As the sun rose on Throne Day, several thousands fighters gathered in the central square to battle it out.

The sun slowly crept upon the horizon and struck the battlers. They stood in random formations; some sitting, some standing anxiously, some even getting on top of things to utilize their power in certain ways.

All fighting or scuffling was prohibited, and anyone that fought before the overseer gave the signal would be swiftly removed by official warriors overseeing the fight.

The people fighting were comprised of people from several backgrounds. Strong, weak, army men, army leaders, official warriors on the top fifty list, and so many more.

The overseer lifted his hand as he began to give the signal.

"FIGHT!"

Fighting broke out between everyone. Flashing lights from powers and screams from those gathered filled the air more than anything else.

People were severely injured, knocked out, and even killed from all the fighting.

It took hours for it to come down to just two fighters.

One was a man with black hair, a man bun, and bushy eyebrows who emerged from a pile of bodies to look at his final opponent.

He was covered in blood, running down his arms, face, and legs. Not all of it was his.

His outfit, which was a plain suit with black paints and a white shirt was now stained crimson red.

He was the #3 Warrior on the Warrior list of 50, Masefi.

Masefi's eyes beamed into his opponent, who hadn't met his gaze just yet.

His opponent had long, purple hair, that went all the way down his back. He was sporting a black beanie that had two white spots in the front, like eyes. He wore a brown vest with a tan shirt underneath and gray pants.

The man with the purple hair finally met gaze after he had been staring at the ground for a good while. He held a golden staff in his hand that had a tiny purple tip at the end.

They stared at each other in silence.

Masefi became more and more uneasy as the exchange went on.

He wasn't sure what to say, what to do, and what would happen next.

Then, the man with purple hair allowed something to creep out of mouth softly.

"Do you think you could kill the King like that?"

Masefi's eyes shifted to the ground as his mind raced. It was a question that he had been asking himself as blood dripped like rain from a rooftop.

Still caught in his aggression from the relentless fighting, he wanted to fire back and ask the same thing to the man before him, however, the man was unscathed.

There was no injures on him; just a tad bit of blood splatter from his opponents, but not noticeable unless you studied his outfit.

Masefi replied after quite a bit of silence, breathing in between words and phrases.

"I fought...hundreds of people today...some of my friends, some people I disliked, and some I greeted on duty."

Masefi's gaze was now deadlocked in the man's eyes.

"I killed my friends...I killed good people...all for something that...may not be achievable..."

Masefi's eyes started watering. It was a mixture of emotions; sadness, grief, anger, and determination.

The man's expression did not change.

Then he spoke.

"I don't think you were meant to be here..."

Masefi's expression remained the same, but more tears flowed.

He thought about what the man had said. Masefi had worked all his life to become someone of importance, and to become strong enough to reach said goal. He achieved his goal. He was a well known warrior, a though and strong one at that, who was projected to become a warlord as time went on.

But like the other thousands of people out there, he disregarded all these incredible accomplishments, feats, and important things in his life, and foolishly fought for a chance to take the throne.

But he hadn't even entered the kingdom yet.

The man started to walk towards the doors.

Masefi didn't do anything in reaction to this. He watched him advance towards the Kingdom slowly.

He thought about challenging the unscathed man, but realized how it could end up.

He thought about walking towards the door himself, seeing how the other man would react.

Masefi even thought about going home, walking away from everything, and returning to his life as a warrior. He had the chance now. After all, the man didn't look like he wanted to fight, and he wasn't contesting him. The person who would duel King Jonah was now walking towards the entrance of the Kingdom, and nothing was stopping him.

So many others had walked away also. Some were buried under other's bodies and fled from the scene as they realized they were losing. He now had the same chance.

However, the man wasn't done yet. He turned around, stared at Masefi, and restated his message to Masefi from before.

"I don't think you were meant to be here..."

And this time, he finished it, with a tragic expression as tears fell from his wide eyes.

"And I resent you for that!"

The man swung his staff and Masefi's head fell to the ground.

