"Eh?"


    Troy turned to find a figure vaulting over the shoulders of the spectators toward the ring.


    "Hahaha! He really came!" he eximed in surprise and delighted-more delighted than seeing his own family, in fact.


    Thud!


    As Franknded steadily in the ring, everyone turned toward the giant clock in Zamri Square.


    Ten minutes as the emcee announced, no more, no less-Frank arrived just in time.


    Jaden''s eyes narrowed, as he could at least see Frank was skilled.


    "What, finally made up your mind? And here I thought you bailed," Jaden said with a scoff.


    Frank simply beamed, shing his bright white teeth. "Heh. Just had to make a detour and wasted some time. Thankfully, I made it." "Hmph!"


    Jaden snorted and said nothing else.


    Meanwhile, Frank turned towards the emcee and asked quietly, "So, shall we get started?"


    "Oh, uh..."


    The emcee looked between Frank, Jaden, and the clearly relieved Troy below stage.


    Seein Tory nod at him, he said, "Since you''re both here, let''s get ready to—"


    "Wait!"


    Frank stopped him, holding up a hand.


    On the other end, Jaden had already assumed a fighting stance and lunged at Frank as soon as the emcee called for the duel to start. Frank''s sudden interference left his insides churning, and he almost coughed blood right then.


    "What now?!" Jaden growled through gritted teeth.


    "Well, it''s quite important."


    Frank waved him off and pointed at a board raised in the middle of the crowd, listing the bets for the fight. "What is that?"


    Jaden almost hit Frank for his


    digression, while the emcee


    exined patiently, "That''s the odds


    for this fight. At the moment, the odds are lowest for Jaden defeating you in ten blows, so most bets are ced on that..." Content property of N?velDra/ma.Org.


    "Fuck!"


    Below stage, Troy was already cursing at Frank for dragging his feet, spitting in rage, "What is he doing?! Is he dragging this out on purpose?!"


    "Dragging this out on purpose?"


    Beside him, Kilian considered the possibility, and his heart almost stopped as a foreboding sensation gripped him. "Are you sure you didn''t leave any loose ends when you did it, Troy?"


    Troy did a double take butughed


    as he pped his chest and whispered into Kilian''s ear, "Don''t worry, Mr. Lionheart! Only my most trusted servant-who has served the longest, I might add-knows about this.


    "The poison was itself expressly obtained from the ck market through personal contacts of my former retainers, Thunder, Bolt, Galen, and ze. Even Ascendant ranks would be brought down by that poison, so unless Frank somehow resurrected my four retainers, no one would be the wiser."


    Though Kilian nodded in relief after Troy exined everything, he still felt a gnawing sense of foreboding-it was a sixth sense exclusive to Ascendant ranks.