The battle of nobles continued to find that Mero was much more brutal in his matches. But, his popularity kept on increasing nevertheless. The battle of nobles mostly had participants from the various noble houses from different races. Only the noble scions were allowed to participate in this phase. The other experts associated with the noble families had to join the battle of commoners.

The battles continued for 2 days and the top 50 were decided. To the surprise of many nobles, Mero managed to become the champion of this round as well. But the crowd felt that Mero was bound to be the champion overall. It was quite a surreal thing. The crowd believed in him without any significant proof of his strength. They believed in him blindly. This was the quality of a natural hero. One believed in them even when the odds were against them. It bordered on fanaticism. After the top 50 were declared, it was announced that the Battle of princes would begin from the next week. The number of princes that had challenged was only around 50. Thus, a total of hundred participants were there and the top 20 was to be selected.

It was proposed that 20 groups would be decided and one person would be selected from each group through a battle royale. Then, the losers would get three chances to challenge any person who has been selected. If they win, they will replace their opponent.

It was indeed a fair method. The distribution of the groups was posted and 20 stages were raised in the centre field.

People were now able to have a look at all the candidates. Thus, it was only now that they could start gambling on the participants. The number of experts who enrolled in the battle of experts was around 30. The number of immortals enrolled for the battle of immortals was around 20. Thus, there were only 150 contenders left. Each person had a specific return rate for being the winner of the tournament.

For Michael, the odds were 1:1000. As the gamblers were being funded by the elves, there was no need to worry about authenticity.

Someone then bet a terrifying amount on Michael's name. No one knew who did so, but the amount was so huge that returning a thousand times would make even the elven country feel a sting. This caused lots of discussions among the general crowd. They were all interested in knowing who this mad man was.

Michael was still nowhere to be found and many people believed that he was not going to show up. Many stories and rumours floated around. The groups were declared and Michael was in a group with three middle-tier race's princes. They were all from different empires. The only notable fellow in his group was the vampire prince - Drake Blood.

The battle date came closer but no one had seen Michael yet. Finally, the day of the battle arrived.

On that day, the crowds again came together to watch the proceedings. The experts who had been defeated were still present and no one wanted to leave. After all, in this competition, even immortals would participate. Thus, everyone was looking forward to their battles. It was once in a lifetime opportunity to broaden one's horizon.

As the people gathered, the princes started taking their place on different stages. This was the first time that the princes of different races were coming together to match their martial prowess. Another important thing was that the god-beasts prince had also visited. Their nobles had not come but their princes had. The reason was that there were very few nobles in the god-beast territory. Everyone that could be called a noble was pretty much a king of their own territory with power and resources comparable to entire races.

The princes were already on the stage and the winners from the previous round entered and appeared as well. Quite a few people were keeping an eye out for Michael but he had yet to appear. At the moment, one expert of the elves who was chosen as the commentator said:

All the warriors have taken the stage. People, please hold your breaths. These peerless princes of their race are now going to battle for the most beautiful princess in the plane! The battles are going to start in any moment. But it seems that the main challenger is not yet ....

The commentator stopped midway, looking at the stage that Michael was supposed to be on. There were indeed 5 people standing there. Looking closely, there was a person standing there as well. He wore normal robes - the same as most commoners. His clothing or equipment was not flashy like the rest of the princes. But his eyes seemed to give off a light that could blind you if you dared to look into them! He was standing there and no aura was coming off him. This only happened when a person could handle their aura extremely well. This was also the mark of an expert.

The person was indeed the main challenger - Michael Rageberg. How he had appeared, no one knew. Not even the immortals found how he came!

The crowd started murmuring among themselves obviously shocked by Michael's skill. Ashley looked at Michael with astonishment. He came to fight for her. Ashley did not think badly of him at all. He was an extremely desirable husband. But his chances of winning were nil. Besides, there was a good chance that Ragnar would have him killed in the tournament or outside. But he still came. This caused her to feel very moved.

The princes that shared the stage with Michael drew gasps as they distanced themselves from him. They had been spooked. Drake Blood saw Michael as well and he immediately felt great danger.

