The preliminaries were still in full swing. Not only were the individual and guild competitions in full swing, but the team competitions were also quite lively.

The four-man team of Mantou, Singo, Tiansheng Zhankuang and Xia Ye Qiuyu won the game effortlessly, but the process was a bit boring and they couldn't even put together a minute of video footage.

When the opponents saw that there were four professional players on the other side, they immediately felt discouraged.

Before the natural warrior could rush up with his giant axe in hand, they directly admitted defeat to the referee.

This made Mantou feel quite disappointed.

I haven't even fired yet, why did you fall?
For these professional players, the qualifiers were particularly easy and there was not much pressure. Some players who loved to stir up trouble even showed off all kinds of cool moves.

For example, the White Shark in the Waves, he relied on the vampire's inhuman recovery ability, opened his arms, and stood there, allowing the opponent to hit him.

During this period, he did not forget to say obscene words such as "It doesn't hurt~", "Didn't you eat?", "Come on! Beat me to death!", etc., which aroused the anger of the audience and they wanted to beat him to death.

His opponent was also driven to a state of mental breakdown by the shameless play of Langli Baitiao. He chopped him more than 300 times, but found that the opponent was still full of energy, so he had to admit defeat.

Mantou watched the games for several days in a row, and he took the opportunity to make a video highlight of those players' performances.

He edited videos such as "Top Ten Super Exciting Scenes" and "Top Ten Hilarious Scenes", and took advantage of the popularity of the Empire Conference to gain a lot of traffic.

Mantou even shamelessly put the video of himself charging with a dragon roar and piercing through the enemy with one blow at the end of the "Top Ten Super Burning Famous Scenes", and even added a blood-boiling BGM to it.

However, the audience's reaction was not what he had hoped for. The screen was filled with comments such as "Is that all?", "Are you carrying any ulterior motives?", and "It doesn't feel as good as the previous one."

its not right.

Shouldn’t it be “Mantou is so handsome”?

Looking at the screen full of malicious comments, Mantou slumped in front of the computer with an extremely confused expression.

I finally tried to show off, but why is the response so bad?

No, this time it’s still too obvious. Next time I have to add some personal touches secretly to achieve the effect of “moisturizing things silently”.

However, Mantou's videos also received a warm response on major video platforms, and the popularity of those large-scale and diverse guild wars soared to an extremely high level.

The collision of magic and machinery, the duel between the Roman army and the "immortal cultivators", and the fight between the Undead Legion and the Holy Knights have made more people want to play "Erezaigai".

How can you still play like this?
Is the degree of freedom really that high?

What? There is actually a loli version of the fire dwarf?
This was what many passers-by thought after seeing the video. As a result, "Erezegai" once again topped the hot search list, ushering in a new wave of popularity.

“Where can I buy Erezega?”

It once dominated the hot searches.

Within the empire, the imperial authorities also launched a massive propaganda campaign, focusing the nation's attention on this grand competition.

With the official propaganda, imperial officials, ordinary citizens, workers, soldiers and scholars all knew the name of this "Imperial Duel Conference".

The half-month-long preliminaries came to a hasty end, and the next event was the highlight - the real imperial gladiatorial contest, or the knockout round, which would be held at the Istalia Arena.

The Imperial Ministry of Commerce, which was responsible for organizing the competition, released 50 tickets to the market, priced at silver nars.

These tickets were sold out in just half a day, and on the black market, a ticket was even sold for a sky-high price of 5 Kinnars.

There are many factors that make this game so popular: the martial spirit of the empire, the official propaganda, the influence of the Starfall in the empire.
But the most direct and important reason is only one:
The Burning Emperor, Lord of the Empire, and the Supreme Ruler of the Anzeta Wasteland - His Majesty Cassius Klauberu Norikius will personally visit the Istalia Arena.

The Istalia Arena, also known as the Imperial Arena, was built between 1783 and 1785 in the new calendar. It was built by the Empire using tens of thousands of players and hundreds of frost giant slaves.

The Colosseum consists of a series of circular arcades. Its circular outer wall is sixty meters high and divided into five layers. The bottom four layers each have eighty arches and are decorated with classical columns.

The Colosseum can accommodate about 150,000 spectators and has four tiers of seats.