The overseer called out from above.

"You may now enter to challenge the King!"

The man with purple hair followed his direction.

-

The halls leading to the throne room had been the same as they were decades prior when Jonah walked down them to take the throne, but the door wasn't. It was replaced from when he broke it with a new, more fancy one that was shining with gold.

The man opened the door lightly and saw the King sitting in his throne.

King Jonah stared at the man and smiled.

Then he studied his outfit to find no injuries or major markings of blood.

Then the smile faded.

The man looked up at Jonah with a blank expression.

Jonah then asked him "What's your name?"

The man stared at Jonah and replied back.

"It doesn't matter. You're gonna kill me right?"

Jonah's smile formed again, but only to lighten the mood a little bit. He was still uneasy about the fact that the man had no visible injuries.

In all 60 years of him being King, he had never seen anyone walk into the room unscathed on Throne Day. At most, he had seen people hiding their injuries to intimidate him, but he could tell that they were hiding, or at least they had other wounds that suggested it.

The man had nothing of the sort, and it frightened him.

"Sure," Jonah replied. "But it doesn't mean we have to be strangers before that happens. You fought so hard out there and you won't even tell me your name? Don't you want a tad bit of honor from your King? I always tell stories of the warriors that fight me along with their name, their upbringing, and all they accomplished. You wouldn't want to be left out of that, do you?"

The man's expression didn't change. He knew that the King was practically telling him that he'd died the second he stepped in the room, but he didn't try to refute or challenge his message.

"I want to get this over with. I've heard odd speeches and jabs all day at me and, honestly, I'm tired of it."

Jonah's frown faded.

"Alright, off to the battle room."

The man turned to his right and started walking towards it.

Jonah looked to his left and picked up his massive white "great sword." Then he followed the man.

As they walked there, Jonah realized how King Ren must have felt sixty years ago when he had fought him. Just like Ren, he was now presented with someone like himself back then; an unscathed enemy who didn't want to exchange any details or engage in conversation, and just wanted to fight.

Jonah stared at the back of the man's purple hair and beanie as he lead the way.

When they reached the door, the man opened it himself and didn't look back at Jonah. Jonah followed him in to the room.

The room had always looked the same for as long as Jonah had been there. The floors, walls, and ceiling were all pure, shiny metal.

The man stepped into the room, still looking straight until he was decently far from Jonah.

Then he turned in faced Jonah.

They both looked into each other's eyes.

"Ready?" Jonah asked.

The man nodded.

Jonah gripped his sword tightly. His palms were very sweaty, and he had an extremely bad feeling about what was about to conspire. The lack of wounds set him off, but he just couldn't stop thinking about all the other factors that compared to how he was when he challenged King Ren.

"Let's go." Jonah said as the battle commenced.

The man took three steps forward.

Jonah was very focused on him and wanted him to make the first move. Even though he was carefully analyzing him, he was still picking up details about the man and evaluating them.

When Jonah entered the throne room to kill King Ren sixty years prior, he knew he was going to win. The power that he harnessed was so great, and he had no doubt in his mind that it'd be enough to kill Ren.

However, that was at the expense of him being vulnerable. He barely used any of his energy while fighting those in the central square, and that costed him some great injuries that he hid under his armor.

He sensed that same confidence from this man. Only this time, the man had no wounds.

The man was invulnerable.

The man was nothing and everything like Jonah at the same time.

The man raised his golden staff and then stared into Jonah's eyes.

Then he was in front of Jonah, and the staff was inside of his stomach.

And in the next millisecond, in his back.

And in the next millisecond, his arms,

and the next his legs,

and every part of his body,

And then the second ended and Jonah was on the ground, bleeding out, and in shock.

It was so quick that Jonah was no longer thinking about a counter attack, but about how to stay conscious.

When the stabbing stopped, it had only been about two seconds since the man looked in his eyes.

Jonah laid on his back on the ground. He was hurting all over and the man was behind him, standing over his body, waiting for any movement.

