The first day of the tournament ended.
My family and I walked home after the tournament; many people congratulated me while walking.
I was once again thrilled, this was again due to being very hidden in my previous school, being the "quiet" kid, the delinquent who wasn't popular, but now, there are hundreds of people here for me.
While on our path home, a person called for my name; I looked around and saw 3 figures down the block. I waited for them, but they were actually the king and queen...
"Sorry for the intrusion; I just wanted to meet your family," Said the king.
"Pardon me, my name is Zhou Duyi; here is my wife, Hou Xiurong, and my daughter Jiang Duyi," Said the king.
"Nice to meet you guys; my name is Stephen Wilson, this is my mother Cynthia Wilson, and my sister Shella Wilson," I responded.
"Wait, thee Wilson--" The king cut off the queen.
"Anyways, Mrs. Wilson, you must be very proud of your kid; I'm sure in due time he will surpass everyone, including me in strength." Said the king.
"Indeed so, I was always proud of my son; I am beyond lucky to have a son and daughter as such." Mom replied.
"Stephen, how old are you turning by the end of the year?" Said the Queen.
"I'm turning 21," I replied.
"Mmh, 21, Jiang, aren't you also 21? It looks like you may have a rival against who will be the strongest." Said the queen while laughing.
Jiang looks away while beet red...
Another shy one...?
"Haha, okay, Stephen, could you take Jiang and go for a walk? I need to talk with your family." Said the king.
I looked over to mom.
"Go on, honey, I'll keep Shella with me," Mom said.
The king handed me a stone, "Take this and wander around; when I activate it, you'll get the signal to come back." Said the king.
I took Jiang, and we took a stroll down the blocks.
"What school do you go to?" I asked.
"I go to a school in China; we are here because of the King's Tournament," Jiang responded.
I nod my head.
"The great veil is bound to break in 2 months; we have to be ready to defend our home," I say.
"We stand a good chance, we the new large influx of challengers, our chances of winning has never been higher. Also, by what my father is saying, with you around, we have a greater chance." Jiang responded.
"Nonsense, I'm only an Intermediate Warrior... That is more like a pawn in the war." I said.
"Exactly his point, it's been only a couple of days, and you are in the warrior rank; that's the fastest anyone has ever grown," Jiang said.
A couple of days, she said... Ha, I've been training for a couple of years technically.
"I've been training since I was basically a baby, and I've made it to Enlightened Captain. Do you see your type of growth?" Jiang exclaimed.
"I understand what you mean, but the war is in 2 months; that's not enough time for me to power level up to a decent strength," I replied.
"You need to train hard; you must be diligent; the fate of this world is almost entirely in your hands," Jiang said.
That's stretching it... I'm still just a child compared to some of the monsters that the challengers have.
"Maybe, maybe not. Let's not get sappy here; we are here for the King's Tournament... Speaking of which, how long are you guys planning to stay here?" I asked.
"Maybe the whole week, my father wants to see the progress the USA has made," Jiang responded.
We strolled through the streets; nothing too eventful happened until the stone in my pocket started ringing.
"Let us head back; the stone is shaking," I said.
Jiang nods.
As we made it back, we were presented with a daunting question...
"So, how was your mini date?" The queen asked.
Jiang turned red and looked away.
"It went well," I said.
The King and Queen both started laughing.
"Alright, kid, we need to go; I will see you tomorrow at the arena, right?" The king asked.
"Yes, sir," I replied.
We both went on to our homes... but it was like we were following them.
"May I ask where do you live?" I asked.
"Around here in a nice and humble home," The king replied while chuckling.
We did the same turns and what curves... This was the deciding factor, my home was at a block end, so you'd have to make a U-Turn if you made the wrong turn.
What I didn't expect was that they, too, took the turn.
They made their way up to some steps to the home directly next to ours.
"This is our home for a bit!" Said the king while busting out laughing.
"You're our neighbors? What happened about Mr. Cane?" I said.
"He put the house up for sale a while ago, and the king bought it." Mom said.
"It's a nice little home; I think I'm going to love it here," Said the King.
"Why don't we all have dinner together?" The Queen said.
"Oh, you guys have to join; my wife makes the best steak in the world." The King boasts.
"Uhm, sure, but may I ask, how did you guys get this house that's next to ours if you guys just met us today?" I asked.
