The tournament had now officially begun.
Yet, before Isis Neweston started to draw the lots, someone spoke up.
"I'm conceding."
The Mage Emperors looked at Linastra Boomwitch with furrowed brows.
"We have too many contestants anyway," Linastra said.
"Are you certain that this is what you want?" Isis Neweston said in an even voice, which had a hidden tone of threat and danger to it.
The other Mage Emperors were also looking at Linastra with narrowed eyes.
Linastra had always stood on the sidelines, and now that the fate of the entire world was being decided, she stood on the sidelines again.
She hadn't helped them against Shang in the past. The least she could do was try to hurt the current Shang or Abaddon.
"Yes, I'm certain," Linastra confirmed.
At this moment, Linastra felt a thick wave of hatred come towards her.
Her old friends were not happy with her at all.
"Fine," Isis Neweston said.
Behind Linastra, the Sacredflame King felt like his life had been spared.
He didn't need to die!
The Sacredflame King and Linastra stepped back, showing that they were no longer part of the combatants.
"I am willing to support you," Linastra transmitted to Gregorio.
Gregorio was a little surprised, but not very much.
"How do I know you are not supposed to betray me later and that this isn't a trick?" Gregorio asked.
"I am willing to hand over my life," Linastra transmitted. "You can use an asynchronous Life Connection Spell."
Now, Gregorio was quite certain that Linastra genuinely wanted to help him or that she was willing to sacrifice her life to kill Shang.
The next moment, Gregorio contacted Kali. "Linastra is willing to help me, and she is also willing to accept an asynchronous Life Connection Spell."
Kali was slightly surprised.
One had to know that a Life Connection Spell connected two lives. If one of the two recipients of the Spell died, the other one would die as well.
At least, that was how it was with the synchronous version.
With the asynchronous version, if person A died, person B would also die. However, if person B died, person A would not die.
In this case, if Gregorio died, Linastra would die, but if Linastra died, Gregorio would not die.
A moment later, Kali asked Abaddon.
Abaddon was basically the one in charge by now since Abaddon would very soon become superior to Kali.
"Fine," Abaddon told Kali, "but I will be the one creating the Spell. I want this to be secure."
Kali informed Gregorio, but before Gregorio informed Linastra, he told Kali one more thing.
"I want her connected to Shang, not me," Gregorio transmitted. "I can imagine that they plan on confining me without killing me, which wouldn't kill Linastra. If we want to be certain, we need to give it to Shang."
Naturally, Gregorio had already asked Shang.
Just like with Kali and Abaddon, the leadership between Shang and Gregorio had also switched.
Gregorio was no longer the one in charge.
Shang was.
In fact, it had been Shang's idea to make him the recipient of the asynchronous Life Connection Spell.
Shang had two reasons for it.
First, he could just use his Domain of Entropy to negate it if necessary.
Second, if anyone planned something with that Spell, Shang wanted to give them some hope before dashing it.
The more hope they felt, the better.
"Okay," Abaddon answered.
While Isis Neweston was drawing lots for the tournament, Abaddon was using his unique Magic to create two tiny bubbles.
Abaddon's Magic was so unique and advanced that none of the Emperors even noticed anything.
A moment later, Abaddon handed the bubbles to Kali, who handed them to Gregorio.
"Crush this in your hand," Gregorio told Linastra.
The next moment, something tiny appeared in Linastra's hand, and she looked at it.
She was quite surprised that she couldn't see how this Spell had been performed.
However, she could easily discern what this Spell would do.
Sure enough, it was an asynchronous Life Connection Spell, but it worked in a very different way.
Nevertheless, it achieved the same effect.
Linastra narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Then, she crushed it.
An instant later, a complex diagram appeared on the palm of Linastra's hand.
However, she didn't feel a connection yet, which meant that Gregorio hadn't activated it.
Linastra became worried and suspicious, but then, she suddenly felt a connection.
Yet, she felt connected to Shang, not Gregorio.
Linastra's eyes opened wide in shock.
But just an instant later, she seemed to accept her new circumstances.
She didn't protest.
There was nothing she could do anymore.
The Spell had been cast, and forcefully breaking it would take several years.
None of the other Emperors had noticed what had just happened.
"The lots have been drawn," Isis Neweston said.
"First, the warrior versus the Duality Queen."
"Second, the Eternity King versus the Abyssfrost Queen."
"Third, the lcespear Queen versus the Fierycold Queen."
"Fourth, the Unbreakable King versus King Sanctified Death."
Sure enough, Shang and Abaddon had been placed at opposite corners, but that wasn't really surprising.
No one actually believed that the drawing of the lots had been random.
"First match, the warrior versus the Duality Queen."
The Duality Queen's expression had already become solemn.
Due to her introverted and power-oriented mindset, she had never seen Shang, but she had heard a lot about him.
She knew that Shang was about as powerful as King Sanctified Death.
However, for some reason, he didn't feel very dangerous.
In fact, he felt very weak.
It was like Shang was close to death.
At the same time, Amon Gus looked at Gregorio.
He was trying to convince Gregorio to make this a benign battle. After all, he didn't want to lose his most powerful Mage King.
"Malicious," Gregorio asked, ignoring all of Amon Gus' pleadings.
Amon Gus gritted his teeth. "Malicious."
The next moment, Shang slowly floated forward.
The entire Horizon would be their battlefield.
Eventually, Shang stopped around 200,000 kilometers away.
The Duality Queen also flew forward and stopped around 450,000 kilometers away from Shang.
Isis Neweston looked at the two combatants.
"Start!"
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