"Dad! We should just ask the Monocle Goblin!" Xiu's voice was resolute. "He definitely knows what happened with Xavier."

"Calm down, Little Xiu!" Aurelia smiled and said. "Don't meddle in your children's stuff, otherwise they won't grow up properly."

"Don't speak as if you've raised tens of children, Lia!" Xiu rolled her eyes in exasperation and said. "Also, this isn't a children's matter. I get that feeling."

"Quite the same here!" Arnold said, twirling a smooth pebble in his hand. "It's likely a shady deal that Amon ignored."

"But why would he do that?" Theon asked in confusion. "Isn't he with the Human Domain?"

"He's on our side, but not the Empire, really!" Arnold shook his head in response. "He cares about humanity as a whole, not individuals or the communities."

"He's twisted in the head, so even if something happens, he won't tell the emperor as long as it isn't harmful to humanity," Xiu said, giving side glances to the Academy's dean.

"That's why only he is suited for that position," Theon nodded in understanding. "I like its structure and working, but a flawed person would destroy it completely."

"Nah, he's just a nasty old man," Xiu waved her hand and said. "We need to find what happened."

"I smell corruption, so we need to deal with it," Arnold said, before turning towards the screen. "Let's wait for Little Sun."

"Oh yeah, we can do that, but I have a feeling there's more to it," Xiu said, scratching her head in confusion. "Now, what is it... I have no clue."

Then, they focused on the match again and the results came as expected.

While Xavier shed his innocence by taking his revenge, Aegon along with Cali and Rosa slaughtered their way at the top lane. Considering their Healer and Mage were already defeated badly, the three others couldn't endure their assault.

The only reason it took some time was because of the minions. They took damage for them, but also took time to respawn.

In the end, they spent a few minutes fighting easy battles before destroying the enemy's base, making the Snow Domain take this victory.

The audience didn't even get to see Aegon's true power, but the Sanctum was filled with powerful and influential people. They could roughly guess Aegon's shown strength.

That surprised them, but only a little, because Aegon mostly used his Body Pathway, around Rank 3 Knight. They could guess it, but they weren't completely sure about it. After all, Aegon had shown ridiculous strength even at Rank 1. Most of all, he only used Rank 1 or Rank 2 Spells, so they couldn't guess his power properly.

Some of them got disappointed, but they knew more matches were to come. Considering his potential opponents, they were sure they would see his strength today.

There were a total of thirty-two matches between sixty-four teams, so if one wanted to win the Supremacy Games, they'd participate in six matches.

Aegon would definitely advance to later matches.

"He's grown a lot in the last year," Xiu said, smiling brightly. "Seems like he found a goal."

"He didn't have one before? I did hear he wanted to travel around from El," Aurelia tilted her head to the side.

"Faraway goal. He didn't have anything immediate to make him work extra hard," Xiu licked her lips and grinned. "I wonder what pushed him."

"Maybe the assassination attempt last year?" Aurelia guessed. "Perhaps it impacted him harder than we expected."

"It's possible, but I trust my gut feeling," Xiu shook her head. "There's definitely more going on. Just what the hell happened in the last one year?"

"Stop jumping around!" Arnold's stern voice made everyone silent... except one.

"Aren't you curious too?" Xiu asked, shifting closer to him. "I don't believe it."

"You've been a part of his life for fifteen years, knowing everything he does and everything that happened with him, so now that an unknown rose between your relationship, you feel weird," Arnold said, easily seeing through her. "You're not hard to read, Xiu."

"It isn't that easy to read me either!" Xiu crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "And yes, it feels strange not knowing about it."

"That's what happens when your children grow up," Aurelia said, smiling softly. "They become a person of their own, having their own life and secrets. What we can do as a parent is just support them and let them deal with the things."

"You're right!" Xiu grumbled. "But I still don't like it."

"Oh, that reminds me, what happened to the assassin?" Theon asked, remembering the details.

"He planned meticulously," Xiu shook her head. "He fled deep into demon territory and unless we start a full-blown war, we can't find him directly."

The war with demons remained constant, but it didn't mean they always fought with their full strength. If they did, mutual destruction was a definite outcome, so they couldn't afford a full-blown war.

"Directly, huh!" Aurelia smiled knowingly.

"Hehe! Of course! How can I let him get away after what he tried to do?" Xiu's grin turned malevolent. "I'll find him even if he takes refuge in hell and let him know the consequences of touching my son."

"I want to help, but the Elders..." Aurelia sighed.

"Speaking of Elders, did something happen with Elara?" Xiu asked. "I can't pinpoint it, but something is off about her."

Arnold's eyes flashed, as he stared deeply at the screen where Aegon and others were celebrating their victory with a fist-bump.

'The World Tree... what did it do?' he frowned in confusion, but kept his question to himself.

"A lot has changed, Little Xiu!" Aurelia replied, her voice carrying deep melancholy. "I wish I could tell you to lighten this burden, but I can't."

Xiu wrapped her in a tight hug and said, "Little Sun is with her now, so everything will be alright."

...

Raphael stared at the screen with fascination, his smirk reaching his eyes as Aegon conquered the Ash Domain.

"Interesting! I didn't think you would come to me in such a short time," he muttered, smiling. "Delightful!"

"Can I kill her?"

Hearing the deep voice, the prince turned around to look at his fighter, a giant of a man with three long scars running across his bare chest. His eyes burned with fury as he glared at the screen.

"Is she the one who gave you this memento?" Raphael asked.

"Yes!" The fighter replied, gritting his teeth in anger. "I'll kill her!"

"Very interesting!"

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