Unsealing Emptiness

A couple of Rank-9 Mages clicked their tongue and commented how the leader of the Three-Eyed Strangers was so arrogant.

Although Ozul flew away, he could hear what they were talking about because of his improvement after obtaining his arm back.

He didn’t care what they thought about him, but one thing that interested him was how the topic took a sudden turn and shifted to Mikol’s condition.

“The Church surprisingly is cruel with its members. Even that kid earlier must have been given some really harmful medicine...”

“...Lammert sure is ruthless”

...

.....

Although none of these Rank-9 Mages were allies, they didn’t hesitate to express their opinions.

‘Heh. Even the Rank-9 Mages are humans in the end,’ Ozul thought as he noticed how they gossiped just like any ordinary man would do among others like him.

But hearing what they were talking about, Ozul smiled in his mind as he knew that this would trouble Lammert now.

If even the Rank-9 Mages gossiped about it, he could already predict how all those other Mages and Fighters that had been spectating would spread the rumors. He suddenly had an impulse to fan the flames as he made his way back to his seat where Irvin, Haley, Raven, and Old Gu were standing.

He noticed how the Old Gu was staring blankly at the ground in his own thoughts.

All the spectators had yet to leave the area when Old Gu coughed and a pressing aura spread everywhere, weighing down on even the Rank-9 Mages!

The area that was previously filled with murmurs and chatter of hundreds of people suddenly became quiet with the oppressive aura making most of them even fall to the ground.

“Ugh!”

“W-what is this!?”

...

Those who were weaker could only groan in pain, while the relatively stronger ones were only able to utter a few words of their astonishment before even that became a torturous task for them.

While it wasn’t hard for the Rank-9 Mages, they didn’t say anything and only braced themselves for whatever was about to come.

If an aura that could suppress even the Rank-9 Mages had spread everywhere, only someone above Rank-9 would have been able to do that, and if that was the case, they didn’t have any chances of surviving even if everyone fought together.

Ozul was better off than everyone else, but he still felt the oppression from Old Gu’s aura. He squinted his eyes at him, warning the old man to stop whatever he was playing at, but Old Gu ignored his stare and instead rose to the air.

All the Rank-9 Mages and those who could still move despite the pressure moved their gazes to his figure.

At that point, all of them realized that it might be this old man’s doing. Many of them had previously just assumed the old man to be some peak Rank-8 Mage who was using some rare artifact to hide his Mana, but this stunt of his had shaken everyone’s opinion of him.

Irvin and Raven struggled to ask Ozul what was happening, but he shook his head before they could say anything, saving them the effort.

He also waited for whatever Old Gu had to say as he held everyone hostage here.

“That was a rather crude method to hold a tournament, don’t you people think so too?” Old Gu started with a question. His voice somehow was amplified to a degree that everyone in the Neutral City was able to hear him!

Since most of them weren’t in a state to answer him and the Rank-9 Mages were on-guard, no one answered him. Ozul wasn’t in the mood to play with whatever he was doing either.

Old Gu waited for a moment before shaking his head in disappointment, “Oh well, it doesn’t matter what everyone thinks either.”

As he muttered to himself, the representative of the Mercenary Guild built up his courage and asked with a nervous face, “May... I ask who are you, senior?”

“Hm?” Old Gu focused his eyes on the representative of the Mercenary Guild and with a wide grin on his face, he replied, “You wouldn’t know who I am, brat. Gahaha!”

Hearing his reply, although the representative of the Mercenary Guild wasn’t happy, he didn’t dare to say anything to the old man’s face either.

Although all of the Rank-9 Mages usually looked to be around middle-aged people, all of them were way over a hundred years! So being called a brat even when he was so old made him feel a little embarrassed as well.

Old Gu didn’t mind his question, so he continued, “Hoho~ now that I think about it, those brats must have grown up as well, huh? They might have forgotten about me as well. Gahaha! Let’s see!”

Everyone was confused because of his words, even Ozul wondered who the old man was talking about but before anyone could question Old Gu, he rose even higher in the air and...

Boom!

A deafening sound occurred and with it followed an aura that caused more than half of the people who were present there on the site to drop unconscious on the ground with white foam dripping from their mouth!

Even the peak Rank-8 Mages stumbled and a few fell to the ground not to mention those who were many times weaker.

Only now did Ozul understand why Old Gu had risen even higher in the air previously. Because if he had released this much pressure previously, all of them present here would certainly be crushed with no mercy.

When he swept his gaze to everyone there, he felt how everyone only had negative emotions directed at Old Gu.

‘Ha... he really has a talent for attracting everyone’s hatred,’ Ozul mused while he waited to see what the old man was about to unfold.

The old man didn’t stop at that, he flew even higher up in the air till his figure almost became blurry. Following that, the pressure that he released increased in intensity!

At that point, anyone who didn’t have enough strength to withstand the pressure in the entire Neutral Lands was forced to drop on the ground with their bodies shaking uncontrollably.

Tremors spread across the continent while the old man had yet to even lift up one of his fingers.

‘No... this is way above what a Rank-10 should be able to do...’ Ozul concluded as he also began to feel how easily the old man could have killed him if he had decided to attack him earlier.

“Ha. Come out you brats. I know at least you four are alive. Get your asses here this instant.”

Old Gu spoke in a normal voice but those words seemed to have spread even across the Neutral Lands!

Whoever heard his words didn’t find them loud nor too soft, but no matter how close or far away they were from the old man, all of them clearly heard him. It was weird, but everyone’s attention at that time was occupied in figuring out what his words meant and who they were spoken to.

‘Four are still alive...? What is he talking about?’ Ozul wondered as he slowly made his way towards Raven and the others.

He was presently stronger than everyone else there, so he also had it easier than the rest and unlike them, he wasn’t worried that Old Gu would suddenly flip out and kill everyone.

From the old man’s nature and his talk, he was up to something and they would only learn what it was after listening to him.

Ozul casually took the seat again under the stupefied gazes of others and waited for the four people Old Gu just called here.

A few minutes passed and nothing happened.

With time, Old Gu showed an embarrassing expression as he began to mutter to himself, “Damn those brats... If they don’t show up within the next five minutes, they are going to regret it!”

However, just the next moment, a huge pressure again descended on everyone present in the Neutral City even after Old Gu had removed his!

And everyone instantly knew that it wasn’t Old Gu this time, but someone else because the aura that pressed on them was Mana this time.

It didn’t end with that and the pressure suddenly increased as if another person had also joined in the previous one!

Just like that, the pressure increased two more times until people were almost getting suffocated!

“Hoho~ You brats have certainly grown. But all of you really have grown the balls to be so bold now, eh?” Old Gu words were sarcastic, but his voice still held an imposing tone.

Although nothing changed for a few seconds, the four auras started to disappear after a moment as if they had just been an illusion.

However, the pathetic state of everyone in the Neutral City was the proof that it wasn’t just some mass hallucination.

Meanwhile, at the area where the tournament was being held just a moment ago, everyone looked at the sky to look at who had arrived now. Not to mention ordinary Mages or Fighters, even the Rank-9 Mages were all anxious since the situation was so unexpected.

Just a little while ago everyone was spectating the fight between two promising young talents, and the next moment, they were all on the ground with the fear of losing their lives any minute lingering in their hearts.

The shock of the representative of the Mercenary Guild, Archbishop Lammert, Emperor Elsug, and Alver skyrocketed when they noticed the four figures who had appeared in the air...