“So what do you say?”

The Prince looked between Soren and Richard in hesitation; from the beginning, Ryan was watching the performance without creating any sort of impression and the Prince noticed this but did not take his identity into account.

Now knowing who he was he still hesitated, coming to the conclusion that the disciple of a conglomerate Elder should be an extraordinary individual.

“My disciple has only just begun his journey to become a Sage Warrior; he has only been training for a few months so please show him some mercy.” Richard for the first time turned to face the group, Soren noticed the glee within Richards’s eyes when he turned, a premonition of something dreadful emerged.

At the same time, an unfound feeling of confidence rose in the heart of the Prince, a few months of training? He should barely be 4 steps into Transformation; I could easily take care of someone at that level.

The Prince looked at Richard and asked with slight hesitation: “If this gets out of hand I hope you don’t interfere until one of us give in.”

Richard smiled behind the mask as if the situation was going exactly the way he had planned: where do these Princes' gain that unfound arrogance from? Is it because of the way they’ve been raised?

“It’s natural for a person to get injured, I will not blame you it is only between two youngsters; otherwise my honour as an Elder will be tarnished,” Richard replied.

At that moment Chairman Francis appeared beside the Elder, slightly hesitating he still whispered his thoughts to him: “Elder are you sure about this? Although the Prince isn’t a Sage he’s still 9 steps into Transformation only a step from becoming a Sage Warrior.”

Richard’s demeanour drastically changed, glaring at Francis: “Are you questioning me?” he said in a threatening tone. Though his words were so his thoughts were: Are you trying to ruin my fun?

Terrified by the unsettling gaze he shook his head rapidly denying it.

At the same time, Soren was suspicious of Richard, a feeling of distrust triggered by years of experience.

“Prince, are you sure about this?”

A young man from the Prince’s entourage stated the words the Prince was thinking only a few moments earlier with confidence: “If the what the Elder stated was to be the truth and his disciple has only trained for a few months, at most he will only be 4 steps into Transformation. For the Prince, it would be a simple task.”

“Soren worry not, this way I can embarrass the Elder indirectly after all he will not be interfering no matter what I do. He humiliated me, the Prince of this Kingdom I cannot allow that to pass without a cost.” The Prince stated haughtily.

Soren helplessly sighed realising that the Prince of the Reinhart Kingdom was nothing more than a frog in a well, just a conceited, overbearing idiot with a title.

Ryan the individual that felt like an observer while being deeply involved sighed helplessly already aware why Richard had brought this up.

Standing up from his seat he walked towards the centre of the room before he was stopped by Richard.

“Go all out, there is no need to fear him I will take care of any repercussions,” He stated, Ryan could see the unconcealed delight in his eyes contrary to his tone.

Comparing heights Ryan was barely 1.6m in height compared to the Prince who towered over him. A smile appeared on the Prince’s lips seeing the height difference.

“Where will we be fighting?” The Prince asked Richard.

“This room is big enough, this fight won’t take too long anyway,” he replied.

“As you say, let us begin.”

The Prince faced Ryan an unconcealed smile on his face clearly looking down on him. He immediately launched himself at Ryan, at a speed that could not be considered slow by any means.

Ryan was shocked but not for the reason’s that one would expect, to him the Prince was far too slow and full of openings. Naïve was what he thought of a plain straightforward punch.

The movement was only half a second long felt much longer to his trained eye; swiftly sidestepping aside Ryan rammed his fist into the Prince’s gut.

“Guh” The Prince coughed out saliva, his body tumbling backwards.

Ryan feeling wronged turned to Richard completely ignoring the Prince: “This is hardly a challenge Richard,” Ryan wasn’t even looking down on the Prince on purpose he felt that he was far too slow to even be considered a threat.

At that moment Richard laughed hysterically, to him Ryan’s remark was the cherry on top.

Disgraced the Prince roared hatefully, attacking him with maniacal rage uncharacteristic to his appearance.

“Hm?” aware of the Prince, he swiftly stepped aside once more yet the pressure did not wane nor was there as many openings as before, the Prince lashed out again, each strike aimed to break a few of his bones.

To Ryan although the number of openings visible to him had reduced the Prince’s combating skill was child’s play to dodge, compared to the constant beatings under the guise of training he had taken; the movements of the Prince were simple to observe with his eyes.

Although I’ve made improvements I still cannot see Richard’s movement no matter how accustomed I am to the training. Ryan felt both overjoyed and dejected at the same time.

Every few trades Ryan would occasionally jab or kick completely dominating the Prince. The Prince filled with adrenaline was tunnelling in on the view of only being a centimetre away from connecting a fist or kick with force enough to shatter a concrete wall.

The illusion of being so close to grasping victory allowed Ryan to counterattack, beating him down again and again until a pool of blood formed at the position he was standing.

At that moment the young man who had encouraged the Prince to fight turned to Soren: “General Soren, we have to stop this, the Prince can’t handle this abuse any longer or he’ll be incapacitated for a long time.”

What the young man stated, he had already considered everything and was prepared to make a move.

“It was your Prince who said not to interfere until one of them gives in or is unable to fight.” Richard’s voice was steady and very clear of his intentions; interrupting their hushed conversation, when he gazed at both the young man and Soren his dangerous glare warned them to not even try anything. “Now what is it you’re trying to do?”

“Argh!”

A blood-curdling scream akin to a swine echoed throughout the room bringing the attention of everyone back to Ryan and Prince Louise.

At that moment the Prince’s face was unrecognisable, blood covered his royal garments, while Ryan held him by his throat like livestock.

The Prince could barely open his swollen eyes; however, he was able to catch the look in Ryan’s cold grey eyes from that distance. His eyes were a deep crevice, cold, lacking empathy for him.

Soren as the Prince’s protector could no longer watch, no matter how big of an idiot he was, he was still the Prince that carried the image of the Reinhart Royal family.

He immediately took a step forward ignoring Richards warning.

“I cautioned you.”

“….” His limbs froze, Death! For the first time, a terrorising chill that dug deep into the marrow forced him not to move. His instincts howled frantically warning him that a single step would mean death, he looked down and noticed foot long sharp thin needles only a few inches from his throat.

Soren looked up at Richard, that chilling gaze was even more frightening than before like he was nothing more than an ant in his eyes.

“Stand down, your Prince will not die here, but he must learn that there is a price for his arrogance.”

“Ryan, end it, it’s no longer entertaining,” Richard said as he turned back to watch the proceedings down below that was not affected at all by the ruckus within the room.

Complying with Richard, he mercilessly punched the Prince in the chest; sounds of bones cracking were eerily thunderous, coughing up a large amount of blood the Prince tumbled across the ground like a lifeless ragdoll.

“…”