2025-12-15 20:36:49The floating bench swayed gently under them like a boat on quiet water. Old Man Kael sat with one elbow on the table, scarred hand rubbing his chin, staring at the torn-out page as if it had personally insulted his entire bloodline.
“Who might have done this…?”
He muttered, his voice rough as gravel.
Asta couldn’t sit still. He leaned forward, elbows on knees, fingers laced so tight his knuckles went white.
“There has to be another way.”
He said, the words tumbling out fast.
“Anything. I don’t care how dangerous. I need to know what’s inside me.”
Kael lifted his palm. A perfect sphere of golden-white flame bloomed above it, spinning slowly, soft and warm like sunrise.
“There is one way.”
He said quietly.
“I send this Dawn Lotus Flame straight into your heart. It’ll act like a mirror,let you look inside yourself and see the dragon face-to-face.”
Asta’s eyes lit up.
“Do it!”
Kael’s grin turned wicked.
“Of course, the second my flame touches the seal, the dragon wakes up furious. You’ll be cooked from the inside in three seconds flat. Eyeballs boiled, blood turned to steam and we’ll be scraping you off the ceiling with a spoon.”
Asta went pale.
“Okay, bad plan, really bad plan”
“Got a better one, genius?”
Asta rubbed his temples.
“Yeah. All the sealed dragons have black flames, right? Like the smoke on the pickaxe. Just list them. Describe what they look like. I’ll know when you say the right one.”
Kael raised an eyebrow.
“You sure? There are nine. And most of them make nightmares look friendly.”
“I’m sure. Go.”
Kael leaned back, folded his arms, and started counting on his fingers.
“First: Nyxara the Star-Eater. Void dragon. Scales like liquid night, eyes like dying galaxies. Her fire erases whatever it touches,people, memories, even time. Sealed inside the old Shadow Empire’s royal line. Funny thing,the empire vanished overnight.”
Asta shook his head fast.
“Not her. Mine’s hot. Angry-hot.”
“Second: Glacira the Eternal Winter. Ice dragon. Scales white as moonlight on snow. Froze three cities solid when her seal cracked a little.”
“Nope. Definitely fire.”
“Third: Terravox the Earth-Singer. Emerald and bronze, mountain-sized. His roar causes earthquakes that redraw maps.”
“Cool, but no.”
“Fourth: Tempestus. Storm dragon. Wings like thunderclouds, his eyes electric blue. Fire made of pure lightning.”
“Still no.”
“Fifth: Hemoria the Blood Moon. Crimson scales that drip liquid ruby. Drinks blood, spreads plague.”
Asta wrinkled his nose.
“Gross. Pass.”
“Sixth: Somnus the Dream-Weaver. Scales shift colour every heartbeat. One look and you sleep forever in whatever dream,or nightmare,he chooses.”
“Terrifying, but not it.”
“Seventh: Oblivion. No fixed colour. Some say pure white, some pure black, some say it has no colour at all. Its fire erases names from history. You stop existing in every story ever told.”
Asta swallowed.
“Close… but still not right.”
“Eighth: Aurion the Golden Dawn. Father of light dragons. Scales like molten gold, wings that blind armies. His fire is pure creation,life, healing, resurrection.”
Asta frowned.
“That one sounds… nice?”
Kael gave a short, humourless laugh.
“Nice doesn’t begin to cover it. Not your dragon.”
He went very still.
Then he spoke so quietly Asta had to lean in.
“Ninth…”
The air in the library suddenly felt thick, like the whole place was holding its breath.
“The one they tore out of every book. The Ash-Bringer. The End-Flame. Scales black glass shot through with rivers of molten red. Six wings, not four. Horns curved forward like a crown of knives. Eyes like dying suns. Its fire is black at the edges, crimson at the core. When it wakes, the sky turns to ash and the ground forgets how to grow life.”
Asta’s heart slammed against his ribs. His mouth went dry.
“That…”
He could barely speak.
“That’s it. That’s exactly what I felt.”
Before Kael could answer, a massive bronze bell high above them boomed,once, twice, three times. The sound rolled through the library like a tidal wave.
A calm, amplified voice followed from floating crystals everywhere.
