The whole giant stadium went completely quiet. It felt like every single person, all thousands of them, stopped breathing at the same time.
Every eye was locked on the person standing alone in the middle of the crazy maze-like arena. It looked like Prince Eric, but something was way off.
His body was practically glowing, sending out waves of powerful energy. Bright flashes of blue light pulsed off him, so bright it made the air around him look wavy and weird, like looking over a hot fire.
The ground under him seemed to hum with all the power pouring out. It wasn't smooth or controlled; it felt wild and chaotic, like a thunderstorm trapped inside his small body.
Even the Emperor, King Noor IV, who was famous for always being super calm and never showing emotion, couldn't help himself. He leaned forward a little in his fancy royal chair, his usual bored look gone.
Now his eyes were sharp, interested, and maybe even a little worried. He stared down at his youngest son, trying to figure out what was going on.
Something totally weird was happening. Something nobody had ever seen before. Something that didn't make sense according to the rules of magic or science in their kingdom.
Up in the royal box, Eric's two older brothers, Prince Raven and Prince Leonard, looked at each other quickly, totally confused.
Their usual smirks or smart looks were gone, replaced by pure surprise. They looked back down at the glowing boy in the arena, then back at each other, clueless.
"What the heck is happening to Eric?" Raven, the fighter prince, mumbled, loud enough for Leonard to hear. His usual cool attitude was completely gone. "Is he like… blowing up with magic or something?"
Leonard, the smart magician prince, frowned, squinting as he tried to figure out the energy waves. "This isn't like any magic awakening I've ever read about," he answered quietly, just as confused.
"The energy feels… messy, unstable, almost… not from around here. I've never felt anything like it."
Neither brother knew what was going on. They both looked at their father, the Emperor, hoping he would give them a sign, explain things, or tell them what to do. But the Emperor stayed completely silent.
His face was unreadable again, and his sharp eyes didn't leave the glowing boy down below. He didn't give them any clues.
Meanwhile, down on the arena floor, Eric's body, which was blasting out all this energy, seemed to finally give out. He wasn't standing anymore; he was lying still where he had fallen after being thrown against the wall. But the energy didn't stop when he collapsed.
Actually, it got even stronger, crackling loudly now. The blue light was so bright it hurt to look straight at it.
His whole body glowed like a blue star, blasting out raw, wild power that pushed outwards, making the swordsman nearby stumble back another step without even thinking about it.
The Royal Knight swordsman, the first opponent, still held his sword tightly. He stared with his mouth open at the storm of power coming from the unconscious prince.
He'd seen a lot of fights and powerful magic, but he'd never seen anything like this crazy explosion of energy coming from one person, especially a kid everyone thought was weak.
Inside that storm of energy, inside Eric's mind, the prince himself was barely aware of anything. He was drowning in too much power and too much pain. His jaw was clenched super tight.
The power—from Millenia, from Adam, maybe both—was just too much. It felt like trying to hold a nuclear bomb inside a glass jar. It was too wild, too huge, too messy for his weak body to handle.
And then—a sharp, stabbing pain shot through his chest, way worse than anything before. It wasn't like the assassin's daggers; this felt like it came from inside him, like someone shoved a burning hot metal rod right into his heart. It was so painful, worse than anything he could imagine.
His vision went completely black. His hands started shaking uncontrollably. A last little choked sound came out of his mouth. And before he could even think about fighting it, before he could even try to call Millenia for help again—
Eric passed out completely. His mind just shut down, overwhelmed by the power and the pain.
But weirdly, the energy blasting out of his limp body didn't stop when he blacked out.
Actually, it surged even stronger! His body glowed brighter than ever, like a mini blue sun in the center of the arena. More gasps came from the shocked crowd.
Nobles, knights, smart scholars, and even the regular people way up high stared with their mouths hanging open, totally speechless at the impossible thing they were seeing.
"What… what is that?" someone whispered loudly in the stunned silence, asking the question everyone was thinking. "Is he gonna explode?" "Is this his secret power?" "Or is he dying?"
The swordsman, still standing a few feet away from the glowing, unconscious boy, felt sweat drip down his face, even though the air near the energy felt strangely cool. He looked nervously back up at the Emperor in the royal box, silently asking with his eyes:
Should I stop this? Should we end the trial now? He's knocked out, Your Majesty! This isn't normal!
But the Emperor didn't move. He didn't nod. He didn't give any signal to stop.
He gave no order. He didn't let anyone interfere. His face stayed calm, his eyes fixed on the glowing boy. It seemed like he wanted this weird thing to keep happening, to see where it went, no matter how dangerous it looked for his son.
The swordsman got the message instantly. The King's silence meant: continue. The trial wasn't over. He still had a job to do.
Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, the swordsman pushed away his shock and confusion. He was a Royal Knight; he had to follow orders. The trial kept going until the King said stop, or until someone won or lost.
He tightened his grip on his sword again, focusing his eyes back on the still, glowing body of Prince Eric lying unconscious on the ground. His opponent couldn't fight back. It was time to end this, fast and clean.
Maybe it was even kinder to end it quickly, given how much energy was blasting out of the prince.
He stepped forward again. He tried to ignore the crackling energy coming off the body, even though every part of him wanted to stay far away.
He raised his sword high, getting ready for a quick finishing move aimed downwards – maybe not to kill him, but maybe just to tap him or disable him to officially end the fight according to the trial rules.
He jumped forward, putting his strength into the downward swing.
The sword came slicing down, aimed right at the unconscious prince.
But just inches, just tiny little centimeters, before the sharp metal could hit Eric's head—
CRACK!
A super fast and crazy powerful kick suddenly shot upwards from the boy who was supposed to be unconscious on the ground. The kick hit the swordsman square in the middle of his armored chest.
