Grimjoy's visit had given yet another powerful art for Michael to learn. But as Michael had thought earlier, it was impossible to learn it in a short time. But with Mubal helping him from the side, they managed to theoretically nullify its effects and improve the All-Seeing Eyes. All that was left was the implementation. The method that they came up with was to use the power of laws that Michael cultivated. While Mubal had not cultivated any laws yet, he did know the theory behind it.

Michael had cultivated both life and death laws. Thus, he could use them as a medium for sensing his surroundings. But it would require a lot of practice to truly merge the power of laws in his soul energy and then spread it finely over an area. It looked like even this training would take time.

After finalizing the situation of the military base and the royal castle, Michael did what no one in the plane was expecting him to do - he declared a wedding challenge.

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Ashley was pretty sure that her fate was screwed when she woke up in her chambers. She had tried to escape and force herself over Michael only to faint under his soul attack. She had been trapped in her own room ever since. She could not find any information about what happened. Her cultivation suppression was getting harder and harder to do.

This continued for two months. Ragnar seemed to be enjoying tormenting her. He did not do anything to her as if giving her a final solace before her final fall. But Ashley too had her ways. She had managed to charm one of the guards to get her some poison. She was prepared to die in seclusion when someone came over to her room.

Generally, it was only Ragnar who came but this time it was someone else - Amber.

This was Ragnar's new assistant, someone who had mastered the art of flattery and boot-licking. This guy joined as a servant and worked his way up the ranks to become Ragnar's assistant in several matters. While his cultivation was only early-emperor realm, even the guards of the castle who were in perfect-realm were respectful to him.

Ashley felt that this visit was going to be about something Ragnar wanted from her but it turned out to be completely different.

Amber : My Lady, how have you been?

Ashley : What is it that you want?

Amber : I came here because I was worried about you and I ..

Ashley : You have no reason to worry about me. Speak. What does Ragnar want now?

Amber : Lady, you misunderstand me. It is not Lord Ragnar who has sent me here but Lord Nicholas.

Ashley got confused by this information. Nicholas was the name of the elven king. He was the leader of elves and his power was said to be only a tier below the beast-emperor. Among all the immortals in the royal family, he was the eldest and also the most powerful. He was also in possession of the defining treasure of elves which made him as powerful as Igor. It was just that the defining treasure of elves - the breath of forest - was not a mobile treasure. It had been buried in the land below the royal castle and Nicholas was the current owner of that treasure. This made him invincible in the royal castle but not everywhere else.

But in the royal castle, his words were final. He did listen to the opinions of other immortals but he was the final voice. And he had never talked to Ashley and never sent for her. The difference between their status was simply too huge.

Ashley : Why would Lord Nicholas send you here?

Amber : Well, there is a story to this. I will tell you now. More than two months ago, when you were attacked by the assassins, Michael Rageberg, your classmate from the light tower fought valiantly to protect you. The entire race agreed to his contributions. He died fighting for you.

This was the first time Ashley heard something of the outside world. And while she knew that there were no assassins after her, what made her sad was Michael's death. He was a good friend that she had.

Amber continued

Amber : While he died then, a few days back, one immortal-expert of humans changed the royal power. I know, no one knew that humans had an immortal-expert. But it turns out that they do. Apparently, the Atrexias had some contact with The Deces - the organization of assassins. While it was not completely proved that they ordered your assassination, Sir Ragnar still insisted that they pay compensation.

Ashley : You know the name of assassination organization?

Amber : You do not know because you have not interacted with the people at that level. This is an extremely fearsome organization with an immortal-slayer at its head. Anyway, this was the reason for the human immortal's wrath. He changed the royal family and the power shifted to the Ragebergs. So basically, now Collins Rageberg is the human king. But all this was normal happening, not worth mentioning in our Lord's eyes. But then, just a few days back, something incredible happened.

Amber seemed to wait after saying that as if he could not believe what he was going to say next.

Ashley : What? You are not speaking any more?

Amber : No, no. My Lady, its just that I still find it hard to believe. Do you remember the bright light a few days back that seemed to pierece throught the castle walls?

Ashley : Yes, I thought that some peerless treasure was being born!

Amber : It was not some peerless treasure. After the light subsided - it was Michael Rageberg standing there - alive.

Ashley stood up in shock.

Ashley : What?

Amber : Yes. It seems that the plane-will resurrected him. Now, this has never happened before and even ancients have not seen such a thing happen. This is unprecedented in our entire known and perhaps unknown history. He is being lauded as the child of plane now. His following is huge even among other races.

