The Weakest Mage at the World's Greatest Academy

Chapter 11: The Boy Who Was Never Meant to Live

“Because I discovered that the boy who woke up after the separation wasn't supposed to be you.”

Lyra's confession struck Awesome harder than any spell could have, leaving him struggling to understand how his own mother could question his right to exist. Before he could demand an explanation, the boy inside the containment chamber slammed both hands against the glass.

“Don't let her finish!” he shouted. “She'll twist everything until you believe she was saving you!”

The chamber trembled beneath his fists as golden fractures spread across the transparent walls. Warning symbols flashed above him, and the cables attached to his chest tightened as though the academy itself were struggling to keep him imprisoned.

Awesome stood between Lyra and the containment chamber, his marked palm burning beneath his skin.

“You just told me you ordered me killed,” he said, forcing himself to meet his mother's eyes. “Now you're going to explain why.”

Lyra's silver hair floated around her face as the containment field flickered. For the first time since Awesome had seen her, she looked genuinely afraid.

“I didn't know which of you would survive the separation,” she whispered. “I only knew that one of you could destroy the world.”

“Which one?”

Lyra glanced toward the boy inside the chamber, and her hesitation made Awesome step backward.

The boy laughed bitterly. “There, you see? Even now, she can't bring herself to say it.”

Professor Elara Veyne moved closer to Awesome, keeping her eyes fixed on the deteriorating restraints. “Whatever happened here, we need to leave before the containment system collapses.”

“No one is leaving!” the boy snapped.

His black eyes flashed gold, and every light in the chamber went out. A violent pulse of energy struck the floor, throwing Elara against a console and forcing Awesome onto one knee. The containment glass split from top to bottom before the cables tore free from the boy's body with a deafening metallic shriek.

Awesome barely managed to raise his hand before the boy stepped through the shattered barrier.

He looked exactly like Awesome, down to the smallest scar above his left eyebrow. However, his cold expression made Awesome feel as though he were facing a reflection that had learned to hate him.

A system display appeared before Awesome's eyes.

[WARNING: ORIGINAL HOST RESTORATION ACCELERATED.]

[CONSCIOUSNESS CONFLICT: CRITICAL.]

[CURRENT HOST SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 31%.]

“Stop displaying numbers and tell me how to survive!” Awesome shouted.

The system offered no response.

The boy lunged at him, and Awesome hastily raised a binding field to protect himself. The barrier shattered beneath the first blow, sending him crashing into the console. Pain spread through his injured shoulder, but he forced himself upright as the boy approached.

“You have my face, my name, and the life I was supposed to live,” the boy said. “Did you ever wonder why you couldn't cast a single spell before arriving at this academy?”

Awesome clenched his injured hand.

“Because I have no mana.”

“No,” the boy replied, seizing his wrist. “Because your body was built to suppress it.”

Golden symbols erupted across Awesome's skin, and unfamiliar memories flooded his mind. He saw a child lying beneath surgical lights, a woman crying behind reinforced glass, and a younger Professor Elara standing beside a machine covered in warning symbols.

Then he witnessed a city swallowed by black flames, where thousands of people screamed beneath a darkened sky. At the center of the destruction stood a figure wearing his face.

A voice echoed through the memory.

If the original awakens, erase the replacement before the two authorities become one.

Awesome tore his wrist free, gasping as the vision disappeared.

“What did you do to me?”

“I didn't do anything,” the boy answered coldly. “You were the one they created.”

Lyra struck the containment console with her palm, releasing a wave of blue energy that forced the boy backward. Elara immediately seized Awesome's arm and pulled him away.

“Lyra, shut down the restoration sequence!” Elara shouted.

“I can't,” Lyra replied desperately. “He's already connected to the First Authority.”

The boy slowly straightened, his expression hardening.

“Tell him what happened to our father.”

Lyra's face drained of color, and Awesome looked between them in confusion.

“What does he have to do with this?”

“The man you met wasn't simply my husband,” Lyra explained. “He was the first human capable of carrying the First Authority without being consumed by it. When the academy discovered his abilities, its founders tried to reproduce his power.”