“Attention all higher-class labourers and senior students. This is Headmaster Veyron speaking. One month from today, the annual Inter-Academy Flame Tournament will commence against White Crimson Academy. The winning academy claims the Eternal Flame Cup for the year. Labourers who place in the top sixteen will be granted full student status and immediate release from labour duties. Prepare yourselves. Glory to the Empire.”
The message ended. The library exploded,cheers, gasps and students high-fiving mid-air.
Asta’s eyes went wide.
“The tournament… I used to watch it every year with my father on the big crystal screen. The battles, the flames, the crowds…”
Kael was already on his feet, slinging the dragon ledger under one arm like it weighed nothing.
“Well, this year you’re not watching.”
Asta blinked.
“What?”
“You’re fighting.”
Asta laughed, loud and nervous.
“Me? I don’t have flames! I’m not even a real student anymore,I’m just a labourer!”
Kael started walking toward the massive doors, boots clacking on the invisible floor.
“That’s why I’m here, boy. Starting tonight, I’m your master. I’ll teach you how to hold the dragon’s leash without letting it drag you into hell. You’ll learn to wield fire that makes the sun look like a candle.”
Asta scrambled after him, heart racing for a brand-new reason.
“You’re serious? You’ll really train me?”
Kael glanced back, and for the first time Asta saw a real, fierce smile,no sarcasm, no bitterness, just pure fire.
“As serious as the end of the world, kid. Because if you step into that arena without control, the dragon won’t just win the cup.”
He pushed the huge doors open. Cold tunnel air rushed in.
“It’ll burn the whole damn empire down with it.”
The doors began to swing shut behind them.
Asta shoulders curled in, his hands shoved deep in his pockets.
“I’m not ready. I am not even strong, you said it yourself old man.”
Kael turned slowly, the golden light from the library spilling across his scarred face. For once, there was no sarcasm, no eye-roll. Just quiet and steady fire in his eyes.
“Listen to me, boy.”
He said, his voice low but firm.
“I’ve seen cowards with perfect flames burn out in the first round. And I’ve seen terrified kids with nothing but guts in their belly go further than anyone thought possible. Strength isn’t the fire you’re born with. It’s the fire you decide to carry when everything says you should drop it and run.”
He stepped closer, placing one rough hand on Asta’s shoulder, the same way he had when he stopped the dragon from killing those two idiots.
“You think I wasn’t scared when I faced my first lava titan? I pissed myself so bad my squad called me ‘Waterfall Kael’ for a year. But I kept swinging the hammer anyway, I didn't let their words get to me, my mind was as heard as a rock.And you know what I learned? The dragon inside you isn’t waiting for you to feel ready. It’s waiting for you to decide you’re done letting other people write your story.”
Asta stared at the floor, his throat tight.Kael’s grip tightened.
“They laughed at you, humiliated you, they now call you “Asta the Flameless Xavier.” They threw you away, your girlfriend broke up with you and also at the spot disdanied and humiliated you, let her go, let them all go, Let the whole damn empire laugh. And then step into that arena and show them what happens when the trash they tossed aside decides to burn brighter than their flames.”
long silence. Just the distant hum of floating fire-rivers behind them.
Asta lifted his head. His eyes were wet, but something hard and bright had kindled inside them.
“…Okay.”
He whispered. Then louder.
“Okay. I’m
in.”
Kael’s smile was slow and proud.
“Good. Because the dragon’s already chosen you, boy. Now it’s time you chose it back.”
He turned and started walking down the dark tunnel, boots echoing.
“So get ready, Asta Xavier… because training starts in section.”
