The Monarch

Kayn and the dragon began to rise after seven years, and it took them another full year to be able to do so completely and move under that pressure. It was an extremely long time for both of them to remain crushed to the ground."Very well," Kayden smiled and began to explain a little. "This was law pressure. It will help you against gods and superior mages. It won't completely free you from their effects, but it can give you a lot of room to maneuver."Kayden started giving a lesson on something never directly taught to these mages before—the theory of psychological combat. When two mages of equal strength clashed, the result was usually decided in the first few seconds, especially if one of them had clearly superior aura or experience.A topic that was usually shallow was thoroughly explored by Kayden. He provided all kinds of information to the two—ranging from the differences in aura intensity to how much of a difference that could make in a fight."Now that you've passed my test, we can begin a bit of the real training," Kayden smiled. "Attack me with everything you've got." That was all he said. Kayn and the dragon hesitated for a moment and...POOFT!POOFT!Kayden slapped each of them so hard they flew dozens of kilometers before crashing against the grassy floor of the ship. The sound of their bodies impacting the ground was heard for dozens of kilometers. It wasn't a light attack—on the contrary, Kayden was extremely brutal, breaking several of their bones. The last time either of them had been injured like that was millions of years ago."Begin."Kayden's voice left no room for doubt. His aura began entering the minds of the two mages without them even realizing it. His presence intimidated them. From now on, his commands would be absolute orders.Even physically shattered, the two obeyed the command. The dragon manipulated a fire law—but it was a very unique line of fire, a golden fire that Kayden had never seen before. It was a specific law inherent to the black dragon race, a law they were born with.That golden fire was rare even among black dragons, appearing only in ancestral bloodlines. It didn't just burn the body—it affected the soul and the structure of surrounding laws. Its light was ancient and heavy, as if it carried the memory of distant eras. It was a living flame, reacting to the dragon's own will and fury.Meanwhile, Kayn fought with something different. He wielded a complex law of space. He was able to divide himself into several clones that were actually himself, manifesting in other representations of space. He could practically split his mind and soul into several fragments.Kayden couldn't put his law into words. The mage also wielded a secondary law of wind, which executed cuts in reality itself. Space was sliced with terrifying ease—it looked like Kayn was slicing through butter. Interestingly, wind was a combat style very similar to Kayden's cutting techniques. The difference was that one was based on law, the other on pure energy.There was no mercy from Kayden. He could tell the mortals in front of him had been very well trained. Their fighting styles had almost no flaws—perhaps a few bad posture habits or mana flow issues, but otherwise, they were literally perfect. Even their life-or-death instincts were extremely sharp—but had grown a bit dull from lack of real battle. Kayden fixed that in just a few days.Kayden beat them to the point they hovered near death. Fortunately, the ship had many healing treasures to help them in those moments. A genuine fear began to root itself in both their minds."The fear you're exuding is the same thing keeping you alive," Kayden began smiling as usual. "There are two moments in your life when you lose fear—either you become something great, or you die. And right now, you would absolutely die."Kayden didn't wait for any words as he kept attacking them. Every one of his attacks or defenses came with phrases pointing out their mistakes. Their flaws were being corrected through pain—it was a much more direct method. Even the great organizations struggled to beat their disciples like that, simply because divine karma was too easily attracted.Day by day, the two improved through sheer struggle. Kayden's method was extremely brutal. There was no delicacy or respect in his actions. The two were treated like the most ordinary trash. But their minds and souls had already been completely dominated by Kayden—they no longer held any hesitation toward him."Lucius." Kayden paused the training for a moment and gave the two a one-month break to do whatever they wanted. "I want to exchange some services for information."Kayden didn't have to call twice for the god to appear by his side. Lucius was never busy, but he was also never really present anywhere. He was kind of irresponsible."I'm all ears," the god said, sitting down to drink tea with Kayden."The mortals on this ship are the ones competing for you, aren't they?" Kayden didn't need to be a genius to figure that out. Lucius confirmed with a nod."I can make changes to their souls. It should increase their strength by at least 20%."Lucius raised an eyebrow but let Kayden keep pitching his idea. With each new detail, it seemed more credible—but the problem was that these mortals were his last hope. Lucius wouldn't be able to train mages at this level again for millions of years. It was simply impossible.Letting Kayden do this was both a risk and an investment—it was an unknown. But..."I'll only do it with Kayn and Aphelios." After Kayden made that clear, Lucius fully accepted the idea. Those weren't the weakest mortals, but they weren't the strongest either. They were somewhere in the middle."That works."Lucius and Kayden didn't need to exchange any more words between them, Kayden would still ask his two disciples for permission, but he doubted they would deny it.