“And they used us,” the boy interrupted. “They divided his authority between two vessels. One was supposed to contain his power, while the other was designed to contain his memories.”

Awesome's stomach tightened.

“Which vessel am I?”

“Neither,” Lyra whispered.

She approached him, tears gathering in her eyes.

“You were never part of the original experiment. You were an unexpected result of it. When your father's authority split, something else emerged from the division—a consciousness neither the academy nor your father could predict.”

Awesome stared at her in disbelief.

“You mean me?”

“I thought you were my son,” she answered. “I wanted to believe that more than anything.”

The boy laughed without humor.

“She raised you as her child because you looked like me. When you began showing signs of the authority, she realized the truth. You weren't a copy of my body. You were something born inside the separation itself.”

Awesome felt as though the floor had vanished beneath his feet. Throughout his life, he had believed his inability to use magic was a cruel accident. He had endured humiliating examination results, failed spells, and the whispers of students who believed he did not belong at the academy.

Now he was discovering that even his identity might have been constructed from a lie.

“Then why did you order me killed?” he asked Lyra.

She struggled to meet his eyes.

“The first time you lost control, every magical signal across the facility stopped. Hundreds of people died when their protective systems failed. Your father heard your voice through the containment network, and he begged us to destroy the artificial host before you awakened completely.”

“That isn't what happened,” the boy interrupted. “Father never asked her to kill you. He asked her to separate you from the authority.”

Lyra flinched.

“You said the separation would destroy him.”

“And you chose to believe that because it gave you an excuse to keep the original body.”

The accusation left Lyra trembling.

Awesome turned toward his mother.

“You didn't simply save me. You kept me alive while he remained trapped here.”

“I was trying to find a way to save both of you!”

“You had years to find one.”

“I know!” she cried. “And every day I waited, the system brought you closer to awakening.”

The boy raised his hand, revealing a black symbol identical to Awesome's mark, except that its golden center had turned completely dark.

At last, the system responded.

[DUAL AUTHORITY SIGNATURES DETECTED.]

[REUNIFICATION PROTOCOL INITIATED.]

[WARNING: REUNIFICATION WILL TERMINATE ONE CONSCIOUSNESS.]

A thin beam of light connected the two boys, and Awesome immediately felt something inside his chest pulling toward the original body. His knees buckled, while the boy staggered and clutched his head in pain.

Elara rushed toward the console.

“The system is forcing them together! If the process completes, one of them will disappear!”

“Stop it!” Awesome gasped.

“I'm trying!”

Lyra grabbed his shoulders, but her hands passed through a flickering layer of golden energy. Awesome felt his memories slipping away, including his first sight of the academy, the humiliation of failing his entrance examination, and the determination that had kept him moving when everyone else had dismissed him.

He fought desperately to hold on to himself, while the boy struggled against the same invisible force.

For one brief moment, their eyes met, and Awesome saw genuine terror beneath the hatred.

“I don't want to disappear again,” the boy whispered.

Suddenly, another voice emerged from both their mouths. Its deeper, older tone sounded disturbingly familiar.

“Neither of you was supposed to survive.”

The chamber lights exploded, and a massive shadow unfolded behind the two boys. Golden armor formed around its limbs as a familiar face emerged from the darkness.

Their father's face.

Lyra screamed when the shadow extended one enormous hand toward Awesome.

“Choose quickly, son,” it commanded. “Which of your lives will you surrender to me?”

Awesome stared at the two identical hands reaching toward him, one belonging to the boy whose body he had supposedly stolen and the other emerging from the darkness that had created them both.

Before he could make a choice, the system displayed another warning.

[THIRD CONSCIOUSNESS DETECTED.]

[IDENTITY: LYRA VOSS.]

[WARNING: MATERNAL CONSCIOUSNESS IS ENTERING THE HOST.]

Awesome turned toward his mother, hoping she could explain what was happening.

Instead, he discovered that her eyes had become completely black, and a chilling smile had spread across her face.