Bloodcrest Empire

As a yearly custom, the human and elf kingdoms were invited into the empire a few days before the tournament to explore and have fun around the city. And this year was no different.

Standing before a massive blue portal, I looked up in amazement.

"Woah, that thing is massive, this is such a wonderful invention."

2500 years ago, there was no such thing as a 'portal'. Dragons had no trouble traversing the world. With a few beat of our wings, we could be anywhere an instant. But the same cannot be said for the grounded races. Sometimes just travelling from one kingdom to the other took months.

The entire school was standing in front of the portal. Before entering, the headmaster stepped onto a podium and addressed them.

"Combatants representing our glorious kingdom, the moment you enter the tournament you are not students of Crownswell Academy, but warriors fighting for the pride of Erewhon Kingdom! Go forth and show our might to the world!"

Stepping off, a teacher replaced him and debriefed the students before they entered the portal.

"Listen up! We will be entering Blackgarde City, the capital of the Bloodcrest Empire. The moment you step foot inside this portal, you will be responsible for your own safety. Do not antagonize anyone from the Empire, we will NOT deal with any consequences that you bring upon yourself. There were several cases in the past and they did not end well. Heed this warning and have a good experience."

Many of the third and second years had heard this warning before so they didn't react much, but for the first years, this was quite alarming. They were already jittering with nerves at the thought of entering the empire, but with this warning, they became even more nervous.

Beside me was Anastasia and Parzival. She had a resolute expression on her face while he looked like an excited kid about to go on a field trip.

"Line up! Students, you will enter the portal in an orderly manner, no pushing! Once you reach the other side, you will find your own accommodations and will be free to explore."

Walking in an orderly fashion, the whole student body filed into the massive portal.

Stepping in to Blackgarde was like entering a whole new world. The moment I stepped foot onto the other side, the first thing that caught my eyes were the dozens and dozens of flying carriages in the sky, each of them carrying passengers inside. They were self automated and powered by monster cores. And even further away, there were several floating islands.

'Technology sure has advance tremendously while I was away.' Looking at all these, one question popped into my mind.

"Why is the empire so ahead in technology compared to our kingdom?" I asked Anastasia.

"As a vessel state of the empire, we have to give 50% of all monster cores that we find yearly. So with our remaining cores, we had to use them wisely. These creations that you see here are very costly, we don't have enough to spare for these kind of pleasures."

Now that my focus was off the automatons, I noticed that there were a lot vampires around us, they were looking at us as though we were animals in an exhibition. Their looks were not hostile but they were definitely not friendly either, just pure judgmental looks in our directions.

One bold or possibly dumb student thought he was cool and tried to strike up a conversation with a vampire lady. Not one second later, she huffed in his face and walked away. His friends bursting with laughter at his rejection.

'I see that their superiority complex still hasn't changed even after two thousand years.'

After the vampires got bored of looking at the humans, they resumed their activities. Everyone unconsciously let out a sigh.

-They were so scary...

-I wonder what they thought of us.

The students chattered excitedly amongst themselves, scattering and finding their own activities.

"Shall we go too? Any place of interest you guys have in mind?" I asked both of them.

They both shook their heads.

"Alright let's just wander around and see where that brings us."

---

"The humans and demis have arrived. I hope they brought some competent warriors this time. Last year was very disappointing. Shall we have some fun with them before the tournament?"

"Oh brother, not again. Mother will not be pleased."

"Hahahahah, what Mother doesn't know won't hurt her," he crackled evilly.

"But brother, our image will be ruined! This is not our way!"

"I will challenge them, but whether or not they accept it is up to them."

Watching the humans and demis pour out of the portal, he grinned wickedly, forming plans in his head.

--

Walking down the streets of Blackgarde, there was one building that stood out from the rest. It was a church painted in all black. There was giant symbol in the middle of the church, it was a crescent moon facing downwards with an eye below.

A vampire watched the trio approach the church. As they neared the church, he stopped them.

"Scums are not allowed near the church. Only devoted believers of our God Izalith are permitted to enter. But I think if lowly ones such as yourselves were to bow before Him, you will be rewarded."

"A-ah, we were just looking, we'll leave right now," Anastasia stuttered at the sudden appearance of the vampire.

"Are you saying our God is not worth your time? Who do you think you are, do you think you are greater than our God?" He confronted her with a wild look in his eyes.

"Urm...I-," she looked at me flustered.

Parzival looked like he was ready to fight. I tapped his on the shoulder to make him back off. As I walked towards the vampire, my eyes briefly reverted to my dragon pupil.

"Leave."

For a moment there, the vampire felt the presence of a predator even greater than him emanating from me. Cold sweat ran down his head, though he was confused but he knew enough to back off from there immediately.

"Hrmph, let's get out of here, my mood got dampened by him," I said.

After roaming a few more hours, we found an accommodation and settled down. We haven't met any elves from the other kingdom, but there was always tomorrow. I shared a room with Parzival while Anastasia got a room for herself.

Early next morning, I found a letter under the door. As I opened the letter the first few words I saw were 'ARE YOU UP FOR A CHALLENGE'.