Chapter 9 - Light and Darkness

      Prince Makoha full of pride stood up and readies himself for an attack while Minister Hime removes his coat and placed it on a bench and stood back in his position. In a blink of an eye, Prince Makoha jumped for a punch toward his opponent yet to his great surprise that his punch never reached the minister in fact he is right behind him and with full force, punched him so hard and so fast that the rest of the ministers and the prince didn’t saw the movement of his arms, Prince Makoha then realized that he was punched ten times in every part of his body that the strength of the impact forced his body to fly over and hit a concrete bench, crushing it and the pavement around it in the process.

“Are you really gonna fight his highness? Why’d you allow yourself to be beaten without even hitting me a blow?” the minister teased with a menacing grin on his lips. “Dang, is Minister Hime really going to trash-talk the heck out of him? He doesn’t care that he’s dealing with a prince!” one of the ministers awkwardly asked his colleague. “Ah, typical… Minister Hime provokes his opponent with his trash-talk to anger them and lose focus in the fight which he capitalizes on, despite his powerful arsenal, he uses psychological manipulation to create imbalance in his opponent’s mind and focus.” Prince Memphis calmly explains with his arms crossed witnessing the fight.

“Oh please… where is that bark but no bite thing you’re preaching earlier? Haven’t you applied it to yourself and proved yourself worthy to face his highness? If you can’t give me a scratch, what will you do if you directly fight against his highness? Consider this your training!” Minister Hime teased the seething prince in front of him basically mocking him in front of the crowd that accumulated around the castle’s parking space.

The livid prince attacked and landed consecutive blows that the minister with no effort dodged and blocked, kicks, elbows, and punches are practically useless, it is as if the disgruntled prince is hitting a ray of light appearing and disappearing in a blink of an eye. Then the prince paused. Panting. Just stood there breathing heavily with his face down low, then looked daggers at the minister who seems amused with the way he fought. “Lava Spell! Pyroclastic!” 

The prince reached out his hand and gray toxic gasses appeared out of nowhere making the spectators cough as the thick smoke of ash cover the entire lot as a smokescreen for the prince to flee, yet, this is the biggest mistake the prince ever made by fighting the minister, the moment he ran away, he was faced by the not so amused minister. He stopped in his tracks and froze in terror as the minister does not have this playful face anymore but pure seriousness that can haunt him in his nightmares. 

“Using a smokescreen to flee? How cowardly. Your mother will hear about this the next time I visit for a military meeting with your Minister of Defense… I’ve seen scrawny soldiers in the military who’s got more fighting spirit than you… what a disappointment…” The minister spoke in a cold and nightmarish voice. “y-you--- d-don’t speak to me that--” the terrified prince stuttered still frozen in place. “Where is that confidence you first showed us back inside the throne hall?” the minister whispers in a very cold tone.

“Aaaahh!!!” The prince screams as he attacks using his wind magic that clears off the smoke out of the lot and the spectators can clearly see the fight. The minister continues to dodge and block his magical attack with his light magic, their fight became faster and faster, and almost the spectators can’t keep up with the two punching and releasing offensive magic at each other. As the prince get angrier the punches get stronger and faster, instincts that dodge and block the minister’s punches as if it is a showdown between two professional martial arts master. A grin is showing the minister’s face as he was impressed with the prince’s absolute strength and power, yet still weak enough for him to block and dodge. Then the prince jumped back breathing heavily, sweating as if this is the first time he worked out in years.

Minister Hime smiles and gives him a thumbs up and spoke; “I’m impressed with your movements and improvement. Something to look forward to when you’re going to defeat his highness.” Suddenly a menacing smile appeared on the prince’s face as he released a fire spell that caught the minister off guard and he barely missed it. The impact of the blast created a booming sound that released loud shockwaves and vibrations around the castle causing the stained-glass windows to rattle--- and awaken the slumbering king. 

“Huh? What was that…?” the blurry-eyed king rose from his bed rubbing his eyes as he was awaked by the loud vibration and sound, he noticed that the chandelier in his room is swinging causing him to be alert as he jumped out of the bed and rushed outside to investigate.

Meanwhile, the minister laughed as he barely escaped a large attack that could harm him, however, the prince released another one but this time the minister was cornered and nowhere else to flee, as the blazing ball of fire flies directly at the minister, the prince smiled in victory as he assumed he won, but in his great surprise and horror, Minister Hime caught the fireball with his bare hands and turned its red-orange flames into purely black fire. Black fire-the rarest fire magic on the planet of Cyra. Only a few can attain such magic and it is valued as the supreme level of fire magic.

The spectators are all shocked that the minister has such rare and dangerous magic in his arsenal, he jumps to the nearest pillar looking down at the terrified prince who probably pissed himself, pumps more magic in the ball of flames, and raises his hand, shoulder level holding the ball of black flames and shouts; “LONG LIVE THE KING!” then chucked it back at the prince who screams trying to flee but the blast hits him causing a huge cloud of smoke to engulf the entire parking lot. The spectators below took cover, yet to their surprise, there is no damage to the pavement, even the parked cars are undamaged, without a scratch, beside the crushed concrete bench and fire marks. The prince face down realized he has no damage, and wasn’t hurt at all, he turned around and saw the minister looking down at him, his arms on his back, smiling. “I wish you can see the look on your face! As if you’re gonna die! Ahahahaha!” he teased. 

“What prank have you pulled this time, Minister Hime?” a loud deep voice from the distance caught all of their attention. They all looked at where the voice came from with their great shock and horror--- IT IS KING EHIPTIA! In his pajamas wearing his flip flops with his messy hair since he just jumped out of bed. “Y-Your Highness!” the minister bowed as the king walked closer to investigate. “Ah, you’re back… what spectacle do you bring with you this time Prince Makoha?” the king sweetly asked as he formally puts his arms back. 

The prince is too stunned to speak and the king looked around at the damage. “Are these you doing?” he asked the minister. “Yes, your highness… I’m sorry for my recklessness.” The minister apologized as he bowed to the king. “Huh, I need that bench to be replaced anyway, so there’s no need for you to pay for the damages… including you, Prince Makoha.” The king realized as he investigates the damaged property. “Look, Minister Hime, Prince Makoha is just 15, teenagers can do bad things and rebel, he’s just a kid who can easily be manipulated by their authority figure, his mother.” The king explains as he helped the prince to his feet.

“However, this does not mean I’m letting it slip. Security! Take this delinquent juvenile and make him do community service before releasing him back to his kingdom.” The king called and left. “C-community service?!” the shocked prince is in disbelief at what the king has decided. The minister witnessed the security escort the still-shocked prince to the royal police car. After that debacle, Minister Hime was summoned to the dining hall to sit for a meal with the king who missed his breakfast and lunch. 

“I love the way you handle things, Minister Hime. You just gave him the taste of his medicine as a form of discipline for his ruthless and childish actions.” The king compliments. “But, your highness, why don’t you do anything against him or his kingdom?” Minister Hime asks with confusion in his voice. “Well because his mind is still easy to manipulate or open his mind. If his mother manipulates him thru their own propaganda that the frozen sand is a capitalistic kingdom that rules everything on the planet, it is also easy to erase that propaganda and change it with the truth.” The king explains calmly. “That’s right Minister Hime, there is a reason I sent him to community service, so through that he can open his eyes and compare the propaganda and the truth unfold in his eyes.” The king explained further.

The minister smiles and agreed with the king’s plan, as the king shares his meal with his best friend.