Ashley : Is that so? I guess. He did come back from the dead. So, what has this to do with us?

Amber : This has everything to do with us. Michael Rageberg has declared a wedding challenge and you are the wife he has chosen.

This news immediately left Ashley speechless. A wedding challenge was an ancient ritual. In earlier days, wealth and politics had caused several different statuses to appear among the people. It still continued to this day. But Aterna was true to one thing - the superiority of strength. If someone wanted something, they could declare a challenge. Once declared the challenge could not be taken back. In case of a wedding challenge - the bride or the groom could initiate it. Then the other party could accept or refuse. If they refused, then there was no need for talks anymore. It would generally lead to war between the bride's and groom's family. If the challenge was accepted, then the family which accepted would get their champions. There will be others who would want to take the same bride or groom, so they too would be able to participate. And whoever won the tournament would be given the bride/groom. Of course, the person challenging had to participate personally as well as other candidates who wished to marry the challenged. The challenged could get champions of their choice or the person in question could step up themselves as well.

Of course, Ashley was too weak to participate herself but her family could arrange for many powerful champions on her behalf. But the chances of accepting the challenge were not high.

Ashley : That may be true but Ragnar would not accept the challenge. If he does so, it will become an open challenge and even other immortals would be able to participate.

Amber : Haah!(sighes) My Lady, Michael Rageberg is not an ordinary person anymore. If we declare war on him, he might get support from many avenues. The beast-prince and the beast-emperor are favouring him. Karslon is already his teacher. And there is that human immortal in shadows to consider. We might win the war but at a huge price. Another thing is that Lord Grimjoy - the head of The Deces, the most fearsome assassin in the world has agreed to accept one request from Michael Rageberg. Michael's letter contains a veiled threat that even in the Royal castle, immortals are not completely safe. This has caused serious discussions in the royal court. Lord Ragnar was against accepting this as he did not want to handle his descendent as a trophy. But Nicholas has agreed to this because he wanted to avoid the war. So all in all, My Lady, you are now going to become the main attraction of a huge event. Nicholas has already accepted the challenge and several challengers have come forward from several different races. Though they are mostly the young ones, even powerful experts have started appearing.

When Ashley heard what was happening, she could not contain her excitement. Was this not what she wanted? As long as she could find a powerful expert as a groom, she would have obtained the chance that she so desperately wanted!

She felt extremely grateful to Michael. All that she had wanted was coming true because of one letter from him. She was feeling bad for her behaviour towards him. She would ask for his forgiveness and thank him from the depth of her heart the next time she saw him.

Little did she know that Michael was not only doing this for her. This was going to be his stage to show his strength. The hero defeated death itself and took the heroine by defeating all the villains and competitors. Was this not the perfect story of a hero?

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In just a few days, the event of Ashley's wedding challenge became an incredibly hot topic. The elven emperor Nicholas Lislechis gave a time period of six months for preparations. The entire details of the tournament were announced. Several nobles form the elven race were the first to apply. This was followed by the noble scions from other races as well. But soon, heavyweight names came up as well - the Gargoyle prince, the beast prince and so on. It became a huge tournament that many joined just to show their strength on the stage.

The Lislechis family came up with many powerful champions on their own. Even Ragnar stepped up as a champion.

People could only curse him for his shamelessness. But then, several independent race's immortal-experts also came up as challengers.

What had started as a simple wedding challenge devolved into a full-blown martial festival. There were a few reasons for this. First, Ashley was extremely beautiful, igniting passions of men and even women alike. She was perfect for a trophy wife. Initially, no one wanted to offend Ragnar so they did not dare to try anything. After all, Ragnar was not someone from a weak race. Even god-beasts would have to consider the consequences of war with them.

But now, this was a fair tournament and the elven emperor had given his consent. This meant that now Ragnar was alone, without support from his race. Many immortal experts were not afraid of someone of that calibre. Thus, they decided to win the trophy wife. As for the others, they wanted to show their power. After all, even dark and neutral races were allowed to take part, igniting the competitive spirit of the youths across the plane. Even the god-beast youths came out.

As this was a tournament, the fighting was going to be regulated with the chances of death being low. This was different from wars where people fought to kill. Thus, many of the noble scions who would usually not participate were prepared to fight.

As the races were very divided, martial competitions like this were never organized. But now, this was the first time it was happening. It would later come to be known as the first Aterna Martial Festival and would eventually become a tradition that would be continued for many years.