Presence of a King

After the bright light that filled the room had disappeared, the silence that was left in it's place was deafening.

Mana potential was measured in levels of their respective names and was the most widely used energy for mages and practitioners of magic.

The parallel of mana being Aura was the energy for warriors and practitioners of martial arts.

All of the energies however, followed a set marking system.

Lowest - The level of a slightly above average human being.

Low - The Level of a soldier armed with weapons.

Medium - The most common and was the middle ground for warriors to make a name for themselves.

High - The Cut off point that differentiated others and allowed most to make a name for themselves in the world.

Highest - The peak of conventional talent that most aspire to be as people of this potential marked themselves in the history books.

Extreme - The peak of talent that the mana talent crystals could record and was the potential that most renowned figures in history had.

Peak - The barrier of talent that could only be reached through having thick blood of the Gods or by special means and made someone's name become a widely known legend.

Six years has passed since Scoria alongside one other had revealed their monstrous talent in mana.

The person who also had Extreme mana potential however was on the other side of the continent of Axial and was also a royalty figure.

Being the child of the Queen, Rumors flew across the lands between both kingdoms as the Burning Spider and the Flying Eagle.

Talking about which talent from both the East and the West would come out on top.

Not that the subject of the rumors cared about the rumors at all anyways.

'Because I'll come up on top anyways'

Scoria's thoughts rang inside his head as he swung his sword in the middle of a rather large training room.

Said training room was one that was made of rock and stone while streams of lava permeated the cracks.

The sharp scent of iron filling the air.

Scoria's confidence wasn't unfounded.

Flames rested within his lungs as flames exited his mouth and emanated through his skin.

Before his birth, he was the Prince of Pandora and was also a renowned talent of hell and had already developed rather far before entering this body due to unfortunate circumstances.

His heart beat wildly like a drum as if his heart had become an earthquake by itself.

And after his birth where his mind and soul had merged with the barely developed soul and mind of the child while his body benefited from the process.

His blood rushed through his veins as the metal in his cells continued to run rampant in his body.

And the bloodline of the Artaxian Human was one that granted him a large advantage on top of his already long start even though it was weak.

The Iron blood, Fire Lungs and Earth Heart were all working in tandem as their beginning stages aided in the growth of the body.

So from the start, the race for who was better was rigged as it wasn't a race between to children of similar ages and talent, but a race between a developing teen and a growing child.

Completely unfair.

Breathing out slowly as sweat continued to drip off his muscular body Scoria left the Aura Training room.

Grabbing a nearby towel and wiping his body that was riddled with sweat, Scoria caught sight of himself in the mirror.

Since his birth, Scoria never really had the habit of looking at himself in the mirror and instead just focused on developing himself through Aura and Mana.

But for some reason he felt attracted to it.

Looking at himself in the mirror, the figure in the mirror stared back.

Short gray hair that was like ash, intertwined with brown earthy undertones, a sharp jawline combined with sharp eyes with red pupils in their center.

'Man I'm a handsome bastard'

Perhaps it was due to his soul, but his physical form looked eerily alike to his body in Hell.

Admiring his body that was somehow similar to the one he was familiar with sixteen years ago.

"Third Prince?" A voice quietly entered from besides his ear.

"OfAlltheThingsUnholy!"

Unconsciously cursing out loud in surprise, the maid who silently entered the room chuckled at her young masters unsightly form.

He was quite engrossed in admiring himself and didn't notice her entrance even though he would most other times.

But suppressing her chuckle as she sensed that the young master didn't like it that much, she spoke about the reason why she came here in the first place.

"Ahem-, I'm sorry to startle you Third Prince--"

'You Fucking did that on purpose'

"--But your father, the King, calls for your presence"

Hearing those words, the face filled with chagrin at the situation became solemn as a thought rose in his mind.

"Did people of the New faith Come?"

The Maid only stayed silent as she nodded underneath the orange veil covering the upper half of her face.

