In that silent atmosphere, everyone's attention in the arena returned to the sky. The giant shadow of Lidaz, the griffon, slowly descended, bringing back the human riding him.
Once near the podium, the host, whose face was as pale as a corpse, quickly slid down from the monster's back. His legs trembled so violently that he had to hold onto the edge of the podium to keep from falling to the ground.
After catching his racing breath, the host stared in horror at the expanse of ice covering the entire arena. He swallowed hard and gathered the courage to speak to the silvery-white-haired youth in the middle of the field.
"Y-Young Master Kazien..." the host called out with a voice that still trembled, speaking bluntly without further ado through his magic. "C-Could you stop and withdraw this ice magic right now? The entire population of the capital is currently gripped by immense panic due to the whole region suddenly freezing."
Hearing the host's request, Kazien let out a soft sigh. He also felt that his warning had been conveyed very clearly to everyone present.
"Of course. I apologize for causing mass panic in the capital." Kazien replied in a calm tone.
Kazien snapped his fingers.
Instantly, a far more magnificent magical sight occurred. All the eternal ice coating the arena, the coliseum walls, and covering all the streets and buildings in the Larkvood capital shattered into incredibly beautiful particles of blue light. Those mana particles evaporated into the air and vanished without leaving a single drop of water behind.
The temperature inside the arena and throughout the entire capital returned to normal within seconds. The warmth of the morning sun once again embraced the skin of the thousands of spectators.
Seeing such precise and perfect control of massive-scale magic, the veteran mages in the stands immediately swallowed hard in terror.
A few moments later, after ensuring the situation of the audience and the capital had returned to a conducive state, the host patted his own cheeks to restore his professionalism.
"A-Alright, ladies and gentlemen!" the host exclaimed, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible to break the still-tense atmosphere. "Let us continue to the next session of this tournament! The second phase of the match, the one-on-one individual battles in the arena, will soon... begin!"
However, what happened next was completely beyond anyone's expectations. Instead of preparing to draw lots for the battle order, all the participants from the other five kingdoms dropped their weapons and magic wands to the ground.
All of them, without exception, surrendered with no intention of fighting.
Their mentality had been shattered into pieces. Witnessing the absolute power of one of the Altavis descendants with their own eyes had destroyed all their self-confidence. The family that had long been labeled the 'Strongest Family' on the Azvel Continent was not merely an empty boast.
Now, they understood very clearly that the title was not an exaggerated, empty claim. The fact that a capital could be frozen in the blink of an eye without them even realizing it was proof that fighting the Garveon team was equivalent to voluntary suicide.
The sight of all the participants surrendering en masse even before the second phase could begin sent the entire coliseum into an uproar once again. This embarrassing yet highly logical occurrence in the arena was the first of its kind in the long history of the inter-kingdom magic tournament.
Amidst that utterly awkward situation, the host, who was waiting for confirmation from the judges, was suddenly driven by the curiosity he had been holding back.
"Young Master Kazien..." the host called out suddenly, deviating from the tournament script out of sheer curiosity about the truth of the teenager's status. "Forgive my insolence, but... are the three male students with you on the team truly... your fiancés?"
That deeply personal question made the arena suddenly fall silent. Every ear in the stands perked up.
"Yes, the three of them are my beloved fiancés!" Kazien answered quickly, loudly, and with absolutely no pause or hesitation on his face.
The host swallowed hard. "B-But... do you have absolutely no interest in marrying a woman in the future? What about the successor to the Altavis family bloodline if you choose to marry a fellow man?"
"I have absolutely no interest!" Kazien replied, remaining consistent without the slightest pause. His voice sounded cold and sharp. "Do you think I am the only member of the Altavis family in this world? Besides, this is a magic tournament arena!"
Kazien stepped forward, looking straight at the host.
"But since you have already asked and everyone here seems so thirsty for gossip, I will tell you a few certainties so there are no more ridiculous rumors out there!" Kazien continued, his voice echoing and bouncing off the stone walls. "First, my desires do not lie with women. I only like cute-faced men, not pretty-faced women!"
Kazien pointed sharply at the podium. "And lastly, stop discussing my personal life from up on that podium! Because here I am a tournament participant, it has absolutely nothing to do with my private life!"
Hearing the incredibly brutal and blunt honesty about his desire for only cute-faced men straight from Kazien's mouth successfully caused everyone to start talking about his sexual orientation.
No one had ever expected that the son of a Duke from the Altavis family wouldn't fret in the slightest over the duty of producing an heir.
Seeing the uproar beginning to spiral out of control due to the topic of romance, the host immediately cleared his throat loudly to bring the event's focus back to its original purpose.
"A-Alright! I apologize for my out-of-context question, Young Master!" the host exclaimed quickly. He turned to look at the twenty participants from the five kingdoms who were still looking down. "Back to the main event... have all the participants from these various kingdoms truly surrendered and have no desire to continue the tournament to the individual phase?"
Instantly, everyone in the stands refocused their gaze on the tournament.
Hearing the referee's question, which seemed to still doubt their decision, Prince Mardaziel immediately raised his face. Frustration and annoyance were clearly depicted on his expression.
"Of course we surrender, you fool!" Prince Mardaziel shouted loudly, feeling incredibly annoyed by the ridiculous question. "How could we possibly win against those four monsters in a one-on-one fight?! One of them just froze the entire capital of this kingdom in the blink of an eye, and can even command wild griffons to bow to him! Do you think we are stupid enough to want to continue this one-sided tournament?!"
"Prince Mardaziel is right!" chimed in Erwin of the Holy Kingdom of Niverta, glaring sharply toward the podium as well. "Do you want to see us all die a senseless death just for the sake of entertainment? Have you gone mad, Host?!"
The other participants also nodded and shouted, agreeing with the opinions of the two team leaders. They were highly reluctant and firmly refused to be forced to fight four monsters in human form whom they could not possibly touch, let alone defeat.
Seeing the absolute decision and despair of all the participants who agreed to surrender without a fight, the main judges at the edge of the arena held a brief discussion.
In just a matter of seconds, they reached a unanimous agreement. The head judge nodded toward the host.
"Based on the mass withdrawal of the five representative teams..." the host declared with a trembling yet loud voice. "The judges have officially decided that the team from the Garveon Kingdom emerges as the absolute winner of the 140th inter-kingdom magic tournament this year!"
Awkward cheers began to be heard from the stands. For the first time in history, the most prestigious tournament battle on the continent felt incredibly one-sided, ended too quickly, and was also very boring.
And thanks to that event, everyone became aware that the Altavis family was indeed a family of monsters that had been crowned the strongest noble family on the Azvel Continent for hundreds of years.
Amidst the clamor of the victory announcement, Prince Arkaen of the Ignias Kingdom could only stand frozen in his line. He let out a very heavy sigh, his eyes fixed on Kazien, who was offering a faint smile to his fiancés.
Cold sweat drenched Arkaen's back. He recalled his kingdom's recent political maneuvers. Over the past few months, the Ignias Kingdom had quietly and consistently tried to provoke a war with the Garveon Kingdom through various provocative actions in the border regions.
Disaster... this is a disaster for the Ignias Kingdom! Arkaen thought, his mind drifting far away thinking about his kingdom's leader's actions. I truly hope my father does not do anything reckless that might trigger the wrath of that monster family. If the Altavis family were to make a move and step onto the battlefield... they would truly destroy our kingdom in an instant.