"Hey, hey! Enyo I know you are this respected person in the world and you have to live up to the expectations and all, but you don't have to release your aura to intimidate the guy! He already knows what you are capable of, you are friends with his grandpa after all!" Teras said as he too struggled to stand
"Quit whining! I only did that to see his reaction! Ruws tend to react in a funny way when they are caught off guard, anyway come in boys! The princess is waiting!" Enyo said as she started to walk toward the castle
'I didn't expect someone that holds such a high position in this world to act this way, I guess crazy people like Grandpa exist anywhere no matter how strong or weak they are...' Icarus thought as he walked into the beautiful garden
While walking many royals and people from rich families were standing inside the main hall of the castle drinking and eating the fancy food prepared by the maids of the castle
Whispering about the appearance of Icarus and Enyo was quickly heard from all around the room
"The show is over everyone! The little Ruw is not my student, my one and only student is this kid right here, now stop bothering us!" Enyo said as she grabbed Teras and Icarus from their wrist
"Don't touch me!" Icarus said as he shook Enyo's hand off after fleeing from the eyes of the crowd
"Jeez kid, if a lady shoots her shot at you will you slap her hand?" Enyo asked as she rubbed her hand
"Wha..."
. . .
"I'm sorry Princess Lola but we had to get away..."
"GET OUT OF MY ROOM!!! WHAT ARE THE GUARDS DOING???" Lola screamed as she hid herself with her blanket, she was wearing her night clothes and was about to change
If they had entered the room a bit later they would have been twice as doomed
The trio was now relaxing in the somewhat restored garden where the king and Teras fought before
"At least you got to see the princess's thighs..."
"SHUT UP!" Both Teras and Icarus yelled at Enyo
"Thanks to you I will be probably executed!" Teras whined
"Thanks to you I and my family will be criticized" Icarus exclaimed madly
Suddenly Lola visited them, she was wearing her training clothes
"Since it was Miss Enyo's fault I will forgive you! But no more! A princess's body is not a sightseen, if something like this happens again I will not be as merciful" Lola said as she dismissed everyone from the garden so she could train with her powers on her own
Even though they were forgiven Icarus and Teras walked as if they lost a loved one
"Alright I might have acted rushed but the end results weren't that bad?" Enyo said with a shy smile
"Why are you talking?" Icarus asked
"Just ignore her, she is just an old hag doing stupid stuff, sooner or later she will be in a nursing home or something"
"Hey! I think you two brats forget who I actually am!" Enyo said after being offended by what Teras said
"Remembering who you are makes it even worse!" Teras said with a sad expression
After what happened the trio was dismembered and everyone went on their own business, Enyo was forced to interact with the nobles and Icarus was also kind of forced to attend the little party since all the contenders had to attend the party before trying to fight against the Jack of Hearts
Teras on the other hand wasn't bound by any rule, at the moment he woke up he was a nobody, not even two years of training with Enyo didn't manage to attract some attention or interest to him
While lying at the top of the castle Teras spaced out and waited for his time to shine
'In a bit, I will be introduced to the world, it will be my chance to show my potential and intentions of becoming the savior of the world, I can not fail this time, I promised that I would do it so if I fail there is only one option left...'
"Killing yourself" The black figure whispered in Teras's ear while also emitting this thick and disgusting aura
"That's right, the only other path I can take"
Some hours passed and the preparations for the event were finally over, it was an arena full of people who were ready to see the upcoming struggles, many promising people were attending the event but the one with the most potential was Icarus Ruw
The sheer amount of training and reputation he and his family had built throughout the years made people have high hopes for him
Seven trumpets were heard before the king of Hearts delivered his own speech
"Hello everyone! I welcome you all to the upcoming jack selection tournament! This is a week-long event that will include a showcase of our contenders, a one-on-one fight with our contenders against the jack, and before the main event there will be a public feast and a festival, what's the main event? A tournament among our contenders that will determine our future jack that will assist the future queen!" The king said with his loud voice to the crowds of people waiting for the action to start
"Before we start I want to address something..."
When those words came out of the king's mouth everyone quieted down
"There is a special contender I want to sign up for this tournament that happens to have caught my attention, this one contender may not be a surprise for some but the one contender I personally invite to this tournament is Teras, The goddess's pupil!"
A loud cheer from the commoners was heard upon hearing the king but on the other hand, the nobles were confused
"How can this boy with little to no mana presence compete with all those promising young fighters?"
That was the question looping inside their head
"Since most of the people are confused do you mind giving them a demonstration of your strength? Make sure you don't embarrass me!" The king said as he stared at Teras's eyes
Everyone was surprised yet excited to see Teras performance
"Jeez I can't catch a break with this guy" Teras mumbled as he got ready
'This guy... The king knows him by name, this nobody is recognized by the king...' Icarus thought as he stared at Teras
"So what should I do?" Teras asked as he jumped into the empty arena
"Show them what you showed me!" The king requested
"How about I show them what you haven't seen?" Teras asked with a smile
Before everyone could process what Teras said their thoughts were interrupted by Teras's aura, Teras deliberately revealed all of his power by revealing his mana flow
While doing that a massive gray aura surrounded the arena
"T-This mana pool, the mana control, and everything that has to do with mana... He is besting me at everything..." The king mumbled in shock after witnessing Teras's true power
"That's impossible, right? While fighting against you he didn't show that great of mana control" The queen asked confused the king
"No you are wrong... He showed amazing control and precision of his mana... So great that he can hide all this mana inside of him that's why..."
