Resurrection System: Become the Strongest

Chapter 07

[Quest Title: Slapping the False Heir's Arrogance]

[Description: Leonardo challenges you to a fight to defend his pride. Defeat him in a single strike without mercy to show the absolute difference in strength.]

[Completion Reward: Physical Attribute Boost +10, Active Skill 'Shadow Step', New Title: 'Eradicator of Arrogance'.]

Seeing the system window flash before his eyes, Richard smiled even wider. The golden opportunity to trample his cousin's pride had come by itself without him having to search for it.

"You want to fight me?" Richard stepped forward, his posture which previously looked fragile now radiating an overwhelmingly dominant authority. "Fine. I accept your challenge. But remember, don't cry before the elders later if you cannot withstand a single attack from me."

"How arrogant this bastard is!"

Leonardo instantly unleashed his entire mana strength. A pair of faint black dragon shadow wings appeared on his back, surrounded by crackling black lightning sparks. The temperature inside the hall suddenly dropped drastically, creating frost at the tips of the stone pillars. As one of the best young geniuses at the imperial magic academy, Leonardo's strength could not be underestimated. He was an intermediate-tier mage mastering darkness and lightning-wind elements, a combination that was extremely deadly for opponents his age.

"Die, Richard! Dark Dragon's Fang!"

Leonardo dashed forward as fast as lightning, swinging his fist enveloped by large, dense black energy claws. The attack was aimed directly at Richard's chest with the intent to incapacitate or even severely injure his own cousin. The nobles on the edge of the hall held their breath witnessing that extraordinary speed of attack.

However, amidst the attack's speed, which seemed blinding to ordinary people, Leonardo's movements appeared extremely slow to Richard, who was now backed by the system and a first-tier mana core.

Richard did not even budge from where he stood. Just before the black energy claw hit his chest, he casually raised his right hand.

Puff!

A small gust of wind was heard. Without using complicated incantations or a magic wand, Richard's palm opened and instantly grabbed Leonardo's wrist with absolute precision.

That grip was as strong as a hot steel clamp. At that very instant, all the dark magic aura and lightning enveloping Leonardo's hand extinguished completely without a trace, sucked dry by the Black Flame energy flowing through Richard's palm.

"W-What?!" Leonardo's eyes bulged in horror. He tried to pull his hand back, but it felt as though it were embedded in solid rock coral. His wrist felt crushed, and the flow of mana inside his body suddenly froze, refusing to obey his mind's commands at all.

"Is this truly the limit of the heir candidate you're so proud of, Leonardo?" whispered Richard with a cold voice right into the ear of his cousin, who was now drenched in cold sweat.

Before Leonardo could respond or let out a cry of pain, Richard swung his left hand with lightning speed.

Slap!

A thunderous, heavy slap shook the entire hall. Leonardo's body bounced like a broken kite, hurtling heavily past several rows of noble chairs before finally slamming into the massive stone pillar at the end of the room with a very loud impact sound.

Thud!

Leonardo spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his eyes rolling back before finally collapsing unconscious onto the marble floor stained with dust. The large hall fell once again into a silence far more chilling than before.

No one spoke. No one dared to move. In a single, casual motion, Richard had brought down the prideful genius of the Drag family without mercy.

Duke Harrison slowly rose from his seat, his gaze glaring sharply at the boy he had long neglected, while the elders trembled with fear, realizing that the power dynamics within the great Drag family had changed forever.

The sound of Leonardo's body crashing against the massive stone pillar still left a faint echo in every corner of the vast room.

Scattered marble dust hung in the air, swirling slowly beneath the glare of the giant crystal chandelier suspended from the hall's ceiling.

Not a single person dared to move. The elders of the Drag family, who had previously sat with straight and arrogant backs, were now stunned and rigid, their eyes fixed on the young figure standing in the middle of the room with an impeccably calm posture.

Down on the floor, Leonardo lay helpless, his breathing ragged and weak as fresh blood continued to flow from the corner of his lips, while his consciousness slowly slipped away, swallowed by overwhelming pain.

Selena, who had been standing near her father's throne from the very beginning, felt a chill run down her entire body. The silver-haired genius girl had always looked down on Richard, considering her stepbrother to be nothing more than a useless parasite who only burdened the family's great name.

However, what she had just witnessed before her own eyes shattered all the logic and assumptions she had built over many years. In just one effortless movement, Richard had struck down Leonardo, one of the most talented young practitioners in their family, without mercy and without the slightest hesitation.

Upon the highest seat of leadership, Duke Harrison von Drag gripped the arms of his throne so tightly that the sound of faint cracking could be heard dimly amid the chilling silence. The veins on the family head's temples bulged out, showing just how angry he was as the pride of the great Drag family was trampled upon before the invited nobility.

Duke Harrison's Archmage-level grand aura leaked out unconsciously, pressing down on the air of the hall until it felt so heavy and suffocating to the chest of anyone breathing it.

"Richard," Duke Harrison's voice rumbled low, laden with a genuine death threat. "You have gone too far. You injured your own family before the imperial guests of honor, and you think you can just walk out of this hall after destroying the sacred ancestral artifact?"

The psychological pressure emitted by a Duke was terrifying. Several low-tier nobles from other factions had even fallen to their knees, unable to withstand the magical gravitational load pressing against their chests. Yet, amidst that deadly storm of mana pressure, Richard stood even straighter. The simple robe he wore fluttered softly in the gust of surrounding pressure, while his face remained cold without a flicker of fear.

Ding!

[System Warning: The Host is under the influence of Archmage-level mana pressure.] [Detecting murderous intent from the primary target (Duke Harrison).] [Quest completion requirements met instantly.] [Does the Host wish to claim the quest reward immediately?]

Without shifting his gaze even for a second from his biological father, Richard replied in his mind. "Claim it now."

At that very instant, a dense wave of warm energy gushed forth from within his mana core, spreading to every corner of his blood vessels and coating his skin's surface with a layer of invisible, gold-shimmering dragon scales. A sensation of invulnerability and sturdiness immediately enveloped his body, making the horrifying pressure released by Duke Harrison feel as though it vanished entirely, like a gentle breeze brushing against the skin.

"Family?" Richard let out a small chuckle, a cold laugh that sounded cynical and condescending. He raised his chin slightly, staring straight into the eyes of Duke Harrison, who was wide-eyed in shock to see his son completely unaffected by his mana pressure. "That word 'family' sounds so ridiculous coming from your mouth, Duke Harrison."

Sharp whispers immediately broke out once more among the nobles witnessing the scene. Speaking in a rebellious tone to the head of the Drag family was a crime equivalent to treason, yet Richard did it with such calm.

"For the past five years, where was the meaning of that word 'family' when I was locked in a narrow room, tortured by servants, and slowly fed poison?" Richard's voice rose, echoing into every inch of the room with an articulation so sharp it pierced the heart of every listener. "You never considered me part of your flesh and blood. To you, I was merely a shameful black stain, a failed product that had to be hidden from the outside world!"

"Insolent!" snapped one senior elder who could no longer bear to listen to such audacious words. He rose to his feet while pointing his magic staff at Richard. "As an elder of the clan, I order you to kneel right now and beg for forgiveness for all your sins!"

Richard did not even glance at the elder threatening him. His gaze remained locked on the figure of Duke Harrison, the man holding the status of his biological father who had never given a single drop of a father's affection or warmth.

"You're telling me to kneel?" Richard smiled faintly, the corners of his lips curving into a line that radiated the absolute arrogance of a true ruler. "In the past, I might have trembled in fear and obeyed your every command because I was weak. But now the world has changed. The people who once looked down on me will never again have the right to see me bow my head."