By Zephyria “I’m sorry, but since you already have one Magic Tool, you cannot enter with other items.”
“Yes?”
Leonardo asked back in disbelief. At his reaction of not understanding, a member of the operations team brought a detector to Leonardo’s neck.
The detector, which he did not know what it was detecting, beeped and flashed a red light. Leonardo, who lowered his gaze, let out a sigh of “Ah” and groped his neck.
He looked at the member with a look of ‘Could it be this?’ The member nodded as if asking the obvious.
About 40 minutes ago. The participants who were guided by the operations team entered the multipurpose hall in the southeast of the main stadium one by one. The huge hall was comparable in size to a large training ground, and as soon as he stepped in, he was breathless, filled with the heat emitted by humans.
In the center, the Council’s white tents were lined up in a row, firmly positioned like a wall. The participants entered the white tents one by one under the control of the members. Listening to the murmurs from the front and back, it seemed to be a procedure to pre-register ‘competition support items’.
Among them, there was also someone who carried a two-handed sword on his back that was twice the size of his body. A crimson aura on the blade emitted a fierce energy like blood piercing the heart. He wondered where the hot wind was spreading from, and it seemed that the cause was that guy. Participants whispered one by one around him, who had succeeded in suppressing the atmosphere from the start.
“Hey, look over there. He brought something outrageous.”
“What is that?”
“Don’t you know Panontos? One of the nine weapon collections made by the master of Aras.”
“…Bringing a weapon like that is cheating, isn’t it? If I had something like that, I’d make it to the finals.”
‘Is it an expensive weapon?’
Leonardo, who didn’t think much of it, craned his neck and looked around at the participants gathered in one place.
Outside, they all looked like a ragtag bunch, but now that he was here, he began to notice some formidable opponents. Beyond just threatening physiques or weapons, there were guys with an inherently eerie aura.
They mostly hid their faces like him, only their eyes gleaming in the shadows.
One of them was shirtless, with only a hood and cloth wrapped around his head. Setting aside his bulging muscles and veins, the large scars prominently placed on his abdomen and back were the first thing that caught the eye. Newly grown flesh was intertwined within his dark, mottled skin, making the surface of his skin uneven and extremely grotesque.
Leonardo could guess how he got those scars.
‘He was pierced through the abdomen. He’s lucky to be alive.’
Judging by the size of the scars, it wasn’t just a simple piercing from a sword or spear. It looked as if someone’s arm had pierced through and thrashed around.
As he silently watched the guy and assessed his condition, the guy’s red eyes suddenly rolled over to him.
Their eyes met for a moment, but Leonardo didn’t look away. It wasn’t out of some pointless pride, but because he was surprised that the other guy had immediately noticed his gaze. Fortunately, an administrator near the guy instructed him to move forward, and the staring contest ended anticlimactically.
‘Will I meet him in the finals?’
Leonardo stared blankly at the tent he entered, then turned his gaze back to where the guy had been standing. He saw other figures hidden behind. The first thing that caught his eye was a woman who proudly raised her chin and struck a bizarre pose.
She was surrounded by other participants, and her attire was extremely peculiar. She wore a piece of metal the size of a palm as a top, a dress made of sand as a bottom, and shoes made of sand. It was a look that went well with her bronze skin, but it was so out of place with the current situation that it seemed like she had wandered into the wrong showroom. Rather, her overly daring appearance seemed to overshadow her abilities.
Leonardo quickly averted his eyes, embarrassed. But she seemed to relish the attention she was getting, as if it were only natural.
The simpletons around her appraised her appearance and called her the ‘Nefertiti of the Desert.’ In the woman’s hand was a golden staff shaped like two snakes coiling around each other.
“That woman’s here too.”
“Oh, a strong contender for the finals.”
Following the murmurs, Leonardo shifted his gaze to another woman with disheveled, pale white hair, standing blankly. This time, it was her face rather than her attire that caught his attention. Not because she was outwardly beautiful, but because of the scar that ran across her cheek and under her eye, and the stitches that followed her neckline. Her corpse-like pale skin and large, cold eyes sent shivers down his spine just by looking at her.
She looked as if she were already dead, or on the verge of death. The bandages wrapped around her body made her bloodless appearance even more gruesome.
‘But the size of her ribcage and triceps… she’s no ordinary person either.’
Since she was said to be a strong contender for the finals, Leonardo stored her image in a corner of his mind. Since his goal was to win, it wouldn’t hurt to identify potential enemies in advance.
Lastly, he took note of someone wearing a mask and cloak. There were more than one or two such people, but the mask Leonardo noticed was modeled after a medical bird-beak mask that might have been worn during the bubonic plague pandemic. The man, presumed to be male, leaned against the wall and sat sprawled on the floor as if the waiting area was his own home.
