1. Cracks in the Crowd
The student body was reaching a breaking point.
Out of the original 1000 candidates, barely 300 remained active in the combat trials.
Most had withdrawn voluntarily—some due to injuries, others from sheer psychological exhaustion. And then there were those who had stopped speaking altogether, choosing silence over drawing attention from a certain professor's gaze.
Aaron didn't understand.
"They keep staring at me like I'm the examiner of their souls," he murmured, flipping through his notes.
"You are," Lily said flatly.
"No I'm not."
Nova entered behind them, levitating upside-down with a book in one hand and wine in the other. "You exist like a final exam that nobody studied for, Aaron."
Aaron looked up, bewildered. "But I'm just... watching."
"Exactly," both women said.
---
2. Duel – "The Whispered Blade"
Candidate Kirin Zecht was next.
Silent. Cloaked. Pale eyes that saw too much.
He stepped onto the field with a curved blade forged from dusksteel and blood-iron, known for slicing spells in half.
No spells. No incantations.
He simply moved.
His opponent was a berserker-class ogre construct with a mana-fueled rage engine. Ten feet tall, plated in magical bronze, and capable of short-range teleportation bursts.
Kirin didn't flinch.
He let the ogre charge—and vanished at the last second.
Not with invisibility.
With awareness.
He was behind it before the crowd realized.
One slash.
Two.
Three.
The ogre fell apart before it landed.
Silence.
Kirin turned and looked toward the instructor's platform.
His eyes met Aaron's.
Aaron gave a small nod. "Well-timed footwork."
Kirin froze.
For a full five seconds, he didn't breathe.
Then he bowed so deeply his forehead touched the dirt. "Thank you, sir."
The crowd murmured.
Lily glanced at Aaron. "Another worshipper."
Aaron looked confused. "I just liked his balance."
---
3. Duel – "The Elemental Collapse"
Next came Sena Olynn, an elemental specialist who had scored perfectly in theory but was untested in real combat.
Her opponent: A controlled storm elemental—volatile, loud, and made of raw condensed wind and lightning.
Sena took a cautious approach.
She tried a harmony sequence of ice, grounding, and magnetic pulses to neutralize its core. Her runes were perfect.
But her hands shook.
Every time she looked up, she saw Aaron.
She slipped mid-chant.
The lightning cracked too close—arced off a grounded glyph—and singed her arm.
The crowd gasped.
Aaron stood, genuinely concerned.
"Should we stop it?" he asked.
Sena heard his voice.
She immediately surrendered.
"I forfeit!"
The arena fell silent.
She bowed deeply, trembling. "I apologize, Professor Aetherwyn. I'm not worthy of further judgment."
Aaron looked devastated. "I didn't mean to scare her…"
Nova clapped. "Oh, you're terrifying. That's half the charm."
---
4. A Private Duel Request
Later in the day, Lily approached Aaron with a scroll.
"A student requested a private duel. No observers. One-on-one."
Aaron looked up. "That's not allowed, is it?"
"It is, under Clause 9 of the Combat Evaluation Act—'Under extreme spiritual duress.'"
"...That's dramatic."
"Apparently he's having nightmares about your gaze."
Aaron opened the scroll. The name read: Axel Myrravelle.
He blinked. "Wait. Who's this again?"
"Commoner," Lily replied, tone sharpening. "Hidden magic signature. Not recommended for close proximity."
Nova floated by. "He's interesting. Keeps notes. Watches your duels obsessively."
"That's… concerning."
Lily handed him another scroll. "He also drew this."
Aaron opened it.
It was a childlike crayon sketch of Aaron with glowing eyes, wings, six swords, and two crowns.
Caption: The Monarch of Annihilation.
Aaron dropped the scroll.
"I'm not doing a private duel."
Lily nodded. "Good choice. I don't think the arena would survive."
---
5. Beneath the Arena – Something Listens
The ancient glyphs under the Academy pulsed again.
This time, a whisper escaped into the physical world.
> "The Heir… walks above... but does not remember…"
The chains trembled.
Not from power.
But from recognition.
Aaron's presence had stirred ancient bindings. His aura—silent, infinite, and unknowingly divine—was reawakening the forgotten seals of the continent's oldest war.
Something sealed not by magic, but by fear.
---
6. Evening Observations
That evening, as the combat duels ended for the day, students walked back like soldiers returning from the front lines.
They spoke in hushed tones.
They avoided eye contact.
They prayed for early elimination, just to be free of his presence.
Aaron, however, sat in the gardens, feeding birds.
"They don't land anymore," he muttered. "Even the birds avoid me."
Lily sat across from him. "One exploded last week."
"That was an accident."
Nova arrived late, holding several new student applications.
"You're getting fan mail now," she said. "Some students want to transfer directly into your mentorship."
Aaron paled. "Why would anyone want that?"
Nova handed him one letter. It read:
> Professor Aetherwyn, I believe you are the manifestation of the world's will. Please teach me how to wield the void without breaking the sky.
Aaron dropped the letter.
"Lily?"
"Yes?"
"Am I… a villain?"
Lily looked at him for a long second. Then said, "No. But you might be the final boss in their hearts."
---
End of Chapter 41