It's been three days since the tournament, during which Chris has been sleeping without a stop. Hanna has not been separated from his side at any time, she only spent it contemplating his friend after what happened. Beyond the simple admiration of power, what she feels is concern, that expression he had, the emergence of an unknown power, the feelings that exploded during the final shock, everything she could feel with great intensity and fills her heart with insecurity.
Everything she desires becomes reality, he opens his eyes, totally serene, but bewildered by the situation. Hanna explains what happened after losing consciousness. The damage to the Colosseum was minimal, it was limited to the combat arena, there were no injuries after the final blow and Queen Alice made his victory official, but Chris' expression is the same, discouraged.
She also explains that Guilian managed to recover from his injuries and is rehabilitating, but Tsubaki does not allow him to visit Chris because of all the ruckus he would cause for his buffoonery. At least one piece of good news, the only one that makes his shoulders a little lighter.
She is surprised by his reaction, it is then that Chris confesses that he does not consider it a real victory, because it was a matter of luck to have defeated Ryuken. Had he not figured out how to defeat the fire clones, he would have lost inevitably, plus it was that miscalculation that caused Ryuken to receive the vast majority of that day's damage.
It was precisely that damage that prevented him from properly using all his power, that final clash, despite having been colossal, was only counteracting a weakened attack, he was not at his best. Chris can only look forward and become stronger, enough to stand up to him once again, in his ultimate form.
The Six Lords will never be something taken lightly, they hide large amounts of power and abilities that allow them to handle almost anything that obstructs their path. But the words Ryuken said that day are still hanging around in his head.
Three days ago, after the final crash, Ryuken was lying on the ground and Chris was about to faint from exhaustion, but he clearly hears how Ryuken in the matter of a blink is back on his feet. Despite all the damage, he tries to keep his consciousness a little more and keep fighting, but Ryuken raises his hand to surrender.
He admits to having been defeated on that occasion, if he continues, his own power will tear his body apart, so the best option is to surrender. Chris is relieved that he doesn't have to keep fighting and gets some questions from the good loser.
—Where did you get that pendant? —Ryuken asks very curiously.
—I've always had it, for as long as I can remember, maybe even before. —Chris replies openly.
—Why did you fight so hard against me? —his curiosity is lighting more and more.
—For my friend who you beat up, I will never forgive you. — Chris' voice alone is not enough to express all the anger he still has inside.
—Do you care so much about his dream? Why? —Ryuken's disgust emerges a little in his tone, but the fight leaves him with no strength to attack even verbally.
—Because it's a lot like my goal. —Chris' answer seems empty.
—Enlighten me. —Ryuken asks without the magic words.
—I'll go to King's Mountain. —Chris' answer doesn't explain much.
—And how does that resemble your friend's dream? —Ryuken begins to get exasperated by the lack of details.
—Becoming king of the world is only a step, my real goal is my full name, the one that is engraved in stone, with it I will be able to find my family. —Chris' eyes as he declares his goal without any filter are filled with a strong determination, one that is difficult to carry, one that can kill you if you don't carry it out.
Ryuken simply retreats silently, and quietly replies that there are things that are better not to know, they are not known for something. Chris manages to perceive his message by the ki, but he cannot answer him, his consciousness is fading.
At present, Hanna finds herself preparing fruit for him to eat something, in the words of the healers, Chris' body is unusually slow to recover from the wounds, despite having received uninterrupted intensive treatment for a whole day his wounds closed, but he has not healed completely. His body is still fragile and being unconscious for so long left him in precarious conditions in terms of his health.
After a few days Chris' health is more favorable, at which time he was transferred to Queen Alice's castle as a courtesy for his championship, where he met influential people who witnessed his "victory". The ki does not lie, he could perceive bad vibes from most of them, so he decided to seclude himself in his room most of the time and with the presence of Hanna he was able to rest properly.
A month after the tournament Chris was finally able to carry himself, although by professional opinion he was advised not to make unnecessary effort for at least a couple of weeks. Throughout his recovery time Chris had enough time to analyze that new power he gained during the final.
