In the middle of a forest clearing, many tents and camps stood. Many humans could be seen walking around in different groups all heading to a roughly made arena in the middle of the clearing. This was, of course, the human caravan headed to the light tower. Soon, several people started approaching the arena and standing around on the raised embankments. These embankments were made in the form of stairs and could easily hold a thousand people standing. The total number of people, around 350 were currently standing around in four well-separated groups. The two larger groups were the ones being led by Samual and Azeer. The smaller group of children was being led by Mark. There was a separate group of around 50 guards who were clearly giving a more powerful pressure. The central arena was a circle of about a hundred metres in radius. Paul Miller was standing alone on the embankment. His purpose would be to protect Michael from any lasting harm. After all, accidents could happen anytime in a battle. For him, crossing a distance of 100 metres could be done faster than the reaction time of most emperor realm experts! Thus, he was not wrong in his assumption to protect Michael from harm.
Michael entered the arena after some time. He was in his training clothes - a well fit black uniform. After walking to the centre of the arena, he stood proudly waiting for a challenge. The Aura currently coming off him was totally different from any time it had been in the past. This was the aura of someone ready to take on heaven and earth! Battle intent could be felt surrounding his body. The children were stunned looking at such aura coming off such a small boy. This was an aura usually given off by powerhouses of their family! Azeer and Samual's expressions changed simultaneously. They were both in the same body cultivation realm as Michael. As Michael would not use his soul arts in their fight, they thought they had a good chance to win. While Michael had a supreme blessing, they too had advanced blessings and as their bodies were bigger and had more reach, they felt that they had a good chance of winning. But, the aura coming off Michael made it seem like things would not be that simple. This was the first time these geniuses were seeing their crown prince in action. Many commoners felt respect blooming in their hearts even without seeing Michael's strength. Even if Michael was younger than them, his attitude to take on all challenges from those much older than him, in itself was worthy of admiration. Not many people would be able to do so amidst such conditions.
Mark's eyes were shining with strong battle intent. Earlier he had thought that Michael was a freak of nature blessed with great luck. He did not consider Michael as his rival not because he could not match his talent, but because he thought Michael as not worthy! While he acknowledged Michael's strength, he felt that the kid was just lucky. He also considered Michael to be too young to have a solid personality. Thus, he did not take much interest in him. But now, he felt his battle intent surge looking at Michael. He considered Azeer and Samual his rivals because he respected some aspect of theirs'. Mark was a simple boy. Any peers he acknowledged, he considered them rivals to improve himself. Now he just added Michael to his list of rivals.
Earlier, the nobles had come up with the plan to send cannon fodder to sound out Michael's fighting abilities before but now they could not do so. Their dignity would not allow for it! Thus, the first challenge to Micahel came from a noble boy named Jack. He was already 14 years old and in the late knight realm. He could be considered one of the most powerful among the group but his talent was nothing much. After all the formative years from 13 to 19 years of age were golden years for cultivation. Reaching any stage before the age of 13 or after reaching it showed a huge difference in talents.
Jack stood about 20 metres away from Michael before Paul gave the signal to start the match. Jack almost immediately vanished from the place! This was his blessing - stealth. He could move in a way that people would miss signs of his movement. While he would be exposed while attacking - it was still a troublesome ability. Of course, if the other party was overwhelmingly powerful, they would be able to see through it. Michael made a fist and strength flowed in his hands - the strength surpassing knights. It was the strength of a king. Before anyone could notice, Michael punched the air behind him. The air exploded with the power of the fist and a black figure was thrown through the air like a cannon bolt! Jack's figure crashed into the ground almost 20 meters far from Michael and a dust storm was raised upon impact! Jack was dragged through the sand and mud for another ten metres before coming to a halt! The results shocked all people standing in the arena including Paul. While many were in awe of the power of the fist, the talented ones noticed the way Michael saw through stealth. Paul thought that Michael just had very good perception - something that was essential for becoming a good fighter. The others were thinking the same. But, Jack had never left Micahel's eyes all this while. This was the power of All Seeing Eyes. Jack was just unlucky to have a blessing in stealth.
