Odyssey of the Blind God

** [A few minutes earlier] **

"Why the hell are you calling me right now?! You know that I have no time to play around with you, jackass!" Card Melphy shouted through his messenger that was connected to someone.

"I sent you a file. Watch the video attached to it, while you move over to the Colosseum. Finn is murdering everyone…" The voice of an old and seemingly ill person resounded in the small room the president was in right now.

Numerous runic constellations that gathered large amounts of mana were being deactivated the moment the old man\'s voice reached Card Melphy. The president of the Golden Armaments Union had been annoyed that someone called him while he had been focused on absorbing mana.

However, considering that the old man was the one to have called him, it had to be something extremely important. Yet, when Card Melphy heard what was going on, he couldn\'t believe the old man\'s words.

"Finn? You mean that young Balgris? Don\'t joke around, he is not strong enough to kill any of the Runiciers, who were killed by the mysterious murderer!" Card Melphy said, disregarding the old man\'s words before he opened the file he had received from that old man.

Moments after he started to watch the video, he saw one of the many hallways inside the Colosseum. Precisely, it was the hallway where all the Runiciers were currently located. Inside the hallway, one could see the back of one of the Colosseum\'s guards, followed by two young Originals, who seemed to have been fighting.

"The blind Original and Finn? What are they doing? Aren\'t they the weakest Originals in the entire tournament?" The President of the Golden Armaments Union was confused about what he was supposed to see in the video.

However, as he continued to watch it, he saw the most important events in the video. The young Balgris\' black saber began to glow and he slashed out at the Guard, who was taken by surprise. The Energy blade cut through the guard, killing him in an instant.

Shortly after that, the video ended, leaving behind a baffled President.

"Limit breaker on a runic armament…don\'t tell me…" Card Melphy was shocked and the old man on the messenger crystal could only sigh deeply.

"What you think is correct. He is his son and of royal blood. There is nothing I can say to justify his actions, and the only thing I can ask for is forgiveness…I will also offer all the support you need, and the entire Balgris race will cooperate with you…" The old man was trying his utmost to make it sound like the Balgris race had nothing to do with the actions of their prince.

However, Card Melphy wasn\'t convinced. He knew that the old man was just trying his best to prevent the worst-case scenario from occurring.

"You realize that you snitched on your own race…right? Are you fine with that, old man?" Card asked, feeling a bit sorry for him.

There were not many likable characters on Ximatra in Card\'s opinion, but the old man was one of them. He was also a Balgris and had been living on Ximatra ever since Card could think.

The Balgris race may not be one of the 10 major races to control large territories on Ximatra but they were certainly a race that was well-known in the society on Ximatra, their reputation established with painstaking efforts.

Thus, his heart was aching at the thought of what was bound to happen now that the young, and clearly foolish Prince of the Balgris had done something that couldn\'t be forgiven.

"Do whatever is necessary. He thinks that the Dryad Queen\'s tear you reward to the winner of the U21 Runicier tournament is genuine and that it will be the answer to save and protect our home… I don\'t want his actions to influence the relations between the races on Ximatra and the Balgris race…" the old Balgris was still trying hard to save his race from being humiliated and their reputation tarnished.

Unfortunately, this was easier said than done. After all, all the races had signed special peace treaties to be allowed to join the U21 Runicier tournament, and the punishments were certainly not something any race would be able to evade, especially after seeing something as gruesome as Finn had done!

"That is already too late. As Prince of the Balgris race, it will be impossible to save the relations between the races…your action will probably be enough to prevent the other races from starting to wage a war with the Balgris race but that should already be everything," Card Melphy said before he thought of something he couldn\'t fully grasp.

"But where did you get this video from?" He asked in curiosity while getting up from the ground.

He disappeared from his earlier position and reappeared in a location that was several hundred kilometers away.

"My daughter sent me the video. She said that she received it from a human, whom she had met a week ago or so. He was blind, she said," The old man didn\'t have much information to go on but he revealed everything he knew, hoping that the Balgris race wouldn\'t face the worst-possible punishment due to Finn\'s reckless deed.

"What a foolish young Balgris…his actions were wrong even if his reasons behind it are noble…what a fool…" The old man mumbled quietly but Card Melphy heard him clearly.

There was not much the President of the Golden Armaments Union could say as he was on the way to the Golden City and the Colosseum. He absorbed mana far away from the Golden City, which was why he would require a minute or two to arrive.

