2025-12-15 20:31:45The day of the Power-Checking Ceremony finally came.
The grand hall of Crimson Academy was packed. Students from every big school in the kingdom sat in neat rows. The air smelled like new uniforms and nervous sweat. A huge crystal ball sat on a golden stand in the middle of the stage, waiting.
One by one, students went up. A boy just finished. The crystal glowed bright gold.
“Class A!”
The teacher shouted.
The boy jumped down the steps, punching the air, laughing with his friends.
Then the teacher looked at her list.
“Lucien Pyre!”
Lucien stood up from the front row. Tall, Blood-red hair, perfect smile. He let out a small, confident chuckle and walked to the stage like he owned the place. Girls in the crowd started whispering.
“Look at him…”
“He’s so handsome…”
He stopped in front of the Empress. Who was seated on a high white throne with two strong mage-warriors standing on each side of her.
The Empress smiled kindly.
“I remember you, Lucien Pyre. Your father brought you to the palace when you were twelve, for early awakening rituals,right?”
Lucien rubbed the back of his head, shy but proud.
“Yes, Empress. You really remember me?”
“Of course. Put your hand on the crystal.”
He placed his palm on the ball.
WHOOSH!
White-gold light exploded out of it. The whole hall lit up like daylight.
The Empress stood up with a wide smile on her face.
“Class S!”
The crowd went crazy. Girls screamed. The boys clapped loudly. Lucien bowed again, grinning big.
Next name.
“Cassian Xavier!”
The hall got quiet fast.
“Xavier…?”
“Isn’t that Asta Xavier’s family?”
“Oh man, we’re doomed now…”
From the back row, Elara suddenly jumped and hugged Asta from behind.
“There you are, hot stuff!”
She whispered, voice playful.
Asta’s face turned pink.
“Hey, Elara…”
She nodded toward the stage.
“That your brother?”
“Yeah, he is my brother.”
Cassian walked up the steps slowly. Black uniform is perfect. Face cold with no smile on his face.
He put his hand on the new crystal ball.
CRACK—BOOM!
The crystal didn’t just glow. It exploded. Golden fire shot everywhere. Pieces flew like fireworks. The light was so bright everyone covered their eyes.
When it faded, the Empress was standing again, this time with a big smirk on her face.
“That’s the Xavier blood for you.”
She raised her voice loud and clear.
“Cassian Xavier — SS Class!”
The hall exploded louder than before, this girls began to whine again:
“He’s so handsome!”
“SS class… he’s basically a god!”
“I’m in love…”
Cassian walked down the steps, face still cold, but his eyes were shining.
Asta smiled small, remembering last night in the kitchen with Butler Grogery.
‘Flashback – Kitchen – Night’
Butler Grogerry sat across from Asta, voice soft.
“Cassian lost his parents when he was four. Lord Ignatius took him in, raised him like his own. But Cassian always knew he was adopted. He trained every single day. He never played like a normal kid. He never laughed a lot. He wanted to prove he was strong enough to belong.”
Asta listened quietly.
“If his flame burns brighter than yours tomorrow… he becomes head of the Xavier clan. That’s the old family rule.”
Asta asked.
“You really think that can happen?”
Grogerry smiled.
“I doubt it. Because you are…”
He stopped suddenly, his eyes wide.
Asta leaned closer.
“Because I am… what, Butler?”
Grogery shook his head fast.
“Because you are the true son of Lord Ignatius… the Fire Lord himself.”
‘Back to now’
Asta whispered to himself.
“But I still don’t think that’s what he really wanted to say…”
The teacher’s voice rang out again.
“Next! Asta Xavier!”
Elara squeezed his hand.
“Babe, you’re up! Go get ’em!”
Asta’s cheeks went red. He walked to the stage while everyone watched.
“Here comes the real son of Fire Lord Ignatius!”
“After today he’ll be a clan head for sure.”
“Lucky guy… strong and has Elara? I hate him.”
Cassian stood on the side, his fists clenched tight.
Asta reached the stage, bowed low to the Empress.
She leaned forward, smiling warmly.
The teacher smiled too.
“Place your hand on the crystal, Asta.”
Asta took a deep breath.
‘Alright… here I go.’
He muttered to himself as he
put his palm on the ball.
…….
Nothing.
No light nor a spark, not even a tiny glow.
The crystal stayed dark and cold.
Asta’s hand started shaking.
His voice came out small and scared.
“What… it can’t be… nothing… nothing is happening…”
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
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
You may also like
Totem Warrior
Cindy Chen27.6K viewsThe Cheat Seed (Vol 1)
Sinadin35.5K viewsMon'Ter
ReinStriver28.5K viewsPaths of Extinction
TheCrow34.8K viewsThe Celestial Tyrant
Untamed man190 viewsThe Titan Forge: Crushing Magic with Absolute Weight
Acdar389 viewsdual cultivation i only recruit peerless female goddesses
Chukwuebuka Michael1.5K viewsThe Death Walker's Seal
Sheila288 views