Wielder Of The Dragon Flame

Chapter 29

The hall erupted into murmurs again, but Malachar continued, his voice cutting through the noise.

"We all know the stories of late bloomers. Flame wielders who showed no ability until their twenties, sometimes even later, and then suddenly manifested power that rivaled the greatest masters. It's rare, but it happens.”

“What if Asta Xavier is one of those? What if, six months from now, a year from now, he awakens the Xavier flame or even something greater? What if he comes back, not as the flameless failure everyone mocks, but as a legitimate wielder demanding his birthright?"

Malachar took a step forward, his black robes swirling around him like living shadows.

 "You've dismissed all the servants who knew him from this mansion. You've essentially erased him from Xavier history, treating him as if he's already dead. That will... complicate things, should he return with power. It will make him angry, I think. Make him feel betrayed, perhaps even murderous."

The Black Flame leader's dark eyes bored Cassian's. 

"So I ask you directly, Cassian Xavier: what will you do? If Asta awakens his flame and comes for his rights, demanding what tradition says is his by blood and now also by power,what will you do? Will you step aside gracefully? Will you share power? Or..." 

He paused meaningfully.

 "...will there be conflict?"

The entire hall seemed to hold its breath. This was the question no one had wanted to ask but everyone had been thinking. This was the crack in the foundation of Cassian's carefully constructed argument.

Cassian didn't flinch. Instead, his lips curved into a smile,small at first, then growing wider, until it transformed into something that could almost be called a smirk. It wasn't a cruel expression exactly, but there was definitely something dark in it, something that spoke of confidence bordering on arrogance.

"Clan Leader Malachar." 

Cassian said, his tone almost friendly.

 "I appreciate your... thoroughness in considering all possibilities, no matter how unlikely they may be."

He took a step forward, matching Malachar's intensity with his own brand of quiet confidence. 

"Let me be very clear about something. I doubt,very much doubt,that Asta will awaken any flame. Twenty years old and not a single spark? That's not late blooming. That's absence of ability. The Xavier flame is one of the most powerful bloodlines in existence; if it was present in him at all, it would have manifested by now. So the scenario you're describing, while theoretically possible, is practically impossible.”

Cassian's smile didn't waver. 

"But let's play your game. Let's pretend, for the sake of argument, that the impossible happens. That Asta Xavier suddenly manifests flame,not just any flame, but strong flame, powerful flame, flame worthy of the Xavier name. And let's further pretend that he comes here, to this mansion, and demands his 'rights' as you put it."

He paused, letting the anticipation build, his dark eyes gleaming with something that might have been excitement.

"Then yes, I mean exactly what you're thinking."

The words dropped like stones into still water, sending ripples of shock through the assembly.

Cassian's voice grew harder, more intense. 

"He will have to fight for it. Not with words, not with legal arguments, not with Council debates or negotiations or political maneuvering. A death match. Single combat, to the finish, winner takes all. Just like our ancestors did, just like the Xavier tradition demands when two legitimate claimants both possess flame and both refuse to yield."

He spread his hands, his expression becoming almost reasonable, as if he was explaining something perfectly obvious. 

"That's the old way, isn't it? The pure way? When words fail and tradition conflicts with tradition, flame decides. The strongest leads. The weakest dies. Simple, clean, final."

Cassian's smirk deepened, taking on a darker edge now, something predatory creeping into his features. 

"I've spent two years managing this clan, training every day, honing my flame until it burns hotter than ever. If Asta comes back with newly awakened power, he'll have raw strength perhaps, but no control, no technique, no understanding of how to actually use what he has. He'll be a child playing with fire against a master who has lived and breathed flame combat since he could walk."

He turned slowly, addressing the entire assembly now, his voice carrying absolute certainty.

 "So yes, Clan Leader Malachar, to answer your question directly: if Asta Xavier awakens his flame and demands his rights, I will meet him in the traditional challenge circle. We will settle this the way Xaviers have always settled succession disputes,with fire and steel, skill against skill, will against will. And I will win. Not because I hate my brother, but because I am simply the better warrior, the better leader, the better Xavier."

His lips curved into that dark smirk again, and there was something chilling in his eyes now, something that suggested he might actually be looking forward to such a confrontation.

"After all." 

Cassian said softly, but his words carried to every corner of the silent hall.

 "What kind of Xavier leader would I be if I couldn't defend my position against a single challenger? If I feared one man with newly awakened power? Our ancestors fought armies. They burned through hordes of enemies. They stood alone against impossible odds. And I am their heir,their true heir, the one who carries their flame and their strength."

He straightened, his posture perfect, his expression confident bordering on arrogant.

 "So let him come, if he awakens. Let him try to take what he thinks is his. I'll be waiting. And when the challenge circle's flames die down, there will be only one Xavier standing, and it will be the one who deserves to stand,the one strong enough to hold what he claims.”

The silence in the hall was absolute, thick and heavy, pressing down on everyone like a physical weight. Clan leaders stared at Cassian with expressions ranging from shock to approval to something that might have been horror at the casual way he'd just suggested he might kill his own brother.

Malachar's lips curved into a genuine smile now,cold and sharp and somehow approving.

 "Thank you for your honesty, Cassian Xavier. That answer tells me everything I needed to know about your character and your commitment."

He sat back down slowly, his black robes pooling around him like ink in water, but his dark eyes never left Cassian's face. Whether he was pleased or merely satisfied at having drawn out this confession was impossible to tell from his expression.

Elder Morvain cleared his throat, clearly unsettled by the direction this had taken but unable to deny the logic of Cassian's position.

 "The traditional challenge is... certainly within Xavier clan law." 

He said carefully.

 "Should such an unlikely scenario occur, it would indeed be the proper way to resolve the succession dispute."

Cassian turned back to the assembly, his smirk slowly fading back into that more neutral, confident smile. But something had changed in the atmosphere.

 The casual way he'd discussed potentially killing Asta in single combat had revealed something about him,something harder, darker, more ruthless than his earlier passionate speech about legacy and duty had suggested.

"Are there any other questions?" 

Elder Morvain asked, his voice carrying a note of finality, as if hoping desperately that everyone would accept this and move on before things got even more complicated.

But as the clan leaders exchanged glances, as whispers began circulating through the hall once more, one thing was abundantly clear: Cassian Xavier had just drawn a line in the sand. He had claimed the Xavier leadership not just through circumstance or default, but with the clear statement that he would hold it through force if necessary, that he would kill to keep what he'd taken.

And somewhere out in the labor quarters, completely unaware of this gathering, Asta Xavier was resting in his bunk after his first day as a guild member, still unable to manifest even a spark of flame.

Still believing he was forgotten.

Still not knowing that his half-brother had just declared, in front of twenty of the most powerful clan leaders in the empire, that if Asta ever did awaken his power, Cassian would personally kill him in single combat rather than surrender the position he'd claimed.

The Xavier mansion's great hall remained heavy with tension, the eternal flames in the chandeliers seeming to burn just a little brighter, a little more aggressive, as if responding to the promise of violence that now hung in the air like smoke.

And Cassian Xavier stood at the center of it all, his dark smirk still playing at the corners of his mouth, his eyes gleaming w

ith confidence and something darker,anticipation, perhaps, for a confrontation that he clearly believed would never come, but that he would welcome if it did…