"The… Norinlads."
"It's the Norinlads."
There were 18 other groups of champions inside the colorful and lavish hall. And yet right now, all of their attention was on a single group—the Norinlads. At first, all of them were staring at the Themarians. After all, they were literal gods in a way.
And also, the news was widespread that their species were almost completely wiped out, and some of them wanted to offer their condolences as well as anger to the previous Elders who plotted it. But alas… no one really approached as Queen Adel did not seem to be in the mood at all—still, they wanted to get their attention.
Of course, the evaniels were also there. But it also did not seem to be a good time to approach them… since their Queen was having a staring contest with the Themarian's Queen. There were many others from the Higher Races there, but the champions of the Common Races did not really have a problem in trying to approach them.
But now, with the arrival of the Norinlads, all of their attention was placed upon them. How could they not, when the Norinlads are known for their inherent passiveness? Their species can not feel or even think of any acts of violence; violence literally does not exist in their nature.
But of course, there existed a deviant among them—the Bounty Hunter Kerrigan. He was but a single man, and yet he became one of the most wanted fugitives in the history of the Known Universe.
Violence is not in the Norinlads' nature, but they were extremely powerful; incredibly so. There have even been debates that have started a million years ago that if the Norinlads were capable of violence, then the evaniels, or even the reclusive themarians would not be a match for them.
And if the race's other deviant, the colossal Elder Tedi, were to lose control of herself, then the entire universe will be in jeopardy.
Luckily for the entire universe, it truly is impossible for Norinlads to be violent…
…so what were they doing in this Tournament, exactly?
"So, Elder Tedi is truly not with you all, Medi."
"..."
And as one of the reclusive themarians approached the norinlads, most of the champions in the hall held their breaths—if their species could breathe, that is.
"Dr. Diana."
Like Tedi, the norinlads that were present in the Hall of Champions were completely covered in silver. Their skin, silver. Their eyes, hair, silver. Even the clothes they were wearing seemed part of their skin.
"It is truly regretful that Elder Tedi's… unique body gets in the way of certain activities."
"..." Diana's eyebrows quickly lowered as soon as she noticed the other norinlads nodding their heads. The others would completely miss it, but not Diana. She had spent a long time with the emotionless Norinlads… to know that they were capable of showing contempt,
"That is true," Diana could really only smile, "Her unique body also made her the smartest Norinlad in history. Perhaps our next research should be on how to replicate Elder Tedi's uniqueness so that it would flourish in the next generation."
"..."
"I will talk to all of you later, Medi, doctors," Diana then nodded before quickly turning around and walking away, making sure she wouldn't be able to hear the norinlad's obvious disgust and contempt against Elder Tedi. Diana had been working on research with Tedi for 5 years now—and during that time, they have easily become friends due to the knowledge they share with each other, and that was extremely valuable to her…
…valuable enough to get fired up and try to beat the norinlads senseless when the time comes.
"Those… are Elder Tedi's people?"
"They seem like ass."
And as soon as Diana returned to her table, Bernard and Hannah quickly approached her.
"Tedi's quite friendly once you get to know her but those guys are… well, they seem like ass," Hannah repeated her words as she subtly glanced at the norinlads.
"They are a species without emotions, child." And surprisingly, it was not Diana who answered Hannah, but Queen Adel, "The way they think, all the way down to the way they act could not be judged by you and me."
"...Right."
ραndαsΝοvεl ƈοm "And please, return to your tables—they are there for a reason," Queen Adel then gestured to Diana to ask her family to leave, "We all know the demon you spawned is about to arrive."
"Speaking of which…" Hannah, despite clearly seeing the Queen asking them to leave, even sat on the table as she turned her head to a particular group, "...Have you guys talked with them yet?"
Both Diana and Queen Adel turned their attention to where Hannah was pointing, only to see a group of humanoid champions with extremely pale skin and white hair just quietly staying put at their table, with one of them quickly looking away as soon as she noticed the themarians looking at her.
