Alec’s name echoed loudly through the arena as the fanatic supporters among the Northern Kingdom crowd chanted it again and again, the way they celebrated made it seem as though they had already won the entire tournament.

Meanwhile, Alec’s gaze remained focused on Takeda, even though Agnes had mentioned that the one watching was likely just a clone, Alec still had the strange feeling that the real Takeda might somehow be able to observe through it.

And if that was the case, Alec wanted him to understand something clearly, that deep down, he was already looking forward to defeating him.

_ _

About two minutes later, Alec had left the stage, walking through the same tunnel his team had used to enter earlier.

Even after the battlefield was cleared and the participants had left, the discussions throughout the arena didn’t stop, in the VIP sections, the high-ranking spectators were already engaged in heated conversations.

“Finally, he’s back, let’s see what’s new this time.” Dragov said as he stood up.

The rest of the Bloodline Academy team rose with him, their expressions filled with interest, they too looked clearly eager for a chance to battle the War God Mage Team.

From the Ember Citadel team, however, only one person was present—the vice-captain, El-Masri.

She didn’t say a word. Instead, she simply frowned before standing up and heading toward the exit, what she had witnessed today weighed heavily on her mind.

As she walked, she kept calculating the probability of her team defeating the other qualified teams.

Secretly, she has been hoping that whichever team emerged from the loser’s bracket would be weaker and give her team better chances of winning against them in case they were paired together in the semi final.

But deep down, she had already realized something troubling, what she had just witnessed might have been an even greater monster than she anticipated.

After all, Alec had gone head-to-head with a mage whom her entire team had struggled to defeat, even after relying on careful strategies and teamwork. And he hadn’t just fought Ren...

He had won.

Yes, Titan might have been responsible for the weakened state Ren found himself in the fight, but El-Masri refused to let that cloud her judgment, because she understood one undeniable truth.

Her team wouldn’t just have to deal with Alec, they would also have to face his golem... Him and the rest of his team.

_ _

While the mages who had come merely to spectate the match began leaving after confirming who the fourth team would be, many other events were still unfolding within the first and second VIP levels.

On the second VIP level, Old Man Alderic burst into loud laughter, unable to contain his excitement. This time, no one dared say anything to interrupt him.

Even the Dean looked satisfied, the War God Mage Academy had managed to defeat two academies at once, an achievement that spoke for itself.

In doing so, Alec had not only silenced any attempts to downplay their victory, because claiming their win was unimpressive would also imply that the other teams they face were much weaker,

But they had also been able to qualify in a way that no one could reasonably question, after defeating both teams alone without having to do it three-ways.

Meanwhile, the King of the Northern Kingdom stormed out in anger, and a few minutes later, he appeared inside his throne room, where two mages knelt before him.

“Why in the hell was the information about Alec returning to the city not reported to me immediately?” the King demanded.

The two mages trembled in fear. After a few seconds, one of them finally gathered the courage to step forward and speak.

“My King, I am deeply sorry, the space axis was used very late last night, and we only received the report this morning. At the time, we didn’t think much of it. It was only after we arrived at the arena and saw him appear that we realized he must have been one of the mages who used the space axis during the night.”

Seeing his companion speak, the second mage reluctantly added his own explanation.

“And... my King, you previously instructed us never to disturb you at night under any circumstances, since that is the time you spend with the queens in your harem.”

“Insolence!” The King roared the moment he heard that.

The two mages immediately pressed their foreheads to the floor, trembling as they begged for mercy.

Though the King was furious at what had been said, it also gave him a moment to calm down and think more clearly.

If the news about Alec had truly been brought to him that late at night, he probably would have dismissed the messengers before they even had the chance to explain.

In fact, if he had been in a worse mood than usual, he might have even ordered them beheaded on the spot, and in the morning he had already spent time having breakfast with one of his queens before heading straight to the battle arena.

Thinking about it carefully, he realized there really might not have been any proper way for them to reach him in time.

“But if he came back... then what happened in Estonia City?” the King asked.

This second question immediately put the two servants in an even more difficult position, and it took them some time to gather their thoughts, but after nearly ten minutes they were able to explain everything they had heard about the events in Estonia City.

Though they couldn’t provide full details, only the main reports that had been passed along through their channels, according to the information they received, after several days of besieging the Gordons Clan the City Lord army was finally able to breach into their core territory, where the decisive battle had begun.

At first, everyone believed the City Lord’s army would win.

However, as the fighting continued, the spies stationed around the area reported that the sounds of battle were growing increasingly violent.

Before anyone could understand what had truly happened, everything changed.

The battle that they predicted would last days and it would end with the Gordons Clan collapsing and its surviving members hunted down like stray dogs for information about their other clansmen who were able to escape—never occurred.

Instead, the opposite happened, the Gordons Clan won.

The outcome caused a massive uproar, and what followed forced the capital to intervene in a matter of jurisdiction.

After all, the city’s main governing force had effectively been overthrown.

King Charles would have gladly used the situation as an excuse to punish and eliminate the Gordons Clan entirely, but he knew better than to act recklessly.

With the kingdom’s laws in place and countless witnesses capable of testifying to what truly happened, it would be foolish for him to fabricate accusations.

In fact, given how things had unfolded, the only option he could think of now was to instigate the Dragonmir Clan Patriarch to act.

After all, one of the cities governed by a branch member of his clan had now fallen into the hands of another clan.

The truth was, he had already known about the City Lord’s intention to attack the Gordons Clan, but just like how the War God Mage Academy had spies with-in Estonia City itself, he had secretly sent his own mages a few days earlier to investigate the clan that had managed to produce a talent like Alec.

That investigation was when he first learned that the Gordons Clan would soon be attacked, yet even after discovering such a situation, he chose to do nothing.

Deep down, he actually supported the move. Since he couldn’t openly dirty his own hands, he had been more than willing to let those minor branch mages of the Dragonmir Clan deal with the Gordons for him.

If the attack had succeeded, he would have simply swept the entire matter under the rug.

But now that they had lost, the situation could no longer be hidden.

He would have to either appoint a new City Lord or formally recognize the Gordons Clan as the new guardian clan of Estonia City.