Ignoring Mardaziel's increasingly red face, Alvin turned and looked toward the host, who doubled as the head referee.
"Mr. Host, please use your authority and tell this foolish prince the truth in front of everyone!" Alvin called out from the center of the arena. "Is the use of Blink magic forbidden in this phase? Is that type of transparency element officially classified as support magic for short-range mobility and not attack magic?"
Hearing the non-human participant request official verification, the host immediately neutralized his voice and spoke through the loudspeaker.
"To answer your question, Young Master Alvin, using Blink magic is not forbidden at all in this phase!" the host explained firmly, not daring to lie in front of the judges. "Because in theory and practice, Blink magic itself is not an attack magic that can harm an opponent. It is purely short-range teleportation magic for physical mobility. The Garveon team is proven not to have broken any rules!"
The official explanation from the referee should have been enough to close the case. However, Mardaziel's ego refused to surrender.
"That's not fair! I still don't accept this result!" Mardaziel shouted loudly and stubbornly.
Seeing the ridiculous scene drag on, Allen, who had been observing in silence, finally ran out of patience. The purple-haired youth was utterly disgusted by the self-righteous and childish attitude shown by the host team leader. He stepped forward casually, standing beside Alvin.
"Enough, Alvin. You don't need to waste your time arguing about this with him anymore." Allen suggested in a relaxed tone, yet his eyes looked at Mardaziel as if looking at trash. "There is absolutely no use debating a stubborn idiot. His brain won't be able to process it."
Allen then looked fully at Mardaziel and intentionally increased his voice's volume using a layer of mana so that everyone could hear, especially the officials.
"Honestly, seeing today's events, I only feel deeply worried about the fate and future of this kingdom if it must be led by a Crown Prince with a mentality like his." Allen continued without the slightest fear. "Has the King ruling this kingdom started to go blind because he chose a successor as stupid as him? If I were the King... I would certainly lock myself in my room out of sheer embarrassment to show my face in public."
Thump!
King Nortvan's face in the honorary stands immediately turned bright red, followed by his ears feeling hot. Allen's insult, delivered publicly yet smoothly, had slapped his face very hard. He truly felt deeply ashamed and insulted to receive such unpleasant treatment from a participant from another kingdom, and it was all purely because of his son's humiliating antics.
However, in the arena, Mardaziel exploded further.
"What did you say?!" Mardaziel screamed in a rage, pointing his magic wand at Allen. "How dare your filthy mouth insult the decision and the figure of a King from another kingdom in his own territory!"
"Insulting a leader of another kingdom?" Allen repeated mockingly. "Is your level of stupidity truly so far below the normal threshold of a human? Try using your ears properly. I did not insult your King! On the contrary! I feel sympathy and concern for him. Because as a great leader, he has to endure the misfortune of having the most foolish and embarrassing Crown Prince like you!"
"Shut your mouth! I will personally ensure you both receive the death punishment for insulting the royal family!" Mardaziel declared, threatening Alvin and Allen with the highest punishment.
"Go ahead, it doesn't matter to me!" Allen replied quickly, his voice echoing with firmness and not showing a hint of fear regarding the execution threat. "We stand here only defending ourselves against your baseless accusations. And the thousands of eyes in these stands are absolute witnesses that we are only responding to your ridiculous protest!"
Allen took one step forward, his aura beginning to feel oppressive.
"Besides, do you have a mirror to wake yourself up?" Allen continued, his voice now piercing. "Twenty of you from five kingdoms agreed to work together openly just to fight the four of us... and you still lost miserably. And now, you whine and launch a nonsensical protest just because you lost in an instant? Are you joking with us in this sacred arena?"
Allen's string of sharp logic silenced all the members of the alliance. They could not refute a single word because everything the purple-haired youth said was a very embarrassing fact.
Seeing the tension in the arena starting to lead toward bloodshed and his kingdom's reputation being further destroyed in the eyes of the world, King Nortvan finally reached the limit of his patience. Ignoring protocol rules, the King stood up abruptly from his VIP seat.
"MARDAZIEL..!!!!!!"
King Nortvan's shout, coated with a high-level mana aura, thundered powerfully, sweeping through the entire coliseum like a thunderclap. The sound made everyone in the arena fall silent instantly.
Hearing the roar of fury from the host king intervening directly, Allen spontaneously moved his body back a few steps. The purple-haired youth bowed his head slightly, giving a proper gesture of respect to the supreme leader of the Larkvood Kingdom, separating his personal issues with the prince from his respect for the ruler.
In the center of the arena, Mardaziel turned stiffly. He looked at his father's face standing on the VIP balcony with a look of pure rage. The Prince still felt resentful and indignant because his own father had suddenly snapped at him in public.
"Father, I certainly cannot accept the cheating they—"
Once again, the prince's defense was not allowed to finish. And this time, it was his own father who cut his words off without mercy.
"Shut your mouth and do not make any more excuses!" King Nortvan interrupted, his voice trembling with a rage directed at his son. "The harder you deny and look for reasons for your defeat, the more you show your own stupidity and weakness before the public and our kingdom's honorary guests!"
When Prince Mardaziel opened his mouth again, intending to cut off his father's words to defend his wounded ego, King Nortvan immediately raised his hand, giving an absolute signal to be silent.
"Listen to me well, and just so you know, Mardaziel!" King Nortvan asserted, staring sharply at his son with a gaze that carried a lethal warning. "The four students who just defeated your alliance so easily... they are not just ordinary academy students like you think!"
King Nortvan took a deep breath, then dropped the bitter reality into the center of the arena so that all participants could hear.
"Those four are a group of high-level adventurers who have been officially recognized! They are the Adventurers from the Garveon Kingdom who reached S-Rank faster than anyone in the history of this world!"