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Chapter 449
One clean cut, diagonal, across the binding that held the basket sealed and the flame solid material split along the cut line with a sharp crack that echoed through the trees."Jabber!"From below, almost before the word had finished leaving his mouth. "Already on it."The flame shield came up from the ground,wide, cupped, angled perfectly and the basket fell into it, not crashing, just settling, the broken seal falling away as Jabber brought it steady and slow and set it down beside him on the ground with the careful hands of someone carrying something that couldn't afford to be dropped.Asta dropped from the branch and landed beside him.They looked at each other for one second.Then Mira was there, already reaching for the broken seam of the basket, pulling the edges apart, the flame material dissolving at her hands as she worked it open.The basket opened.Fifteen children.Pressed together in the center of it, some sitting, some curled against each other, all of them in the cond
Chapter 448
Then the side of her mouth moved. Just slightly."I won't kill you." She said. "You're too useful to me." She looked at him for one more beat. "Don't do it again."Gull exhaled.The exhale was quiet and controlled and the relief in it was absolutely genuine.He stepped back to his position.Dero looked at the men still kneeling on the ground."Is there a bed somewhere in this place?" She said. Not specifically to anyone. "Somewhere I can rest and recover my strength."Two or three of the kneeling figures began to speak at the same time.She held up one hand.They stopped.She looked at the competing voices, then at the ceiling, then back down."You know what.”She said. "Never mind. I'll find it myself."She turned.And then she looked at Web.The look she gave him was different from anything else she had produced in the last hour. It was slower. And warmer. In a way that was not entirely comfortable."Web.” she said.Web looked at her."Would you mind accompanying me?" She s
Chapter 447
"I genuinely didn't think he would die from that." She looked around at all of them with something approaching mild surprise. "Anyone else? Don't be shy. Come on. You can say it out loud or you can mutter it to yourself,your choice. Either way I'll hear it."Complete silence.Not one person moved.Not one person appeared to even be breathing in a way that could be considered voluntary.Dero looked at them all for one more moment, then straightened up.……………………."She can hear human thought."Kyx said it quietly, from just behind Dero's right shoulder. Not alarmed, Kyx didn't really do alarmed. Just stating it, the way you state a fact that you want on record."Yes." Gull said immediately, from the left.Web turned and looked at Gull. "How?"Gull looked at Web with the specific expression of someone who has been asked to explain something technical to someone they are not sure will fully appreciate the explanation."She has a built-in flame technique." He said. "Passive. Always ac
Chapter 446:Hear Every Whisper
The men in black cloaks were still on their knees.Every single one of them, heads bowed, hands flat on the ground, not one of them willing to be the next person to look up. The silence in the space had that particular quality of a room where something bad just happened and everyone is very focused on not being the reason something bad happens again.Dero stood above them. Unhurried. Looking across the tops of their bowed heads the way someone looks across a field,with no urgency, just observation.Then, from the second row of kneeling figures, something started.A trembling.One man. His shoulders were moving, small and fast, the involuntary shake of someone whose body was doing something his brain was trying very hard to stop. His head was down but his lips were moving, the faintest murmur, barely sound at all.‘’’Oh God.’’’He wasn't saying it to anyone. He was saying it to himself, or to the ground, or to whatever part of his brain was still processing the last two minutes.‘’’It
Chapter 445
He said."From that point." Asta said.Jabber nodded. Then, after a beat… "He is significantly more annoying than I expected a best friend to be, just so you know.""He is the most annoying person I have met in my life.” Asta said pleasantly. "I say that with genuine affection.""Likewise." Jabber said."Truly.""Deeply."Wabash laughed, a real one, short and warm, that moved his whole face. He shook his head."It's good." He said. “What you two have. It's, it's a good thing."Neither of them said anything for a moment.Then Jabber looked at his cup."This tea is actually really good." He said."Glad you like it." Wabash said."What is it?""Old forest blend. The cook makes it before any mission night. He says it helps you sleep when your mind won't stop."Jabber took another slow sip."Smart cook." He said.……………………..Deep in the forest, behind a wall of flame camouflage so thick it swallowed all light and sound, the children were crying.Not all of them, some had gone past
Chapter 444
Asta took his and sat cross-legged across from the prince. Jabber sat beside him, wrapping both hands around his cup.A comfortable quiet settled over the three of them for a moment.Then Wabash looked at Asta."You were about to tell me.”He said.“Before Yuki called the stop. How did you find out."Asta looked at his cup. Then up."Right." He said. "Yeah."He took a short breath."It was my first day in the academy mine pit.” He said. "The underground labour section,first-year students, grey uniforms, pickaxes. Clank clank clank in the dark for hours." He looked at his hands briefly. "I had blisters within the first hour. Didn't stop. Just kept going."Wabash listened without interrupting."There were two older students." Asta said. "Crimson uniforms, proper rank. They had a girl pinned against the tunnel wall." He said it simply, no drama in it, just the shape of what happened. "I put my pickaxe down and walked over and told them to let her go.""Just like that?" Wabash
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