The hand revealed beneath the robe was covered with a metal gauntlet. In fact, it was safe to say that not only his hands but his entire body was covered.
Amidst the masks of all sorts of demons, beasts, and demon beasts, the presence of the bird beak could easily be overlooked, but to Leonardo, it looked more unique and unpleasant than any other mask.
He knew himself, but the fact that he had covered his skin so meticulously meant that he was not an honest person. Rather than revealing himself, he might be a strategist type who explores his surroundings and moves secretly.
‘For now, there are about four noticeable people.’
“Next, please enter.”
Just as he finished scanning his competitors, his turn finally came. Following the instructions of the member, Leonardo lifted the entrance of the white tent and stepped inside.
The size of the tent was similar to the large hexagonal tent that he had used alone with the Legion Commander in the Peninsula. Inside, there were three members and no other participants. Various measuring instruments, open Artifacts, and a box filled with tags were piled up on one side.
Leonardo scanned the interior and walked to the position marked on the floor, following the member’s gesture. When he stopped at a suitable spot, one of the two members sitting at the table spoke to him.
“Do you have the receipt you received when you applied for participation? Could you give it to me along with your ID?”
He immediately took out the two items from his inner pocket and handed them over. Two members each took one. Then, the remaining member who had been standing back came forward. In his hand was a detector that looked like a club.
“Please take out one auxiliary item you will use during the game. We will check it right now.”
‘This is supposed to be an auxiliary item for the game? Are you kidding me? This really has no ability at all. It’s not even an Amplification, it’s more like a handicap for me―.’
‘In principle, all items except clothing are classified as auxiliary items for the game.’
‘…Accessories are allowed, right? Do you know what a choker is? A damn dog Leash-like choker.’
‘The choker in question has been detected as not a simple accessory. Items that affect the operation of Magic Power, whether the effect is Amplification or suppression, are all classified as auxiliary items for the game without distinction.’
“Damn it…”
Leonardo, biting his lip tightly, chuckled at the current situation that had gone ridiculously wrong.
‘If you don’t want to register it as an auxiliary item, you can release it yourself on the spot.’
“If it was that easy to take off, would I have been wearing it until now?”
Recalling the absurd situation, he ruffled his hair as if his plans had gone awry. The hat that had been pressed down fell to the floor with a thud due to the rough touch, and his pressed-down blonde hair fluttered in the humid sea breeze.
Lest anyone see him, Leonardo picked up the fallen hat with a sigh. After dusting off the fine sand, he put it on his head. The salty sound of the waves tickled his ears.
Originally, the item he intended to carry during the league was a ruby ring that helped with Magic Power operation. Its name was Dominentis. It was a Magic Tool that concealed energy and allowed him to adjust the output more precisely, and he had modified it with Judy’s help after finding it with difficulty in his residence.
From the beginning, he had no doubt that his strongest weapon was himself, so Leonardo tried to focus only on hiding his identity, using his abilities to a minimum, and winning the prize.
But while others were showing up with collections made by Aras’s artisans or staves with stuffed two-headed snakes, he had to go through the difficult league with this damn Leash instead of a Magic Tool.
The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became, and he glared at the rock in front of him for no reason. There, unnatural letters, which were hard to see as traces of nature, were engraved.
[Moving more than 10m in radius is prohibited until instructed.
Leaving the designated area will result in immediate disqualification.]
It had been almost 30 minutes since he had been waiting for that instruction. But there had been no news so far.
Tired of waiting, Leonardo kicked the rock, which also served as a guide, hard.
But whether the rock he thought was a model was actually a real stone, only a throbbing pain remained in his toes, and it didn’t budge. The surface crumbled a little, but the scratches were so insignificant that they were barely noticeable.
Instead of screaming, he strained his neck and slumped down on the sandy beach, letting out an annoyed groan.
“Ugh, seriously…! What the hell am I supposed to do here?”
To his right was the sea with crashing waves, and to his left was a lush jungle forest spread out on a high cliff. The scorching sun shining under the clear sky scattered in all directions along with Leonardo’s voice.
The development where a temporary Portal appeared in front of him as soon as he passed through the tent was unexpected. He threw himself into the Portal as instructed, and he guessed that it would lead to the external competition venue, but he didn’t expect to be dropped on such a remote island.
This place was the first sub-stadium for the participant test in Agrigento Territory.
Leonardo, who was exhausted on the sun-heated ground, lay sprawled on the fine sandy beach. When he stared at the boundary between the sea and the sky, the outline of a barrier like a net was revealed, reflecting the light.
And just in time, a huge Amplification Magic Circle unfolded in the clear blue sky. Along with a buzzing noise, an announcement voice rang out, signaling the start of the full-scale test.