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 858
They didn't have the luxury of celebrating the bridge's outcome for long.Word reached them two days later, carried by a rider Sera's remaining trusted contacts had sent ahead, Emberfall, the border city they'd once saved from a single feral Choir fragment weeks earlier, was burning again, and this time the scale dwarfed anything the squad had faced there before."How bad." Asta asked, already moving toward the horses before the messenger had finished catching his breath."Bad." The rider said. "Whatever hits the city isn't one fragment anymore. Reports describe multiple sources of uncontrolled flame, civilian casualties climbing by the hour, and Council forces either unable or unwilling to intervene effectively.""Unwilling." Roderick repeated, sharp. "Why would they be unwilling?""Because the soldiers on the ground are saying it looks exactly like what happened at the bridge." The rider said, grimly. "Except nobody stabilized this one. It's still spreading."Vex's expression
Chapter 857
The light and dark flame collided in a violent, churning column above the shattered carriage, and Mira, thrown backward by the shockwave along with half the squad, watched in horror as the eleven fractured voices continued screaming, no longer coordinated, no longer speaking as one, a cacophony of grief, confusion, and raw, remembered pain pouring out of eleven bodies that no longer knew how to be a single harmony and hadn't yet remembered how to be separate people again."It's destabilizing." Emrick shouted over the chaos, having insisted on accompanying the strike team despite his weakened condition, his eyes fixed on the churning light with grim, focused intensity. "Exactly as theorized, but faster, more violent than I predicted. The resonance broke all eleven bonds at once instead of gradually.""Is that good or bad." Roderick shouted back, blade raised against the chaos while trying to keep the reeling, disoriented Council soldiers from regrouping around them."I don't know ye
Chapter 856
They reached the convoy's projected route on the fourth day, cresting a ridge that overlooked a long, winding stretch of road cutting through a narrow valley, the kind of terrain, Yuki noted grimly, that made for excellent ambush ground and equally excellent killing ground, depending entirely on who controlled the higher elevation first."This is it." Lucien confirmed, studying the road below with the particular certainty of a man who'd memorized this exact route during his months of forced service. "The convoy passes through here tomorrow morning, assuming the schedule hasn't shifted. There's a narrow bridge crossing about two miles further along, the only viable route through this section of terrain. Everything funnels through that point.""A bottleneck." Roderick said, already assessing the tactical shape of the ground with a soldier's eye. "That's our best chance to isolate the transport carriage from its full escort.""It's also the most heavily guarded section of the entire
Chapter 855
The next two days blurred into a grinding cycle of riding, planning, and stolen hours of sleep, the squad pushing hard toward the convoy's projected route while Yuki and Emrick refined their theory into something that might actually survive contact with reality."Resonance isn't a weapon." Emrick said, for what felt like the third time, sketching another diagram in the dirt as the fire burned low around them. "It's a condition. You can't simply throw fire at eleven merged voices and expect coherence to shatter. You need something that speaks to what's holding them together in the first place.""Which is what, exactly." Roderick asked, patience visibly thinning after two days of theory without a clear plan of execution."Shared trauma." Emrick said. "That's the foundation every successful bond I studied was built on. The Choir isn't eleven separate people cooperating. It's eleven fractured identities that found it easier to stop being separate at all. The harmony holds because sep
Chapter 854
They rode through the morning in near silence, the weight of Emrick's revelation pressing down on the whole company harder than exhaustion or the dwindling clock on the convoy ever had. Kael rode near the back, alone, refusing the company even Asta offered, and Emrick kept his distance at the opposite end of the line, watching the old man's back with an expression Mira couldn't quite name, not forgiveness, not yet, but not pure hatred either. Something unsettled in between.They made camp at midday out of necessity, the horses needing rest and Seris still weak enough that Sera insisted on a proper stop rather than pushing straight through toward the convoy's projected route.It was Yuki who finally broke the uneasy quiet, approaching Emrick with the same careful, methodical curiosity she brought to every piece of the puzzle they were still assembling."You said you studied for twenty years." She said. "Do you know what they were trying to learn? Specifically?"Emrick considered her
Chapter 853
Roderick's blade met the first guard's with a screech of metal, driving the man back into the second before either could raise a full alarm, and for a handful of desperate seconds the narrow corridor became nothing but steel and breath and the grim, practiced economy of a soldier who'd learned, the hard way, exactly how to make three seconds last as long as thirty.He dropped the first guard with a strike to the temple, disarmed the second before he'd finished raising his blade, and was already turning to follow the others when a third voice, not a guard's, called out from a cell further down the block, low and urgent."Wait. Please. Whoever you are, wait."Roderick hesitated, torn between the escape already underway and the desperate plea echoing off stone, and something in the voice's raw, worn quality stopped him from simply running past.He found the source in the block's last cell,an older man, gaunt, scarred along both forearms in patterns that looked disturbingly familiar, eyes
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