"This was just a coincidence, I truly liked this small home, and we needed a place to stay for a couple of weeks, but not to my knowledge, it was next to the Reaper himself." The King said.
"A couple of weeks?" Jiang and I said in unison.
"Yeah?" The King replied.
"Dad, what about my school?" Jiang asked.
"You are way out of the schools league; all the students there are warriors or below, that school has nothing to teach you. If anything, following Stephen, will be better training." Said the king.
"Psst, Stephen, you also don't have to use manners when talking to me. You can call me uncle Zhou," Said the king...
"Ah, Okay," I replied.
"Mom, go in and join them; I'll be there in a bit; I have to shower," I said.
"Alright, hun', make sure you don't keep them waiting." Mom replied.
I made my way up the stairs and into the shower.
The king is my neighbor, what in the world...
I got ready and made my way back downstairs and into their home.
I opened the door; I saw the King playing tag with Shella, Mom and the queen setting up dinner, and Jiang on her phone...
Dude, how did they become so accustomed to this in the 10 minutes I was gone?
"Stephen, you're here; dinner is almost ready," Said the Queen.
It was almost as she was actually my aunt...
Time passed, and we all sat around the dining table; there we were talking about non-essential stuff and whatnot.
"Stephen, you better come in first place in tomorrow's tournament, you brat," Said the King.
"Of course, if I don't get first, how can I look at my mom and be proud?" I said.
"That's the spirit," the king said.
"Uncle Zhou, I have a question..." I asked.
Whoa, I said Uncle without thinking...
"Yes, my dearest nephew?" The king said with a smirk on his face.
I regret saying that now.
"Where would Jiang be going if you guys stay here for a couple of weeks," I asked.
"I don't know, Jiang, do you want to attend Central Capital? It's much better than your old school, and Stephen is there so you could teach each other different things." said the king.
"Sure, if he doesn't mind," Jiang responded.
"Of course I won't," I said.
The king and queen looked at each other while smirking.
"Oh, after dinner, do you want to train for a bit Stephen? Jiang could join as well," Said the king.
"Yes, actually, I was going to train after eating, but if you are going to help, why wouldn't I accept," I replied.
"Great, we will go in 30 minutes." Said the King.
After eating and cleaning up, the king told Jiang and me to get ready as we were about to go.
"Do you guys want to come as well?" The king asked mom and the Queen.
"I do; I want to see how strong our pair is," Said the queen.
"I will come as well; I need to make sure Stephen doesn't get hurt. Shella, come here, hun'" mom said.
We all go into a circle holding each other's hands.
"Okay, get ready, 3...2...1..." The king said.
And just like that, we were in front of the school.
"You can teleport?" I asked.
"Yup, a small number of challengers can do this," Said the king.
There we were met by the Principal.
"Zhou, what's up? Why are you here?" Said the principal.
"I am here to stretch my legs out a bit and train my nephew." said the king.
"Nephew?" The principal questioned.
The King laughed, "Yes, my nephew, Stephen Wilson," The king said with a sense of proudness flowing through.
"Ha, who would've thought. Alright, I'll lend you the gym, but I will come as well; I don't know what you will do to my gym if I'm not looking." Said the principal.
We made our way through the school; that's when Alice when I saw Alice strolling around.
"Hey, Alice! What are you doing wandering around late?" I said.
"I can't really sleep knowing that tomorrow is the final round. What about you?" Said Alice.
"We are going to train," I replied.
"Oh my, is that the king and queen, pardon my attitude," Alice said.
"Ah man, it seems as though Stephen already has a wife; it seems as though Jiang was too late. Anyways, come join us, Mrs. Wilson." Said the Queen.
"Stephen, you're already married? How come you didn't tell me?" Said, mom.
"Come here, Alice, he didn't force you or anything?" said mom.
"No, ma'am," Alice said.
"Okay, good, take care of him for me when I'm not around; he can be a little too open-minded. Also, mother-in-law is fine," Said mom
"Yes, Mother-in-law!" Alice said
Before I knew it, I had a wife without me knowing?
"Anyways, why don't we all go to the gym," I asked.
They all nodded their heads.
We made it to the gym; Mom, Shella, and the Queen were at the back watching.
