Once in the city square, Edmund teleported himself in the balconies and sat next to his wife Emelnie, which looked at him and asked in a low voice "You didn’t tell me that you had made progress.."


    With an embarrassed expression, Edmund simply said, "It wasn’t me.." Edmund was a very prideful person, and yet there was one person he would not be able to lie to. That person was his wife Emelnie.


    Not to say that his daughter had spectated the embarrassing scene of him bargaining with Daniel to teach him the concept of portals.


    Back in the square, right in the middle, arge ring had appeared. Standing onto this stage, was the man hidden under the ck cloak.


    He stood immobile, and with a loud and powerful voice he said, "Thepetition stage has begun. Who is the first one that wishes topete for the title of Guardian of the Axe?"


    "I am." Responded a young man d in tinum armor. This young man was the same who had gone second during the presentation stage. His name was Riher, and was part of a school called ’Pantheon of the War Gods’. He had imed the title of Guardian of the Axe for his master, one of the school’s elder that went by the title of ’The Axe Wielder’.


    After jumping over the stage, he waved his double-headed axe in the air and creating powerful winds. He then said, "Who is my first challenger?"


    Another young man within the crowd of disciples jumped over the stage. He was wearing a gambeson that didn’t hinder his dexterity in the slightest. In his hands, was a single handed axe and arge shield.


    "I am your first opponent." Responded the young man with a loud and clear voice.


    Both cultivators were at the peak of nigh inhuman stage, and they had both imed the title of Guardian of the Axe for their respective masters.


    The man hidden under the ck cloak looked at the twopetitors, and with his usual clear voice, he said, "The rules are as follow. You may not attack with anything but your axe and martial arts. The fight will go on until one of the two will surrender or will be unable to continue fighting. This isn’t a fight to the death, and death is the punishment for whoever causes one.. Do you ept the rules as they were described to you?"


    "We ept!" Responded the two young men in sync.


    "Let the battlemence." Said the man hidden under the ck cloak before suddenly disappearing.


    The two young men looked at each other for a few moments, before the young man called Riher dashed at his opponent while brandishing his double-headed axe.


    Blow after blow, parry after parry, the two contestants fought brutally. The gamberson wore by the challenger was great at reducing the damage of impact, and his shield was extremely useful for the strongest and most dangerous attacks. Riher’s te armor was also very useful to parry the attacks of the single-handed axe, which were faster and more diverse, but theycked the strength necessary to go through the te armor.


    After a few minutes spent fighting intensly, the young man that wore the gamberson was forced to concede due to the state his weapon and shield were currently in.


    Riher had won, but his armor wasn’t in the best shape either. A few powerful hits had reached the soft junctions of his armor, and right now he was suffering the muscr pain caused by the impact.


    His overall ki had also been greatly reduced.


    Only ten minutes were given to the winner to recover. During these ten minutes they would be allowed to use anything they thought was necessary to reach their best state. The only limitation, was that the effects of whatever they took had to stop before the ten minutes ended.


    Of course, ten minutes weren’t enough for someone at the peak of the sixth rank to recover his kipletely, nor would they be able to stop the effects of a healing pill before the ten minutes ended, so, the winning participants were hardly able to fully recover before the next fight.


    After the ten minutes passed, Riher went back in the middle of the ring and said with a loud voice, "I await for my next opponent."


    During the presentation, not every single one of the disciples would im a title for their masters. If a master was certain that their disciples would definitely not be able to win against the others, they wouldn’t send them to lose face for both of them.


    Out of all the disciples that wielded the axe, only three had imed the title of Guardian of the Axe for their masters. The tinum armor young man with the double-headed axe, Riher. The young man in the gamberson what wielded the single-handed axe and shield, and finally, a twenty odd years old man in leather armor.


    This third contestant was adept in dual-wielding, and his weapons of choice were two twin hatchets. His style ofbat was more oriented in evading than parrying, and his main strength was dexterity.


    The battle started after the man hidden under the ck cloak said, once again, "Let the battlemence."


    The young man in leather armor immediately dashed towards Riher, which tried to met his approaching body with a solid sh with his double-headed axe.


    Instead of jumping high in the air, or backing away, the young man in leather armor opted for sliding on his knees.


    Riher’s powerful sh broke the barrier of sound and caused a sonic boom. A huge waxing crescent moon-like wave of light green ki was sent in the air, which forced the ever present elements of wind and water to part.


    Avoided just in the nick of time, the young man in leather armor hooked the hatchet he was holding in his right hand into Riher’s right greave. Then, he pulled it towards himself, forcing Riher to lose his footing and fall on his right knee.


