While Michael was busy solving the problem of the Feast, the Exhibition Tournament was going exactly as planned.

Fenix easily advanced to the second round, defeating his opponent as handily as he did during the first round. It was at this point that everyone started to realize how talented he was in swordplay.

This was probably because he had spent almost the entirety of his life having little to no Aubility Power. Because of that, he honed his sword skills to the point where he could fully fight against other Knights with much more powerful Maugnetic abilities.

But now that he had Aubility Power, his sword skills only became amplified multiple times. Some people were even saying that Fenix would give Arthur a run for his money. This was a pretty strong compliment that should not be taken lightly.

Some of Fenix’s Knight friends were unfortunately knocked out in the second round. But the fact that they were still able to show a good fight only emphasized how powerful the chocolate ice cream was.

It came to the point where some of the Knights and Swordsmen realized that they would be severely limiting themselves if they didn’t eat chocolate ice cream before a fight.

It became a sort of ritual. Before a fight, one must finish a gallon of ice cream before a candle’s time worth.

This only solidified the idea that chocolate ice cream equaled strength. As expected, this increased the sales for McTony’s restaurant.

Castelle was very glad to see their stocks starting to trend upwards once again.

Back at the Colosseum, it was now Jaku’s turn in the second round. His opponent was a female swordsman, one that was famous for her use of multiple swords.

She stood in the arena, a hundred swords floating around her. Each one of those swords moved independently of the swordsmen, yet they all displayed skill at the same level as she was.

So, Jaku was basically fighting a hundred opponents at the same time. This was what made her such a formidable opponent. Even Arthur wouldn’t want to lower her guard against her.

Many thought Jaku would finally lose. His little tricks from the last round won’t work. She basically had a hundred eyes on him at all times. No surprise attacks would be able to go past her.

Jaku, on the other hand, once again yawned as he looked at the referee. "Are you going to start this?"

Hearing such arrogant words, many people couldn’t help but scoff. What made him so confident?

Arthur was among them. He had his eyes fixed on Jaku, making sure he saw every single move. He wanted to see the level of swordplay he was going to be facing in the next rounds.

...

...

...

Meanwhile, in a secluded area in the Colosseum. A group of Vampires watched on with disinterest as the Exhibition Match continued on.

Their cold demeanor and the glittering golden jewelry on their body depicted them as Royalblood Vampires. The very authority amongst their kind.

They watched Jaku with a bit of scorn on their faces.

"A demi-human...," said one of them. "A demi-human using the powers of the human. How sad."

The other Royalblood Vampires concurred with this observation.

Demi-humans were basically the unevolved versions of Beastfolks. In their minds, if only Jaku completed his evolution, then he would have had access to his own Beast Heart, his own source of power that didn’t need any modification.

"We must find the one true religion."

A Vampire with short, braided, black hair sat on the grandest chair furthest in the room. He was the main leader of this little pack of Royalblood Vampires.

"Yes, sir Arthrax. We must find the true religion, and only then can these pitiful demi-humans receive the help that they need. Otherwise, they’ll just be forever inferior to humans."

Arthrax nodded.

"Sir, the one called the Zentmeister company has once again reached out to us. They are waiting for your response," said the Vampire.

A day ago, they were approached by the Zentmeister company with a proposition.

They wanted Arthrax’s pack of Royalblood Vampires to help the Zentmeister company during the Feast. They wanted them to influence other Vampires by purchasing their food and thereby giving them the tokens they needed for the rankings.

And in exchange, the Vampires would receive the help of the Zentmeister company in finding their so-called true religion.

In truth, Arthrax disliked having to need the help of the humans. As Royalblood, he thought that they should be able to do it all on their own since they were fated to be the one to bring the true religion back onto the world.

Unfortunately, they were having a lot of trouble. There was a lot of noise in the Royal Continent. False prophets, dead ends, and even broken dreams pestered them throughout their journey.

This would have been fine. The Royalblood Vampires would have bene okay with spending decades or even millenia searching for the true religion.

However, Arthrax had been feeling something ominous for a long while now. He felt that something was coming. And that they needed to find the one true religion sooner rather than later.

That was why he was starting to warm up to the Zentmeister patriarch’s proposal.

His pride didn’t matter in the search for their religion. If humans helped them achieve that goal, then so be it. It must have been Gaia’s will from the very start.

"Alright, tell them—"

Suddenly, just as Arthrax was supposed to agree to the terms, the room suddenly turned dark.

Now, there was already no light source inside the room. But somehow, it still got darker. Grimmer.

Vampires, being creatures of darkness, immediately knew that another person was among them. They bared their fangs, which grew out of their mouth and almost touched their lower lip.

"Show yourself," Arthrax demanded.

Suddenly, a new sound emerged. Boing. Boing. Boing. This squishy, bouncing sound completely underscored the tension in the room.

"Hi," Fudge said.