Jonah sat up and looked at the wall. He felt an excruciating amount of pain. He had never felt any pain like this before, and the only time that was comparable to this had been in his youth, when he fought in the #2 Warlord at the time's army.

Jonah thought about his kids. His daughter who had died in battle just a few days after her twenty third birthday. His wife who had died fifty years ago, who's death was mourned by the entire country.

His son, Jonakai, who he was extremely proud of, despite the mishaps with his army and children.

His grandchild, Tyde, who had passed before he was able to truly make a name for himself beyond "The King's Grandson."

Temiente, who he loved, but didn't understand why he ran away and did what he did.

And Tero, who he loved extraordinarily, and had just seen a few weeks prior mastering his power strain.

He thought about their fates more than he thought about his in the moment.

While he was thinking about this, he had shifted from sitting straight up to getting on his knees with his hands placed in front of him and his head looking down at the ground.

He was thinking about propping himself up and getting on his feet, despite the enemy in the room.

He was no longer thinking about battle and just wanted to stand up again like he was a few seconds ago.

The man walked from behind him to in front of him.

Jonah looked up at his face.

It was still the same blank expression from before. No remorse, no sadness, no anger.

Just a face that existed.

"My name is Deziekker. This is for what you did to my father."

Jonah snapped back into reality.

A million things raced through Jonah's head. He wanted to ask and say several things, but he didn't know where to start.

"You-"

But before he could say anything else, his head was no longer attached to his body.

-

If the King dies on Throne Day, every country under world government rule takes it as a day of mourning. They stop everything they are doing and rest at home, observe the news, and let the day pass.

The whole world was in shock. Jonah had served for sixty years straight. Some people were born when he took the throne and were now towards the end of their lifetime as he passed. Some even lived full, lengthy lifetimes while he served.

But the people that were mostly in shock were Tero and Jonakai. They were the closest people to Jonah. The only family that he had left.

Jonakai was extremely sad. He never lived in a world where his father was dead, and this thought plagued his mind as he tried to get use to the feeling. He thought mostly about his father felt as he went out. He hoped that he went peacefully, and rejected being informed about what happened in the room to make, presumably, the strongest man in the world succumb to defeat.

Jonakai thought about his own legacy as well, which he thought might have been a little selfish. His city, where he, his retired soldiers, and son resided was given to him as a Warlord and wasn't seized after retirement due to an exception made by his father, the King. Who knows if the new King would break the rule and force him to relinquish his ownership of it?

Tero took his grandfather's death exceptionally harsh.

The tension that and his father had been building up for the past few years blew away like wind in the instant that they were informed of the news.

He had clung to his father since the death and shed dozens of tears.

He always looked up to his grandfather the most out of everyone he knew. Even though he wasn't as close with him as others in his life, the fact that he ruled almost every part of the world and was worshipped by almost everyone in it was enough to convince him that he was all the security that he needed in his life. His grandfather was the epitome of strength for him and nearly everyone else on the planet he lived on.

Grief wasn't the only thing that these two experienced though.

There was also fear.

Fear that this new King could be a completely different person than their grandfather.

Fear that he would go out of his way to target them specifically.

Fear that he would be a bad ruler, and not only effect them, but most of those in the world.

But most importantly to them, fear that he was Evil.

These thoughts plagued their mind and struck them with fear along with the grief. It's easy to say that these days following Jonah's death were unbelievably hard for the two of them.

As a rule stated by the world government, the person who kills the King cannot be an Evil, and if they are, they are not to take the throne and set to be exterminated by the warriors and warlords.

This rule was established after Xaiffen took the throne and caused the Dark Era, so that no evils would take the throne, just like back then.

Because of this rule, every King had to present citizenship documents and proof of upbringing, and it was checked as soon as the new King was able to get into contact with the higher ups in the government.

There is a group that essentially "rules" over the King, known as the Jace, and they are long running members of the world government. They are put to that position after serving for a good amount of years and showing great leadership.