    Now behind a kneeling Rihel, the young man in leather armor went for the weak spots. He used his second hatchet to cut the leather straps that firmly kept the te armor on Riher’s body.


    More than once did Riher try to pull his leg forward and get back up, but whenever he tried, the young man in leather armor would hit the back of his waist with the handle of the hatchet he held in his left hand.


    In a moment of desperation, he pushed as much ki as possible under his left food, and jumped backwards and against the body of the young man in leather armor.


    The two were on the ground, and Riher was currently lying above his opponent’s body. He quickly rolled away from him and while grabbing hisrge axe handle with both hands, he tried to sh vertically at his lying opponent.


    Before Riher’srge axe could hit the young man’s stomach, the young man rolled closer to him with such a fast motion, that instead of stopping at Riher’s feet, he kept going and made Riher fall on his back.


    It was at this point that Riher’s te armor came fully undone, and covered his face.


    The young man in leather armor immediately got back up on his feet, and sent a powerful blow on Riher’s left elbow crevice with one of his hatchets. The blow wasn’t powerful enough to do serious damage, and yet, it made him release the grip he had on his double-headed axe.


    He then pointed his second hatchet at Riher’s neck.


    Now unarmed and hindered by his own te armor, Riher had no option but to concede. He knew that if this was a battle to the death, he wouldn’t be currently breathing.


    "I concede." He said with a disappointed tone.


    The young man in leather armor moved away from him, and allowed him to fix his te armor and recover his double-headed axe.


    The two then bowed slightly to each other, before Rihel left the stage in low spirits.


    The man hidden under the ck coat appeared once again, and said "The title of Guardian of the Axe goes to The Bloody Axe, master of Hutch."


    Hutch, which had yet to say a word in public, simply crossed his twin hatchets in front of his chest, and shouted "HOOAH!" He then left the stage.


    One after the another, simr scenes took ce in the square. Various eliminationpetition of which participants were either spiritual cultivators that hadprehended the same essence, or martial cultivators that wielded the same weapon.


    Staves, bows and arrows, greatswords, fire essence, lightning essence.. One after the other these events took ce and revealed a different winning contender, along with their masters and rightful owner of the title of guardian of discipline.


    -----


    It was now early evening, and it was finally time for thepetitions for the ruler of discipline to take ce. Traditionally, thepetitions for the titles of guardian of discipline would take ce earlier in the day, while thepetitions for the titles of ruler of discipline would take ceter.


    The firstpetition to take ce, was the one for the title of Ruler of the Spear.


    Thepetitors for the title of Rule of the Spear were a lot more than thepetitors for the previous martial disciplines. No matter if axes, bow and arrow, staves, fans or daggers, the vast majority of the young master in the empire would always try to learn either the use of the sword or the use of the spear first.


    Those who picked different weapons, usually did it in order to respect a tradition within their families or powers.


    The first to enter the stage, was of course, Krim. The current third prince of the Krehan empire.


    It was known that the third prince was a prodigy of spear wielding, as opposite to the crown prince, which was a master of the sword and currently upied in a military campaign, and the second prince and the first princess, which were both spiritual cultivators and practiced respectively sound and space essence.


    "Krim, third prince of the great Krehan empire. Who challenges me for the title of Ruler of the Spear, and the honor of our masters?" Asked the third prince after making a golden spear appear in his hand, and nting the bottom of the shaft heavily against the ground.


    "I will." Responded a twenty odd years old girl.


    -----


    The third prince was an extremely talented cultivator, and was easily able to overpower the seven differentpetitors before they could even force him to spend too much ki.


    He was now standing, over a stage filled with shallow cuts, and stains of blood and sweat.


    The tip of his spear was still of a bright golden color. So bright that its shine could not be hidden by the thinyer of blood that covered it.


    The man hidden under the ck cloak appeared in the middle of the stage, and said "The title The title of Ruler of the Spear goes to The Phantom Piercer, master of the third prince. The nextpetition held, will be thepetition for the title of the Ruler of the Sword."


    Thepetition for the title of Ruler of the Sword was the one that had, by far, the highest number ofpetitors. The sword was a versatile weapon, and it came in many shapes and forms. Therefore, the fights were varied and always different.


    As for arge number of disciples, this was also Alesia’spetition.


    She nervously looked at her mother, and after receiving an encouraging smile, she focused on entering the right state of mind for battle, and waited for the right moment.


    Unfortunately for Alesia, thepetition for the sword had many cultivators of a much higher level than hers. She was currently at the mid of the sixth rank, while most of thepetitors were at thete, peak, and even perfect stage of the nigh inhuman stage.


    If she wanted to have a chance to win the title of Ruler of the Sword for her mother, she needed to find the right timing to join the fight.