On the other side of the door was a long dark corridor leading to the stage. As he was walking, cheering sounds from tens of thousands of people could be heard. There was the smell of iron and sweat in the air, with some bloodstains here and there.
The closer he got to the light at the end of the tunnel, the faster his heartbeat. He put his empty hand over his face and when he removed it, the mask had appeared. Although he could do it without moving a muscle, it just felt more natural this way.
As he got closer to the end of the corridor, the sounds of people cheering and screaming got weaker and weaker.
"What am I fighting for?" he mumbled lost in thought.
"I have no place to call home, no loved ones or anybody that would really care if I was gone. Why do I want to become stronger?" he said as he started walking in a strange manner, with his shoulders raised and chest puffed out, left, right, left, right, with every step the power of his first meridian, the Emperor's Dominion, started circulating through his legs according to the pattern described in Demonic steps.
An unknown pressure descended in the corridor. If someone was there they would have no desire to fight, no desire to live or to die. The entirety of their being would want to submit before Hao Xuan, not even daring to meet his eyes, let alone take up arms against him.
Subconsciously he opened his right hand as if grabbing at something, and the Glaive appeared with a whooshing sound.
The same glaive that he couldn't lift before now felt as light as a feather. Was it because he leveled up so much recently or some other reason?
With every single step, the ground near him vibrated a little, as if something massive was coming.
"What is it that I live for? Why must I become stronger?" he spoke loudly, the voice echoing in the empty corridor.
"To see the world?" the images that he was shown during his inauguration appeared one by one like a slideshow. The many different races, monsters as big as entire planets slumbering deep beneath the surface of the earth and the ocean, demons from the depths of hell itself, experts hurling planetary bodies at each other during fights. Incredibly marvelous images flashed past his eyes, some of the images weren't even included in the inauguration.
His eyes gained a red hue along with their natural green color.
"No, that is 'a' reason, but not 'my' reason," he shook his head, still in a strange state of mind and almost at the end of the corridor.
"Emi would still love big brother no matter what!" suddenly a cute little voice sounded in his head and an image of a little girl holding a stuffed bear, two ponytails, big black baby eyes, and an assuring face appeared.
A goofy smile crept upon Hao Xuan's face, "Promise?" he asked extending his left pinky finger.
"Mhmm" the little girl nodded extended her hand and made a pinky promise, and then vanished like smoke as if an illusion.
"I remember. How could I ever forget about you?" he said still smiling and walked out of the corridor while still using Demonic steps.
As soon as he stepped out onto the stage his first meridian thrummed and a faint pressure descended on the entire Colosseum which was several miles long. It wasn't harmful to anyone but instead made everyone ashamed to look at him.
Hundreds of thousands of eyes turned towards him instantly. Even the fights going on the other stages stopped, both beasts and humans stopped whatever they were doing and looked at him.
The beast he had chosen was called Giros and was about two meters long. The second Hao Xuan walked out, all of its confidence went down the drain and its legs buckled and it fell on the ground, not even looking up at him.
But Hao Xuan, on the other hand, had no idea what was going on, he was still in his own world with his body moving on its own.
The stage was 50 meters in radius and the distance between him and the Giros was about 30 meters.
"You are not worthy," he spoke unconsciously as he saw the beast cowering in front of him, already admitting defeat.
*Tap*
He took one step forward and covered the distance of 30 meters, appearing right before the Giros. He looked down at it and the beast felt an unknown power telling it to lift its head upwards to meet Hao Xuan's eyes.
As soon as their eyes met, Hao Xuan harrumphed with disdainful eyes and slashed down the Glaive in a straight line and turned around, took one more step and entered back into the corridor vanishing from everyone's sight.
Complete and utter silence. For the next ten to fifteen seconds, the entire Colosseum was dead silent, that is until the Giros split in two and fell down on the ground.
"What?"
"Holy shit!!"
"Did that just happen?"
"Did you just see that guy or was it a dream?"
The entire Colosseum exploded with chatter. Some people were still not sure if that was an illusion or real, they were pinching themselves and asking others for confirmation.
All they saw was a man in a white horned mask with long black hair come out onto the stage for a second, say "You're not worthy" to the beast and disappear, and then the beast died. What the hell was that about? Did he just come here to show off?
"Was it a Prince?" asked someone in the crowd, silencing everyone yet again.
"Oh my god! It might actually have been a prince. Did you feel the pressure when he appeared? I just wanted to prostrate myself in front of him and ask for forgiveness," said a voluptuous lady with slightly red cheeks.
"Yeah me too!" one after another people started agreeing with her hypothesis.
"Only someone from the royal clan would have such majesty and poise to make us normal folks have that feeling," spoke another person. To these mortals, that seemed like something out of this world, but to the actual cultivators present in the crowd it was entirely different.
"Emperors Dominion! How could it be?" said a young girl sitting in one of the VIP lounges.
"No one from this generation has awakened that kind of power, who was that man?" asked another girl sitting next to her.
"I don't know, but he is not from the Mei clan," the first girl shook her head in response.
"Find out who he is!" she ordered to the two royal guards that were standing behind them, who bowed in response and left.