After Jack was taken back by his friends, his wounds were treated by a few medics that came with the group. While he was injured badly, the blow was on his shoulder which was dislocated on impact and he also had many bruises, none were very serious. Michael had not used his full strength or even the blow on the shoulder could have destroyed half of Jack's body. The gap of an entire realm in physical might was not something easy to overcome. The three leaders noticed this as well and became even more serious. The crowd was already cheering for Michael. After all, the fight had truly shown Micahel's power. And the way to end it was that of a champion! A single punch had won him victory. The others who were intending to fight did not dare to! The power in Michael's small body was clear for all to see. Michael again stood at the centre waiting for the next challenger.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
The challenger that came forward was none other than Mark Gregory. Mark was already brimming with battle intent and would have been the first to jump in, had Jack not beaten him to it. Due to his straightforward personality, he directly jumped into the arena and took the challenger stand. He was never someone to scheme or plan. As he took his position, he activated his blessing. His blessing was known as danger-sense. This blessing allowed him to judge how dangerous a situation would be for him based on different colours that appeared in his vision once he activated it. The colour surrounding Michael was black - same as the last time he had checked. Black colour represented the highest level of danger - something he would be powerless against to protect. As Mark was very young, he had never fought any soul experts and was unclear about how powerful Michael truly was. All he knew was that he would definitely die if he fought a life and death battle with Michael. But, this would not prevent him from taking part in this competition.
As soon as the signal was given, Mark rushed towards Michael at great speed. He was almost upon Michael in less than a second! At the same time, he saw Michael extending a fist in his direction. His danger sense immediately activated on its own colouring the fist in black! He knew that the fist could hurt him badly. He had thought that as long as the fist did not connect, he would be able to tackle Michael with his superior reach. But, right now he felt how wrong he had been. Due to his momentum, there was no way to retreat. As soon as his own fist was reaching for Michael, he saw the boy twist his body avoiding the punch with an extremely small gap. At the same time, Michael's fist released a terrifying amount of energy! The air rattled and shook! The shockwave travelled in a straight line like an air bullet instead of dissipating in all directions. This was an advanced military technique that Michael mastered after much effort. The shockwave hit Mark square in the stomach and he felt his innards churn at the impact. He was thrown a few metres back despite all his momentum!
When he stopped, he felt blood rising to his throat. Before he could react, he found that Michael had moved in front of him and was throwing another punch. This one was going to connect. Mark immediately blocked it with his arm. He could feel that this punch was much weaker than the earlier one. But, he still underestimated it! As soon as it connected, he felt a tremendous amount of power from the impact throwing his arm back. He felt that his arm might get torn as a result. As great pain erupted in his arm, he felt another punch connecting to his temple. He did not see Michael jump and punch him in the head. The impact numbed his senses and he was slammed to the ground.
The fight came to a close after this. Clearly, Mark was not in a condition to keep fighting. While he did manage to get up on his feet, his vision was still wobbly and his ears were buzzing. He knew that Michael had gone easy on him. If not, both the second and third moves would have been fatal. The audience was mesmerized by the fight. This was a brilliant performance. Michael had neutralized Mark - one of the three leaders - in just 3 moves!
Both Azeer and Samual looked at each other. They could feel that their power was not enough. In front of overwhelming strength, any techniques would simply not work. Even the shockwaves from Michael's attacks were enough to hurt them. Also, they could feel that in case Michael failed to control his strength in any attack that connected - they might die before reaching the tower! Both Azeer and Samual were scared. While they would practise with experts regularly, they were not in any real danger as the experts they sparred with could control their strength perfectly. This was clearly not the case with Michael. Both Jack and Mark were injured badly. They did not want to damage their performance in the entrance test due to an injury from the battle. Thus, they yielded. They did not dare to challenge him! This caused all the children to feel even more awe and respect for Michael.
All the children were subdued. This was the establishment of dominance! Even in the future, no one would dare to challenge Michael's position. As Micahel stood in the centre of the arena again, this time he looked in the direction of guards. At the same time, he released his soul power. A tremendous power emerged from his soul pressuring everyone around the arena. The children, as well as the guards, paled in fright. Even Paul felt his soul being pressured. All the children even found it difficult to breathe! They could feel the suppression in their very souls. It was as if as long as Michael wished, he could end all of them. Michael's figure standing straight exuding such great pressure was etched in the memory of all these children!
As Michael issued his challenge to the guards, the curtain had risen on a great battle that these people would remember all their lives.