powerful enemy who had been about to fight her to the death had been instantly killed by her teammate, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Anyone would have been left confused in such a situation.
"Sorry. I stole your kill."
Rhys gave Astoria a slightly apologetic look.
He had just realised that he might have accidentally deprived Astoria of a valuable opportunity to grow.
What could push someone to improve more effectively than a life-and-death battle?
Yet he had carelessly killed the opponent she was supposed to fight to the death.
That was rather unfortunate.
Rhys lowered his head and glanced at the bizarre corpse of the Mystic Society monk, then noticed something unusual in his blood.
The divine remains this monk had fused with were none other than a drop of divine blood!
What a coincidence.
Feeling somewhat guilty towards Astoria, Rhys decided to extract the divine blood from the monk's body.
Under repeated waves of Rhys's magic, the divine blood contained within the monk's bloodstream was gradually separated out.
Eventually, a single crimson drop of blood, pure and brilliant like a ruby, gathered in Rhys's palm and emitted an alluring glow.
With a gentle push of magic, Rhys sent the divine blood floating towards Astoria.
"Take it. It'll be very useful to you."
Rhys gave the drop of divine blood to Astoria, hoping it would benefit her Domain.
After being passed down through the Mystic Society for so long, most of the negative emotions originally contained within the divine blood had already been completely purified.
It was somewhat similar to the red wine transformed from divine blood inside Helga's golden flask.
Simply observing it regularly would undoubtedly bring considerable benefits.
"Huh? Thank you!"
Astoria had never expected that the divine blood could actually be extracted from that man's body.
She hurriedly put the blood droplet away and repeatedly thanked Rhys.
"What are you thanking me for? You earned it. I still have things to do, so I'm leaving."
After briefly explaining himself, Rhys prepared to depart.
He still had plenty of things left to do.
"Wait..."
Before Astoria could react, Rhys had already disappeared.
This was the first time Astoria had seen Rhys since the tournament began.
It was also the last time she saw him before the end of the first stage.
Although she never encountered Rhys directly again, his presence remained extremely strong.
More than once, Astoria heard traces of Rhys from the natives of the alchemical world.
Although no one had seen the face of the mysterious and mad powerhouse they spoke of, Astoria instinctively concluded that the person they were talking about was Rhys.
On October 1st, a massive explosion occurred in the Forest of Dragons, where the Earth Dragon King Starfall had lived in seclusion.
Two meteorites fell from the sky.
Seventeen powerful figures from various factions who went to investigate all disappeared without a trace.
On the morning of October 3rd, a tsunami swept across the western coast of Jotunheim.
According to survivors, the dying wails of a dragon could be heard from the depths of the ocean.
Soon afterwards, people discovered that the Water Dragon King had disappeared.
On the evening of October 3rd, the corpse of the Fire Dragon King fell upon Pars City, the greatest stronghold in the eastern region of the Kingdom of Yamer.
The flames covering the dragon's corpse reduced the entire city to ashes.
On October 6th, storms and torrential rain swept across the Kingdom of Ribtiat.
The natural disaster stretched for hundreds of miles.
The Mystic River changed course and flooded vast stretches of land, leaving millions displaced.
The Wind Dragon King disappeared from that day onward.
...
News of the calamities that had befallen the Four Dragon Kings quickly spread across the entire continent.
The capital of the Salonia Empire, the Eternal City.
Inside the Imperial Palace.
Emperor Juel, founder of the Empire, was discussing the mysterious powerhouse who had recently swept across the continent and caused countless disasters with his close friend, Yexers, the Chief Court Mage.
"It's raining?"
The Emperor suddenly raised his head and looked towards the gloomy sky beyond the palace.
"It's more than just rain," Yexers said gravely. "There are extremely powerful magical fluctuations hidden within the clouds. Whoever is coming bears ill intentions..."
"Notify His Holiness the Pope!"
The Emperor's expression also became serious. He ordered one of the palace attendants,
"I remember he went to Ribtiat..."
"There's no need."
A thunderous voice suddenly came from within the dark clouds.
It was so loud that the entire Eternal City could hear it.
"The Pope is dead."
A small, curled-up object fell from the clouds and crashed onto the roof of the central cathedral.
"You two can come at me together. I'm in a hurry. I still have to go meet the gods in the heavens later."
The Eternal City erupted into chaos.
...
"We'll be arriving at the imperial capital soon. I'm really looking forward to seeing the legendary Eternal City." Beauxbatons contestant Fleur Delacour sat upright on the cart, doing her best to maintain an elegant posture. "They say the finest craftsmen on the entire continent gather there. I'd like to have some jewellery custom-made, perhaps a few sets of clothes as well."
Fleur had already been competing for half a month. By now, her initial shock at the arena's incredibly detailed and realistic setting had long since faded into numbness.
She had even started enjoying the competition itself. After completing the main quest, she had gone straight into sightseeing mode.
She intended to see exactly how much Hogwarts had stuffed into this competition venue.
Krum gently tugged on the reins of the horse beneath him, slowing its pace so that he could speak more easily with Fleur.
The system had assigned him and Fleur to the same team. Their other two teammates were a third-year witch from Hogwarts and that "albino" wizard from Mahoutokoro.
"We shouldn't let our guard down. There's still half a month before the main quest deadline. We can't waste this time. Even finding work in the Eternal City and earning some money would be better than doing nothing."
Krum was also looking forward to visiting the legendary City of Cities, ruled by the King of Kings.
He had a feeling they would gain something worthwhile there.
He did not want his teammates to miss such an opportunity. Although they came from different schools, since they had been assigned to the same team, they now shared both success and failure.
"They say the Emperor of the Salonia Empire possesses power comparable to a god. I wonder if that's true." The Mahoutokoro wizard was more curious about the continent's powerful figures.
Luna, the Hogwarts student, sat curled up silently in a corner of the cart, seemingly lost in thought.
While her teammates chatted, she raised her head and looked towards the Eternal City.
She noticed that the distant city seemed to be covered by dark clouds.
"It looks like it's raining over the Eternal City," she said softly.
"Oh?"
Fleur turned her head and looked at the young girl.
At first, Fleur had not thought much of Luna. She was too young and too weak, practically a burden on the team.
But after spending several days with her, Fleur discovered that although the girl was somewhat eccentric, she was kind-hearted and treated magical creatures with great friendliness.
That had greatly improved Fleur's opinion of her, especially given Fleur's own Veela heritage.
By now, she had simply started treating Luna like a younger sister.
____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI