Shane knew that the Empress and Emperor wanted to use him as a means to demonstrate to the whole Elus population that a simple fighting style might work sometimes but that a more complex and varying combat style was more important than they thought.

According to Shane's understanding, Elementals liked to fight in smaller groups which explained why they wanted to fight in a simple manner.

A simple fighting style in addition to perfectly coordinated teamwork was much better than making mistakes while fighting in a complex manner while using varying movements and attack patterns.

However, once an Elemental was to fight alone, it would become more difficult to overwhelm the opponent with the simple fighting style they had grown accustomed to so far.

As such, he understood what the Emperor and Empress wanted him to do.

'As long as I don't kill my opponent, everything should be fine...right?' He asked himself, worriedly.

Elementals didn't have a physical body that he could simply injure. As such, he could either use his mana to grasp their body that dwindled between a liquefied and a gaseous form, or he could attack their solid core.

The latter might be painful for his opponent, but Shane was sure that using his sword to slash at the core would be the worst thing he could do.

Considering this possibility, he had already warned the Empress and Emperor well in advance to have a medic team close to them. Not only could he injure his opponent but there was a high chance that he might injure himself as well.

He had never fought an opponent that he couldn't grasp or injure his body which made Shane excited to fight against an Elemental.

As he walked inside the arena, Shane noticed that the Elementals had retracted the majority of their mass, barely revealing a small layer around the mana core. It looked like the seats that circled the arena were filled with small football-sized, glowing balls.

Seeing this, he couldn't help but grin because it was a ridiculous sight. However, on the other side, it was also an extremely efficient way to accommodate more Elementals in the same space and make it less crowded. Thus, the whole arena was filled with hundreds of thousands, if not several million Elementals at once.

This was impressive and Shane couldn't help but feel curious about the average strength of the Elus-race.

The members of Elus race were known for their high mana mastery, large mana storage, and strong affinities. Shane could sense all of it at once because every single Elemental he could see right now, was trying to figure out how strong he was and what exactly their Emperor and Empress had seen in him.

'How special is this being to make the Emperor order everyone in Caera to watch a simple spar?' This was the thought that was mirrored across all the faces seated in the spectator area.

However, they wouldn't complain about their Emperor's decision because everything he did had its reason. The stadium fell silent and not a single Elemental made a sound once they found a seat and retracted their body fluid inside the mana core.

This was something that astonished Shane as well because he knew that mankind could never be so quiet. Humans were prone to voice out their opinion, even if nobody asked.

Thus, his grin widened as he followed the Emperor and Empress on a raised platform where three elegant-looking thrones were situated.

One of them was already occupied by an Elemental with a humanoid, female shape.

Looking more intently at the female humanoid Elemental, Shane couldn't help but mumble "I didn't know that you two had a child."

Shane cursed himself yet again for blurting out without thinking. He hoped that the Emperor wouldn't feel offended by his remark. Hearing him, the Emperor said with a sigh,

"That's Ilya, the Superior Elemental we had talked about earlier."

Shane was glad that the Emperor didn't seem to mind his rude behavior which caused him to sigh in relief when he heard the Empress talking to Ilya.

"How are you feeling today? I didn't expect you to come here."

Ilya's non-corporeal body that was half blackish-crimson colored and half whitish-blue flickered slightly as she said,

"You know that I have no problems with my health since I was forced to destroy my cultivation after the system-awakening!"

Empress Idral sighed and Shane could perceive that both the Emperor and Empress's mana fluctuations became slightly unstable upon hearing her words.

'Destroy my cultivation after the system-awakening?' He asked himself. Her reply evoked many doubts within him and he reminded himself to not sound rude, which worked partially. He turned his attention to Ilya and asked in a polite voice,

"Esteemed Princess, I hope this doesn't sound offensive and if it's a rude question please ignore it, but I wonder if the reason to destroy your cultivation after the system awakening was because of the repulsive elements of light and darkness that were awoken?

Is the destruction of the cultivation a must to allow the mana core to adjust to the ravaging elements, forcefully suppressing them until the mana core can cope with the full might of the Empress's light and Emperor's darkness affinity?"

Shane's eyes gleamed in curiosity but the Empress turned towards him, with an expression that was similar to 'Can't you stay quiet you fool!' The Emperor, on the other hand, remained quiet, looking at him, not knowing what to say.

It was not that Shane's question was wrong or his assumption difficult to comprehend as an Elementals affinity was easy to see according to their body's color.

At the same time, the Emperor thought that most ambassadors they met had been equally curious about this. But, Shane was the only one who straightforwardly asked his daughter about the reason for her being forced to have such a low cultivation stage despite being a Superior Elemental.

Trying to be optimistic, he thought that it was very unlikely for Shane to be a spy, a young and sly ambassador, or someone who played tricks. Based on his observation of the youth in front of him, the human seemed to be straightforward, curious, and interested in everything about their race.

To the Emperor and the Empress, Shane looked like a curious, intelligent, and genuine youth. It was also the reason for them to not mind his straightforwardness, even if it led to slightly awkward situations.

Somehow, it was refreshing for them because everyone else had tried to please them in every single possible way whether it was an Elemental or ambassadors from other races.

Princess Ilya focused on Shane for a moment when she heard his question and it was extremely difficult to overlook the curiosity reflected in his eyes.

It didn't look like he wanted to make fun of her, which sometimes happened when she met prodigies from other races, calling her a 'dysfunctional superior elemental.'

Ilya learned to ignore them at a young age, but deep inside, she was aware that she was different.

Staring at Shane, she gave him a curt reply.

"You could say so."

When he heard this, Shane couldn't help but feel enlightened as he asked

"Do you want to fight me? If your mana core has to adjust to the Emperor and Empress's affinities as a Superior Elemental, you should be the Elemental with the highest potential in the whole Elus-race, right?"

Princess Ilya was baffled by Shane's conclusion, while the Emperor couldn't help but say

"That's the case, but someone doesn't want to believe that" as his black-crimson-colored liquefied body flickered a little, indicating his pride.

Emperor Kidar suddenly felt extremely good and he couldn't help but think that the decision to allow Shane to visit Masua was a good one.

'Maybe he, as a stranger without any bias, can convince Ilya to believe in her own potential?'

However, after seeing Ilya shake her head, the Emperor's mood soured slightly.

"I have to reject your challenge."

Shane had expected this outcome because he remembered the Emperor's earlier words and turned to face the arena that was filled with several hundred thousand Elementals, not bothering the Princess any further.

The Emperor saw this and nodded faintly before he announced their arrival and what they were about to do.

"Our esteemed guest, hailing from the human race, decided to visit our origin-planet to establish a firm relationship with us! However, to build a firm relationship, we have to know each other's strengths and weaknesses! As such I have decided that a short sparring would be the best solution.

Every Elemental at the peak-Apprentice and Expert-stage is allowed to challenge our guest, who will have the liberty to pick his opponent out of all the challengers. Please don't forget that we need to defend our honor and glory as the Elementals race!

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