Extraordinary Rise: Starting Contract with the Silver Dragon Countess

The twelve bronze golems, each a hundred meters tall, simultaneously unleashed thunderous battle roars.

Cheers erupted from the stands, and then Beren Windrunner, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Empire, appeared in everyone's sight.

He was in charge of presiding over the All Nations Nobles Martial Arts Festival.

He explained the competition rules to the participating representatives from various countries.

The competition will proceed in order of participants' extraordinary level, from lowest to highest.

The first stage is the Bronze Group, followed by the Silver Group, and then the Gold Group.

The Legends group served as the final act.

The entire Noble Martial Arts Festival will last for about one to two months.

In every Noble Martial Arts Festival, the Bronze Division has always had the most participants.

Some small countries may not have any legendary-level extraordinary beings at all, nor enough ninth-level extraordinary beings who are of the right age, so they may not be able to gather enough participants to form five contestants.

Only the Bronze group has the lowest requirements and is the easiest to achieve, so basically every country can send five participants.

There are more than two thousand participants in the bronze group, and it is impossible for all of them to participate in the main competition.

If that were the case, the bronze group competitions alone would take a whole year to finish.

In fact, apart from the five great empires, the various kingdoms, and some countries that are recognized as strong, all other countries that register for the bronze and silver groups must participate in the preliminary rounds.

The qualifiers had started a year earlier, and only about 500 people were able to make it to the Bronze Division main event in King's Tower. There were even fewer in the Silver Division, about 200 people.

Players in the Gold and Legend groups do not need to participate in the qualifiers and will directly enter the main competition, as the number of people who meet the registration requirements is already very small.

The Bronze Group competition is divided into group stage and knockout stage.

The 500 contestants were divided into 10 groups of 50 people each.

First, a group stage will be held, with matches played within each clan, and rankings determined by points based on wins and losses.

Two points are awarded for a win, one point for a draw, and no points are awarded for a loss.

After the group round-robin tournament, the top five players from each group, a total of fifty players, will advance to the knockout stage.

The knockout stage consists of six rounds of draw matches, with each round featuring two-on-one matches, until the final champion is determined.

As long as a country makes it to the quarterfinals, it will earn points that will be counted in the final national rankings.

Although the Bronze Group matches had a large number of participants, they were also the fastest to proceed.

Because the combat range and intensity of bronze-level superhumans are relatively small.

To speed up the competition, each of the five arenas in the center of the arena was split in half, creating ten arenas for the ten groups in the Bronze Division to compete simultaneously.

After Beren announced the rules, Chief Heisenberg Wertheimer, representing the House of Nobles of the Central Empire, began the draw to determine the groups in front of everyone.

Grouping information will be displayed in real time on the "Mirror of the Sky".

Although the people of the Central Empire repeatedly emphasized that all the lotteries were conducted under the witness of the gods and were absolutely fair and just.

But once the group assignments were announced, this so-called fairness and impartiality became a joke.

The twenty-five contestants from the five great empires were evenly distributed into ten groups.

With the exception of a few individuals, most will not encounter participants from their own country, or even from other empires, in the group stage.

This also ensures, to the greatest extent possible, that all participants from the five major empires can advance.

Simply put, the contestants from the five major empires were all assigned to ordinary fishing ponds to be blasted to ensure their qualification.

The representatives from various countries were furious at the blatant favoritism of the five great empires, but there was nothing they could do.

Cohen checked the group assignments and found that Effie's situation was relatively better.

They were treated the same as the five great empires. Nephthys was assigned to the third group, which consisted of only one contestant from the Southern Empire and one contestant from the Western Empire.

The competitive pressure is not too great.

Besides Effie's own participants, Cohen was also concerned about Freya's group assignments.

Upon seeing the situation of Freya's group in the seventh group, Cohen's lips curled into a slight smile.

In addition to Freya, the Ceylon representative, there were three other Ceylon contestants in the seventh group.

