Hero of Darkness

Out of nowhere, Kahn suddenly challenged all of the disciples of Romulus who wanted to test him instead of fighting with them one at a time. This occurrence caught everyone off guard including Romulus and his wife Priscilla.

This sort of proclamation meant one thing for certain… that Atreus was looking down on all four of them.

"Insolence! What an impetuous man!" spoke the tallest and strongest intermediate 4th stage saint white wolfkin among the group.

The beginner rank 4th stage saintess also had an incredibly ugly and hateful expression on her face as she glared at Atreus with killing intent.

This sort of casual treatment signified that this Shadow Disciple who their master had been secretly training didn't even acknowledge their existence or saw them as his peers in terms of strength.

It took them all more than 50 years to become what they are now after tirelessly training and absorbing resources. All of them were bound to play a vital part in the future of their tribe which consisted of more than 300 million people and spread across thousands of kilometers.

Each one of them was a prodigy and thus were recognized by the tribe leader to become his disciples.

Yet this no-name wolfkin who never even showed up before them suddenly mocked their entire existence by challenging them altogether.

"What? Do you want me to lower my strength to half as well?

Aren't I giving you guys too much of a handicap already?" the blue wolfkin spoke with a contorted expression.

"Arrsshhh… You guys are simply too shameless." he spoke and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"This bastard!" exclaimed the tall white wolfkin as he growled and bare his fangs at Atreus.

"Dorian, Juno, Ivaar and Mephisto!"

Suddenly a loud voice resounded in the hall as Romulus aka their master called out their names with respect to their rank and strength levels in descending order.

"What did I teach you before?

There is no such thing as honor or fairness on the battlefield.

If Atreus wants to challenge you all to battle at once without the strength to back it… Then it's his ignorance.

If someone looks down on you, do not be ashamed of using that as an opportunity.

Not every battle is a Knight's Duel." spoke Romulus with a terrifying and overbearing tone.

The wolfkin knew his disciples very well.

Although they were once in a hundred years geniuses… Everyone had flaws in their nature.

Dorian, a Halberd user, was simply too chivalrous and valued honor as a warrior.

Juno, who had a unique class called Spirit Enchantress, was simply too stuck-up as someone with great strength. She looked down on her opponents by default if they were even slightly weaker than her.

Ivaar, an Assassin, was simply a psychopath despite his frail-looking body. He liked to toy and torture his opponents before killing them; like a predator playing with its food. This made him an unreliable ally during the war because he'd rather play his little games than cooperate.

Mephisto, a Magician who was the weakest among them, was simply too hesitant and could be called the master of overthinking. He lost many opportunities during battle because of his unnecessarily cautious behavior.

Thus, instead of using this as a learning experience, they got offended by simple words.

A warrior who acts on impulses and could be hookwinded with simple provocations would never be a good leader.

Romulus was also impressed by Atreus aka Kahn on the other hand. Because he was already playing mind games before the battle even began.

After the wolfkin's scolding, all of the disciples simply gritted their teeth and entered the formation.

Kahn had learned a peculiar thing about the beast empire. Here, battles were mostly simulated using some sort of ancient techniques, formations and mechanics that were unique to the Nadur Empire.

And finally… A

A mountainous region appeared around Kahn.

This was neither an artificial battlefield nor it was an illusion. Rather… It was more like a pocket dimension created solely for the sake of battle training and fights to settle grudges between people.

The Trial by Combat tradition being the origin behind such an approach.

As for why was Kahn doing this?

He had no time to waste on the infighting, secret ploys and entertain these people like some cliche plot of a novel where he would fight them one by one or try to win their hearts.

Kahn had learned already that trying to please others to like him and mix with the crowd was nothing but a waste of time.

If someone had malicious intent towards you or planned to backstab you… They would do so no matter how kind and generous you were towards them.

The sooner he put them in their place, the more time he'd save which could be used to focus on his training.

He wasn't here to make friends or play happy family with any of these people since he'd leave this place one day anyway. To him, the Beast Empire was simply a temporary asylum.

But it didn't mean he'd repeat the same cycle of being looked down on or suppressed by others as he was in the past.

Like people often said…

'First Impression is Last Impression.'

As for fighting with the Brawler class.

Kahn only knew the basics as one of his doppelgangers trained with the class skills for a while and currently, he was already a Beginner Grandmaster Rank in using Gauntlets as a weapon.

And him fighting with the water element?

This was going to be the first time for both of these cases.

Hence, to avoid unnecessary and repeated plotlines he already had been through, Kahn openly challenged all of them at once.

Tall mountain peaks, lush greenery, well-developed trees and a wide water stream appeared in this arena while Atreus was surrounded by the group in all four directions.

Dorian, Juno, Ivaar and Mephisto already took their well-practiced battle formation that they often used to take down stronger opponents.

To them, Atreus was just way over his head to challenge them all at once.

But in the mind of the blue wolfkin brawler saint…

They were just practice dummies.