The shock was immense.
In this hall were paragons, beings who stood at the highest level on the entire planet. They ruled the world!
If this had been against the paragons of the lower and mid races, they would understand. They might even accept it. But not one, not two, but a total of six superior race paragons were present.
And yet, none of them had sensed this man's presence until he spoke.
Of the superior race paragons, two felt their hearts pound hard. The first was Azrakan of the Dimensari.
The man had entered the Dimensari domain, and although Azrakan had sensed him before the others did, that was only because it was his domain.
He should've been able to detect any teleportation immediately, to know the moment anyone tried to enter his domain.
But he hadn't. 'How?' Azrakan wondered. It was a question to which only Youn Voss felt the answer.
Not just Youn, but even Karn sensed an intense, primal fear from this man's presence. It was as if he embodied their greatest weakness, their deepest vulnerability.
The tension in the hall didn't dissipate, in fact, it intensified. The walls of the hall quaked under the intense pressure.
Earlier, only Jezenet and Azrakan had unleashed their auras. But now, every single superior race paragon joined them, each releasing an overwhelming power.
It was a disgrace.
Crunch.
The man's response to the increased pressure was to take another bite of his apple as he landed in front of Atticus and the others.
The temperature in the hall dropped sharply as the gazes of the superior races turned cold. It was an insult.
"Who are you?" Azrakan finally broke the silence, his tone lacking any hint of diplomacy. His voice was cold, his aura icy.
However, the man's smile didn't waver.
"Can't you see? I'm human…" he replied, taking another bite of his apple, completely unfazed by the collective pressure of the superior race paragons.
The humans, however, were the most surprised by his words.
Atticus was beyond shocked. 'What's he doing here?' Whisker was the last person he'd ever expect to appear here, especially in the presence of so many paragons. 'And what's he talking about, human?'
Whisker was literally the sovereign of the beast race! 'And he calls me an actor,'
Atticus had countless questions, and he wasn't alone. Magnus and the other human paragons didn't know how to react to those words. A human paragon? None of them had ever seen him before! It was an outrageous lie, but none of them were complaining. They couldn't.
They could all sense the power radiating from him. He was strong. And right now, they needed strong.
The questions could wait.
"Nonsense! There are no records of you among the human paragons!" Azrakan exclaimed.
Whisker took another bite of his apple, his smile unchanged.
"Arrogant of you to think we have to announce everything to you. We humans don't even have records of you being among the Dimenari paragons."
"It's Dimensari."
"Huh? You'll have to speak up."
"IT'S DIMENSARI! And I am Azrakan Valerius, son of the Dimensari Vossarion!"
"Oh, oh, Dimenrisa. My bad, haha," Whisker said, waving his hand dismissively as he chuckled lightly.
Throbbing veins appeared on Azrakan's head as his anger peaked. The hall was instantly flooded with space molecules, cracks forming all over his throne as the ground beneath his feet splintered.
"I dare you to make that mistake again."
A wild grin appeared on Whisker's face as his aura surged. A blue wave radiated from his body, and the space molecules gathering around the hall suddenly became docile.
The gazes of every paragon, from superior to mid to lower races, narrowed to pinpricks. That power, there was no mistakening it… it was will.
It wasn't some ability, nor was it aerokinesis; it was pure, unfiltered will. As paragons, each one of them had an incredible amount of willpower, and yet its utility had always been limited.
Some could only use their will internally to empower themselves; and others could coat their bodies or objects with it, but couldn't control it when it wasn't in direct contact with them.
Most couldn't control their will at all.
In Eldoralth, someone who could do all of this— and even go as far as to impose their will on their surroundings— was rare. In fact, many didn't believe it possible.
This was why Youn had been utterly shocked as he watched the way Atticus used his will during the Nexus competition. He had immediately wanted either to kill him or study him.
Each of the paragons in the hall felt Whisker's will as he imposed it upon the area. The space molecules that had filled the hall became docile, and the heavy aura initially pressing down on Atticus and the others dispersed.
To the paragons who understood their world, only one thought came to mind…
A paragon of will.
Though the space molecules around them stopped reacting to Azrakan, they were still present. Atticus felt as though he were swimming in an ocean of space molecules. It was as though he was deep inside the space elemental room.
He turned his gaze toward Whisker, and though Whisker was facing away from him, it felt as if they were looking straight into each other's eyes. Somehow, Atticus felt he could rely on him and could leave this to him.
Atticus suddenly closed his eyes and immersed himself in the environment, forming a connection with the space molecules in the air. He began training.
"Dime—"
"What is your name?"
Just as Whisker was about to speak, the Evolari paragon interrupted. She didn't want a fight to occur.
From their brief interaction, it was obvious that Whisker wouldn't yield to Azrakan's threat. He had been about to intentionally mispronounce the Dimensari name, and Azrakan wouldn't tolerate that.
Whisker turned toward the Evolari paragon.
"Ah, a very beautiful lady. My name is Whisker Von Pounce, but just for being beautiful, I'll let you call me Pounce."