"Those are… the Biolans, right? Albinos, Biolans, Riley's… clone race," Hannah squinted her eyes as she looked at each of the champions of the Biolans, "It feels really really fucking weird looking at a bunch of people that somewhat resembles Riley. No… they are practically just albinos at this point."
"Hannah," Diana quickly gestured to Hannah to return to the humans' table, "Listen to Her Highness."
"Okay, okay. I'm just saying…" Hannah raised her hands as she started walking back to her seat, "...There seems to be a lot of personal tension here. Which is fucking valid, of course. A race of Riley is… well, it's just fucked up no matter how you look at it."
And so, with Hannah returning to her seat, everyone was once again right where they were supposed to be. Like the Evaniels and the Humans, there were also other tables that have been merged together—like Elder S'adar and Elder Apo's tables, indicating that the species were friends with each other.
This caused the other races to also place their attention on the Humans.
"That's… the youngest addition to the Higher Races, right?"
"They seem to be close with both the evaniels and the themarians… just where did they pop out from?"
"Where else? The Unknown, the universe is still filled with mystery, my friend."
"They do not seem to be that strong, or technologically advanced."
The other races started whispering to each other—and with the hall as closed as it could be and with their words automatically translated, Hannah and the others could clearly hear what all of them were saying.
"They… seemed completely uninformed about us," Tempo scratched his chin.
"Of course, Tempo—the universe does not revolve around us," Bulwark breathed out, "You do not even know the names of most of the races in this hall, how do you expect them to know about us?"
"Uhm… Riley Ross?" Tempo shrugged, "Didn't he do that entire broadcast thing when he literally annihilated the people responsible for the death of Megawoman's people?"
"You can ask Whiteking about that," Bulwark scoffed as he looked at Bernard.
"I…" Bernard chuckled, "...might have hacked into several servers to blur out Riley's face and delete some footage."
"Of other alien planets?" Tempo blinked, "...Why?"
"Habit," Bernard sighed.
"Makes you wonder just how many more horrid crimes his son committed that are not known in public," Hera's skin literally shivered as she slightly moved her seat away from Bernard.
"Wait, wait…" Tempo stretched his arms across the table to get everyone's attention, "...So are you telling me…
…that most of the aliens here don't know who or what Riley is?"
"..."
"...Oh."
"I could see how that would become a problem," Bernard placed his hand on his chin, "It should be alright."
"No, it's not…" Tempo looked at the others, "...What the fuck is wrong with your family?"
"Relax, Tempo," Hera rolled her eyes, "Riley's cool once you get to know him."
"Why does it seem like you like the boy?" Tempo scoffed, "And it's not just now, I've noticed that when you returned from your space escapade. Don't tell me… you and Riley have something?"
"The fuck?" Hera raised an eyebrow as her skin started to turn gray, "You really should learn how to shut your mouth, little Jay."
"Don't call me that."
"And if there is anything going on here, it is with you and that green-haired princess."
"Princess Vera? W… what?" Tempo quickly scoffed as he looked at Vera. He was about to say something, but as soon as he noticed Vera also looking in his direction, his lips stayed shut.
"See!? I fucking knew that you were cheating on—"
And before Hera could say what she wanted to say, the last remaining light finally flickered. And as soon as it did so, almost all of the champions from the Higher Races stopped whatever they were doing and all placed their attention on the new table that emerged from the ground…
…a table seemingly made of skulls.
And soon, the last champions appeared… all covered in blood.
"!!!"
The groups that were near the ominous table all either quickly walked or floated away from the new champions. Not just because of the blood, but because they recognized some of the members of the last group.
The woman that terrorized the entire Known Universe for thousands of years, the Outlaw with the most bounty on her head, the Pirate Queen Xra.
Her alone was enough to cause everyone near the newly arrived group to tremble, but no—there was someone else with them, something else.
A humanoid, whose silhouette was completely pink, and skin that seemed alive. All of them recognized what it was… the Eater of Stars, the Pink Fluff…
…The Cherbi.
"What the fuck, Riley…?" Hannah could really only let out a small chuckle as she saw this,
"...What are you doing now?"
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