chapter 699: do it again i dare you [part 2]

"i demand an explanation from the ashford clan," michael stood up and made his opinion known.
his voice carried far and wide into the entirety of the colosseum, making aaron and claude look at him in contempt.
"explanation? what explanation?" claude sneered. "we already said that it was a farce. we never said such things!"
"really?" thirteen asked. "then, how about you prove your innocence?"
"prove our innocence?" aaron asked back icily. "what do you mean, child? do you really think you have the authority to say such things?"
"i do," thirteen replied. "have you forgotten? i'm one of the judges of this tournament. as such, i want to ensure that everything is fair. now, let's tackle the things that are mentioned in that 'farce' that you are talking about.
"first, each clan will send a team to check the place where the eliminations will take place. according to the recording, you have placed traps there. if you are innocent, then these teams wouldn't find any traps.
"i can't condone starting this tournament when there's suspicion that the ashford clan had tampered with the terrain of the tournament. this merits an investigation. of course, you can refuse. but that just proves that you are guilty, don't you think?"
thirteen clasped his hands together while laughing internally.
the video shown to the public was indeed fake. it was something made with the help of paimon and kamrusepa, who were part of his faction in the order of the apocalypse.
paimon had the power of creation.
she could create almost anything with her flames, so creating two humans wouldn't pose a problem for her.
however, kamrusepa used her power of illusion and beguilement to transform these flames into the perfect replica of aaron and claude.
thirteen had shown them the recording of what the two men looked like, as well as their voices.
paimon and kamrusepa did the rest, while the teenage boy recorded it.
he then uploaded it to athena's database, and used the powerful supercomputer to hijack the database of the tournament, leading to the current scandal.
"don't go overboard, zion leventis," claude, who already had a great dislike toward the teenage boy, almost growled.
"well, it seems that the ashford clan is indeed guilty," thirteen, who wasn't the least bit intimidated, replied with a smile. "i bet that the moment the central government sends their specialists to the testing grounds, they will uncover these 'traps' that your clan has set up to eliminate people.
"your father mentioned earlier that each wanderer has trained, struggled, and sacrificed to be here, and now is their moment to prove that it was worth it. how can they probably prove their worth when you have sabotaged the venue? i admit i am still young and certainly not as shameless as you guys.
"still, i find this very funny. are you guys not confident that your own people can succeed with their own strength that you have to resort to such dirty tricks? i guess the ashford clan doesn't amount to their prestige. i'm very disappointed."
as the people at the colosseum silently listened to thirteen's words, they were a bit shaken by his statement.
in their hearts, zion leventis held a very high amount of prestige, especially after he led the alliance to fight against the jinns in the rigel continent and even won that battle.
his popularity was on the rise, so even if he were facing the two highest members of the ashford clan, he showed no fear.
"child, be careful of the things that you say," aaron stated. "there are consequences for such things."
"wow, i'm scared," thirteen replied. "imagine a monarch threatening a rookie. as for consequences?
but the only thing they remember now was a monarch bullying a rookie, and it didn't sit well with the people watching the event being broadcast live to the entire world.
thirteen, purposely taunted aaron to make him retaliate to him.
he knew that aaron wouldn't dare to kill him in front of so many people. at most, he would be
seriously injured.
but he was fine with that.
as long as he didn't die, he would be able to paint the monarch of the ashford clan as a petty man, which he could use to slowly whittle down his influence.
while erasmus planned to fight aaron in the future, thirteen planned to fight his own battle
against him.
seeing that both sides might really go to the point of no return, the other representatives stepped in to mediate the situation.
michael and hans hurried to thirteen's side, even bringing with them one of their
subordinates who specialized in healing.
the representative of the griffin and elrod clan received an order from the head of their families to make sure that zion didn't get hurt more than he already was.
the monarch of the griffin clan, douglas griffin, was the most anxious of all because he needed zion to help him handle the cygni invasion.
he wouldn't allow the teenage boy to kick the bucket anytime soon because it would be a loss
to him!
so when his representative of the elrod clan asked aaron and claude to let their people examine the venue where the elimination round was going to be held, the representative of the griffin clan seconded his proposal.
however, aaron and claude flatly rejected their proposal because there was no way they could
agree to it.
this made the other clans suspicious, and now, they were convinced that the ashford clan was indeed playing dirty.
seeing their reactions, claude immediately gave a secret order to his agents to destroy the
traps that they had painstakingly built.
now that it had come to this, they had no choice but to remove all the traces of their dirty
work, making sure that their reputation would not be tarnished any longer in the eyes of the
public.
this was the exact outcome thirteen was aiming for.
as long as his brother and sister could compete fairly, he believed that any elites from the ashford clan would not be able to stand in their way.