"Don't mind us, just do what you want to do." The Emperor said with a small smile.
Despite his casual tone, the air in the Resurrection Room grew heavy. The Emperor stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his posture radiating an effortless authority that only a ruler of nations could possess. However, behind his calm facade, his mind was racing with calculation.
'Hayatobi picked these two... Are they that powerful? Even my children don't have this right, but they do?' He thought with a slight frown, his sharp gaze turning to Mirabella and Hitachi. He analyzed their breathing, their stance, and the flow of their spirit energy. They seemed calm—too calm for students standing before their monarch.
Hayatobi noticed the shift in the Emperor's expression, the subtle tightening of the jaw that betrayed his skepticism. He snapped his fingers, the crisp sound cutting through the silence and drawing everyone's attention.
"Ok guys... Before we start, you'll have to past one test." He said with a smile, though his eyes remained serious.
The ground rumbled beneath their feet. Slowly, a one-meter tall square block rose from the ground, the stone dark and dense, absorbing the light from the golden orbs. It stood before him like a monolith.
"Why don't the Prince start first." He said, turning to the Prince.
"Me?" The young man was stunned, not expecting to be called. He pointed at himself, his royal composure slipping for a fraction of a second.
"Yes. If you succeed, you'll gain what these two are about to gain." He said with a smile.
Internally, Hayatobi was playing a dangerous game. 'This old man... Thinking I am favoring these two? He should see the difference between them and his eldest son.' Hayatobi thought, masking his cunning with a polite expression.
The King stared at the rock, sensing the density of the energy compressed within it, then looked at Hayatobi.
"You're saying if my son breaks this, he will gain the same thing?" He asked in surprised.
Hayatobi nodded his head.
"Yes My King, you know the rule... After a full red moon, slots will be available. This is also why I invited your son. So he can have a go." He said.
The King stared at the stone again. This was his first time watching this ritual. The "Red Moon" slots were legendary, rare opportunities for power advancement. He had no idea if there was any test usually attached to it, but if his son could get this, it'll be a good thing, not to mention he was already a Lv70 Knight. The raw stats of a Lv70 Knight should be enough to pulverize a mountain, let alone a rock. While the two students here won't be above Lv50.
The King nodded his head, a smile on his face, confident in his bloodline. "Go on son, don't underestimate that rock. Your life depends on this." He said seriously.
Hearing the King's word, Mirabella and Hitachi raised an eyebrow.
'Your life depends on this?'
What sort of power lay behind the next door that made the Emperor of the Dragon Empire this excited?
The Prince nodded, stepping forward. He loosened his shoulders, his expression hardening into one of battle. He channeled all his spirit energy towards his fists; a visible aura of golden light coated his hand, humming with destructive power. With one powerful punch that could crush a boulder, he smashed it into the square block.
BOOOOM!!
The impact was tremendous. Dust spread in all directions, a shockwave rippling through the hall, though the magical dampeners on the walls nullified all sounds outside the immediate area. Everyone blinked in shock, their eyes wide, waiting for the dust to settle.
"This?"
The Prince was stunned, his hand throbbing.
As the dust cleared, the block stood firm. On its surface, there was only a small, white mark.
"....?!"
The King slowly shook his head, his face falling. 'Is this thing that strong? My son could only leave a scratch on it!' He thought in disappointment. The gap between expectation and reality was jarring.
"Thanks for that, My Prince." Hayatobi nodded his head, his voice neutral.
He waved his hand, and another identical block rose into the air, followed by the third. They hovered ominously before the students.
"You already know what to do." He said.
Knowing how the King reacted, the two didn't hold back. They understood that this was a display of dominance, not just a test.
Hitachi didn't even take a stance. He simply stared at his block. His red pupils flared with an unseen pressure, a mental force that bypassed physical durability. Instantly, the stone groaned under the invisible weight and shattered into dust.
Mirabella was even more casual. She walked towards it, her movements languid. She raised a hand and flicked her finger against the stone as if shooing away a fly, hitting it.
Crack.
Instantly, the block shattered, exploding into fragments that rained down on the floor.
".....?!!!"
The silence in the room was absolute. Everyone in the room were flabbergasted. They thought the two would at least use their energies, summon a weapon, or break a sweat. Instead, they had treated the test like a joke.
"What just happened?" Elder Gaga muttered in disbelief, his eyes darting between the pile of rubble and the students.
Hayatobi kept his face impassive, but internally, he was reeling. 'This... That has 50% of my spirit energy, and I also used a block skill, adding more defense to these rocks... How did this two easily destroy it?' Hayatobi thought in shock. He had rigged the test to be difficult even for high-level cultivators, yet they had dismantled it effortlessly.
"I don't believe it!!!"
The Prince yelled, his face flushing red with humiliation. His voice drew everyone's attention towards him.
"Lord Hayatobi, are you sure this is the same rock you gave me?!!" He yelled, his pride unable to accept the visual evidence.
"Prince David! What are you implying?!" Hayatobi snapped at him, his aura flaring slightly.
"What? I don't believe these two are stronger than me... If you think they are, they should face me!" He yelled, pointing his finger accusingly at Hitachi, then swiveling to point at Mirabella.
"This guy is strange, his red eyes are also weird! While she... She is just a lady!" He yelled, not backing down. His ego as a Lv70 Knight and the Crown Prince was crumbling.
"They should prove themselves to me!!"
Hayatobi stared at him, cold disappointment in his eyes, then looked at the king.
"You can challenge them in an official match after... For now, we don't want to waste any time." He said dismissively.
"You--"
"--Quiet! Lord Hayatobi is right... If you want to fight them, challenge them in a duel!" The King snapped at his son, embarrassed by the Prince's lack of decorum.
"Fine then!! I challenge both of you in a duel!! Come at me together!" He yelled, adopting a combat stance, desperate to regain his honor.
Hitachi looked at him with bored, dead eyes. "You aren't worth my time." Hitachi said in a calm tone.
"Yes... You're simply too weak to get my attention." Mirabella added, crossing her arms on her chest, looking at him as one would look at a noisy insect.
The disrespect was too much.
"You Bitc--"
WHOOSH!!!
"....?!"
The Prince and everyone in the room froze.
One moment, Mirabella was standing ten feet away. The next, she was nose-to-nose with the Prince. No one had seen her move. She stood directly in his personal space, her eyes locked onto his, radiating a killing intent that froze the blood in his veins.
"What were you saying?" She asked with a tilt of her head, her voice soft but deadly.
The Prince's Adam's apple bobbed. 'What the?! I thought she's just an academy student?! How can she possess such speed?' David swallowed, his insults dying in his throat. He realized in that split second that if she wanted him dead, he would have died before he finished his sentence.
"Let him be Mirabella... Ignore him." Hayatobi said with a wave of his hand, breaking the suffocating tension.
Mirabella slowly nodded her head. She turned her back on the Prince—the ultimate sign of disregard—and walked back to her previous position.
As she walked, her mind was working furiously. She wasn't thinking about the Prince; she was thinking about the man leading them.
'What is Lord Hayatobi's true powers? The strength I saw? Was that a lie... If that's his true strength, why is the King so respectful to him?' Mirabella thought, staring at Hayatobi's back. The dynamics of this empire were more complex than she realized.
'Is this man concealing his true strength?' She narrowed her eyes. If the King bowed to him, and the Prince feared him, Hayatobi was far more than just a quirky instructor.