Hero of Darkness

Kahn took a deep breath and spoke in a calm tone as he leaned his back against the ottoman-style chair. 

"Take care of the clan members of the guy I just beat up. Nothing should come in my way. 

You are at least capable of doing that much, right?" asked Kahn sarcastically. 

"That… I'll do it!" spoke the dwarf and suddenly, his tone towards Kahn turned respectful despite being an almighty figure himself. 

It wasn't Kahn.. But the two figures who backed this young man he was most afraid of. His countenance turned completely alert as he did not want to stretch this topic furthermore. 

[And he fell for it!] thought the young swordsman. 

In reality, Kahn was only borrowing the name of the Vandereich clan leader after the key information he received from Ronin. 

—————-

TWO HOURS AGO 

Ronin and all the assassin subordinates who served under him were ordered to find information on this dwarf by Kahn after the death threat made by this second stage saint. 

Ronin, who led dozens of assassin subordinates, quickly infiltrated the inner areas of arena management, had his squadron tail people and ransack records about the dwarf's history, found out about the background of this saint. And after receiving the whole information.. Kahn decided to not give up on the competition and take his chances. 

Hence, right before the match even began and odds were revealed to the public for betting, Kahn decided to act as he always did. 

He looked at the odds and purposely had his generals bet all the money on his victory through their people while he was still furious about the humiliation he suffered today. 

So one way or another.. He was going to take it out on the opponent. Because of which, he knew that he'd end up provoking the entire clan that backed him. Yet, he also planned to use the recommendation token which he already knew about and how it would tie his fate to the pureblood faction during this competition. 

And just now, he found out that each faction had two of such tokens offered to their semi-saints. Also, he understood why the faction leader, Szayel's grandfather who he had yet to meet passed down this token to him under the pretense of Ismaetrazel trying to save him the trouble of not having to fight from the bottom. 

It was because they had only one semi-saint in the younger generation compared to the Demi-Human and Neutral Faction that had two candidates. 

So they planned to use Kahn as a trojan horse and a backup without him even knowing the truth since the beginning. 

But after learning from his previous experience and how the Vandereich clan used him as bait to find traitors between their clan and faction, the now wiser Kahn already suspected that something was off. 

And hence, he chose to register for the competition like a normal individual instead of using the recommendation token that was offered to him. 

But today, that very token turned out to be the only thing that helped him in his current predicament. 

Now, his seat was secured and from the lesson he received today.. It was time for Kahn to set up his own chess pieces rather than being at someone's mercy. 

Because who knows if next time his bluff would work or not. 

"Fine then. I'll leave this to you." said Kahn and took out the jade medallion. 

"You know who this belongs to, right?" asked Kahn. 

The dwarven saint was left speechless again, his eyes not being able to hold back the surprise. 

"This.. This belongs to Lord Ismaetrazel. He even gave you this.." said the dwarf with a baffled voice. 

"Yes. Mess up things on your end and I will personally tell him about today's blunder you pulled off. 

Doesn't matter if you did it for carrying out your orders or not. A mistake is a mistake. 

Now let's hope that we don't see each other again." spoke Kahn and left the office. 

He changed his appearance and species just to be careful and quietly left the battle arena. As for the aftermath… he'd leave it to this dwarven saint. 

Given the situation… it was bound to be more of a headache and a form of punishment. This was the best way of revenge Kahn could take for now. 

—————-

Kahn returned to his mansion after he had officially qualified for the quarterfinals. 

Including him, there would be 15 other candidates and out of which, he was already sure that he'd face the other semi-saints soon enough based on probability. 

But what was more important right now was to make waves and stir the entire pond so that he would no longer appear defenseless. 

And the show he put on today by starting a brawl with the knight opponent had another purpose behind it as well. 

Ceril appeared in Kahn's bedroom since the others were busy collecting their 400 trillion worth of new wealth after today's match. 

"Do you have it ready?" asked Kahn in a stern tone. 

"Yes, my lord. By the time your next match comes up, we will have more than 10 million of these recording artifacts spread throughout the entire capital. 

Everyone from a commoner to a noble class individual will come to know about you after today." replied Ceril as he took out a blue round object. 

This was exactly the recording artifact Kahn had previously installed in his shops and warehouses. 

As the projections from the artifact were displayed.. The sight of Kahn's entire fight with the knight heir came to be like a video recording. 

How he revealed the information about his sword and how he thrashed the knight opponent during the fight was recorded here. 

During the fight, Kahn had ordered Omega to film this entire thing before the match started. 

Kahn was already 3 steps ahead in planning the aftermath and saving himself from the unnecessary hassle and threat to his life. 

"But my lord.. Wouldn't this make you a target for many influential clans and factions?" asked Ceril in a serious voice. 

"The more eyes we have on me… the better. 

Because no one would dare to harm a commoner who beat a noble clan's heir with bare fists when he is at the center of attention for the entire capital. 

Now, we don't have any reason to hide behind the shadows." said Kahn. 

He smirked and looked at the bright moon through the window as he spoke in a resolute tone. 

"It's time for me to become The Dark Horse."