The World's Ego

Martial Tournament

Rimuru POV

Now we welcomed the second day of the Founding Festival. I am in the Colosseum to watch the matches for today. For the safety of the audience, we had set up a double layer defensive barrier. The first layer covered the entire ground and went all the way to the audience seats in a large-scale magic circle. This was needed especially when Hinata would use it for her future battle training. The second layer stretched around the inner circumference of the seating, right in front of the first row of benches where the audience would sit. The battleground would be above these two magic circles.

The first barrier is used to specifically halt magicules from flowing through but would not put any restrictions on skills. But even still, a powerful magic attack would still impact the audience and the venue so the second barrier is put up as a prevention measure. In addition, if it really gets bad, I could always launch <Absolute Defense> to protect everyone. My executives aside, I'm sure those that participate today won't cause any big impacts.

Thankfully, the venue is already packed with excited onlookers and I am in the VIP booth to spectate as well. We even made sure to install four giant screens to livestream the battle for the audience to view comfortably from each direction.

The projectors really are wonderful devices! I have to thank Mobius and the others for making them!

Soon, the twelve contestants entered and walked to the center of the stage, facing the VIP booth as the screens showed their faces and their expressions were visible to see. Their appearances were also quite distinct from each other.

... Wait... A few of them look... familiar to me.

As planned, Souka, the announcer of the event, began introducing each of them, starting with the Hero, Masayuki.

"First of all, allow me to introduce the most popular man in the house! The dominator of the elimination round! He is the Chosen Hero, Ma-sa-yu-ki~!'

Wow, she's really enjoying herself out there! But isn't she a Covert Spy?

"Will this affect her work as a Spy, Souei?" I asked him

Souei shakes his head, "No problem. Souka is good with the <Invisibility Spell> and she will disguise herself during missions anyway. Moreover, we need someone on stage whose face has never been seen by the public before."

"I see. I guess it's not a big cause for concern then."

He nods as Souka continues the announcement, "No one has ever seen his excellent swordsmanship! That's because the instant he decides to unsheathe his sword, the opponent will already be defeated!"

So he practically won by default... I'm not surprised. His skill allows him to become favored by anyone, making him a Hero that can do anything without even lifting a finger. In contrast, my <Queen's Majesty> has a similar effect but instead makes weaker beings somewhat dependent on or revere me and also connects the minds of the Honkai Beasts with me. I wonder how his skill affects his party members.

"Souei, how did the match yesterday go?" I asked

"About that, we really have no way of knowing. Since his companions were also part of the competition yesterday, they fought and beat fifty contestants before purposefully losing in order to give the results to him. He never showed any skills at all." Souei replied

"Figures..." I muttered under my breath

"His immense power is known throughout the seven seas, Masayuki, the young prodigy, the Chosen Hero! More and more people are falling for his handsome appearance! Rumors say that women will fall in love with him after mere eye contact! Ma-sa-yu-ki~! How most fortunate for us to be able to witness him on the final stage!"