( Rajput Capital )

*Clang*

*Clang*

*SHUA*

*SHUA*

It was just a regular day at the Rajput Capital as Kremeth Junior sparred with his elder cousin Jake using swordsmanship.

Kremeth had reached tier5 recently and wanted to see how big of a gap it was between tier5 and tier6 as he was shocked to see that Jake could take him on with one arm tied behind his back.

" Don't lose your footing, making desperate attacks and losing balance will be your undoing...

When facing stronger opponents always focus on not giving them any opening. The only way you can win against a stronger opponent is by forcing them to make a mistake.

Since you are not stronger or faster than me, you won't be able to create an opening in my stance" Jake explained as he swiped Kremeth juniors legs and knocked him off balance.

*Crash*

Falling flat on his but, junior stared down the pointy edge of Jake's sword as he acknowledged his defeat in this fight.

Drenched in sweat from head to toe, junior looked at his elder brother in awe as despite the twenty five minute spar, his elder brother did not look to have broken a sweat while he felt deadbeat himself.

" So this is the gap between a tier5 and a tier6" junior said as Jake felt his chest stifen but said nothing.

In actuality Jake had been using strength equal to that of a tier5 warrior, however, junior was just not upto the mark.

The entire family had been going soft on him ever since he suffered an unfortunate injury, however, if Jake was honest to himself, the current Kremeth was not worthy to carry the Rajput name.

While he was much stronger than an average tier5 warrior, compared to Kartikeya at the same tier he was literal trash to the point where Jake felt that Kartikeya could end the fight against Kremeth under two strikes if he wanted to.

However, for the sake of his mental health and morale, Jake said nothing as he only gave his younger brother empty encouragement to work harder.

From the sidelines, Mira and Anna were both observing this duel with Gopal and Leah in their arms as the little children looked up to their elder siblings in awe.

While Gopal kept drooling and making happy noises throughout the fight, Leah was able to absorb some of the movements as she grew a lot just by observing the spar.

Unlike the kids, Anna and Mira could both notice the problem with this spar, however, both of them were mute regarding the issue just like Jake was too.

Mira was a powerhouse herself, whereas Anna had grown up watching Max grow beside her.

At tier5 Max was fighting tier6 god's and was completing gruelling training alongside Angakok in what would become the defining years of his legend.

Compared to that, the environment where Kremeth was being raised was extremely tame, and such comfort was never going to raise a warrior but would only produce weaklings.

It was not that Kremeth was weak, it was not that his resolve was lacking or he was not putting the efforts needed to improve. It was just that he was raised too comfortably to become hungry and ambitious and despite having all the natural talent in the world, he was not ruthless enough to turn it into his strength.

It was unfortunate, and as mother's both Mira and Anna wanted Kremeth to become as successful as possible, however, learning from his example they first wanted to ensure that their children did face difficulties in life as only by being tempered would they ever learn to be true warriors.

*********

( Meanwhile Max )

" There is no news from my brother, years have flown by yet he is not making contact as promised, what's going on Lord Odin?" Max asked in a worried tone as he did not understand what to make of his brother's silence.

When Rudra was ascending he promised to call and guide Max regarding the method to fight and defeat the perfect warrior once he fought him, yet two and a half years had almost passed since his ascension yet he had not made any attempts to connect with Max within the controlled universe.

" If you don't wish to waste your only chance to hold a direct communication with him without understanding his circumstances, the only other way to send him a message would be via his soulmancer-

While it will be impossible for me to find out who his soulmancer is, maybe you have a clue? Supreme lord Max" Odin said as he seemed as perplexed by this phenomenon as Max.

It had been far too long for Rudra to not have faced the perfect warrior even once, however, little did they know that not only had Rudra fought the perfect warrior on four separate occasions, but that each one was a worse defeat than the previous.

Rudra had never felt more obsessed on how to defeat his opponent in his entire life, yet, he could not come up with a plan that was good enough.

" Usually when one chooses their soulmancers they choose it to be someone strong and someone that they can trust blindly.

If you were not a candidate to ascend to the celestial realm yourself, my first assumption would be that he would have made you his soulmancer, but that is not the case.

The kids are too weak currently in my opinion to carry the power of his soul, but I can't be sure…." Odin said as he tried to give Max hints on whom Rudra might have chosen to be his soulmancer.

When Max thought hard about it, he could only think of three people whom Rudra could have chosen to become his soulmancer which would be members of the True Elites guild - Neatwit, Jhonny or Fatty Kalash.

Fatty Kalash was currently renowned to be the world's best blacksmith as he had famously defeated the forger king in a craftsmanship battle at the Dwarven capital last year.

His growth was remarkable and according to the queen he was at the peak of tier7, however, Max doubted that he could be Rudra's soulmancer since although Rudra trusted him a lot and was best friends with him, Fatty was not really a combat warrior and that made him unsuitable for the job.

Guildmaster Neatwit was strong, however, in the past two and a half years his growth seemed to be flat.

When Max announced that Rudra had ascended to the celestial realm, he looked to be genuinely shocked and heartbroken which meant that it was impossible that Rudra talked to him before ascending as in that case he would have known.

There were reports that he was losing his edge recently as he hardly went out to level up nor did he participate in many guild exercises as without Rudra he seemed to have lost his motivation to strive to become better.

This left only Sir Jhonny who was as elusive and mysterious as ever as Max had no idea about his true strength as the man had little to no public displays of strength in the past two and a half years.

Just the name of the 'Balls Demon' was enough to terrorise any army as just the legend of Sir Jhonny had spread so far and wide that no force in their right mind dared to mess with the True Elites.

Sir Jhonny had busted so many balls in his lifetime that he could have ended entire bloodlines if he did not do it indiscriminately.

To leave such an eccentric character with a fraction of his soul seemed to be a risky choice, yet Max could not think of anyone else who Rudra would trust as much as his Elite comrades.

" Hmmm, I can't think of anyone, but I'll keep looking I guess" Max said, as although he had suspicions about Sir Jhonny, Max did not wish to say them outloud in front of Odin, just incase that sly old fox was planning something nefarious.

Despite years of service and his tragic backstory, Max could never trust Odin fully as there was something about how easily he was able to backstab others to achieve his goals that made Max distrusting towards him.

Nonetheless, once he was gone, Max did act upon his suspicions as he headed for planet Radiance to drop a visit to the True Elites headquarters and meet his old teacher, Sir Jhonny English.

***********

( At radiance )

Max was able to waltz into the True Elites guild easily as he just flew into their premises and side-stepped all their intruder detection systems by simply moving through the fourth dimension entering like a ghost.

He thought his attempt to sneak in was perfect and that nobody would be able to find him, however, he was wrong as the second he stepped a foot on the guild grounds three kunai knives came flying towards his neck which he had to deflect promptly.

" Manners maketh man- Ever hear that saying boy? You're the goddamn Supreme Lord of the universe, yet you sneak in unannounced on small time guild grounds. It's a disgrace to your honour " Sir Jhonny said, appearing suddenly out of shadows as everyone in the guild suddenly stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards Sir Jhonny and the intruder who they identified as Max Rajput.

" Hahaha, it's always a pleasure to meet you, Sir Jhonny" Max said as he bowed politely in front of his childhood teacher who arrogantly grunted in response.

If he was even 1% impressed by what Max had become, it did not reflect on his face as he behaved as arrogantly as ever, not giving a solitary fuck that the individual infront of him was the strongest man in the universe.