They don't have too much power over the King except for the fact that they help make sure that all the rules established that are for the King are being enforced. The King still has the ultimate jurisdiction at the end of the day, and the advisors that serve alongside him as well.

They just oversee everything and make sure that nothing spirals out of control like it did in the Dark Era.

After the new King Deziekker took the throne, he was checked, and he was cleared.

-

The funeral for the King occurs five days after his passing.

The casket of the King is put in the middle of the world stage. The entire world watches through their news screens at home and many of those in the crowd of the world stage watch firsthand.

The King's family, close advisors, members of the Perrior (the King's top fifty royal army members), who had both retired and were currently serving, and close allies and companions he cherished were all present on the world stage next to his casket.

The casket was comprised of dark, luscious gold, and there were unique and abstract designs that flowed from the top to the bottom and all the way around.

Many people on the stage gave speeches regarding their experiences with Jonah.

They were all pretty much the same; talking about how great of a leader he was, how he cared for them and vice versa, how their lives were changed because of him, and that he'll be remembered forever.

And then it was Tero's turn to speak.

Tero Tazakani, now fourteen years old, never lived in a world where his grandfather wasn't King. He was seriously devastated and didn't know what to make of such a tragic event that caused such drastic change.

As he walked up to the podium that held the microphone, he stared at the crowd that laid before him. He could see tens of thousands of people staring at him. He was always thought and talked about by thousands on a daily basis, but this was the first time he truly realized it.

As he reached the podium, he let out a nervous sigh and stared at his feet.

He took out a tiny sheet of crumpled paper from his right pocket and set it on the podium. It was only a few lines long and some of it was hardly readable because of the condition of it.

Then he began his speech.

"King Jonah was not only a great King, but a great grandfather. He showed me so much love even when no one else did. When he visited me, he lit up my entire world and made me feel like I was truly special. Fortunately for the world, he had the same impact on the citizens of the world as he did me and made everyone feel like there was always someone there to keep the world in control. He will always be remembered by me, and most importantly, the people."

That was where the speech ended on the paper.

Tero stared at it for a few seconds as applause slowly rushed in.

But Tero was not finished.

He opened his mouth again to speak, and after a few words the applause was no more as his speech continued.

"My grandfather was someone that I could always look up to when it came to training strength. He told me that I was getting really strong and that one day, I would be a great fit for whatever profession I sought after."

Jonakai's eyes widened as he listened more attentively to Tero's speech.

"No one ever told me that before unless they were doing it out of pity. I think my grandfather really meant it. He saw things in people that others didn't see, and that's why he was a great leader and person."

Tero nervously looked out into the crowd as he realized he let too much of his emotions go on stage.

He wanted to finish his speech quick, so he defaulted to the first thing that popped into his mind.

"He was the greatest King of All. The new King filling his shoes better do as good of a job as him, because the people of Mace are counting on him."

Tero walked away from the podium and returned to where he was sitting before. Applause had followed him all the way there, and a slight smile had formed on his face as he realized he hadn't messed up too much.

He looked straight out at the audience from his seat and then turned to his father who had an dissatisfied look on his face.

Tero didn't know how to react to this, so he just raised his eyebrows to seemingly ask "What?"

Jonakai finally opened his mouth and whispered something to Tero."

"You're very strong, Tero. I told you this many times before. I love you and anticipate that you're going to be great, and you know that. You shouldn't insinuate to the world that I think otherwise."

Tero didn't respond. He looked back at the audience.

-

After the funeral of the King, those who were on top of the world stage and those close with Jonah went to an area of the Kingdom of Mace known as the King's Burial.

It's in the meadows a bit away from the back of the main castle building. The outside walls of the decently sized square building are encrusted with diamond and gold. This building is guarded 24/7 by knights of the Perrior on duty.

They walked Jonah's casket there and now stood outside of the building.

Upon walking in, you'll see stairs that lead directly down. The floor, ceiling, and steps are encrusted in gold and diamond as well and it leads to a long stretch to a room that has the same design.

Gold and diamond encrusted tombstones lay there along with all the bodies of the previous King's under them.

