Two days later. December 3rd.

The ancient imperial capital of Castro ushered in the biggest event of the year in the magical world of the Empire, which was the Holy Grail Ceremony, a magical competition that included the top young talents of the Nine Regions and the State Church.

Even though it was still 8 o'clock in the morning, the crowd outside the Castro Arena was already crowded. The road to the main entrance on the east side of the arena has been blocked by guards on both sides to protect the entry of important bigwigs.

As for the 20 participating teams that have qualified as representatives, they enter the arena from the south gate, and the spectators can only enter the auditorium from the west gate and the north gate.

At this time, Mick and the other students of the Luther School of Magic had slowly entered the arena with the flow of people, the yellow-brown stone bricks were full of mottled marks, and everyone walked up through the dimly lit corridor, perhaps because it was not open often, and the air in the corridor wafted with a faint musty smell. When you walk to the end of the stone steps, you will suddenly see the entire arena, and in addition to the surrounding spectator seats, there is also a high platform on the west side of the arena that protrudes outward, so I think it is a place where big people watch the game.

Each seat in the auditorium is numbered, so spectators find their seats and wait for the teams and important people to enter.

At nine o'clock, accompanied by the majestic national anthem, the audience immediately quieted down, and all eyes were focused on the main entrance of the arena where Ssangyong bowed down.

I saw a red-haired man in the first place, with starry eyes, a cold and hard face, wearing a golden crown, wearing an elegant crimson tweed military uniform, a gold-edged luxurious ribbon on his chest, a scarlet cloak fluttering behind him, and a third-order demonic beast Chiyan horse wearing flowing fire under his crotch, which set off it more and more majestic.

This man is the young emperor of the Xio Empire, Rhaega Xio.

The moment everyone saw Rhaeggar, they could feel his kingly demeanor when looking left and right, and his handsome appearance made him immediately capture the hearts of most of the women on the scene.

Flanked by Rhaegar are Omistanson, the Speaker of the Hexagram Council, and Alfred, the Archbishop of Castro Cathedral, who wears a pitch-black magician's robe, while Alfred wears a holy white gold-rimmed robe, creating a strong visual gap.

Alfred was an old man in his sixties, with a brown complexion and eyes that were always squinted, making it difficult to read the emotions in his eyes. As the archbishop of Castro Cathedral, his status is not far behind that of Omi Statham. The state religion is composed of eight archbishops below the pope, who assist the pope in managing the religious affairs of the eight regions, and below them are the bishops who are responsible for the affairs of a particular church, and then there are ordinary clergy, that is, priests. That's why Alfred would be eligible to attend the Grail Sacrifice in place of the Pope.

Behind the trio were the Templars and MI7 soldiers, who were in charge of keeping them safe, in two rows, one white and one red.

Once the group entered, Rhaegar walked alone to the center of the arena, with Omisthakson and Alfred leading the Templars and MI7 from the left and right sides to the high platform, respectively.

Rhaegar dismounted and stood in the middle of the arena on his red horse, just as the national anthem was playing. I saw Rhaegar open his arms, and an earth-bound first-order magic array appeared on the white silk gloves on his hands, and then the audience saw the ground under Rhaeggar's feet slowly lift towards the place where the high platform was, and send Rhaegar to the high platform in a surrendering manner.

Seeing this, the audience cheered one after another, and did not hesitate to praise His Majesty the Emperor. The people who came to watch the Holy Grail Sacrifice had a little dabbling in magic, and although Rhaegar only used the ordinary earth-based first-order magic earth wall technique, he needed subtle mental power control to achieve the immediate effect of the elemental construction. It can be seen that Rhaegar's magic attainments are definitely not low.

Rhaegar still maintained the cold and arrogant majesty that the emperor should have, and naturally accepted the thunderous applause in the field, and after walking on the high platform, he shook his cloak and turned his body, and the earth platform in front of him immediately returned to its original state, and then Rhaegar took out the echo stone from his arms and announced with full anger: "People from all over the country, welcome to the Castro Arena!" I am the Emperor of the Empire, Rhaegar Theo! ”

There was thunderous applause again.

Omisthason and Alfred also came behind the Emperor from the stairs on either side of the high platform at this time, and after glancing at each other, they both saw false kindness in each other's eyes.

Rhaegar in front of the two of them stretched out his hand to signal the audience to quiet down, and continued: "Two hundred years ago, the war broke out between the Anglican and the Wizards' Guild over the Holy Grail, and there were many casualties, which made future generations sad. Today, we are gathered here for the same purpose, but we use our human wisdom to replace bloody wars with a peaceful way like the Grail Sacrifice. This is a huge step forward for us as human beings and something to be proud of all of us! ”

"At this moment, the nation's top magical geniuses are gathered to present us with a grand and gorgeous show to compete for the Holy Grail that is about to be filled with stars! Everyone, welcome them with me! ”

In the enthusiastic applause of the audience, the representative teams of the eighteen regions and the two teams of the national religion walked out of the passages on both sides, the leaders of each team held high the banner that symbolized their identity, and the first two teams to walk out were the team of the national religion and the team of the six-pointed star college, the breath was restrained, the steps were calm, and the face was full of indifference as a strong man.

