Way of the Knights

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"Oh my? Is it her turn already?"

Ian's thoughts were startled by a leisurely voice beside him.

He cast a glance at this person and thought 'He truly does have a lot of free time huh? He could even rush over here just to watch. How enigmatic.'

This person sat there in a relaxed manner, quietly sipping tea and watching the test unfold before his eyes. He wore a an all white robes with golden outlines and a badge of honor was placed on his chest. His face was dignified and youthful, his piercing eyes seemed to penetrate beyond the glass and truly see what the youths beneath him are capable of.

This was none other than the current Crown Prince of the Final Haven Kingdom, Balmung Lightshield. Dear brother of Lunafreya.

Balmung felt the gaze of Ian beside him, he glanced at him and smiled leisurely. "Is there something on my face Dean Ian?"

"Yes, schemes. Lots of it." Ian told him in a straightforward manner. Balmung was a bit startled but he just laughed it off. He wasn't truly offended by his words since he knew Ian's temperament well even before he rose to position.

"Oh come on, Dean. It's not that bad." He jokingly said.

"Hmph! I've known you since you were a little turd. Just remember not to push it too far." Ian leaned back to his chair and closed his eyes to rest for a bit.

Balmung just smiled and nodded, he returned his attention back to the arena below since it was his sister's turn to be tested.

***

Luna stepped forward, she took a couple of deep breaths before taking out a beautiful spear and assuming a stance.

The crowd went silent and she became the center of attention. It wasn't only because she was being tested but it was also because of her peerless looks. Many infatuated boys focused their gazes on her, to them it didn't matter whether she failed or not, they are more caught in their own fantasies, wondering how great would it be if they could spend a night with this peerless beauty. Sometimes, one could only wonder what sorts of expression these people would make if they knew her true identity.

After a moment of waiting, Luna's eyes glimmered with intense fighting spirit. She raised her spear and performed several twirls, her energies flared and condensed at the tip of her spear, each time the spear rotated on her body, the condensed energies formed a serpent that slithered all over her body.

With a final twirl of her spear, she finished gathering momentum and thrust the spear forwards. The audience saw the serpent opened it's maw and flew towards the sandbag, the force of the attack was too strong, even the dean and the crown prince of who were situated away from them could feel the vibrations from her attack.

Under the watchful gazes of the crowd, the pendulum shot forward and lit up multiple gems swiftly, it passed through the 5th without any signs of stopping. It only slowed down when it passed the ninth gem and was still moving up. Finally, it reached quarter of the way towards the 10 mark before going down.

There was an brief moment of absolute silence before the crowd erupted on cheers and applause.

"T-that's crazy!"

"So strong!"

"I knew it! She truly is a Goddess!"

"Goddess Luna!"

"We love you Goddess Luna!"

Infatuated cheers from boys and girls spread across the entire stadium. Luna blushed from all of this. She felt like those cheers were too exaggerated.

"Hmph! These rabid dogs! They see boobs and go crazy." Ellen venomously spat on the side, her comment was naturally heard by Luna and caused her to blush even more.

"Decency, young lady. You're making the princess blush from your extravagant words." Anne chuckled on the side.

Luna pouted on the side and whispered: "Meanies."

"Luna Moonsong, 9750 units, Pass!" Carl can't help but to wipe away some non-existent sweat on his forehead as he announced the results. The results of these tests are just way too crazy. He wondered just how they trained to achieve such results.

While the stadium is in full heated bustle, Raven unceremoniously stepped forward. Many people noticed this and hushed the people beside them to pay attention.

Somehow, all of them are expectant of this person. Majority of them don't know who he was, they just wanted to know if he will continue the trend and surpass Luna's result.

But contrary to what they expected...

Raven just clutched his fist hard and threw a casual punch. The air whistled and hit the sandbag. When the crowd realized what he did, the pendulum slowly made it's way to light up the 5th gem before going down.

"Eh?"

"That's it?"

The crowd can't help but be disappointed. That happened too fast and too anti-climactic, they were expecting it too be flashy and explosive yet this person did none of that.

"Well, we should've expected something like this happening right? I mean, he might not be as exaggerated at the rest but he still passed."

"That's true."

"Right, he did good enough."

Discussions occured between the crowd of people. But just like they said, commoners watched for fun while the experts analyze.

Some people who are more experienced and wise knew that what Raven showed wasn't even the limits of his true capabilities. There wasn't any rule that forces them to show everything in their arsenal to hit the Strength Measuring Pillar with. They understood that Raven didn't want to show all of his cards just yet and they respected that.

"You did well Champ." Luis whispered while watching the casual actions of his son.

As one of the more experienced people here, even if his son didn't give his all onto that strike, he showed a fearsome prowess that only veterans could deduce.

What struck the sand bag was compressed air not Raven's fist, that's already an unstable force but it still managed to carry 5000 units of strength behind it. Coupled with the fact that Raven did it so casually without needing to wait or condense his energy too long. In real fights, no enemy would be dumb enough to give time to charge their attacks, every second matters and one mishap could lead to their deaths.

"This boy..." Bradley faintly shook his head and smiled. Rave truly hid himself well enough to fool the crowd while giving a profound impression to the experienced ones.

Even Ian, Leon and the Crown Prince who were watching was intrigued and can't help but to praise the kid for being witty. Old Lee, Arnold, Jackson, and Korra were also watching the scene unfold and can't help but smile wryly.

In truth, if Raven poured all of his raw power in that punch of his, it won't be hard for him to break the Strength Measuring Pillar. But he didn't do so since he didn't want to raise too much commotion for now. He firmly believe that there will be a time for that, and it's also good to keep them guessing. This is his way of leaving an impression.

"How interesting..." Balmung's eyes were shining as he gazed at Raven, he narrowed his eyes, seemingly wanting to know more about this boy. He turned his head towards Old Lee and asked: "Is he the one?"

Old Lee was a bit stunned but nodded, as the current guardian of Luna, he is tasked to report everything the pertains to her well being to him since the King is currently out of the kingdom. Hence it was natural that Balmung knew that his sister was already freed from her curse, and even made large strides on her cultivation. Not only that, he also received reports to all of the things that Raven did in the past.

Balmung placed his hands on his chin, his lips curved up and his thoughts flashed. While he was on the middle of day dreaming, he felt something amiss. He focused his vision on to the arena below and what he saw made his soul shiver in disbelief.

Raven was staring dead in his eyes with a smile in his face.

This picture cause Balmung's smile to freeze, he could feel his own soul shudder for whatever reason. He knew that Raven didn't have any malicious intentions, but that was enough to make his previous thoughts freeze on their tracks. For Balmung, that smile meant one thing...

'I'm watching you.'

"Vendrick Valorheart, 5000 units. Pass!" Carl announced. "The Strength Test is concluded.. We will move on with the second tests which is the Speed Test."