“She’s still doing it to now…”, Flower spoke softly as I began to walk away.

“Huh? Where are you going?”, she questioned.

“I need to attend to something”.

I walked swiftly to the corner, appearing in front of her and the scoundrel man in only a few seconds.

“Patricia, who’s that ugly man beside you?”, I asked innocently.

Patricia looked at me with dread in her eyes, almost like she was telling me to shut up.

Why was she scared? This bum is nothing.

“What did you say, kid?!”, the man bellowed, his voice already agitated.

“Is there another ugly fat man here?”

He took his arm off Patricia and pointed it at me, “You brat, did your parents not teach you how to treat your elders?”

His voice was getting louder and commanding more attention, but I kept my composure.

“Do you even have an idea who my son is?! I’ll run you into the dirt!!”

“I’d really like to see what a fat old man could do”.

Looking around the hall, he grinned. He then quickly adjusted his emerald coloured suit and straightened his salt-and-pepper hair.

Then I noticed someone walking towards us. “What is the problem, father?”

He was just about my age yet walked like already ruled the world, he had fine, slicked-back, black hair,  light yellow eyes and strong features. The boy was stoic, far more than he should be for his age.

“Ahh, Dean, this lowly boy was just here disrespecting me”, the man said, now sounding more like a servant than a father.

“Oh, and what gave you the right to do such?” he said before turning back to me.

A crowd began to properly form around us; murmurs became evident from the crowd.

“Your father disrespected not only me, my maid, but my entire empire. His disgusting attitude is not fit for such an event”.

“And who are you to say such? Are you not aware that this is my father?”

“Since it is my father, then it can be excused, and it shall be excused”.

“Or what?!”, I said, anger burning inside of me.

He looked at me perplexed, almost like he didn’t believe I would talk back to him.

Then he removed the badge from his left side and tossed it to the ground in front of me. The crowd gasped, his father smiled with glee, and he merely kept his smug expression.

It didn’t take a genius to understand what he tried to do; during occasions like this, duels can be initiated by removing one’s badge and throwing it to the opponent.

However, you have to be of very high ranking to try something like this; not even any regular empire leader would try something like this.

So who was this guy?

Looking into his core, I felt my heart drop. This boy who looked just as old as me already had six rings around his core and brimming in those cores were an array of colours.

The red of fire and the deeper red of lava, the light white of wind and the deeper green of storm, the blue of water and the stronger shade of ice and the brown palette of earth and the light orange of nature.

Then I turned down to view the badge.

‘Dean Heaks, Sapphire Star’.

A grim silence quickly enveloped the audience, then murmurs and gossip burst out.

“…it’s him, he’s the Sapphire Star…”.

“…Why had they not yet announced him if he was here amongst us…”.

“…This boy is in trouble, he’s going to die…”.

This was troublesome indeed; a duel with this guy was above me. He was the Sapphire Star; he had probably trained with the greatest of fighters in the country and abroad since he was found out.

This alone wasn’t the only issue, though, this wasn’t firsr ever actual fight. Sure, it was a duel, and one wasn’t allowed to kill during a duel.

He could still kill me on a whim, and he would face absolutely no repercussions for this, and I can’t deny such a fight because he and his father would most likely look to bring down my family.

It was indeed a bad situation to be in; however, I was powerful too. I was trained in the path of a warlord; I had four rings around my core and even had eyes which could venture into the future.

I could win this fight. No, I shall win this fight.

I bent down and carefully grabbed the badge with my right hand before smirking at him, “I accept”.

“Good peasant, keep me entertained now”.

He gestured for me to follow him, and we dove into the now splitting crowd until we reached a giant door.

It was lavishly covered by some long red curtains which covered everything except the handle. He opened the door, and through it a giant indoor colosseum became visible.

The walls were illuminated with giant torches instead of the usual mana lights; there was finely cushioned red seats surrounding the square arena at the very centre.

There were weapon racks around the inner arena walls, big and small, from the sharpest iron daggers to simple long staff.

The Sapphire Star looked back at me with a smug expression then walked down the open stairs to the arena.

I stood there and watched him as the various empires, politicians and even servants rushed inside. 

My family quickly came to meet me right as I was about to go down the stairs. They held worrisome expressions especially Patricia who was with them, her eyes bloodshot.

“How…Wh…”, My father stuttered around his words, unsure about what to ask.

Patricia obviously told them what had happened and there was no reason to question my actions.

“Just stay safe”, my mother said forcing a smile.

My father sighed and said, “Your mother is right, it would be worse if you tried to refuse it so just stay safe”.

Lucia held the most contorted expression on his face then he grinned at me, likely trying to give me strength.

“You’re strong Damian, go beat that guy”.

I smiled at them and said, “Of course, this will be light work”.

Then I turned from them and walked down the  stairs.

It was time to beat the Sapphire Star.

END OF CHAPTER 15.