Chapter 247: Spreading News
David woke up at the loud sound of an alarm.
He jerked upright in bed and threw his legs over the side in one sudden and clumsy motion.
His heel caught a cluster of green beer bottles beside the mattress—they clattered and rolled as a groan escaped his lips. It was already supposedly a new day, or at least, he assumed that it was a new day and the hangover headache had already gotten to him hard.
For a good moment, David clasped his head, enduring the throbbing ache.
It was so bad that his head felt like it weighed a ton and was dragging his body down.
"I shouldn’t have drunk too much..."
As a thirty-year-old who entered the workforce late, he held a low corporate position that had worked him to the bones. Young people who entered early had the strength to handle the load, but he couldn’t.
Last night, the stress got to him, so he bought cheap beers to forget about the world.
Since it was Friday, he decided to go all the way.
Now, after having almost seven bottles of beer, he felt like he had aged ten years overnight.
"What time is it?"
David struggled to reach for his phone on the bedside table. It ran out of battery, so he plugged the charger cable in and waited for a minute. He looked outside the window and saw that the sky was still pitch-black.
Even though he lived right beside a busy street, there was no sound of vehicles.
Just complete silence.
Once his phone turned on, he realized that it was not even four in the morning.
"What the fuck..." David rubbed his face harshly—with both hands. "I was knocked out only for three hours? How does that make any sense?"
As he basked in the silence, notifications rang from his phone.
Several of them.
Lazily, David grabbed his phone again and saw several notifications that woke him up almost instantly. All of the notifications were from a colleague of his. A senior who was younger than him by six years.
’David, fix these reports for me and send them to me as soon as possible.’
’I need to turn them in by Monday morning, so finish them over the weekend.’
’Also, stop by the company and send me Company A’s cash flow. Do it today.’
David threw his phone to the bedside table and sighed.
Even during the weekend—work still somehow found him. But considering how hard it was for him to get accepted anywhere, he had no other choice but to endure this phase until he was a little bit more settled.
"I wish I was a Supernal," He lay back on the bed. "Even being an Angel would be fine. Far better than whatever I’m doing right now."
After showing and eating breakfast, David decided to go to the company first.
Knock out the easiest task before going to do the harder task.
David was halfway through a humble sandwich, scrolling idly through the news app—when the headline at the top of the feed stopped him cold. A green ground gate had emerged really close to the main street right where his company building stood.
Every area around it was blockaded until the Demons closed it for good.
And that could take at least a few days.
Perhaps it would be closed by Monday, but for the entire weekend, nobody could get near it.
"I guess luck is on my side today..." David smiled inwardly.
Since he couldn’t go into the company to retrieve what his senior needed, David settled into a single sofa in his small living room and switched on the TV, wanting to continue eating his sandwich with a little bit of entertainment.
He watched as the news anchor reported on the exact ground gate that he had read earlier.
"Is there anything fun to watch?"
David changed the channels until he stopped at the Supernal channel.
A pair of news anchors were mid-sentence, bantering about a Demon of Aphrodite who had recently given birth to a boy, when they suddenly faltered. Someone off-camera seemed to be feeding them information.
And then, the screen behind them flickered and changed.
It went from the Demon of Aphrodite’s photo to a crest. A coiling black dragon on a shield.
’Viewers at home—we have received breaking news that the Eventide Academy of the Angels is going to be holding its tournament live to the public in four hours. One of our reporters is there right now, confirming the exact schedule.’
’That’s interesting. It’s rare for us to be graced by the Angels’ tournaments.’
’What do we know about Eventide Academy, Andrew?’
’From what we know, the academy is located in Cloud Colony Alpha. It’s the same institution that produced the renowned Angel Morrata. He is a Supernal of Boreas, the North Wind God. And he had recently fallen in service to mankind within a red Sky Gate.’
’And the tournament?’
’It’s called the Dragon Ring tournament, hosted to choose the newest Red Prince, who would be the champion of the academy.’
David ate the last bit of his sandwich as he listened to the news.
He then looked at the time.
"In four hours?" He muttered inwardly. "So—ten o’clock? I guess I can watch it. A tournament of Angels? I’ve never seen one before, especially not live like this. Might be exciting. I wonder who the participants are."
Just then, the news anchors answered him as if they heard what he said.
’Unfortunately, we still don’t have the information on all the partici—wait, we do?’
