In another room, still within Three Tail Flare Hall, a woman stood by the window, her face covered by a veil. She was watching the clouds outside. At her waist hung a token. Yet another Vice Hall Master of Three Tail Flare Hall.
"Are you really going to stop me here?"
Her voice was soft and lovely, free of worry and capable of freeing others from it.
She seemed to be speaking to herself, but her shadow suddenly trembled. Her shadow was there on the ground, but another shadow was leaning against it!
The other shadow sighed. "Am I stopping you? I’m just resting on your shadow. I want to ask you some questions regarding one of my troubles, eh. Don’t you owe me a favour? I want you to answer my questions regarding these troubles. That’s all."
The shadow said that. But why was her communication with the outside world cut off? It was as if space itself had been isolated!
Of course, if she wanted to fight, could the shadow hold her back? For how long? Could she still send her messages? What was holding and pressing her down seemed to be that intangible ’favour’ the shadow had mentioned.
"Are you really going to use your favour like this?" she mused.
The shadow did not reply.
"I wonder what you received in exchange for this favour you spent. How much benefit did you get? Or did you use it to offset some debt? I never knew you had a hand in the Seradon heir’s death."
The shadow sneered. "Am I the one killing him? Besides, shouldn’t he be dead already?"
Shouldn’t he be dead already?
The shadow was talking about the assassination!
"Yes. But didn’t he kill those assassins? This Caelen hides himself too well. Even I didn’t know he was concealing his powers. But why do you want him dead now? You weren’t the ones who sent the assassins, so why do you want to kill him now?"
The shadow did not reply for a while.
"Because this is the best opportunity. And I am not involved in all of this. I’m only keeping you here."
There was finally a sneer in the woman’s voice.
"You are not involved? When the Seradon come asking for an explanation, tell them that..."
".....But I have to agree that this is the best time. He killed the assassins and knew that his ’uselessness’ couldn’t protect him for long. He needs the best way to announce his powers to the whole world, and this is perfect. This opportunity is the best way for everyone to do their own thing."
The reason they said they didn’t want to kill him secretly was that this was the Academy. The Academy wouldn’t allow it... a second time!
Especially now that Caelen was no longer the useless person he was supposed to be!
The only way to kill him was openly.
The woman looked down at her shadow, a faint smile in her voice.
"I wonder how many people will die because of this. Everyone in Class Thirteen and Class Sixty-Seven. The attendant officiating the duel... so many people."
The shadow rippled.
"That’s only right. But you, why are you trying to protect him?"
The woman shook her head.
"There’s nothing to hide, and that’s why you were here in the first place. The Medullaris family wants to protect him, and I work for the family."
The shadow paused, then said, "They won’t have to protect him again after today."
A simple duel between two classes. It should have been simple, but how many things in the world were truly simple?
"I will be officiating this duel!"
The attendant shouted. He stood alone in the middle of the platform, his eyes scanning both sides as his voice boomed throughout that section of the arena.
He held the challenge paper in his hand and made a show of glancing through it.
"Class Sixty-Seven has challenged Class Thirteen! Class Thirteen, do you accept the challenge?"
Everyone’s attention turned to Caelen.
Lysandra, sitting beside him, shifted, still making one last effort.
"You should not accept, Caelen."
Caelen ignored her and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, a voice interrupted him.
"Can we really accept this challenge when we have only two students who can fight?"
Everyone, including Caelen, turned to Kolu.
’Eh? Kolu is worried?’
Although Kolu’s face and posture were calm, Caelen could see through them. That young man was worried about something!
From Class Sixty-Seven’s side, a young man also stood and replied to Kolu.
"Is that the fault of Class Sixty-Seven or the failure of your class?"
Kolu ignored him and only looked at the officiating attendant. Although Kolu did not say anything, the pressure he was exerting on the man was enough to make him sweat!
It was as if Kolu could see right through him!
Instructor Hadrian was the next to speak.
"Young Master Kolu, this is a class challenge. Are you speaking as the sole representative of Class Thirteen?"
His question was simple: Were you making the decision for Caelen?
Kolu hesitated. Before coming to the centre of the world, to the Academy, he had already gathered intelligence on Caelen since that was his primary objective. But since meeting him today, everything he thought he knew about Caelen had been overturned!
Before, his plan had been to directly take over authority from Class Thirteen since that was the best way to protect Caelen...
...but now, looking at those red eyes, cold and resolute like an ice wall, he couldn’t open his mouth and say that he would make the decision for him!
Thus, everyone waited for Caelen’s reply.
And the reply came. It was short and direct.
"I accept the challenge."
What more was there to say?
But Kolu still couldn’t give up. He had already sent word directly to Three Tail Flare Hall and used his family’s influence to issue an order to someone, but he had received no reply!
What did that mean to Kolu?
The lack of a reply was the reply itself. It meant that the challenge against Caelen was even more dangerous than he had thought. Something that might directly lead to death!
So Kolu made one last effort.
He lifted a foot and placed it down. The solid ground acted like the surface of a lake, rippling beneath him. The ground rippled, and the space around Kolu and Caelen was sealed off. People could still see them, but sound was cut off, and Essence was cut off.
Caelen smiled faintly.
From Kolu’s behaviour, Caelen could already tell that things were turning turbulent beneath the surface.
Kolu opened his mouth and said, "You really shouldn’t accept this challenge, Instructor Caelen Seradon. You can’t afford it."
At the same time, Kolu’s voice reached his ears in a different way. It was a sound that didn’t come from Kolu’s mouth but was instead conveyed directly into Caelen’s ears.
"You might die. This is a scheme that comes directly from a higher authority to target you. If you step onto that platform, you will die."
Caelen’s expression remained unchanged, as if he hadn’t heard the secret conversation.
"And who can afford it?"
His words carried a double meaning, replying to both conversations at the same time.
’If I can’t afford to accept the challenge, who can?’
’You’ll die if you step onto the platform, but who can afford it? Who can kill me?!’
What confidence! What arrogance!
It was at this point that Kolu realised he was talking to the heir of one of the strongest families in the world.
Just like himself!
The image he had already formed of Caelen shattered and was replaced by the calm and confident Caelen before him. This arrogant young master of the Seradon family.
Kolu didn’t say anything. He returned his foot to its rightful place and retracted the domain.
There was nothing more to say or do. He, too, was curious about which image was real. The old Caelen or the new one.
Caelen looked at the attendant.
"I accept the challenge!"
And that was it.
The attendant announced the rules. No killing and no inflicting fatal injuries.
He then called out, "The first challenger from Class Sixty-Seven and the first from Class Thirteen!"
The young man who had spoken for Class Sixty-Seven instantly leaped onto the platform, his eyes shooting daggers at Class Thirteen. Almost all the students of Class Thirteen looked down, not daring to meet his eyes!
"Hahahaha! Who’s going to fight me? Come out now!"
It was quite interesting that this young man, while shouting and glaring, did not look towards Kolu’s side even once!
"We forfeit this one," a calm voice said.
The young man on the platform was stunned.
They wouldn’t even fight him? They had forfeited just like that? They hadn’t even tried!
This was also a sentiment shared by the audience. Was Class Thirteen not even going to try at all?
But with Kolu’s information, Caelen already knew that the young man was Tiran, the weakest among the strongest students there.
Caelen only had two students capable of fighting, so they didn’t bother wasting either of them on this one.