It seems that King Gaius is quite reliable in his work; as expected, the demon he sent was disguised as a contestant from Ceylon and ended up in the same group as Freya.

He had asked Gilworth to send only one demon, but Ceylon assigned all three contestants to Freya's group.

A thoughtful look appeared in Cohen's eyes. It seemed that Gaius intended to try conventional methods first, to see if he could kill Freya head-on in the ring.

If all else fails, then we'll resort to demons.

Unless absolutely necessary, Ceylon does not want to be accused of colluding with demons.

The group assignment for Ceylon surprised many people.

As the undisputed strongest kingdom in human history, second only to the five great empires, it's astonishing that four contestants were grouped together.

This really surprised everyone.

However, after someone explained Freya's identity, everyone suddenly realized the deeper meaning behind Ceylon's arrangement.

On the stage of the Noble Martial Arts Festival, defeat the "fake princess" honorably, and ideally, take the opportunity to seriously injure her so that she cannot advance.

This is definitely a heavy blow to the morale and reputation of Guimiancheng.

These three contestants weren't there to compete for any ranking; they were simply there to stop Freya.

To the northwest, where the delegation from the Kingdom of Ceylon is located.

Prince Orlando of Ceylon looked at the group assignments announced by the "Mirror of the Sky" and breathed a sigh of relief without his noticing.

He whispered to the Ceylon Prime Minister beside him:

"It seems that Pirate King Yann Hughes is quite reliable; he really did group us according to our requirements."

Prime Minister Merrick calmly stated:
“Normally, the lottery is handled by the Central Empire’s Noble House. As the nephew of the chief of the Noble House, Joren has an irreconcilable deep-seated hatred for Cohen.”

"With such a perfect opportunity to set a trap for the fake princess that Cohen is supporting, Joren won't let it slip by."

Orlando's gaze swept across the noisy arena and landed on Freya, who was sitting with Effie and the others not far away. A hint of resentment flashed in his eyes.

He dared not resent Cohen, who was now the Emperor's consort of the Central Empire, and could only vent his anger on this woman.

If it weren't for her meddling, I could have just waited peacefully to inherit my father's throne.

But now, the whole of Ceylon is in a state of division, especially after the crushing defeat in the border war, the whole of Quessaon is plunged into despair.

The throne that he had once held so easily now seemed to be in grave danger.

Thinking of this, Orlando's malice deepened, and he wished he could have the demon he had arranged take action and get rid of this hateful woman as soon as possible.

Prime Minister Merrick, who was standing to the side, seemed to see the resentment in the eldest prince's heart and said in a deep voice:
"Don't let hatred blind you, stay calm."

Especially in this situation, if Boro and his group fail to stop the fake princess, they will have no choice but to let the devil arranged by the Pirate King take action.

Once the devil makes his move, we in Ceylon will definitely be implicated.

If you show any unusual behavior again, it will be very disadvantageous for us.

Although the war between gods and demons ended a long time ago, there are not many taboos for humans to interact with demons and devils.

However, as a member of the Covenant of the Charter of Gods and Demons, it must outwardly maintain sufficient purity and righteousness, especially given Ceylon's already precarious situation; it cannot afford to give others any leverage against it.

The "Pol" mentioned by Prime Minister Merrick was a legitimate participant arranged by the Kingdom of Ceylon to intercept Freya.

Orlando's expression hardened. Suppressing his emotions, he paused, then said with a hint of resentment:
"Even the Eastern Empire has found themselves a princess who is the son of a demon as their husband. Even if we're with a demon..."

Prime Minister Merrick made a silencing gesture and said coldly:
"As you know, it is the Eastern Empire, one of the five great empires!"

Orlando opened his mouth, but said nothing more.

……

The eastern section of the twelve spectator areas offers the widest view and the best location.

