Chapter 513 Lose-Lose
"I won't make the mistake of sending a Keltia-ranked Dracos in a fight with him if he dares to fight. He can even fight with his companion and every ability he possesses, even if it's an overpowered ability!" The Dracos Leader said, a little bit too excited in Nial's opinion.
Nial knew that the Dracos had a prodigy at the Peak of the Deux rank. He had assessed the strengths of the Dracos a while ago already, and he immediately knew that their prodigy was likely to be stronger than the Heligav he had fought in the Alliance City to get his hands on the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal.
'I guess they wanted the Royal Princess' to send someone at the Deux rank in the ring. The Dracos are surely too excited…' Nial thought while he was still trying to calm his mind.
He didn't really want to openly intervene in the trouble between the Dracos and the Elves, but that was probably something he should have thought about before he started to speak up for both sides earlier. It was pretty stupid of him to butt in matters not concerning him, but he was not sure if he regretted it.
He could still maintain a good relationship with the Elven as long as he won against the Draco's prodigy. It was certainly not easy for him to win against their prodigy but considering that he was allowed to use everything he had up his sleeve, including Ryu, he didn't really think that he stood no chance of winning.
If he really wanted to overdo it, he could hand Kaeldur, Tyrant, and Ryu a few dozen Broken Tier-2 Runic Armaments, which they would then use one after another to obliterate the prodigy of the Draco race.
Unfortunately, that was likely to cause more trouble than it would be helpful. Nial hoped to not aggravate the Dracos, after all.
'If I lose, the relationship with the Elves would turn awful. Maybe they would start hating the entire human race…' Nial thought, imagining how the Elven races attacked Halheim shelter simply because the shelter of the origin humans was too close. They would certainly be enraged if they would lose the Divinity Fragment portal their Empress had created out of her blood, sweat, and tears.
With that in mind, losing was no option. As for winning in an overwhelming manner, Nial was not sure if that would be a good tactic as well.
However, then again, holding back would make things much worse. Nobody would want to be befriended by someone, who pitied your strength and held back when fighting seriously.
While Nial was frustrated about his own stupidity to have intervened in the battle to begin with, he was also wondering why the Royal Princess couldn't send her strongest High Elves into the ring and chose him instead.
Why did she have to ask him, someone who was completely unrelated to her entire race?! Nial could tell that the other Elves were displeased about the attitude of their Royal Princess and her choice of a worthy candidate, but Evalyne just looked at him with a radiant smile.
Nial might only be able to visualize her smile, however, he could tell that her smile was dangerous. It was more than enough to make him feel like running away from her.
Nial felt that something was off and wanted to run but the Royal Princess wouldn't allow him to leave, that was for sure!
'Can Nial even lose? I don't know how strong he is but even Nightingale said that he has no chance against Nial. This arrogant fool's attitude changed after a single encounter with Nial, and they didn't even fight.' The Royal Princess was deep in thought and she recalled the two Devils who could emerge from Nial whenever the origin human desired.
Nial could control the two Devils perfectly and the energy they radiated was exactly the same as the dark energy he possessed. The Royal Princess could tell that the Devils were somehow related to Damian, the former God of Darkness.
That was even more reason to consider Nial's overall strength as unknown, yet, extremely powerful.
Recalling Kaeldur and Tyrant's combat prowess inside the hidden laboratory was enough to widen the Royal Princess' smile. She remembered the reports the Nightshadow Elven had given her about the happenings in the hidden laboratory, how they entered it thanks to Nial's weird power, who demolished the laboratory, and how the fights progressed.
Thus, even if the Elves had a few powerful fighters with lots of combat experience and various sly strategies up their sleeve, she chose Nial as their representative. She knew that the others frowned at her but it was her decision and she would take all the responsibility, whether Nial would win or lose!
"Evalyne…at least give me some rewards if I win…I will only lose, no matter what the outcome of the battle!" Nial almost shouted, his expression showing quite clearly that he was even more annoyed with being the representative of the Elves in this battle than the High Elves were.
The High Elves understood how Nial felt because they felt exactly the same. How could the Royal Princess allow a human to fight in their stead? Were they really that weak?
"You won't lose anything if you win. As for a reward…just be happy that I'm so nice to you all the time!" Princess Evalyne retorted. Her voice not only held a trace of anger but also a bit of teasing in it. That confused Nial but it didn't mean that he would change his stance.
"If I win, I lose the opportunity to make business with the Dracos in the future. They're Master Blacksmiths and great Runiciers. You put me in a shitty position right here, just because you want to exploit me…" Nial whispered while leaning toward the Royal Princess. Their heads almost bumped into each other but that was not something Nial could be bothered about right now.
"Don't worry, we will add a clause in the Soul Contract to ensure the Origin humans relationship with the Dracos will remain the same as before; neutral. If you act nicely, I might allow you to play around with the Greater Forest Dragon once it hatches!" Princess Evalyne whispered back, trying to lure him again.
The thought of raising a Greater Forest Dragon, the only Greater Forest Dragon in the known Universe, was exhilarating.
However, Nial could see through her act.
"If you let it play with me the Greater Forest Dragon will end up following me. I might as well turn it into one of my Devils then…sounds like a good plan," Nial retorted, teasing the Royal Princess who squinted her eyes while looking at Nial who turned his head around.
"Let's set up the Soul Contract and sort this mess. We're wasting too much precious time. I want to return to my Artisan hall…" Nial said, his voice filled with confidence.
The Dracos Leader was excited, just like the Royal Princess. However, he was also vigilant of Nial's confidence and the obvious fact that the Royal Princess and the blind origin human were playing around with them.
"Alright then, let's set up the Soul Contract." The Dracos Leader said to the Royal Princess who nodded her head.
However, just when he walked over to Princess Evalyne, he heard Nial whispering in a barely audible whisper.
"...I really hope that you're lying about the Greater Forest Dragon's egg…"