[Arlo's POV]

As I gazed at the broad back of the man before me, all I could see was a pillar that could lift the world even if it falls.

He turned his head and looked at me with his light silver eyes as his silver hair waved in the air while the wind lightly blew.

"Arlo, what should a man desire most in life?" He threw at me out of nowhere.

"Power?" I answered, not sure of my response.

Seeing him not respond as his eyes remained fixed on me, I thought of his bad habit that Mum wasn't aware of and lightly replied.

"Women?"

"Hahaha," He laughed loudly. "You little pervert. You are just 7 years old, yet you are already setting your sights on women."

"Don't compare me to you," I grumbled lightly to myself.

He ceased his laughter and cautioned me, "Arlo, my son, strive for power, money, and riches, but always prioritize family. What is the use of power if you are alone in the end? What is the use of riches if you don't have those to share them with? However, if you place your family first, then the power you will get to protect them and riches, you will have to make them happy."

Seeing the air that screams regality that he was letting off as if what he said was the rule, I couldn't help but blurt out, "But I see the way you look at Big Sis Anna every time we pass by her shop. Especially the way your eyes always get fixed on her chest, as if there is some sort of magnet there…"

*Cough! Cough!* He coughed heavily as he looked at me in horror.

But before he could say a thing, a woman with glistening golden hair and a veil covering her face walked up to us, carrying a food basket in her arms. I ran to her side and said with an innocent baby face, "Mum."

She looked down at me and caressed my hair lovingly as she said, "My little Arl." She gave me a light peck on the head and then walked to my dad.

"Are you okay? Why were you coughing?"

"Oh!" I exclaimed before he could reply. I continued with an innocent and somewhat mischievous face, "I told Dad I see the way he looks…."

"Hahaha," He laughed boisterously and freely as he took the basket from Mum's hand and pulled her into an embrace with his other hand. "Our little Arl is asking about how we met and got together, after all, the way I look at you lovingly puts to shame the way other men look at their wives."

"Huh!" surprised, and yet even though I couldn't see Mum's face, I could tell she was happy. So I just let it be.

"Come, come," he said to me as he lightly set Mum down while they sat on the ground together. I looked at him with contempt as I walked closer to the two.

I could not help but sigh as I thought, 'This is going to be a long story.'

*****

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[PAST]

The world of Goldsborn is a world of magic. It is called Goldsborn because the kingdom of Goldsborn is the one that rules over all other lands and kingdoms.

In this world, everyone is born with a magical element from birth, be it commoners, noble classes, or royalties. Although there have been cases of people born with two magical elements in the Legends, the probability of that happening now is…negligible.

The kingdom of Goldsborn was founded and ruled to date by the family of 'Goldsborn'.

Today, the capital of the kingdom is bustling and filled with activities in preparation for a special event that will be taking place tomorrow morning.

The entrance gate was packed full as one could see a procession of people on magical beasts, noble classes either with their children to take part in the event or simply to watch the show. Of course, there are also commoners either moving in groups or alone.

But something to note is that the faces of those who passed the entrance, regardless of their class, were always filled with stupor and awe.

Why? It was because of what lay in front of them.

The capital of the kingdom of Goldsborn is surrounded by a magical barrier that acts as a defense and also a screen to prevent those outside from seeing what is within.

So aside from the tall walls that surround the capital and the large entrance gate, nothing else could be seen.

But when one enters, they would see an entirely different world. Gold! That's the only word that comes to mind.

The outer walls of the buildings are painted with gold and the buildings are built in such a way that from the entrance taken as part of a large circle, the further inward you go, the taller and larger the golden buildings until you arrive at the very center where a magnificent and tall golden castle that seems to want to touch the sky could be seen.

…..

In the golden castle

On the balcony of the fourth floor, a young girl who seems to be no more than 12 years old with a light green veil covering her face could be seen. As she gazed at the shining kingdom, she could not help but have various thoughts.

A maid appeared behind her, bowed, and said "Princess, the King said to be ready and prepared for tomorrow's event and he won't tolerate any form of disobedience". Seeing that the princess gave no reply, the maid bowed again and excused herself.

'Sigh'. Since I refused all the princes that came for my hand in marriage with the excuse of them being weak, you then make a tournament for the youths less than 15 years old with the reward being my hand in marriage?

'Sigh, I can't help but feel like I have no say in my life'.

My eyes hardened as I thought to myself, 'Well I just have to do what I do best and teach tomorrow's winner a lesson then he will scram by himself'. I could not help but feel better with a smug smile on my face, 'No one tells this princess what to do, not even the King!'.

What she or any other person didn't know is that the event that is going to happen the next day is going to be the spark that ignites and engulfs their world and countless other worlds in a great war, leading to the death of an unimaginable number of people, even from dominant races such as Elves, Vampires, Werewolves, Giants and the strongest race of all, the Asuras.

It was the prelude to the Catastrophe, Lord Evil.

*****

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Next morning.

