At least that was what Kayden expected, but first place continued to climb at high speed and even though he took out the fourth realm mages like grass, the other side was also doing the same.
It became clear to Kayden that Nathan Yuma was a seven-ray wizard and that he was fighting people from a realm above him. The question was how Kayden would overcome him; this competition was practically just between the two.
Third place and the rest had no chance of competing. The prize pool for skipping a realm was much higher than hundreds in the same realm. Some special wizards could jump realms, but not as easily as Kayden and Nathan.
"That was close," muttered Kayden after dodging a wind attack that surged dangerously beneath his foot. It was very sneaky and he had no idea where the attacker was.
"Hang on! Hang on! I attacked by accident!" Kayden saw a young man with light blue eyes and bright yellow hair. He was tall and carried a sword. Her outfit was elegant and full of folds, but at the same time tight and with a diagonal divider from shoulder to foot.
Kayden immediately felt that the person on the other side was in the third realm. The problem was that he couldn’t tell what his opponent’s exact level of strength was. Coupled with the perfect surprise attack, Kayden killed the charade quickly.
There were seven rays. Seven rays in the third realm were rare, extremely rare among challengers. In this generation, for example, there was only Kayden and Nathan. The third place who was fighting for the top positions was just a young girl who reached six lightning bolts directly into the first realm, a ridiculously rare feat.
"You’re Nathan, aren’t you?" The boy’s eyes lit up when he was recognized.
"So you know the illustrious challenger Nathan Yuma. I could even give you an autograph, but I don’t have time for that right now. Furthermore, your low power disgusts me." Nathan couldn’t understand Kayden’s kingdom or his strength. He just considered it as someone at the apprentice level.
He considered that his attack on Kayden was deflected by someone superior at the last moment. He just didn’t understand how someone of that level of strength was present in this region. His superb nature was clear to Kayden.
"Illustrious? Don’t you mean the most pathetic? I challenge him to a fight until only one side remains. I put my honor on the line that I will not run away and I hope that a worm like you does the same." Kayden’s speech was extremely heavy. High society was not used to direct offenses like this.
Even more, Nathan, who was considered a future god by everyone on his planet and outside, received the same respect as a monarch of a planet. Kayden’s speech entered his young mind and made him automatically roar in response.
"I won’t run away from a weakling like you. Tell me the name of whoever I massacred at my hands!" He was much younger than Kayden and still only 60 years old.
His talent was far superior to Kayden’s and even Triz’s was inferior to his. His age and his lightning count were something that shouldn’t be possible together, this gave him one of the biggest egos in this solar system.
"I am the challenger Kayden Heart, the monarch of mana." Kayden’s speech caused the audience to erupt in such loud noise that runes had to be added. Not only that but all eyes were focused on them now.
No one knew Kayden or had even heard of him. His name did not exist in any universal internet registry. His speech was treated as a lie by the majority, but... deep down everyone wanted to see what the end of this fight would be.
"Do you know what a crime it is to impersonate a challenger?" There was no punishment for this, but Nathan was extremely furious at the thought of someone being on the same level as him. "I ask you to stop this test and arrest this rubbish!" His voice was only met with silence.
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"I recommend you take this seriously or later don’t say I didn’t warn you", Kayden stopped talking as he took a deep breath, his eyes closed for a few seconds and...
"Come to your monarch," the mana from over 5 kilometers converged towards Kayden at high speed, his spiritual sense was expanded by 10 times the amount it was at, a feat that was only possible for a short period of time.
"It’s your last chance to prepare," Kayden said looking into his opponent’s eyes. The amount of mana combined with Kayden’s calmness in the situation caused Nathan to expand his wind domain automatically.
His body lost its shape and for about 150 meters the air changed slightly, not only that, but this entire area became an extension of Nathan’s body, he could appear anywhere immediately, and his speed increased dozens of times.
"This is my domain, the wind becomes one with my person, and to this day no opponent has been able to overthrow me, I am the undefeated king and will continue to be", Nathan’s voice came out as if it was accompanied by a strong wind.
"You are the first to see my peak power, I hope you entertain me enough", Kayden named this peak the monarch state, his mana control was ridiculously increased, and his spiritual sense received a huge increase in transmission speed and range.
All of this was done using several pentagrams that amplified and increased power, but that was not the main thing, the most important point was that Kayden had managed to place the pentagrams in his own body.
There was a complex layer of pentagrams all over his body, some increased the power that the mana passed through his veins, others distributed it to his flesh, and others regenerated the damage caused by pressure.
It was a sum of gigantic changes, from tiny ones like increasing the elasticity of a tendon to the size of an organ to increase its activity, this was the stage that a few months ago Kayden wouldn’t have had the courage to try, but after all the knowledge he obtained was willing to take the risk.
Considering there were several dozen peak healers in this competition he would be fine regardless of the damage he received, his katana appeared in his hand in time to parry a wind slash that appeared inches from his head.
His speed was completely ridiculous, his reaction time was accelerated by dozens of times, and he could practically see the flapping wings of a fly in front of him at that moment.
Clang!
Nathan came at Kayden without any fear, his rapier was masterfully defended by Kayden, but Nathan ended up being pushed back, the boy had very high speed, but his strength was not consistent with his speed.
Whenever Kayden moved, a pentagram appeared on the opposite side and released a kind of explosion of air and mana, this was to prevent Kayden’s body from receiving the impact of his movement.
"Are you going to hide?" Kayden teased as his opponent disappeared from his spiritual sense and vision, he couldn’t understand, the wind attacks kept coming from all directions and he didn’t even know where his opponent was.
"You talk a lot!", the voice appeared from all sides, Kayden concentrated on trying to find out exactly where the strongest point of propagation was coming from, and Nathan continued trying to abuse his speed and stealth far above normal.
Every time he appeared, Kayden ended up receiving a blow, even with his high speed he could only partially defend himself, so every time Nathan disappeared, Kayden tried to understand where the boy had gone.
He began compacting the mana around him, practically causing it to become sticky and stick to anything. As soon as Nathan came out of his immaterial state, he was completely marked by Kayden’s mana, but it didn’t do anything, the marking only stayed for a few milliseconds and disappeared.
Kayden, who had always been the master of battles of attrition, was starting to get the worst of it. Fortunately, he had enough mana around him to suppress his excessive spending. His strongest attacks were useless against Nathan as he was too fast and stealthy.
He continued placing the mana around 100 meters and stacking it so that it was extremely dense and difficult to pull, his idea was to first limit Nathan’s space to just 50 meters.
"A small sacrifice," Kayden said when he saw his arm being severed by Nathan’s attack and he managed to apply a reasonable cut to his opponent’s chest, the blow was a bonus, as the main thing was that he was able to close the 50 meters with extremely dense mana.
"There’s no point in keeping me here, you’re stuck with me and not the other way around" Kayden smiled when he saw Nathan’s arrogance, maybe in the future he could lose this fight when Nathan managed to overcome the physical limits of his spell, but now?