the monarch

author's note: this was the moment I imagined before writing the first chapter of the novel and in the end it seems that it was lacking in comparison to what I had idealized

At that moment, Kayden was watching one of his old friends walk into the arena. Linus had a completely different posture than years ago. The boy developed physically and mentally.

This was obvious when you saw how calmly he took to the stage. Once his rank was revealed, Kayden had to admit that the boy tried hard. Peak rank nine, even though he was a noble, was still a good achievement.

"I would like to face a castle fully armed with soldiers," his sentence surprised everyone. Nobody expected something so peculiar. Even so, his request was granted and a 300-meter-wide castle was erected out of nowhere in the center of the arena.

Several soldiers of different levels were placed in it. Linus didn't even ask about it. The boy seemed unconcerned.

"Do you need time to prepare?" the judge asked the boy. And upon seeing his head shake, he began the test.

Linus began moving his hands and strangely manipulating the ambient mana. Sometimes he would throw some powders and similar things into the air. Kayden had no idea what it was, but he would be surprised to learn that it was just carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen in different compositions.

The boy's spell took about 10 minutes to complete. As the castle's function was to defend itself, the soldiers could only watch and do nothing. When Linus stopped manipulating the mana, a small orange ball appeared in his hands.

It looked like something harmless, made of gelatin. The boy used a wind spell to levitate the ball to a height of a few hundred meters. The spell had a curved trajectory, causing the ball to rise in height and move forward at the same time.

Second, she was above the castle. No soldier inside had any idea what that was and, therefore, they were unable to think of any defensive plan. Finally, one of them couldn't take it anymore and used a wind spell to try to push the ball back.

BOOOOOOM!

An absurdly large cloud of dust was kicked up before anyone could react. But that was a consequence of the explosion caused by the spell. The ball simply evaporated everything around it.

The castle was torn to pieces. This degree of destruction shouldn't be possible in the apprentice realm, it was simply disproportionate. After the dust was removed from the arena by the judge, what was left of the castle was revealed.

There wasn't a wall standing. Every part of the castle fell to the ground in seconds. All soldiers were evacuated before they were caught in the explosion. This degree of destruction was surreal.

At the end of his performance, Linus came down from the stage. This time, the one who went up was Isaac. Kayden had never seen the boy fight before and the boy's performance was impressive. He called for a fight against some opponents at the peak of the ninth realm.

His fighting style disregarded the physical limitations of the environment. It seemed like any place could be used as support by the boy. For example, using air to move, as if it were hard and resistant enough to support your movements.

Other than that, he wasn't anything too extraordinary. The boy was just strong and talented. The next people who came up were unknown to Kayden, but he still paid attention to try to learn something.

Another person who went up was Locke. Kayden expected something out of the ordinary from the boy and his expectations were met. The boy was a swordsman who also used a katana. This surprised the boy, as he didn't remember seeing the boy carrying this weapon.

"I want to fight a hundred apprentices at the ninth rank," an absolute silence emerged throughout the event. This request was beyond bizarre, it was surreal. A fight of one against a hundred.

Quickly, a hundred ninth-rank apprentices were placed in the arena and the fight began with the judge's order. What followed was a technical massacre. Locke didn't use frightening strength, but the degree of perfection of his attacks was insane.

Kayden couldn't see a mistake in any of the prince's thousands of moves. The opponents were simply swept out of the arena without even being able to react properly.

In thirty minutes, the prince finished his performance, shocking the entire crowd. It was a completely disproportionate fight and he still triumphed. Kayden had to admit that royalty was on a completely different level than other people.

"Candidate, your presence is requested," Kayden heard an officer next to him and calmly stood up. This was the most tense moment of his life. His heart should have been beating like crazy, but it wasn't. The boy only had a cold look standing out over his clothes.

As soon as he arrived in the center of the arena, he saw the judge next to him looking at him, clearly waiting for his order. Surprising everyone, Kayden knelt on the ground and looked at the VIP section of the stands.

"Your Majesty, I ask for a second of your attention," his action of kneeling now made sense to everyone. The boy was not the first to seek the king in this test.

"Go ahead," an imposing voice resounded throughout the event area. Kayden knew he would be answered, his performance in the staircase test was exceptional.

"My king, I want to be able to speak freely and for that, I will have to make a request", the courage that Kayden demonstrated when addressing the supreme ruler of the kingdom moved many people who were watching.

"Continue," the same voice resounded again.

"Before taking the test and continuing with my presentation, I request a contract with Your Majesty offering me protection for the next twenty years against anyone above my rank," his request caused an explosion of side conversations.

"Insolent!"

"Do not tolerate such disrespect, Your Majesty!"

"Have him arrested!"

Several screams like this were uttered by both the common people and the nobles, but the king said nothing and just waited for the boy to continue.

"I may sound insolent, my king, but I swear on my life," Kayden took a contract from his clothes and held it above his head, "that this is going to be the most impressive performance this academy has ever seen."

Only a few people were able to see the contract, but those who identified the terms on the parchment quickly passed the information on to others, as it only had a single clause.

1)  Today I will revolutionize history or I will pay with my life the price of my own words.