"Firstly," the king started.
"I'd like to thank the captains who devoted their time in training these children."
"It's an honour, your Grace."
"Secondly," he continued.
"Most of them impressed both me and Darius with their level of skills."
"Indeed," Darius nodded in agreement.
"The boy who used mana magic as though he were at the rank of an expert, and to make everything worse. He had a breakthrough in his duel, becoming a veteran." the king said, his tone filled with amazement.
"The second person," he continued.
"Was his opponent. He displayed no ability, but was very much advanced in his speed and strength."
"Adrian." the captain said.
"He's the strongest among them." he added.
"As expected." Darius commented.
"The third Person who also performed remarkably well was the mind control girl," the king said.
"what's her name?" he asked
"Megan." the vice captain answered.
"But among all these people, none of them caught my attention like the Eden boy." the king finally said.
For a while, the room was quite like a graveyard.
"Darius." the king called. "What did you find out about Eden Malcon?" he asked.
"Mhmm mhmm mm" Darius coughed before starting.
"Eden Malcon is the last son of Eden mavis, who was known as the shadow viper." Darius announced.
"Mavis left the family house after their father's death. But the reason he left was beyond my reach." He confessed.
"You've done well, Darius, was there any other information you were able to retrieve?" he asked.
"Yes, after Eden Mavis left his family home he settled at Diagon where he married and gave birth to two children. Eden Mal, and Eden Malcon. I also found out that Eden Mal was a prodigy blessed by the gods. As at a very young age, he attained power that was unbecoming even as an Eden. Eventually, he left the diagon, and a few years later his remains were discovered by the holy knight near the abyss."
"Thank you for the information." the king appreciated.
"honestly I am surprised, because we were told many years ago that the shadow viper died." for a while he paused, thinking.
"There is a problem." he finally said.
"Shadow viper was the hair to the family's throne, if Eden Theodore who is the current family leader finds out that his brother's last son is alive, He'll tag him as a threat to his throne. But hopefully, it won't get to that." he finally said, smiling.
"Now let's get to the main reason why I called the meeting." his voice turned deep and serious.
"During the duel. Am sure you all felt what I felt?" he asked, looking around while they all nodded their heads in agreement.
"When… I grabbed his fist" Eckhard stammered.
"I felt an underworldly energy radiating from the boy."
Let's all hope it's not something to invite the holy knight." the king said. "Where is he now?" he asked.
"The clinic,"Eckhard answered.
"I'll go and visit him. This would be the end of the meeting, tomorrow the children should be teleported to Eleanor." the king said, leaving, and they all stood up and bowed.
"Thank you" the king said to the healer who had him to Malcon.
Malcon was innocently sleeping, the king tried to sense the underworldly presence he sensed during the duel, but he couldn't.
He placed his hand on malcon's chest, and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
Opening his eyes, he saw himself in a dimly lit up space, the floor was damp and the sound of drops of water broke the silence of the room. He took a few steps forward, the sound of the echoing drops of water getting louder and louder.
Then he felt it, a sudden shock wave of death intent smashed into his face, an underworldly presence that choked him. He tried to breathe, but he couldn't, he tried teleporting back to reality, but he couldn't. Running out of oxygen, he fell to the ground, his face red as he struggled to breathe.
"little mouse." a cold, deep voice radiating with power and authority called from within the darkness of the room. Looking up, his eyes interlocked with two huge flaming red eyes, looking at the eyes alone, he felt his life essence slowly being drawn from him.
"Little mouse, dears to enter my chambers." the voice said mock fully. The glowing red eyes still fixed at the king, who was bleeding from his eyes and ears.
"Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!" the cold voice laughed, making the king bleed the more.
"Begon, little mouse." the voice said, as the eyes slowly faded into the darkness.
The king's eyes sprang open, the sound of his heartbeat breaking the silence of the room.
He was sweating profusely, and slowly, a thin stream of blood trickled from his nose. He reached for a towel on the nearby table, his hand trembling. Whipping the blood off his nose, he stood up quietly and left.
****
Malcon slowly opened his eyes, looking around.
"You're finally awake." a lady said, walking towards him.
"Please, how long have I been sleeping?" he asked, trying to recall the last thing he remembered.
His eyes suddenly widened in fear as he remembered the cold deep voice, his breath became unsteady as though he were struggling to breathe, his heart threatening to beat out of his rib cage.
And he blanked out again.
The morning sun and a soft breeze slipped through the open window, brushing against Macon's face.
He blinked slowly, his eyes finally opening as the golden light spilled over to him, gently and warm.
He was still in the hospital wing, except this time there was no beautiful medic to tell him good morning.
'I'll enjoy this breeze for the meantime,' Malcon said to himself, turning his face to avoid the sun. A sudden large shadow cast above him.
'Please don't be the medic! Please don't send me away just yet!' Malcon said to himself, slightly turning his head.
Everything went quiet as his eyes locked with sky-blue eyes.