21 One Hit Win!

As the fanfares play their cheerful melody, a red, golden lined chariot pulled by a large white horse with a golden rune on its forehead emerged from the portal. The other parked carriages open their doors as nobles in red garments emerge and walk towards the end of the golden lined red carpet, forming a crowd to welcome the royal family of Agareth. The Agareth royal family had 3 princes and 4 princesses.

The carriage that emerged quickly turned sideways and stopped. All the entrances towards the city's center is blocked by Skadia's army of mercenaries. The commoners who would like to see the king formed massive crowds behind the city's guards that covered the whole street behind them. If not for the mercenaries being bronze and silver ranked cultivators, they would have been easily trampled by the massive crowd.

The crowds are excited to be able to stand in the same area as the king. As commoners, even meeting nobles are considered a great achievement, what more of being present around the king. Only nobles knew how the king appeared like as the king would organize a yearly banquet with the nobles of the kingdom to discuss many affairs. Emergency summons are sometimes held, allowing nobles to see the king else than the yearly banquets.

As excitement built up for 3 seconds, the golden lined door of the large royal carriage opened slowly. A man in his early forties with blonde hair like a lion's mane emerged. The man wore shining, silver armor with a red cape on his back and the kingdom's red sigil on where his heart would be. A runed sheath is found attached to his waist, according to its size, a greatsword should be what it held. According to his appearance, the man should be the general, Ulrich Swordwind.

He appeared young for his age as the books record that he is currently 50 years old. His aura is that of an Immortal-1 rank powerhouse. The middle aged man proceeded to step out of the carriage and hold the door for the royals. The first to emerge are the princesses. They all wore similar red dresses with different golden patterns on it. The eldest princess is the only one without a golden crown on her head, the youngest one had a blue pendant while the other two princesses one had golden bracelets while the other had a golden ring.

The princesses are all teenagers, the eldest one is till 19 years of age while the youngest is only 14 years of age. They were all beautiful, blonde haired girls who's beauties could rival supermodels. When the princesses have walked halfway, the kingdom's princes started to emerge. The youngest prince emerged first, the youngest prince is only 15 years old. The books describe him as an energetic and kind prince. He is slightly taller than the average height of men of his age.

The second oldest prince wore a red, gold lined jacket similar to Gusion's black trench coat but it had short sleeves. He is a bespectacled boy that had just recently reach 17 years of age. The books say that he is a patient youth who is a prodigy in magic arts. The eldest of the brothers is Julian John Agareth. He is 21 years old and the current strongest in the kingdom. He is a sword prodigy with a rank of Immortal-2 and he has never been defeated in an official duel with anyone else in the kingdom.

Sebastian hid stood behind Skadia and Gusion, he told Li Yao to cast an illusory mask on his face so that no one could see his appearance until the king is being greeted. He knows that his handsome appearance would easily cause a commotion as most of the girls would either faint, flirt or nosebleed. As the princesses reach the end of the carpet, Skadia and Gusion came to greet them and shook their hands. Skadia hid her angelic wings within her armor using magic so she wouldn't attract too much attention.

The princesses and the daughters of the major noble families here have taken some interest and even crushes on Gusion due to his handsome looks. After the princes had reached halfway, the long awaited king and queen walked out of the carriage. Their emergence from the large red carriage is met by very loud cheers coming from all directions. The commoners cheered the king in admiration and thankfulness as they are in the presence of the ruler of their land. The king appeared to be in his late thirties but he's very handsome for his age. His body is in good shape like his sons, it seems that he is not the typical lazy and drunkard king you would always see.

The queen also appeared very beautiful in her age. She may appear to be in her early forties but her beautiful appearance made it quite hard to judge. In reality, the couple are not too far younger than the general. They are actually in their mid forties but they have successfully maintained some of their youth while ruling a large kingdom. As they walked down the carpet towards the four of them, the cheers remained persistent. The cheering only died down when the king had arrived before the four.

To show his respect, he removed the illusory mask through a quick spell he learned from the library. He is the first to welcome the king. He went up to him and bowed. With a respective tone he welcomed him and said, "Welcome my Lord to Bloodthorn City. I am Sebastian Adrian Cain, the town's ruler and If my Lord wishes for anything, it will be done wholeheartedly." The king patted his back and told him to rise. Before returning back to where the the three are, he kissed the queen's hand and bowed respectfully once more.

When the princesses saw his very handsome face, they all felt weak in their knees. They felt intoxicated by how he looked. The daughters of the various major nobles fared much worse. They either fainted into their erotic fantasies, had nosebleeds or immediately started to crush on him, HARD. The princes who were slightly jealous of Gusion are now starting to hate Sebastian. While the younger princes quickly lost their jealousy because their prides are in other things, the crown prince's jealousy started to burn greater.