The core leadership of the five great empires, representatives of some large races invited by the organizers of the Noble Martial Arts Festival, as well as representatives of top forces and multinational organizations, were all watching the competition in the Eastern District.

First among them were the sea races. As the second most powerful ocean race after the human race, the sea races sent two representatives.

The deep-sea priestess, the ancient sea monster Ugo Saku, known as a "living fossil" of the ocean, and Claire, the merman chieftain known as the most beautiful woman in the sea.

The Sea Clan representative was accompanied by Prince Heinz Klein.

Secondly, there's the Elf race, which has the best relationship with the Human race.

This includes winged elves, sea elves, night elves, gray elves, forest elves, and so on.

Logically, it would be most appropriate for the Elf Queen to represent all the elven races on such an occasion.

However, the Noble Martial Arts Festival was a grand event watched by the gods, and Vilekis worried that her identity might be discovered by the gods who might appear, so she declined.

After discussion within the Elven race, they sent Elandil Windrunner, the chieftain of the Winged Elves, and Vilentis Waterrunner, the chieftain of the Sea Elves, as representatives to attend the meeting.

Besides the sea creatures and elves, the third largest race is the orcs, who are the most widely distributed and second only to the elves and sea creatures in power.

The orcs sent Gronn the Skullbreaker, the chieftain of the Warsong Clan and the Great Chieftain of the Orc Alliance.

In addition, representatives from other small and medium-sized races such as dwarves, gnomes, and halflings also came.

Besides these races, there are also some well-known forces and organizations on the continent—

The strongest church on the continent, the Church of Light, and an old friend of Cohen, Archbishop Clement Brilliant, accompanied by Cabinet Chief Hayes Glenn.

The most mysterious church on the continent, the representative of the prophetic church, His Holiness Pope Atkinson. Accompanied by Heisenberg Wertheimer, the First Lord of the House of Peers.

Landon Robert, the head of the Battle Temple, the strongest church on the continent, is accompanied by Prince Atreides. Aziz Wenze, head of the Golden Wing family, representing the Pale Wings, the strongest business organization on the continent, is accompanied by Beren Windrunner, who has just finished explaining the rules and presiding over the Noble Martial Arts Festival.

The paragon of the mainland's funeral industry, the strongest gravedigger team, and the chairwoman of the Night's Watch Council, Ysera Munn. Accompanied by Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Before the Night's Watch's "Prophet of Eternal Silence" awakens, Ysera Munn is the supreme leader of the entire order.

In addition to the above, some other organizations and forces also sent representatives.

Initially, the Central Empire also invited the Cobalt Soul Academy, but they did not send anyone to attend.

The competition was about to begin, and the people on the stage were exchanging their opinions on this year's Noble Martial Arts Festival in hushed tones.

Of course, it's also inevitable that they'll comment on the contestants, each saying which contestant they think is the best.

Among these, the name "Effie" was mentioned the most.

This was not only because King Effie had just been established as the Crown Prince of the Central Empire, but also because Cohen Corleone had deep connections and relationships with these bigwigs in the East End.

Of the five great empires, the Central Empire is not discussed.

Prince Xia Zuo of the Eastern Empire suffered heavy losses after being outmaneuvered by Cohen several times.

Grace and Cohen are also close friends, and the love-hate relationship between the two countries could be discussed for three days and three nights.

The same was true for the Southern Empire. As soon as the Crown Prince Gregor emerged from seclusion, he was handed a humiliating defeat by Cohen.

Not only did he lose all his assets in the Northwest Continent, he also became the first direct descendant prince to be blackmailed since the establishment of the five great empires.

The Western Empire had the best relationship with Effie because of Duke Roland and the secret agreement they signed to jointly develop and conquer the dwarves.

The Northern Empire, however, seems to have no connection with Efein. But because Jinlunga is vying with Cohen for the title of strongest Silver, they are paying extra attention to Efein.

Aside from the five great empires, the representatives of the organizations and forces attending the match also have complicated relationships with Cohen.