Taking the silence as affirmation, Scoria sighed before he followed the Maid into the depths of the castle.

---

"You must be joking"

The King of Morgast narrowed his eyes at the priests of the new faith.

Five figures wearing different robes looked at the king in slight defiance as they showed their arrogance on their faces.

The Church of the New Moon's representative, the one in the blue clothes dyed in splotches of red spoke.

"We are in fact, not joking Agma Del Dmantra, in fact we are very serious"

Narrowing his eyes at that fact, the king looked at the other priests who have been sent and saw their assent to the New Moon Churches words.

The Priest of the New Bloods stepped forwards as she spoke beneath her veil "Agma Del Dmantra, we want you to send your youngest son to learn underneath our arms"

The Priest of Continuity followed on her words "If you worry for his safety, do not worry, we will protect him to the best of our abilities."

And the last priest, from the Church of Purification "He will also learn about the Churches Doctrines and will grow underneath our wings."

By now the King of Morgast had a dark look to his face as he glared at the new Faiths representatives from the top of his throne.

Standing up an aura that wasn't present before when the Priests had entered the hall of the King filled the hall.

Causing four of the priests to fall to their knees under the pressure.

Looking at the priests with a cold gaze, the man opened his mouth "It seems that the people of the new faith have already forgotten who they are in the presence of"

Putting his hand out to conjure long blazing robes that trailed behind his back, a staff made of magma formed underneath his fingertips as he grasped it.

"The Dignity of a king isn't something that you can sully your mouth with, Priest of the New Moon"

A crown made of flames was added onto the golden crown adorned with red rubies on his head.

"And are you saying that the King of a kingdom can't even protect his son when you can't even protect yourselves from me?"

Flaming hands manifested in the air as they surged through the air and grabbed at the priests.

Hurriedly dodging the hands of flames, they failed in their endeavors as they barely keeping themselves up on their feet under the heavy aura.

"Are you going to go against the New Faith!?"

"No?" Tilting his head the king of Morgast, Also known to others by a different name, spoke with a bland tone.

"I'm just punishing idiots who don't know their place in front of the King in his own domain"

Casting barriers that blocked the flaming hands attempting to burn their flesh off the king continued where he left off.

"And you! Priest of the New Bloods or whatever, are you daring to say that whatever you can teach my son with your pitiful history can surpass what I can teach my son with the records of Royalty that have lasted since the fourth Great war?"

More hands of flame joined the others ones as they attacked the shields and tried to crush the four priests underneath their power.

"And you dare, You Dare!"

The flames grew in power as his flames reached the roof thus filling the entire room in it's power.

"You Dare! Imply that I! Agma Del Dmantra! The Ninety Ninth of my Bloodline! Cannot even protect my Son!?"

The Priests of the four churches sweated as they continued to pour their mana into the barriers and tried to defend themselves from the pouring flames.

And just as quickly as the flames descended, the flames receded.

The Priests who were spent from spending their mana in maintaining the barriers protecting their lives fell to the ground in exhaustion as they let out tired gasps.

"I will forgive this slight today Priests of the New Faith"

Narrowing his eyes as the mana filling the room receded back into the Man, the aura empowered by the presence of mana receded, but it nevertheless still stayed powerful.

"So go back and return to your churches and tell them"

Slamming the butt of his staff that had manifested at some point of time onto the ground.

"That next time, if you want to speak, send people who are more competent than these fools who dare to boast in front of a king"

Seeing the reprieve that the king had given them, the four priests who had pale faces marred in sweat bowed their heads as they hurriedly walked away.

Leaving behind the final priest, the final priest belonging to the church of the Abyss bowed to the king as he spoke.

"I greet the Incarnation of the Volcano"

Looking up with a glint in his eyes, the priest of the Abyss continued.

"Now that the fools who relied on the abyss are gone, can we finally talk business?"

+++

Tree