First Place

"Fifteenth place, Nufes Ninetails."

Hearing this, the crowd instantly went wild, though not out of joy, but rather shock, shock at the awful placement.

Nufes was after all the first prince, and historically speaking, even the first prince's with horrible performances still managed to place within top ten.

Nufes seemed to have broken a record, being the first prince in a long time to place beyond tenth place.

Seeing the crowd's reaction, Nufes's face instantly went red, his eyes beady as he looked towards Minos, ready to rip the man to shreds for humiliating him so thoroughly.

Fortunately, the old man seemed to have no interest in extending his suffering, so after a seconds pause, he moved onto fourteenth place.

This time it was the First Princess, which wasn't as surprising, though still a bit lackluster, but nothing unexpected.

However compared to Nufes who went as red as a tomato, the First Princess just smiled happily as she usually did, as if grateful for the placement.

Compared to Nufes's reaction, which made some people in the crowd second-guess supporting him, the First Princess's just further bolstered her supporters, even earning a few new ones.

In this way, the First Princess was far superior to the Nufes, unfortunately his ego blinded him from seeing this.

After that came thirteenth place, which was another surprise with Orino, who also performed far worse than expected.

However, upon seeing the Sixth Prince place in twelfth place, everyone understood that something odd had happened this time around.

One person performing below expectations was mostly expected, for two to do so was a bit surprising, but with three? It became clear there was a pattern here.

This pattern became even more clear when the Seventh Prince placed in eleventh, which to be fair was more reasonable, but with the other comparisons, it was also out of place.

The history of past placements was no secret, so a lot of people had already compared past performances to this one, and they knew something amazing must have happened.

They were soon proven right, those in the top ten places all being unknown names, a lot of them being people that most of the crowd hadn't even heard about or paid any attention to.

This had quite literally never happened before, and it was as if the list was reversed entirely.

This caused the crowd to start chatting even louder, everyone analyzing what the hell had happened, though no one had any definitive answers.

"In third place, Nayon Nufes."

"Nayon Nufes? Isn't that the Fourth Prince?" One civilian asked.

"It is! Who would have thought he'd be the one to break the curse, and to have actually even performed better than expected!"

"I've always said the Fourth Prince was like a volcano, silent at first glance, but always ready to explode and shock everyone!"

"I used to support the Sixth Prince, but maybe the Fourth Prince's character would better suit our next king."

"I'd hold that judgment for now, after all we still have second and first place to go. I wonder who they are?"

Fortunately for the man who asked this question, he didn't even need to wait in suspense, his question immediately being answered.

"In second Place, Asumi Ninetails."

"The Sixteenth Princess? The one who awakened the Sky-Grade Physique?"

"That's the one! Who would have expected her to perform so well!"

"Especially in this challenge, where her greatest advantage was pretty much reduced to nothing."

"Given her young age, I was certain she'd perform poorly, but who could have imagined?"

"She isn't even twenty yet, isn't she? If she's already this wise at such a young age, just imagine how much more experienced she'll be a few decades from now!"

"Despite that, someone else still performed better than h-"

"Quiet! He's about to announce the winner!"

"And last, but certainly not least, in first place, Minos!" The old man said with a smile, the first time his stiff face had actually moved this entire time.

"Minos? Who the hell is that?" One civilian asked as he looked around at those around him.

"No idea…"

"In the latest data book, it says he's a civilian nine-tailed from an unknown background. Beyond that, there seems to be nothing about him. His age, parentage, cultivation, all a mystery." One bespeckled man answered.

"How strange… For this unknown person to have placed first, he must have his own secrets."

"Definitely, but everything will be revealed soon, after all the Cat-Eyed Gem can see through all hearts!"

Back by the statue, as Minos's name was called, the others also looked at him, most with envy, others with respect, and a few with anger.

There was also Nufes who was staring at him with straight bloodlust, but fortunately he was the only one who seemed to hold that level of rage against him.

"Now then, let us begin the Battle of Heart. To make things a little more interesting, let's start from last place first. Yejod Traxum, you're up first."

Hearing his name called out, the man called Yejod walked up beneath the statue with a tremor in his step, his anxiety obvious.

Swallowing nervously, he finally turned to face the statue and looked up towards it, which seemed to activate something within it.

Suddenly, the Cat-Eyed Gem held in the Nine-Tailed Emperor's hand began shining, a soft blue light emanating from it and basking Yejod.

As if intermingling with his soul, the blue light seemed to pull his deepest nature out from within him, slowly unraveling into a massive phantom above his head.

The phantom was a bit blurry and chaotic at first, but as time settled, it became clearer and clearer.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the phantom settled, forming the figure of deer grazing in a vast prairie.

Seeing this, the crowd instantly broke out into an uproarious cacophony of boo's, clearly looking down upon the results.

Hearing this, Yejod clenched his teeth and held his tears back, quickly running back into the group so as to avoid making a bigger fool himself.

Fortunately for Yejod, most people seemed to perform quite poorly on this test, at least by the crowd's standards.

It was only after a fierce lion appeared did the crowd finally change their tune, cheering for the first time.

Smiling, the man with the lion phantom walked back with a straightened spine and an arrogant smile, clearly matching his nature well.

Most of the others went on without much fanfare, some results good, others bad, most average, and it was clear that most people were just waiting for the top twenty, since that was where most of the peak players were.

Finally, after a long and patient wait, it was the turn of Nufes, who walked up without a single falter in his step.

Not forgetting to glare at Minos once, he soon turned towards the statue and looked upon it, the familiar blue light blessing him.

Soon enough his phantom was also revealed, forming a man on a throne, dozens of loyal advisors surrounding him.

However, strangely enough, all these advisors had their eyes closed and their mouths sewn shut, giving the image a creepy feeling.

Nufes didn't seem to mind however, just looking at this with a large smile, feeling like it truly matched him perfectly.

Turning around, he looked at the massive crowd waiting for cheers, but all he got was silence, causing his smile to immediately morph into a frown.

Seeing this, those in the crowd who were loyal towards the prince immediately broke out into a cheer, though it was clear they were having second thoughts.

Upon hearing the cheers he had been waiting for, his frown once again transformed into a smile.

With Nufes done, it was the turn of the First Princess, which interested Minos because he recalled what Asumi had said about her in the past.

According to her, despite the First Princess's friendly demeanor, her true nature was much more nefarious.

If Asumi was right in her judgment, everything would be revealed now, for no one can hide from the Cat-Eyed Gem's.

Despite this, the First Princess still walked up with her iconic gentle smile, seemingly not worried about being exposed.

With the blue light enveloping her, it quickly revealed her 'nature,' a single beautiful woman in a field of roses and daisies, birds, bees, and all sorts of forest critters surrounding her.