As ordered by the King, the tournament will be taking place in the largest coliseum of the capital 'the Coliseum of Goliath'.

The outer walls of the coliseum were painted with gold and it was large enough to contain hundreds of thousands of people.

The Coliseum was already packed with people with hundreds of thousands of commoners occupying the lower seats, hundreds of nobles seating on the middle seats, and very few royalties from neighboring kingdoms on the upper seats making the upper seats relatively empty.

Even though everybody was talking to each other, the place was not noisy at all.

The Goldsborn family was already present at the top uppermost seats with the King occupying the largest seat, the Queen to his left, and the princess to his right, both of their faces covered by a veil.

Surrounding the trio were other top members of the Goldsborn family.

The signature trait of the Goldsborn family is their golden hair representing their enormous talent for the element of time.

The people in the coliseum could not help but gaze at them with fervency.

What further increased their admiration was how the men of the Goldsborn family were dressed in golden suits and the women in golden dresses making them look like immortals.

The king stood up and was about to give a speech when from the distance two small dark dots appeared.

The two dark dots seemed to get larger by the second showing they were traveling at extreme speed and in a mere five seconds, two large wyverns appeared above the coliseum.

Both wyverns were green with a wingspan of about 80m.

One wyvern descended in the middle of the opened field of the coliseum while the other went up to an empty seat meant for royalty where it lightly landed.

A well-built man with dark hair got off the back of the wyvern, bowed toward the king, and sat down with grace.

The king nodded to him and looked at the center of the coliseum where a little boy stood beside the other wyvern.

He could not help but look him up close as he thought to himself, 'So this is the dark prince rumored to have dual magic that has only ever appeared in the legends?'.

Shaking off the miscellaneous thoughts, he opened his mouth, causing a deep voice filled with power and demanding authority to resound in the coliseum, "I welcome you all to this tournament where our young geniuses have gathered to show us their talents. The winner of this tournament will get the hand of my daughter in marriage."

The people quietened and looked at the King with a respectful expression on their faces.

"Without wasting more time, let the competition begin," the king said grandly as he waved his hand before he went back to his seat.

Seeing this, a tall man located a bit lower from the position of the Goldsborn family stood up. This man was a Duke of the kingdom. Dressed in a white coat, with auburn hair and sharp eyes, he was the one overseeing this tournament.

"Let the combatants come out," he said deeply.

At the right bottom side of the opened field of the coliseum, a large gate slowly rose.

Many young boys in the tens appeared from behind the gate, and they all moved to the center of the field where the dark prince was alone, the wyvern having left.

When all the combatants appeared at the center, gasps could be heard all around the coliseum.

This was because, among the nearly 70 participants, a tall girl with red fiery hair and eyes could be seen.

The situation was very odd as she was the only girl amidst the group of boys and she could not be vying for the hand of the princess…right?

The said girl seemed impassive to the attention she was receiving as she simply closed her eyes waiting for the tournament to start.

The duke could not help but shake his head dryly as the 'said girl' was actually his daughter, the best friend of the princess. 'You really took after your mother,' he thought.

He cleared his throat and continued, "You all will be given a box to choose your number. You will then be grouped..."

"Okay, okay, we know already, this that this that blah blah blah," a lazy voice echoed out followed by a lazy yawn.

...…!?

Absolute silence.

All heads turned to the source of the voice, which was in the middle of the field among the combatants where a young boy of 12 years was seen yawning and stretching.

He had silver hair with vibrant silver eyes that seemed to pull the world into it.

He was adorned in…rag cloths, that is right, rag cloths. A simple shirt torn at the top and back with several patches here and there and short black pants that barely reached his lower thigh.

Worst of it all was that the pant was slightly torn at the backside showing some soft white skin.

With a small thin stick in his mouth and a left hand in his pocket, his appearance seemed to scream… BEGGAR.

Looking in the direction the royalties were sitting, the boy's face flashed with defiance as he spoke:

"All my life, I have been treated as air. I had no one to lean on and could only rely on myself..."

The Coliseum became silent as all the people present gazed at the young boy intently, wondering what he was trying to pull.

Nevertheless, the boy seemed unaffected by the attention he was receiving as he continued, "...That was until I awakened. The acquisition of a great power changed my life and filled me with hope. However..." the boy paused once again as he shot a glare at the king.

"It turned out my power was treated as shit. The space laws was only revered for its teleportation ability and nothing else. When I heard this, I felt my world crumble before me. It turned out that in the end I was nothing, and society had no need for me. But, I discovered that I am different." the boy clenched his hands into fists before he continued:

"Today I will show you just how gravely wrong you are for treating a supreme law as nothing."

"Today, I will show my parents that abandoned me and the world that shunned me that you have seen wrong."

"Today, this daddy here will open your dog's eyes!" He bellowed out loudly acting all cool and mighty, the thin stick almost falling from his mouth.

Everyone opened their mouth in shock and stupor, not believing what they were seeing. The entire place was engulfed in absolute silence.

"What? Cat got your tongues...huh?"

*****

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