He comforted himself by saying to himself mentally, 'He may be more attractive but there's no way he'd be stronger than me.' Skadia and Gusion then started their introductions to the king. The demon duke explained the activities that they'll be doing and lead him through a tour around the city. The royal guards and Skadia's mercenary army worked together to keep the king's crowd safe and satisfied. The four of them kept their combat ranks hidden.

The general kept his guard up the whole time because he could not see their combat ranks. Those who did are usually there for bad intentions like infiltration or assassination. When the tour ended and they had arrived at the town square, the general wanted to ask what their combat ranks were but it was interrupted by Theresa's introduction as the Archbishop of the city. As she was about to guide them to their seats alongside Skadia, the general asked his long awaited question, "Before this banquet can start, may I know what your combat rank is sir Sebastian?"

He had expected the general to ask that as he hid his aura and that the general would definitely need to know that as it is related to the royal family's safety. Without hesitation he replied, "My combat rank is at Immortal-8." The general raised his eyebrow, in his mind he thought, 'How could his combat rank be so high? He must be joking.' The crown prince simply laughed maniacally and taunted him, "Hey, if you're really an Immortal-8 rank, not some faker, I issue you a challenge. I refuse to believe that you're stronger than me."

The crown prince looked down on the nobility. He is a prodigy, nobody in the kingdom had ever defeated him in combat. Anyone who claims to be of a higher rank than him in the kingdom else than from his own family he considers a joke. That very claim is a huge offence to his pride and he would mercilessly defeatwhoever that person is. Since the crown prince had issued a challenge even if Sebastian is a duke, he had no right to refuse. He simply replied, "Very well then your highness. Let us battle in a small arena we have prepared in advance."

He led the blonde crown prince towards the small stone arena. The arena only had the capacity to hold 200 people and the battlefield at its center had a diameter of 10 yards, enough for a one on one combat. His servants led the nobles and the royal family to their seats while Sebastian and prince Julian walked into the arena's battlefield. The major nobles started making bets. Most of the nobles had their bets on prince Julian as they have seen him fight against other talented youths and veterans and win. Some of them placed bets on Sebastian as a precaution because even though they doubted that he's an immortal-8 rank, they can't rule the possibility of that out.

Sebastian and the prince parted ways at the arena's center and distanced themselves till they almost touch the opposite walls of the arena. The king's herald started to announce the terms of the duel. The winner will be determined by the first one to admit defeat or by being crippled. The prince is determined to beat up Sebastian and admit that he lied, he will never allow anyone to boast about themselves in front of him. The king's herald took out a golden fanfare and blowed, the loud sound of the fanfare signals the beginning of the duel.

As the duel begins, prince Julian attacked first by running in a zig zag motion. Since he didn't know what his opponent's abilities are, he will constantly dodge until he got a chance to strike. The prince quickly closed in the distance in just 2 seconds. In a blink of an eye, 3 flashes of light strikes through Sebastian's body. When he thought that his opponent had been sliced to pieces, he realized it to be an afterimage.

He felt a cold chill down his spine and turned his head to his back. He saw his opponent with a smirk on his face, before he is able to swing his sword and attack. His body felt numb as he quickly collapsed, only his eyes would obey his command. His face is in shock, he couldn't believe that he had been defeated in just one move. Once the crowd saw the crown prince's motionless body, they gasped in shock. Fear and admiration flowed into the hearts of all those who witnessed the match.

The crown prince is the strongest in the kingdom, even the king is not as strong as his eldest son. All of them had extremely shocked faces, the young girls of nobility's and the princesses' admiration towards this handsome youth skyrocketed. From just crushing on him for his looks, they now started to idolize him as their prince charming. The royal family couldn't help but gasp, after years of nurturing the prince who was the only prodigy in kingdom, the prince they nurtured with all their resources is instantly defeated with a single blow.

The general instantly lost his will to challenge him, he expected the prince to win. He never expected that when he said that he's an Immortal-8 rank he was telling the truth. The nobles who betted on prince Julian had lost some of their prized possessions. While those who betted on Sebastian had gained more than what they had lost. The noble families who had won the bet cheered him on while the paralyzed crown prince could only watch his opponent be praised while he suffered an instant defeat.

This is the greatest shame he ever faced, in his mind he cursed, 'Damn You! Just wait, someday I'll beat you and on that day, I'll torture you to Death!!' The royal family applauded Sebastian's great performance and even thought of adopting him as a prince. However, that idea is quickly dismissed as this was only one battle, if he could earn a win streak of at least 20 in the inter kingdom competition, they would offer to adopt him as a part of the royal family.

As the cheers and claps had went on for 15 seconds, he interrupted them, "Your highnesses, would you like to start the banquet or shall we postpone it?" The king then announced the start of the banquet and they all exited the arena, walking towards the reserved seats, guided by the royal guards or by Sebastian's servants. The opening prayer is led by Theresa. Sebastian is an agnostic, he doesn't believe in any religion but he prays anyways as a sign of respect to whoever made this system and this new world that he enjoyed.