The knight had zero time to react, zero time to even see it coming. He felt a huge burst of pain explode in his ribs. He heard a horrible crunching sound as his metal armor dented and maybe some bones broke underneath.
He went flying backward through the air like he'd been hit by a truck, totally floppy like a rag doll.
All the air got knocked out of his lungs with a whoosh. He crashed hard onto the dirt ground several yards away and rolled limply before stopping in a cloud of dust.
He coughed hard, struggling to breathe, clutching his chest where it felt like fire. His head was spinning. He couldn't believe how strong that kick was. It came out of nowhere, from a kid who was knocked out cold!
The magician girl up in the tree and the hidden assassin, who had both been watching everything carefully from their spots, reacted instantly when they saw the swordsman get taken out so suddenly.
They rushed out from where they were hiding, running towards the fallen knight to help him up. Their faces showed confusion and alarm.
The three opponents quickly grouped together near the edge of the fighting area, looking back nervously at the spot where Eric lay.
Back in the center of the arena, the body on the ground started to move. Eric's eyes slowly fluttered open.
But something was… different. Really different.
The scared, empty look he usually had was gone. The confusion and pain were gone too. Instead, his eyes, still the same golden color, now looked sharp and super smart, coolly confident, and maybe even a little bit amused.
A slow, easy, sure-of-himself smile spread across his face. It wasn't Eric's usual shy, weak smile. This was totally new.
Then he spoke out loud. His voice sounded smooth, deep, and completely different from Eric's usual hesitant voice. It sounded satisfied, like he'd been waiting a long time.
"Finally… Took long enough. I'm out."
It definitely wasn't Eric speaking. The sound of the voice, the way he spoke, the pure confidence – it was all wrong for the quiet prince.
It was Adam.
He'd done it. Using the blast of power from Millenia, the stress on Eric's body, and the moment the seal weakened when Eric passed out – he had pushed through. He had taken full control of Eric's body.
He wasn't just watching anymore. He was here, in the real world.
Adam slowly pushed himself up from the ground. He didn't struggle like Eric would have. He stood up smoothly, easily, like a trained athlete.
He stood tall and brushed off some dirt from the tunic he was wearing (Eric's tunic). The crazy blue energy, the wild storm that had surrounded the body just seconds ago, was still blazing around him—wild, powerful, untamed.
But then—
He stopped it.
With a small, almost lazy flick of his wrist, just a tiny movement of his hand, the blinding light vanished instantly. The crackling sounds stopped. The bright light faded away. The overwhelming energy that had filled the stadium just disappeared completely, like it was never there.
It was like someone just flipped off a light switch. The crowd, who had been covering their eyes or staring in shock, blinked in the normal sunlight, totally stunned into silence again.
One second, Eric looked like a walking bomb. The next second, he was just… a boy. Standing still in the middle of the arena, looking perfectly normal again.
But you could feel it in the air. Something huge had changed.
Everything had changed.
The silence in the huge stadium felt thick and heavy. It felt like something important and maybe a little scary had just happened.
Every single eye stayed glued to the person in the center—the person who looked like Prince Eric, but now felt completely different. It was Adam, fully awake and in charge, standing inside the prince's body.
Adam slowly looked down at his hands – Eric's hands, but now they did whatever Adam thought. He turned them over, looking at the palms, then the back.
He flexed his fingers, testing how they moved, feeling the muscles obey his thoughts instantly.
He took a second to really feel the body that was now his to use, at least for a while. It felt weird and small after being a spirit in his huge domain, but it also felt amazing to have real senses – to feel the ground under his feet, the sun on his skin, the air in his lungs.
He looked around slowly, taking in the whole scene from this new viewpoint. The maze walls, the fake trees, the thousands of shocked faces staring down at him from the seats.
Then, his eyes stopped, focusing across the arena towards the royal box.
The Emperor.
King Noor IV sat there, looking serious in his dark robes. Adam could feel the waves of power coming off the King even more strongly now.
Adam stared at the King for a long moment. His eyes narrowed just a little, like he was sizing him up.
"So this… is the Emperor," Adam whispered. His voice sounded different now, using Eric's throat but with Adam's deep tone. "Supposedly the strongest warrior in this kingdom."
His voice was quiet, but it had an edge to it – interest, and maybe something darker, like he was thinking about a challenge.
His eyes then quickly flicked over to the two princes sitting next to the Emperor. Raven and Leonard were watching him with wide eyes now.
Their earlier confidence was gone, replaced by confusion and maybe a little bit of nervousness. Adam smirked, a small, knowing smile playing on his lips.
So these are Eric's 'amazing' brothers… They don't look so tough from down here.
He then turned his head to the right, looking towards the edge of the fighting area where the three opponents were now standing together. They were still watching him carefully, whispering to each other, looking worried.
The swordsman had gotten back up, but he held one hand tight against his chest where Adam's kick had hit him. You could see pain on his face.
The magician girl next to him held her dark wand tightly, her dark eyes darting nervously between Adam and her friends. The assassin, quiet as always, seemed to blend back into the shadows near a wall, watching Adam with sharp, careful eyes, ready to attack or disappear in a second.
Adam took one step forward. His movement was smooth and sure, nothing like Eric's usual shy steps.
He smiled again—a bigger smile this time. It was a real smile, filled with excitement and the thrill of being free, even if it was only temporary. The smile completely changed Eric's face, making him look suddenly dangerous and exciting in a way nobody had ever seen.
"Well then…" Adam said, his voice now clear and easily heard across the suddenly silent arena. He looked straight at the three opponents, checking them out.
"Let's not keep everyone waiting. Let's see just how powerful I really am in this world."