After thinking for a while, Zaos concluded that it made sense. Drannor wanted to win against Zaos while he tried his best. He wanted to deserve the title of strongest. With that in mind, he probably knew what the kind was planning, and since he knew, it was hard to imagine that Drian and Laiex didn't know. Was it because of that the king asked Zaos to participate? Just to show to everyone that Drannor was stronger?

"Considering what Edea said the other day… it seems that some people assumed that I had a chance with Ameria," Zaos thought.

 Zaos didn't mind about those two getting married. He was happy for them since they were his friends. Still, it was annoying to be involved in the games of others like that. Zaos recalled what his father said the other day: the king is considering the country's future. That confirmed that Laiex knew about everything. Drannor would stay in the capital and help Ameria since she would become the ruler one day, and Drannor, as her husband, will support her and protect her as the strongest soldier of the kingdom. Meanwhile, Zaos was supposed to move with his army and help the borders. The roles of the Sielders and Seres family will change, but the country's future will be but assured.

"This pisses me off so much…" Zaos muttered. "Did they think that I was in love with Ameria and that they were sparing my feelings doing all this crap? Don't joke around."

Dark emotions began to feel Zaos's heart. He wouldn't let himself become a pawn in someone else's game, but he didn't want to get in the way of Drannor and Ameria's happiness. At some point, he even began to question if he should care about that. After all, they weren't stupid, and since they stayed in the castle the most parts of their days, they should have suspected and discovered that much sooner than Zaos.

Regardless, Zaos was left with one question in his mind. Should he do the right thing and act like an adult and let everything planned by the king go smoothly or show him by any means necessary that he won't become a pawn in his shit game? The whole royal family was watching the matches alongside Laiex and Drian. So, that would be the perfect chance for Zaos to show them… still. What would Nyana think if Zaos suddenly acted like a savage? He cared for her, almost as much as he once cared for his mother.

"I can't go too far, but I have to make a point here…" Zaos nodded to himself.

Zaos had to wait for two hours before his next match, and yet, he didn't calm down enough to change his mind. He couldn't help but wonder why… it wasn't like he didn't know that people in the upper echelons do that kind of thing all the time.

"Sir Zaos and Sir Melnic, please, present yourselves in the arena," The narrator said.

Zaos returned to the arena with his sword already in hand, and the few people that knew him already noticed that something was off. His expression had darkened, and he looked angry. It was the same anger that he only let run wild on the battlefield.

The enemy this time was a guy who was big like Drannor's last opponent. However, his weapon was a massive steel club. If Zaos's sword touches that, it will suffer a lot of damage. Still, Zaos didn't have to let that happen.

"Fight!" The narrator said.

The very moment the narrator said that Zaos filled his sword with wind magic, and in the blink of an eye, his weapon was covered with electricity. Looking at that, Melnic couldn't help but hesitate a little. He had faced many things on the battlefield, but nothing like quite as that.

Since the enemy hesitated, he charged. Melnic tried to block the attack since he wasn't agile enough to dodge. However, that had been a bad idea. The weapons collided, and at that exact moment, Melnic began to be electrocuted. As the electricity passed through his body, he couldn't do anything aside from tremble. Before Zaos could cause any real damage to the man, he stepped backward. Melnic wasn't his enemy. He wasn't the one who worsened his mood either. Melnic fell on his knees and then dropped his weapon since he couldn't move his limbs.

Before the battle winner could be announced, Zaos raised his sword and made the energy fly upward. Like a reverse lightning bolt, the energy dispersed into the sky, and that left the entire arena in silence.

"… Sir Zaos is the winner!" The narrator said after he recovered from the shock.

Zaos approached Melnic and then healed him before giving him a hand to get up. In the end, he didn't even give the chance to let the man show what he could do. His magic wasn't something he wanted to do in duels like that. It was to kill his enemies.

"Sorry about that," Zaos said after Melnic got up, and then he left.

Before Zaos entered the anteroom, he stopped and looked directly to the northern part of the arena. In that area, one could find several royal guards, alongside the royal family, Laiex and Drian, and all of them felt the anger in Zaos's gaze.

---- ----

"He connected the dots," Laiex said once Zaos entered the anteroom again.

"Is that so…" Dalyor said while covered his mouth to consider several things. "Your son is really something else, Laiex. We tried to be as subtle as possible, but in the end… why do you think he used his technique like that?"

"Well…" Laiex hesitated.

"… Don't try to use me in your games. I won't let you," Ameria said with her head down. "That is what Zaos was trying to tell."

Ameria had noticed things a few weeks ago. That was why she said that, looking at her father. When she asked Drannor about that, he also looked confused, but then when they confronted the king, they were both ignored.