Downfall of the strongest champ
A person could be seen lying on the blood-soaked ground inside the warriors arena. His nose was bleeding and some of his teeth were missing. His lips were swollen and he had black eyes in both eyes. There were also traces of bruises and wounds on some parts of his body.
This poor guy who looked so beaten up... was supposedly the best warrior in the Alceria Empire with a 999-win streak record and 100 percent win rate in the Paragon Duel and he was crowned as the fiercest champion.
But all of that titles were nothing but history from now on.
He, who had never lost a duel even once since the day he entered the contest of strength and power, met with misfortune.
With half-closed eyes, he asked himself. 'How did this happen?'
He, who adhered to the laws of the empire was betrayed by the people he thought were his allies.
Glaring down at him with a swagger on his face, was a man with long red hair, fair skin, a pointed nose, a thick upper lip, and a pair of almond eyes with ruby-red pupils.
At the back of that person was a blazing flying beast, the Fire Bird.
"This is your end, Melchior. All your rights will be waived. All include your High Tier Equipment, Magic Resources, and even your Magic Core. Your name, title, and status will also be removed. From now on, you will live as a 'Nameless' person and nothing in you. You will live no more than a stray dog on the streets."
After stating that in a cold voice, the red-haired man turned around and walked away. And after a flick of his finger, the Fire Bird turned to a wasp of smoke and disappeared.
The defeated champ on the ground felt so regretful. In his mind, he couldn't believe what happened.
"How shameless to win like this bozo..."
He wanted to tell him that, but he kept it to himself as he knew that anything he would say at this point could only be tolerated as an excuse. Surely, he would only get a cold reply like, 'That's the excuse of the loser, but the winner has the final say, isn't it?'
So, nevermind.
His body felt heavy after being beaten so badly. Earlier in the fight, his whole body suddenly went numb and lost strength, which is why he couldn't fight properly. That was also why he believed something was amiss.
Before the red-haired man could completely leave the arena, he stopped briefly and turned to him again.
"Ah, I forgot to mention it. Your engagement to Princess Qiqi will also end today…"
He left after saying that and never looked back again. But what he said caused a great shock to some people.
"What?!"
A strong exclamation took everyone's attention.
The deafeated champ glanced in that direction and saw his fiancee teary-eyed.
"Your Majesty, my father, what's the meaning of this?" The empire's princess questioned her father, the emperor.
"My beloved daughter, Princess Qiqi, that man is no longer a good match for you. A loser warrior is only a stain in our Great Alceria Empire's name. Please understand."
"No! He's my beloved man!"
Slap!
The princess received a hard slap on her face.
She was very surprised. This was the first time her father raised his hand against her. Tears began to form at the corners of her eyes.
The Emperor looked at his hand and felt remorse for what he had done. "Uh, I'm sorry, my beloved daughter, I didn't do it on purpose b-but... Uh-uhm! Maids! Get her out of here!"
"Yes, your majesty!" Five maids answered in unison.
Hearing his fiancee's crying voice, the defeated champ tried to crawl towards her direction. However, his whole body was so heavy like he was pulling a mountain.
"N-no… p-please no… not the engagement…" he begged, but his mumble disappeared in the ocean of cheers.
Lurius!
Lurius!
Lurius!
The cheerful crowd excitedly shouted the winner's name. Those unpleasant cheers enveloped the whole arena.
He rolled his eyes and looked around. There, he caught sight of the emperor and his loyal knights along with the most influential noble in the empire.
What?
He was bewildered by the expression on their faces.
All of them had a victory smile.
Why are they smiling like that?
Aren't they on my side?
His eyebrow twitched when a realization hit him very hard.
Shit… these shits… could it be… they colluded to mess up with me? Are you kidding me!?
He saw the figure of Princess Qiqi being pulled away by the maids. She looked at him with teary eyes and shouted his name.
"Melchior!"