Claire of the Sea Clan came specifically for Cohen.

Archbishop Clement of the Church of Light has cooperated with Cohen many times, and they even joined forces to kill a saint. Their friendship is exceptionally strong.

Cohen also planned to find an opportunity to visit the Church of Light again to borrow the semi-divine artifact containing the will of the Goddess of Light, so that Queen Virekis and Gilworth could resolve the hidden dangers within their bodies.

Needless to say, Cohen is now the true Son of Prophecy, and Pope Atkinson is his direct superior.

The Temple Master of the Battle Temple came here specifically for Cohen.

Ares, the god of war, issued a divine decree instructing Lord Landon Robert to find a way to invite Cohen to the "Gods' Guard Training Camp".

Lord Landon came to see Cohen's true fighting prowess firsthand and to understand why the God of War had specifically sent a divine decree to Cohen.

The Night Watch Order was drawn by Cohen's status as the Child of Prophecy. When Cohen was searching for a mechanism for Freya, he had dealt with Lorenzo Warwin, the seventh member of the Night Watch Council.

Representative Lorenzo also reported the details to Parliament President Isela.

Isera came here hoping to find an opportunity to speak with Cohen in person.

With so many complex factors intertwined, the discussion on the East District VIP desk quickly turned to Cohen.

No one expected that the first person to bring up Cohen would be the relatively low-profile Lord of the Temple of Battle, Landon Robert.

Lord Langdon wore a simple and elegant scarlet divine robe, with flowing, molten gold patterns that were both concise and powerful.

Her short, silvery-white hair stood upright, reflecting a cold, hard sheen.

Lord Langdon's gaze fell upon Pope Atkinson of the Church of Prophecy, who was engaged in a lively conversation with Chief Heisenberg, and his voice was low:
"Your Holiness, now that we have come this far, can't you tell everyone the truth: is King Cohen Corleone of Efein a member of your Church of Prophecy?"

Lord Langdon's voice immediately silenced the atmosphere at the VIP table.

Those who can sit in this place, apart from the top-tier forces behind them, also have outstanding personal extraordinary levels, with very few being below the Gold rank.

Lord Langdon made no attempt to conceal his voice, so his question to His Majesty Pope Atkinson of the Church of Prophecy reached the ears of everyone in the VIP section.

Everyone turned their gaze toward Atkinson without prior arrangement.

Whether Cohen is truly the child of prophecy has always been the biggest question in everyone's mind.

Although the Church of Prophecy is not the most powerful church on the continent of Demon Tide, it is definitely a church that no one wants to offend.

The role of the prophetic church became even more prominent, especially at a critical time when the mainland was about to fall into turmoil.

If Cohen is indeed the child of prophecy, then many people will have to reconsider their relationship with him.

Atkinson raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised by Lord Langdon's initiative in asking the question.

Seeing the momentary awkwardness, the winged elf chieftain Elandil Windrunner broke the slightly somber atmosphere by speaking with a smile:

"Your Majesty Atkinson, when I asked you, you swore that this person was not one of your prophetic church members."

Now, in front of everyone, let's tell the truth.

As soon as Chief Elandil spoke, Archbishop Clement, the Privy Councillor of the Church of Light, followed up with Elandil's words:

“That’s right, that’s what Atkinson told me too.”

Archduke Roland let out a meaningful laugh:

"It's not just Patriarch Elandil and Privy Councilor Clement; most of the people present have probably consulted the Church of Prophecy about similar issues!"

As he spoke, his gaze swept over Chief Heisenberg of the Central Empire, Prince Xiazuo of the Eastern Empire, Prince Violet of the Northern Empire, and others.

Facing the gazes of the crowd, Atkinson's face remained expressionless, and his voice was calm:
"What I told you before was not wrong."

Upon hearing this, the atmosphere at the VIP table changed again, and everyone's faces showed astonishment.