The king gave off a complete aura.
"Okay, first I want to see how potent all your intents are, Jiang, be a role model and show off your killing intent." Said the king.
Jiang nodded and released her intent; It wasn't too overbearing considering Alice, and I went through.
"Hm, you guys aren't too affected? Jiang's killing intent should be quite dense, how come?" Said the king.
"Alice and I were in the expert zone; there, we fought a lot of creatures that really wanted us dead; we also fought something that was completely out of scale," I said.
"Oh! You're the girl who is in 2nd! You two went into the expert zone; I thought it was another girl... Wow, you two really are husband and wife, huh." Said the king
Alice blushes and looks away...
"So it would seem... Jiang's killing intent isn't enough for you two, then. Alice, release your killing intent," Said the king.
"I don't really know how to," Said Alice.
The king, quick to respond, said, "Imagine Stephen cheated on you--"
Alice shot out a large amount of killing intent without the king finishing his sentence. It wasn't too much for me to handle, but Jiang was struggling to stand straight.
"Brilliant, you have much potential, but Stephen once again wasn't affected." Said the king
"Brat, release your killing intent to its fullest," Said the king.
Hey, he asked, and I shall deliver,
A terrible amount of dark smoke emitted from my body; I released all my killing intent... I never really felt so alive.
The king put his hands on my shoulder,
"Enough." The king said.
I was brought to my senses.
I looked around; everyone was on their knees, mom, Shella, the queen, Alice, Jiang, even the principal.
"I'm sorry," I quickly said.
"It's fine, luckily I was here, or the whole school would've been crushed under your aura." Said the king.
"What did you go through to release such an aura? Your aura was as domineering as mine or even more," Said the king.
"I would like to ask the king if he wouldn't pry, but in the expert zone, I was near death multiple times and killed many things," I said.
I was holding most of the truth back, I also had a bit of Darumas aura, and I did legit die...
Mom came running towards me, "Stephen dear, are you alright? For something to release that much potent intent, they must've killed millions of entities. Are you sure you're fine?"
"Yes, mom, trust me," I replied.
I only got around 2/3 of Daruma's power... How much did he kill?
"Brat, you shall only release that aura when in battle, anything other than that, and you would destroy anything around you." Said the king.
"Alice, I'm sorry, but you have a monster to take care of," Said the king.
"Where is my sorry? I took care of you?" Said the Queen to the king.
We all started laughing.
"Alright, Alright, kids go over there; I need to talk to the adults for a second," Said the king.
We nodded and made our way.
The King to the adults:
"This just gave us more evidence that Stephen is one of a kind; we need to train him in the chamber." Said the king.
"He's just a kid!" Cynthia and Hou said.
"Even if he's the only hope for the survival of the Earth," Said the Principal.
"I will not be sending my kid to the chamber; it is like living hell," Cynthia exclaimed.
"Cynthia! We need to train him as much as possible; the veil will only hold for 2 months; after that, what? After that, we hand earth over the Ethereal?" The king said.
"I understand what you are feeling; I lost my son in battle; you lost your husband; he was like a brother to me, but I guarantee you, I will not allow Stephen to die. I don't promise this as the king, but as Zhou Duyi, The strongest Challenger, in Present Time." Said the king.
"It is in our best interest Cynthia," The principal said.
"Fine, but if Stephen says no, then no!" Cynthia said.
"Thank you, I sincerely mean it," The king said.
After a while more, they came back to the kids.
"Alright, that's enough for today; we can train again tomorrow. Alice, you can join us whenever you want; we will be staying in the U.S. for a couple of months." Said the king
"Months?" Alice, Jiang, and I say in unison.
"I thought it was for a couple of weeks?" I said.
"Something came up," The king responded.
"That aside, let us go home. Alice, head back home, everyone, get in a circle." said the king.
"Alice, I'll see you tomorrow; stay safe--" I say while getting teleported away.
"Are you really married to him? Do you father and mother know?" Said the principal to Alice.
"They will now; I'm not heading to the dorm; I'm heading home! Good Night principal," said Alice.
We made it back in front of our homes.
"We will see you guys tomorrow; good night all," Said the King and Queen.
I head up the stairs to my room.
Today was... Just a tad bit out of what I was expecting, but we push through... Right... Yeah...