"Princess Qi…"
Both of them reached out their hands toward each other, but the princess disappeared fast.
The emperor and those around him looked at Melchior with a scornful look and laughed at him while pointing out how miserable he looked.
However, Melchior's vision gradually darkened and the last thing that came out of his mouth before losing consciousness was that he apologized to his beloved.
"I'm sorry, princess, for failing my promise…"
Darkness finally took over him with the last picture that registered in his eyes was their grinning faces. His consciousness embarked into a long darkness right after that.
When he opened his eyes again, the former Fearless Paragon Champ found himself in a slum.
It had already been a few months since his first defeat. His name, prestige, and everything were stripped out from him.
Now he was living his life in the lowest slum of the poorest town on this nameless planet with his only means of living was through rummaging on waste materials on the garbage sites to earn a little. Very little that is not even enough for a meal for a day.
As a result, his once vigorous body turned bones and skin. His handsome face was now messy and unattended. Messy beards took over the lower part of his face and the upper was occupied by dirt.
His once healthy figure is now the definition of poverty. His scrawny body was only covered by a dirty tattered cloth and tattered pants with so many stitches all over to try to save it as much as possible.
If food was scarce here, so did water.
All the rivers and canals around this town were clogged with garbage and other waste. The only means of drinking for the people here to survive was through the rain. And since rain would not come so often, sometimes they could get water by trading the materials they rummaged from garbage sites to some traders.
Some people would go to the mountain to find flowing water, but it was very dangerous there. The chance of getting attacked by wandering ghouls was pretty high.
It was day, yet you could not see a ray of the sun everywhere in this town. The sky in this town was always covered by dirty-looking clouds. It must be because the pollution reached such an extent that even caused the sky to be blanketed by dirty atmospheres.
Below such a gloomy sky was a gloomier town where houses and buildings were all covered in dust and broken parts.
The streets were empty of people, yet it was crowded with scattered trash.
In one of its streets, a scrawny dog could be seen passing by. Before it reached the other side of the street, a cold gust of wind swept the street, tossing away the trash around it. One of the trash flies toward the dog.
The dog who noticed it evaded the trash at the last second by jumping away.
Arf!?
Then it ran toward the trash and sniffed it.
*Sniff* *Sniff*
At that moment, the dog was interrupted by a sudden guttural sound.
A-Arhrm!
The dog stopped sniffing, then it looked around, looking somewhat alert. Not far from it, the dog noticed an entrance.
It was an entrance to an alley. It looked like 'there' in that alley was where the guttural sound came from.
Arhrm! Arhrm!
The dog slowly approached it and noticed it was dark. Suddenly, it started barking, probably noticing something in there.
Arf! Arf! Grrr!
Inside the alley, a nameless person was rubbing his throat.
It had been a few days since his last taste of water. Now his throat was dry and it made him hard to talk.
Lying around him were some pieces of tattered cartons. These were the only treasures he had presently. And here in these cartons where he laid his tired body after a day of searching for valuable materials to trade for food and water.
Like the other day, after waking up, he rolled the cartons and tied them with a straw. He had to bring it with him wherever he goes. He could not leave them anywhere because other people would take them. If that's to happen, he could only lie down on the bare ground to sleep. If possible, he wanted to avoid that from happening to avoid causing illness to his body.
Next, he reached out for a wooden stick that was leaning against the wall, then he helped himself in standing up.
He was so young, yet he looked like an old man in his condition.
At the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of an empty bottle. It was a medicine that Princess Qiqi sent to him.
Last night Princess Qiqi sent her loyal attendant, Miss Yunis, to secretly bring him medicine.
This was the reason why until now he still tried to live even though his situation could be said to be hopeless. His lover wanted him to live and he could not ignore that. For her sake, he decided to struggle and live, hoping for the sunshine to come after the rain.
