Chapter 778: The Participants

"Princes... Esme?"

And once again, Hannah points her head down in shame as she once again pulled the hood of a stranger open. She had met Esme before, of course, but really only from afar. She might as well be one of the people from the group without a table.

"S... sorry, I got the wrong person again... fuck," Hannah's voice practically turned into a whisper as she reached her last word. She was about to head back to her seat again, but instead turned to look at Esme,

"Are you... okay now?"

Esme was the only survivor from New Theran, and the fact that she survived was a testament to how strong she really was. But throughout the moments that Hannah saw her the past five years, she had always been either asleep or too weak to even talk or walk—Hannah sees her as... fragile.

A symbol of what Riley did.

"I am not okay, Diana's daughter," Esme looked to the side as she spoke to Hannah, "Even now, I could still feel the effects of the EDP running through my skin."

"Then... why are you here?" Hannah softly said, "You should be resting."

"I am tired, yes. But I have had enough rest already," Esme shook her head, before standing up and reminding everyone how tall she actually was—her stomach, almost hitting Hannah on the face, and the only reason it did not was... because she was too thin, extremely so,

"Unlike Hel, I am the only survivor of my father's empire—I have the obligation to resurrect what my ancestors have built, and to recover my people."

The tone of Esme's voice was as monotonous as it was before, but even a deaf man could hear how much she was struggling just from her breaths alone. Even then, however, the glimmer in her eyes was enough for everyone to see her conviction.

"Resurrect..." Hannah whispered.

"You seem to want to ask how I intend to do that, Diana's daughter?" Esme tilted her head to the side, "How am I going to rebuild my empire when I am the only one left of my people?"

"...Yes?" Hannah nodded. She was not really curious about it, as her mind was too busy trying to remind herself that her brother had a hand in the death of her people.

"I do not care for the structure of one's DNA," Esme shook her head, "Unlike Queen Adel, I have no more people left, I have already accepted that—and from the start, I am different from the rest of the themarians. I only want to rebuild my empire, those who wish to join are welcome to join...

...even you, Riley's sister."

"Hm..." Hannah once again could really only nod her head. She thought of things to say to her but just walked away with a heavy breath. Not before, of course, also bowing to Queen Adel. Adel, however, completely ignored her as she continued having a... civilized debate with the Queen of Evaniels.

"Where's the other Mega—Where's Edith?" Hannah did not really return to her seat but just approached Silvie, "I was sure she was going to join."

"Oh, Queen Adel did not really permit her to join," Silvie leaned closer to Hannah to whisper as quietly as she could.

"What? So Queen Adel abandoned another daughter of hers?" Hannah, on the other hand, did not.

"Shh!" Silvie quickly pulled Hannah away to the dark parts of the hall, "No—and please lower your voice, there's enough tension on the team already. Well... I guess we're a team? I don't really know exactly since everyone's just doing their own thing."

"Yeah, I could tell," Hannah glanced at the themarian's table, only to see them just doing their own thing, "And who's the guy?"

"I don't really know...?" Silvie hesitantly said, "Queen Adel just randomly chose him since we were running out of time on who to choose as the last champion. You have no idea how chaotic it was.

"Mom, Megawoman, and Queen Adel? I think I have an idea," Hannah softly chuckled, "Anyway... how's Esme?"

"Strong," Silvie answered without any hesitation, "Don't let her looks and demeanor fool you, Hannah. Even now when she's... nerfed, she's still physically the strongest themarian."

"Nerf...? That's a word I didn't expect to hear from you," Hannah once again chuckled, but abruptly stopped as she shook her head, "Speaking of being nerfed, what took you guys so fucking long? I was expecting you to be with us as the first ones to clear the preliminaries. Instead, we got... those guys over there."

"Well..." Silvie looked at the weird group who was hurdled together without a table, "...We did not really fight—No, we didn't really do anything, we just let the other groups hit us until they realized it was futile and they surrendered on their own. I think most of the Higher Races are doing just that."

"Huh, that's... passive as fuck," Hannah sighed, "But I guess I should have expected that from the group that had Megawoman and Megagirl."