Soon, Mick saw the banner of the half-decayed sycamore tree at Luther School of Magic and Magic, and cheered along with all the Luther Academy of Magic students. One of them looked curiously at the side of the audience, and was about to wave to greet everyone when he was stopped by William behind him, who was none other than Kenneth, who was full of excitement.

Mick smiled helplessly: doesn't this guy know what nervousness is at all on such an occasion?

After the twenty teams stood in line under the high platform, Rhaegar shook the cloak behind him, and his voice was full of anger: "Welcome, young magicians! I hope you can give full play to each other's true strength and win the highest honor! May the hero Theo be with you! ”

"May the hero Theo be with you!" The audience also stood up to bless.

The magicians in the field bowed humbly and accepted everyone's blessings.

"I declare that the Holy Grail Sacrifice of the Xio Empire is now officially begins!" Accompanied by Rhaeggar's chanting, flames burst into flames on the outermost walls of the arena, pushing the atmosphere inside the arena to the climax!

——————

After finishing the opening, Rhaegar looked at the hot arena with a satisfied expression on his face, and took a seat on the throne that had been prepared for him.

"Your Majesty's heroic appearance is truly a blessing to the Empire." Archbishop Alfred, who was sitting on Rhaeggar's right, smiled.

Rhaegar glanced at the back of Omi Statham, who was reading out the rules and schedule, and turned his head to Alfred with a proper smile: "Archbishop is overpraised." ”

Rhaegar remembered the person she had just paid special attention to but still hadn't seen, so she lowered her voice and asked, "Archbishop, may I ask the Holy Maiden ......?"

Alfred's eyes that had been squinting opened slightly, and a glimmer of light flashed: "Your Majesty also knows about the willful request of the Holy Maiden?" ”

Rhaegar raised an eyebrow, and from Alfred's words he could hear his attitude towards the Holy Lady Sheryl, not disrespectful, but by no means respectful.

Although Rhaegar is the emperor, he has no right to intervene in the affairs of the state religion, although he also tried to infiltrate some forces into the state religion, and even used MI7, but in the end it still ended in failure, which made Rhaegar more curious and suspicious of the state religion.

It has been six years since Rhaegar ascended the throne, and he has never encountered political obstruction from the state religion, but has received great help from the state religion on some issues. It stands to reason that Rhaegar should not be suspicious of the state religion, but the state religion's actions are full of disobedience in his eyes, obviously with great power, but the state religion has never shown ambition for power, and the only conflict was the Holy Grail War with the Wizards' Guild, but other than that, he looks completely desireless. Of course, Rhaegar didn't believe that the state religion was really what it seemed, and his intuition told him that there must be a huge secret behind the state religion, and as for whether it was good or bad for the empire, he could only wait until he found out before he could make a judgment.

As soon as Rhaegar saw Alfred's expression, he knew that he already knew about his and Omistanson's visit to the church that day, after all, it was the bishop of the church who led the way for the two of them, and he would naturally report to Alfred afterwards. So Rhaegar raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh, did the Holy Maiden make any request?" ”

Seeing Alfred, he sighed and said, "Your Majesty has made a request to let her participate in the Holy Grail Sacrifice, Your Majesty, do you know about this?" ”

Rhaegar shook his head naturally, "Of course I don't know. ”

"Then why did Your Majesty mention the Holy Maiden?"

"I just want to know if the Holy Maiden is there to watch the game." Rhaegar had an embarrassed look on her face, "I've been wanting to see the Holy Maiden again since I saw her that day, so that's why I asked. ”

Alfred laughed when he heard this, and the white beard under his chin trembled: "Ho Ho, after all, Your Majesty has also reached the age of marriage!" Coupled with the fact that the Holy Maiden is already beautiful and beautiful, it is reasonable that His Majesty will be tempted. But to disappoint Your Majesty, the Holy Maiden is now in the arena. ”

Rhaegar was sure in his heart, but he said with a perfect look of shock on his face: "How can this be?!" ”

Seeing that the look on Rhaeggar's face did not seem to be fake, Alfred confessed: "Please forgive your majesty, the saint has grown up with me, but I have never enjoyed the joy of having fun with my peers." Anyway, the young people I teach will definitely enter the top five, and it won't have much impact if the saint participates. ”

Naturally, Rhaegar would not blame, and after a few polite words with Alfred, he looked at the magicians who had returned to the door and began to prepare for the game, and said secretly in his heart: "Sheryl, everything is up to you." ”