07:13 pm, June 26, 1378 ASV
After a month of training and living at the Aurelion estate, Eros had finally figured out his groupmates' arts along with their strengths and weaknesses.
Ibo and Fuze each had interesting and useful arts but they were not meant for close range combat. Sasha, who had been cold to Eros for weeks until he apologized to her, had more of a supporting art. Knight did not have an art of his own unlike the others, instead he had an Astral Arm, which was a weapon infused with enough Astral Aura to create an Astral Art of its own. His large ivory hammer's name, Hero, had an art with a very destructive capability. Unfortunately, it was in the hands of the wrong owner.
Since Lucerio did not have any Astral Aura to draw out the ability of an Astral Arm, he crafted his own weapons and gadgets. He crafted two katanas, the twin black blades could slice paper in half.
Amelia had bought Eros a beautifully crafted golden sword, one befitting a Heavenly Saint. The hilt had the symbol of the sun on it, which Amelia explained was because Eros had become the sun of her life in that short month. Eros refused the gift at first out of pure guilt, but after constant insisting and Amelia breaking down into tears, he finally caved in and named the sword, Goldenstar.
In that one month, Eros and Amelia had gotten closer and closer to the point where Eros could no longer view her as an enemy after all of this. Even if she was a noble, she was not the one who had brought destruction to Eros' settlement. He only hoped that after the festival, Amelia would remain his friend.
Who am I kidding? When the festival is over and she sees me for what I really am, she will hate me. She will no longer see Eros, she will only see an Eldritch, a slave, and an enemy of her people…
Despite this harsh truth, Eros still couldn't help but wonder if it was possible for them to at least not be enemies after all of this. He had actually grown to like Amelia who unlike the other nobles, seemed to still have her humanity intact.
Even though Eros had access to the Aurelions' abundant resources, he was unable to find any traces of Elise. It was as if she never existed to begin with and was merely a fragment of Eros' mind.
Did she really exist? Did I have a sister named Elise? No, what am I saying? I'm not crazy, of course she existed! Velvo captured her… but how exactly did a 10 year-old girl escape from the Divine Emperor's palace? There's no way she could have done that by herself…
"Eros, are you okay?" Amelia asked, tightly hugging Eros' left arm. They were in the back of a limo on their way to the Golden Experience Hotel, where the commencement ceremony for the Festival of War was being hosted.
"Sorry, it's nothing…" Amelia had bought everyone in their group fancy new clothes for the ceremony, pleasing Fuze very much. Eros was dressed in a nicely tailored white suit, Amelia had bought herself a beautiful red dress, and the rest of the group opted for more traditional suits and dresses. Lucerio got a custom made black suit that hid every part of his skin, including a new expensive black mask made out of stronger materials.
They all sat in the back of the limo silently, staring at the passing traffic.
"Old man, got any words of wisdom before we enter?" Eros asked.
"Uh, yeah sure. A man who conquers the world becomes immortal but a man who conquers himself becomes invincible. You'd be wise to remember that…"
"Did you just think of that? That's pretty stupid." Amelia laughed along with the rest of the group. Eros and Lucerio did not.
"Who would've thought that decaying brain of yours had something poetic in it…" Lucerio muttered quietly.
"I don't quite understand how that will apply to the festival." Eros replied, slightly confused by what the old man meant.
"Don't worry kid, one day you'll understand what I meant."
"Hopefully not when I've become a wrinkly old man like you…" Eros softly laughed, forcing a smile out of Ivan.
Finally, they arrived at the Golden Experience Hotel. The building was at least 1400 metres tall, slightly taller than the association's headquarters. There were numerous papparazzi awaiting the limo's arrival, their group being hit with a barrage of camera flashes. Amelia posed for all of them.
After about 30 minutes of being harrassed by the papparazzi, they finally made their way into the main lobby of the hotel. It was beautiful inside, ivory golden pillars surrounded them as they walked in. The staff members were dressed in fancy velvet dresses and velvet tuxedos with beautifully decorated face masks. Ivan had already got his tuxedo and mask beforehand, so when he walked in with the rest of the group, one of the other staff members dragged him away to the staff room while scolding him for not knowing his place.
The main dining hall was immaculate, it was about 30 stories high, each with a large round dining table that faced the middle of the room to show a large theatre stage on the first level. There were four giant televisions hanging from the ceiling so those that couldn't see the theatre stage could just watch the televisions instead.
In the middle of the stage, there were at least 100 staff members setting up the stage equipment. The first level of the large dining table was reserved for the Volarions and the 7 Heavenly Noble Clans. Amelia informed them that their group would be sitting in the second level with the other sponsors and slaves.
It seems like the level you sit on is ranked by your sponsor's influence. The empire's most influential noble clans and the royal family sit on the first level, while the least influential sit on the thirtieth level. You would think the Volarions would want to establish themselves as higher than the rest of the nobles, but I guess they just wanted good seats to see the stage…
Eros scanned the first floor, unable to find anyone seated. None of them had arrived yet, likely waiting to make a last second extravagant entrance. He looked around at the other sponsors, most of them were snobs or so self-absorbed and lost in their own worlds that they had hardly noticed anyone else talking to them. Their slaves seemed frail and pale, many looked exhausted as if they just been picked out of the mines and brought here last minute.
Are they even trying to win? You would think that they would feed their slaves and put them in a training program so they'd at least stand a chance…
This was good news for Eros because it meant that they would be easier to defeat, but he couldn't find any joy in knowing that the artists would take advantage of this. They would kill them without hesitation and maybe even torture them out of boredom.
I can't save everyone, but that doesn't mean I'll just let them all die in there. I need to find the champion as soon as possible.
In the past month, Eros had reviewed footage of the past 20 festivals. He had found out what the champion looked like, a tall white beast with glowing red eyes, but he was unable to find out what the secret of its art was. The champion hadn't once used its art, it simply tore the slaves to shreds with its raw strength.
Despite not knowing its art, Eros felt quite confident against the beast. He had a plan for how to defeat it but it relied on his group working together, something even harder to accomplish than defeating the champion.
"Dear honoured guests, please take your seats! The 7 Heavenly Noble Clans and the Royal Family have arrived!"
The Volarions walked in first, Divine Emperor Palaxe accompanied his wife, Heather, to her seat with Velvo, Stella, and Lucius following behind. There were two ivory golden cloaked Heavenly Saints following them, one of which was Saint Charles. The other was a black haired woman with bored, dark brown eyes and a fake smile stretched across her face.
Soon after, the 7 Heavenly Noble Clans followed. The first was the Solvaris clan, then the Xenaris clan, then the Ironheart clan, then the Scarlett clan, then the Lune clan, then the Norwood clan, and finally the Reezo clan.
Lucerio gripped the dagger in his pocket, tightly gripping the railing with his black glove.
"Don't…" Eros put his hand on his shoulder.
"Why not?"
"There's a time and place for everything."
"Just say you're scared."
"I am. I don't want to lose you, Lucerio."
"What are you…"
"If you insist on doing this now, I won't stop you." Eros clutched the hilt of his sword, eyeing Velvo as he swirled the wine in his cup. "But think about whether or not it's worth doing right now…"
"Get your hand off of me."
Lucerio loosened the grip on his dagger, sighing heavily through his mask.
"Now then, esteemed guests! Let us commence the ceremony!"