"Honestly... I'm terrified of your mom."

"My mom?" Hannah let out a small scoff as she looked at Diana, but quickly turned around to look Silvie in the eyes, "You should be. She was already scary even before she outed herself as a themarian, be careful around her... she used to lock me up when I was—"

"I did not lock you up in anything."

"..." Both Hannah's and Silvie's eyes turned wide as Diana suddenly appeared behind Hannah.

"Your friend might start thinking I'm a strict mother," Diana let out a small giggle while covering her lips, "Do you think you would have kept your foul mouth if I actually was strict?"

"I... I actually don't think you were strict at all, Diana," Silvie forced out an awkward chuckle, "I...I would have been lucky if I had a mother like you."

"Oh..." Diana's eyebrows quickly rose up as she suddenly hugged Silvie.

"Mom, stop... that's emba—" And before Hannah could say anything, Diana also pulled her close and hugged her as well.

"It's okay, Silvie," Diana nodded several times as she embraced the two, "I know Aerith is a bad mother, but I'm here... okay?"

"That's... that's not what I meant at all!" Silvie's eyes once again turned wide, "Aerith is not—"

But alas, before Silvie could correct anyone, another group emerged victorious and appeared, adding more light to the lavish hall... perhaps too much light.

"What the shit?" Hannah raised an eyebrow as she looked at the new arrivals... before looking at Bulwark, "Bulwark! It's your family."

"Please tell your daughter not to do that."

"The resemblance... is uncanny."

Bulwark wanted to protest, but no one seemed to be on his side. And at this point, even he himself was having doubts—how could he not, when the champions that just arrived... truly and absolutely resembled him?

It was the race widely known as the Proxina, Elder Apo, and his kind. And Bulwark was not the only one staring at them, they were also staring at Bulwark.

"So..." Tempo moved beside Bulwark, "...I hate to agree with the others, Mr. B, but... I think you might be an alien."

"I am not."

"Don't worry, there's no shame in that. I'm an alien too, I don't have a US Visa," Tempo proudly nodded his head.

"Wait, what!?" Hera, of course, heard that, "Then how did we even get married!?"

"...I'm Tempo and you're Hera."

And while the air of chaos very slowly started to be mixed in the air, more and more groups of champions started to appear.

"Apo!? You got here before me!?" The Poryans, Elder S'adar's species—all of them with spikes as their hair and tails almost as long as their body.

The Xanix, a dying species belonging to the Higher Races. Their bodies were special, in a way that their people did not really have a single body. They take the shape of a humanoid, but they are not. Their bodies are a collection of miniature flying bugs the size of an ant. In short, each of their people was a sort of hive. Hannah decided to avoid them as much as possible.

The Lyrins, their bodies were completely transparent, with only a single of their organs shown—their glowing heart. Hannah was mesmerized about them for some reason.

The Bigans, they had hair that resembled that of grass; their skin, almost paper-like. Aside from their random number of arms, they were humanoids. And apparently, they only eat their own kind; as to how Hannah knew that, well, they told everyone there.

The Gabis, skin darker than even space itself. If it wasn't for the light that was shining down on them, Hannah would have probably never noticed them—even now, they just looked like characters from fighting games that haven't been unlocked yet.

More and more came, and although most shared a humanoid shape, everyone was unique in their own ways that Hannah completely lost track of everything and just stared at all the new people now filling the hall. And now, with only two left remaining that were still fighting for their spot in the Tournament, the hall was almost completely lit up.

Seeing all of these different races coming together, Hannah could not help but just wonder how vast the universe truly is...

...and there are other universes out there with different versions of them all? In times like this... Hannah just wished to go back to the Academy and just be a clueless trainee again.

But then, as she once again stared at all the other races around her, she was also reminded of why she was there in the first place.

"Riley... is still not here."

And as another light flickered into existence in the hall, everyone turned to look...

...and there they are.

The Norinlads, the most peaceful species in the entire universe.

"Of course..." Hannah grumbled as she rolled her eyes,

"...that fucker is going to appear last."