Humanity's Hero Of Despair

The smell of freshly squeezed orange juice wakes me up from my slumber.

I groan as my body wills itself out of the extremely comfortable bed. The guest rooms at the Imperial Palace are nothing like what I have seen before anywhere else. In fact, I knew I was the luckiest since the Emperor said he gave me the main special guest room usually reserved for high-profile foreign guests such as King Grey.

It feels more like an entire floor rather than just a bedroom.

My feet feel cold as I make my way over to the imperial guest bathroom, which, by the way, is the size of the bedroom in Grand Duke Lancaster's castle. The insanity of wealth differences even at this level is quite incredible if you ask me.

I brush my teeth in the mirror slowly as I fix my bedhead. The thoughts of fighting one hundred magical knights are hard to push out of my mind. I finish brushing my teeth and head over to my enormous guest closet.

It is comically too large. The combat clothes with extra enchantments on them feel pretty well-fitted as I look at myself in the mirror.

The aroma of the orange juice makes me walk over to the table where a glass of orange juice, a glass of water, and some pastries were placed. My guess is that it was just their way to show me some hospitality before putting me through this incredibly hard task.

I down the orange juice in one go. The fresh taste hits my taste buds with delight.

I grab a napkin, a pastry, my wands, and head toward the dining hall for the real breakfast with friends. The imperial dining hall is more lively than usual as I enter the vast space. The Emperor, Grand Duke, Captain Daelon, and Professor Aldric are all present at one table.

Some high-ranking Oriventh nobles are eating at the other tables. I spot Ivy waving at me, and I walk over to the table where all my friends are together. They all tease me as I sit down. We all eat together for a while until the Emperor stands up to make an announcement.

"Today marks a new milestone in the history of mages! We will witness Viscount Lotus potentially conquer the Oriventh Hundred Trial. Shall he pass, he will be made an honorary Duke of Lancaster with all the powers bestowed upon him.

This is a chance to mark the leader of the Glozaria Alliance and the one who has the power to save us all!"

The Emperor raises his glass, and everyone cheers and claps for me. I smile nervously and raise my glass. High expectations. You can say that again. We all sit back down and finish our breakfast. Once breakfast was coming to a close, all my friends left to get to the Imperial Arena early so they could grab good seats for the fight.

The last one to leave was Ivy, who gave me a big, long hug, a kiss on the cheek, and a wave goodbye.

Captain Daelon is the only one left with me in the dining hall as everybody else is preparing to view the Oriventh Hundred Trial. I ask the captain what the history of the Oriventh Hundred Trial even means or why it is important. He replies with, "We do not know for sure. All we know is that whoever completes this trial will be declared the savior of the Oriventh Empire as we stand by the strength of magic if nothing else.

"The Emperor thinks, as well as all of us, that you can be the actual first mage to ever accomplish this trial."

I look at him in slight confusion.

"What do you mean first actual mage?"

"Well, it is believed that long ago, a mage of light so strong conquered it with ease. It is also said that some witch of darkness managed to complete the feat as well, though both of them are said to have turned down the fame and title."

That sounds pretty interesting to me.

The Captain and I head to the Imperial Arena. The roar of the crowd is astounding as I get closer and closer to the entrance from where I emerge. The Captain hands me a couple of new potions.

"These ones will, for a short period of time, enhance your magic by double. In other words, they act as temporary boosters. However, use them sparingly and only use them if you have to. Otherwise, stick to just your mana-restoring potions."

I thank the Captain and emerge from the gates directly into the Imperial Arena with both my wands out in each hand. The crowd cheers even louder as they take in my appearance. The one hundred magical knights look intimidating as they dominate the arena in their magic-clad armor with their shields and swords.

I look into the stands where Ivy said they would be and see my friends waving at me. I give them one last smile before looking back at my opponents, preparing myself in a defensive stance. I have an idea of how to fight this with all the tools I have at my disposal.

"Begin!"

The Emperor shouts through the magic speaker, and the crowd goes wild.

All the magic knights start rushing me at once. Their swords are out, each one enchanted with different kinds of elemental magic, none of which are light or dark. I smirk to myself. This I can handle if I am smart about it.

A few of the magic knights start getting a little too close to me. I launch several continuous low-level wind spells to push them back and give me more time. If I don't hurry, I will get surrounded quickly. Once I figure I have enough time, I raise both my wands into the sky, interlocking them.

"Eleventh affinity level magic, Shadow Chivalry!"

Fifty shadow knights form in front of me in a protective formation. This is just a very advanced spell of shadow summoning. So advanced that even though I have the Wand of Origin with me, it makes me feel pretty weak fast. I quickly pop open a mana-restoring potion and gulp it down. The mana energy restores itself, and I feel refreshed again.

I only have three left.

The one hundred magic knights are stunned at my power, which works to my advantage as I command my shadow knights to attack. The magic knights are suddenly on the defensive as my shadow knights crash into their forces, taking them down one by one.

"Don't fear them! We outnumber them. Fight back!"

One of the knights screams as he confidently attacks one of my shadow knights and takes it down by surprise. The other knights see this and begin to fight back, which works against me. I manage to pick off a few magic knights every now and then using Flarizo, catching them by surprise due to my advanced spell.

Well, that surprise has gone away, and even though I have managed to probably take down fifteen magic knights, there are still eighty-five of them left against my declining number of shadow knights.

I tighten my grip on my wand.

I need another plan and fast.