The vampire prince was incredibly cautious in nature. Michael was someone with too many legends. His contributions in the hundred-year war were already illustrious. His resurrection was also the most talked about story in all the circles. Drake had no mood to truly fight this guy. There was no way that he was normal by any means. Why should he be the one to fight this abnormality? Thus, he immediately said:

I yield this round. I will look forward to challenging the winners.

The commentator confirmed it before saying:

Our main challenger is here as well. Indeed, he is the young dragon that is heralded as the greatest genius in Aterna. Now, this tournament has two peerless geniuses. It would indeed be exhilerating to see the battle of the greatest geniuses for the princess!

The crowd too was anticipating Michael's and Mero's match. Mero's eyes seemed to flick with light as he stared at Michael. He had one impression:

Strong!

Michael was indeed strong. As his age was low as well, Mero felt that Michael was indeed his only rival. He felt that his destiny was to become the overlord of the plane and Michael was his rival fighting for the same destiny. Thus, his competitive spirit soared.

Michael, on the other hand, did not seem interested in the happenings around him. He was still calm and composed.

The commentator was going to announce the start of the battle when suddenly Mero shouted:

Michael Rageberg, tell me. Are you really in love with Princess Ashley?

Michael : What has that got to do with you?

Mero : You have challenged the elves for the wedding. If you were serious about it, you would have brought your teacher Karslon to enrol in the battle of immortals. It is quite clear that you are only doing this for publicity. Why? Are you not satisfied with your fame?

Michael : I don't have the habbit of having others deal with my mess. I indeed challenged the elves for the wedding rites and I am here to uphold my challenge. What has this got to do with my teacher?

Mero : Is that so? So, you think you can fight against the immortals and win? If you are not really in love with the princess, I suggest you to leave this stage. If you don't you will be my enemy! And you will also be my teacher's - Lord Bluewind's enemy!

Michael : Is that so? I have too many enemies to count - both in the light and the dark. I have never backed down due to the fear of making enemies. You want to fight, you will get one.

Mero : Very well. I will treat you as such.

Mero was testing Michael. He obviously could see that Michael was powerful but he wanted to test his heart. Did he have the courage to wear his life on his sleeve? Was he capable of bearing the pressure of certain death? Mero wanted to see for himself. And from what he could see, Michael was indeed a formidable genius. This was the reason he accepted him as his rival.

This exchange of words was exactly what the crowd was looking for! They got more and more excited with these two geniuses' exchange of dialogues. Bards had composed the song of two geniuses - one prince and one commoner who loved the same girl. It was based on Michael and Mero and had gotten extremely popular in the city. The exchange settled their image even further.

The battle started after this. The battles went smoothly with nothing abnormal happening. Michael simply fought off the three princes with a simple soul attack. Thus, the battles ended. A few stages had some fierce battles but no upheaval happened. The groups were made in a way so that the strongest 20 would not fight each other.

The second round began and people started calling out the names of different people they thought they could win against. But no one called Michael or Mero. The battles ended in half a day and the top 20 were easily selected. But they could not leave it as such. There was a need to decide the champion among these qualified fighters.

The elves asked these qualified experts to battle one another in groups of 5 again and 2 from each group would be selected to go into the quarter-finals. Then, it was a knock-out tournament.

The groups were decided and set in such a way that Michael and Mero would fight only in the finals. The elves were truly trying to milk the cash cow they had found.

The battles continued as usual. Michael seemed to be losing patience as he would simply knock out his opponents with a well-placed soul attack. There was no one in the group that could stand against him even with a soul-guard. Thus, after the second match, he started getting walk-overs. The crowd liked Mero much more who fought with all the flashy moves. His elegant forms while fighting were extremely eye-catching.

The group battles ended and the following princes reached the quarterfinals:

Human Prince

Dragon Prince

Gargoyle Prince

Pheonix Prince

Ghoul Prince

Dark Elf Prince

Beast Prince (Kandrif)

Mero

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael knew Kandrif already. The dragon prince was the one who had reached perfect-realm in his past life and taken the life law inheritance. The Dragon Emperor was a well-known powerhouse in the plane. Michael did not have an impression of the others but it did not matter.

