So the real main event of this so-called Grand Council was the contest between the kingdoms' prodigies. The earlier duels had only been a prelude before the curtain rose.
This time was different, though. Three prodigies beyond anyone's imagination had appeared in succession, even bringing the tensions between the kingdoms and the Church, between secular politics and religion, into the open.
Even so, the kingdoms' rulers, who had gone three days and nights without sleep, were still bright-eyed as they waited for the contest below.
As for whether it was unfair to the prodigies who had already taken the field, fairness was something people told children. It had no place here.
Of course, this was a contest of strength between kingdoms, but they could hardly say that outright.
Officially, they could only call it a test of the military strength of the tributary kingdoms, conducted according to the Empire's old traditions.
After all, the Empire had not granted fiefs to the kingdoms so they could lord it over others. It had expected them to shoulder military and political responsibilities.
And since they had come to the Imperial Capital to pay tribute, the Empire naturally had to inspect how the kingdoms were faring.
That was how the Kingdom Martial Exhibition had begun.
The Empire was gone now, and the Grand Council governed in its place, but the traditional Kingdom Martial Exhibition could not simply be abandoned.
As everyone waited for the exhibition to begin, some itching for a fight and others trembling with nerves, the King of Como, host of the assembly, stepped onto the platform.
The assembled rulers were not the only ones watching him. The god-seekers and Legendary Rank figures who had heard that a God Ascender would appear at the assembly were watching too. They believed that God