The nobler the status, the higher the seat. The dragon blood nobles sit in the highest "seat of honor" and can have a panoramic view of the entire venue.

Rich spectators could sit in the front row and experience the cruelty and intensity of the gladiatorial contests up close, while ordinary spectators could only sit in the middle seats.

At the very top is a specially made huge platform, on which sits a solemn and luxurious golden seat - this is the throne prepared for the emperor.

This configuration must be present in any building in the empire. Although it is not used most of the time, it is used to demonstrate the designer's loyalty.

The designer of the Istalia Colosseum was also a Starfaller, who was said to be from a guild called [Roman Era]
"Oooo!"

“It’s about to start!”

At this time, the audience seats in the large arena were crowded and noisy, with cheers, discussions and even insults ringing in the ears.

There were even cheering groups for the star contestants who gathered together, holding light signs and shouting slogans in unison.

“So many people!”

"Oh my god, is this place so big?!"

"I guess there are tens of thousands of spectators here. I'm a little nervous. How should I play later?"

"God S must be the champion!!"

"Xin Gou's brainless fans are going crazy. The champion this time must be my brother Crazy Tide!"

Not only players, but also the natives of Anzeta gathered together, including humans, hobgoblins, tieflings, snakemen and even ogres, all appeared in the audience.

They were also talking and gathering in their own groups, but the game itself was not their main concern.

“It’s a rare event.”

"Yes, in the old Northern Kingdom, a medium-sized city only had a population of tens of thousands, but now, there are 100,000 people in this arena alone."

"There are more and more Starfallers in the empire. I don't know whether it is a good thing or a bad thing."

"They helped me a lot, but they also caused a lot of trouble. These guys were crazy all the time."

"Do you think His Majesty will really come?"

Before he finished speaking, mottled black shadows appeared in the sky. Dragons flapped their wings, landed on the pillars of the arena, raised their heads and roared.

"Ow—"

A space portal suddenly opened, and the Prime Minister of the Empire, the Ogre Grand Mage Trump, appeared above the conference hall with a smile on his face.

The crowd was suddenly in an uproar.

"It's the Prime Minister!"

"He's here too!"

Trump cleared his throat, put the scepter flat, and his voice spread throughout the venue: "Everyone, please be quiet."

"The first Imperial Gladiator Contest is about to begin."

"No matter what race you are, what your status is, whether you are a human, tiefling or ogre, as long as you are a citizen of the Empire, you can enjoy the fun of this event."

The venue is large and crowded, but Trump's words can be accurately heard by everyone, like a gentle breeze on their face.

Trump raised his scepter high and his tone became a little excited.

"This will be an unprecedented and unparalleled event, and more importantly, His Majesty will be present in person."

The satyr military band standing on the platform played passionate music, and there were bards chanting in a low voice.

If you listen carefully, you can tell that it is the "Hymn of Cassius" which is widely circulated in the empire.

Suddenly, a huge shadow was cast, covering many of the audience.

"Look——" "That's——"

"It's His Majesty's true form!"

"It is indeed Your Majesty! Praise the Burning Emperor!"

"Kay, by God, this is too big!"

People looked up one after another, their voices excited and their eyes fanatical, as if they had seen the gods in their hearts with their own eyes.

A red dragon with a body length of more than 40 meters spread its extremely broad wings and circled in the sky above the Istalia Arena, fully displaying its majestic figure.

The music of the Centaurs was still going on, the military drums were beating rhythmically, and the red dragon was slowly descending along with the magnificent music.

Finally, the huge dragon body gradually faded away and turned into a majestic shadow, overlooking the people in the arena.

The man with black hair, golden eyes and an almost godly appearance gradually solidified along with the flames, and finally appeared on the throne - that was the incarnation of Cassius.

Due to the limitations of the venue, Cassius had to shrink his size and transform into a human form, but the crown and dragon horns on his head still proved his identity.

"It's the Lord of the Empire!"

"This, this is the divine appearance of His Majesty!"

Someone in the audience couldn't help but exclaimed - the citizens of the empire were also quite familiar with Cassius's human form.

The people's admiration for this human-like form far outweighs their fear, and Cassius rarely kills in human form.

Some even call him "the merciful lord", "the noble ruler" and "the incarnation of divine demeanor".

