The Tale of the Void Emperor

Three seconds passed as Athan reached halfway, but he had to consume another Abyssal Blood Crystal to maintain the Sanctuary of Void, which was negating the powerful force from the sky.

After two seconds, he successfully left the range of the forest, and the pressure boring down on him suddenly disappeared.

He then descended from the sky in a second and put the flag inside the hold on the box.

...

Everyone was speechless outside, and it was pin-drop silence.

This final round was supposed to be exciting, thrilling, and full of cunningness as candidates would carefully pass through the forest while fighting and fooling the monsters with their newfound strength.

They would carefully make their way out of the forest to reach the sky and then ascend the mountain while defeating the monster or passing through them sneakily with their means.

After ascending the peak and taking the flag back, they would encounter more trouble, but they would still successfully return back to the starting point and put the flag in the box.

Everyone should be able to do this because the monsters are not more powerful than them. However, there are a lot of them, so they must use their energy and stamina sparingly. The only deciding factor would be who took a long time and who took a shorter time to complete the whole process.

Alas...The performance of Athan simply blew their mind, and their expectation was betrayed as well because he finished it very quickly.

The audience snapped out of their thoughts after hearing Sinish's voice, who announced the result and started talking.

"Why is a candidate who just arrived from Chaosverse is this powerful?"

"Indeed! Something is very strange about him. I wish I could experience and feel his power and check his aura to see how it is."

"Well, only those kings in the sky can do that."

...

In the sky, the ten Kings had solemn expressions on their faces.

"He could resist the sky force and...that destructive aura. From his speed and superficial power, his strength already rivals that of Atomix-stage powerhouses," said the King of Gojaal Empire.

"What about his soul power? I couldn't sense it. I couldn't see through him, and he hadn't used his soul power, so I couldn't check its potency. However, from his soul sense, which he used to observe and sense things....," said the King of Xan Empire as he paused at the end.

The King of the Klenkai Empire said while nodding, "Yes, his soul sense indicates that his soul power is a bit lower than Atomix-stage beings. However, the nature of his soul sense was also very strange. I felt that there was more to it,"

"His soul power aside, what was that destructive aura? It was mixed with blood and flesh power of his physical body," said the King of Oppanu Empire with a serious expression.

"That is indeed very strange. I couldn't make heads or tails about it either," said the King of Zonik Empire with a nod.

The King of the Oppanu Empire spoke while putting his hands below his chin in the cross-fingers form before saying in a deep voice, "one thing is for sure. He is not in this system. He is not in the path to the Mythical Evolution and becoming an Absolute Transcendent Mythos like us."

Hearing that, everyone nodded. They couldn't sense any evolution energy or powers related to Orchos Firmament from Athan, even when he used his powers.

"His power and that black aura...," said the King of Limbark Empire with a frown on his face, "they do feel superior to me. It's like it exists above my existence."

Everyone revealed an uncomfortable expression, but they had to agree to this as they felt the same when sensing the aura coming out of Athan.

"We should meet with him after everything is over," said the King of the Oppanu Empire with a thoughtful expression, "his existence is out of our scope right now. He might also be..."

"A reincarnation? or Rebirth?" King of Limbark Empire spoke with a slight frown.

The King of the Oppanu Empire nodded, "We are also not aware of what kind of powers those Absolute Transcendence Mythos possess because they disappear after becoming the Myth. So it's not impossible that Athan is a reincarnation with the legacy of his previous life based on the power we are sensing from his aura and his existence, which is outside of our scope."

Everyone nodded as they couldn't deny King Oppanu's speculation.

"How should we interact with him?" King Klekai asked a crucial question.

Indeed. After all, they were far more seniors than everyone here. They had lived long and are currently in the Epic stage of Evolution.

So it was natural that they would act as seniors and elders while interacting with those weaker than them.

However, Athan was an anomaly to them.

"Let's interact with him as if he is our equal," said the King of the Oppanu empire after thinking for a moment.

King Oppanu was the most senior among them all, and since he was willing to treat Athan as his equal, the other kings didn't have any complaints.

"King Kelnkai, you should talk to your Queen because of her background, hehehe. She is from a powerful family in 4th Lerento and is naturally arrogant," said the King of Noabu Empire with a sneer.

"Indeed, as per ceremony, Athan will be rewarded in your Royal Court since we are in your Empire right now," said King Limbark with a wry smile, "Dreevindo had told me that this Athan will not act servile towards anyone and will move in his pace."

"At first, I thought about putting this Athan in his place later after Dreevindo told me about these things, but now that we have seen his performance and come up with some speculations due to sensing his strange powers, It makes sense as to why Athan acts like that."

King Kelnkai nodded with a helpless smile, "alright. I will tell Lauratina about him. Even though we don't have concrete claims, I'll have to say to her with certainty that Athan is a hidden powerhouse. Otherwise, if Athan showed no respect to her in court, she would surely flare-up."

While the kings were talking, Lily also finished her goals, but she took 43 seconds. Her spatial doors power was quite good, but it was not usable with their short range here. After all, she had to traverse 1000 kilometer long forest.

So, despite using her full power and everything in her arsenal, from her Genome power to her newfound abilities from her chaotic powers and from mythical grade Cynrailic Orchos Genome, she still took 43 seconds.

After coming out, Lily smiled wryly towards Athan while walking and spoke, "quite a big gap this time."

"Don't compare yourself to me because our power structures are totally different," Athan said while shaking his head with a small smile.

Lily walked beside Athan and stood behind Lingarmin before muttering, "I know that. But...I want to become as powerful as you and stand by you..."

'Stand by your side forever this time...' thought Lily as she glanced at Athan with loving eyes.

Athan looked at Lily and revealed a faint smile, "this reality is vast, there is a world above this one too and everything is possible I believe. I want everyone to become as strong as me. Tiana, Avelia, and all others..."

Athan closed his eyes as he remembered everyone. His fist clenched as he would not stop until reaching his goal.

'Let's see how those kings react now.. They should be given quite a shock and would have done a lot of speculations on me by now,' thought Athan with a glint in his eyes.