The combination of elemental power, ki and spiritual arts, the materialization of earth power, doing experiments being static as rock, as if doing nothing, but in reality, he was training without anyone noticing it. It has incredible efficacy because it is power with a high degree of purity, but it has an equally enormous weak point, by making it flow through his body at a higher density, the lower the recovery rate.
It greatly increases the effectiveness of strength gain by making his body heal slower, which is dangerous in any circumstance. No doubt Chris must continue to hone his skills if he wants to keep moving forward.
With only his right arm still recovering, Chris is finally reunited with Guilian and Tsubaki and they all guide him to his award ceremony. All of his friends are proud of his victory, but Chris keeps an expression that says "I don't deserve it, really" while Hanna is just watching him.
The royal guard welcomes him to the Throne Room, while Queen Alice meets the champion. As she performs the knighthood ceremony Chris can sense her incredibly low voice, but manages to perceive the message by the ki, "don't be discouraged, a victory is a victory."
When she tells Chris to look up following the ceremony, he understands that she is watching over him. The day turns to night and a grand banquet is held in his honor, many of the competitors, who stood out the most, are celebrating, sharing drinks with Guilian and Tsubaki, while Hanna is sitting in a corner, keeping a low profile.
Chris stays away from the crowd, not feeling proper to the festivity, so he goes out to the balcony and from the shadows she appears, Queen Alice was waiting for the moment to be able to talk to him without restrictions. He doesn't shy away from throwing straight in her face that there are few people he enjoys company with, while she simply listens to his complaints.
A victory is a victory, no matter the circumstances, as she explains to him that she does not belong to the royalty of the country, she sheds her disguise, the queen was actually a dark elf, caramel-colored skin, blood-red eyes, silky knee-length black hair, he can't help but feel a little uncomfortable witnessing too much beauty. But he cannot understand why to hide her identity, reducing her existence to that of a simple human, why of course, Chris does not discriminate between royalty and plebs, for him they are all the same, people.
The queen does not give many details, only that her true existence cannot be accepted by the current world, especially for what happened in recent centuries. She hid as a human and ended up as Queen of Heinburn.
She explains that the Heinburn royal family has made all sorts of deals and is currently affecting what remains of the lineage. She, as a mother, can't help but worry about her husband and son, to her they are worth countless more than any nation.
—Why me? You might as well choose one of the adepts you recruited. —Chris asks curiously —There's no chance I'll find him.
—You reminded me of a certain man I admired, one who devoted the whole world and was not afraid to fight heaven, earth and sea, if necessary. —Alice replies with much nostalgia. —Please treat him well, he needs a break from time to time.
Alice can't directly explain what's going on with the nation, but she implores him to please carry on a message for the two most important men in her life, and Chris accepts.
While the sound is lost in the silence of the night, the feast continues until the sun rises over the horizon. Chris immediately takes his party away, as long as he doesn't continue in those lands, first thing in the morning.
His first stop, the blacksmith shop, Chris picks up his sword and the young blacksmith can't help but tell him that he couldn't resist the temptation and set about investigating the properties of the sword given to him by his teacher. Certainly, it carries a curse, a very powerful one, and as Chris wields it with his only available hand, he realizes that his words fall short.
Before he wielded it as the treasure he received from his master, but now, with the ki, he can feel a weight from deep inside it, something that wants to enter him. The training was effective, even if he did not perceive it, the concentration and mentality he forged for so long makes him have the reins, he is in control of the sword and not the other way around.
The blacksmith informs him something else, according to his investigations, the sword is forged with very exotic and even legendary materials, but the most relevant is something called Soul Ore. Everyone is intrigued by the name, and the young man explains that it is too rare of a material, every object that has this material in its composition is legendary because of its properties.
From the Spiritual Mirror of the distant lands of the East that is said to send you to another world to the Spear of the Fallen that is said to have made a god bleed, all of them have stories of what has been done with them. This rare material is named this way because it has a high conductivity of the energy of the living being that comes into contact with it.
