Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1471 - 1470 - Changes

The crowd was left reeling as Lind Frey used every display the arena could project to reveal the newest tragedy and horror of the Fiend attacks. Many leaders would have opposed his actions but it was impossible to hide it.

The word would spread and rumors would make it a thousand times worse. Thus Lind simply laid it bare. A week followed of explaining it and answering questions in advance many would have.

Of course, he withheld the revelation of the method but assured people that all had been scanned once more with the new awareness.

That last part was absolutely true as the leaders had been through it themselves but Lind had revealed how pervasive the echoes of the horrific artifacts were.

Nearly 47% of the audience had been near someone infected with a Fiend soul!

Just that fact in such a small sample group of the arena crowd left them agreeing to just about anything Lind Frey asked for. Even the most obstinate and contrary figure stopped giving him grief.

Despite that positive result, Lind felt hollow. He had hoped for a more peaceful path with his tournament but the Fiends had taken that away with thousands of deaths.

Their new method was terrifying in that he could not prevent it once triggered. The only chance was to aggressively scan for it but once found, death could not be stopped.

It made him frustrated but he focused on the tournament.

The original format still held but the numbers had dropped in several production contests. The weaving and formation masters were hit the hardest, but alchemy was not doing well either.

Those 3 would head straight to the semi-finals or finals in the case of weaving. He also held an announcement that he was expanding the reward pool for less time to up to 10 places.

That was applied retroactively to the concluded Heaven Realm finalists as well. That news actually helped restore cheer to many.

The combat brackets were largely untouched. It seemed counterintuitive but Lind understood. The production fields were underestimated by many and thus they could be used to penetrate defenses of most powers.

With the new technique, the Fiends had revealed how terrifying and long term they planned. Yet, Lind knew the latest act was human in origin, not Fiend. Someone had panicked and set the dominos in motion.

He had gotten confirmation that several more masters had been found dead. Whichever had done it had now paid the price but only dead ends were left behind.

It was effective, no matter what else he thought of it. They controlled how much information they could trace and held a scythe over many innocents that had no idea they were on the precipice of death.

He was in the worst position with the damage to his soul. He was too weak to experiment at full strength as he suspected he needed!

After the announcements and some generously covered tabs for the taverns, the tournament resumed.

Lind made one last change. He withdrew from the elixir master and Forging contests. He had benefited greatly already and had no use for the prizes given he lived at the Throne of Defiance anyway.

The higher and supreme powers were actually very happy as it had become clear he would claim 1st or top 3 for certain in each field until he withdrew. He had previously negotiated that the slot he took up would be accommodated for in the final results.

Now, with his withdrawal, any confusion and tension were reduced massively for all.

He did not reveal that some of the survivors of the attacks from the Fiends were now under his umbrella. Not the Frey Clan, but his. Honestly, the Frey Clan was scrambling to make sure they were not infiltrated with deep scans.

They had not found anyone inside the Clan, but some of their partners had refused out of fear. They could not be blamed as there was no way to hide what might happen. Thus, new arrangements were being made going forward.

It would cause a disruption and some were being indignant, but there was no other way to avoid the danger of having an unknown Fiend agent slip through their defenses at the wrong time.

He suspected the other powers were being just as aggressive and the fallout would be gruesome.

He focused on the displays currently in front of him. He was not in the suite with his family but in the actual control center for the arena. Absolutely no one but the Harmonic Dragons and himself could get in it at the moment.

The reason was obvious and he had been previously banned from it but now he had to make some changes. The previous security settings of the weavings were negotiated but had higher settings he could implement.

He now did so as if Fiends were about to invade. The result was as expected after their already rigorous examination. No new Fiend Qi or sources found.

He also activated a soul purification weaving to see how the box would react. It was currently in an isolation chamber but he exposed it to the weaving.

The reaction was instantaneous. The chamber was destroyed by the Fiend soul fragment and weaving interacted. It was far more energetic than his harmony converting Fiend Qi to natural Qi.

"Did they know about this?" He spoke the question aloud but no one had an answer. It complicated his thoughts on future countermeasures.

If someone infected with the Fiend soul was even touched by a simple purification technique or Art, it would cause death in another way.

He suspected the Fiends did know, as such skills, while rare, were not unheard of. It was entirely possible a cultivator tried to use their Art like a weapon or to help someone that was a thrall and the reaction had been unexpected.

If anything, however, it led to more issues for him and his allies. If they could not save people, it would become much harder to resist the Fiends' efforts.

"Ancestor, the security measures are showing no further issues. We have been able to purge the residual marks on all attendees." A robust woman spoke from a panel to his left. She was one of the most powerful Harmonic Dragons and highly adaptive.

She had done well learning how his artifacts and weavings worked together so she had been put in charge of security.

"Good. I will head out then as I still have a battle to attend to. If any of our external contacts send up an alert, let me know immediately." He left after she nodded at him. He slipped through what appeared to be a solid wall.

There were no doors, literally, to the room. In fact, passing into the room required him to mark even a Harmonic Dragon to enter or leave the room, let alone interact with the controls. He made it so strict that even he could not change things on a whim.

The powers participating were all aware and had seen the steps he had set up to make it work. They were satisfied and even asked him if he could share how to make such rooms for their own powers.

Thankfully, only he could do it due to his harmony alone. He had actually tried to replicate it with Forging or his other abilities but only using his harmony could make such extreme security work.

He reappeared in a hall that seemed to be about 3 floors below the top of the arena. It was shaking with the roars of the crowd. He did not know exactly what they were reacting to as only battle usually has such a strong response.

He quickly touched the wall he had appeared from and a square appeared.

He saw a sight that made him genuinely smile for the first time in weeks. He saw Cyntilla standing over a massive spider beast that was bleeding but alive on the platform.

Her own blue blood flowed but the injuries were not severe. She was holding up her short sword in her left hand but he frowned as he noticed the damage to them.

"Hmm, I will need to see if I can fix those for now." He was learning that the endurance of his creations were good but constant back to back battles of such length and power revealed he had to do better.

He dismissed the display and moved towards the nearest lift to get to where he wanted to go. He was under strict orders not to tear through space, even within the arena.

As he moved, he noticed groups mingling or moving along as well to their seats or betting windows. He pulled his hood over his distinctive features. His robes were black with gold currently.

It was a common enough combination that no one blinked twice at his passing. The mix of races also made his bestial aura not even bat an eye. Yet, he felt their fear.

The tournament was distracting them but he heard the words of how vulnerable they felt.

Immortals forgot the terror of the Fiends to mortals. They were fragile and relied on them to shield them from the nightmare of those beings. Immortals feared them too on a visceral level, yet their long lives made them calmer about it.

Mortals knew they could be killed without a thought from fallout or a beast catching them off guard. Even just walking into a street could get them killed accidently. Now, the Fiends could reach them anywhere and anytime without their knowing.

He became grim as they needed a win and soon. They needed to prove they were as adaptable as the enemy but he needed to heal quickly for that. He redoubled his thoughts on both avenues as he made his way down through the arena pathways.