"... His aura wasn't showing when I first met him" Icarus thought out loud as he stared at Teras
"My name is Teras, make sure you remember it because, in the future that's the only name that will come to your mind when you need help, Teras of the Orion will become the pillar of the new world so count on me! I will guide everyone to their best lives and make sure nothing wrong happens to you, even if you are one abandoned person I will reach out for you, for I am your savior"
And with that one speech Teras introduced himself to the world as Teras and not Enyo's student, and the demonstration of his mana control convinced many that what Teras said might come true
But many weren't enough, eventually, everyone started laughing or making fun of Teras
After a bit the king got up and started to clap, his clapping was loud enough to overshadow all the laughter
"That's Teras for you! I expect great things from you kid!"
As soon as the king said that everyone in the arena quieted down, they were surprised
"If you weren't so convinced before I will tell you another crazy thing! Remember the paper about an adventurer fighting against the Joker and surviving? You are now seeing him in the flesh!"
One revelation after another Teras was able to assert his place in this world and stand up to all the people that didn't believe him at first
Teras then got out of the arena so the other contenders could show off their skills but no matter who stood in this arena, after the show Teras provided the next contender would only be a downgrade
But the show had to continue so a contender was forced to show off, many performed but they could never match the the feeling Teras made the whole crowd, comedically or seriously
Until of course, one guy with a sword stepped into the arena, the famous Icarus Ruw
Without saying a word Icarus drew his sword and started practicing unordinary slashes but the impressive thing started after he started using his power
"Air slashes..." Teras thought out loud as he stared at Icarus's performance
After each slash an air slash similar to what Teras had done appeared but these air slashes were more precise, and more powerful, greatly exceeding the level of Teras's slashes but that was not all, Icarus also used the power of the 9th card (Air mastery) to enhance and expand his movements thus creating a hard pattern of attacks
At that moment the rumors were proven to be right, Icarus's name wasn't praised just from the family he came from but his skill
"Was that enough? I don't want to show every trick I have before my fight with the jack!" Icarus said as he placed his sharp and thin sword back into its case
"Very well kid! Entertain us later" The king said as he dismissed Icarus from the arena
Icarus triumphantly walked away but his show-off wasn't over, one person wanted to see more
"You again? What's the matter now?" Icarus asked annoyed
"An air slash, direct it at me!" Teras demanded
"Why would I do that?" Icarus asked again
"Because I said so... Now hit me with an air slash!" Teras said as he glared into Icarus's eyes
Thinking that if he did that Teras would leave him alone, Icarus in a matter of a second drew his sword and created an air slash directed at Teras
Teras was caught off guard by the speed of the attack but he managed to create an air slash of his own to counter Icarus's, the result?
Teras's air slash barely managed to stop Icarus's, it was a tie
"Happy?" Icarus said as he walked past Teras
'A casual air slash from his was this fast and that strong? There sure are many strong people here in the capital...' Teras thought with a smile on his face, a smile of excitement
Shortly after the show-offs from all the contenders were done so one thing followed
The long waited battle of the jack with the contenders, one thing about the fights was that they were optional, meaning the contenders didn't have to fight if they didn't feel the need to, but in front of the eyes of thousands of people avoiding this fight is like saying you are scared to face difficulties or a strong enemy
So almost all contenders agreed to fight
…
"I don't get this part... I mean you will fight each other later anyway so why waste energy here? There's also a probability of injury so I feel it's not the right choice to attend this one-on-one"
That was an honest suggestion of Enyo but like a good student Teras did the opposite
"Why chicken out now? I see this fight as a warm-up to the real thing! You know this Icarus guy is pretty scary so I want to fight stronger opponents before fighting him!" Teras told this to Enyo with a smile
"But their fighting style is different you know, I mean do you even know how the jack of hearts fights?" Enyo asked as she face-palmed herself
"It doesn't matter, I will win" Teras said with a straight face
"You will huh? We will see about that brat!" Enyo replied with a smile
~Meanwhile on the road to the castle~
'No, no, NO! This is my chance! My one and only chance to make something of myself! I can't let the invitation of the king go to waste! Here it says 4 p.m. today so I'm already late! If I delay my arrival a bit more I'm done I can't possibly let myself do that!' A boy thought as he ran as fast as he could toward the castle
Eventually, he was there, but there was a problem...
"What? That invite was wrongly sent to me?" The boy asked with a sad expression on his face
"Are you Dorting Mayter?" A solder guarding the castle's entrance asked the boy
"N-No..."
"Then you don't belong here! Abandon this area this instance then!" The soldier ordered
The boy's world was shattered
"B-But I used all my savings just to come here..." The boy said as he fell on his knees
Suddenly a man with a big mace on his back walked up to the soldier
"What's the matter here?" The man asked with his deep voice
This man was also a giant but not as big as the king
"It appears that there was an invitation sent to this kid but it was wrongly delivered!" The soldier explained to the man
"So why don't you let him in? It was your fault, not his, He said he spent all of his savings. Are you just going to kick him out?" The man asked
"But sir you see that's..."
The soldier stuttered while talking
"Just say he was recommended by me and let him in! What's your name boy?" The man said as he turned to the boy on the floor
"Thank you very much, sir! My name is Maximus Jones!!!" Maximus said as he shook the man's hands
"Nice to meet you! I'm Balor the Jack of Hearts!"