Just at this moment, he received another call from the messenger crystal.

"Siegfried is calling?" He muttered in shock, unable to hide his surprise.

"He is calling you as well? Do you think we called because of the same reason?" The old man who was on another line asked before he shook his head behind the messenger crystal with a sigh.

"Whatever it is, please know that the Balgris race doesn\'t support the actions of the young Prince. I will hang up, so accept Siegfried\'s call…nothing good will happen if you reject his call…"  The old man hung up a moment later just as he promised, leaving Card Melphy with no other choice but to accept Siegfried\'s call.

"What is it?! If you want to complain about anything, don\'t even start to speak! I have bigger troubles than your complaints to take care of…" Card Melphy was not in the mood to bicker with Siegfried. Thus, he was just about to hang up when he heard Siegfried\'s voice through the messenger crystal.

"Go to the Colosseum. Your tournament\'s participants are getting killed by an insane idiot of the Balgris race. He seems to be the descendant of Jufnir, or he has just a similar Innate ability," Siegfried\'s voice sounded rather calm at the first glance but Card Melphy knew that it was the calmness before a storm would unleash its wrath.

Siegfried was a living example for the quote "calm before the storm", which caused Card to swallow his saliva and to step up his game by accelerating his pace further.

"You received a video as well?" Card asked, trying to sound nonchalant, only to fail miserably.

"As well? Whatever…yes I received a video where Jufnir\'s bastard kills a Guard with a much higher mana core rank than that youngling!" Siegfried acknowledged, his voice turning colder the more time passed.

"Was it also from a young blind Original?" Card wanted to make sure of a few facts before he reached the Colosseum which was not far from him anymore.

"Yes, now hurry up and call me later. If that Original dies, I will personally come and skin you alive!" Siegfried warned before hanging up the call a moment later.

"The hell…just who is that boy to receive so much attention?" Card Melphy asked himself quietly before he increased his speed to the maximum to reach the Colosseum a moment later.

**

Nial visualized the situation that unfolded in front of him skeptically.

He hadn\'t expected the President of the Golden Armaments Union to appear out of nowhere, nearly kill Finn out of a fit, and keep the young Balgris in a prison-like earth cage.

Finn could barely breathe and looked at the Negiv in fright, fully aware of what would happen to him and that his future was dark and bound to never exist.

"If I knew that you were the son of this piece of trash, I would have figured that you have the same cursed Innate ability as he owns… I could have stopped you from doing something so foolish," the President of the Golden Armaments Unions cursed with pain and sadness in his eyes.

"No wonder you were able to kill all these Runiciers…the pride of all races…" Card Melphy added before his gaze turned to Nial, who bowed his head lightly.

"Well, except this young man, I guess…" He said with a special emphasis on every word he uttered.

"Seems like he was able to trick you, and get stronger backers than you could ever wish for!"

Nial could gauge what the old man meant but he felt like it was a waste of time for the Union\'s President to mention this right now.

\'Siegfried must have contacted him…that old man is definitely fast. Lucky me, I guess!\' Nial thought, happy that he could prevent more misunderstandings from occurring and being blamed for the deaths.

He was confident that he could have killed Finn in the long run, but this would have led the suspicion toward him. His whole plan was to expose Finn as the murderer of all Runiciers and to make sure to stay unscathed and continue participating in the Runicier tournament.

Both missions seemed to have succeeded, even if Nial felt a bit uncomfortable with the gaze of the huge Negiv resting upon him.

He could tell that the Union\'s President was suspicious of his identity, especially since he had the contacts of a Runicier Saint.

It might have caused him a bit of trouble since he could remember that Siegfried and Card Melphy were not exactly best friends.

Nonetheless, Nial was satisfied with the final outcome of the evening.

He had already been worried that he would die, that he might face the anger of the Golden City, or that worse things would happen.

The result was quite fortunate from his point of view. As for Finn, he was the most unlucky. He fought for his race\'s survival, without knowing that it had never been necessary and that he had sacrificed his life for no reason!

Finn would only realize what he had done to his race when the aftermath would hit the Balgris race when everything his ancestors had built up would crumble. And that, just because the youngest Balgris with royal blood had believed that it was his mission, his responsibility to take care of the entire Balgris race.

That was the fate he had forced onto his race…the race he wanted to dearly protect…