Authority

Carus was silent, the chief was silent, and Jack simply sighed, thinking about the whole thing. If he was going to bring the whole island together under one nation, these internal conflicts among races could lead to chaos within the island. At that point, the only thing holding the nation together would be his strength and iron fist, which, while not a bad thing, isn't ideal for Jack either. 

"Well, I can't stop either way since the trial has been issued, but I assume this is why you didn't want your son, who is a forest giant, to go with me." Jack asked with his arms crossed, but Carus, meanwhile, was still not sure how he should feel. Should he be mad? Sorrowful? Guilty? Disappointed? Annoyed? It just didn't make sense in the moment as he stood up. "I need some time with my father, my lord, if you don't mind."

Jack looked at the giant and just got up and whistled as Ra came flying into the room, and he jumped onto its back. "You don't need to go if you want to; it might complicate things, but if you do, we will be leaving tomorrow at sunrise." 

Jack said as he left the two and flew away on his bird back outside, where everyone seemed to be busy with their everyday lives by now. He simply sighed as he soon noticed the runesmith sitting on one of the rooftops of a shop, simply reading his book as Jack landed with his crow there. The runesmith noticed him and stood up. "I am not weak, you know?" The guy was maybe a bit offended by the fact that he was the only human left behind in the village while everyone else was going with Jack. 

"Yeah, I know you're not. You proved how useful you are with this thing." Jack said, tossing back the rune microphone to him. The runesmith simply caught it and looked at it before putting it away in one of his hidden pockets.

"Then that probably means there's a job only I can do here." The runesmith asked, and Jack simply smiled. He indeed had a job for that guy, specifically. Seeing the creepy smile on Jack's face after his response, the runesmith was filled with regret for even saying anything; sometimes he just wished he kept his mouth shut. 

Meanwhile, as all this was going on in the south-eastern part of the world, way up on the northern continent, a lone man wearing a cloak with a hoodie that covered his entire body was walking through a snowstorm so dense that one couldn't even see what was in front of them. But this man, who was simply wearing a blindfold over his eyes, walked through the terrain without mis stepping once. Ultimately, he ended up in front of a giant mountain, and upon entering a cave, there were two giant doors, each bearing the pattern of a giant reptilian creature with wings sitting atop a throne as the hooded figure sighed looking at it.

Seeing the man approaching the gate, a certain shadow moved from a corner of the cavern to in between the gate and the man. As it stood up, its yellow snake-like eyes looked down at the man as the majestic dragon spoke in a tone that would make anyone feel scared. 

"Stop right there, humans. The land beyond these gates belongs to the Black Dragon Kingdom. If you have mis stepped here, go back at once. There will be no more warnings." 

"I see… Is that so?" The man simply asked as he took off his hoodie, revealing black hair and a face that one would have known if they had watched the tournament. "Tell your rulers someone has come to issue a challenge to them on behalf of the red dragons." 

The dragon looked down at the man and simply laughed, thinking of him as an ignorant fool who had overestimated himself. "Haha, sure, kid, the red lizards have stooped so low they had to send a human to fight us."

The dragon said as he finished laughing and took in a deep breath, using one of the racial skills of all dragons, dragon fear. The dragon roared with all its might, causing the whole cave to shake, but not the humans. He stood unbiased, looking up at the dragon guard in his way.

"Who am I, you ask?" He said as he pulled down his blindfold and looked at the dragon as a purple mana surrounded it, lifting it up the ground. Meanwhile, the person did not move; his eyes simply looked at the dragon as the dragon's body was crushed in the grip of mana surrounding his body. The man's purple eyes were the same color as the mana. 

The dragon panicked, tried to free itself, and did everything he could, but ended up unable to even speak properly as a single word left his mouth. "...w.ho"

The man simply smiled as he looked to the side, and the dragon, who had been suspended mid-air till now, was slammed into the nearby wall so hard that the entire wall cracked as the dragon fell to the ground.

The bleeding and bruised dragon looked up at the man who was still standing in his place as he walked towards the fallen creature and closer to him. With each step he took, the dragon felt something so primal and raw that he had never even experienced such an emotion in front of the Black Dragon King. 

The man kept walking forward and sighed as he placed one foot on the dragon's maw, pushing it down and telling the creature to stay down on the ground in front of him. The fear overpowered pride in the moment as the dragon obliged, and then Akuto spoke. 

"Let me ask you something... Who are you to question the authority of The King?"