Kayden uttered a single word, his command seeming to resonate with existence itself, bending reality to a single absolute will. There was nothing beyond that order; existence obeyed Kayden just as a peasant obeys a king.
The strongest divine lightning this multiverse had seen in trillions of years… vanished, bowing to nothing. Its existence was denied just as easily as one of Kayden's mere whims. There was no further interaction.
A mortal had bent the tenth lightning.
A dreadful silence permeated the entire universe. Not even the sound of breathing could be heard. There was nothing gods or mortals could say in that moment. Their minds faced the greatest collapse of their entire lives.
Be they gods or mortals, all felt insignificant before Kayden. His title had never made more sense than in that moment. Kayden truly was the Monarch of Monarchs. There was not the slightest doubt. Gods with egos higher than the skies were turned into pathetic children in the face of Kayden's actions.
Many present had reached the absolute peak of power a god could attain, and still felt pathetic near Kayden. Simply because, while their current power was immense, their potential was limited, while Kayden's?
Kayden's potential was simply unfathomable. No one was capable of placing any limit on it. His current strength had already shattered every paradigm that had ever existed. To bend the tenth divine lightning? That didn't even make sense.
Reality tried to rebuild itself after the collapse, but failed. Everything around Kayden became a vacuum where laws simply did not dare to exist — not from lack of power, but out of respect. The multiverse seemed to struggle to breathe, trying to understand what it had witnessed. The very fundamental laws, which had governed countless eras, now aligned around Kayden like vassals seeking approval. Even the flow of time hesitated, as if awaiting instructions from someone more worthy to command it. For the first time, the heavens had no control; they were watching.
And then, slowly, the universe moved. But it wasn't the cosmos reacting — it was Kayden allowing it. His eyes opened, and with that gesture, countless mages, gods, and entities beyond comprehension felt a crushing weight in their very souls. There was no doubt, no more debate, no longer any skepticism. The Monarch of Monarchs was not just a title — it was an absolute truth, recognized even by the highest consciousnesses. A mortal had refused the mercy of the heavens, commanded a divine lightning to kneel… and won.
The silence that now dominated the universe was no longer one of shock — it was one of reverence.
The sound of clapping appeared in everyone's minds, each clap resembling a divine lightning bolt crashing into the universe, and… in truth, they were. The claps came from the heavens. The mere act of clapping by one of those beings caused billions of universes to be upended, their laws thrown into chaos. Not only that, but the flow of time and all meaning was broken.
"The heavens congratulate Kayden Heart," the voice appeared after the claps, "and grant him the title of Monarch of Monarchs." It sounded almost silly, something said as mere praise, but Kayden's aura took on a slightly different tone.
It wasn't something that gave him power, or even answers for the future, but it was something that made it obvious to anyone who looked at him that Kayden was the Monarch of Monarchs. It was as if his title could now be consulted by anyone in the universe, in a strange way — it looked like he had an online game nickname floating above his head.
A wave of applause began, led by all the mages in the universe — not just them, but mages from other universes also began to clap. A mage receiving a title from the celestials was simply insane. It was something none of them had ever seen in their lives. Only a few gods had ever received such an honor.
"The divine grade is a gift that the heavens grant to the worthy," the heavens finished, "but we do not believe the Monarch of Monarchs will accept it. So instead, we merely wish you luck on your journey."
The event ended as quickly as it began.
Kayden remained floating in the void, the crown on his head, while the mages began to gather themselves and think about what to do. Kayden was still a mortal, which meant that none of the great gods could attempt anything against him. Karma would be instantaneous and prevent them from continuing to exist.
"Thoth," Kayden broke the silence, looking directly at where the gods of the competition were gathered. "In which prediction did you see all this happening?" The boy smiled and...
Disappeared in front of all the mages and gods. No one was even remotely able to understand where he had gone. There was no alteration in the matter or anything like that. It was a surprise teleportation — completely perfect.
The gods were in disarray, searching for any trace of Kayden. His addition to their domain would simply destroy any balance in the multiverse. Kayden would be the god of mortals, capable of subjugating millions of universes with ease and without any difficulty.
An organization would be able to multiply in size without any trouble. In the mortal multiverse, there were few changes in the balance of power, simply because mortals had a maximum strength limit. A mortal could at most shake an entire universe with effort — but all organizations had some like that. That made it so that there was never any omnipotent mortal.
At the divine level, there were omnipotent gods—beings who completely defied logic. The distribution of power at the divine level had been well-established for practically infinite time, with few changes at the top — but an infinite number of changes at the base.
The problem was that Kayden broke this paradigm completely. He could easily go on conquering everything without the slightest difficulty. There would be no mortals capable of matching his strength. The balance of power would collapse in just a few years. But…