The barrier collapsed like shards of glass, leaving behind silence and a ruined arena—its stones cracked, its center scorched, and at the very heart of it stood Alex.

He had already deactivated his physique, looking normal. But that normality shocked people, as they all knew it shouldn’t be possible.

Whatever had happened inside the dome must have been dangerous. They knew it.

So, how was Alex unscathed?

How was he fine after facing whatever he was facing?

However, Velmar Thornmere soon pulled the attention. He glitched violently and convulsed with spasms that twisted his limbs at unnatural angles.

His breath hitched and trembled. His mouth foamed. His eyes rolled.

Unlike Alex, he wasn’t fine, and by now, everyone could tell that.

“Velmar!” Duke Thornmere’s voice shattered the stillness.

He leaped from the stands, his eyes blazing as his cloak billowed behind him like a stormcloud.

There was no dignity in his sprint, only the desperate fury of a father.

The crowd parted like water, stunned into silence as the man landed inside the broken arena, skidding to his knees beside his son.

“Velmar—Velmar! What happened to you? Answer me!” The Duke demanded, his trembling hands reaching forward to stabilize his son’s spasming frame.

No matter how strong and cold-hearted he was, he couldn’t stay calm when his only son seemed to be on the verge of death.

But there was no response. Velmar continued glitching as the slow burn of something foreign devoured him from within.

And then the Duke’s gaze shifted to the one person still standing tall.

Alex.

“You… YOU!” The Duke roared, standing with murder in his eyes.

His aura exploded out, a blinding white pressure, the might of a seasoned five-star realm noble crashing through the Circle of Flame. “What did you do to my son?!”

He shot forward like a bolt of rage, his hand ready to strike, but before he could—

SLAP!

—a sharp sound cracked through the arena.

Duke Thornmere staggered, and the audience gasped.

He hadn’t been stopped by Reganath, the only person supposed to be stronger than him in the kingdom.

It was Alex who had moved.

The moment that hand was raised against him, Alex responded. It wasn’t with a fist, nor with an attack, but with a simple slap that echoed louder than any explosion.

The Duke stumbled back, blinking in disbelief as he brought his hand to his cheek.

He couldn’t believe that he, a peak star connection realm expert, about to step into the next realm, was slapped by a kid.

How could he have known that the same kid was a monster he could defeat even in his dream?

Zahara, Mira, and Lilia were already beside Alex—Zahara’s eyes blazing, Mira silently tense, and Lilia scowling at the Duke in anger.

Behind them, Reganath and both his sons stepped forward, placing themselves between Alex and the Duke.

The King did not speak, but the steel in his gaze warned Thornmere to think twice.

Alex’s voice came next. Calm, cold, and controlled.

“I didn’t challenge your son, Duke Thornmere. He challenged me.”

The noble’s hands clenched. “You—!”

“I didn’t plan this duel. I didn’t choose this arena. I wasn’t even told until the day before. Everything about this was designed to trap me,” Alex continued, cutting him off.

“And still, I fought with rules. I followed your traditions. I didn’t kill him—even when I could have.”

Alex knew that he was strong now. He was strong enough to defeat most of the people present before him, so he didn’t need to care about what others thought.

He just said whatever he wanted.

The crowd stirred. Whispers passed like wind through grass.

Even those who once saw Alex as an outsider now looked at him with something closer to respect.

After all, his words were sound. No one could deny that Duke Thornmere was the one wrong here.

“But your son, after being declared the loser, chose to break the rules. He did something. Something no one can explain. Something that brought that glitching beast into this world. So tell me…” Alex’s eyes narrowed, his voice sharper now, “…why should I be the one answering questions?”

No one knew what had happened in the dome, but they had seen the silhouette, and now that Alex had confirmed the existence of a beast, they all knew he had fought a beast.

Alex had fought a creature that had left Varek, one of the strongest fighters of their empire, unconscious.

The Duke, on the other hand, opened his mouth and then closed it, faltering.

“You should be compensating me,” Alex added. “Not trying to kill me. If Velmar is dying, it’s because of what he did. Not me.”

