Sovereign Beyond Creation

Chapter 6

Adam looked at the guard’s spear.

[Object: Lightning Spear (Common Grade)]

[Weak Point: The blue crystal at the base of the blade. Mana flow is unstable.]

Adam took a step forward. "I'm going in."

The guard’s face turned red. "You little rat!" He lunged forward, thrusting the butt of the spear toward Adam’s stomach.

In the past, Adam would have been hit. But now, he saw the movement in slow motion. He saw the yellow mana traveling up the guard’s arm. He saw the "line" of the attack before it even happened.

Adam pivoted his foot. He moved just two inches to the right.

The spear sailed past him, hitting nothing but air. The guard, who had put all his weight into the strike, stumbled forward, nearly tripping on his own feet.

"How did you—?" the guard gasped.

The second guard raised his hand, gathering a ball of light magic. "That’s it! You’re going to the dungeon!"

"Wait!"

A cold, clear voice echoed from the top of the library staircase.

The guards froze. Adam looked up.

Catherine was walking down the stairs. Every step she took left a footprint of frost on the red carpet. The air in the room dropped thirty degrees. Students who were sitting at nearby tables began to shiver, packing their bags and running away as fast as they could.

She stopped ten feet away from Adam. Her skin was as pale as moonlight, and her eyes were a blue so deep they looked almost purple. She was wearing a high-collared dress of silver silk that made her look like a statue.

"What is this noise?" she asked. Her voice didn't sound like a person talking. It sounded like the wind howling through a mountain pass.

"Professor!" the first guard said, bowing low. "This this Null student was trying to force his way in. He claimed he had business with you. We were just about to throw him into the street."

Catherine’s eyes turned toward Adam.

Adam felt a weight slam into him. It wasn't physical, but it felt like a mountain was resting on his shoulders. This was her "Mana Pressure." Most students would have fainted instantly. Adam felt his knees tremble. His lungs felt like they were filling with dry ice.

[Warning! Warning!]

[Mana Pressure: Lethal Levels.]

[Void Vessel Activating: Absorbing 10% of Pressure]

Adam felt a dark warmth spread through his chest. The System was "eating" some of her power to keep him alive. He stood his ground. He didn't bow.

Catherine’s eyebrows rose just a fraction of an inch. "A Null who can stand in my presence? Interesting. But interest is not permission. Leave now, boy, before I turn your blood into icicles."

She turned to walk away.

"You're looking in the wrong books," Adam said.

His voice was small, but in the silent library, it sounded like a thunderclap.

The guards gasped. One of them raised his spear again. "You dare speak to the Professor like that?"

Catherine stopped. She didn't turn around. "What did you say?"

Adam took a deep breath. His heart was hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. The System was pulsing in his mind, feeding him information. A string of strange, guttural words appeared in his vision—words that felt heavy and ancient.

"You've been reading 'The Chronicles of the Frozen Sun' and 'The Internal Mana Circuits of the High Elves,'" Adam said, his voice growing stronger. "You're looking for a way to patch a leak. But you can't patch a leak when the pipe itself is shattered."

Catherine turned around slowly. Her face was a mask of cold fury, but deep in her eyes, Adam saw a flash of genuine shock.

"How do you know what I am reading?" she whispered. "Who sent you? Was it the Headmaster? Was it the Council?"

"Nobody sent me," Adam said. He stepped closer, ignoring the guards who were now looking at him with fear. "I see what they can't see. I see the black smoke, Catherine."

When he said her name—her first name—the guards looked like they were about to have a heart attack. No one called her Catherine. She was Professor Cook or The Lady of the North.

Catherine’s hand twitched. A wall of ice suddenly rose from the floor, separating Adam from the guards. It was just the two of them now, standing in a small circle of frost.

"You have ten seconds to explain yourself," she said. A small dagger made of pure ice formed in the air next to her hand. It pointed directly at Adam’s throat. "If you lie, I will bury you in the forest and no one will ever find your body."

Adam looked at the ice dagger. He looked at the timer in his vision. 65 hours left.

I have to go all in, he thought.

The System flickered. [Forbidden Language: 'The Tongue of the Sovereign' Unlocked for 5 seconds.]

Adam’s mouth moved. He didn't even feel like he was the one speaking. His voice changed. It became deep, echoing, and ancient. It sounded like two stones grinding together.

"Kala-noth sora-vahr murtos"

As he spoke the words, the black smoke leaking from Catherine’s chest suddenly stopped. It froze in mid-air.

Catherine’s eyes widened. The ice dagger she had created shattered into a thousand pieces. She staggered back, her hand flying to her chest.

"Your core is bleeding," Adam shouted, the ancient words vibrating in his throat. "And the frost is turning inward! You aren't freezing the world, Catherine—you are freezing yourself to death!"

The entire library went silent. The air stopped moving.

Catherine Cook, the most powerful and terrifying woman at Bourbon Academy, looked at the wine-stained, "Null" scholarship student as if she were looking at a ghost. Her eyes began to glow with a deadly, blinding blue light.

"Where," she whispered, her voice trembling with a mix of rage and terror, "did you learn those words?"

Outside, the sky suddenly turned black, and a crack of thunder shook the entire building.

[Favorable Impression: -90 -> -85]

[System Note: You have her attention. Now, try to stay alive.]