Maria placed the tray on a table in the middle of the room, the floor clearly damaged when Justinian transformed, but with Justinian's recent editing of the entire duchy, it was more than durable enough not to become a health hazard.

"So..."

Maria whistled, grabbing a chair and dragging it towards the table.

"Care to explain... duke?"

She tilted her head, resting it on the palm of her hand.

"Or should I say... demigod?"

"How'd you know?"

Justinian asked.

"I'm the princess, remember? my blood being blessed by the gods and all that...?" She said, twirling her teaspoon. "Kind of my duty to know what happened concerning divinity."

"Does that mean your family knows what happened?" Cassia asked.

Maria shook her head. "No, they probably felt it, but have no idea who it is."

Then she smiled, like a curious cat who just couldn't wait. "Can you... Show us your abilities?"

"I'm curious too."

The words of the two women were enough to convince Justinian; he was planning to test it out himself anyway. What's the harm of having another person see it firsthand? Especially if those two people were trustworthy.

Justinian focused on his mind, and to his surprise, he already knew how to use all his abilities.

'So this is what Cassia felt?'

He stood up from the bed, looked at the tray that was holding the three cups, and with a simple word.

"Petrify."

The silver plate turned to stone; it didn't even take a second.

It was instant.

"That's one of them," Justinian said, but couldn't help hiding a smile; it was better than he expected.

Unlike Cassia's or Ilmund's ability, his was stupidly straightforward: just pick a target and say the trigger word, and that was it.

And what was even better... was that it seemed to ignore resistance, it just hits the target directly without even so much as a disturbance in the wind.

It was efficient, deadly, and stealthy, exactly the way he liked it.

"As for my other abilities..."

Justinian tapped the floor once, then looked at Maria. "I recommend you get those cups away from the tray."

Maria blinked, but the way he looked at her meant that she probably shouldn't question it.

"Good."

He tapped the floor once again. "Warrior."

The plate began to move, flinging itself onto the space that Justinian was looking at, and just like that, the stone tray began to distort and distort until it no longer looked like a plate.

And instead, looked like... a warrior.

Steel plate, shield, and all, a literal construct, a machine, created with just a tap of Justinian's foot.

Justinian tapped his foot again, and just like that, the warrior crumbled, turning back into the tray mid-air and falling to the ground, breaking apart the moment it landed.

It wasn't exactly enough to rival Julius as he was in the novel, but it was a good start.

*** Courtyard

Justinian had the nobles and court guests evacuate the center. With Justinian in full gear, it was clear he was planning to show them something, but what? They had no idea.

Cassia and Maria, however, looked at Justinian with an amused expression. It was clear that he wasn't just going to hide this power; he was going to show off, just like he had always done the moment he decided to fully own himself as an arcanist.

"What's the duke doing...?" A courtier whispered to another.

"Probably a performance...? There are practice dummies positioned in front."

"He's already known for warfare, what's the use of showing off like this?" A noble spoke, clearly from another land, easily distinguished due to his foreign attire.

His court was literally a mix of culture and tradition, but one thing stays the same for all, its power is absolute.

And for those who had just arrived and are skeptical about his abilities, it was now time to show them all.

"Are those... horns?"

That question was the loudest among the crowd, but for soldiers and citizens of Justinian, they were barely phased anymore; he was already known as an arcanist, and newly sprouted horns only meant that he had gotten even stronger.

"Petrify!"

He barked, and just like he expected, all the training dummies in front of him immediately turned into stone.

And even better? He suffered no physical or mental backlash.

"Incredible..."

"Was that really the duke?"

The crowd began to speak louder.

Justinian smiled at the reaction, and he could tell it was working, judging by his system notifications once again ringing in his ear, but now... he could handle it.

No longer destroying his ears like before.

TAP!

A single tap of his foot, and just like that, every single one of the petrified stone dummies began to distort, waiting for further instructions.

"Warrior, archer."

Justinian said in quick succession, and just like that, they did, the first line turning into warriors and the second line turning into archers.

A small army, created just like that, without even any strain, was enough for the crowd to already start cheering.

'Think that's incredible...?'

Justinian smirked, unsheathing his sword. He was now about to show off to the entire crowd, to show that Snowkeep's victory against the recent siege wasn't just a simple fluke.

"Attack!"

He yelled out, and the stone warriors immediately responded and started to sprint at Justinian at full speed.

The palace was already filled; he had no other way of practicing his newfound abilities, so instead... why not turn practice into a show? And this was exactly that.

It even allowed him to test the capabilities of his stone soldiers, and if things go well, then the crowd who were spectating will eventually spread the news to neighboring kingdoms.

Ensuring no one will cross the Thirell duchy's path.

It was two birds with one stone.

CLANG!

The first stone warrior finally reached him.

An easily parryable downward slash.

And to Justinian's surprise, it definitely had force in its swing, not as much as he or his most elite knights, but it was satisfactory enough that they were useful.

But while their force was definitely decent, their durability was a different thing entirely.

CLANG!

Justinian swung his blade at the warrior's neck, the blade meeting stone as the blade barely even managed to graze the warrior.

It was more durable than expected; they were quite literally moving tanks.

FWOOSH!

Justinian didn't have time to rest as arrows finally came flying in; they were accurate, deadly accurate.

And since he didn't want to risk the arrows hitting the crowd, he had no choice but to deflect them into the ground.

Each deflection elicited powerful cheering from most of the merchants, while the nobles from foreign courts began whispering to each other, This wasn't just a show, it was a political move.

And Justinian wanted to ensure those nobles would be as impressed as they were terrified.

Maybe even more would willingly become vassals.

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