Gasps rang through the stands. Murmurs of agreement began to rise. Even the nobles were shifting uncomfortably.

“He’s right…”

“Velmar did cheat…”

“That beast appeared after he was defeated…”

“What was that beast anyway? What is this glitch?”

“He should’ve accepted the loss like a warrior…”

For the first time in perhaps decades, Duke Thornmere found himself cornered—not by force, but by truth.

And yet… his eyes drifted back to Velmar’s body, which was now convulsing even more violently. Veins bulged. His limbs jerked. His mouth moved without sound, and his body was phasing in and out of physical space.

“No… no no no no—someone DO SOMETHING!” The Duke shouted, his voice cracking as he dropped to his knees again. “He’s dying—my son’s dying!!”

Zahara glanced at Alex, her expression caught between pity and strategy.

She knew that Duke Thornmere was one of her biggest opposers. He was strictly against her, a girl, becoming the leader of this kingdom.

But she still didn’t want his son to die.

After all, Velmar was the only person whom the duke loved.

If the guy died, who knows what would become of the man?

Zahara wanted to avoid such a situation, and Alex, looking into her eyes, understood that.

Reganath, on the other hand, furrowed. He didn’t know what to do. Thornmere was one of the strongest in the kingdom, and no matter how much he was against Zahara becoming the queen, he was loyal to the kingdom.

He didn’t want to lose such a guy.

But what could he even do?

Whatever was happening to Velmar wasn’t a curse or poison—it was like the very laws of reality were unraveling inside him.

“I can save him,” Alex said finally, stepping forward.

The Duke froze.

Alex’s tone was calm but commanding. “I can stabilize him. Stop the glitch. But I won’t do it for free.”

The crowd leaned in, breath held.

The Duke turned slowly, eyes bloodshot. “What do you want?”

Alex’s gaze flicked to Zahara.

Then back to the Duke.

“I want your support for Zahara. When the time comes for her to be Queen, I want no opposition from you. No hidden knives. No whispered politics. No sabotage.”

The Duke’s face contorted while Zahara’s eyes widened.

“You’d dare—use my son as a—!” Thornmere began with a growl but was cut off.

“Yes,” Alex said bluntly. “Because this isn’t just about your son anymore. This was never just a duel. Someone used him. He was a pawn, and he got caught in something beyond him. That’s not on me. But I’ll fix what I can. If you give me what I ask.”

The silence that followed was oppressive.

Everyone in the stands held their breath. The nobles stared. Even Reganath didn’t interrupt.

And then the Duke slowly bowed his head—lower than any had seen him bow before.

“…Fine,” he said hoarsely. “Save him. And I’ll support Zahara. I swear it.”

If he could save his son by abandoning one of his stubborn thoughts, he was willing to do it.

He would support Zahara, even if it went against his belief that women can never be better rulers than men.

Smiling at those words, Alex stepped forward.

He crouched beside Velmar’s glitching form, placing a hand over the boy’s chest. A pulse of destruction energy shimmered through his palm—followed by a deep, raw glow of life magic.

The potency of the destruction element was kept low so as not to let anyone identify it, while the life energy worked as a cover, making people think that he was healing Velmar.

The glitch fought back, but Alex’s will was stronger.

His power wasn’t just strength anymore.

It was control.

He was destroying the very source of the glitch in Velmar’s body. More like, he was destroying anything other than the good things in Velmar’s body.

It was as if the guy was getting a complete cleaning, like he was being washed from the inside, having every harmful component in his body removed.

Soon, the light settled.

Velmar’s convulsions slowed.

The flickering paused.

And then…

Stillness.

The boy was unconscious. But breathing.

Velmar was alive.

The Duke gasped and then clutched his son to his chest.

Behind them, the stands erupted—not in panic, not in anger—but in cheers.

“Long live the champion!”

“He saved the duke’s heir!”

“That outsider… He’s something else!”

Like that, the duel came to an end, and Alex, by turning Duke Thronmere to Zahara’s side, made some progress in his main objective as well.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep