After hearing Lian’s words, Celestia’s expression became even uglier and more twisted, anyone with common sense could easily understand that this was a huge mockery and humiliation.
Throughout the tournament, the young members of the Vorhelm family had been fighting the weak opponents, and the strongest opponent was left for Lian, unless Seris was counted.
And this boy one-shotted his opponent.
The expressions of the young members and the elders of the Vorhelm family also turned ugly, they could see the mockery on the faces of everyone present, they just did not dare to show it.
"Hahaha, what a bunch of idiots." Only Aurelia laughed without any worry, she was a Pendragon and did not care at all if the Vorhelms became angry.
The more time passed, the more she liked Lian, and the more certain she became that this boy had to become a member of their family.
When was the last time someone humiliated the Vorhelms like this? Even she could not remember.
One of the Vorhelm elders immediately stood up to change the atmosphere, his voice echoed through the entire stadium.
"The second round begins."
But unlike what the organizers expected, the crowd’s attention was not on the second round, instead the entire stadium was still focused on what had happened a few minutes ago.
Lian Vorhelm, the boy whom many believed had become the victim of the elders’ plan, the boy who was supposed to be stopped by Darius Blackthorn.
The boy who was supposed to learn how big the gap between talent and real experience was, and that same boy... defeated Darius with a single punch.
Not a long battle, not an intense fight, not even a full display of his strength, just one punch.
Because of that, almost every conversation in the stadium was about him.
"What’s his real level?"
"The reports said ten."
"That’s nonsense."
"No level ten can defeat Darius like that."
"Maybe his skill is unusual."
"Maybe he has a five-star class."
"Maybe the information that was released was fake."
The army generals were taking notes, the political representatives were quietly discussing with each other, and the representatives of the great families were sending messages to their own people.
Almost everyone was gathering information, and the center of all those discussions was only one person, Lian Vorhelm.
The boy who was the biggest question mark at this event, the boy who had stolen all the attention since last night, and the more time passed, the more interested everyone became in him.
In the special seats of the Vorhelm family, the atmosphere was completely different, some of the elders were openly happy.
"After all, he is a member of our family." One of them said with a smile.
"His victory increases the family’s reputation."
"Reputation? Or trouble? If his strength keeps growing like this, the entire balance of the family will be destroyed." A man from the northern branch immediately replied.
"He just humiliated all of us!"
Several others also nodded and agreed.
That was exactly the problem, if Lian was weak, he could be ignored, if he was average, he could be controlled, but if he was really as strong as some people were guessing... then it would no longer be possible to ignore him so easily.
For the first time in many years, the disagreement between the different branches of the family had become clear.
Celestia sat silently in her seat, her face looked calm, she had finally managed to calm herself down.
But only those who had known her for many years could understand what kind of storm was hidden behind that calm face.
She had never expected Lian to win, at least not like this, not with such a huge gap, not with such obvious humiliation, and he had clearly understood their plan and humiliated all of them in front of everyone.
She was sure that that bitch, her husband’s first wife, was definitely laughing right now.
"What do we do?" A middle-aged man from her allied branch quietly asked beside her.
Celestia stayed silent for a few seconds and kept her eyes on the arena, then she quietly said.
"We can’t let him reach the Heavenly Treasury."
"Do you really think he can win?" The middle-aged man was silent for a moment.
Celestia did not take her eyes off the arena.
"I don’t know, but I don’t want to take the risk." For the first time, real worry could be heard in her voice.
The second round began.
Now there were far fewer participants left, the people who remained were no longer weak, each of them had already earned at least one victory today.
And this time they had to choose from among each other, they had to choose their own opponent, and if the other side agreed, the battle would take place.
At that moment everyone waited to see who would dare to say Lian’s name.
But no one did it, not one person, not two, not three, every time it was someone’s turn to choose, their eyes would move toward Lian for a moment.
And then they immediately looked away.
It was as if no one wanted to be the first person to stand against him again.
The strength he had shown was enough to turn him into a terrifying monster that no one dared to face.
Lian quietly watched this scene, before the battle against Darius, the looks around him had been completely different.
At that time he had only been a rumor, the exiled son, the hero of the border city, and an interesting topic for discussion, but now... he had become a real threat.
Even those who had looked at him with mockery before no longer said anything, fear could be seen on some of their faces, and Lian found that interesting.
Because he himself had done nothing, he had only thrown one punch.
"That woman must be going crazy right now, right?" He laughed as he thought about Celestia’s face, but he did not lower his guard, that woman would definitely try something else to stop him.
The first important battle of the second round began.
Cassius Vorhelm entered the arena, the Patriarch’s eldest son and one of the main candidates to win the tournament, he chose his opponent without any delay.
Eliza.
The young girl who had mocked Lian together with Adrian yesterday.
The battle was short but beautiful, Eliza showed considerable resistance, but in the end the gap between the two of them was simply too large.
Cassius won.
After that, Evangelin entered the arena, the girl whom many considered one of the most talented children of the Patriarch.
She chose one of the foreign guests, the battle lasted a little longer, but the result was no different, Evangelin also won.
One after another, the participants were eliminated, and the number of people left became smaller and smaller.
But throughout all of this, one thing was completely clear, everyone was avoiding Lian, it was as if he had become invisible, or maybe the opposite, he was being seen too much.
Time passed.
Another battle ended.
Then the next battle.
Little by little, the number of remaining participants became so small that there were no longer many choices left.
Among them, Adrian was still standing, his face looked calm, but inside he was not calm, he knew what order he had received.
From the very beginning, even before the tournament had started, if he got the chance, he had to fight Lian.
He had to do everything he could to eliminate him.
Now that moment had arrived.
Adrian stepped into the arena.
The stadium became quiet.
Everyone waited for his choice.
He looked at the remaining participants.
Then his eyes stopped on two people.
Seris Pendragon.
And Lian Vorhelm.
A few seconds of silence passed.
Seris looked at him without any emotion.
Lian also stood there calmly, as if the result did not matter to him.
Adrian took a deep breath and made his decision.
"I’ve chosen my opponent."
The entire stadium became silent.
Then he raised his hand and pointed directly at Lian.
"Lian Vorhelm."
A heavy wave of whispers spread through the crowd.
Some people were surprised.
Some smiled.
Some immediately understood that this choice was probably not random.
But everyone looked at him as if they were looking at an idiot, because there was no way this boy could win against Lian.
Lian raised his head.
His eyes stopped on Adrian.
For a few seconds, neither of them said anything.
Then... for the first time since the tournament had begun, a small smile appeared on Lian’s face.
It was not a smile of mockery.
It was not a smile of pride.
It was like someone who had finally found what he had been waiting for, as if after all this time... someone had finally dared to stand in front of him.
And fortunately, that person was someone he had wanted to teach a lesson to for many years, and now he had finally found the chance.
At that exact moment, the referee’s voice echoed through the entire stadium.
"Lian Vorhelm, do you accept this battle?"
"I accept."
"Then the next battle... will be between Adrian Vorhelm and Lian Vorhelm."