The Weakest Commoner Controls All Elements

The Illusion Shattered

"Is this a joke?" one of the noble candidates asked. He wore a gilded breastplate and adjusted his silk gloves. "Did a stable boy get lost on his way to the stables?"

"He smells like cheap ale and horse manure," the female candidate added. She covered her nose with a lace handkerchief. "Captain Rylen, did you drag this peasant in here to make yourself look better?"

Rylen laughed loudly. "He insisted on joining us. I thought it would be entertaining to watch him fail."

The crowd in the balconies joined in the mockery. Jeers and insults rained down onto the temple floor. The spectators questioned his lineage, his sanity, and his right to stand on holy ground. They pointed at his scuffed boots and his plain shirt. Jamie kept his hands in his pockets. He let the noise wash over him without offering a single word in return.

"Silence," Mage Oswin commanded. He struck the base of his staff against the marble floor.

The pulsing blue crystal at the top of his weapon flared, and the temple went quiet. Oswin walked to the center of the room and looked at the five candidates.

"Since the dawn of this kingdom, humanity has been hunted by the terrors of the Abyss," Oswin announced. His voice projected easily to the highest balcony. "To combat the demonic hordes, the divine granted us a weapon. We were given bloodline powers. We were given dominion over the elements."

Oswin paced in a slow circle around the group. He held his staff high so the crystal illuminated the faces of the nobles.

"This elemental mastery is a gift bestowed almost exclusively upon the noble class," the mage continued. "It is the fire in your blood and the wind in your lungs. It is the proof of your superiority."

Oswin stopped pacing and stood directly in front of Jamie. The mage looked at the young man with a mixture of pity and annoyance.

"There are rare occasions where a commoner awakens to a fractured elemental spark," Oswin said. "But it is never enough to survive the path of a Holy Knight. If you fail today, Hades, there is no reason to be sad. It is exactly what we expect from someone like you."

Jamie maintained eye contact with the mage. He did not blink.

"I will offer you one final mercy," Oswin said. He pointed his staff toward the exit. "Withdraw now. Walk out those doors and escape the humiliation. Go back to whatever farm you crawled out of and live a quiet life."

"Are we going to talk all day?" Jamie asked. "Or are we going to begin the trial? Go on."

Oswin tightened his grip on his staff. "As you wish. Do not say I did not warn you."

The mage stepped back and raised his weapon. The blue crystal hummed with raw energy. Oswin chanted a short incantation in a dead language, and a massive circle illuminated the floor.

A monstrous wolf materialized in the center of the ring. It was composed of translucent blue light, yet it radiated the primal menace of a living beast. The creature bared its fangs and let out a guttural growl that vibrated through the floorboards.

"This is an illusionary construct bound to the temple," Oswin explained. "It is designed to absorb your elemental strikes, calculate your latent power, and instantly regenerate. Strike it with everything you have. We need to see the depth of your bloodline and power."

The noble with the gilded breastplate stepped forward first. He took a wide stance and gathered a swirling vortex of wind in his right hand.

"Watch and learn, peasant," the noble sneered over his shoulder.

He thrust his hand forward. A compressed blade of air shot across the room and sliced through the wolf's front right arm. The severed limb hit the floor and dissolved into sparks of light.

Before the beast could even register the damage, the light flowed back up its shoulder and seamlessly reformed the missing arm. The crowd in the balconies clapped in polite approval.

The female candidate went next. She summoned a whip of pressurized water and lashed out, cleanly severing the beast's hind leg. The wolf stumbled, but the magical construct repaired the damage in a fraction of a second.

The third noble candidate unleashed a barrage of jagged earth spikes. The stones battered the wolf's torso, leaving deep craters in its glowing ribcage. The beast healed itself just as quickly, ready for the next challenger.

Rylen pushed his way to the front. He drew his sword, but instead of swinging the steel, he channeled his energy into the blade. The metal ignited with roaring orange flames.

"Step aside," Rylen ordered the other candidates. "I will show you how a true hero strikes."

The captain lunged forward and unleashed a massive wave of fire. The inferno washed over the illusionary wolf, engulfing its head in a blinding flash of heat. The flames charred the construct, burning away its face and exposing the arcane skeletal structure beneath.

The damage was severe, and the beast took several long seconds to regenerate its missing features. The temple erupted in cheers. The local chiefs nodded in deep respect, and the priests recorded the impressive display in their ledgers.

Rylen lowered his smoking sword and turned to face Jamie. The captain wore a proud grin.

"That is the power of a superior bloodline," Rylen boasted. He pointed his sword at the fully healed wolf. "Let me see you beat that, beggar."

Jamie looked at the proud noble and then at the glowing beast.

‘Is this really the extent of their power?’ Jamie thought. ‘Three years of freezing in the northern peaks, fighting ancient horrors, and my masters forced me to bend every single element to my will. I mastered them all just to survive the mornings. These people build grand temples to celebrate wielding just one.’

He found the spectacle pathetic.

Jamie did not draw a weapon. He stepped up to the edge of the circle and raised his right hand.

He did not take a stance. He did not chant an incantation. He simply reached into his core and grasped the violent heat of his fire element, weaving it together with the razor sharp speed of his wind element.

The air around his hand distorted. A small sphere of compressed energy materialized above his palm, spinning with chaotic velocity.

Jamie flicked his wrist.

The dual elemental strike shot forward. It moved with the blinding speed of a gale force wind, rendering it nearly invisible to the naked eye. It carried the raw, destructive heat of a concentrated inferno.

The magic struck the center of the illusionary wolf's chest.

There was no clean severing of limbs. There was no charring of the surface. The spell pulverized the construct instantly.

The overwhelming force shattered the circle on the floor, and the impact sent a shockwave of displaced air echoing through the hall. The illusionary beast let out a distorted, unnatural shriek as its existence ollapsed.

The blue light exploded into millions of microscopic fragments and vanished into thin air. The beast did not heal. It was gone.

The loud cheers from the balconies died instantly. The silence that fell over the temple was heavy and immediate, broken only by the sound of dust settling on the marble floor.