Unfortunately, Miss Yunis brought bad news with her. According to her, the Empire's experts in astronomy have discovered a blue planet in a distant galaxy. This blue planet was proved to have living creatures and was rich in resources. The emperor wants to conquer it so he plans to send warriors to exterminate the inhabitants of this planet.
And Lurius will be assigned to lead this mission according to Miss Yunis. If Lurius succeeds in the mission, the emperor will marry Princess Qiqi to Lurius whether the princess likes it or not.
Nameless's chest hurt when he heard this.
According to Miss Yunis, the Sylverious Family's real intention is just to use Princess Qiqi for their own gains.
He sighed.
If he could only turn into a fierce monster he would have done so just to protect his beloved princess.
But that would be pointless as well. He could not even leave here. The reason was because they had space checkpoints that needed to be passed, so the empire would still know if he left this place. He was absolutely grounded here. Only spaceships that were allowed by the space checkpoints were allowed to enter and leave here.
While he was thinking of what he could do to save the princess, the blue planet that Miss Yunis mentioned suddenly entered his mind.
What kind of planet is that? Is it true that many people live there? If true, the fate of the people living there will surely be bitter at the hands of the Alcryans.
Back to the present.
While carrying the cartons on his back, he walked with the help of a cane.
After he lost in that duel, they took all his resources, his rare item collections, his wealth, everything. They took all of it without leaving a single one. They even took his magic skill scrolls, techniques, and went so far as to cripple his Magic Core.
They even broke his leg.
And perhaps it wasn't enough for those bozos, they even threw him on this faraway planet which he only heard from rumors before. And now, here he was, living in this infamous town on this rumored planet.
All the things he heard about this planet were mostly not good. This nameless planet was the fourth planet surrounding the yellow dwarf star, which was part of the Beta Andromeda Galaxy.
After exhausting all of its resources, the former inhabitants of this world abandoned this planet by selling it to the Alcryans race. The strongest race in this Beta Andromeda Galaxy. And he was one of the Alcryans and was once the strongest among all men in the Alceria Empire where he used to live. Well, he used to be the strongest man there, but now, he's nothing.
Regardless, this nameless planet is not without use. It's where they threw their trash, whether material trash or trash humans, especially those with heavy sins.
And why he was here?
That's the question that even 'he' could not answer. He didn't commit any crime as far as he remembered, to warrant him to be thrown in this damn planet.
"Those bastards, I hope their asses boil a lot for the injustice they did to me."
They did all those troubles while he was weak and unconscious, so he couldn't retaliate and object.
"Ah, damn… another arduous day to survive," he whined.
Before exiting the alley, he noticed an angry dog staring warily at him with its teeth grinding.
Grrr…
"Cut the crap…" he said impatiently.
He tried to poke it using his cane, hoping it would scare it but the opposite is what happened. His action angered the dog more!?
Grr! Arr! Arf! Arf!
"Alright, I can't even scare a dog now… what a shame."
He took the cloth pouch that was hanging on his side. He opened it and took a meat jerky inside. Then split it. He chewed the other half and gave the other half to the dog.
"Here take this… let's just be friends, okay?"
When he was in the Military Academy, the first thing his master taught him was not Martial Arts or any Martial Skills. His master first instilled wisdom into him, especially regarding battle.
His master once said, "…If you can't defeat your enemy, then use another method like befriending them."
Hm… Now that I think about it. While I was on the highest pedestal, those scumbags in the palace befriended me like professional bootlickers.
…Hah~
He could only sigh internally because of that thought.
The dog stopped gritting and sniffed the jerky. Suddenly, it wagged its tail and bit it, and ran away.
"You aren't a cute dog."
After letting out a mutter, he walked down the eastern road. And continued moving for a couple of miles down the south. Finally, in the distance, he saw his destination, the mountain of trash.
A rustle caught his attention.
What was that?
He looked above and noticed something big floating above the mountain of trash. And that thing was producing 'buzzing' noises.
Buzzzzzt! Bozzzzt!
"That…"