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“Greatness of Wiyzh-Sybylle Landians!” the king called out solemnly, with his sceptre raised.
In response, the others who were holding sceptres also raised theirs upwards. A resounding “For Eternity!’ was heard from all subjects present.
The king and the subjects repeated this action two more times, before putting down their sceptres. The satisfied king nodded with a small smile.
“Tonight, we’re all gathered here for a special occasion. My son, Prince Phoenix has found a beautiful flower, the mate gifted to him by the goddess. All required rituals have been done up to this point. Now, it is time for him to demonstrate that he can guard the precious flower that he has found, from danger, even at the cost of his life. He will enter the forbidden forest and return by midnight with the head of a dangerous creature. With its teeth, he will make a special necklace for his bride. The beast’s core, he will use as the pendant and engrave his name!”
“Aye!” the crowd yelled, full of pep.
“I, hereby present to you, the first prince, Phoenix Sullivan Atlantes!” the leader of the group of 7 men s yelled. He and his men quickly went down on both knees, holding their sceptres in their hands horizontally.
At that, the music crew began playing their instruments with zeal.
Lavana’s mate soon walked past the entrance of the venue, his hands balled into fists across his chest. Unlike before, there were new features on his body. Beautiful black patterns had been painted on both sides of his face and his right arm. As the music intensified, Phoenix stopped crossing his arms and took out his mighty sceptre, earning cheers and whistles from the audience.
Then he took off all the rings in his fingers and placed them atop his sceptre. The sceptre flew towards the platform and lay resting at the king’s feet.
With that, the formerly solemn prince turned cheerful and began to dance. In response, the musicians increased their speed of playing to match his steps while he slowly advanced.
The group of seven warriors let go of their sceptres, which flew towards the entrance and remained there floating horizontally with their ends facing the entrance.
They took out porcelain bowls containing red nuts from their spatial rings and began to chuck the nuts at Phoenix’s feet as he danced exceptionally.
This didn’t deter him, as he continued dancing his way towards the platform, with the crowd cheering for him.
“I never knew the Savage Lord could dance this well and even look this happy,” using voice transmission technique, a pink-haired young lady in the crowd said to her husband who chuckled and snaked his left arm around her voluptuous waist.
He replied using the technique, “Dear, there are many things a person never shows to others. And love does its wonders too, once its arrow has successfully landed in a person’s heart. Just like us. Who’d have thought despite the burning hatred you had for me because I mistakenly killed your favourite pet, we’d still end up together?”
“Love is just magical, isn’t it?” she questioned rhetorically and added, “Honestly Mateo, that day that I kicked you in the balls, I regretted it. I’m glad I didn’t do great harm to you. Otherwise, how would we become pregnant with triplets?”
“Well, that was a kick of love. From that moment, I fell in love with you harder than I ever dreamed of. Faliah, you’ll always be the perfect one for me,” he rubbed his wife’s still-flat belly and gifted her a peck on her right cheek, causing her to smile brightly.
Finally reaching his destination, the first prince ascended the numerous golden stairs of the platform and knelt before the king, placing his right hand across his chest with a serious expression before yelling.
“Your lowly subject Phoenix greets you, Your Majesty!”
There was no response from the king as seconds went by.
Still not deterred, Phoenix yelled again, “Phoenix Sullivan Atlantes is here to take the test. Please grant me the honour and permission, Your Majesty!”
There was still no response, as the king seemed busy looking at his nails, probably checking if any were longer than before.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.
Still unwavering, Phoenix yelled, “Royal Father, your beloved son is here to help you get ten grandkids!”
Immediately, the king paid attention to him, his once tepid face turned sunny, “Good son, rise!”
Instantly, Phoenix rose to his feet and stared at his father.
“You look great!” the king complimented with a grin.
“Thank you for the praise, Your Majesty,” Lavana’s mate politely said.
At this, King Vellio beckoned on his right-hand man and Loius quickly took out a golden knife from his storage ring.
He handed it with both hands to the king, head bowed.
The king accepted it with his right hand and ordered Phoenix to stretch out his hands.
Phoenix heeded without complaint.
The king then used the knife to make a cut on both palms and three big ones on his arms. Phoenix’s expression didn’t change at all and many gave a thumbs up in their heart.
A servant male wearing a black fur skirt quickly ascended the platform and knelt on the last stair, raising a brown wooden bowl containing a fragrant black liquid above his bowed head.
Without a word, Louis headed to the servant and took the bowl from the nervous male’s hands. Then with a solemn face, he headed to Phoenix, sizing him up and down once. Afterwards, he began to apply the liquid to the cuts in the prince’s palms and arms.
Phoenix still didn’t put on a look of pain. But the onlookers felt chills run down their spine. That was Fer-Khilta, a liquid that gave one the feeling of being stung by ten thousand bees and it increased the pain one was already eating from wounds obtained before the application of the feared liquid.
It had a reputation for making hefty warriors cry miserably and was also used in making wrongdoers confess their crimes. Yet, here was this prince, maintaining a stoic face. This was freaking awesome! As expected of the Savage Lord!
“I grant you permission, Prince Phoenix,” the king said in a regal manner.
Phoenix quickly saluted, “Thank you, my king,”
He then turned around and quickly descended the platform. Then he rushed forward, heading towards a portal that had been opened with the king’s sceptre.
He, on nearing the portal, quickly leapt into it and it instantly closed up. Lavana’s mate was expected to take down a dangerous beast with his bare hands and return with the head and its core.
Yesterday, Phoenix had insisted that this rite be done.
Even if he didn’t defeat a top dangerous creature, he’d still bring back a creature’s head at least. Besides, he was feeling as great as he was previously- before that strange illness paid him an unkind visit.
The king agreed and invitations were sent out to important persons in the kingdom to be present tonight and they arrived two hours before Phoenix made an appearance.
Now that he had gone in through the portal that led straight to the forbidden forest, what was left was to watch his performance through the grand, mighty mirror taken out of the king’s storage ring.
It was meant for occasions like this. The mirror levitated, glowing a golden light for some minutes before showing the person they really wanted to see- the first prince!