Barbarians And Rules

Not much after the Holy Empire arrived, a laughter sounded from the distance.

"Hahah, it seems we are the last one to arrive."

"It's okay Agul, leave a son or two behind and you are forgiven."

Henry responded with a smile on his face.

'So that is the Emperor of the Barbarian Empire, he looks like a muscle head, as expected.'

'As the Emperor, he is probably anything but that, but he has the looks of one.'

'The Rank 5 doesn't look much different, so I guess both are walking the Body Middle Path and like the bulky type.'

Lucien wouldn't be able to recognize the Rank 5 normally, since he doesn't feel anything from them, it's like looking at a mortal, but in this situation, where the Rank 5s were walking ahead of the whole group, it was an easy assumption.

Looking all the way at the back, he finally saw the 3 princes that were following the Emperor.

'Lets see what are they made from.'

He first focused on one of the bulky ones that was clearly following the steps of his father.

'Nothing unexpected here, he is probably the youngest one, so only 1 path and it's Earth.'

'Either Vitality or Strength build, shouldn't be much of a problem.'

That prince noticed the gaze and was surprised, it felt for a moment as if those crimson eyes saw everything, even his deepest secrets were exposed, he shivered for a moment.

Lucien didn't bother with him and glanced at the next one, he was thin and lanky, completely different from the rest of the entourage, even Lucien was a bit surprised when he noticed him, he didn't have the presence of a Barbarian.

'Ohh, interesting.'

'He is walking the Metal and Wind Path. He is not the eldest but is still on two Paths, another genius.'

'I guess he will be completely rounded as well, with only Vitality missing from the mix.'

'I just hope he is not beyond the high Rank 1, he is still pretty young.'

Finally focusing on the third prince, who clearly followed the traditional Barbarian style, mountain like build, savage presence, the whole thing.

'Another troublesome one, Earth and Metal, complete tank, all he is missing is Agility probably.'

Withdrawing his gaze, Lucien began thinking.

'From all of them, the easiest opponent will be that saint like girl, since she can't influence me with Soul Attack, I don't think anyone of them has reached Rank 2.'

'The second pick would be Earth Path Barbarian Prince, he is the only one with one Path on that side and also the youngest.'

'The rest are all troublesome, I don't know how far are they, If they are peak Rank 1, it will be a troublesome fight.'

'It feels that for the Scarlet Empire, the first round is the worst, Darkness and Water, neither of them is strong in the early stages.'

"Okay, it's time, I guess it's my turn to be the judge this time."

The one who spoke was the Ancestor from the Scarlet Empire.

"I'll mention everything only once."

"IF someone from the parties not involved in the fight tries to interrupt the fight, he will be executed by the Rank 5 of that party, don't doubt it, it has happened before."

"The moment the fight starts, the lives of the participants is in their own hands, meaning if you lose your opponent has the right to decide your life or death, and nobody can take that choice from him. I'll clarify a little bit, even if a Rank 5 tries to interfere, the other 2 will stop him."

"There are eight of you here, so the fights will be 1 round, you are pretty lucky, if it was 9, it would be 2 rounds."

"Another rule that is set, even after the fights, the princes or saint daughters can issue a challenge."

"The fights can't be draws, it will continue until the moment there is clear winner, even if it takes weeks."

"No weapons above Rank 0 are allowed on the stage, we are here to test the heirs, not the reserves of the Empire."

"Any other means are allowed on the stage, the world is not a nice place where you can have an upright fight and be friends afterwards, you can do anything to win."

"Breaking any of the rules will result in immediate execution, don't bother trying to drag your opponent down with you by using some strong weapon, you will die before you can even think about swinging down."

"Well I think that covers it all, and I don't want to hear from the younger princes how unfair this is. It's your fault you were not born as the eldest to have more time to train, I already said the world is not a nice place, even if all of you die, the Empires will still be there and in 25 years the new princes would have to participate in the eliminations again."

"Lets draw the fights."

Saying so, all three Rank 5s gathered together and used the most primitive method, drawing numbers, they looked for cheating from the other side, even if they were sure it wouldn't happen, they probably never met these princes till now.

Each prince was numbered and the Rank 5s took their turns to draw 2 pieces each time, who would then be the pairs to fight, the Scarlet Ancestor drew 2 times, because it was 4 pairs and they were only 3 Rank 5s, and as the Judge of this round, the duty fell on him.

"First Round, Vlad BloodMoon vs Nicole."

"Step on the stage."

Lucien saw that pure and saint like girl moving forward.

'He got lucky, it seems.'

'So they really don't have family names.'

The reason the royal family from the Holy Empire didn't have a family name was because having a family name, meant you belong to something other than the lord, it only applied to the royals as they were the true fanatics following their god, they didn't impose it on the population as that might backfire majorly.

The moment both of them were on the stage, the Ancestor asked them if they are ready and both of them nodded with a solemn look.

"Begin."