"The finale, the warrior versus King Sanctified Death," Isis Neweston announced, her voice more serious than normal.

Shang and Abaddon flew forward, stopping around 550,000 kilometers away from each other.

"Benign," Gregorio said.

Immediately, the Emperors looked at Gregorio with interest.

Benign?

Why was he suddenly backpedaling?

The Judgment Palace had been the biggest enemy of the Lightning Manor, and King Sanctified Death was the biggest rival and enemy of the warrior.

Why would Gregorio want this fight to be benign?

However, that didn't matter.

The decision was up to Kali, and she was not someone that easily spared someone's life.

This was the perfect opportunity to get rid of Shang without Gregorio being able to complain.

Kali didn't immediately answer.

Instead, she thought back to her talks with herson.

Her son was the one in charge now, and she simply followed.

Her son had already made her decision for her.

Now, she only needed to follow.

"Benign," she said.

Silence.

The Emperors couldn't believe what they had just heard.

Benign?!

Both of them had agreed to a benign fight?!

But!

But how?!

Why?!

Why would they do that?!

The Emperors immediately started to rapidly discuss what was happening with voice transmissions.

Of course, they were also coming up with new plans.

They were not certain what was going on.

Were both sides not confident in victory?

It took almost five seconds before another word was spoken.

"Start," lsis Neweston announced.

In the distance, Shang and Abaddon focused on each other.

"So, it's finally time, huh?" Abaddon transmitted.

"It is," Shang answered.

"Have you found your way?"

"I have," Shang transmitted.

"Good," Abaddon transmitted with a chuckle.

While Abaddon and Shang were talking, the Emperors were rapidly coming up with more plans.

None of the two would die, but both still needed the Mana to reach the Ninth Realm.

This meant that they would still need to fight, and if everything worked out, both of them would be extremely weakened by the end of the fight.

Things were not hopeless yet!

Everyone looked at the two combatants with rapt attention.

Who would win?

How powerful were the two of them?

"I concede?

Silence.

Just now, Shang had conceded!

Why had he conceded?!

They were supposed to fight!

Shang slowly flew back to Gregorio.

He didn't say anything else.

Gregorio, Shang, Kali, and Abaddon didn't seem surprised at all.

While the other Emperors were still in shock, Kali had covertly flown over to Gregorio's side.

There was no longer any reason to keep their alliance a secret.

Obviously, Shang would only concede like this if they were secretly allies.

Everyone would immediately make the connecfion.

The Emperors immediately looked at Kali, who was now near Gregorio.

They almost couldn't believe it.

All of this had started because of a conflict between these two!

How could they be allies?!

All of this had started with Kali killing Queen Primordium.

Then, Gregorio had killed two of Kali's Mage Kings.

After that, Gregorio and Kali had fought, which ended in huge parts of the Judgment Palace getting destroyed, and even Kali's husband, the Emperor of Life, Adam, had died!

Then, their two Empires had warred fiercely, and the Judgment Palace had paid an incredible price during the war.

Several Mage Kings and millions of lives.

The Mana that would allow the winner to become a Mage Emperor was the very Mana that Kali's husband left behind!

And now, these two were suddenly allies?!

At that moment, the Emperors also realized why Abaddon and Kali had spoken up for Shang during the Grand Tournament.

So, they had already been allies back then?

Had all of thisjust been a farce?

But Gregorio had always said that he disagreed with allowing Abaddon to become a Mage Emperor!

The Emperors were quite certain that Gregorio hadn't lied back then.

Kali had always despised Gregorio, and Gregorio had always despised King Sanctified Death.

All of this made no sense!

At that moment, King Sanctified Death also floated over to his three allies, stopping at the front.

When King Sanctified Death stopped, the Emperors finally realized how all of this had been possible.

Right now, King Sanctified Death stood at the front with Shang a bit behind him.

Gregorio and Kali were behind both of them.

So, that was how!

Kali and Gregorio were not the ones making the decisions anymore!

It was up to Abaddon and Shang!

And by the looks of things, Abaddon had managed to convince Shang tojoin his camp.

"Hey, I don't want to rush you or anything, but I'm a bit excited for my reward," Abaddon spoke with a polite voice.

The Emperors all looked at him, and in an instant, the atmosphere turned tense.

"Since when?" Linastra Boomwitch asked.

Naturally, none of the Emperors knew that Linastra had alsojoined Gregorio and Kali.

Yet, even Linastra had had no idea that the camp she had chosen was actually far stronger than she had anticipated.

But when she remembered that her life was connected to Shang, she grew fearful and nervous again.

Didn't Shang know what kind of person King Sanctified Death was?!

As soon as he became a Mage Emperor, he would immediately kill Shang!

And when Shang died, Linastra would die as well!

"Let's save that for after the reward," King Sanctified Death said politely as he stretched out his hand.

The Emperors all floated closer to each other as they glared at their opponents.

Things had changed.

The entire reason why they were even holding this tournament was that Gregorio would unleash the Archivist otherwise.

But since Gregorio was now their enemy, there was no longer a reason to keep to the rules.

Because of that, they wouldn't hand over the reward for winning the tournament.

If they did, they would just be committing suicide.

A moment later, Mana Shields appeared around the Emperors' bodies.

King Sanctified Death just scratched the side of his head awkwardly.

"So, I presume this means I am not getting my reward?" he asked.

The next moment, the Emperors gathered their Mana.

The final battle had begun.