King Jonah's had already been made for him to the right of King Ren's.

The tombstone read as follows:

KING JONAH TEMY TAZAKANI

1613-1695

ALSO KNOWN AS JONAH THE GREAT, RESTORER OF DECENCY,

& BRISK KING JONAH

SURVIVED BY HIS SON JONAKAI AND HIS GRANDSON TERO

MAY HE REST PEACEFULLY FOREVER

Jonah's casket was lowered in the hole in front of the tombstone.

As they walked from the building back to their regular everyday lives, Tero saw Mason to the left of him walking with his parents.

He walked up to him and started a conversation.

"Have you advanced your power any yet?"

Mason didn't know how to respond. He was shocked that Tero was asking such questions just shortly after his grandfather was buried. He thought he would have to be extra caring and gentle the next time he saw Tero because he thought that he would be grief stricken from everything.

But Mason realized something shortly after he asked this question. Tero's speech, his relationship with his family, his relationship with him, a lot of it was intertwined with Tero always talking about getting stronger and strength training.

Tero was extremely passionate about getting stronger. He wanted to become someone strong and independent, and now that the epitome of strength within his life was gone, he sought after that goal even more. Mason thought that was why he had no issue with asking such a question. Tero was so caught up in getting strong that it became the focal point of his life.

Tero, in every situation, no matter what it was, was always thinking about how it affected him, his strength, and his place in the world as someone who is strong.

-

Things were quite awkward in Jonakai's city before and after Jonah's burial. It was more quiet and the city had a sort of soft atmosphere to it. Granted, it was like this in many places of the world, but because it was the city of the King's grandfather, it was especially quiet.

After the day of the burial, a lot of the grief had been dealt with due to the honoring and the funeral, so it was back to distance between Tero and his father.

Tero trained, albeit not as hard, the following day. He felt more dedicated to his training than ever and wanted to exert as much energy as he could into training, but he couldn't shake the weird feeling that was lingering, and it prohibited him from going all out.

Everything was weird. The city could be seized at any minute, and everyone in the city was scared. It was unlikely as the higher ups said that they were going to do everything in their power to not allow any irrational decisions regarding the city to occur, but the King did have the ultimate authority.

The King was going to show himself for the first time tomorrow at the King's Address with a speech and his plans for the future, and no one knew what to expect. The King being evil or bad was no longer an option that resided in people's heads since he had been cleared and rumors were already floating around. When Xaiffen took over, the King's Address occurred the day after Throne Day in an emergency meeting, and nothing went as expected. It was pretty much ruled out that the King wasn't evil.

That being said, there were many things floating around about the King.

The King's name was common knowledge due to news screens and just general word to mouth.

Deziekker.

An odd name, very hard to spell the first time you hear it, but not too difficult.

There were many rumors floating around. For one, no one had ever heard this name before. He wasn't a knight in any army, he wasn't popular, he wasn't a warlord or warrior, and he wasn't anyone that stood out to anyone.

Most people speculated that he was a commoner who had been training his entire life to amount to the strength of the King. But again, it was all rumors. Everything would come to light at the King's Address.

Later that night, Tero wrapped up dinner and relaxed in one of the castle halls.

HHis father was sitting across from him speaking to Techni about something.

Tero stared at them for a bit and then walked over.

Jonakai and Techni noticed him then standing over both of them.

Tero was looking at his father.

"I'm sorry for saying that to the people. I've been getting caught up with strength a bunch...I just...want people to be proud of me."

Tero looked at the ground now with sorry eyes.

His father got up and wrapped his arms around him.

Tero was taken aback by his father doing such a thing. He didn't respond to what Tero was saying, or give him an odd look, or anything.

He just got up and hugged him.

Jonakai then opened his mouth.

"We all get carried away by strength and power sometimes. It happens to the weak and the strong. You're strong, Tero. And you don't need training to be strong. You should still train your strength, but you should focus on other things too. Don't let it control you."