He smiled after looking at Kandrif who smiled back. Michael asked:

Brother, you are also here to win Ashley's hand?

Kandrif : The hell you talking about? She belongs to you. Even if you loose today, the werebeast immortals are there to get her for you. Don't worry. I got them form my uncle for this purpose only. I, on the other hand, only came to test myself against the other princes. And it doesn't seem like I am doing badly.

Michael : Indeed! Thank you, Kandrif for your thought. But brother, I am going to win anyway. Also, we are in different groups so please let that Mero kid win. I want to face him in the finals.

Kandrif : What? That kid is good. I wanted to check my skills against him. If I can defeat him without stepping into the saint realm, won't it be quite something?

Michael : You can fight and even win. But he must be the one to face me in the finals.

Kandrif : Okay.

Kandrif was in the peak-emperor realm and was preparing to breakthrough to the saint realm. Given his family's wealth, it was not going to be anything difficult.

They took their respective places and the battle began.

Now, all the princes in the position were extremely powerful ones. Thus the battles were extremely intense with each prince using several trump cards. After all, they were representing their race in front of the plane. Michael faced the gargoyle prince in the first battle. But before the battle could begin, Romain came over to Michael asking for some extra time. He said:

Lord Michael, I am Romain Goji, son of Goliath Goji. My father wants to meet you once. Will it be possible?

Michael : Oh! Lord Goliath himself seeks me. Very well, when I am leaving the city, he can find me then.

Michael's response caused Romain to frown for a bit. His father was an immortal-slayer. Michael's words were respectful but not his tone. But he quickly changed his expression and thanked Michael before announcing his surrender. Michael easily got another walk-over.

The dragon and phoenix princes had a brilliant battle with the flames moving across the stage. The battle lasted for a long while before the Dragon Prince won. Then the Dragon Prince challenged Michael with a great speech:

I am the prince of Dragons, son of the Dragon Emperor. I have heard that you dare to call yourself the greatest genius in Aterna! I am here to verify it! If you are capable, defeat me with your martial arts!

Michael returned his speech with a soul-blast that knocked the dragon prince cold. While the dragon prince was a peak-saint, his soul was only in solid-soul-realm. How could he compare to a monster like Michael?

Michael said:

This is my path of power. There is no path of power that is unacceptable. Even the greatest assassin can become an immortal-slayer so why would I leave seal a part of my power to fight you?

Michael would not have minded trading a couple of blows with the dragon but he was bored. He wanted to go forth and release his entire aura so that he would win this meaningless competition. But everything had a proper way. He would reveal his power in a way that would have the greatest visual impact.

After defeating the dragon prince, Michael went to the finals.

As for the other group, Kandrif faced the ghoul prince. It was another brilliant battle that caused the blood of the crowd to pump greatly. Similarly, Mero's battle with the dark elf prince was all made with flashing moves. In fact, all battles were very entertaining to watch except for Michael's who did not do anything except standing on the stage.

Kandrif and Mero were the victors. Their battle was the most exciting battle in the entire tournament. Both were almost evenly matched and while Mero's movements were elegant, Kandrif's moves were fatal and bloodthirsty. The battle continued for a while. But there was no clear victor!

Mero was very stunned with the level of the princes. The ones that made it to the quarterfinals were all extremely powerful. He had barely managed to win against the dark-elf prince and now the beast prince seemed even more powerful. Though there was a difference of a few years between them, Mero knew that the age difference would not have much effect as one's realm increased because progress became more and more difficult.

The battle ultimately turned into an endurance contest and Mero was bound to lose. Who could match werebeasts in endurance?

But Kandrif after feeling satisfied surrendered the match.

He said:

My brother is the one who should beat you. Go and meet him in the finals.

The day came to an end and it was decided that the finals would be held the next day. After all, the elves wanted to earn more money from this much-awaited match.