They viewed this form as a special incarnation of Cassius that was essentially Cassius but had its own independence.

The players' performance was even crazier - for example, the [Cassius Cheering Group] in the audience had already started cheering wildly.

"Ahhhh!"

"It's His Majesty Cassius!"

"Casius, the man among men, the male among males, the dominant among men, the ruler among men, the lord of men, the terminator of men!"

"Master! The male god emperor!! The devil king! The overwhelming man! The immortal pinnacle in the history of human game modeling!!"

Not far away, the notorious president of the Dragon Control Club stood up and glared at the fan club composed mainly of female players.

"You heretics!"

"Humph!"

"Casius's true form is the coolest! His dragon form is the most authentic!"

The dragon fans behind him immediately stood up to support their president. They raised their hands high and shouted the slogan of "Dragon Fan Club".

"Humans are the most annoying! Dragon fetishes are the best!"

"I want to touch His Majesty Cassius' tail!"

"You fart!"

"Cassius is clearly a man among men! A male among males."

Seeing that the two sides were about to fight, the guards patrolling the venue arrived in time with guns and nipped the possible conflict in the bud.

The other players quietly distanced themselves from them - these two groups of people seemed a little abnormal, and they hoped that some "Inquisition War" would really break out, and it would be bad if they were affected.

"I want to touch His Majesty Cassius' tail!"

"Ahhhh!"

It is definitely a big challenge to maintain your dignity and image in an empire full of players.

Listening to some strange shouts from below, Cassius on the throne resisted the urge to throw a meteor down and tried his best to maintain his dignified demeanor.

But the corners of his mouth still twitched slightly, and his expression looked a little ugly.

Well, don't be impulsive.

You can't destroy the image you have created.

These players should have been regulated long ago.

Thinking of this, Cassius looked down at the crowded venue and said calmly:
"quiet."

As soon as these words were spoken, it was as if an invisible decree had been descended, and the surrounding space suddenly solidified.

The medium in the air was isolated and no sound could be heard. The two groups of people who were originally arguing could not make a sound even if they cursed at each other.

There was total silence in the conference hall with more than 100,000 people. Even the sound of a pin drop could be heard.

Everyone looked up at the platform with expressions of great surprise.

This is the supreme authority that Cassius possesses in the [Imperial Domain], which can be described as "his words are laws".

Cassius looked down at the players who were staring in amazement with their mouths wide open but unable to make a sound, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, revealing an imperceptible smile.

You are speechless now, right?

This is the beauty of the Great Silence Technique!
For these players who are a little crazy, only this kind of coercive method can be effective.

Otherwise, when he is giving a speech later, some dragon lover will suddenly come out and shout something obscene like "touch the tail", and the image he has worked so hard to create will be shattered.

However, he still felt helpless when he looked at the banner in the distance that read "Cassius, a man among men".

Tsk, this is the necessary price to pay for exploiting players, you have to pay it.

Cassius slowly stood up, stood on the high platform, looked around, and overlooked the faces with different expressions in the audience.

"very good."

He opened his arms and smiled warmly: "Hello, fellow citizens of the empire."

"The Burning Embers Empire's development from a state of disrepair to its current prosperity is inseparable from your contributions. I regard every citizen of the Empire and every person who has contributed to the Empire as my child."

"And now, I hope you can take a break from your busy work and enjoy all this hard-earned stuff."

"I, Cassius, in the name of Emperor Burning Embers, solemnly declare that the Empire's first gladiatorial contest has begun!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the invisible restriction was immediately lifted.

The Satyr Military Band continued to play its passionate music and beat rhythmic war drums.

In the venue, there were salutes, thunderous applause, and a bustling crowd. The cheers and shouts resounded through the sky and filled the entire city of Istalia.

The shouts of "Long live His Majesty Cassius!" were endless, spreading like waves, one after another, to the entire Anzeta Wasteland.

The first Imperial Gladiatorial Contest has begun!

“The arena laid the foundation for a complex political ritual in which the emperor, through his direct personal attitude, created and manipulated popular emotional responses.”

"When you witness with your own eyes how much the people of the Burning Empire love the sport of gladiatorial combat, you will understand why their army is invincible and undefeated on the continent."

——Nadia Dennis, former court scholar of the Fadlan Empire (end of this chapter)