he universe began to show clear signs of trouble as time passed. The souls being born became increasingly unstable, missing fragments of themselves. People with severe mental disorders started appearing more frequently. Psychopathy became extremely common, an everyday occurrence across all worlds. Massacres turned into something normal, as if violence had become a natural part of existence.
Geniuses stopped being born, and the average level of talent declined more and more. A few still managed to stand out, but the vast majority lived and died in weak, ordinary lives. Seventh-realm mages became anomalies once again—rare beings in a universe where extraordinary figures had nearly vanished. Natural wealth was also severely depleted during this period.
Mana was no longer an abundant resource. Many empires had monopolized it to such an absurd degree that some regions of the universe had no mana at all—enormous voids where magic was completely absent. These were places so deprived that not even a single ninth-realm mage could exist there. It was an insane reality, a complete imbalance of magical distribution.
Entire worlds lived as mere mortals, with no magical paths to follow. It was surreal—societies developing exactly as Kayden’s first world had, relying only on their intelligence and ideas. Some of them managed to rise above mediocrity and colonize entire solar systems, while others failed to even develop long-distance communication. For many, the stars remained distant and unreachable.
The mages selected for the Tournament of the Gods had been chosen long ago. Many had already reached their peak, while others were still refining their strength. Some simply had no room to grow any further and were now waiting for the moment to ascend.
Over the years, many gods had appeared in this universe, yet all of them were expelled in mere seconds by the pressure of the heavens. Gods were not permitted to exist in this universe—there would be no mercy for them. Among all these expelled gods, not a single one had nine rays. They were all weaker, lesser beings with little talent—mere placeholders for the ranks of future battles, names that would soon be forgotten.
Countless tenth-realm demigod mages with ten rays emerged in this period. These were the true challengers. The rest had no real chance of fighting in the battles of the gods. The tenth ray was supposed to be an extremely rare phenomenon, yet this universe had something unusual—something even Thoth could not explain. A touch of chaos lingered here, allowing the birth of inexplicable beings. The universe had never followed normal rules, and it continued to prove that now.
Atlas and Kayden were the greatest examples of this anomaly.
Atlas was a mage who had successfully walked the true perfect path of a mortal mage, reaching ten rays, ten realms, and the level of a demigod. He had stacked countless strengths that placed him at the very top of the food chain. But that wasn’t all—Atlas was also a second-degree monarch.
The first degree of monarchs was simply being a mana monarch, someone capable of controlling mana at will. This was the most common form—though calling it "common" was misleading, as becoming a monarch was extremely rare in itself. However, only 10% of all monarchs ever reached the next level.
The second degree was the specialized monarchs—those who had gone far beyond the average. Kayden and Atlas were among them. The two of them stood far above all their peers. Their journeys, the way they became monarchs, and everything about them far surpassed the norm. They had become monarchs in unique, specialized ways, ways that no one else had been able to replicate.
At this moment, Atlas was undoubtedly the strongest mage in the universe. He had not fought in a long time, and no one knew exactly how powerful he had become. However, no one could forget the day he ascended to the heavens as the first emperor of this universe. His face was burned into the minds of mages both great and small. His presence alone was a symbol of supremacy.
Kayden, on the other hand, had been mostly forgotten by high-level mages. Only a handful still remembered him—those who had witnessed his growth long ago. Kayden always found a way to accomplish something spectacular. Even when he disappeared from the spotlight, his legend remained, whispered among those who had seen his rise.
"Is this the conclusion you reached?"
Kayden was speaking with Shadow about the challenges he had faced in reaching the eighth realm. It had been a defining moment in the creature’s life—a true turning point. Shadow’s power had grown to something very close to Kayden’s own, something that had even surprised him.
The Law of Mana had started engraving itself into Shadow’s mind and body in a strange way. It had taken him an insanely long time to progress to the eighth realm. Meanwhile, Kayden had spent that time modifying his entire soul, making countless improvements. Every piece of his being had been refined, strengthened, and prepared for the future.
At this point, Shadow was a fully functional, thinking mage. He was perfectly capable of living his own life without ever meeting Kayden again. And yet…
"Yes. Your presence is like a fire that calls to me."
Kayden wanted to know why Shadow still followed him. Over the years, many others like him had appeared. Dozens of "princes" had risen, but only Shadow had been chosen as Kayden’s second-in-command. Stay connected through FreeNovelHub
In the end, Kayden had been right to keep Shadow above the others. His potential was insane, and he had proven it by advancing to the eighth realm. He had only managed this when he mastered a portion of the Law of Mana. From that day onward, his power had changed completely.
Even Kayden had not been this strong when he was in the eighth realm. That was unusual.
It was strange how a single law could grant so much power to a mage. Kayden couldn’t fully grasp what made it so overwhelming, but every theory he considered led to a single conclusion.
The Law of Mana was a primordial law—it was not something low-level. On the contrary, it had to be one of the most insane laws in this universe. That was the only explanation for Shadow’s immense strength.
But there was also another factor.
Shadow’s very existence was something completely unique in the entire universe.
His power, his very nature, defied all known magical rules.
He was a mystery—one that not even Kayden could fully understand.