Telling a couple of lies in private to fool people is one thing.

Pope Atkinson wouldn't lie in front of so many people today.

Could it be that Cohen really had no connection with the Church of Prophecy?

Prince Aldrich Cox of the Northern Empire, known as the Violet Prince, can be considered the first victim of Cohen's prophetic abilities.

Cohen saw through the trap he had set for Mammon, which is why he always believed in Cohen's identity as the prophesied son.

Upon hearing Pope Atkinson's statement, he was the first to express his doubts:

"If King Efein is not the Child of Prophecy, where did he get so many heaven-defying prophetic abilities from?"

The trap in the dragon egg I left for Mammon—was it perhaps foretold by His Holiness the Pope after divinership?

Everyone had the same question.

Pope Atkinson replied calmly:

"When did I say he wasn't the child of prophecy?"

These words caused an uproar in the VIP area.

If it weren't for Atkinson's status as the Pope of the Church of Prophecy, several hot-tempered individuals would have started cursing.

Gronn, the Great Chieftain of the Warsong Clan and Chief of the Orcish Alliance, asked in a rough voice:
"Old charlatan, why do you speak in a way that's even more convoluted than our shaman's riddles?"

"Didn't you tell everyone before that he had nothing to do with your prophecy church? How come you're saying he's the son of prophecy now?"

Atkinson remained expressionless and said calmly:
“It’s simple, because I didn’t know he was the child of prophecy before.”

Goron laughed heartily:
"Old charlatan, how did you become the pope?"

"Wasn't the Child of Prophecy chosen by you? How come you don't even know who the Child of Prophecy is?"

Goron laughed for a while, then realized he was the only one laughing.

Instead of laughing at Pope Atkinson's seemingly contradictory statement, those around him wore extremely solemn expressions.

Goron reached out his thick, broad hand and scratched his messy short hair, feeling out of place here.

After an eerie silence, Langdon, the Temple Master of the Battle Temple, broke the silence with a sharp tone:

"His Holiness the Pope means that Cohen's identity as the prophesied child is..."

Lord Langdon pointed towards the sky and didn't continue speaking.

Atkinson placed his right hand upright in front of his chest, performing an ancient gesture, his voice trembling slightly:
"It comes from the very designation of our Lord!"

Chief Goron's eyes widened, and his voice boomed like thunder:
"Old charlatan, you're not trying to fool me, are you?"

The gods haven't appeared in the world for a long time, so why did they suddenly choose some young boy as the child of prophecy?

Archbishop Clement said in a low voice:
"Great Chieftain, don't forget, five years ago someone successfully summoned a god!"

It was none other than King Alfiein, Cohen Corleone!
Pope Atkinson raised his hand to signal for silence and continued:
"Cohen Corleone is indeed the Son of Prophecy, but he was not chosen by the Church of Prophecy."

His destiny unfolded independently of the church system, and perhaps even... surpassed ours.

An uproar erupted on the VIP platform.

The people, especially those from the Central Empire and the Eastern Empire, became extremely solemn.

Empress Shanes was clearly also paying attention to the conversation here. After hearing Pope Atkinson's evaluation of Cohen, she couldn't help but cast her gaze in this direction.

Prince Shazor quickly noticed the flaw in Pope Atkinson's words and asked in a deep voice:

"Your Holiness, if he is truly as you say, transcending the Church."

On what basis does the prophetic church recognize his identity?
Could it be a divine decree from the God of Prophecy?

As far as I know, the prophet Madora, the "god of prophecy," has not answered the prayers of her followers for several years!
Last time, King Gaius of Ceylon prayed with fragments of a charter, but even that failed to elicit a response from the god of prophecy!

For unknown reasons, the God of Prophecy withdrew his attention from the human continent.

This is not a secret among the higher echelons of humanity.

Pope Atkinson gave Shazo a deep look, then took a crystal shard from his sleeve. (End of Chapter)