One of the crew members gave a paper to the news anchors.
It seemed to be a list.
David listened as the news anchors listened to the participants one by one, which was six in total. Among them, three are High Angels, two are normal Angels—and one is a Lesser Angel. None of them has the bloodline of an Olympian God, which was a bummer.
Even the High Angels only have the bloodline of Heroes.
"How can a Lesser Angel be a participant? I thought only High Angels can participate in the tournaments." David frowned as he crossed his legs on the table, getting comfortable. "I did not even know a Lesser Angel exists. But he’s a Supernal of Moros?"
Compared to the other participants’ divine bloodlines, Moros is the strongest.
And David sensed an opportunity here.
"Just two hundred dollars left," He muttered, staring at his bank balance on his phone. For a long moment, his forehead creased in deep consideration. Then he exhaled. "Payday’s only a few days out. Screw it."
David opened a gambling app.
Every single time a tournament between Supernals took place, or even a ground gate emerged, betting always followed. He searched the app for the Dragon Ring tournament—but he could not find it.
He waited.
And after ten minutes, the listing finally appeared.
David clicked on the betting section and watched the bets come rushing in.
Just as he expected, the betting pool immediately flooded into the High Angels. A few daring ones bet on the Angels, which were unlikely to win—but would give them a good chunk in return if luck was on their side.
Almost nobody bet on the Lesser Angel.
It was natural.
All of the High Angels sat around twenty to thirty percent to win; Angels scraped by with two or three, while the Lesser Angel was below one percent. David stared at the numbers. Maybe it was the leftover buzz from the beer, but today felt like a day for risk.
He pushed every dollar he had onto the Lesser Angel.
"Fuck... I’m already regretting it. No. It’s about time someone supported the underdog."
Just like David, other people who were watching the news learned about the tournament.
Of course, Demons made for thrilling viewing—their immense mana turned every attack into a flashy, destructive spectacle. Not because they were trying to look good for the public—but it was simply because they had more mana in them.
Even an all-Demon brawl was pure entertainment.
But some preferred watching Angels fight.
Not only because it was a rare thing, but because it was raw.
Less mana meant their battles were more focused on physical combat.
And that’s exciting to see, too.
News about the Dragon Ring tournament spread throughout the city and beyond, garnering much excitement from all walks of life. It was the main event for the day for those who didn’t have any plans.
...
Meanwhile, in the Eventide Academy, Ragnar was sitting inside a room.
Sitting across from him was a man who was small and looked more normal than he did.
A normal human.
"Do I really get the clearance to film the tournament live?" the man asked meekly.
"Yes," Ragnar nodded. "You can film the tournament."
Not long ago, the man had been contacted by a self-proclaimed Angel. She introduced herself as a professor at Eventide Academy—and made him an extraordinary offer. She told him that she would give him access to film the Dragon Ring tournament.
Of course, it’s unofficial, so he needed to be smuggled in.
Considering the recognition that he would get if he succeeded in this, he decided to agree.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
A tournament between Angels was incredibly rare. It was the kind of event that would most certainly captivate viewers from the first frame. Not to mention, this would be a live broadcast. Though the risk was real, the opportunity was too great to ignore.
So, he decided to go through with it.
However, a few days ago, he lost contact with this professor.
And last night, he got news, but it was from another Angel.
Frankly, he thought he got into trouble, but what Ragnar said put a smile on his face.
During Ragnar’s investigation into Professor Hera, he found that she had contacted a reporter from a TV channel and made arrangements to smuggle him into the First Sky in order to film the Dragon Ring tournament.
An attempt to increase Kai’s reputation by making him known to the public.
Ragnar was planning to stop the reporter and his crew from coming, but he changed his mind.
Instead, he would let the reporter film it to increase Chester’s reputation.
Kai would be wounded and drained of mana, so there’s no doubt that Chester would win.
’Our academy needs someone who can elevate our reputation. Chester fits that role perfectly,’ Ragnar mused inwardly. A mischievous smile crept across his lips. ’And if the Chancellor takes issue with any of this—well, I can simply lay the blame at Professor Hera’s feet. Nothing will touch me.’
"Remember," Ragnar leaned in. "Just film the tournament, and you’re good."
"Yes, Sir!" the man nodded enthusiastically.
And hours later, the Dragon Ring tournament finally started.