The power not only varies depending on the object in which it is used, but also the user and their abilities, and in the case of the sword it is also the case. There are merged weapons, which change from one dominant weapon to another, but the sword itself changes, adapts to the user, but the curse makes it difficult to deal with, it is its insurance against the unworthy.
Chris only carries his sword as he always does and says goodbye, thanking him for treating his sword with so much dedication, and being outside the premises the old lady Xian Tao says goodbye to her student, giving him a small vase, she says that inside there are some medicinal herbs from her homeland, these serve to revitalize the tired body and will be a great support.
Such a gesture of kindness from the old lady that always kept him away from her, he feels very grateful and leaves with his friends towards the door through which they arrived. Just before saying goodbye for good, the old teacher notices Tsubaki's amulet:
—Where do you get that amulet? —asks Xian Tao quite intrigued.
—I was abandoned as a baby in a forest with this. —Tsubaki replies sincerely. Any clue helps.
—Well, I come from Shengkun, but some symbols are similar because they are neighboring regions, I'm sure it's Cerean language —Xian Tao says when she sees the amulet up close because of her tired eyesight.
—Cerean? And where is that from? —Tsubaki can't deduce things.
—The kingdom of Ceres, in the Far East, literally on the other side of the world. —Xian Tao replies annoyedly because of how dense Tsubaki is in her head— It doesn't matter if you go east or west.
Now Tsubaki has clues about her origin, everyone is intrigued about what she is going to say about it, but she reassures them. She confesses that, first of all, it is first to travel with the group, her priority is the delicious food of the places where they go.
Everyone laughs at Tsubaki's simple answer, but everyone supports her decision. The group chats happily as they walk away from the old lady who prays for a safe ride.
Leaving the city, they meet someone they know, Pierre is right in front of them, Tsubaki fails to remain calm and is left with a small gesture of discomfort and asks what matter he has with them. Because of what happened, they all believe that he wants a rematch against Chris, but nothing could be further from the truth, Pierre himself says to the four winds that he wants to leave with them. Everyone takes a few seconds to process what he just said, a second, two seconds, until 9 seconds pass and the first reaction is one of confusion on Chris' part.
Pierre explains that he has his reasons for having arrived at the tournament, practically by the work of fate, because a priestess saved him from a shipwreck and guided him to land to the Colosseum.
—You will find the path you want to follow, frog of the well. —is what she told Pierre.
After his fight against Chris, it became totally clear to him that he must go with him, no matter where, he will rely on fate. Chris remains skeptic, because he replies that destiny is not written in stone, you write it with every decision you make, and more with those you do not make. Pierre is more exalted by his words, and puts more emphasis on wanting to accompany him, there is no one but Chris who is the river by which he is carried away.
—Do you want to be free, even from fate? —Chris asks.
—Yes, there is nothing better than freedom, and even more so if you free yourself from the destiny forged by others. —Pierre's words have a lot of weight behind them, so much so that even Chris can feel it through his eyes.
—Do what you want. Chris replies with some resignation.
Pierre has joined the group and starts conversations to get to know everyone. Chris can't help but look up at the sky as he blurts out a few words in his mind:
—«Teacher, are you seeing me? Now I have one more friend, I think I am ready to fulfill my ambition, I will go to the King's Mountain and fulfill our dreams, yours and mine. »
Hanna strangely feels something inside, a warmth, makes her feel cheerful and at peace as the scandalous group moves away from the city and takes one last look at the land where many things happened.
They arrive in a port city and after a day of rest from the journey on foot, Chris guides them to a boat that recognizes the picturesque group.
—So, you're the champion, huh? Come on board. —the group calls the young adepts, and they are puzzled by the situation and Chris surprises them.
—This is a small gift from Queen Alice, she has made it easy for us to travel by sea to the western continent, Meri, and from there we will go to King's Mountain. —Chris reveals to his friends.
All of them show emotion in their eyes and accept that no matter what happens the journey will continue, beyond their dreams farther away.