Tero nodded approval at everything his father said to him as tears ran down his face.

Tero wanted to be strong. He thought that he could pour everything into strength training to break free from every negative instance within his life and make it better. He failed to consider that it may alienate his bonds between him and those around him. He was too busy strength training instead of building up normal bonds. The second he made this realization, he was already thinking about how much less he needed to train.

It seemed as if Jonah's death really did make them closer and realize how important bonds between others were.

Later that night, Tero went back to his room two hours later and went to sleep.

He woke up about two hours later to the sound of his drawers rustling.

As he looked across from the end of his bed, he saw his father opening drawers frantically and digging through things within them.

He rubbed his eyes to get a better look at what was going on, and that's when Jonakai turned around and noticed that he was awake.

He stopped what he was doing and walked over to his son. Jonakai had a very sincere and sad look in his eyes, and Tero noticed this almost immediately.

Jonakai bent down and wrapped his arms around Tero, giving him a massive hug. The hug lasted in silence for five seconds before Jonakai said "I love you, son. You're the best son in the world and the best thing that ever happened to me. You're the strongest person I know. I love you so much."

Tero wanted to cry. He had waited so long for his father to be so sincere and loving to him that he almost forgot what it felt like. The strength training had clouded his emotions and made him and his father grow distant, and after losing his grandfather, being distant and away from his father was the last thing that he wanted.

This one instance made Tero lose tons of passion for training. He wanted to spend more time with his father instead of train. He was ready in this exact moment to give most of it up for more time with his father. Time was limited and he realized that training could come any time later in life, but he didn't know how long his father would actually be here for.

Jonakai backed away from Tero and walked to the door of his room. He looked back at Tero one last time and smiled.

Tero smiled back, the hardest he had in a while.

-

As the sun rose the next morning, fourteen year old Tero Tazakani woke up with a smile on his face. His short, wavy brown hair was all over the place from his night of rest. His light brown eyes struggled to stay open as he sat up.

He remembered that today he would be watching the King's Address with his father and rushed out of bed to get ready.

As he was ready, he walked around and greeted many people in his Kingdom. He returned to the same place he was nearly five years ago when Jonah and Sasoyama declared war on the evils; behind the stage in the back room.

As he approached the door, he felt that same joy he did those few years ago when his father also told him the stories of his family on the same day. He hadn't felt this amount of joy in years and he was beyond excited to bond with his father.

He knew that once he opened that door and saw his father sitting there that he'd be the happiest he'd ever been in his life.

He finally reached the door and twisted the handle.

He laid his eyes upon where Jonakai would be sitting, and to his surprise,

No one was sitting there.

Tero's smile was still there seconds after he came to the realization that his father wasn't there. He was more confused than anything and decided to figure out where his father was.

He went back out to the halls and ballroom and asked where his father was to several people: Kian, Techni, and many other important people that knew his father well.

And no one knew.

Tero was now sad. That was his main emotion out of everything. He just wanted his father to be there, but he wasn't. He thought that today would have been the start of a new leaf for him and his father, but nothing was going to plan.

He returned to the back room and stared at the screen. He waited for King Deziekker to appear and give his address.

He eventually appeared and Tero watched the whole thing. Jonakai never entered and no updates were given on where he was by anyone.

While he watched, Tero had anxiety that lingered in the back of his mind. Where was his father? Why wasn't he here? Did he not want to see me?

Tero returned to train later that day. He was extremely out of it and didn't even get to spar with Techni.

Jonakai was nowhere to be seen by anyone for the rest of that day.

Or the next.

Or the next.

On the third day of his father's completely absence from him and the rest of the world, Tero came to a realization.

He was alone. For the very first time in his life, he felt all alone.

Even if his father returned a minute after this thought developed in his mind, he'd still feel like it.

Tero's hope that he would finally become closer with his father had been crushed and stepped on so violently that he no longer had any desire to become close with his father.

His father left him, at the moment where he wanted to bond the most, with no note, not even for him or anyone in his immediate circle.

And no one knew why.